Thousandfurs
Chapter 12: Blood Shrine
"Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah, I'm good." Kagome gently pressed her fingertips against her cheek and winced. "It's still tender, but it should be healed in a few days."
Shippo sighed from his perch on her shoulder as he studied the welt. "I can't believe he hit you!" he said again for the hundredth time.
The princess shrugged the shoulder the kit was not occupying. "I had a headache when I woke up, but it was Naraku's hit that still hurts, not Inuyasha's. Don't worry about it. Let's just enjoy our day off, alright?"
"I guess," said the fox, not sounding at all convinced. He listened to Kagome sigh and nodded. "Right. New subject. Well, I can't believe that the king gave us today off. He usually waits a few days after the feast, so the staff can clean up. Many of the nobles are still here after all."
"It is strange," agreed Kagome with a frown. The announcement that half of the staff had a free day had only come the night before, shortly after she had returned from Inuyasha's room with her fresh bruise. She feared that the king had heard about what had transpired between her and the prince. Her name had been at the top of the list for the first group to get the day off after all. Shippo had been waiting in her room when she had gotten back and the little fox had sat with her as Kagome had told him about her terrifying night. She hadn't even been able to tell Myoga, for fear of his reaction. So, at the moment, the princess didn't want to let go of her new confidante. When Shippo had suggested that they spend their day at the shrine just outside of the city, she had readily agreed.
"Sango wouldn't come then?" he asked softly.
Kagome shook her head. "Naraku did a real number on her back. She's in too much pain to walk this far. When I went to visit her this morning, she was resting though. Kagura had given her something to drink to help her heal."
"I hope she feels better soon," said Shippo.
The princess frowned again. She hadn't told the fox about Sango and Miroku, although he had been aware of their preliminary relationship. She didn't know if he could comprehend what was going on – she wasn't sure that she understood it. "She will," Kagome replied. "But I think I will pray for her, just in case."
They walked through the castle gates and into the city proper. The market was open and busy once again, but Shippo instructed her to turn left and walk along the castle wall, where the crowds were thinner and no one paid attention to them. It was a bright day, but she felt downtrodden, even as she went to pray to Kami. "When I was a kid, I wanted to be a priestess," she said suddenly.
Shippo looked at her. Mikos were rarities in demon territories – they were one of the few sorts of humans that youkai feared because of their purification abilities. The shrine they were headed towards had shrine maidens, naturally, but they had no holy powers. They tended to the sacred place while the priest practiced his meditations and herbal remedies for the sick. For demons, shrines were usually practical, not spiritual, unless there was need for divine guidance. Demons usually relied on their own intuition though. "Why didn't you?"
Kagome looked around and lowered her voice. "Because I am… who I am. My father wouldn't allow it, although he didn't personally ask my opinion on the matter. My mother went to him and told him how proud she was of me, how much progress I was making in my spiritual studies. He blew up about how no daughter of his would lock herself away in some shrine for her entire life. I cried for three days."
"And then?" asked the fox.
"Then, I grew up," she replied stiffly. "I realized that my life was not my own and that my father would make all the decisions, even though he barely took the time to speak to me in passing. I knew that he would make me marry someone I would possibly never love. I just didn't realize who that would be."
Shippo jumped into her arms and looked up at the girl. "But it'll be alright now. Even if you stay a servant for the rest of your life, it'll be okay. Servants can marry anyone they want, you know?"
Her face pulled into a grimace as she thought of the proud prince, standing by his window and growling insults at her. "No, they can't. Not just anyone they want." Kagome sighed. "I shouldn't have gone to that first dance, much less the second. All I've accomplished is distressing him and making myself miserable. He'll look for me at the next dance and what can I do? If I go, I'll just be continuing this charade and risking my identity. If I don't go… I think he would tear this kingdom apart. What am I going to do? Go to every dance until my kimonos fall apart? I'll be pathetic, if I'm not already."
"You're not pathetic." The fox kit paused and scratched at his ears. "Kagome. Do you love him? I mean, I know you like him a lot, because you wouldn't go see him if you didn't, but do you really love him?"
