Title: Suteki
Author: DivineRoseKeeper
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of it's characters nor do I own the story of Beauty and the Beast.
Genre: Romance, Fantasy
New Summary: He didn't believe the one could be found. He never thought it to be true. Her grandfather made a grave mistake, and she takes his place to pay for the debt. Will she be the one to break the curse? IxK Based on Beauty and the Beast.
Original Summary: When a beauty and a monster meet, what becomes of it? Love? Hatred? Is it truly possible to fall for something like a beast? InuKag Based on Beauty and the Beast.
Part Four: When a Beauty and a Beast Meet
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Kagome was packing some of the belongings she owned; tomorrow she would be leaving for the Yajuu. Though, it didn't take her long to pack everything, since she was poor, she took much pride to her things, like the stuff her mother left for her. She still had a jade butterfly pin, which her mother would always wear in her wavy hair, she remembered how much Kagome, as a little girl would favor the pin.
"Nee-chan, what are you doing?" asked her little brother Souta.
"Packing." She replied not looking at him.
"Why are you even going?"
"I must go. I am obligated, if it weren't for my silly request Grandfather wouldn't have even gotten in trouble with the Yajuu. So for the protection for the family, I am to sacrifice myself." Explained Kagome tying her sack.
"…" Souta didn't say anything, he knew his sister was a wonderful selfless person and wanted what was best for her family, but he didn't want to see her go.
"Oh, packing up, Imouto?" asked Kikyo.
"Hai, Kikyo." Said Kagome.
"Kagome, why don't you and Rin go to the stream and bathe, before it gets too dark." Grandfather suggested, "I don't think Yajuu, would want you filthy." There was a slight sadness to his voice.
"Un," nodded Kagome as she took her baby sister's hand, "Let's go, Rin."
Rin smiled sweetly, "Hai!"
-
When it was time to call it a night everyone got snuggled up in the over sized beaten up mat. Everybody had to cram themselves close to eachother in order to stay warm and semi-comfortable. It ran through Kagome's mind that this would be the last night that she would have to sleep like this with her family, 'As much as I hate this, I will miss this…'
.:Dream:.
"Okaa-san! Okaa-san!" said a very happy little Kagome.
"Hai, koishii." Said a beautiful woman in her mid-twenties. (A/N since this is like old japan lets just say kag's mom had Kikyo the first born when she was 17 and Kagome is 7 rite here making it 8 years after kikyo's birth…)
Kagome sat down in the grass in front of her mother, "Will I be as pretty as you when I'm older, Okaa-san?"
"Now, why do you say I am pretty?" asked her mother, who's name was Akemi, the name suited the woman well, meaning bright and beautiful.
"Because you are Okaa-san! Everyone says so, especially Otou-san and some of the village people." Explained the young Kagome, her shoulder length raven hair blowing in the breeze.
"Then yes, my dear Kagome. You will become as beautiful as me, infact, you shall grow to become even more beautiful than me, because of how beautiful your spirit is." Her mother gave her a sweet tender smile.
"You really think so, Okaa-san?" asked a excited Kagome.
"Un, yes I do. And you will marry a man with handsome golden amber eyes." Akemi was stroking her daughter's hair.
"Golden amber eyes?" said Kagome with a confused look on her adorable face, "I've never heard of someone with such colored eyes…"
"With your such beauty, you will!" and with that she poked her daughter's small button nose.
Unfortunately soon after that Akemi died…
.:End of Dream:.
There were beams of light shining through the fifteen-year-old's eyelids. 'Morning… already.' Kagome slowly sat up, only Grandfather was up, he was lighting the fire. "Ohayo, Grandfather."
"Kagome, after breakfast we shall leave. The sooner the better." Grandfather told her.
"Hai, the sooner the better…"
-
Breakfast had been very quiet, no one could really smile, except for Kikyo, but she kept to herself.
When it was time for Kagome and Grandfather to leave, it was very hard.
"Kagome, Nee-chan, don't go!" said Souta, hugging his sister tight.
"I have to, I promise I'll try to come back someday." Tears were finally coming out of her eyes.
"But what if Yajuu eats you, Imouto?" asked Kikyo.
"Kikyo." Said Grandfather, his old voice threatening.
"Nee-chan, Nee-chan! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease don't leave me! It's no fun without you!" sobbed a little Rin; she was tugging at Kagome's kimono.
"Shhh, Rin, Souta will be here to play with when I'm gone. Please don't cry." Cooed Kagome to her baby sister.
