Primrose

By Sashi Mizumoto

A/N: I was writing yet another Sesshomaru/Kagome one shot when this idea came into my head. This is my first real AU though, so I am a bit nervous. I have NO idea how this will end, or what. Oh well.

Chapter One: The Wedding and the Moonlight Murderer

Her bouquet was made of pink primroses. And her tiara was made of moonstones. And her dress was decorated with diamonds, and fluttered when she spun around. This was the day when money meant nothing. This was when she would marry the man of her dreams, and live happily ever after. Just like she wanted.

Kagome looked at her reflection in the tall mirror which stood before her. Her handmaidens carefully placed her delicate veil on her raven hair, and it fell over her face. When she looked before her, her vision was blurred from the fabric. She smiled happily. Today was the day she would be married to Inuyasha-ouji, the noble man of the neighboring country. Her father had told her only about a week ago that she would be marrying him, and when she found out, she was ecstatic.

Ever since she was little, Kagome had always wanted a fairy tale life. She wanted to marry the handsome prince, and live in a rich kingdom. She wanted to have beautiful children that would behave wonderfully and be the most intelligent in the kingdom. She wanted people to be envious of her, and to pamper her day and night.

However, all rational people know that life rarely ends up this way, even for royalty and such. But no one had ever bothered to mention this to Kagome. And now, she would quickly realize that she would never have a fairy tale life. At least, not the happy and beautiful kind. She would be thrown into a journey of cutthroat bandits, betrayal, heartbreak, and murder. But even the darkest moments can have a glitter of light. And hers was finding true love.

Kagome's bedroom door knocked and she gently called, "Who is it?" A deep and familiar voice answered her. "Kagome-chan, it's your father. I've come to see how you're doing. Are you decent?" Kagome ushered her handmaidens to her side, and she smiled. "Come in father."

Kagome's father was a handsome man who towered over the average man. His chestnut eyes were always filled with an indescribable warmth and he had a smooth, bronzed complexion. His charcoal hair was always ruffled and never seemed to be able to stay down. He seemed like the perfect man. Although we all know that no one is perfect. Even Kagome's father had a dark secret or two that he kept locked away in his heart.

"Oh Kagome-chan, you look gorgeous. I'm so proud of my little hime." He hugged her tenderly and kissed her on the cheek. "Are you excited?" Kagome nodded, though carefully so as not to throw off her veil. "Yes! I've always loved Inuyasha-ouji, so now I have the chance to be with him forever!" Her father smiled and took her gloved hands in his. "I wish you the best of luck Kagome-chan. I really do." He nodded politely to Kagome's handmaidens and left.

Just as her handmaidens were smoothing out her dress and handing her the bouquet, Kagome's door was thrown open and her younger sister Kikyou stormed in. Kikyou was almost identical to Kagome, though her personality was completely different. Kagome was known throughout the kingdom as a kind and decent person, while Kikyou was known as a heartless shrew who broke the hearts of every prince that made the mistake of falling in love with her.

"Kagome-oneesan, what have you done with my flowers? Those primroses were in my garden and you just stole them for your bouquet! Are you too cheap to buy your own?" Kagome sighed and clutched the beautiful pink flowers in her delicate hands. Her handmaiden Sango had given her the bouquet, claiming that she had bought them in the market. Kagome realized now that Sango must have stolen the flowers from Kikyou.

"My apologies Kikyou-oneechan. I will happily pay for the damages caused by my theft." She hung her head down and glanced at Sango-san, who was looking back at her with a shocked expression. However, this was not acceptable to Kikyou.

"Your money isn't good enough! I want you on your knees in apology! Bow!" Kikyou lunged for Kagome and gripped a large chunk of her hair in her hands. "Listen, just because you're getting married to Inuyasha-ouji and you think you're better than me because you're older, doesn't mean you are any better than me! All you are is a dog. A real bitch. You've disgraced father by stooping down to the levels of theft." She threw Kagome to the ground and left as quickly as she had come. Kagome slowly took the hands of her handmaidens, who helped her stand.

Sango slowly stood before Kagome and bowed. "I am so sorry Kagome-sama, but I didn't have the money this week to buy you a bouquet, but I was assigned the task and Kikyou-sama's flowers are so beautiful that I thought..." Sango trailed off and shook violently on the spot, tensed and waiting to be hit. However, Kagome only patted her head softly. "Don't worry about it Sango-san. No need to linger on the past." Sango looked up at her and smiled. "Thank you Kagome-sama. Thank you."

Kagome was led outside to the hibiscus garden where she would be married. Her handmaidens held her veil over the ground so it would not be stained with mud and such. She stared ahead to make sure she didn't fall, but her thoughts were wandering elsewhere.

'I'm one step closer to achieving my dream of the perfect life. Soon, I'll be the queen of a respected country, I'll be married to the most handsome man in the country, and my life will be perfect.' She smiled at the thoughts and looked down at her gloved fingers and frowned. 'I don't like these gloves. It'll make it harder for Inuyasha-ouji to put the wedding ring on my finger.' She stopped walking for a second and took the gloves off, handing them over to Sango for safe keeping. "Thank you Sango-san."

Kagome stood outside the entrance to the garden and took a deep breath. Lovely violin music reached her ears as well as the low murmurs of the guests. As the bridesmaids (her handmaidens) began walking in though, the drone wore down and Kagome stiffened a bit. 'All right Kagome. Now is the time for your perfect life to begin.'

