"Why won't anybody touch us?"
'Because, Young Prince, love is the strongest power of all. And if love is under my branches, I am unstoppable. I will protect those souls are united.'
Inuyasha's ears fold back.
"I didn't accept the song…we're not bounded."
'Oh! But you are! By faith! If you choose not to accept the song then you will not marry her. Your souls are still connected; you just not choose to walk down the path of marriage. You could be just friends, allies to each other countries.'
"But why do the mikos sing the song? Why?"
'Your energies link together so no matter how far you are apart, the song is played within your soul to remind you what you're living for. Who is waiting for you back at home. To remind you who loves you. The feeling of someone loving you is the warmest feeling in the world. It makes you stronger; it makes you happier like you can do anything.'
Inuyasha looked down at Kagome, what should he do?
'It's time for her to wake up now.' A sakura petal glides down and lands on Kagome's nose.
It tickles and Kagome reaches up for the petal and opens her eyes.
"Ohayo, Inuyasha-kun."
Inuyasha smiled.
"Ohayo."
I Promise You
By Serenity Angel Tsukino
Chapter Two:
The Seasons of Changes
After coming out of that garden Kagome and Inuyasha had an understanding. Inuyasha did not have to marry Kagome if he did not want to, but he told the King he wants to wait until he was ready.
"Ready? Ready for what?" The King asked, just smiling down at the pup.
"When…" Inuyasha looked around nervously to make sure no one else was listening. "…I can tell her how I feel."
The King threw his head back and laughed warmly, making Inuyasha turn as red as his kimono. But the King leaned down and winked at him.
"You have your wish."
Sesshomaru left the Kingdom of Mikos to the Kingdom of Humans, which was starting to loose hope until he came in with his and King Higurashi's troops. They were able to defeat Naraku's forces with ease and maintain the order. It was mid summer when Inuyasha got the letter about his brother winning the battle. Jumping for joy he wrote a letter back, eager to know when he can return to see him, his sister-in-law and his Father. He quickly got a reply when The Demon King himself arrived at the Miko Palace.
The two kings were in the throne room, discussing about Inuyasha going back home and if Kagome could go along.
"Let her spend the winter, Higurashi-san, it will do her some good to see other countries other than her own."
The Miko King studied the face of the Demon King. He only had but one daughter with his late wife. Kagome was all he had left, and the only heir to his throne. I didn't want to think about someone hurting Kagome.
"I really do not know, Tatoshi-san. Kagome is so young…she cannot defend herself yet. And Inuyasha is so very young himself and is lucky he can defeat his own, never mind watching out for Kagome."
"I will personally watch her myself, Higurashi-san. Just let her come, you know how miserable she'll be without Inuyasha? They seem inseperatable now.:"
It was true, the Miko King couldn't deny the closeness Kagome and Inuyasha has gotten since Sesshomaru left for battle. There was not a moment the two wasn't together and causing chaos through-out the palace. The Miko King only sighed and leaned back into his chair.
"I will have your soul if anything should ever happen to Kagome."
"YATTA!" A loud giggle was heard.
Then a THUD!
"Shhh! Kagome-chan!"
"Gomen-ne…."
The Demon King blinked and turned around, to look at a portrait of Kagome as an infant being cradled in her mother's arm. He pushed it to the side to see Kagome, Miroku, and Sango dog-piled on Inuyasha. The four children only smiled sweetly up at the Demon King.
The Demon King only could laugh and picked up Kagome.
"Chibi Hime…you wish to come with me?"
"Hai!" Kagome chirped.
"Then I will return by fall to get you. Until then all four of you must be on your best behavior. Miroku, Sango, you both make sure these two stay out of trouble."
Sango and Miroku gave each other depressing looks.
'Like that never gonna happen.' Sango thought to herself.