"Let's go Kagome, before it gets to the point where you cannot leave." Grandfather got on his horse; there really was no emotion in his voice.
"Un, bye minna, I'll miss you!" Kagome gave her younger sibling one more hug and got behind Grandfather on the horse.
Silent tears traveled on Kagome's face as she got farther and farther away from her siblings. "I'm going to miss them."
"I know you will, Kagome. It's not too late for me to go instead, you have a life way ahead of you, I'm an old man, I'll be sure to die within a few years." Grandfather told to Kagome, honest in all the words he spoke.
"No, I am going to go through with this as I have promised, I got you into the trouble of getting a stupid rose and now I'm going to pay the price for it." Kagome's tone was dull and sad.
"Kagome—"
"No, Grandfather." She interrupted.
A lot of the trip was in pregnant silence, neither of the two could think of what to say, it was all too hard.
Grandfather broke the silence, "We're getting close."
Kagome finally got nervous, scared. Was this really the end of her life? To comfort herself she hummed an old tune her mother would sing to her when she was younger. Though, Kagome had forgotten the words she perfectly remembered the tune and the name. The tune was called "Dearest". (A/N if any of you no me I am in love the song dearest which is sung by Ayumi Hamasaki and is the 3rd ending song, this is the 2nd time I have used this song in a fic. Yep, call it obsession.)
"Singing that old tune again?" asked Grandfather.
"Hai, it brings me comfort and it also reminds me of Okaa-san." Kagome continued to hum the pretty tune.
"Your mother was a pretty one. I remember everyday that someone would always ask me, 'May I marry your beautiful daughter?'. But your mother would always tell your Grandmother and I that she would only marry for love, and the one she would love would have to have a beautiful spirit. And then one day she met your father, Kazuki. They fell for eachother so quickly, your mother claimed that he had the most beautiful spirit that she had ever encountered." Grandfather explained.
Kagome's pretty face was twisted with confusion, "If he had such a beautiful spirit then why did he leave us?"
Grandfather coughed, "Kazuki left for the protection of all of you. Someone had been after him, out of jealousy, they were angry because he had married Akemi, your mother. And so your father left so none of you would get hurt." Grandfather's voice saddened, "But unfortunately it pained your mother all too much, and within a few months after having Rin, she died of sadness and weakness…"
One lone crystal like tear glided down Kagome's face, "I miss her."
The old man sighed, "So do I. I remember Akemi would always tell me that you had your father's spirit, and I would tell her that you had her beauty as well."
Kagome smiled, "What did Okaa-san say about Kikyo, Souta and Rin?"
"She said Souta would have the bravery of Kazuki and Rin would have a bright spirit." Grandfather said.
"And what about Kikyo?"
"I forgot what she said about Kikyo, I'm an old man, I tend to forget things." He spoke quickly.
All the fifteen-year-old could do was star at the back of her grandfather.
"We're just about there." The horse now was going slower.
"Oh." Her nervousness came right back. She tried humming Dearest again but nothing eased her nervousness.
"You okay, Kagome?"
"Hai, I'm fine." She lied. 'Act brave, and everything will be fine.' She told herself, she straightened her shoulders and breathed in deeply.
When they came to the castle grounds Kagome thought she was going to faint but she kept staying strong.
"Kagome, can you get off the horse? I need to put it in the stable, dear." Grandfather asked.
Kagome nodded her head and slowly slid of the horses back. She noticed that there were actually other horses at the stable. 'Do other people live with Yajuu too?'
"Kagome," Grandfather's voice took her out of her useless thoughts. "We must go inside." Kagome wanted to cry when she saw his face, it looked so pained and sad, Kagome felt guilty. But here at this place she shouldn't, she couldn't, she had to look as brave as she could for any chance of getting back to her family.
They walked slowly together to the castle entrance; this castle was the biggest thing Kagome had ever seen. "Big, isn't it?" asked Grandfather.
"Hai, very big." Said Kagome agreeing with her grandfather.
When Kagome and the old man reached the castle entrance someone greeted them. It wasn't the Yajuu, but it appeared to be a monk, he had violet-blue eyes. 'I have never seen anyone with such color eyes! I have only seen brown!' The monk had short black hair with a small ponytail in the back; he wore purple and black robes. "Is this your granddaughter; the one who had requested the rose?"
"Hai." Said Grandfather, looking ashamed with himself.
Though, it was barely visible, the monk had a small smile on his face. "Come in, the both of you." The monk led them in.
They stopped in a hall way not too far from the entrance, "If you would kindly wait here, Sango should be getting our master." Said the so far nameless monk.
