Chapter 11: Playing A Short Game of Verbal Chess with Sesshomaru

She does her best to sneak through the forest, avoiding the guards that get more and more frequent as she approaches the ridge. When she's almost to it she climbs a fairly big tree so she can get a feel for just how many guards she'd have to sneak past. When she reaches the top, she quickly disregards the thought of sneaking. The pigeon hadn't been joking; there were easily five hundred soldiers around. 'Ok, plan B, I'll get captured then insist on seeing his brother. Yeah, that'll work.'

And so she waits until a guard she'd seen coming her way is under the tree she's in and then drops, after putting the coat on so she wouldn't have to carry it or risk losing it in the fall. She is indeed quickly captured by the guard, but her 'requests' to see Sesshomaru fall on deaf ears as she is dragged through the camp, kicking and screaming, before being thrown into what can only be described as a port-a-prison.

She pounds on the walls to no avail before hearing a quiet "Kagome?"

She suddenly stops and cocks her head a bit, like a dog trying to hear something, "Who's there?"

"Kagome, is that you?"

This time she identifies the voice as coming from behind her and she spins around, trying to pierce the darkness with her eyes. Being unsuccessful in that venture, she chances speaking again, "My name is Kagome, who are you?"

"Kagome," she can almost hear the smile, "I knew it was you. Don't you recognize my voice? It's me, Hojo."

Kagome blanches, "H...Hojo? But...everyone thought you were dead. I remember they said that they thought you got lost in the woods and got killed by wolves. I named your horse after you when Grandpa bought it."

She hears some shuffling as he seems to get up and start in the general direction of her voice; "I'm not dead though. I did get lost in the forest, but some slave traders picked me up before I could find my way back. I was brought over the border, sold to Lord Sesshomaru and his troops, and have been a slave ever since. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I came because I wanted to put an end to this invasion. Hojo, they're invading our land. Destroying our villages. He thinks that our kingdom isn't ruled, but it is. Prince Inuyasha is still alive, he's...changed a bit...but he's still alive, and I have proof! The only way I see him leaving peacefully is to have him see that we're ruled, just not the way he rules."

She jumps a bit when a hand is lain on her shoulder, but settles when she realizes that it was just Hojo. "Don't worry Kagome, I'm sure he'll see things your way. You have a way of making everyone agree with you."

She relaxes a bit more, "Thank you Hojo. But I need to speak with him, the sooner the better. If I don't...there will be someone very upset with me for coming here."

"Don't worry Kagome, with all of the ruckus you were making, I'm sure he won't be long in finding out why you're here." With those words the door opens and she is roughly shoved to the ground as Hojo is pulled out. "Don't worry Kagome, I'll make sure he hears you!" Is all she hears before the door slams shut and she is left alone in the darkness. She curls into a ball against the darkness, doing her best not to whimper.

It seems like an eternity before the door opens again and she is dragged by the arm out and towards the very large and rich-looking center tent. She is thrown/dropped before what is obviously the throne of Inuyasha's older brother. She moves to a bowing position as he speaks, "This Sesshomaru hears from his guards and one of his more naïve slaves that you say you have proof that his little brother is alive and ruling. Present it now so that this Sesshomaru may give his own judgement."

Kagome bows lower before taking the coat off and offering it to him. A guard moves to take it but is stilled by a simple motion from Sesshomaru's hand, "No need to bring it any closer, this Sesshomaru can smell his stench from here."

Kagome's eyes narrow as they stay trained on the ground, 'He can smell the coat? But I could hardly smell it when I had it on.' (A.N. Yep, Fluffy's a demon (as he should be) and Kagome's got no clue demons even exist. Now back to the story.)

Her thoughts are turned back to the matter at hand when he speaks again, emotionless as ever. "You have shown this Sesshomaru that his little brother lives. What proof have you that he rules?"

Kagome blanches for a moment before regaining her composure, "Sire, is not that he lives proof that he rules?"

She glances up at him and sees Hojo by his side, smiling idiotically at her for some reason and an empty throne beside Sesshomaru's before quickly looking down again. In the short time in which she'd looked at him, she'd seen he was leaning slightly forward, eyes sparkling a bit in controlled amusement, like her grandfather's would when playing chess, though the rest of his face remained emotionless. Sesshomaru speaks again, "Just because one lives, does not mean that one rules." he states calmly.

Kagome is quick to counter, "Yes, but all know that those born to rule continue to do so until they pass on, it is what they were born to do and thusly if they live, they rule."

She hears a slight shuffling and looks to see the guards that lined the halls leaving silently. After a moment even Hojo leaves reluctantly, leaving Sesshomaru and her alone. She shifts so she can put the coat on again in an attempt to warm herself under his icy gaze. Once they were alone, he speaks again, "You make good argument and obviously are learned in philosophy. Tell this Sesshomaru, what family do you hail from?"

"I am of the Higurashi family sire. My grandfather taught me, he thought it important I be educated in the case that he die before I married." She states, gaining a bit of confidence.

"Higurashi, this Sesshomaru does not believe he has heard of that name before. Are you of a noble family?"

"In character yes, but in blood I am afraid I am lacking. My grandfather owns an apothecary that does modestly well."

