A/N: So there's only two chapters left after this! I just wanted you all to know that you won't be without me for long (I hope). I'm already planning a new story, which will be Sesshoumaru/Kagome. It will be canon-verse and the tentative title is The Once and Future Taiyoukai. Not completely settled on that yet. Anyway, I hope that you will all read that once I begin – even those of you who are staunch I/K fans. So am I, but we all need a change of pace, eh? Haha. Enjoy the chapter.
Thousandfurs
Chapter 17: The Heart's Blood
Ayame threw her cloak to the floor and looked around. The room was beautifully detailed with lacquered wood and tiny oil lamps and the futon appeared lush enough to dive into, but it struck her as quite small. Smaller than she would have expected as the honored guest of King Toga and his illustrious mate, and it was certainly smaller than expected as she was to be the new mate of Taisho's prince.
"Where is Inuyasha-sama's room?" she asked the servant, who was now silently unpacking her trunk. "From here?"
The servant looked up with wide eyes and Ayame forced herself not to blush. She had breached royal etiquette already! She couldn't believe it. She was not supposed to demand to see her new mate until she was sent for by him. Not the other way around. She heard her grandfather's admonishments in her ears, even though she had left him back in the wolf kingdom. "I mean, I would like to know where I might go, when he calls for me. I've never been here before," she said, only coloring slightly.
"Upstairs and to the left, Your Highness," said the green-eyed demoness, as she folded her clothes onto the closet shelves. "You weren't expected until this evening, and he may not call you until then," she added, emboldened by the princess's apprehension.
"Oh. Well!" Ayame sat down on the futon and looked around again. There wasn't much to entertain herself with here. She wanted to ask the servant where the library was, or perhaps the dojo, but she bit her tongue. She was a royal without land or claim to any tangible throne and she knew she was very fortunate to be here at all. She wasn't stupid either – the servants were likely already talking about how she was the only princess willing to mate with the hanyou prince and how she had been jilted by Koga. The truth was that she was just as desperate as Inuyasha seemed to be. She shouldn't add fuel to the fire by appearing like a country bumpkin. Anyone who was anyone had been to the Taisho kingdom.
"Will you be changing, princess?" asked the servant, a carefully discreet eye sweeping over the furs of the wolf demoness.
Ayame looked down and realized that even the servant didn't think that her traditional furs were appropriate for royalty. True, they did come a little far up the leg…
She turned to the servant and nodded. "Yes, I will be. I'll wear one of the silk kimono. I don't particularly care which one." Please, pick for me, she begged silently.
The servant gazed at the scanty selection and plucked out a pink kimono with large flowers embroidered upon it. It was not nearly as fine as the kimono the lesser court ladies wore – the servant could see places where the sewing was not even and places the silk threads had been pulled slightly out – but it was better than the old-fashioned styles that seemed to make up the rest of the poor princess's wardrobe. The demoness shook it gently and laid it out upon the futon before turning back for the proper undergarments.
"Oh, this one is my favorite," murmured Ayame. She ran her hands along it and winced as she noticed the flecks of a stain on the hem of the sleeve. Blood, probably. She had once been caught in a fight in this kimono, on her way to this very kingdom, to attend her first dance as a delegate of her grandfather's nonexistent kingdom. That was shortly after Koga's family had taken over the throne, when her grandfather had still cared about his place in society. After the failed attempt to attend the Taisho dance, however, he had lost his gusto. Let Koga's family take the throne, he had said. They were the stronger pack. That was how it worked in wolf tribes. Let it go, Ayame, he had said.
She hadn't been able to, of course. She had gone to Koga and begged him to let her family have a place in the new regime. Wasn't that fair? The civil war among the wolves had torn everything apart after the old king had died without an heir. Koga's pack and her grandfather's had been the main contenders and Koga's had won. They accepted that, but they deserved something! Koga's father was frail – the war had been hard on him. Koga needed guidance from an experienced leader like her grandfather. It would show the rest of the wolf tribes that the ruling pack held no grudges! For solidarity!
Koga had laughed in her face. "Isn't it enough that you're still called a 'princess'?" he had snapped. "And your wretched grandfather is still considered a king, even if it is of his own pathetic pack. Go away, little girl, and be thankful that I didn't kill you where you stand."
That was how it worked in wolf tribes. Let it go, Ayame.
But he must have given some thought to her proposal, because it was only a short time later that he gave her his own proposal of an arranged mating. She had been appalled at the idea at first. He was arrogant and rude and… well, she didn't much care for the bandana thing. Her grandfather, however, had insisted upon the match. Remember solidarity, little Ayame?
It took years to work out the arrangement. It dragged on and on, as her family had nothing to offer except a female who was ripe for bearing pups, and Koga's family had everything to lose. And then when everything was finally settled upon, he had sent her grandfather a short note, breaking off the engagement entirely.
He had met someone who had better suited his interests at one of the Taisho dances. Ayame wondered if she was still here, if she would see her at the mating ceremony. She wondered if it would be painful, to see this new female with her wolf prince, but decided that she would not care. She had been pushed into that engagement, and she had taken this one out of desperation, but no one need know that. She would carry herself with pride, even if she were mating a hanyou.
"Princess?"
Ayame lifted her head to see the servant waiting patiently to dress her in the pink silk. "Oh, of course." She stood and allowed the servant to take off the furs and clothe her in the kimono.
But the servant simply stood there. "Your Highness, wouldn't you like to go to the bath house first?" she asked, an eyebrow arching primly.
"Oh, yes. How silly of me," she said. "Where is it?"
"I will show you to it, Your Highness," said the servant, stepping towards the door with the kimono in hand.
Ayame followed with a sigh, wondering if she would ever get this right.
