Chapter Three
"Kagome, are you sure about this?" Inuyasha voiced seriously for the fifth time about Kagome's decision to become 'Hime' and mate him.
Standing before the full length mirror, Kagome glared at Inuyasha's reflection.
"Don't change your mind halfway," Inuyasha grunted out while crossing his arms immediately after catching her glare. Kagome saw the worry on his face through the mirror and softened her gaze.
"I won't, Inuyasha. I promise," Kagome vowed sincerely. She was sure Inuyasha knew that she did not make promises lightly.
And her promise would not be broken.
She would try her best to become 'Hime'.
She would mate Inuyasha.
Spending so many years beside her, Inuyasha knew that he did not need to worry about Kagome bailing out on him. She was just not that type of person and he admired her for that. But, he couldn't help the uneasiness of dragging her into his mess.
"You're not dragging me into your mess, if that's what you are thinking," Inuyasha heard Kagome say as if she had just read his thoughts. Quickly turning to look towards her back, his eyes widened in surprise.
"Humph," Inuyasha grunted to hide the surprise of how well Kagome understood him. He shouldn't be surprised at all. Kagome had always been able to read and understand others well no matter how different they were from her. Softening his gaze, the feeling of guilt was replaced by gratitude.
"Could you grab me my haori?" Kagome requested, while pointing towards her bed where the light purple haori lied. Walking towards her bed, Inuyasha picked up the silky haori and unfolded the material to drape it on for Kagome. Slipping the light purple haori through her outstretched arms, he then untucked her skillfully braided hair from underneath the haori.
Staring into the mirror to observe Kagome, Inuyasha felt like an idiot for ever thinking that she looked similar to Kikyo. There was nothing in common between the two. And what made Kagome so much more different than Kikyo was the fact that Kikyo would never had cared about his struggles with the demon society. He was sure Kikyo would have abandoned him the moment he spoke about it.
"Thank you," Inuyasha grumbled, but Kagome knew those words were spoken after deep thought and from the heart. Smiling brightly for him, Kagome nodded in acceptance and turned towards the room door.
"Let's go then, shall we?" she said as she held out her arm to wrap around his. Inuyasha walked to stand beside her while feeling her arm settle upon his. They would be attending the opening ceremony for the Hime Tradition that would be held within the Western Castle. Though all the demons would not be present, Kagome wished to go to gather information and observe.
"I'm not staying there for long," Inuyasha informed her with a peeved voice. Understanding that he didn't wish to be amongst other demons when unnecessary, Kagome nodded.
She assured him gently, "We will be in and then out before you know it."
"You always say that when you go bath and then come back an hour later," Inuyasha retorted sarcastically.
Rolling her eyes at Inuyasha's comment, Kagome said, "Well, I'm sorry if I wanted an hour of silence I can only get whenever I bathe."
"Keh," Inuyasha answered to ignore her statement and escorted her towards the ceremony.
Arriving at the opening ceremony for the Hime Tradition, both Kagome and Inuyasha were horrified at the sight before them.
The ceremony hall stank of thick perfume.
Demonesses of all ranks, mostly the 'Tsu' and 'Shin' rank, wore their kimonos as revealing as possible.
Fake smiles and giggles appeared on every demoness as they flirted with as many demons.
The scenery reminded Kagome of the brothels she read in her history books.
"I guess there's no rule to be chosen as 'Hime'," Inuyasha snorted in disgust.
Kagome asked in a hushed voice, "You don't think they plan to sleep with every one of them?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if they did," he answered with distaste.
Kagome wondered if they were the only ones surprised by the way the demonesses chose to go about to become 'Hime'. Her eyes rested upon Lady Inari and saw that she was surrounded by many demons, mostly high ranked. Lady Inari seemed to ignore every comment or conversation thrown at her as she just stood there. Though Kagome's first impression of Lady Inari hadn't been great, she was slightly relieved that not all the demonesses would throw themselves at the feet of every male.
"Let's get out of here," Kagome whispered to Inuyasha.
"Don't you need to do your research?" he replied making sure to emphasize that it was her suggestion to come to the opening ceremony when they didn't have to.
"You're more than welcome to stay here," she bit back while walking towards the door that lead to the gardens. She needed fresh air after her lungs were intoxicated by the thick scent of perfume.
"Hey!" Inuyasha yelled as he hurried to reach her side not wishing to stay any longer.
Kagome scurried outdoors and found a bench beside a huge tree. Breathing in deeply, she tried to cleanse the smell of perfume from her body.
Sensing Inuyasha seating himself beside her, she began to think out loud, "I thought you said many demonesses prepare for the Hime Tradition."
"I meant in beauty, not intelligence," Inuyasha scoffed.
"I'm guessing that there is more focus on the beauty of a demoness instead of her intelligence and strength," Kagome thought out loud.
