I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written. I'm sorry for the delay! I'm sorryfor all mistakes now. I almost didn't update, afraid that everyone who hate me for waiting so long.

In the Sands of Time

By Souls Hatred

Chapter 9 When Everything is Said

Dark eyes looked up at Inuyasha with an apologetic expression. She was sorry for crying in front of him, he had to be going through the same thing and here she was, tears streaming down her cheek because of her selfishness to have him when he wasn't even hers to have.

He was already promised to someone else, that someone who would make him happy, like she never could and someone who looked uncannily like her. It is better this way, she realized, wiping the tears from her damp face and putting on a smile.

"I-I'm sorry." She whispered, taking the shears out of his hand and turning away from him. Tears stung her eyes as she fought to keep them at bay. No, she wouldn't let him see her cry anymore. "I have more work to do, excuse me."

He watched, as she walked away from him, no words came to him as he felt the cold demeanor she had put up in her defense. She was acting like the servant to the master, and Inuyasha knew he could do nothing. Nothing he could have said would have been of any comfort. Perhaps it was for the best. One last look at her retreating form and he turned to go back to the castle.

A sigh escaped his lips as he saw Miroku coming to meet him at the entrance. What did he want now? Inuyasha was in no mood to be bothered at this point until suddenly the plan he'd come up with the night before resurfaced in his mind. Suddenly he wanted to run to the monk and tear out all the information he wanted, but when he reached Miroku, a mask of indifference was placed on his features, betraying nothing of what he felt.

"What do you want? I have places to be." His voice was filled with its usual arrogance and carelessness as his thoughts screamed and fought to escape the hold he had on them. Anything to draw suspicion had to be removed, and that included an over eager groom-to-be.

"Well, aren't you the happy one this morning?" A small knowing smirk played across the monks face. "Just wanted you to know that everything is almost ready for this evening, only need to have your conformation to continue." The words would seem like nothing to the passerby but they meant the world to Inuyasha. He had to fight to keep a scowl on his face as he nodded.

"Whatever just get it over with."

"As you wish."

Fatigue plague Kagome as the sun started to fall through the sky, signaling the coming end of the life she knew. Only to start another one, somewhere she'd never expected to be, in a foreign castle that opened memories wished to be forgotten and people thought to be dead.

The work did nothing to stop her thoughts from coursing through her mind it only strengthened them, reminding her with every swipe of the brush that this was her life forever. Suddenly she felt horrid at the things she'd put Inuyasha through for her when he was her bodyguard. He'd done everything she'd asked him to, and complained about the name and a few occasionally stupid things. Hell, he complained every second he was with her.

Tears mixed into the soapy water on the floor as her thoughts led her to the past. If she'd just let him do his job, maybe they wouldn't be there right now, maybe she'd still be in her castle wishing she could spend every moment with those amber eyes constantly watching her every move and knowing that they would never be together. He was the guard, she the royalty. A cruel smile grew on her lips. "Now I guess it's the other way around; now I'm the maid." The thought only gave way to more tears, blurring her vision.

Reality set in, she couldn't live here. Kagome couldn't live here knowing this was her fate, to watch her love grow old with another woman and only be able to watch from the side.

However, fate was a fickle thing, never moving how you thought and never turning out how you dreamed.

The plan only depended on Inuyasha to finish it now. Miroku had done his part, now all Inuyasha had to was go through with his part.

Inuyasha didn't know how he was going to make it though the day. Every second was spent thinking of the raven-haired beauty that was out of his reach and of the pain he'd caused her. Nothing he did could ever repay her for what he'd done. Ever since her coming here, he blamed himself for her capture.

She didn't know the pain he felt for betraying her that night. He doubted she'd ever know.

The prince couldn't think of anything that would atone for his actions, his failure, and treason. Not even stopping this wedding would clear his mind of the guilt he felt. Nevertheless, maybe by going through with this wedding, he could free himself from her hold. "That wouldn't solve anything and would only lead to more suffering."

Inuyasha would never do anything to cause her more pain; he'd already caused enough.

Without another thought, the King-to-be shot up from his chair and raced to the room he knew his "mother" would be.

Bursting through the door Inuyasha scanned the room for the face he sought. It wasn't too hard, there were only a couple of people there and with the loud bang of the door, and everyone's attention was captured. That is until they all saw who it was, one look at the silver hair and their attention was elsewhere.

"Mother, we need to talk." With those few words, fate began to run its course.