The trip was fairly short, as Ayame had been placed on a lower floor, usually reserved for lesser royalty when the palace wasn't packed with visiting nobles. But of course she was able to use the private royal baths and she was pleased to see that they were entirely vacant. It was still early in the morning and she imagined that most nobility wouldn't be up at this hour.
The servant untied her hair and doused her with perfumed soaps that tickled her sensitive nose. It was hot and steamy and Ayame's limbs remembered the aches of a long trip as she tried to relax. Her enjoyment of the solitude was cut short by the entrance of someone else. Ayame sat up and looked over to the barrier dividing the baths from the entryway. She could smell a human girl! "Hello?" she called, placing a hand on her towel.
A dark head popped around the corner. "Oh, I'm sorry," said the girl. "I was just going to take a quick bath. Do you mind?"
Ayame relaxed. She had never seen a human before, as her craggy mountain home wasn't particularly comfortable for them, but it was clear that the human had no qualms about bathing alongside a demon. She must be nobility, decided the wolf princess. And if that was how human nobles acted, she must act their equal. "No, of course I don't mind."
"Oh thank goodness. You wouldn't believe how much I need this right now." She came out and slid into the water with a natural grace, glancing over at Ayame when she was comfortably settled. "I'm sorry. I'm being rude. I'm Kagome."
She tried not to stare at this strange creature as she pinned up her beautiful black hair. She noticed a rather crude-looking necklace around the girl's neck, but ignored it. "I'm Princess Ayame, of the wolf tribes," replied the demoness.
Kagome's hands froze. "You're Ayame?" she asked softly. Without waiting for an answer, she nodded. "Of course. I heard that you were coming today. I don't think they expected you until much later this evening though. Well, it's nice to meet you, Ayame-sama."
The wolf tried not to hear the sudden chill in her companion's voice. "Have you been here long?"
"Months."
Ayame's eyes widened. "Really? Are you a special guest of the Taisho kingdom? I know that most of the guests have only been here a few days."
"I wasn't particularly special, no. I've just been here for awhile." Kagome looked at the wolf and sighed. "I'm being rude again with this cryptic nonsense. You will know by the end of the day, after all, if not at the end of this very hour. I am the Princess of Nakao. Inuyasha-sama asked that I become his mate and I refused him."
"And that's why they called me," finished the wolf girl, nodding solemnly.
"I'm sorry about that. I didn't know that Toga-sama had another mate in mind for Inuyasha until he mentioned it last night. I didn't even remember that until this morning when I woke up." Kagome gave her a genuine look of sympathy. "I'm sure you'll hear the entire story from someone, most likely Miroku. Have you met them yet?"
"Them? Wouldn't Miroku be one youkai?"
The princess smiled. "He is another human, Inuyasha's best friend, although the prince would never admit to that. I say 'them' because he has recently become engaged to marry Sango, a girl from my kingdom who came here separately. If you want to know the entire story, all you have to do is ask him." The smile dropped from her lips and her brown eyes hardened. "No matter what you do, don't listen to Inuyasha's opinion. I don't think he really understands why I turned him down. And I prefer not to be remembered as he wants to remember me."
Ayame nodded. "I think I understand," she said. As a princess in a largely patriarchal tribe, she was accustomed to not hearing everything. She filled in the gaps herself, which frequently led to wildly inaccurate ideas. She was thankful that she would have someone to fill in these gaps for her. "Is Inuyasha a decent youkai?"
Kagome smiled again and closed her eyes. "He will be kind to you in private only. Don't take offense to that, it's just his way. Stand up to him occasionally, but not so much that it makes him belligerent. He is a decent youkai, yes, but he has several faults that might make someone believe otherwise. Don't listen to them. He's quite worthy of a good mate." She turned her head and Ayame found herself looking into the princess's liquid brown eyes. "He needs someone like you, you see. Not like me. You give off an aura of serenity. He'll like that, even if he doesn't consciously notice it. You're even making me calm, and I'm probably going home to my death today. Not to mention that I should probably be hideously jealous of you right now. But I'm not."
"Jealous?" asked Ayame, her eyebrows raising at this oddly sweet speech. "But you refused Inuyasha-sama. Why would you be jealous? And why are you going to your death?"
"I'm going to my death because I defied my father in coming here, basically. But you can ask Miroku about that." She sighed and turned her head away. "I should be jealous because soon, you will be the mate of Inuyasha, who I love."
The wolf still didn't understand why she would have refused the male she loved, but decided not to press it. Kagome appeared fragile at the moment – tears were glistening in the corners of her eyes. "Do you know who Koga has chosen to become his mate?" she asked, trying to change the subject. "He met her here, and I would like to see who it is."
Kagome let out a bark of a laugh and wiped at her eyes. "Oh, my, this is quite the meeting for both of us." She gave the wolf a grim smile. "Koga decided I would be his mate. Needless to say, I didn't accept him either. Why do you ask?"
"You had them both?" Ayame's eyes widened. She tried to push down the pit of jealousy in her own throat and succeeded after a few moments. After all, this girl was going to her death. The last thing she needed was a simple wolf demoness making her last few moments of freedom into a trial. "Are you a sorceress?" she asked, just to make sure.
The princess shook her head. "No, just a girl with a few pretty kimono."
The wolf princess shifted uneasily under Kagome's questioning look. "Koga was my intended mate before he broke it off. He said he had met someone else."
The smile slid off of Kagome's face entirely. "Oh, Kami. Ayame-sama, I'm so sorry. I had no idea." She buried her face in her damp hands. "I've ruined your entire romantic life, haven't I? And I didn't even notice."
It was Ayame's turn to face away. "It's alright. I don't mind really."
Kagome's hands came away from her cheeks, leaving trails of red where the hot water had flushed her skin. "Do you love Koga?"