"You got that from your huge book, huh?" Inuyasha commented as Kagome knew he meant her textbooks she carried around to study. She was tempted to roll her eyes as she knew Inuyasha always thought her words of wisdom all came from her textbooks.
"Well, women weren't acknowledged as an equal to men for quite some time. So, it was usually a woman's beauty that men sought after, not their intelligence. I wouldn't be surprised if it were the same for the demon society," Kagome explained.
"You're wrong-" Inuyasha voiced snottily. He puffed up his chest to brag about his knowledge on demon society to Kagome; his first time at being more knowledgeable than Kagome.
"I wasn't done!" Kagome interrupted while hiding her laughter when she noticed Inuyasha's ear plop down in disappointment.
"The very essence of The Hime Tradition is to find a unique, beautiful, and intelligent demoness. This shows that the demon society doesn't look down upon females or their intelligence. But, the fact that this tradition is held every 10th century must mean that such a demoness is rare. I gather that demonesses are brought up to just find a mate that is of same or higher rank, become a trophy mate and then bear them a pup. So, technically demonesses can't help but focus more on their beauty to capture the attention of higher ranked demons. I guess that's why when a 'Hime' is chosen, that demoness is highly respected by both male and females because she exceeds the normal expectations of a 'mate'. The 'Hime' will probably have all demons from all ranks wanting her as mate. This is probably why the demonesses in the lower ranks are using their charm to get the title of 'Hime' and mate a powerful demon. And I'm sure Lady Inari already thinks she's respected by all because of her rank as 'Daiyoukai', even though I think to be respected by both men and women would mean that interaction is key," Kagome described her view of the demon society. Breaking away from her own thoughts, Kagome laughed at Inuyasha's speechless expression.
"You got all that from standing in that opening ceremony for ONE MINUTE!?" Inuyasha voiced in disbelief. It took him centuries to finally understand the gist of how the demon society worked.
"Well, Inuyasha, there were no demonesses dressed in the color of a 'Mu' (scholar), 'Gon' (general), or 'Sho' (first rank). These three ranks are pretty much the ranks one would need to acquire with their own strength. There were only lower ranks, 'Jiki' or 'Daiyoukai' ranked demonesses. I'm sure the demonesses ranked as a 'Jiki' are the princesses of a Lord, while a 'Daiyoukai' like Lady Inari are the heirs of a land. Am I right?" Kagome inquired as she laid out her observations.
"Ya," Inuyasha grumbled in annoyance at her intelligence.
Furrowing her brows, there was still one question that remained unanswered, "But why don't the demonesses just study more and work on their powers to become stronger? Then they would obviously have higher chances of becoming 'Hime'."
"We don't have people teaching us like you do, Kagome. It doesn't work that way for us. Demons are supposed to find their own knowledge and strength without relying on others to teach them. That's probably why Kami gave us such long life spans," Inuyasha explained. This fascinated Kagome greatly, now understanding that every knowledge and strength each demon had was learned on their own and each unique. Kagome realized that even Inuyasha spent 200 years searching for his own strength and knowledge.
Noticing Inuyasha's odd expression, Kagome asked, "What is it?"
"I doubt any demoness would choose to leave the safety and comfort of her Castle to go out and gain knowledge and power of her own," Inuyasha answered.
The puzzle pieces all seemed to fit now. Kagome was able to understand the purpose of the Hime Tradition and why it was so rare to find a demoness with all the qualities of a 'Hime'.
"Well then, if there are no rules to gain the title of 'Hime', I wonder what tactic I should use," Kagome mused out loud as she furrowed her brows in deep thought.
"You just needa act as you do, Kagome," Inuyasha told her honestly. He knew her natural personality could change anyone.
Kagome smiled warmly at his words for they reminded her to stay true to herself. She did not wish to become 'fake' in any way. Every word that came out from her mouth would be honest and sincere. It was so easy to just find the right important people and tell them the words they wish to hear. But Kagome would not have any of that.
Staring into his amber eyes with a smile, Kagome voiced softly, "Thank you, Inuyasha."
"Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru~ where are you?" both Kagome and Inuyasha heard a few demonesses yell out sugary. At the same time, Kagome and Inuyasha got up from the bench they were sitting on and scurried quickly into the Western Castle to avoid the incoming demonesses. While Kagome was containing a giggle, Inuyasha smirked.
"Poor Sesshomaru, he must be popular with the demonesses" Kagome said as her voice quivered from the giggle she was trying to contain.
"Very," Inuyasha snickered.
Behind the huge tree, where Kagome and Inuyasha had sat beside, a slight movement of a shadow could be seen. As golden eyes glimmered in the dark, he fixed his eyes upon the Miko as she disappeared into the Castle. Unknown to both Kagome and Inuyasha, the hidden figure had heard their entire conversation. Replaying the conversation in his head, golden eyes lingered on the path the Miko had left from.
'Interesting.'
Author's Note: What do you think of the demon society now? Makes sense? ...Hopefully it does.
Thank you for reading,
Your reviews are cherished.