When it came fall the children waited eagerly for the demon King to return. It wasn't until there was the first morning of frost where they saw the Demon King coming up to the palace. The children quickly gathered their things. And with a day or so time they were on their way to the Valley of the West. It was Princess Kagome's first time every outside the palace, outside her own city. She looked up at the mountain when they finally got down to the bottom. But then a tear fell down the side of her cheek. It was then Inuyasha wiped it away and smiled.
"We'll be back, I promise."
So the children, the Demon King and his army traveled through. It was when they made camp in the Forbidden Forest when they had their first snow.
Kagome, who had never seen snow, since it was too hot in her Kingdom to ever have snow, was the first to play in it. Wearing thick kimonos, the children played games, until the Demon King woke up.
"What is with this entire racket?" He took a step outside to step in snow. "Ah…I see."
"Daddy! Come and play with us!" Inuyasha waved at his Father, until a snow ball thrown by Miroku had landed at the side of his face.
The Demon King looked up at the sky, as if he was searching for something. The sky was heavily clouded. The King attempted to pick up some sound but the only sounds he could hear was of the children's laughter. No birds, no scurrying animals.
"Men! Let's close up camp. I want us moving within the hour."
"Awww…" The children whined.
The Demon King looked at them, giving them a stern face.
"You may play until then. But once we are ready to leave, we leave, understood?"
The four just nodded slowly.
As the King went back to talk with his top command, the children came together and walked a ways from the group.
"What is wrong with the King, I've never seen him like this." Sango asked Inuyasha.
"Daddy gets into one of his moods a lot. Sometimes it's just best to ignore it."
Kagome followed the three, since being the smallest, didn't help she couldn't catch up with them. She slide and landed face first in the snow. She struggled to get up when she heard a cry to her right, off the path and deep into the woods.
"Nay!" Kagome looked up to shout to the others but they had walked too far and the snow was falling down heavier.
Kagome stood up and walked into the snow, towards the sound. She was pretty far from the path when she met a little stream and a mini waterfall, still not frozen yet. And there, beside the little stream was a boy, about Inuyasha's age. He had white snowy hair, and a blue/white kimono. He looked dirt, battered and cold. He was holding his ankle, which was wrapped poorly and seemed to be bleeding.
"Hello, are you hurt?" Kagome asked, walking slowly towards the boy.
The boy turned to her, gasped and started to back away. Kagome stopped moving and smiled.
"Do not be scared, I won't harm you." She held out her hand. "See? I have no weapons."
The boy stopped moving on the count of his ankle, but looked at Kagome then slowly nodded. Kagome then walked over, taking off her top Kimono and placing it around the boy.
"There. You need it more than I do. Now let me see your ankle." Kagome kneeled by him and lifted his ankle gently and placed it on her lap.
The boy whimpered but bit on his bottom lip, trying not to cry.
"My name is Kagome." Kagome undid the bad wrappings and studied the wound.
"…my friends call me Hoku…my name is too long and hard for others to say." The boy spoke.
Kagome turned to him and smiled.
"Hai, Hoku-kun. Denki-desu."
"Oh! Denki-desu…" Hoku looked into the warm brown eyes of his savior, something inside him heated up.
Kagome placed her hand over his ankle and whispered.
"Megami of the lost, onegai help this one in the time of need. Let his pain go away and let him find his home." Her hand started to glow a pink light.
The pink light traveled down into Hoku's leg, healing the wound. Once healed, Kagome ripped one of her sleeves and tied it around the ankle tightly.
"It is still sprained but I healed the wound. You should be fine. No jumping around, ok?"
Kagome looked back at Hoku, which made Hoku blush.
"Arigato Kagome-san…is you a priestess?"
Kagome shook her head.
"Iie, someday I might be. C'mon I will take you came to my camp-"Kagome turned around to see a huge dark figure before her.
He had black, wavy hair, eye filled with hateful emotion. He wore dark purple royal kimono and bone like armor on his forearms and shoulders.
"Hello, young lady. I see you helped my son."
"Oh!" Kagome turned to see Hoku, standing.
He limped over to Kagome and took her hand.
"Otou-san, this is Kagome! Kagome, this is my Otou-san. She can do majik!" Hoku said, innocently.
