Not a King a Warlord

King Sesshoumaru of the West,

At first I saw your desire to take my youngest daughter's hand in marriage as an insult to my kingdom. If there were even the slightest chance I would leave this world her inheritance would be minor, and is currently about to become less.

I have no desire to give the girl to you in exchange for alliances or trade agreements. My kingdom requires nothing of the powers on the outside for there is nothing demons such as yourself can offer me that I don't already have. I am agreeing to this arrangement, because Kagome, the one you desire, has no value to me. Everything about her is weak except her naive mouth. If you wish to take that unruly child she will become your burden till death do you part.

I will give you my daughter if the following terms are understood:

There will be no dowry. You already taking something that belongs to me simply because you wanted it, so I do not understand why I am required to give more.

The wedding will take place in Havenbrooke. I doubt my family will ever see her again once she is fully integrated into that rice field of a kingdom of yours, so let her be married in front of her people and siblings. All at your expense, of course.

Your bastard brother that stalks her at your behest will only be allowed to see her once per day in ten minute sessions to prove to you she is still breathing and uncorrupted.

Once the wedding is finished I desire no communication and no requests. As already stated this is not an alliance. This is simply me getting rid of a burden. I do not care who warms your bed. It will not sway me in the slightest politically.

Agree to the terms and the woman is yours.

Honorable King of Havenbrooke, Naraku first of his name.

The newest ruler of the dog demons raised an eyebrow as he turned the scroll over to its backside to see another message from Naraku written in small script in some sort of code just in case the letter had somehow gotten intercepted.

'I know what you want from Kagome. It is a waste of time. If she had those powers do you not think I'd find a way to harness them for myself? The girl is pretty much nothing more than a human because of her mother's blood. You are wasting your time.'

Sesshoumaru then crumbled upon the letter and threw it to the ground expecting his imp of a servant known as Jaken to pick it up. The demon seemed calm and collected as he sat at his desk seemingly unbothered by any of the terms or words written by that worthless half-breed king.

Jaken indeed picked up the rubbish and stared upon his Lord with his beady eyes, thinking to himself how noble his Lord looked in his fine white silk kimono with his katana always at the hip. Sesshoumaru seemed deep in thought as he moved his claws through his long silver locks.

"You've already read it mother," Sesshoumaru spoke quietly to his mother who was in attendance, "what do you think? Is he taking us for a fool?"

Sesshoumaru's mother who shared the same crescent moon marking upon her head, golden eyes, and silver hair stalked forward and leaned against his desk.

"He is either playing us or he is ignorant," her cold voice remarked, "perhaps if he wasn't so paranoid and did seek help from other nations he would know that extracting her powers isn't that difficult. He obviously just doesn't know how. If he did he wouldn't have killed the whole girl's race."

Sesshoumaru had been doing research on a particular race in the realm ever since his father died leaving him in control of the kingdom. Sesshoumaru had no desire take over what his father had started, but instead wanted to create his own legacy. In order to do that and force other demons to be behind him he needed to grow his strength. One way to do that was to use the blood of a race known simply as the first born. The first born were not humans nor demons though they looked very much human. For centuries they hid in the forest practicing their magic until their elders decided to make the foolish decision of making an alliance with a nearby kingdom. They even went so far as to allow one of their own to marry Naraku of all people thinking they could peacefully integrate the cultures. Unfortunately for them Naraku was a cruel man that didn't like having powerful civilizations in his backyard and figured that once his wife died in childbirth he was in the clear to exterminate the whole race, which he did leaving Kagome the last living being with the blood of the first born.

"We should have just had your brother kidnap her and drag her here," his mother sighed not understanding why her son was going through such complications, "you don't have to marry her. You don't even know what she looks like, and her father said it himself that she is very human-like. Isn't that unsettling to you my son?"

Sesshoumaru shook his head, "it will take many years to build what I hope to achieve. If she ages at the same rate as a human then she'll be gone by the time the match can hurt me politically. As for what I want I will make compromises for such an oddity. She is no human or demon. I might as well marry the girl since she'll be having my children. We must conserve her species after all even if the blood is muddled in spider filth."