"How did you come to know that this Sesshomaru's little brother lives and rules? His other servant did not."

Kagome gulps, losing all the confidence she'd gained. How did she tell him without making Inuyasha look unfit to rule? She starts slowly "Well milord...you see...I came to him a month or so ago, we've grown quite close. I believe we consider each other allies." 'There' she thinks, ' hopefully he won't catch my dodge.'

No such luck. "Alright, but this Sesshomaru would appreciate if you answered the question he asked, and mind you, this Sesshomaru has ways of knowing if you lie."

Kagome closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, "I work as his horse girl. He is generous enough to pay me in food for my family."

Sesshomaru rolls his eyes and says, "This Sesshomaru's late father made sure that any positions that could possibly be needed were filled before he passed on. Since Inuyasha isn't the charitable type anyways, you are lying. Not to mention you now stink of dishonesty. If you will not tell this Sesshomaru what he wishes to know, then he has no use for you. You will be put back in the dungeon until sunrise, when you will be beheaded for lying to a king."

Kagome's face drains of all color, "Be...beheaded? K...King?"

"Are you always this dull in the head? Yes, king. This Sesshomaru is the King of the land to the North of you. He is sure you must have heard of him."

Kagome dumbly nods and Sesshomaru rolls his eyes again, "This Sesshomaru hopes you face your death with more grace then this. Guards! Take her back to her cell."

Kagome stares, in complete shock as the guards lead her away, 'King. King! That means that Inuyasha is the lost prince, and wasn't just trying to stop a case of misled identity. For weeks I thought he was just ruler of the surrounding villages, but he rules the whole freaking country! Well, guess I know what happened to him. Oh no, I'm going to be beheaded! I'm going to die! Inuyasha, I'm sorry. I should've stayed out of your business. But noo, I had to stick my big nose where it didn't belong.' She continues thinking this way and is just berating herself for leaving her bow and arrows behind as a good will symbol when she is thrown back into the dungeon, sitting down next to the door where it was lightest, curling up and pulling Inuyasha's coat over as much of her as possible. "I just wanted to help. Now look at the mess I've gotten myself into."

She removes the pieces of body armor and as she takes off a shoulder piece she sees something fall. She picks it up and stares. It was dark but she knew what it was, there was no doubt. There, in her hands, was the journal she'd been reading just yesterday. She'd forgotten she'd put it in there with all the excitement. She scoots over so that she's as much in the light as possible, using the firelight that filters through the prison window bars, and opens the book. She wasn't going to be sleeping anyways, might as well spend it at least in some way back at the castle.

- - - - - - - - -

Kagome is nudged awake, much to her dismay, "Go 'way! Five more minutes!"

Hojo's voice replies shaking her from her dreams, "Kagome, you have to get up now. It...it's time."

What he says confuses her half-awake mind, until yesterday's events come flooding back, not doing anything to make her want to wake up, "Do I have to?" she whimpers.

"Yes, you do. I'm sorry Kagome, but you have to get up. Now."

A.N. Dun dun DUN! Wow, talk about a predicament! But fear not, because this isn't an angst fic (personally I don't like them at all), so you know things will turn out right. Oh, and also, just so you guys know, I'm not going to be able to keep up at this update pace anymore. That was the last of what I already had written, so now I have to write it on paper before typing it. Don't worry though, I'll do my best with keeping updates as prompt as possible. Oh, and speaking of stuff I've already written, since this has hit it off so well, I was thinking of posting a couple other stories I've already started. Tell me if either sound like any good (I'll type up summaries at the bottom) Alright, now onto reviewer replies!

RoseMaiden-Lol, yeah, every now and again teachers give me that problem too. I'm actually pretty shy around new people too. Oh well, I've got all the friends I need, so I guess that's all that's really important . As I said above, I'll try to keep updating as quickly as possible, but it's going to be a bit slower then what it's been lately.

RebelWriter-Actually that's what I was planning on for the next chappie. Of course, Inuyasha will have to do the initial saving, but after that it'll be a team effort . I totally agree with your feelings about the DoD situation (that's Damsel in Distress for those of you reading that never watched Hercules lol), the idea gets me totally ticked off. Which is partly why I had Kagome go toe-to-toe with Fluffy in this chappie in her own way. Shows she can carry her own weight, even if she didn't stay constant the whole way.

Alright, now for summaries, I don't have titles for them, but tell me if the idea sounds good.

First off, I've got a Sailor Moon story that my friend actually started, but then I took over. It's first-person perspective and it has my friends and I as the Scouts of this world, and is basically us saving the world and kicking butt. Oh, and also, as a side-note, each planet in the story has a Scout and a Prince.

My other one I'm actually not sure what to call it. It starts in the X-Men world (though you can't really tell) but it's got bits of Ruruoni Kenshin, Sailor Moon, and Inuyasha in it too. And that's only so far. It's also a first-person perspective and revolves my own character, Melody. She finds out that she has some...unique talents and heads out onto the road, trying to find acceptance and drawing strength from the people she meets along the way, learning the lessons of life from some...interesting characters.

Well, that's all for now! R&R please!