The man grinned down at Kagome.
"Oh really? I guess she is a priestess then."
"Iie! Not yet…anyways…" Kagome blushed a little, but the uneasy feeling around his man upset her.
"Where are your friends and family Kagome-san?" The man asked.
Kagome looked around to find the path but it was no where to be found. She looked up at the sky, looking for the camp fire smoke, but the soldiers had already put it out.
"On…the path, heading West." She can only managed.
"Ah, I see. Well I live not too far from here; you can come stay with me until we find your friends."
Before Kagome could say anything her voice was called out.
"Kagome! Kagome, where are you? Damn wrench…"
"Inuyasha!" Kagome beamed.
She looked to the man and bowed.
"Arigato for the offer but those are my friends." She turned to Hoku. "Come and visit me in the Valley of the West Hoku-kun."
She hugged him, Hoku's face turned red; he was never shown so much kindness before.
"Of…of course, Kagome-chan…" Hoku managed to say.
She then started to run off towards the shouts and waved bye at the man and Hoku. Before she even knew where she was going she bumped into Inuyasha, who's arms wrapped around her so tight.
"Daddy was going to kill me if I didn't find you." Inuyasha said harshly, but sounded happy.
Kagome smiled and hugged him back. She looked up at him, to see Inuyasha looking worried, also angry.
"You found me."
Inuyasha's face started to feel hot; he was never this close to Kagome, especially her face. Something in his chest gave a jerk.
"Kagome…" Inuyasha's face softens, and leaned in a bit closer.
But a pebble came out of no where and whacked Inuyasha's ear. Inuyasha growled and pushed Kagome beside him. Inuyasha saw no one but kept yelling at the air. Kagome then had to drag him out of the forest, saying he was imaging things.
"Why was he so close to Kagome-chan?"
"Eh?" The man looked down at his son as they hid in the shadows.
"Why was that hanyou so close to Kagome-chan?" The boy growled, as he watched the two walk off back to the pat.
"Because he is trying to win Kagome's affection." The man grinned. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I don't like him that close to Kagome-chan…I just…don't."
"Then go and win her affections."
The Demon King was not pleased the children decided to wander off, and loosing Kagome. So throughout the trip Kagome rode on the King's dragon, AhUn with him and Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku were on their own horse, with fairly large bumps on their heads.
Because the King didn't like the scent that was on Kagome they traveled through-out the night and in the morning they arrived at the Valley of the West. The snow seemed to disappeared but it was still fall. The tree were huge and of all colors. Kagome's eyes could not stop searching. She saw all different types of demons, all of them seemed pretty nice, some she questioned about their loyalty but they bowed just as graceful, if not even more than the others to the King and Prince. In the center of the city was the palace. It seemed very Western built compared to her palace. But it was beautiful all the same to Kagome. They were welcomed by Sesshomaru and a huge party, which by the end knocked the children out. Sesshomaru was gathering up his things to leave back for his wife's country when The King came into his room.
"Naraku is about. I smelt his scent in the forbidden forest."
Sesshomaru looked up at his father and sighed.
"We need the Shikon no Tama…it's the only way to destroy him."
"Kagome is still too young to use it. Besides in order to do that if Inuyasha and Kagome must declare their feelings for each other. They are too young for that." The King said.
"We are not going to last long if he gets his strength back. Best way is to find him and use the Shikon no Tama. I will call for Kagura of lady of the Wind. She will be able to help train Kagome. Even though we cannot use the jewel we can at least use Kagome in battle."
"Sesshomaru!"
"What is there else to do? Only a Miko of pure heart can destroy that demon! And the last Pure Heart died when the new one was born!" Sesshomaru snapped.
The King looked away. He hated for this to come down to this. He had to do this behind the Miko King's back.