"Why Inuyasha, what an unexpected surprise," she made sure to put extra emphasis on the word "unexpected." Her son chose to ignore it and waited for her to follow him from the room.

"Now, please." The few strands of patience were beginning to break just at the slowness of her movements. Did she not realize how important this was? Of course, she wouldn't, because she didn't know Inuyasha.

Once they were alone in the hall, Inuyasha took a deep breath before he started. "I can't marry Kikyo."

The queen looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yes you can. She is the one that completed the trails and passed them all."

"But Kagome would have if you hadn't pulled her out." His counter was truth and she knew it, but that didn't change anything. His mother said nothing. "Wouldn't she have?"

"We couldn't have her continue."

"Wouldn't she have?" ignoring her statement. It was complete bullshit for all he cared.

"Yes." She finally whispered. "Inuyasha, you don't understand, we couldn't let her continue. Not with the way the first trail went."

"You knew from the beginning she was the one. So why did you not give her a fair chance?" he was beginning to lose the battle with his emotions.

"We gave her every chance she needed, and she proved quite effectively not to be the type of girl needed to marry my son, or rule this kingdom for that matter."

"That's shit and you know it," Nearly yelling, he continued. "You knew all about Kagome and my pasts, this was just your way of seeing it for yourself. Ever since the beginning of this, you never planned to let her get farther than the first trial. Hell, she wasn't even supposed to come with the group of girls. Was she? You wanted to keep my past hidden from me, make me your slave to do your every bidding and never question what ever happened before all of this." Everything was finally falling into place, all the unanswered questions finally answered. His mind was finally his again and she had no hold any longer.

"You trained me to become her bodyguard, knowing that was the only way you'd ever be able to get near her. I was ordered to do nothing when that man came to capture her, because you wanted her dead." He stopped to breath and recollect his thoughts. Inuyasha couldn't believe any of this was true.

"Yes, I sent you there to become her bodyguard, not to get close to her, but her family. To find some weakness I'd missed. However, when you started to get close to the girl I had to stop it before it became anything more. The king had already requested permission to wed you to his daughter. He could tell there was something between the two of you, and you not being the ordinary bodyguard blood, instead royalty, he saw no reason for the two of you not to be wed."

"What was all that crap about him being her father?"

"Great actor, no?"

"Then why…" his words where cut off by her quick explanation.

"Because I wouldn't allow my son to be connected to that blood, and the only way I saw fit was to remove her, ultimately removing you from there as well. Nevertheless, you decided to reconsider when the time finally came for her to be taken, you attacked the man, fatally wounding him. Letting her live and my plan to fail."

Inuyasha had nothing to say for a moment. His mind flying with the information she'd given. "I wouldn't allow my son to be connected to that blood." The words kept repeating like a broken record.

"You aren't even my blood mother! Why should you care what happens to me? Or who I marry for that matter?"

"Because I won't let anyone ruin the royal blood line running through your veins." Her voice had grown during the conversation and she spat out the last sentence.

"Then what are you doing here? If you care for me that much, you'd leave now before I force you to." he let all the hate and disgust drip from his words giving her a serious look before turning his back on her. "Leave woman, you're no longer bound to your title."

"You can't do that!" Inuyasha spun on his heal to face her, fire burning in his molten eyes.

"Why not? You had no right to that title since the day I turned of age. By law you should have turned over your power to me then, not when I get married." When she attempted to answer him, he cut her off. "Leave, now!"

There was nothing more to be said, and he left.

She couldn't take the images in her mind any longer and when she couldn't see the floor through her tear-filled eyes, she sat back and cried silently to herself. Tears streaking down her face and she tried to suppress the sobs that refused to stop.

Footsteps came her way, but she did nothing to compose herself.

"Let them kick me out of here, it'd be for the better…to both of us."

They stopped in front of her, Kagome could almost feel the eyes looking at her in disgust that a servant would be crying on the floor, and the floor still streaked with soapy water. Oddly, she didn't care anymore, but she wished that they would just go away and let her be in peace. Then she heard a soft, uncertain voice.

"Miss Kagome?" at her name, she looked up at a blurry purple blob. Nodding she wiped away as much liquid from her face as possible. "Miss Kagome, could you please come with me?"

Here it was, she was going to be thrown out of here for good. If it would help Inuyasha, she was willing to go, no matter how much it tore her apart, it would only hurt more staying here.

Slowly Kagome pushed herself from the ground, her face bowed to the ground. "I'm-I'm sorry." She managed to speak.

"Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry for." She looked up at him in astonishment. What did he mean, she "had nothing to be sorry for"? Kagome had a whole life to be sorry for. Sorry for destroying any chance at normalcy it ever had, and killing years off from it. She couldn't speak any of that though; her words were lost in her throat that felt like cotton.

"Come on, we should hurry."

"Yes, hurry and get rid of me." The former princess followed in silence behind the man in purple robs. Her vision had cleared by now and she could make out his black hair, pulled into a small ponytail, Miroku.

Kagome had to admit that the time spent here had definitely been worth every minute of suffering just to have seen him again. To see him alive. To feel his arms around her and his lips on hers. It had all been worth those few moments together.

When Kagome had finally accepted her fate with a whole heart, they passed the gate doors and headed further down the hall. To her astonishment he led her to a room filled with loose pieces of fabric littering the floor and air and in the center of the room, picking at the material of a skirt was an old woman. Hair grayed with age, an eye patch, and a knowledge only acquired with years of life.

"Here she is Kaede." The old woman looked up and at them with her one good eye. Kagome felt that one eye penetrating her, sizing her up and finding her unworthy of whatever it was she was here for.

"Come here, child." Kagome slowly made her way towards the short woman, unsure what to expect. "Stand up on that platform." She did as she was told and stood wondering what to expect next.

"Miroku, don't you have something to be doing?" The monk seemed to just realize that he was still standing there, smiled and exited the room.

Kagome was almost ready to scream at him no to leave her. She was afraid that once the only person she knew left her to become a living manikin she'd go over the edge.

"Good, now that he's gone, we can get started. Sango!"

At the name, Kagome's heart skipped a beat and she forgot her fears. When Sango's head popped up from a box and saw Kagome standing in the room, her face broke into a huge smile reflected on her friend.

"Kagome!"

"Sango!" Kagome jumped from the raised floor and ran to her friend, wrapping her arms around Sango. The brown haired girl returned her hug, then pushed Kagome away slightly, and looked at her.

"You look a mess!" Her voice was light and heartfelt. "Come on, we'll make you look bright and new in no time."

At Sango's words, Kagome was led back to the platform and soon yards of white material had been wound around her small frame.

"How'd you make it here, Sango?" Kagome asked as she watched the two women start stitching the fabric together.

"Well, I'd had some background in sewing and Kaede needed some help in here, and so this is where I ended up." Sango grabbed a stray piece of fabric and pinned it in place. "Not as great as where you ended up."

"Oh, yeah. I would definitely say scrubbing floors and pans, that's the dream life alright." Kagome said sarcastically.

Sango looked at her a bit strange, then finally said, "You haven't figured it out yet, have you?"

Kagome was confused. What was her friend talking about? Figured what out? "Do you love him?" Kagome was so taken back by the question the other was forgotten.

"What?" It was meant more for a delay because Kagome had never thought about it. Did she really love him? Could she ever love him? She hardly knew him. He'd changed so much in the last few years and she'd only just met him again.

When he'd put his arm around her in the night, protecting her from the unseen foe, when she'd told him to do insane things just to make her laugh, all the memories came back to her.

"What? No, not that," he barked. "Why the hell did you order for me to be woken up just to bring you to your damn room?"

Sango repeated her question and Kagome couldn't find her voice. There was no denying that every time she looked or thought about him a content feeling filled her. She knew that given the choice between his life and hers, she'd choose to save his in an instant.

"Yes, I do."

Inuyasha, for the life of him, couldn't imagine why his friend was asking him such a ridiculous question. If the answer was no, why would he have gone through the work of stopping the wedding? Why would he have even dreamed of stopping it in the first place?

"What do you think, Miroku?"

"I don't know, Inuyasha, you tell me. Do you love her?"

His hand went up to his neck, involuntarily, touching the beads that hung there.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for something."

"Then why am I here?"

"Because it's for you."

"I feel like a girl."

If that was true, why hadn't he taken that necklace off after all these years? There was never a doubt in his mind. The first time he saw her again, and he couldn't help but feel at home with her in his arms.

He hadn't known why he was in this castle before she entered his life for the second time. As soon as he saw her, no matter what kind of front he put on, he couldn't deny the feelings that went coursing through him.

"Yes, I do."

A/N: Hahaaha! I'm done with that chapter! Have no fear, I've plenty of time and a mind full of ideas to update sometime again this month. I'm really sorry for this long delay for an update. Really I am. School definitely took up all my time. But now that it's done and I have nothing else to do for most of the day but sit in front of my computer, you guys will be getting more updates.