The princess bit her lip. "That's a loaded question. I do, when he knows who I really am and he treats me as someone precious, even in his heavy-handed way. And then, I hate him when he does stuff like-." She broke off and waved her hand over her bruised head. "I think though, that I mostly love him. Even after he hurt me, he had this look… the same one he gave me when I was a princess and he was asking me to stay with him. He was in pain, aware that everything might have changed."
"Inuyasha loves you," he said softly.
"He has the same problem I do," she corrected. "He loves the princess and hates Thousandfurs, just as I love the prince and hate the bitter man he can be. He just doesn't know that he has that problem. I'm keenly aware of it. And we're both miserable for it."
Shippo fell silent for a moment and then glanced up at her again. "Did you continue your studies to become a priestess, even though your father didn't want it?"
Kagome furrowed her brows. "No. Back then, it didn't occur to me that I could have disobeyed him. I always did as he asked, until it just became too much to bear. I could have been powerful though. Very powerful. Many of my ancestors were priestesses and my tutors said that I had a natural talent. Why do you ask?"
The little fox shrugged. "It'd be weird, you and Inuyasha being together, if you were a priestess too. A human and a miko? I've never heard of it happening before."
"It probably has happened. When humans and youkai weren't at each others' throats and wars hadn't destroyed everything. A demon prince might have actively sought out someone as powerful as a priestess in the old days." She frowned. "I wonder if it would have gone back to how it was if Inuyasha and Kikyo had gotten married as planned."
Shippo scowled and shifted uncomfortably. "The only thing Kikyo was good for was making things worse," he said. "Let her be queen and she'll rip apart the demon territories too."
"Yeah, probably," Kagome whispered as they approached a small gate in the wall. A flagstone road ran through it, flanked by two guards.
He could smell her sadness, but did not mention it as the guards spotted them. After a few moments of answering their questions and waiting for the gate to swing open, the pair made their way through the city walls. The road ascended a small hill, atop of which the shrine sat. Shippo tugged upon Kagome's cloak and pointed it out. It was a large shrine, as befitted its placement close to the city and its slate roof looked almost blue in the sunlight. No less than three torii gates marked its entrance, along with a pair of massive guardian statues carved in the shape of dogs. Even Kagome could smell the incense wafting down the hill.
She stopped in her steps however, when she spotted a familiar steed grazing in the tall grass nearby. "Inuyasha is here," she whispered, starting to panic. "What is he doing here?"
Shippo frowned and leapt up to her shoulder. "Probably apologizing to the Kami for hitting you," he said sourly. "Just go in, Kagome. He still doesn't know it's you and he can't do anything in the shrine. He may be the prince, but the priest would never allow him to act against you in there."
"But how I smell… he commented on it last night. I managed to not give him a straight answer, but if he asks again, I might not be so able."
The fox shook his head. "Stop worrying, Kagome. The incense is so strong right now, that I can barely smell you."
Sighing, Kagome walked through the torii and to the fountain beside the shrine entrance. Washing her mouth and hands with the cold water, she quickly shed her shoes and went inside with the fox kit whispering assurances in her ear. Inuyasha was indeed there, bowing before the kami. Three shrine maidens looked up at Kagome when she came in, their dark eyes following her as she placed a coin in the offering box.
"She is human," said Shippo suddenly and softly, nodding towards the smallest of the three women standing near a far doorway. "I wonder why they took her in. A lot of youkai would avoid this place, knowing a human is tending to the shrine."
The princess nodded, aware that many demons would find this blasphemous. But Inuyasha was here, his forehead nearly to the ground, and he didn't seem to mind the fact that a human girl stood a few feet away. Kagome walked forward and bowed to the kami, moving her mouth as she silently prayed for her health, for Sango, and perhaps, a return to her former place as princess. Her cheeks burned red as she prayed for this – the kami had removed her title, why should they give it back for a coin and a prayer?
Beside her, Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably and turned his face to the wall, but continued to pray. He was embarrassed by her presence, she realized. She should have been pleased. His actions indicated that he felt remorse, after all. But all she felt was his embarrassment, eating away at her heart. She looked down at Shippo, who stood next to her in reverent silence, and decided that they had to leave. She had managed enough for today.
As she straightened her back, one of the shrine maidens – the human – approached her, holding out a thin wooden plate. Kagome stared at it for a moment. She rarely wrote her wishes on an ema for the kami to grant. The last time had been during her mother's illness, when she had made the long trip to the most sacred shrine outside of her city to write on the wood slab and leave it hanging in the trees. It would be rude to refuse the gift however, and so she took the ema and held it in her hands.