Ayame considered the question for a moment, before deciding that the princess's truth must have a truthful response in kind. "Yes," she replied, nodding. "Not all the time though. He could be quite horrible to me. The first time I met him, our tribes weren't warring over the throne. He was older than me and we were fighting a different foe. He saved my life. He promised me that we would become mates one day. He doesn't remember that now. He said it would simply be a political alliance and truthfully, I don't know why I still love him, but I do. I was just a child then, I should get over it!"
"But he's been good to you since then," prodded the other princess.
"Yes, he has. Every time I meet him I feel unsure of whether I'll receive gifts or death threats." She scratched behind her ear. "Maybe I only love the good, kind Koga."
Kagome nodded. "I feel that way about Inuyasha sometimes."
The girls nodded in unison with faraway looks in their eyes. Ayame finally shook herself. "We should get out. My skin is beginning to wrinkle."
The other princess laughed lightly. "This is the first proper bath I've had in ages. I'm staying in for a bit longer, wrinkles be damned. It was nice to meet you, Ayame-sama." She smiled at the girl, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I wish I could stay for the ceremony, but I think it would be rather inappropriate."
Ayame nodded once. "I understand. Have a safe trip home, Kagome-sama."
The wolf princess left the human girl in the bathhouse and returned to her room, quickly slipping into the silk kimono her servant had picked out earlier. We could have been friends, she thought, as she sat in front of the fire. How crushing that I am her replacement, when it's the last thing either of us want.
"When does Princess Kagome leave?" she asked her servant, who was placing her breakfast on the table.
"Soon, Your Highness. After eating a bit of something, I would imagine. Half of the court is out there already to see her off. Would you like to join them?" she asked, bordering impertinence.
Ayame guessed that the servant begrudged her for having to remain here while the infamous princess was leaving town. "Alright. Let's go then. The breakfast can wait," she said suddenly, realizing she wanted to see Kagome's grand send-off as well. After all, the girl had treated her as an equal, offering advice and even the beginnings of friendship. Ayame felt sorry that the acquaintance had already died in its infancy.
She gathered the heavy material of her kimono and allowed the servant to lead the way to the front entryway of the castle. The servant had been right – many demons and quite a few humans were heading in the same direction, hoping to catch a last glimpse of the princess. While they all moved towards a side exit, however, Ayame was led to the very front, where the king and queen stood with two white-haired males that the wolf princess could see were Inuyasha and his half-brother Sesshoumaru and Sesshoumaru's family. Inuyasha's face was particularly noticeable, drawn with the unmistakable signs of pain and rage.
She stood back and out of sight as the royal family went to the doorway. She did not want to meet them right now, when her presence could be seen as an intrusion upon this sad parting. As they had left the doors open, Ayame was able to stand in the shadow of one of them and watch, relatively unseen.
A litter was outside, at the bottom of the stairs already. Servants stood at attention, ready to lift their cargo with a word from the king. A large trunk was secured to the back of the litter, its brass bearings shining with their freshness. But the Princess Kagome was still absent.
Inuyasha's back suddenly went rigid and Ayame watched him turn towards the door, his eyes sliding over her, unseeing. When the wolf princess turned too, she could see that Kagome was descending the stairs, flanked by two other humans. The man dressed in purple and blue was probably Miroku, she guessed, which would mean that the girl in pink was Sango. Kagome held hands with the female human, a terrified expression in her eyes. They were murmuring to each other. "I don't know if I can," Ayame heard Kagome say.
"But you must. You've decided," replied Sango.
The steely expression that Ayame had seen in the bathhouse slipped over the princess's face as she nodded. "Yes, of course, you're right." She released the girl's hand and brought out a slip of paper from her sleeve. "And this is for you," Kagome said, a bit more clearly, handing the parchment to her friend.
Sango unraveled it and choked on a sound of happiness, turning her face towards her intended. "It's the note you wrote to me," she said. "I thought Kagome-sama had burned it for me. I had asked her to!"
Miroku leaned over and smiled. "I spent ages trying to get that right. I'm glad you didn't burn it, Kagome. My life's passion is in that letter!"
The princess blushed prettily. "As if I would destroy something so loving."
Sango looked around. "What about Shippo? Don't you want to say goodbye to him as well?"
Kagome lowered her eyes. "I said goodbye to him earlier, as well as the kitchen staff. He didn't want to be here, really. I think he blames Inuyasha entirely for my leaving."
A shadow fell across the threshold. "Are you going to keep us waiting forever?" growled Inuyasha, his eyes narrowed.
Kagome lifted her chin, knowing that he had heard her. "No, I am not," she replied, moving forward with new purpose.
"Thank you, Kagome-sama, for keeping this letter." said Sango, hurrying to keep up with her friend.
The princess's expression softened. "It was no trouble at all, Lady Sango." They shared a sad smile and stopped suddenly, very near to Ayame, to embrace. Miroku stood silently, a sullen expression on his face, as he watched the crowds outside. When they pulled away, Kagome wiped tears from her eyes and laughed. "I'm going to miss you!" she said, unnecessarily.
Sango nodded and they stepped outside with one arm supporting each other. Inuyasha drew back at their presence, but the king and queen added their own hugs to the princess, who was now freely crying. She exchanged a bow with Sesshoumaru, and even tried to hold back the tears, but ultimately failed in that endeavor. The younger king made no sign of his infamous disgust for humans. This may have been for the sake of the tiny human girl standing next to him, who Ayame stared at freely from her hidden spot. Finally, Kagome turned to face Inuyasha.
The whole courtyard hushed itself immediately, everyone leaning forward to hear their words, although the pair would hardly do their audience a favor by shouting.
"Goodbye, Inuyasha-sama," she said softly, bowing to her loved one. "Thank you for…" She faltered and turned down her eyes, leaving the sentiment unfinished.
"Keh," scoffed the prince, looking away. "Go home, why don't you?"
"Inuyasha," murmured the king warningly.
The queen glared at her son. "Take the necklace off of her, Inuyasha. She can't go home with that thing on her neck and you're the only one that can remove it."