"Someone else could breed her. Your brother is the one that likes her."

"So someone else can realize her power and take her from me? InuYasha does not deserve such a prize. I only allowed him to go back there to check on her welfare. He will do as ordered if he wants to receive any of his inheritance from father. The girl will be mine and mine alone, and our pups will have unlimited power. Not only do I now fully understand the power of her blood and what it can give me, but do you not recall the prophecy? The dog will mount the world by laying claim to the last born of the first born. It's about her. She is the last and I will have her. Soon creatures such as Naraku will learn their place and go back to the shadows where they belong."

"If that's what you want I'll assist you in anyway I can my king," his mother bowed before him as Sesshoumaru stood up leaving his chair.

"Both you and that spider insult me," Sesshoumaru replied coldly walking past her, "from this day forth I will not be known as a king. King is just a title for the ignorant and they are only as powerful as the clueless people below them that serve. I do not rely on my underlings or my titles to force those weaker than I to obey. I will only need her. I will have what I want and take what I need, and those who do not abide will die. I am simply your Lord."

"But if we must give up titles I'll no longer be the Queen Regent," his mother was quick to complain, "what of my power?"

Sesshoumaru just ignored her. His mother would be the one conducting most of the rituals required to extract Kagome's power, so she was fully aware she wouldn't be coming out of this unrewarded. She just wanted to complain for the sake of complaining, and the demon Lord had no time for it.

"Where are you going?" the silver haired demoness complained when she noticed that she was being ignored, "Sesshoumaru? Your father just died at least have your guard with you when not here or your chambers."

"I must travel to Havenbrooke," Sesshoumaru's golden eyes were emotionless as he left the room, "apparently I have to travel to my own wedding that I must fund. I do not look forward to it, but I will do as I must. I will go alone. How can I claim the world if I fear my enemies? When I go to that worthless brick kingdom I'll leave them with the truest impression of me. I am the one to be feared."

"So that's what happened," InuYasha explained to Kagome sitting across from her on a dirty brick floor with his arms crossed, "I had to keep my eye on you until your father responded to my brother's request. It's just like your old man said. If he refused the arrangement I was suppose to kidnap you and bring you to him. The plan was for you to be married the moment you stepped foot in my kingdom so you became his property. If I didn't go along with it I would have lost everything. My home my money. The only things that keep me alive in this stupid world."

Kagome could barely look at InuYasha, but she didn't want to take in her surroundings. The best she could do was keep her eyes shut. Right now she was locked in the dungeon beneath the castle. She'd tried to runaway from home twice since she was told she'd be marrying InuYasha's older brother, and on her father's orders she was to be locked in a cell until she calmed down or her wedding day neared. She didn't know too much about her father or ask any questions, but she was now quickly learning that he punished dramatics with dramatics. He could have just confined her to her room with someone keeping their eyes on her at all time, but no that would have been too forgiving, so the dank smelly dungeon cell it was.

"How long InuYasha?" she asked him, "how long were you working for them? Was it all just a lie? Did you ever even care about me? It was just all a game to you!?"

InuYasha let out a snarl, "What do you mean working for them Kagome!? It doesn't matter what our status is or if we will or will not inherit the throne. There are prices we have to pay for living in the kinds of families we come from. I didn't want any of this, but when your home is ruled by someone who can easily have you killed you obey that person. I have to do it with shit like this and you have to do it by getting married. The price we pay."

"Price we pay for what!" she shouted, "I didn't ask for this life! I didn't ask for him to be my father! I'd rather be a beggar on the street than marry your brother under my father's orders!"

"Stop you're sounding like a child," InuYasha was trying not to raise his voice and stoop to her level, "I guess that's what you are. That's what we both are. To answer your question Kagome it was from the very beginning. The moment my father became ill Sesshoumaru was already plotting and looking into things. I got sent to your father's wedding to meet you and keep tabs on you. That's why I always came back, but it was real Kagome. I even started to believe your words, that we were lucky cause we were both wealthy and free. I believed you, but when Sesshoumaru sent out that marriage request I was brought back to reality. If we were anyone else I would have asked you to marry me, but we don't live in that world."

