Beauty and the Wolf
Chapter 2
A/N: Big thanks to everyone who reviewed. It's a special kind of love to feel people getting excited about your work. Also, special thanks to the folx in the discord that inspired this beautiful mess. I'm still looking for a Beta. I send a few messages in the beta reader forum, but I've gotten nothing back as of yet. Anyone interested, lemme know 3
Little town of Edo, it's a quiet village; every day like the one before.
Kagome had watched the village grow as she did, from a nervous wreck to a bustling little place. When she was a child they did all that they could to just survive, not there was trading and professions, shops and merchants that made their way to and from. The fields were bountiful and the villagers were happily at work. As she approached the outskirts of the village she watched as they began to emerge onto the dirt roads, dousing nightly lanterns and shouting greetings at one another from across the way. It was sweet, in a way. These people all leaned on one another in some way. Just like they had relied on her grandfather.
Time was no one's friend. The miko continued her trek to the town, her box neatly tucked under her arm.
"Good morning Kagome!" The baker pushed passed the reed hanging on their hut, the smoke of their clay oven billowing from the chimney, same as every day.
"Good morning, how is your wife doing?"
"Just fine, and the babe is kicking and screaming, healthy as an ox." Kagome nodded, a smile blooming. Just a few days ago his wife had given birth. There had been a terrible storm, and it was difficult to get word to the shrine, let alone get one of her sisters to venture out into it. Without hesitation Kagome had donned her straw cloak and fought through the wind to reach the woman. Though the least experienced of the town's miko, the child was delivered with care, and thankfully without much complication.
"I'm glad to hear it. Send word if she needs anything, and tell her to get lots of rest." The baker nodded, but she could see that he wasn't impressed with such a suggestion. People in this day and age didn't have time for such things. "Perhaps I could come by and read to her, or see how she is."
"You've done enough. She'll be fine." Kagome pressed her lips together as he placed his tray of bread on the small wooden stand outside his hut. Clearly, the conversation was over. If it had been Kikyo or Kaede, would he have reacted in such a way? Probably not. The further Kagome wandered into the village the more and more she became aware of the stares, and though she could not hear their words, the whispers weren't silent enough to go unnoticed.
Another reason Kagome wasn't exactly keen on heading into town. They were polite enough to the young woman, but the moment they were far enough away, or her back was turned, she knew they always had unkind words for her. Strange. Different. Lost. Naive. Their words didn't go over her head. Where the village was that of hard working people, Kagome believed firmly in education, she was kind to all, even once saving a demon cat and its kittens. She had rescued them from the angry villagers and kept them at the shrine until they were strong enough to leave on their own. Her grandfather was not happy with her action either, but he relented at her stubbornness.
The burning on the back of her head only let up when she disappeared from view, pushing open the reed door on the scribe's hut and letting it fall behind her, peering out through the gaps as people turned away, back to their regular chores.
"Back again so soon are you?" Kagome nearly dropped the wooden box she was holding as the old scribe spoke behind her.
"Totosai!" Kagome hissed, whirling on him. "You scared me." He merely stared, shaking his head. "…in your home. Right."
"They giving you a hard time again?" the old man stuck his pinky in his ear, giving it a vigorous scratch before wiping his hands on his haori and standing, he was hunched from years of leaning over his desk.
"Who, my sisters or the village?" Kagome handed the box to the old man, who put it back neatly in its spot. The scrolls that had been taken from their places stood out vastly from the others. Many were coated in years of collected dust.
"Pay no mind to them, girl. They find peace in their chores; they have no room to let their mind wander farther than they can see." Totosai felt sorry for the young woman. Her sisters were just as educated as she, but after they'd learned to read and write they never showed much interest in such things. Except for Kagome and a few others who needed such things for their business, the villagers had no need for knowledge further than what they needed. They definitely didn't need tales and stories. "So, what brings you so soon? I know that old shrine hasn't seen the best of days, and you wouldn't have come if you didn't need something."
"Gramps needs some more paper, or so he says. He just needed an excuse to get me out of the house for a while." Kagome reached deep into her pocket and pulled out the coins, letting them fall on the desk scattered with parchment and inkwells.