"She doesn't know how to write," Inuyasha said suddenly, his back still turned. He looked over his shoulder with his golden eyes at the human girls. "She's a servant in the castle. She doesn't know how to write. Or do you?" His gaze swiftly fixed upon Kagome with half-hearted suspicion.
The princess shook her head, keeping her eyes anywhere but his face. "No. No one has ever taught me how, Inuyasha-sama."
He stood up slowly, like an old man with his hands bracing against his knees. "Give me a brush and I'll write your wishes for you," he said.
Kagome shifted her weight and glanced at the prince. He looked tired with circles beneath his eyes and his silver hair unusually lackluster. "That would be very kind of you, Your Highness," she replied, as one of the other maidens pressed the brush and ink into his clawed hands. "But as I was about to tell this miko, I have no wish that important."
"Everyone wants something that the kami should hear about," he said. He nodded towards the human girl. "And she's not a miko. She was found wandering around the forest a few weeks ago and the priest was the only one that would take her in. She's too small to do any real work yet, but I guess she'll come to the castle kitchens soon enough."
The princess had never heard him speak so much without prodding. Why was he telling her so much? Helping her? She desperately wanted to ask if it had been his attack on her that had upset his natural instincts so much. Or perhaps her other identity, the guise of the silver kimono, that he was thinking about. "What is your name?" she asked the other human. The girl just smiled toothily at her.
"She doesn't talk," said one of the true shrine maidens, her eyes flashing with slight distrust at this new human. "No one can make her utter a sound. She may be deaf and dumb."
Kagome looked at the girl's glittering eyes. "She understands us," she asserted softly. She glanced back at the prince as he dipped the brush into the ink. "I wish that this girl could find her voice, so that she can have a name again."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, but wrote down her words. "Anything else?" he asked, his easy brushstrokes gliding across the wood. "Anything selfish? This was supposed to be for you. Or are you one of those girls that can never ask anything for herself? That's really annoying, you know. It sounds so superior."
"It's hard to be superior when you're a servant," pointed out Kagome, her hackles rising. So much for being penitent and helpful! He couldn't even go three minutes in her presence without being a jerk! "But if you insist, Your Highness, put that I wish to not work for Naraku-san any longer."
He glanced up at her, his brush pausing in the inkwell. "Work for Naraku-san? Or the castle kitchens?"
"The kami may take it as they will," replied Kagome, her eyebrow raised.
The prince finished his work and handed over the ema. "I'd be careful what you wish for, Thousandfurs," he said darkly. "The kami have a funny way of interpreting things sometimes."
She glowered at him. "I also wish that Inuyasha-sama would remember my name and call me as such," she said hotly.
He smirked back at her and moved towards the door. "I know who you are, Thousandfurs."
Looking down at the ema in her hand, Kagome flushed red to see that, instead of her proper name, he had written 'Thousandfurs'. Shippo growled softly as he read it from her shoulder. "Hey!" she called, running after him and out onto the grounds. "Inuyasha-sama!"
He paused and turned to look at her. Although he still wore the smirk, his ears fell limply against his head. Kagome took a moment to gather her strength to make him feel worse than he already did, but Shippo spoke first. "You wrote 'Thousandfurs' on here!" the fox kit snapped. "It's one thing to call her that to her face, but you're talking to the kami! You should have more respect, Your Highness!" He jumped down to the ground and stared up at the prince. "Especially after what you did to her!"
Inuyasha blanched and looked at Kagome. The princess shook her head sadly. "I couldn't lie to him, my prince."
"Oh, but you can lie to me freely!" he shot back.
Kagome bit her lip. "I would do nothing against you without careful thought," she replied, her voice returning to its normal pitch. "Please, you have to understand…"
Inuyasha began to interrupt her, his ears straightening. But suddenly, there was the creaking noise of a gate and the three fell silent as they turned to see who was coming up the hill. "Sesshoumaru-sama," said Shippo. "And Prince Koga. They must be leaving today. I didn't think they'd want to stop at the shrine first."