The children had fun during the winter but they had to train regularly. Kagome and Miroku trained hard to use their majik skills with Kagura-san. And Sango and Inuyasha had even harder training learning to fight with different types of weapons. What made it harder, as spring started to come around the corner, Kagura made each of them fight each other. Inuyasha vs. Sango; Inuyasha won hands down. Inuyasha vs. Miroku; hard battle but Inuyasha won. Kagome vs. Sango; Even though a bit difficult Kagome won. Kagome vs. Miroku; Kagome won without breaking a sweat. But when it came to Kagome vs. Inuyasha they refused to battle each other.
"I said for both of you to fight!" Kagura snapped, as she tried to get them to fight for the 5th time this week.
"Iie Kagura-sensei!" Kagome whimpered.
"You both don't have to hurt each other! Just battle, try to disarm the other!"
"Feh!" Inuyasha just stood there with his arms in his sleeves.
Kagura had struggles to deal with these two. Kagome wandering attention to her mastering a skill that took her years to do. Then to Inuyasha's cockiness but always comes back for more. Kagura couldn't stand them anymore nor wanting to stand before the King and Eldest Prince saying they cannot even fight against each other.
Kagura pulled out a red feather form her hair. She walked over to Kagome and then placed the red feather in Kagome's hair.
"What happens Inuyasha if a demon takes a form of your beloved?" Kagome's eyes goes blank and they looked up at Kagura, obeying.
"Eh?" Inuyasha sense's Kagome's change in energy.
"It will leave you weak and open to any attack." Kagura grinned and let go of Kagome. "Go and fight him Kagome."
Kagome took out her katana and ran at Inuyasha, thrusting the sword at him. Inuyasha yelped and barely dodge the attack. He jumped up into a tree and growled at Kagura.
"Make her stop!"
"Why? What is this problem comes to life? Where your enemy takes control of your beloved and make them fight against you?" Kagura grinned.
Kagome then drops her sword, pretends to sweep.
"Inuyasha…"
Inuyasha's ears twitched and forgetting about the fight jumps down to Kagome's side.
"What's wrong Kago-"Inuyasha took the bait, Kagome had made an energy fist and placed a punch into his stomach.
The unfamiliar eyes seemed to dance as Kagome grinned as Inuyasha fell to his knees. She then jumped up and kicked him in the face making him slide across the ground.
"Kagura-sensei! Stop this!" Sango pleaded, but was ignored.
"It is the scariest thing in the world…to see who you care for most of all…coming at you in battle. Seeming not to remember a thing you two had shared." Kagura explained as Kagome walked towards Inuyasha, just grinning, looking like Kagura.
Inuyasha looks up, glaring at Kagome.
"Kagome…it's me…."
There wasn't any respond. Inuyasha couldn't see in his Kagome in her eyes. He started to growl.
"So Inuyasha how does it feel to fight the one you love?" Kagura asked, walking up behind him.
Inuyasha growled loudly and got to his feet.
"I do not know where you got that crazy idea…I do not love Kagome!" Inuyasha jumped up, extending his claws and taking a swipe.
Inuyasha landed behind Kagome's, the red feather, cut in half, leaving Kagome unharmed. Problem was, Kagome heard everything that was said. Kagome turned to Inuyasha, tears streaming down her face. Inuyasha turned to look at her and saw her eyes, he saw his Kagome. But when he reached for her she pulled away.
"Iie!" She snapped, slowly backing away.
"Kagome-"
"Do not refer to me that way!" Kagome shouted, tears streaming down her face. "I am Hime no Kagome-sama to you!"
"Wait-let me explain-"
"Hanyou no baka!" Kagome screamed and ran off.
Kagura watched Kagome run off and looked to Inuyasha.
"Then we are doomed. To think our future rests on you and Kagome's shoulders." Kagura pushed her hair back.
The young hanyou, now in tears himself glared at his teacher.
"Why did you do that? Why are you pushing us like that?"
"Because, our lives rest in your hands Inuyasha. If she means nothing to you-"Kagura grabs Inuyasha by his collar of his kimono and raises him up to her face. "-then why not fight her in the first place?"
