Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

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The War Between Races
Chapter 9 - What's your name?

By: Scaevola
Published 9/16/05
Updated 10/14/05

Ryuukossei studied the letter in front of him. He usually did not take interest in other demons, but this Lord Naraku was an intriguing person.

Naraku appeared to be extremely cunning, more powerful than one might believe. Had Ryuukossei met Naraku before, he probably would have passed him off as a weakling barely worth his notice. Yet this letter that Naraku had sent changed his opinion of the demon entirely.

Lord Naraku had apparently gained InuTaisho's trust slowly, feeding him information that would make InuTaisho believe Naraku was his strongest supporter. Apparently, Naraku had achieved a status of almost a family member of the Taisho's - before he had several of his slaves kill the Emperor, making it seem as though the humans had done it.

And now Naraku had come with an offer for Ryuukossei, one that was too good to refuse. Ryuukossei shook with laughter at the thought. All of this, the war, his worst enemy's death, the future deaths of Sesshomaru and InuYasha, all of it, is because of this Lord Naraku.

Yes, Ryuukossei was sure he and Lord Naraku would get along just fine.

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InuYasha sighed as he walked, once again trying to pull the rosary, the slave necklace, off of himself. Unfortunately, it wouldn't budge. He paled at the thought of becoming a slave. What if they didn't release him? The thought of being a slave to worthless humans was humiliating. Him! InuYasha, prince of the western lands, a slave!

He glared at the older miko who had enslaved him. She ignored him, and continued on her way past him. The young princess gave him a wary look before hurrying after the older miko. InuYasha snarled and continued walking, ignoring the demon slayers surrounding them with their weapons ready.

Not that they needed to keep their weapons ready. InuYasha had no intention of trying to hurt the princess yet. Not when the older miko could so easily have him kill with a word. Yes, the possibilities were endless with slave necklaces. The owner could set any word they wanted to the necklace, as well as th punishment he would receive.

InuYasha shuddered. He remembered Jinji trying to resist as he was enslaved. Some of his family members too. He hoped that he would not be facing the same fate Jinji had. He knew humans were not kind to their demon slaves.

InuYasha realized that the princess was staring at him. When she realized that he had noticed, she quickly turned away, blushing.

InuYasha would have found her attractive, were she not human. Humans were filthy creatures, he knew that just as any other demon did.

One of the demon slayers spoke. "Lady Kaede, Princess Kagome. I think we should stop here for the night."

The older miko nodded. "Very well. We will continue in the morning."

InuYasha groaned. Humans moved pitifully slow! He looked for a nearby tree. Finding one with large enough branches, he quickly leapt up and leaned back against the trunk, allowing his legs to dangle in the air.

He ignored the noises of the humans setting up their tents and starting the fire, instead staying in a stony silence as they ate and enjoyed the warmth of the fire. He didn't want to spend more time with the humans than he had to.

The princess, unfortunately, had other ideas. He sensed her coming closer, her footsteps, her way of breathing. He had already had them memorized; he didn't know why, and the fact that he had done it without even thinking about it annoyed him. Most of all though, her scent. For some reason, he wanted to keep breathing it in.

Whenever he smelled her, he couldn't get the damn princess out of his head. It was like poison! The filthy little human girl was screwing with his senses.

He opened his eyes to see the girl staring up at him. "Won't you come down to eat?" she asked, her voice wavering a little.

'Probably still scared of me' he thought. He closed his eyes, not bothering to answer her.

She stood there, waiting, in silence. Finally, she spoke again. "You could at least come down. You have no reason to fear us."

InuYasha bristled with anger. "Fear you?" he shouted. "I don't fear you, I'm disgusted of you! You humans are filthy creatures, not only do you assassinate my- Our emperor, you also enslave me after I save you all!"

The girl flinched at his tone, and lowered her head. She stayed there though, apparently determined to make him so angry he wanted to kill her.

"We didn't assassinate your Emperor." she said it so quietly that InuYasha could barely hear, but he did.

He looked down at her then. "What?" he asked, more to reassure himself that he had heard correctly.

"I said we didn't assassinate InuTaisho! We had nothing to do with it!" she shouted.

InuYasha looked down at her with wide eyes. "What do you mean you didn't do it! The human's scent was all over the room!"

"I swear, we never scent anyone to Daelis to assassinate your Emperor. I know it's hard to trust me, but you must believe me when I say this!" she shouted.

InuYasha leapt down from the branch he was sitting on, landing next to the girl. She jumped, startled by his sudden appearance next to her. She stood very still as he sniffed her, trying to find any sign of lies. When he found none, he looked at her.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm very sure." she answered.

He sniffed her again, still finding no scent of lies.He stopped when she giggled, pushing him away.

"What?" he asked.

"N-nothing. It was just kind of funny how you did that." she said, looking away from him.

"Feh." InuYasha said, turning away from her. He sat down on the ground, legs crossed and sword resting in his lap.

She hesitantly walked up to him and sat down next to him. He breathed deep, losing himself in her scent before he remembered that she was a human.

'Disgusting creatures!' he thought. But then he looked over at the princess, who was staring off into space. She had actually spoken with him, and seemed to have lost all of her fear of him. Now she even seemed to want his company. Perhaps humans weren't as bad as he thought.

He looked over at the others, who were still setting up camp. They were moving slowly, talking amongst one another, laughing at jokes that they were sharing. The older miko sat by the fire, seemingly lost in her thoughts. InuYasha knew differently however. He had seen her occasional glance his direction, probably to making sure the Princess was alright.