"Shut up, runt," murmured Inuyasha, his eyes on his brother and his enemy. The apples of his cheeks turned red as he remembered that Koga had been witness to the scene the previous night. As he watched the wolf smirk, the prince realized it was a minor miracle they hadn't already collided that morning. "Damn it."
Sesshoumaru and Koga left their retinues outside of the torii and entered together. The dog demon wore white and the wolf wore his traditional furs, looking shabby next to his kingly companion. Kagome bowed and retreated to the far corner of the courtyard with Shippo close behind. "He danced with me last night," said the princess when the fox leapt up to her shoulder again. "Will he recognize me?"
The fox watched as the wolf and dog demons washed their hands and mouths at the fountain. "Possibly," he admitted. "Sesshoumaru has a better nose than anyone I know, even with the incense burning. But even if he did recognize your scent, he wouldn't really care to tell Inuyasha about it. He keeps his own counsel."
Kagome nodded, smiling to herself when Sesshoumaru passed by without a glance and went into the shrine. The same could not be said of the wolf prince. Koga hovered in the courtyard, smirking at the hanyou prince. "So, dog crap," drawled the wolf, as he cleaned his hands, "have you seen your pretty little girl around lately?"
"Mind your own business, wolf," snapped Inuyasha.
Koga stepped away from the fountain before he finished the ritual and put his hands on his hips. "You have no clue who she is, do you?" he laughed.
The prince froze for a moment before relaxing. "Neither do you!"
The wolf took out his offertory coin and began to flip it between his fingers, his thumbnail clicking on the metal. "On the contrary, I know exactly who she is."
Shippo's claws dug into Kagome's shoulder to stop her from gasping out loud. Her fingers closed sharply around the ema. "No, please," she whispered, so quietly that she could not hear herself. "I have a new wish. Don't let it be this way."
Inuyasha set his jaw. "You're lying," he gritted out. "She would never have told you."
"Maybe she wasn't entirely truthful about who she really preferred," the wolf said with a smile. "Or perhaps you're not worthy of her. It was quite a simple task to find her true identity. Says something about you, doesn't it?"
"Ignore him, Inuyasha," Kagome whispered as the prince tensed up his body and closed his eyes. "Don't get angry, please."
Koga's chest rumbled with laughter again. "Come on, Inuyasha. Don't you want to know who it is?" he mocked.
Inuyasha's eyes snapped open. "You don't know! She has chosen me. If she would have told anyone, she would have told me first. She was about to last night, when you and Kikyo interrupted us," he said. "After I asked her to stay."
Shippo made a little noise of surprise. "He asked you to stay with him?" he whispered.
"Yeah. So? I thought it was kind of sweet."
The fox kit shook his head and watched Koga turned red in anger. "Oh, he's not laughing now," Shippo muttered. "Kagome, youkai take what you would call marriage a lot more seriously than humans. If he's asking you to stay with him, that's really intense. It's not just a visit, it's the beginning of becoming mates."
Kagome's eyes widened in realization as Koga advanced upon the hanyou. "She would never stay with you," he snapped. "Who would stay with a mongrel when she could stay with a true prince like me?"
"Where? In a cave?" sneered Inuyasha. "You're not a prince, you're the animal."
"At least I don't stand in front of her and admit that I would go to another female if given the chance," said Koga. "You think that two dances are going to convince her that Kikyo isn't a threat? I'm surprised she didn't run from you earlier."
The hanyou growled, his golden eyes flashing. "Oh? And what about you? Have you told her about Ayame yet?"
Koga bared his teeth. "There's nothing to tell!"
"I think the fact that your father intends for her to be your mate is more than nothing!" Inuyasha yelled back. "Although, I have to say I feel sorry for her! She's stuck with an ass like you!"
There was a flash of movement and suddenly Koga was on the hanyou. Kagome screamed, but Shippo pulled on her cloak. "You're just a servant!" he warned softly. "Let them do what they want!"
Inuyasha threw off the wolf, rolled to his feet and launched a counterattack, swinging his claws at the other prince. Koga dodged and tried to sweep his claws across Inuyasha's gut, but missed by inches. The hanyou yelled and slammed down his fist where Koga had been a moment before.
Sesshoumaru suddenly appeared at the shrine entrance, his usually impassive face creased with irritation. The shrine maidens stood nearby, their hands clasped in worry. "You dishonor the kami," he said to the fighting pair. "Stop this!"
