The Difference Between Heaven and Hell

Chapter Two

Quotes used in this Chapter:

"Royalty is not like being famous. Being royal requires you to sacrifice who you are for who you must be." –The Queen in The Prince and Me (accredited to LionGate Films)

-Yokohama Castle-

She had never felt so completely evil. Kagome had always been the nice one—the wallflower that never spoke out of turn and never questioned an order. But that had been before she had become a murderer. Kikyou and InuYasha had been dead a month now, and things had changed considerably in the Higurashi household. For one, the marriage agreement had been rethought and cancelled, due, in part to Kikyou's death and, also, in part, to Sesshomaru's complete hatred of the idea—and this was only the beginning. Her mother and father, being left with only one daughter, had started petitioning nobles to marry her—as if she was some old pet that they wanted gone from their life, but wanted payment for. And then, like a fireball from Hell, her mother had suggested that Kagome marry Sesshomaru of the West. There had never been a moment that Kagome had been any angrier.

"No," she said, simply, ripping her new blue kimono at the seams. "I refuse to marry him! I need to find my own love in this world, and I refuse to be some toy that you pass to any available taker! Mama, you know I love you, but I refuse to marry him."

Her mother, Yoshii, merely sighed and picked up the scattered pieces of her daughter's kimono. "You have no choice. You are royalty."

"That doesn't mean I lose my free will. Royalty is all about money and politics. Nothing is ever about the actual royal family."

Her mother grabbed her arm. "Kagome, royalty is not like being famous. Being royal requires you to sacrifice who you are for who you must be. This is you obligation and this is what separates you from the peasants and simple noblemen. You make horrible sacrifices daily. I know that this is hard for you, but you must accept it. You are a princess—and the only heir to the royal line." Then, with a flurry of skirts, Yoshii fled the room, leaving terrified servants in her wake. It was then that Kagome began to cry.

Servants ran out of the room, embarrassed to watch their once-strong mistress break down in front of them. It was also then that Kagome learned a valuable lesson—family comes before all else in this world. And it was because of this that Kagome agreed to marry one Prince Sesshomaru.

-Western Palace-

They wouldn't tell him her name. They wouldn't tell him her race or her class. They just told him that he was engaged, yet again, and that he had no choice in the matter. Sure, he had fought and whined, fighting the rules the whole time, but Sesshomaru knew that there was no stopping a King or Queen when their mind was made up. Tomorrow he would be meeting his bride for the first time and a day after that, they would be married.

The thing he was most saddened by was the fact that Kagome would never know how he felt about her. She would believe that her Maru-chan had been a rogue that never truly cared about her. And then, soon after, she, herself, would be married off in the name of royal lineage and family loyalty. It was both of their duties.

At that moment, his father entered Sesshomaru's room, his expensive boots clicking across the black marble like the ticking of a bomb—a bomb that spelled doom to Sesshomaru's entire existence. "Sesshomaru," he said, with a finality that spoke even more doom.

(A/N: Anyone else thinking the "Doom" song from Invader Zim? Doom, doom, doom…doom-de-doom-doom….)

"Father," he replied, with as much menace as he could manage. "I've already tried arguing my point, so if you're here to convince me again, let me tell you that I've decided to go through with it, even though it's the most ridiculous plan you've ever created." He turned back to the journal in front of him, scratching out the letter to Kagome that he had written only this morning. "So, you can leave now."

"Insolent whelp!" His father growled, speeding across the room and clasping his claws around Sesshomaru's neck. His silver/white hair settled behind him, matted from his quick movements. "I came to announce that your bride is here…early. She, too, must have experienced the same epiphany as you because she, as well, was fighting this and just miraculously gave in this morning." He let go, watching as Sesshomaru rubbed his bruised neck. "Pathetic really…the both of you." Then he flipped around and strode from the room, his boots clicking all the way. Sesshomaru winced as the door slammed—like a door slamming on his heart.