"Because…because she is my friend!" Inuyasha snapped.
"Bull shit!" Kagura glared at him. "You're in love with her, a simple fact. Why not admit it?"
"Iie!" Inuyasha struggled, grabbing hold of Kagura's wrist.
"Why do you fight it? It's a natural feeling-"
"Death will only take her away! If I say things like that it will take her away like they did Okaa-san!" Inuyasha's golden eyes narrowed up at Kagura, making Kagura freeze.
Her face softened and pulls him into a hug, petting his soft hair.
"Inuyasha…if you don't tell her, then someone will take her instead. Where you could be by her side, someone else would be there."
Images run through Inuyasha's head, seeing pictures of an older Kagome, holding onto some other man's arm.
"He would make her laugh."
Inuyasha could hear Kagome's giggle, seeing her smiling up at the man.
"Making her smile. Holding her so very close…"
In the image he sees Kagome being pulled close to the man, him leaning down to-but he wouldn't let it happen. Inuyasha pushed out of Kagura's arms, he held onto his head, as more images came to his head.
No one will take our Kagome…
Kagura kneeled before Inuyasha, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Inuyasha-sama? Is something wrong?"
Inuyasha looked up at Kagura with demonic red eyes, his claws start to grow longer, and a purple stripe appears on his cheeks.
Kagome ran through the palace, down her wing of the building to her bedroom. She slammed the doors and locked them. She faced the doors and started to back away from them. She saw an image of Inuyasha, extending his claws, glaring at her.
"I don't love Kagome!" The image faded as more tears streamed down her face.
She turned herself from the door and pounced onto the bed. She grabbed a pillow and held on tightly.
Outside her window, a boy in ice blue kimono climbed higher onto the sakura tree and looked into the window, down at Kagome, watching her cry. He then climbed down the tree and once on the main branch. He grabbed from the branch some of the pink sakura blossoms that just woke up from the winter slumber. He added to the white bundle of roses he already had and jumped onto her balcony. He then entered the room.
"Kag-Oof!" The boy's face gets planted with a pillow.
"I hate you Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed, about to throw another pillow across the room but noticed she hit someone.
She got off the bed and pulled the pillow off the boy. Her eyes widen.
"Hoku-kun!"
Hoku smiled sheepishly and held up the flowers.
"Kon'wa Kagome-chan…I saw you crying…and I don't like to see you cry. Please be happy."
Kagome looked at the flowers and gasped. They were her favorites: Sakura Blossoms and White Roses. And it was the second gift given to her by someone else other than her Father. She took the flowers and more tears fell down her face. Hoku got up and panicked.
"Do-don't cry! You don't li-like them? I'll get you some dif-different ones! Please don't cry…"
Kagome smiled at Hoku-kun and shook her head.
"Iie…I am happy." Kagome pounces on Hoku, hugging him tight. "Arigato…Hoku-kun."
Hoku's face turns red and he returns the hug.
"Your welcome…Kagome-chan. Tell me what's bothering you."
Kagome then told the entire story of her day training with Kagura-sensei and what she was force to do. Then the battle between Inuyasha and how he didn't love her.
"Well…do you love him?" Hoku asked, wanting to know for himself.
Kagome looked up at him and looked at him with a curious face.
"Of course, just like how I love you too."
Hoku smiled weakly. 'She is too young to understand what it means.'
Hoku stood up and took Kagome's hand and lead her to her bed. He picks her up and places her on her bed. He takes her hand again and gets down on one knee before her.
"Let's run away Kagome, and I promise I will never let Inuyasha hurt you again."
"Like hell you will punk!" A growl came from behind the door.
The two looked at the door and it breaks at its hinges, making the door fall. Hoku stood up and held Kagome, when the dust cleared Hoku checked to see if Kagome was safe. Then looked back at the door.
There stood Inuyasha, walking towards them.
"Take your ugly hands off my Kagome."
Ha! I did a cliff hanger! I love cliff hangers! I hope you all like! Please review! 3 à SAT