'I wonder who Sango is… It sounds like a girl's name.' Kagome thought to herself as she silently examined the castle.
Then she saw him, Yajuu. Though, he didn't seem as monstrous as Grandfather told her he was. He kind of looked like a man but not. He had long silver hair, claws, and dog-ears on the top of his head. Yajuu was also wearing a red haori and hakama.
Yajuu looked over the girl. She was beautiful he had to admit, but he doubted that she would be the one to break his curse. "So old man, you decided to give up your granddaughter?"
The girl poke instead of the old man, "No, he didn't force me. I decided to come. If it wasn't for me—"
Yajuu interrupted her very rudely, "Okay I get it. You came here by your own free will. Now say good-bye to your grandfather so he can leave."
'Rude and impatient.' "Grandfather!" she hugged him tightly.
"Kagome, please be strong." Said Grandfather.
"I'll see you and the others again, I promise. So don't be passing away on me okay? Promise?" sobbed Kagome.
Grandfather stroked the girl's hair, "Yakusoku, yakusoku…"
"Tell them… I love them, and I'll miss you Grandfather." She whispered.
"I will, I will miss you dearly my little Kagome." The old man uttered.
"Okay, time for you to go old man." Yajuu said, a frown plastered on his face.
Kagome and her grandfather slowly let go of eachother, the monk led Grandfather to the stables.
"Sango, I want you to give the girl a proper bath and get her a new kimono." And with that Yajuu walked away.
"Hai, I am sorry about my master's rudeness. My name is Sango." Said the woman, she had long dark brunette hair that was in a low loose ponytail, the woman also had brown eyes, she wore a kimono that had different shades of purple with a green apron.
"My name is Kagome." Her voice was quiet.
"I'm truly sorry about all this, but I'll try to make your stay here as comfortable as possible." Said Sango leading Kagome to a room.
"It's fine, I did come her by choice. So I would have no right to complain." Replied Kagome.
"You are kind hearted, Kagome." Said Sango, catching Kagome off guard.
"Arigatou…"
"If I were in your position, I would probably have my grandfather go." Sango explained.
"Ah. I just did it in order of the protection of my family." Kagome said the smallest smile on her face.
"Oh. Are you the eldest?" asked Sango.
Kagome shook her head, "No, I have an older sister Kikyo. But she wouldn't of done this, she likes to think of herself as a princess or something. But I have two other siblings that are younger than me named Souta and Rin."
"I used to have a brother, but he died after birth, my parents also died." Said Sango.
"I'm sorry to hear, my father left us and my mother died…"
"Well, we're here." Sango, slid open a door to a steamy room wear there was hot spring.
Kagome blinked, "How did you get a hot spring in the castle?"
Sango sighed, "I guess they built this room around the hot spring… I wouldn't know because that was hundreds of years ago."
"Oh."
"Just leave your clothes by the door, when you are finished cleaning up call me and I'll bring in your new kimono. Also there are herbs to clean yourself with." Sango left.
"Kagome walked into the humid room, and slipped of her old dirty kimono. She let her self get into the water, she flinched, 'Hot! I'm usually used to bathing in the stream.' She moved a little bit to try to get used to the water, but that only made it worse. "Ow."
She quickly got the herb cream, which was on a wooden plate. It smelled good. Kagome took a little bit and rubbed into her hair. She also lathered some of it onto her skin, but there wasn't that much of the herb cream. After awhile Kagome just decided to soak, it wasn't very often that she got to bathe. (A/N ok ppl think of the time period here…)
Kagome slowly stood up and carefully got out of the spring. "Sango! I'm done…" Kagome saw that there was a folded up drying cloth and covered herself with it. (A/n because of the time period I'm not using towel)
Sango came in with a white and blue silk kimono and put it near the door and took her Kagome's old kimono, "Kagome I'll be right out here, so when your done just come and meet me."
"Okay." Kagome, rung out her long black hair and dried herself off the best she could with the cloth.
Kagome picked up the new kimono. It was silk, something Kagome never felt before. Only the rich had silk, because silk was imported from the land of which she believed was called China. She slipped in on; being careful she didn't want to ruin the delicate material.
The fifteen-year-old also noticed that there was a hair ribbon that matched. She twisted her still wet hair into a bun and tied the ribbon to hold it. She walked out of the room to Sango.
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Author's corner: Don't expect anymore chapters this long. Just be lucky I had a lot to explain… or maybe I have too much detail.T.T;; in any case happy long chappie! Heh… Um the next chapter is "Escape".
Lub ya's!
Tabbie