CHAPTER EIGHT

x.

"Do you enjoy torturing me, or is that just a hobby for you?" Inuyasha snapped.

Rukusin looked rather disheveled; his face was slightly discoloured around the edges, and his hat was askew. "Lord Inuyasha," he said wearily, "I assure you with all honesty that I am not causing you any trouble on purpose-"

"Then how come you keep showin' up?" Inuyasha said, crossing his arms. "I already told you my answer, and you took back all your gold. So why do you keep comin' back?"

"Because your refusal cannot be... accepted," Rukusin said awkwardly. He flinched back slightly, as if expecting Inuyasha to lunge forward and bite him.

Sango and Miroku came out of Kaede's brightly-lit hut, still clutching their bowls of stew. The monk came closer, with Shippo clinging to his shoulder. "Rukusin," he said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I have come to persuade Lord Inuyasha to return to the Fire-Demon Clan with me, and be wed to Princess Rakura," Rukusin said, with the flat voice of one who doesn't want to be saying what he is actually saying. He folded his thin hands into his wide sleeves.

Miroku began to speak in his "reasonable" voice, as if speaking to a recalcitrant child. "Perhaps you are unaware of this, but I haven't seen anyone 'persuade' Inuyasha to do anything he didn't want to do."

"Damn straight," Inuyasha grumbled.

Rukusin looked even more discouraged. Kagome almost felt sorry for him. "I am authorized to offer Lord Inuyasha anything he might desire, if he will return with me and wed the princess," he began again.

"What I want is none of your business, and I don't think you could give me anything I wanted anyway," Inuyasha snarled. "So you might as well get lost. You can't bribe me, and you can't persuade me just by followin' me around."

Rukusin began fumbling around inside his ornate, voluminous robe. "And so you do not honor the wishes of your illustrious father, the great dog-demon of the west?"

"If it means marryin' the princess, then I don't," Inuyasha said, turning his back. "Like me gettin' married will help my dad at all."

Rukusin looked vaguely shocked at the idea of Inuyasha not caring about his father's wishes. But he finally produced a roll of paper and held it out to Inuyasha. Since the half-demon's back was still turned, Miroku took the scroll instead, and began to read it. His brow furrowed deeply. "Mmmm," he murmured.

"What is that?" Kagome asked.

"It's on very fine quality paper," Sango chimed in.

"It is the betrothal contract entered into many years ago, when Lord Inuyasha was an innocent babe in arms," Rukusin said formally. He seemed deeply satisfied by the contract and its presence, as if it would make Inuyasha immediately give in.

"Hah!" Inuyasha said, his eyes blazing. "You think that little scrap of paper makes the slightest difference to ME?" He snatched the scroll from Miroku and stared at it. "It don't make any difference at all! If you think a few signatures are gonna make any difference-"

"That is not all the contract contains," Rukusin said, sounding offended. "It contains the precise strictures of your betrothal and the treaty that your marriage is destined to seal. What is more, the contract solidified the-"

"Would you GET LOST!" Inuyasha brandished the scroll like a sword.

"Inuyasha, calm down!" Kagome said.

Inuyasha fumed for a moment. Rukusin chose this moment to bow and retreat to his eight-legged steed. As the horse rode off into the air, the retainer called over his shoulder, "Lord Inuyasha, please examine the contract in detail. It proves that it is a true betrothal, and once that must be honored if dire consequences are not to follow." He vanished into the treetops.

Inuyasha was clutching the contract so tightly that his claws were digging into it. "Slimy bastard," he muttered. Without looking at the monk, he held the scroll out to Miroku. "Here, Miroku. We gotta find some kind of loophole in the contract so I can get outta this without a mess."

Kagome lingered outside the door, looking up at the place where Rukusin had gone. She wasn't sure what he had meant by "dire consequences," but she had the feeling that things were about to get very sticky.

TO BE CONTINUED