The princess laid down, staring up at the stars. She was silent for some time, before she finally spoke.

"I'm sorry." she said.

InuYasha looked down at her curiously. "For what?"

She brought her hand up to the rosary, lightly tracing it with her finger. "For this. We shouldn't have done it."

InuYasha snorted. "Not like you had a choice. The old miko is right, you know."

Kagome smiled faintly. "I know. You would have turned on us, but you wouldn't now, right?" she asked.

InuYasha thought for a moment. "If what you say is true, that you humans truly didn't send assassins to my- our emperor, then no, I suppose not."

They fell silent for awhile, InuYasha studying the humans by the fire, and Kagome at his side, gazing at the stars.

Finally, Kagome spoke again. "Do you think, that if the demons knew that we did not assassinate their Emperor, that the war would stop?"

InuYasha sighed. He noticed that a lot of the chatter had fallen silent at the camp, the people at the fire were listening to their conversation closely.

"No, I think that even if I got word to the demons, they wouldn't even care about it anymore. The other demon lords are power hungry, and would still want to fight, even if they knew the truth."

Kagome sighed. "So then there really isn't any hope."

The western prince frowned. The more he thought about it, the worse it seemed. The demons were ruthless. InuYasha's only hope was meeting Sesshomaru at Kirei and trying to convince him that peace could still be found. If Sesshomaru was convinced that the humans did not kill their father, then perhaps there was hope.

"Yes there is," he said. The princess looked up at him, surprised. "If Lord Sesshomaru can be convinced of the truth, then he could call off the war. The demon's wouldn't be happy with it, but they wouldn't disobey him." he explained.

Kagome nodded. "And if Sesshomaru isn't convinced, then what?"

"Then, we fight." answered InuYasha.

"We?" asked Kagome, catching onto his words.

Inwardly, InuYasha winced. Had he said that out loud? "I won't allow any demons to harm you, or any other human if your innocent. I'm not ruthless." he said.

Kagome beamed, and quickly sat up, hugging him. InuYasha choked, shocked that the human would do that, but quickly relaxed and regained his composure.

"Thank you!" breathed the princess.

Embarrassed, InuYasha looked over to the old miko, who was watching with amusement. He gestured to her for help, but she shook her head, letting him know that he was on his own this time.

"Uh...no problem." he said, a bit unsure of his own voice.

The princess let go of him, to his relief, and looked up at him, smiling. "Do you really mean it?" she asked.

"Feh. I said I would, didn't I?" he asked, some of his old self coming back now that he wasn't being held by the human.

The princess giggled at his sudden change in attitude, but didn't comment.

InuYasha's ears twitched at the sound of her laughter. He didn't know why, but everything about the princess was driving him crazy. Her scent, her smile, the way she moved, and just now, her laughter.

The princess, noticing his twitching ears, reached up hesitantly and grabbed one, rubbing it gently.

InuYasha, still lost in his thoughts about the princess, did not even realize he had started growling in content, or the fact that his ears were even being rubbed at all.

Kagome's eyes lit up as the hanyou leaned into her touch. Giggling, she reached with her other hand and grabbed the other ear, and began to rub that too.

Suddenly, InuYasha realized what was going on. He quickly jerked away from the princess, embarrassed at how he had just acted. He turned his head away so she wouldn't see him blush.

The princess was still smiling, seemingly unaffected by InuYasha's sudden movement.

"Your ears are so soft!" she said.

InuYasha, still embarrassed, said nothing, instead choosing to ignore the comment.

They sat silently for a moment, before Kagome finally decided to speak again.

"Hey," she called him.

InuYasha turned back to her. This time, he couldn't help but think, 'Kami she's beautiful'. He shook his head, trying to get the thought out of his mind. Ever since he had seen the girl, he'd been having unwanted thoughts like that.

"What?" he asked.

"Well...you know my name," she trailed off. "I was wondering if I can know yours now?" she asked.

Immediately, InuYasha answered with a curt, "No."

The Princess pouted. "Why not? It's just a name. It's not like it will change anything!"

InuYasha snorted. "Actually, it would change everything."

Kagome, curious, couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean?"

InuYasha stayed silent, refusing to give anymore information.

The Princess sighed. "Please? I just want to know so I don't have to call you 'Demon' or anything like that. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."

InuYasha thought about it for a moment. He looked at the girl in front of him. For whatever reason, he found himself wanting to trust this girl, to confide in her. But he knew that it would be too risky to open up to her. If the others found out, what were the chances that they would free him? He was after all, the prince of the western lands.

"Sorry, but I can't tell you." he said.

Kagome sighed. "I just want to know what to call you!" she said, shouting.

"If I told you, then I know you wouldn't free me when we reached the palace," explained InuYasha.

Suddenly, Kagome got an idea. "No, we will release you when we reach the palace, but If you don't tell me your name, then I promise that rosary will stay on."

InuYasha suppressed a shudder. That was a harsh threat. Being a demon slave in a human kingdom was a demon's worst nightmare.

"Fine, fine! I'll tell you!" he said. "My name, is InuYasha."

"InuYasha?" Kagome gasped. "Your InuYasha Taisho?"

InuYasha's ears flattened to his head. Did she have to say that so loud? Silently cursing his stupidity at telling her his name. Now the whole camp knew and was looking at him. Slowly they stood up and headed over. InuYasha couldn't help but glare at the Princess. Why did he trust her again?

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neoman1338: No, the quote is not from Sun Tzu. Good guess though! Here's a hint: He was a famous Chinese philosopher.