The hanyou hesitated, but stepped forward to the girl, who surprised them all by retreating with a protective hand around her throat. Ayame saw the necklace of beads and fangs that she had noticed in the bathhouse. What was so special about that, she wondered. "How am I supposed to get it off if you avoid me?" he growled, trying to keep his voice down. As it was, the audience began to titter with the scandal.
"I'm sorry," she said, more to his parents than to the prince. "But I don't want it removed, if that's alright."
"But, my dear, it will stay on forever. Nothing will remove it," said the queen.
Kagome shrugged. "I just… don't want it removed. It's alright, really." She smiled at Izayoi and continued with an eerie lightness in her voice. "It will be removed once my head is on the executioner's block, after all."
The queen paled. "Oh, my dear girl…" she murmured.
"It's okay," said the princess, much more seriously. "I would like to keep it." She kept her eyes down, but even Ayame could hear the desperation in the girl's voice. Her heart ached for her one-time companion.
"Very well," said the king, laying a hand on his mate's shoulder. He looked to the litter and sighed, seemingly unwilling to let the young girl go. Ayame wondered from her hiding spot if Toga-sama would ever hold her in such high regard as he clearly did Kagome.
"Kagome-sama," a new voice called out to the princess and Ayame saw a flea demon bounce up the stairs. "Kagome-sama, we should go. It is already well into the morning. We should return with all haste."
Toga smiled in a way that betrayed all of his sadness over the parting. "Of course. Myoga-san, it's been an honor to meet you and I wish you well, along with your princess." He produced a scroll from his sleeve. "This is a letter to your king, apologizing for our unintentional retention of his daughter. It says that we would love to have her return, as she was a delight to have around."
"My father will rip it up," said Kagome.
"I know," he replied. "That's why I'm telling you now what it says." He handed the scroll to the princess, as Myoga was unable to carry it.
Kagome cast one last glance around at the royal family, her eyes darkening slightly when she realized Inuyasha was keeping his gaze firmly on the ground. "Goodbye," she said, bowing.
She turned quickly, not letting her eyes meet any of their faces and climbed into the litter with the assistance of a servant. The heavy muslin drapes immediately obscured her from view and any sound that may have escaped was covered by the sound of the court, murmuring and clapping for the mysterious princess. Sango was crying, her tears muffled by Miroku's shoulder. The queen kept wiping at her eyes. Inuyasha kicked at the ground, muttering to himself. Eventually, though, the litter was carried to the palace gates and there was nothing more to stare at. It was time to go inside and continue life without Kagome.
Ayame waited patiently as the royal family reentered the palace and shut the heavy doors. "Well," said the queen, a bit too brightly, "we should probably go greet Ayame, shouldn't we, my mate?" She put a hand on the king's arm.
"What? Oh, yes, I'd forgotten." He smiled at her as they stood in the foyer, unsure of what words could bring this chapter of life to a close so that they could start the next. "Let's go then."
Ayame moved back, trying to escape before the monarchs turned towards her, but Inuyasha was not ready to leave quiet yet. "How many guards did you give her? I counted only six." He frowned at his father. "Six doesn't seem like enough."
"Another two dozen waited outside the gates for her, Inuyasha," said Toga sternly.
Inuyasha scowled at his father's tone, but lapsed into silence. Ayame wondered if she would ever manage to get that sour look off of his face once they were mated. "We should really go greet the princess," said Izayoi, almost pleading to escape the awkward silence of the group.
"Why?" drawled Sesshoumaru. "She's standing right over there."
The royal family, plus Miroku and Sango, turned to see Ayame by the doors, looking as if she would rather be running far away than be with this miserable bunch. But she remembered her manners and bowed. "Good morning, Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Lord and Lady," she said demurely. "Forgive me, I was just… ah…" What was she doing there still? Mentioning the Nakao princess might rub them the wrong way. "I was just waiting for your discussion to finish before I introduced myself." It was a horrible breach of etiquette (again!) but it was preferable over spying. She finished with a brilliant smile.
Only Izayoi and Toga returned the gesture with small smiles of their own. "Of course. It was so rude of us to keep you waiting, my dear," said the queen, coming forward and clasping Ayame's hands with her own. "My, you're lovelier than even your grandfather said you were."
"Thank you," said the wolf princess, curtseying.
The king smiled and bowed, with a few muttered words of greeting. Ayame did not begrudge him for this lukewarm welcome. His mind was clearly on other matters. "Well, come and meet Inuyasha," said Izayoi. "I'm sure you would like to acquaint yourself with your future mate, after all." She turned and looked to where Inuyasha had been standing, but now there was only a gap between Sesshoumaru and Miroku.
"That boy," growled Toga. He took a breath and smiled at Ayame. "Well, I suppose the meeting with my son will have to wait. Would you like to take morning tea with us, Princess Ayame?"
"I would like that very much," she replied, curtseying again.
The group withdrew with Ayame in the midst. Her future mate couldn't stand to be around her for two seconds! Oh, she realized, this was going to be a true trial.
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Tea went so long that they ate lunch too. Ayame loved listening to stories of her new mate from his parents, while Sesshoumaru only deigned to speak when it could add something disparaging to the tale. Miroku and Sango volunteered the tale that Kagome had told Ayame to ask about (much of it was new to the king and queen as well and enraptured everyone, except the eternally disinterested Sesshoumaru). She found that her new sister-in-law was charming and handled her mate with what seemed like careless ease, and her new nephew was adorable. She wasn't quite sure what to think of Rin yet. Cute, undoubtedly, but she was human and living with the most fearsome demon in the west. Ayame couldn't quite get that to mesh in her head.