He realized then that his life had become a string of romantic clichés and that he had absolutely no control over his destiny in the love department. He was doomed to walk down the aisle with some—at least he prayed—pretty no-brain princess who was in love with money. That, in itself, was also a cliché, because not every pretty woman is in love with money or, coincidentally, a princess, and not every princess was pretty, just like not every princess liked money. Kagome, he assumed, hated money—and royalty, for that matter—and probably would have done something bold to get herself out of a predicament like the one he was stuck in—but this was no cliché because the cliché would be that Kagome is a weak, beautiful character like Ophelia in Hamlet—and we all know, sadly, that anything to do with Hamlet is, in fact, cliché. But all of this was beside the point and Sesshomaru really had to get back to reality and go meet his future bride who, depressingly, was not Kagome.

He strode down the hall, careful to avoid any of his family—his sisters were atwitter—excited that they finally got to attend a wedding and finally had a chance to marry themselves. Tradition required that the eldest marry first and, before now, Sesshomaru had been quite stubborn in his hatred of the idea of marriage. Safe to say, Shiori and Ikana were dreadfully excited and that made his hatred of them even greater. His brother, also, seemed vaguely in love with the idea that Sesshomaru was getting married. That, he fretted, was definitely not a good thing.

He came upon the ballroom and peeked in, checking to see if his bride had been brought out to greet the royal family yet, and secretly hoping that she hadn't. All he saw when he looked in was a woman with a mane of ebony hair. His heart leapt into his throat. "Kagome?"

The woman turned around, revealing Kagome, in all of her royal splendor. "Maru-chan? What are you doing here?" She fiddled with the long sleeves of her dark red kimono—he noticed that it had black blossoms embroidered on it, but then again, he noticed everything about Kagome.

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied, with ease. "Are you accompaning your family?" He asked, thinking she had come to help give away the bride. It was custom for the royal family to be present when one of their noble's children was given over to another kingdom in marriage.

Kagome laughed lightly and replied with: "I guess you could say that. They're here, if that's what you're asking, but they're not with me, as you can see." She was stuttering and Kagome was sure that Maru noticed. "But now you can answer my question. Why are you here?"

"I work here," he replied, effortlessly lying. Then, suddenly, he heard his mother's voice calling him and craned his neck to see if she was coming down the hall. "But I must go now. My mistress," he nearly choked on the words, "is calling me." Then he turned and left, leaving a very stunned Kagome behind him.

She stood there, simply staring at the door, for probably five minutes straight before she snapped herself back to attention. She really was in way over her head—in love with one demon and marrying another. How would this possibly work? Not to mention the fact that, since she was born, the healers had declared her body unfit to borne a child. In other words, she was infertile. She was sure that wouldn't go over well the new husband of hers. He's have to go to a whore in order to produce an heir—hopefully he went to a whore that looked a little like her, at least. That way it would be easy to claim the child as her own.

Realizing that she was thinking about taking children from whores, Kagome shuddered and rubbed her hands over her arms, agitated. "What am I doing?" She breathed, thinking about Maru. "He's going to be here when this all happens...he'll work for me..." She let a tear slip down her cheek. And this was how her mother found her ten minutes later.

"Kagome?" Yoshii called, walking into the ballroom, her steps perfectly executed, like any royal woman walked. "Are you ready for the engagement ball?"

Kagome sniffled. "No more than I'll ever be." She took her mother's hand. "Is Mira here to help with my hair and dress?" Her mother nodded and a little iota of happiness rose up in Kagome's heart. "Let's get this over with, then." Then she exited the ballroom, her head held high and her soul filled with the bravado of a woman who had finally accepted her fate.

-3 Hours Later-

If there was anything good to say about the day, Kagome would have to say it was her gown for the ball. It was a stunning ensemble, done completely in white, as was tradition, but with a certain amount of flair that spoke volumes about Kagome's personality. Her ebony hair was coiled in a slightly messy bun at the base of her neck and was decorated with small diamonds and white and red roses. Around her neck she wore a string of diamonds and pearls and around her waist was a corset made of white silk with a white lace on top—this corsert made up the bodice of the gown. The skirt flowed beautifully and was only slightly belled. Her shoes were traditional all white sandals and around her second longest two she wore a silver ring—a ring that matched the simple engagement ring that wound around her finger. She was a stunning picture in white.

Ten servants awaited her outside to carry her to the ballroom—yes, carry—in her personal shoulder-carried chariot, made of black silk and covered in red rose petals. Kagome couldn't help but think that the blasted thing looked like it was carrying her to her doom.