Koga dove for Inuyasha and left four long claw marks in a tree. It shook with the force, shedding the paper slips, omikuji, marked with fortunes for the kami to read. They fell like white rain as the wolf went for the hanyou again. The shrine maidens made noises of distress as they stepped on the omikuji. "Stop it!" they cried. "Please, stop!"
The silent human girl slipped around Sesshoumaru and her companions and walked slowly over to the tree, trying to avoid the wolf and dog demons. She began to collect the omikuji, tucking them into her sleeves. Inuyasha and Koga didn't see her as they continued to trade blows. Inuyasha had deep claw marks in his shoulder, with blood dripping onto the ground. Koga didn't bleed, but clutched at his ribs often enough to tell everyone that he had his own injuries.
Miroku came through the torii and stopped when he caught sight of the fight in progress. "Inuyasha! Koga-sama!" he called. The pair ignored him and the diplomat brought forward a staff that Kagome had never seen before, with rings jingling at the top. He sighed and walked over to Sesshoumaru. "My king, I came as soon as I had heard that the two princes would be so unfortunate as to be here together."
"Inuyasha dishonors my father's name with this childish behavior," said the taiyoukai. He glanced at the diplomat's staff. "You are a monk as well?"
"I broke the tradition in my family by becoming a diplomat instead," admitted Miroku. "But I have some inherent holy powers. If it comes down to it, I will use these." He pulled out several slips of paper – demon wards.
Sesshoumaru restrained himself from recoiling from the potent paper. "Despite my intense dislike for both my half-brother and the wolf prince, I expect that purification will not be necessary."
Miroku watched as Inuyasha was sent flying across the courtyard, his back slamming into a tree trunk and sending down another flock of omikuji. The prince sat at the base of the tree, shaking his head clear. "Well, this really isn't going anywhere."
"Watch out!"
The diplomat and demon king looked up to see Kagome stretching out her hands. Koga was speeding towards the still sitting Inuyasha, lifting his claws high in the air. But as Inuyasha moved away, there was a split second of realization for the reason of Kagome's outburst.
Koga's claws came down into the little girl's back as she continued to collect the omikuji. Blood splattered upon them as she cried out and fell into the grass. Koga pulled back sharply, his claws sliding out of her flesh with ease. He looked up at the others, the color draining from his face. "I… she was just there! How… I mean…"
Kagome ran forward, across the courtyard, but was caught in Miroku's arms. "Don't, Kagome," he said.
"I have to see! Someone has to try to help her!" she cried, struggling in his grasp.
"Not even a demon could survive a blow like that," said the diplomat. He looked up as the shrine maidens bent over the silent girl. They were carefully avoiding the pool of blood collecting around her. Shaking their heads, they looked up at Miroku with impassive faces. "I'm sorry, Kagome. There's nothing we can do."
One of the shrine maidens stood and stared at Koga. "You've tainted this sacred place with the impurity of death," she seethed.
"I didn't mean to hurt anyone!" the wolf snapped.
"Except for my brother," Sesshoumaru intoned, stepping forward. He dismissed the two angry shrine maidens with a wave of his hand. "You were fighting in the world of the kami and this is the result. You should both be ashamed."
"We didn't even know who she was!" wailed Kagome, earning a look of irritation from several of the others.
Miroku bowed his head and pressed his hands together, whispering a prayer for the dead. "We shall find out who she was, so that her family may know of her fate," he said softly.
"She was probably some street urchin," said Inuyasha, his eyes shifting to avoid looking at the corpse. "She wouldn't have any family."
The diplomat shrugged. "Or she is the child of traders, or nobility. Those are probably the only humans that come near here. They would want to know the whereabouts of their child, so that they may say the proper prayers." He paused and frowned. "There is one more possibility of course. Besides traders and nobles, the only place a human could have come from was Nakao."
Koga and Inuyasha both jerked their heads up, staring at the diplomat. "Nakao?" said the wolf prince, speaking the word as it left a bad taste in his mouth. "Why would any human from that hellish place be willing to come here? They're all taught that we're monsters. It's practically the only thing they teach the schoolchildren there."
Miroku nodded his agreement. "Yes, and this girl was friendly towards all youkai, so it's unlikely that she is from Nakao. But if she is, it's possible that she is the Nakao princess. I think the age is about right."