It was a good bit into the afternoon before they all rose to the feet. The kings had political matters to discuss and the queens were planning to take a turn around the garden with the children. Miroku and Sango looked relieved at having a chance to be alone. "Come with us, dear," said the queen, as they all stretched out their legs. "We can be free of these cumbersome males for awhile and the political talk."
Ayame readily agreed. After the long trip and then the marathon of sitting, her muscles were screaming for some exercise. "Will I be meeting Inuyasha-sama formally tonight?"
Her question made everyone in the room pause. Izayoi clucked her tongue. "I don't know," she said slowly before giving her new daughter-in-law an apologetic smile. "He's being very difficult, you know. I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with not only his normal moodiness, but the pain that he feels over losing Kagome. A pain that he won't properly recognize, of course. We'll see if we can wrangle him into the throne room this evening before dinner though."
"Regardless, you and he will become mates," added the king, with a set jaw. "You are a lovely girl and quite worthy to be our son's mate."
Ayame realized belatedly that the long tea and lunch had been an interview with her in-laws. Thank Kami she had passed the test! She had only acted like herself and they seem to have liked her. She could have collapsed in relief. A tickling at the back of her brain, however, told her that she would never be equal to the princess that had just left. It was a game of revolving doors, and they were ending up with a lesser prize. She tried not to feel bad about this.
Izayoi seemed to read the girl's mind and gave her a light embrace. "You are a new and wonderful creature in our lives and we will not judge you against anyone of the past," she assured her quietly.
The doors opened almost before the last word fell from the queen's mouth. Inuyasha stood there, his shadow encroaching upon their pleasant parting. Ayame almost didn't recognize him though. Instead of wearing the apple red haori that he always donned, he was swathed in dusky brown, complete with a hood pulled up over his dog ears. His golden eyes, more resembling Sesshoumaru's than his own, immediately found the king. "I'm going after her," he said simply.
Toga scowled and crossed his arms. "This is unacceptable, Inuyasha. The princess is gone. Ayame is here, which of course you knew since you practically ran from her this morning. Come and meet your new mate."
The golden gaze flickered over the wolf princess. "I don't want her. I want Kagome."
"You'll start a war, Inuyasha," said Izayoi. "And she made her choice! Why are you running after her now, after you treated her so poorly – again – this morning when she left? Shame on you, Inuyasha! You should think about someone other than yourself!"
"I am," he snarled, making his own mother pull back a bit. "There will be no heirs to this kingdom without Kagome."
Ayame felt the barb keenly, although he had certainly forgotten her once again. The king, however, had not. "You have a mate here! She will be the mother of your sons. Kagome rejected your proposal and you must live with that!"
Inuyasha stalked into the room and over to Sango, taking her wrist into one of his shaking hands. "You know, don't you?" he said. It wasn't pleading. Sango's eyes were wide with surprise and apprehension. He was in earnest. "You know she is in love with me!"
"Of course she is," spat back the girl, annoyed at the pressure around her wrist. There would be bruises. Even Miroku looked angry. "Everyone knows that, Inuyasha!" She dropped the honorific on purpose. "Your father knows that! She loved you deeply, every part of you, even the part that abused her as Thousandfurs. But you don't love her!"
He dropped her arm and turned to the rest. "Why do all of you keep saying that?" he demanded. "What makes her so capable of loving me when I was a bastard to her but prevents me from loving my servant?"
Silence met this question. Inuyasha whirled back, facing Miroku this time. "Come with me, pervert, and help me get her back," he said fiercely. "I'm not letting her go, whatever that wench thinks!"
"And if she maintains that you do not love her as Kagome? What about the threat of war?" answered the diplomat, as he rubbed his love's wrist where his friend had held her. "She won't let you, you know. She's too good-hearted for that. Take Ayame as your mate and forget about Kagome."
Inuyasha's eyes flashed back to the wolf princess and she felt the need to run from this deranged animal. "You," he snapped. "You don't really want to be my mate, do you? A hanyou's wife?"
Ayame hesitated. "Not at the moment," she answered truthfully.
"You were Koga's woman," he continued, to which Ayame nodded. "Wouldn't you rather have him?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Why?" he demanded.
The wolf princess paused and looked at her in-laws, who were staring back with interest, but not anger. "Because I love him," she said with a shrug. Her fear of this hanyou was lessening by the moment. He was determined, but not dangerous. Not yet.
"He treats females like crap," affirmed Inuyasha. "So why do you love him?"
Ayame remembered her conversation with Kagome that morning, when she had tried to figure out the answer to that. "I don't know," she replied. "I just do. He can be good to me too."
Inuyasha appeared disgusted with this answer, but nodded. "Alright, so don't you want the chance to let him be good to you? Rather than be with me for the rest of your life? I promise you that I will never be happy with you."
The princess thought of Koga and his pale blue eyes as he smiled at something she said. Or the time she had felt so warm in his embrace, that one precious time that they had been alone for their goodbyes and he had wrapped her in his arms. She looked up at the hanyou. "I will never be happy with you either," she realized aloud. "I will always love Koga."
Inuyasha looked at his father in silence, who glowered back. "And you, Inuyasha?" he said, with an arch of his eyebrow. "You will be happy with no other female than Kagome?"
"Only Kagome," he replied.
"Do you love her then?"
Inuyasha lowered his head. "How can I know that if she won't even be with me?" he replied. "And if I did love her, I'm not telling you first, Father."
Toga sighed and looked at Ayame, who felt a shiver of freedom even before he spoke. "We have brought you all this way," he said, a half-apology.
Ayame shook her head and smiled. "It's alright. Koga's here, somewhere, and that is enough. He and I will have to talk a bit."
The king nodded. "So you do not mind?"
The wolf princess turned to Inuyasha and bowed. "Go with all my blessings, Inuyasha-sama. I hope you find her well and that she decides to return to you." She kept the meeting she had had with the other princess that morning a secret. She knew they loved one another, but she wasn't going to announce it for them.