Kagome entered the garden and everyone gasped. For a few seconds, a few people whispered. Everyone only had compliments, such as, "She looks gorgeous!" or "Oh my goodness! The future queen!" Kagome couldn't help but smile. However, she looked ahead and saw her future husband. Inuyasha-ouji.

Inuyasha-ouji smiled confidently at her and held out his hand. He was well known for his pearly hair and golden eyes. He was also extremely tall and known for his kindness and generosity. Kagome felt relieved and sighed. This was the life.

She took his hand delicately and he gripped hers. As the priest talked, Kagome could only look into Inuyasha's eyes. And she was fine with that.

As he ended, and told Inuyasha to kiss Kagome, Inuyasha bent down. Kagome closed her eyes and felt the veil being lifted. Just as his breath reached her lips, she heard screams and opened her eyes. She turned just as arms wrapped themselves tightly around her petite waist. The mysterious person clamped a hand over her mouth before she could speak, and she was suddenly lifted away. She watched as Inuyasha called out to her and she squirmed. Since there was a lack of breasts, Kagome assumed that it was a man. She watched her veil and bouquet flutter to the ground. Inuyasha caught both of them as he jumped to reach Kagome. Thinking quickly, Kagome bit down onto the man's hand. She heard him grunt and he moved his hand away from her mouth.

However, all Kagome could do was scream for Inuyasha. "INUYASHA-OUJI! INUYASHA OUJI!" Tears of fright fell from her eyes and a hiccup escaped her mouth. This time, a piece of damp fabric covered her mouth and nose, and as Kagome inhaled, she felt her eyes drift shut. Her strength drained and her struggling ceased. She watched as Inuyasha fell away from her vision and she fell unconscious.

When she awakened hours later, her mind was blank. She groggily stared ahead for a few minutes, trying to remember all the past events of the day. Slowly, she tried to sit up. However, her arms and legs were tied tightly. As Kagome struggled with the binding around her arms, she winced as the robe cut into her arms, and blood trickled. She decided that it would probably be best if she just stayed still for a bit and waited for her kidnapper to show himself.

She looked down at her dress and was horrified to find that many of the diamonds that had once adorned her dress had been mercilessly ripped off and all that remained was tattered fabric which had been dragged into the dirt, creating a light brown color in place of the once white.

Her thoughts seemed to stop as she heard footsteps coming towards her. She tried to push herself up to see this mysterious attacker, but she kept falling. However, the man lifted her up and gripped her shoulders in his large hands.

"Kagome-hime. Hnn. I wonder who would want to kill you. You're just a little girl." Kagome glared at the man, offended at being called a little girl. She was curious though. "Kill me? What are you talking about? Are you going to kill me?" She closed her eyes and whimpered. The pain in her arms was throbbing now, and she could feel it dulling her senses. She wanted with all of her being to hurt this man, but she just had no strength left in her.

"I am going to kill you. But not yet. I only kill when I'm ordered to. Although I think you have the right to know my name. I am Sesshomaru. Moonlight Murderer. You've probably heard of me." Kagome peeked out at him between her eyelids. She had indeed heard of him. He was known as the most powerful, as well as the best, assassin in the country. But she was surprised at the somewhat gentle look he had. He reminded her greatly of Inuyasha-ouji.

Sesshomaru had silver hair that reached past his knees, and golden eyes (though his were much lighter in color than Inuyasha's). He had a half moon tattoo on his forehead, and scars on the side of his face. 'Are they claw marks? Did someone attack this man?' Also, he was much taller than Inuyasha-ouji. His face was longer, and seemed much more serious than Inuyasha's.

Kagome decided that it would probably be best in this situation to try and keep calm. She looked up into his eyes and let a whimper escaped again. "What are you going to do with me until then?" Sesshomaru smirked and bent down into his nose touched Kagome's. "Well, my employer did say I could have my way with you. Although little girls usually don't please me much." Kagome glared at him and smashed her head against his nose. Blood spilled out of his nostrils and he released Kagome. She fell to the stone floor and winced. Sesshomaru let out a string of curses before glaring down at Kagome and drawing a knife from his pocket. He bent down and placed it against her throat threateningly.

"If you ever do something as idiotic as that again, I will kill you. I can always explain to my employer that you just got out of hand and I had to kill you. Remember that wench." As Kagome felt the cool metal press a bit harder against her throat, she let out a weak whimper. Sesshomaru smirked and put the knife away.

"That's better. But for now, we should probably leave. My team is waiting for me. Besides, I doubt you're used to spending any time in a dank little cave." Kagome had not really paid attention to her surroundings before, but now she realized that she had been in a dirty little cave with foul smells. Her nose crinkled in disgust. Sesshomaru chuckled.

"I can't believe your concentrating on your surroundings. I just told you, you're going to die soon." Kagome looked up at Sesshomaru and smirked. "Like hell I'd let you kill me!" Sesshomaru looked taken aback. This girl was much different than the one he had seen and had been told about. She seemed brass and confident, not meek and kind. Sesshomaru coughed.

"Well, enough of this childish behavior. It's time for you to meet the other bandits."

END OF CHAPTER ONE: THE WEDDING AND THE MOONLIGHT MURDERER

A/N: Honestly? I have no idea where this story is going to go. We'll see how it goes.

I did sprinkle this story with some Japanese words. Here's a little glossary:

-hime: princess

-ouji: imperial prince

-chan: little

-oneesan: older sister

-oneechan: little sister

-san: a term of respect

-sama: a term of respect or royalty