Kagome's eyes widened and Shippo once again dug his claws into her skin, reminding her to keep silent. Sesshoumaru, meanwhile, sent a cool look towards Miroku. "Many human children are of this age. Why should this corpse be a princess?"
"I'm not certain of it, of course, Your Majesty," said the diplomat. "But it fits. She arrived a short time ago and the Nakao kingdom just officially announced that they have been missing their princess. They would have looked on their own for quite some time before making that admission, although we had pretty much known already."
Inuyasha scowled. "I hadn't heard about that."
"Well, perhaps you should make a habit of coming to my daily reports with your parents," Miroku said, his voice edged with irritation. "The point is, the timeline fits and the fact that she came here, the one place that she had half a chance to gain acceptance, speaks to my theory. She remained completely silent in order to keep her secret."
The hanyou shot Thousandfurs a brief look. "Why would a princess leave her life in Nakao to come here?"
"I think we have all heard the rumors," said the diplomat, the corners of his lips turning down. "I don't think they bear repeating in this holy place."
Inuyasha burned red for a moment. "But she's so young," he said.
Miroku nodded solemnly. "Which makes it that much more disgusting. The princess of Nakao has a brother of about seventeen years. I cannot know the king's motives, but perhaps he does not want his own son to succeed him, necessitating another marriage and heir."
Sesshoumaru looked down at the body. "If she is the princess, this could start a war."
Suddenly, there was a ripple of sound, like the hollow echo of an enormous drumbeat. The demon king looked down at his side, his eyebrow raised in slight surprise. A small sword pulsed at his hip with urgency. Everyone else leaned forward to look at the unimpressive blade. "Tenseiga," said Miroku softly. "Why would it call for you now, Your Majesty?"
"I have witnessed many deaths, but it has never awoken," said the taiyoukai. "Perhaps you are right, and this girl is a princess and worthy to be revived."
"Revived?" said Kagome, her voice surprising the males who had forgotten about her presence. "You can bring her to life, Your Majesty?"
The dog demon looked at her and she fell back slightly, feeling the cold stare close around her heart. "I have never cared to use the sword, but when my father gave it to me, he said it had the power to reverse death." He looked at the dead girl again. "To use it on a human is a waste."
"But she may be royalty," said the servant girl, lying through her teeth.
Sesshoumaru cast her a sidelong glance, brief and unnoticed by the others. "Perhaps," he said. "And then, I suppose it can be justified." He drew the pulsating sword from its sheath and stepped up to the body. Narrowing his eyes at something that no one else could see, he swiped at the air with the blade. Kagome felt that she could hear the faint, shrill scream of something unearthly dying at her feet.
The corpse moved with a half-hearted sigh and suddenly, a living girl sat up in a pool of her own blood. She blinked and looked up at Sesshoumaru, still standing over her with his sword drawn. She smiled brilliantly at him.
"Keh, I think she likes you," said Inuyasha with a smirk.
"I have revived her from death. It is not unexpected that she look upon me as a savior," said the taiyoukai. He sheathed his sword and frowned at the girl. "What is your name?"
The little girl remained silent, smiling at him. Kagome couldn't help but smile with her. "Perhaps, you should give her a name, Your Majesty," Miroku said, looking very satisfied. "Until she finds her voice."
"If she has one," said the demon king. "But I will not name her. There will be no further attachment here."
"Let's call her Rin and she can be your faithful little companion, my king," said the diplomat, his grin spreading.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, the only sign of his alarm. "I have no need of a pet."
"She may be a princess, Your Majesty," he replied. "It will do no good for people to hear that you rejected the opportunity to care for a fellow king's only daughter. Even if she is the daughter of an enemy, it will paint you as fair and just. He will only receive hatred for allowing his child to wander off."
"Are you implying that it is my obligation to care for this child?" asked Sesshoumaru, almost growling.
Miroku shook his head. "No, of course not, Your Majesty. A king is never obligated to anyone but his own subjects and she definitely does not fall into that particular category. I simply suggest that you take her into your care because it will cast you in a favorable light and the Nakao king as a villain, even to his own subjects. And I think we all agree that Nakao could use some discontentment."
The dog demon king stared at the diplomat for a moment. "Although you may sway my father with your silver tongue, I will not be so easily manipulated. I already have a child in my care, one of my own blood and race."