Inuyasha grunted his acceptance and turned back to his father. "I'm going then."
"Take Miroku with you," said the king. He put a hand out to stop his son as he tried to escape. "If this ends in war, Inuyasha… I don't know what will happen."
"I'll fight for her alone if I have to," muttered the hanyou, before disappearing through the door.
Ayame watched as Miroku hurried along after him and felt a lightness in her heart that had not been there for ages. She turned her nose to the air and sniffed, immediately detecting Koga's presence in the castle. "I think I have to go too," she said smiling.
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Kagome sat back on the cushions of the litter, which was big enough to accommodate a good-sized youkai. The sounds of the Taisho capital were long behind her and her tears had run dry, although she still had a hiccup or two in her. Myoga had tried to comfort her, but was now sleeping on the opposite side she rested, exhausted by all the fussing he had done over her.
The litter moved with a rhythmic swaying that was sending her to sleep too. Only the sounds of her guards' horses and equipment was keeping her awake. She wondered if the demons would walk straight through the night, or if they would stop and make camp. She wondered if they remembered that she needed to eat sometime.
She reclined fully and closed her eyes, her hand tracing the edges of her subjugation necklace. The queen had given her an entire trunk of new clothes for the journey, including a few fine silk kimono that would never do for traveling. It was generous and optimistic that she thought that Kagome would live long enough to wear all the finery. But the princess felt that her most precious gift was the necklace affixed around her neck, although the gift had been largely unintentional.
She wondered what would have happened if she had never gone to that first dance. Would she have lived the rest of her life as a scullery maid, until the day that Naraku decided to beat the life out of her? Or would she have been discovered and killed by an assassin on her way to the well to get water for Inuyasha's breakfast? Neither outcome was particularly appealing, but then, neither was this future that she was heading towards.
Just as she felt the soft darkness of sleep surrounding her, the litter jerked to a stop. Kagome sat up and listened as the guards' horses pawed at the ground and the servants carrying the litter began to whisper. "What's going on, Myoga? Can you hear?" she asked the flea, sure that he was awake.
The minute demon hopped up to her. "I cannot hear anything besides the chattering of servants, princess. They are mystified as well."
Kagome was about to stick her head out of the curtains and ask about all the fuss, when the litter pitched to the left. She shrieked as it crashed to the ground on one side. The small lamp that had given her light tipped and shattered onto the muslin curtain, enveloping it in flame. Kagome cried out again and climbed to the opposite side, where it was still above ground level. She grabbed at the drapery and wrenched it aside, crawling out and over the edge, falling into the sludge that lined her party's trail. The watery snow shoved itself immediately into all the folds of her wool kimono.
That was the first thing she noticed. The second was the corpses of servants lying alongside her, with the shafts of arrows protruding from their chests. She shrieked again and jumped to the side of one of the few servants that had seemingly escaped this attack. He was shivering with fright, unclear of whether he should go towards the litter, which was now a small inferno that provided some protection, or back up where the fire could not catch hold, but into the open.
"Myoga!" she called, remembering her friend.
"Here, princess," wheezed the flea from his place on her shoulder. "Stay down, the guards are forming a perimeter."
She looked up to see that not everyone was as terrified as the servant was. The guards that had not been shot by their attackers came in close and created a barrier around the princess and the remaining servants. One guard, unhorsed by a stray arrow, tossed snow upon the burning litter, stamping out the flames with his foot.
Kagome and the flea crouched down just in time for another barrage of arrows to go sailing over their heads. Several guards went down as their horses were hit and a few bled themselves as the arrows found the small weaknesses in their demon-made armor. Still, they formed tighter ranks and closed in again. Half of them had drawn their bows and were firing back into the woods, but they had the distinct disadvantage of not being able to see their attackers. As the arrows continued to fly overhead, Kagome saw more and more of her guardians fall. Their blood stained the snow red, seeping into the ground around her in a ring of death and violence.
When over half of the guards had died, the volleys suddenly stopped. Silence settled on the forest and those left living shifted uneasily in their saddles. Kagome stayed where she was, although she was reasonably sure that she was getting frostbite in her toes. Myoga was silent and hidden in her hair, trembling once in awhile to let her know he was still there.
A harsh wind blew through the trees and a shadow appeared, moving forward steadily, not seeming to mind the dozen arrows trained upon him. When it stepped into the light, Kagome could see that it was a creature wrapped in a baboon pelt. She was mystified until a familiar voice echoed through the clearing. "So, princess. How nice it is to see you looking up to your, ah… usual standards."
Kagome stood up, the muck sliding off of her kimono and oozing onto the ground. "Naraku. This is impossible. You're in prison!"
"An overconfident king and a bit of trickery. If those foolish guards surrounding you have the same mental capabilities, you are in a lot of danger, Kagome," said the baboon-cloaked creature.
"And what do you want with me? I'm going back to my father and I'll probably die there. What more could you want from me?"
The baboon cocked its head. "Assuming everything is about you again, are we?" He laughed softly. "Right now, every major dignitary from the youkai lands is gathered at the Taisho castle to celebrate the mating ceremony of Princess Ayame and your precious hanyou. Did you really think that your father was so stupid as to pass up such an opportunity? Meeting you here and being able to send your mangled body to Nakao is just a bonus, dear Kagome."
One of the soldiers, presumably the captain, scoffed. "We not be able to see these human invaders of yours, Naraku, but we can smell them. You haven't enough men to properly besiege a village, much less the capital of the Taisho kingdom!"
"The advance guard," Naraku answered smoothly. "Wouldn't want the main forces to run into anything like, oh say, the princess of Nakao, now would we? I said that I would send the girl's body back to her father and she will be mangled beyond repair, but she will be alive. How could I deprive the king of his desire to strike off his daughter's head with his own hand?"