They could have lived in that world, Kagome thought that she had. She'd spent her whole life convincing herself she was free to do what she wanted of her station in life, but out of everyone who got a reality check she'd gotten it the hardest, but what was really breaking her heart was InuYasha confessing that he had been doing his brother's bidding the whole time she thought he was courting her.

"You betrayed me for your money and home," her voice cracked as she tried she hide her face, "idiot I offered you a home with me. We might've had to runaway and live in a shack, but we could have done it. If you really believed in me, really cared for me, you would have told me the truth and took me away. I can't believe you InuYasha."

"I can't believe you!" he hissed at her, "stop talking about living in poverty like it's some sort of romantic gesture Kagome. You've been in the streets of your kingdom, but have you actually seen what's been going on around you? People work day in and day out only to die young to sickness or violence. That is not what I want for you. Maybe if you were a real demon, but you're not. I do care for you Kagome. I don't want you to be married to my brother, I truly don't, but at least you'll get to live in a big safe castle where you'll be well looked after. Way more looked after than you are here. Trust me that going into the city crap without an escort is not going to fly with my brother. Honestly you'll probably never be allowed out of the castle period."

"So you'd rather me be miserable than be outside? InuYasha stop underestimating me. I know my people better than my own father does. I might be sheltered but I'm not an idiot. I know what the real world is like, and you know what? It doesn't scare me. Why should I be shielded by it just because of my noble birth? Other people who are no different than me endure it every day, so I can to. I don't need to protected and I don't need to settle for your brother to keep living this lifestyle. You say you're on my side but you're trying to sell me on something I hate. Just stop."

"I'm not underestimating you Kagome. I know you're strong. I just think you're better than living on the streets dying of some poor man's disease that you have no control over. I'm not trying to sell you on anything just letting you know what you're getting into. My brother isn't a kind creature, but nor is your father so you should be used to it. You'll pretty much be marrying into the same situation with less freedom and more safety is all. The upside of it is unlike this dump you're living in now I'll be there watching out for you. If my brother does anything to hurt you-

"You'll just let him and turn away kind of like how you were going to kidnap me on his orders. I see you for what you really are InuYasha. I don't want to hear anymore of it. I don't want to see you ever again. You're an idiot you know that? Honestly believing it will be the same. No one pays attention to me here, but there? There is a lot more to being a wife than just saying I do. You realize that right? It's not the same."

InuYasha was ready to shout at her again trying to talk sense into her, but it was becoming difficult. She was just a fifteen-year-old girl. She was at the proper age to be married off, but was she at the proper age to deal with her heart being broken by her first love after discovering he'd been deceptive the whole time?

Before InuYasha could find words to explain to her how sorry he was and how her life in his kingdom wouldn't be completely terrible a guard opened the cell door and yelled at him.

"Time's up dog," the guard informed him, "the King was quite clear in his terms. Only ten minutes at a time."

InuYasha snarled at the guard before turning his eyes back to Kagome, "I'll be back tomorrow. Maybe I can get someone to convince your father to let you out of here. Locking a princess in a dungeon cell is kind of going overboard."

"You don't know my father," Kagome sighed, "and don't bother. I already said I never want to see you again InuYasha."

InuYasha was going to tell her that it was too bad because he was charged with checking up on her welfare in his kingdom's interest, but what was the point? That would only hurt her more. All he could do was try to smooth things over the next day.

Once the hanyou left the cell the guard next to him fell to his knees, "On your knees dog! You're in the presence of King Naraku."

"Indeed I am," InuYasha shrugged as his amber eyes narrowed at Naraku coming down the dungeon hallways with six armored knights behind him.

Naraku's eyes narrowed when it became clear the half-breed had no intention of bowing, "You are in my kingdom dog. You bow when you are in the presence of the king."