Inuyasha rocked back and forth on his heels, loving the obvious discomfort of his elder brother. "Yuki always wanted a girl, didn't she?" he asked, grinning.
Sesshoumaru shot his sibling a deadly glare and then began to walk away. "I will no longer participate in this foolishness," he said as he passed by the diplomat.
"And the girl?" called Miroku at the king's back.
The taiyoukai paused for a moment, his head turning slightly. "She may do as she pleases," he said, walking again.
Miroku looked at the little girl, still staring after her savior with adoration. "Go on," he whispered with a wink. "Make sure you bow to the queen when you meet her."
The former corpse got up, quickly bowed to the adults surrounding her and raced after the taiyoukai, catching up with him as he approached the torii. He didn't look or speak with her, but simply paused so that she might go through the sacred gates at his side. Outside the shrine, the more sharp-eared of the group could hear the exclamations of the young queen and her son as they met their new companion.
Miroku turned to Kagome. "I must go into the shrine and explain the situation to the priest." He cast a glance at the two princes, who were already glaring at each other again. "You'll be alright getting home?"
"I'll be fine," she said with a smile. But her heart was clenching uncontrollably all of a sudden. Ten minutes ago, she had been a princess in hiding, and now she had just watched a girl bearing her reputation follow one of the most powerful kings into safety. How had this happened? What about her own safety? "Thank you."
He nodded and looked at Koga. "Your Highness, despite the happy ending of this near disaster, I don't think the priest will be very pleased. You may want to make your own departure."
Koga scoffed and turned. "Fine. Like I would want to be here with a bunch of losers like you." He raced off in a cloud of dust, not stopping to wait for his unprepared retinue at the gates.
Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably as the diplomat gave him a piercing stare. "So go, already!" he snapped. "Talk to the priest. I'm done here too."
"Sometime, proper apology should be made for what has happened here," said Miroku, frowning deeply. "In the meantime, I will not tell the king about this."
The prince's shoulders released their tension. "Good. You better-."
Miroku interrupted, "I think you should." He smiled at Kagome. "I hope the rest of your day off goes better, Kagome. I'll see you later, then? Bye, Shippo."
She nodded as the fox kit waved and the diplomat turned to go into the shrine, leaving just the three alone in the courtyard, as it had been before the whole mess. Inuyasha crossed his arms and looked away, his face turning to stone. Shippo bristled, but Kagome simply scooped him up into her arms before walking away.
She remembered the ema in her hands as she passed where the others had been hung out for the kami to read. The wooden plate had bitten into her hands, unnoticed, as she had squeezed it during the little girl's temporary death. Red lines streaked across her palms, but she hung up the ema anyway, repeating her wishes in a short prayer. Let the girl find her name, she thought. She left her other wishes, her deepest desires, fall silent. How could she ask for help from the kami when she didn't really know what she wanted? How could she yell at them for the unfairness of what had just happened?
They made the journey back to the castle in silence, both in voice and thought. Kagome was tired of thinking about her situation, tired of wondering how Inuyasha would react if he ever knew, tired of worrying about her father's search for her. She let her mind fall into a meditative quiet, only thinking hard enough to keep her feet moving in the right direction. Shippo eventually fell asleep in her arms.
The servants' quarters were quiet as well, as she approached with the slumbering fox kit. All of the others were out for their day off or working in the kitchens for dinner. It was a few hours off yet, but there were a few lords and ladies left and so it remained necessary for the meal to be special. Kagome's worrisome thoughts returned and she wondered again why the king had given the staff the day off when there was still a lot of work to be done. He had to have known what happened between her and Inuyasha. How could he not with his sensitive nose and ears and his way of knowing when anything was wrong in his household?
She went into her small room under the stairs and found Myoga sitting with his nose pressed up against the list of people with that day off. Her shoulders stiffened, remembering how they had parted the previous night. He had accused her of selfishness, warning her about assassins from her father. He had been right, at the very least about the latter. "Hi."
He looked up and frowned. "Good afternoon, Kagome," he said, giving a sharp look at the kit.
"You've met Shippo," she whispered, laying the fox down on her futon. She straightened up and looked back at the flea. "He knows."
Myoga bristled. "What? Kagome!"