Kagome shuddered. "I don't care," she said, in what she hoped was a clear voice, but it cracked at the end. As Naraku snickered, she tried again. "I don't care what my father has in store for me, but you will be defeated. Taisho is ready for you!"
"Spare me your feeble attempts to scare me off," he said, and Kagome could imagine him rolling his eyes underneath the hood. He leaned forward. "I don't scare easily, little girl. Although I must admit I'm impressed by your courage. Yours and those who so foolishly try to guard you still. If you had any merits at all besides this unrelenting bravado, I would conscript you into my army."
"Your army?" asked Kagome, ignoring his 'compliment'. "You're working with my father. It is his army."
He sighed at her tiring question. "I thought my counterpart explained this to you. I will take over Taisho kingdom and destroy the rest of the ruling class. Your father will then die at my hands. I will rule. Not him. Don't be so foolish as to think that I would settle for anything less than complete power, my girl." As he spoke, shadows of 'his' army surrounded them. Kagome could see the shapes of her familiar Nakao soldiers, the ones that had protected her throughout her youth. There were many more than the number of demons that surrounded her.
"Keh, and I won't settle for anything less than you shutting up for once!"
Kagome turned to see Inuyasha perching in a tree away and to her left. He was shrouded in brown and the edges of his body seemed to melt into the shadows. Miroku was standing at the base of the trunk, his hand wrapped around a monk's staff.
Inuyasha drew out a battered sword and looked directly at Kagome. "It's not broken anymore," he said, pausing a moment before flicking his wrist. The sword grew to become a massive blade, one that made even Naraku draw back a bit. "Meet Tetsusaiga."
Naraku made no response except for a nod of his head. The Nakao soldiers rushed forward with fierce cries and swords shining in the sunlight. The last few guardians of the princess retaliated and soon there were sounds of pain of death ringing through the air.
"Get somewhere safe!" Inuyasha was next to her, already splattered in blood, hauling her up by her arm. He pushed her towards the trees behind her defenders.
"But what about you?" she answered, not letting go of his cloak. "Don't go in there!" She couldn't even look at the carnage that was spilling out onto the white forest floor.
"Just shut up and let me protect you," he growled, giving her one last push before joining the fray.
Kagome crouched behind a tree, barely hearing Myoga's gentle reassurances in her ear. Every time she turned to see what was going on, blood started rushing to her skin and she could hear nothing else but her heartbeat, fast and irregular. Inuyasha and Miroku were fighting bravely, but they both sported many smaller cuts and bruises already. As for her guards, they were barely crawling out of the fight. They had already been tired and bleeding before the prince had arrived and they were all too ready to surrender the battle to him and the diplomat.
In such close quarters with his comrades, Inuyasha was primarily using his claws to rend apart the human soldiers. They weren't a problem for him, as the blood running into the snow could attest. Naraku, however, had deemed it necessary to join in the fight, sprouting more tentacles to go after the prince and the diplomat than they could contend with.
Miroku was doing surprisingly well. Even Kagome took a moment to ignore the gore and marvel at how deftly the diplomat moved through her father's ranks. He had almost as much speed and maneuverability as Inuyasha, and once or twice when he knocked aside an opponent with his staff, Kagome could have sworn she saw the spark of holy powers.
Soon enough, Nakao's soldiers were decimated, broken down to flesh and bone or sent running back towards their human kingdom. Naraku yelled at the traitors, screeching his insults, but he had hopelessly entangled himself with the prince and the diplomat and could not follow suit. He was more than a match for the tired pair of fighters though and swiftly sent them flying through the air with his tentacles.
"Inuyasha!" cried out Kagome. She started forward, grabbing an errant arrow from the ground. Myoga called to her from where he stayed hidden.
"Keep back!" answered Inuyasha. He crouched, as if trying to regain his breath and then leapt back towards Naraku, slashing wildly with Tetsusaiga.
Kagome screamed as a tentacle suddenly burst through Inuyasha's chest, propelling him to the princess's position and pinning him to the ground. Naraku laughed as Inuyasha weakly tried to push the tentacle off of him, seemingly not realizing that he had just been impaled. The diplomat rushed to his friend's aid but was brushed aside by a stroke of one of Naraku's powerful appendages. Done with Miroku, the second tentacle moved towards the prince lazily, picking out the perfect place to end the hanyou's suffering.
The princess was the only one who could reach him. She knew it. She gripped the arrow in her hand tightly and sprang from her hiding place. "You bastard! Get off of him!" she yelled, driving the point of her arrow into the thick of the offending tentacle.
Naraku let out a sharp cry and withdrew, the blood from his wound flowing liberally. Kagome turned to the baboon pelt and stabbed the arrow again, into his chest. There was a sound of breaking wood and the pelt collapsed, hitting the ground as Kagome fell back from the force of the wind rushing through the woods. The demon was gone, leaving just scraps of fur in his place.
The forest took a breath, and life reemerged. The sunshine wasn't as harsh and almost warmed the shivering princess. The shadow had passed, but a moment later, Kagome realized that she heard no sounds of breathing from her prince.
"Inuyasha…" she breathed, as soon as she could manage to say his name. She crawled over to him and began to weep over his body. The hole in his gut was large enough to put a fist through and she cried bitterly to see his blood spilt.
"Hey… don't cry…"
She looked up to see the hanyou's sparkling golden eyes blinking at her. They were unfocused and darting around, but they still sought after her face. Kagome gave a little choked cry of elation. "You're alive!"
"Course… Think I'd… I'd die in that… little battle?" He took deep, rattling breaths.
"You were very brave," she murmured, stroking his face.
The hanyou's eyes rolled back a bit as he struggled to remain awake. He was already becoming delirious with the loss of blood. "Not so… bad yourself," he choked out. "Getting to be a d-… demon already." His head swayed back and forth.