"Sorry," InuYasha smirked before just bowing his head in attempt to give the most half-assed gesture possible, "I'm not use to the customs of your court. We don't do that kind of thing where I'm from. We also don't lock our own family members in the dungeon for throwing a tantrum."

"People do not bow to your brother?" Naraku was curious.

"No people run from my brother. The time spent on their knees could be best used working, and I kind of agree with him for once. You want me out of your sight so I'm leaving."

Naraku could not disagree with that. He wanted the half-breed that planned to kidnap his daughter as far away from him as possible. He would have already had InuYasha flayed or hung if not for being his kingdom's only representative at the moment. It seemed Naraku had no other choice but to tolerate the dog if he wanted to ship Kagome off the proper way with no issue.

"For your information dog," Naraku still had to get in the last word, "Kagome did not throw a tantrum. She attempted to escape, and in doing so she caused mass amounts of damage to the library of the royal keep, started a fire that could have spread to my eldest son's bedroom, and assaulted a couple of my finest soldiers. As the girl said in your conversation that you believed to be private, you do underestimate her. That escape attempt was merely the first. I will let your imagination run wild as you try to think of what she possibly did during the second attempt that warranted this punishment. The girl is a danger to herself and others can rot down here for all I care until she's someone else's problem."

"Let her out or my brother won't be pleased," InuYasha warned as Naraku walked past him.

"Why would your brother care? She is simply trading one cell for another. That much I know for sure. You don't even know how much you've contributed to the girl's misery. I hope that despair eats away at you InuYasha when you learn the truth. You think I'm the cruel one? You have a lot to learn."

"Why are you going in there? Don't hurt her."

"Why would I hurt her? Leave me to my family business dog, you've done your duty now let me do mine. Though the girl's value is still quite low. If your brother wanted her so badly that he went to such lengths to plot against me I should have at least properly sold her for some kind of financial gain. Oh well seems we have both lost something in this transaction haven't we?"

Before Naraku could hear anymore of the bastard's protests the thick wooden door of Kagome's cell was behind him with his elite guard standing outside. He needed privacy when he settled family business.

"Kagome," his voice was both soft and intimidating at the same time, "I've been told you haven't been eating your food. You will cease acting like a child this evening or it will only be worse for you. I promise I won't be so kind in your next punishment."

For the first time Kagome didn't bow in front of her father. She despised that man. Sure he was her king and had a lot of children, but what kind of father signed their daughter up for misery all because she had her own dreams and desires? She knew she had been naive and that as a daughter of the king it was her duty to accept any arranged marriage forced upon her, but the girls who were forced into that kind of thing did it for political gains to enrich their kingdom not because their fathers were feeling spiteful.

"No tantrum or screaming this time?" Naraku asked her cooly, "just going to sit there in your hate despising your father that has provided for you and cared for you all these years? You're a child."

"I'd rather live on the streets."

"The same answer you gave the dog. I was listening to that whole thing, and it almost put me in a forgiving mood. You didn't ask to have your heart shattered did you? I understand that going through such heartbreak is why you're acting this way, but at the same time understanding is not forgiveness. Your heart wasn't yours to give away to that low born wretch. Your sister is also throwing tantrums, but she does so out of jealousy. I tell her she is forbidden to ever marry while believing that this marriage is the best thing for you. You'll finally learn that you're just property. Nothing more and nothing less."

"Kagura isn't getting locked up in a cell!" anger built up inside of Kagome as her eyes finally met his exchanging his coldness for fire, "she can probably do whatever she wants and she wouldn't threaten to flay whatever guy she falls for because she actually has demonic power. That's why you treat me this way isn't it!? To punish me because I'm a freak."