"Don't you dare blame me!" She paused and thought about how the assassin had found her, retrieving her furs from a barrel while clad in a silver kimono. "Well, okay, it was kind of my fault. He wouldn't have found me if I hadn't gone to the dance, but Shippo saved me! He guessed who I was and I confirmed it."
"Can he be trusted though?" wheezed the irritated flea.
"Of course I can!" Shippo rubbed at his eyes as he sat up. "I wouldn't have saved her if I was going to turn around and tell everyone who she is!"
"And yet you're eavesdropping," Myoga snapped back.
"I woke up!"
Kagome stamped her foot, sending a rain of dust down on all of them. "Enough!" she growled, sounding distinctly like Sesshoumaru. "Shippo, I need to talk to Myoga for a few minutes okay? Go upstairs and check on Sango for me?"
"Sure thing, Kagome," said the fox kit, sticking his tongue out at Myoga before leaving.
"I can't believe you trusted that little brat-."
"I'm not interested in your opinion of Shippo," interrupted Kagome, her eyes turning steely. "He's my friend. He's good and loyal and he saved me and he should get your thanks for that, not your insults. It was my fault that I was caught by that guy, not his."
Myoga sulked, crossing his arms. "Fine. What did you want to talk about then?"
Kagome sat down on her futon. "Sesshoumaru. He just saved a little girl from death up at the shrine and everyone there decided that that little girl was me. That she was the Nakao princess. And you know what they did? They entrusted her to Sesshoumaru-sama and he took her! No one even talked about turning her back to Nakao or my father or anything!" She began to shed tears she hadn't realized she was holding. "When we came here, you told me that I couldn't say anything, but they granted this little girl amnesty without even being certain of who she was."
The flea shifted uncomfortably. "If she died, that could have started a war, if she was actually you. And you don't know! Sesshoumaru will most likely contact Nakao with news of this girl's appearance. Soon enough they'll realize that she isn't who they thought she was."
"You're missing the point," said Kagome, tears still flowing. "I should have been able to say something! I should have been able to stand there and say 'no, I'm the princess!' But I couldn't! I didn't say a word. I just smiled as this little ten year old girl took my place!"
"Ten?" questioned the flea, taken aback.
"Yeah," said Kagome, waving her hand in the air. "I guess there's some confusion about the birth order. Miroku said something about the 'princess having a seventeen year old brother'. They just mixed me and Sota up."
Myoga frowned. "Well, I still think that it was wise of you to keep quiet."
"But, Myoga! If Inuyasha only knew! He would protect me! Please, I know he would!"
The flea set his jaw. "No, Kagome. Think about it. You're a grown woman, as opposed to this small helpless child. The situation is different, especially considering her brush with death." He closed his eyes. "Besides, how do you think Inuyasha would react if you told him who you really are? He's not the most tolerant demon. I heard what happened last night when you went to see him…"
She stared. "You know? How?"
"Everyone knows," he replied flatly. "His father sent him to the shrine to ask forgiveness this morning. When I heard you were going too, I came here to stop you, but I was too late. Obviously."
"Please, Myoga…"
The flea gave her a cold look. "Imagine how much it would kill him to realize that he's been mistreating the one woman that has given him the chance to be more than just 'the hanyou prince'." His face softened at her stricken expression. "I'm sorry, Kagome. But I don't think we should take this risk. If you're sent back to your father, you know what will happen to us."
Kagome's tears came back with a vengeance as she collapsed on her futon. "Please leave," she cried, her words muffled by the bedding. "I can't talk to you. Leave."
Myoga's shoulders slumped as he hopped away, just moment before Shippo returned. "Kagome? I smelled tears. Kagome!" he cried out as he opened the door, revealing the red-eyed girl.
The princess continued to cry throughout the afternoon, with the little fox trying to calm his friend. Eventually, they fell asleep, exhausted by their despair.
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A/N: Yeah, I know. Poor Kagome. Things will get better! I'm very happy to be done with this chapter though – it took forever and I rewrote the whole Sess/Koga/Inu/Mir/Kag/Rin/Shippo scene a million times. (Yes, it was Rin – I sincerely hope that you all picked up on that blatant fact. Haha.) The next chapter will have some Inuyasha and Kagome goodness though! I'll try not to take so long too!