"Put those away. You folks need it more than I do." The man didn't live in the most glorious of homes, but he made a decent amount of coin, not on his scrolls of course but writing letters and interpreting them for those who were illiterate. It would cost them far less in the long run to just learn to read and write, but they simply didn't have the time.
"We also don't need handouts, if the villagers –"
"What happens in my shop is of no business to them. Humans, always with their noses where it doesn't belong." He grumbled hands firmly tucked in his sleeves as he watched the miko, eyeing the coins. Knowing he wouldn't stop until he picked them up, she did just that. "Now, make your old gramps happy and pick something out."
Without responding she moved to the shelf, scouring through the kanji written along the edges. Historical records, business legers, educational tomes; thought she had read through many of them, and she enjoyed whatever she could get her worn hands on she reached for a box that was pristine, clearly more well-read than the rest of those surrounding it.
"That one again? You've read it at least a dozen times."
"It's my favourite. A daring adventure, a prince in disguise…"
"If you like it that much, than keep it." Wide eyed and slack jawed, Kagome stared.
"No. I can't-"
"Close your mouth before a flea hops right in there." The old man made his way over, laying the parchment he'd gathered over the slim box of scrolls. "I insist. They deserve much more than sitting on an old dusty shelf." The Miko's protests went unnoticed as the old man ushered her back out the door, leaving her standing on the other side of the reed mat, nearly touching her nose as it swayed back into place.
"Thank you!" she called to him, returned with only silence. Kagome glanced down at the box in her hands along with the papers. What was with this village and stubborn old men?
Her time to ponder such things however, was abruptly cut short. She could feel the slow growing burning on her skin. They didn't miss a beat for people so busy with their lives, huh? That was the price of living in a small village. Time to journey home; why did the scribe have to live on the other end of town?
Emerging from the trees on the edge of town came two companions, the shorter of the two tossing a drawstring pouch up in the air over and over.
"Another day, another bag of coin." Said the monk, grinning to himself.
"What you charge is highway robbery." Grunted the taller of the two, his long silver hair tied into a tight ponytail behind his head.
"We have to make a living don't we, Inuyasha?" the monk replied, stuffing the coin purse into his robes. The two had come to village years ago. Most of their money was made escorting villagers to and from the town to the marketplace. They'd come at a good time, when the need for professional demon slayers was on the rise. The old man that had done the job was getting to be frail, and many of the villagers thought he had begun to lose his mind with age. The half demon rolled his golden eyes and adjusted the buck he had slung over his shoulder. As they passed the first row of houses, immediately they noticed a distinct heaviness to the air. Inuyasha tilted his head back, sniffing a few times before he smirked, fangs poking out of his bottom lip.
"She's here." He muttered, clearly to himself but that didn't stop the monk from interjecting.
"Which one?"
"Shut up." growled the half demon, craning his neck to see over the crowd. Just across the way he could see the top of the youngest priestess' head, eyes locked on a scroll in her hand.
"I am not one to turn down the company of beautiful young women, but you let that ship sail ages ago didn't you?"
Too late; Inuyasha was long gone, in a few leaps he reached the butcher's, and though he had just slumped the kill he'd been carrying onto the counter, his eyes hadn't left the young woman. The monk let out a deep sigh, stuffing his hands into his sleeves, gazing around the bustling village until he laid eyes on the pool of women gathered by the laundry pool.
"Morning ladies!" he called to them, hands and staff in the air, he was greeted with a chorus of giggles that would make a young monk blush.
"Lady Kagome! Lady Kagome!"
If not for the voice that had caught her attention, she would barreled right over the children that had come running to her, a young girl pulling on the hem of her hakama.
"Good morning!" Kagome's eyes brightened at the sight. While the adults of the village didn't care for her, the children didn't harbor the same feelings. "How are you all doing today?" Immediately they began shouting over one another as the miko took the time to pat each of them on the head.
"Lady Kagome, will you read to us today?" shouted the oldest of the little girls, jumping over the rest of their heads so she could be heard.
"Yes read to us!" cried another, a young boy, a few teeth missing in his wide grin. Kagome looked up the path to the shrine. There was so much to do… but a few minutes wouldn't hurt right?