Kagome began to search for something that could bind his wound, and found that Miroku was already tearing strips of her partially burnt muslin curtain from her litter. She smiled appreciatively at him and helped Inuyasha sit up.
He leaned heavily on her as she undid his haori and underclothes, leaving him naked from the waist up. She stemmed the blood flow and wrapped the torn cloth around his middle, whispering promises of getting him proper medical treatment when they got back to Taisho's capital.
The hanyou blinked slowly. "You're coming back then?"
"Of course," she replied. She was weeping again, her salty tears dripping onto his chest and turning cold. He shivered and she wiped them away from his skin. "Sorry."
"Keh."
She laughed a little at his answer and then began to sob. "I was so scared for you! Why did you come here? You could have been killed!" She knelt in the snow, facing him, and crying unabashedly onto his shoulder.
Inuyasha leaned on her again, letting their bodies prop each other up. His nose was buried in her dark hair and although he could smell the scents of blood and dirt and fire, he could also smell the distinct scent of what he had long ago associated with Kagome. That scent of pure innocence, of springtime flowers, even in the dead of winter. "I… I wanted to smell your hair again," he said, before slumping onto her shoulder and into unconsciousness.
Kagome embraced him gingerly, knowing that he was out of it for awhile, and cried the last few tears she had left. She carefully wrapped him back into his garments, although they were sodden with his blood.
"This wasn't Naraku," said the diplomat softly, once the princess had fallen silent. "It was a demon puppet."
She turned her head slowly and watched as Miroku kicked at the remains of their foe. "He said he'd escaped the Taisho prison."
"Not as of an hour ago," said the diplomat with a frown, as he went to gather a very skittish horse that bore the colors of Nakao. He calmed it with a few hushed words and brought it over to the exhausted pair. "I think that Naraku may still be in prison and he simply sent out this puppet to do his bidding."
"If that's true, I will demand his execution as soon as we return," said Kagome, as she helped him lift the unconscious prince to the back of the steed. "I'll do it myself," she added venomously, as Inuyasha moaned. She picked up Tetsusaiga, now lying in the slush in its battered state and sheathed it. Inuyasha would definitely have to learn how to use the blade more effectively.
They quickly gathered the few living guards and servants and put them all on saddles as well, as none of them had escaped the battle unscathed, save Miroku and Kagome themselves. The caravan back to Taisho moved with deliberate care, taking the path of least resistance for the wounded youkai. "How long until we get back?" asked Myoga, who had reappeared on Kagome's shoulder.
"Where have you been?" she asked in return.
"Um," blushed the flea. As his human companions stared, he bristled. "Well, what did you expect me to do? Suck the blood out of Naraku, ounce by ounce?"
"Point taken," said the diplomat. "And to answer your question, it will take us several hours to return at this pace. Dusk, at least. Probably until after dark."
Kagome stroked Inuyasha's back as he lay flat along the stallion's back. "I hope he'll be alright for that long."
"He will be fine. You should hear about some of the wounds he received when he and Sesshoumaru weren't so friendly with each other," said Miroku, rolling his eyes. "I seem to remember an incident much like this. You would think he would be killed immediately with all that trauma to his innards."
The princess relaxed a little, hearing that Inuyasha had already survived this sort of injury. She continued to thread her fingers through his hair, feeling a surge of satisfaction when he gave out a quiet sound of comfort. "Soon, you too can get gutted by an evil chef and live to tell the tale, Miroku" she replied, smiling softly. "You moved like a demon today."
"Why, I believe that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," he exclaimed. "Thank you, my prin…"
He trailed off and stopped, looking back where they had come from. "What?" asked Kagome.
"A horse is coming this way," he replied, frowning. He saw the apprehension flicker on Kagome's face. "Just one. Even so…" He dropped the reins of the horse he was leading and grabbed his staff. Kagome had no weapon anymore, so she grabbed an unused bow from the saddle of one of the horses. There were no arrows, but it was better than nothing.
A few very tense moments later, the horse in question came into view, with a rider carrying the colors of Nakao and a flag of white. He slowed when he saw them, cantering to a stop just in time. "Princess Kagome," he exclaimed, seeing the dirt-covered princess.
Kagome narrowed her eyes. She did not recognize this man, although that was no real surprise. Many of her father's army knew her face and she knew barely any of theirs, save the generals. "Yes? What do you want?"
"I came to seek you," said the horseman. "When I saw the destruction back on the path, I feared that you may have been part of it. I was going to keep riding to the Taisho capital, but I'm happy to have found you first. I have a message." His hands were twisted the reins of his horse and his eyes were darting warily over the figures of demons on the other steeds, despite the youkais' obvious weakness.
"Well, give it to me then," prodded Kagome, annoyed. She had a bleeding hanyou to convey!
"A simple message, only verbal, Your Highness," he said, tearing his eyes away from the youkai. "He wanted to warn you. The king of Nakao is coming."
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A/N: Oh, good Lord above. I can't believe I've finally finished with this chapter! I must have erased the first 5 pages about a dozen times! I kept starting with Kagome, until I finally realized that I had a new character that I could introduce, to give new perspective. Voila, Ayame arrived early (just as the characters say she does). I know she seems meek in comparison to her image in the anime, but look at it this way – I needed a foil to Kagome, one that Kagome would think is perfect for Inuyasha (she does think this, in fact, although Ayame can't see that). Also, she's been beaten down a lot more than she was in the anime. I know the wolves' political system is kind of complicated, but I view it like this (for anyone who is interested): There are several 'packs', each of which has a leader/king. Ayame's grandfather is the king of one pack, as is Koga's father, although Koga is effectively the leader due to his father's ill health. There are other packs, but they aren't as strong and so only these two fought for the right to lead ALL of the packs. Koga's won. So basically, his pack is the king of packs and Koga is the king overall. Woo. That was a really pointless explanation. Anyway, please review! Only two chapters left!