"You think I see you as a freak?" Naraku shook his head, "Kagome you just don't get it do you? That's the problem with you. You really do think you know everything, and because of that it's impossible to for you to see the truth. What really got you into trouble with me was your assumption that you were free because you were worthless. You are not worthless. You are my most prized treasure of all of them. Unfortunately that has burdened you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Kagome this marriage is a punishment. Plain and simple. A very harsh one, and for a good reason. The burden I speak of is it had to be you that needed to made an example of. That dinner I was planning on making an example of someone, and it had to be you for it was any of your other siblings I would have had to kill them. You, however, I cannot kill. It had to be you. Is that what you have wanted? Did you want to see me kill Byakuya or Kanna? Honestly I'm on the verge of killing Hakudoshi. I just need one more excuse to end his miserable existence."

Kagome still had no idea what Naraku was talking about. Before the two of them barely exchanged words, but now he was freely talking about which children he wanted to murder and that he couldn't murder her. What was going on?

"I might be a hanyou but I'm still immortal," Naraku explained, "my reign and this kingdom can last for all eternity. I know I'm not the kindest king that ever governed this lands, but under my rule things get done and accomplished. I give the people the stability they crave. Hakudoshi, my heir, on the other hand is much like a younger me and wants to thrive on chaos. The only thing stopping this kingdom from falling into that pit is my life, which is in danger. My own children are plotting against me. I blame their demon blood. They will want to betray me and their siblings for a chance to grasp power. You don't have that weakness Kagome, and because of that you're my most valuable asset. Harsh punishments like the one you endure now will teach them a lesson and keep their devious activity at bay for a while, but only for a while. Eventually I need a permanent solution to my problems."

"You just sound paranoid," Kagome dismissed him, "Hakudoshi plotting against you? He's just a brat. I don't know about the others. If Kagura was ever on your side she won't be now. If one of them betrays you it's your own fault father."

"You're just mocking me instead of listening to me. Kagome you are property now, but only until I die. I want you to be my sole heir. I want you to be the one to inherit these kingdoms and rule over them in my stead if something befalls me. Eventually I will find a way to rid the others from the line of succession. The easy way where I simply say all my marriages to their mothers didn't count and they are bastards, or the hard way where I kill them all. I've been laying the groundwork for you for a long time now and will continue that work such as long as you can manage to straighten yourself out."

Kagome didn't believe him. Her the heir to Havensbrooke when she was the youngest child and a female at that? It wasn't possible, and even if it was possible she didn't want it. She didn't want to see anything bad happen to her siblings. It was true she didn't really care for half of them, but was Kanna really plotting against their father? Byakuya? It wasn't true.

"You're a liar. None of what you're saying makes any sense. I won't be around when you pass. I age like a human remember? You'll stay the same and I'll die an old woman. I won't be okay with you hurting the family all over nothing. Besides I can't exactly rule or have any power here when I'm getting shipped off to another kingdom to be another man's property as you said."

Naraku did not approve of being a liar. The time for civil conversation was over. He needed to make Kagome understand.

He gave one of his chuckles that forced her to shudder as a tentacle emerged from his body and wrapped itself around her ankle dragging her closer to him.

"Do you think this is a joke Kagome?" Naraku's voice grew more malicious as the distance between the two were closed, "that I don't know what I'm doing."

Another tentacle came for her. This one covered in sharp scales that threatened to clasp around her neck as the sharp edges made shallow marks in her soft skin.

The moment Kagome felt threatened her mind went back into a past she'd previously closed her mind to. One similar to this involving her father's tentacles and her pain.

Immediately she began to sound like a whimpering child as tears erupted from her eyes.

"Please daddy don't hurt me!" she cried to him, "please not again. I won't be bad anymore I promise."

Naraku seemed pleased as he hadn't heard her say those things for a long time. Last time she cried out for her not to hurt him had been before he'd given up on using her blood for his experiments.

"I don't want to hurt you," he told her, "but you're about to force me to. I just need you to understand your purpose Kagome. I'm not shipping you off to Sesshoumaru to be his bride. You might have to play your part for a while, warm his bed, give him a pup or two, but not for the long term. I'm sending you there to kill him Kagome. Unlike the others I don't underestimate you. You'll endure your punishment, complete your mission, and return to my side where I will prepare you to someday rule."

(End Chapter)