"Alright, alright. Let us go and sit by the tree shall we? There's some shade there, we can get out of the sun for a while." The children cheered, each lunging to grab a hold of her free hand.
"I'll carry those for you, Lady Kagome!" The young boy held out his hands and Kagome gave in, carefully placing the box in his hands, the scroll carefully put back where it belonged; the parchment tucked away in her haori. The moment her hand was free, another child grabbed a hold of it, pulling her along to the nearest tree.
"Alright everyone, settle down, and have a seat." Without hesitation the children practically threw themselves onto the ground, ever so impatiently waiting for her to dig out the scrolls. She was far too busy beginning her story to see the flash of red that landed in the tree above them.
Inuyasha looked down from the tallest of branches. Though he wouldn't complain on the view, he rather enjoyed the closeness to the priestess below. Once upon a time, when she was still a growing girl, the two had been quite close. Unfortunately he had also grown close to the eldest of the priestess'. Kagome had not been pleasured by the idea that she had found them in the woods by their shrine. Kikyo was beautiful, and determined. She was stubborn and strong. She was also proud and brave, a warrior at heart… but she wasn't Kagome. Kagome always had a soft look in her eyes, and despite the treatment the villagers gave her, she never hesitated to be at their beck and call. When he had first arrived to the village, she was the first to greet him, and treat him as a person. It was only when the villagers realized that they could use his strength that they had accepted them into their midst.
Even now, he knew that their relationship was built on him being useful, and not him as a person.
"Tsuki! Yura!" Kagome's soft voice was interrupted by the shrill shrieking of a mother, approaching the priestess, two other women following behind. "What is it that you think you're doing? You're supposed to be at home! How are you ever supposed to find proper husbands if you don't know how to take care of a home?"
"Tansho, get home now, before you start spending the days in the field with your father!"
"Priestess, you should be ashamed of yourself. Wasting the children's time with such things. No fields are attended with ink and parchment, no bread on the table or fish in the dinner pot with tall tales and useless facts." Her hands were firmly placed on her hips.
"It's just a story –"Kagome stood, ready to defend herself.
"It's a waste of time. Children, get going before I tell all of your parents what you've been up to. Get!" Like disturbed koi in a pond the children scattered. "Stop filling their heads with nonsense, you foolish girl!" A rather loud thud beside her alerted Kagome to the presence of the man that had been in the tree. She didn't have to look. Now that she was aware of his company, she knew exactly who had been there. If she'd been Kikyo or Kaede she would have sensed the hanyou ages ago, but more time doing chores left quite a bit less time for training. The woman fell silent, shaking her head and storming off with her companions, shooing their children home.
"I didn't need your help."
"Keh. Didn't look like it to me."
"I don't care what it looked like to you, stop budding in. They're never going to understand if you just keep scaring them away instead of letting me speak." Kagome whirled on the golden eyes hanyou that was staring down at her, hands still tucked neatly in his sleeves.
"Why do you even bother, it's stupid." He reached out, snatching the scroll from her hands. "What's the point of all this. It's just markings on a page. There aren't even pictures."
"Reading isn't stupid. It's important. Especially for little girls, they need to be able to make a life of their own, not rely on a husband their whole lives."
"What's wrong with that? A woman should be able to rely on their mate-man. For everything." She didn't miss how he puffed out his chest, his chin raised high.
"That's ripe coming from you." She hissed, wrenching the scroll from his clawed hand and stuffing it back into the box. She looked at him once more, her piercing gaze making him feel much shorter than she was, though he didn't back down.
"Kagome, listen to me."
"Good. Day." She turned on her heel and marched off, eyes locked firmly on the ground. What a day. She should have just rolled over and gone back to sleep.
"That went well." Inuyasha had been so stuck watching the woman walk away that he hadn't noticed the monk's appearance.
"She will be mine. There is no one here like her. Or anywhere for that matter."
"You're playing a fools game, Inuyasha." The monk shook his head once more, holding out a snack for the hanyou. He snatched the sweets from him, stuffing one into his mouth.
"I will have her."