When she boarded it, Kagome felt what little courage and confidence she had slipping away—the servants smiled and greeted her warmly before the hefted the chariot onto their shoulders. Two servants walked ahead of the chariot to announce and two walked behind to help her off of the carriage when they arrived—and arrive they did. When the doors opened to the ballroom, Kagome nearly had to shield her eyes it was so breathtaking. Had she really just been in this room only hours ago? Then, of course, she had to ruin the beautiful moment by remembering that everyone in this castle was a demon. She scowled once, before plastering her fake smile back onto her face—which was hidden by a mask.

The mask was also traditional. It was the future husband's job to find his future wife—by looking for the matching silver rings. Unfortunately for him, everyone in the room was wearing a silver ring on their finger. Thus, he would have to look for the only female wearing a silver ring on her foot. The future wife, on the other hand, was to look for the only man in the room with a ceremonial tattoo on the inside of his wrist—thus, she would have to shake hands with everyone in the room in order to find him—and, on top of all that, he, too, was wearing a mask—and neither of them were allowed to take their masks off until dinner was served at midnight. It was like a twisted Cinderella in a way.

The servants dropped her in the center of the dancefloor and then ran out of the room to hide the chariot. The game had not yet begun—the men had not been let in the room yet. The, suddenly, the back door to the ballroom swung open, admitting about 60 male demons of every variety. The thing about this game—both she and her future husband had an advantage. She was one of the only humans here, and she knew, without a doubt, that her future husband was a inu.

Then, with a blow from a bugle, the game began. The sooner the couple found one another, the sooner everyone could eat—but if anyone cheated then everyone would have to change costumes and the ball would have to begin again. Kagome wanted anything but that. So she worked fast—politely shaking hands with everyone until she glimpsed it—the silver crescent tattoo she was looking for. It was on a tall man standing by the doors. The only thing she could tell was that he silver hair and golden eyes—a tell-tale sign of an inuyoukai. She began to maneuver her way towards him. When she reached him, he lifted his gaze to her and nodded.

"About time. I was flashing the silver in the light to get you to notice. Can we get this over with now?" He asked, venom in his deep voice. Kagome shivered, but stood her ground, squaring her shoulders and putting her hands on her hips.

"I need you arm. Or are you not gentlemanly enough to lead me to the center of the dancefloor?" He raised and eyebrow. "You didn't know, Sir? That we must dance once in the very center before the game ends? I thought demons were big on tradition," she growled, sliding her arm into his. "Lead, Sir."

He nodded once and led her the center of the floor. Then, when the violin orchestra began to play, he spun her delicately and pulled her up against him. Her face immediately flushed in determination and she began to challenge his dancing skills—challenging him to a Japanese version of the tango. They twirled and spun, effortlessly, across the floor—the chemistry practically pouring off of every one of their movements. And then, when the song ended, he dipped her once before twirling her back to his side. They both were flushed and panting slightly. The crowd around them cheered and Kagome could hear her parents cheering the loudest, just as Sesshomaru could hear his.

(A/N: I was listening to Sway by the Pussycat Dolls when I wrote this...wow)

A man Kagome assumed was InuTashio, the King and her future father-in-law, stepped up onto a small podium and spoke. "Ladies and Gentleman, our two young lovers have found one another. And recordly fast, I must say. Now we can adjourn to the dining for the feast and the unveiling of eveyone's masks." He gestured to two large doors on the far left wall of the room. "Through that room is the engagement feast. Please make your way there." He finished, stepping back onto the floor. Everyone around the couple quickly dispersed, heading for the dining hall.

Kagome's "date" tried to go as well, but she held onto his arm, fiercely. "It's tradition that we be last to the feast." She scowled at him. "Didn't you pay attention to what you parents told you about all of the traditions?"

Sesshomaru kept his mouth shut because, quite frankly, he had been stunned into silence. He recognized his future-mate's voice. But from where? He tightened his grip on her arm, wanting to hear her speak again.

"Ow! Knock it off you big bully!"

And, just as Sesshomaru was about to remember where he had heard that voice, a servant gestured for them to enter the dining hall. He tilted his face to look at her. "Fake smiles, now. We wouldn't want them getting the right impression." Then he was silent, guiding her along like a trophy wife—which, truly, was all she was.

To be continued...

Next Chapter: The Dinner Party and the Unveiling, along with some "horse-play."

-Darkness-