Disclaimer; What would you do if I said I did own Inuyasha?

-sigh-

No, I do not own Inuyasha, nor the story of Esther from which the idea of this story came to me. (I know, that's a really strange combination)

Summary; There once was a peasant named Inuyasha, who was pulled into the competition for a new King unwillingly. As the competition continues, something happens that neither Inuyasha nor Her Majesty, Kagome expected. How will the two fair, as the rush and search for a new king becomes the only life they know?

The Story of a Peasant

Chapter Two;

(Inuyasha's Pov)

Sesshomaru arrived in the village today, along with some of the other Lords. He marched through the center of town, riding on the back of Ah-Un, his little pesky toad tagalong at the dragon's feet. What made my eyes widen was the small human girl, perched on the back of the dragon, riding right behind Sesshomaru, completely at ease with sitting so close to him. Now if you know Sesshomaru at all, you know he has no tolerance for humans and their frailitities. Hence why he had no tolerance of me, since I was a hanyou; a half demon, half human. I got over my surprise quickly though, turning and ducking through the crowd, moving swiftly so no one could get a look of me and Sesshomaru in the same eye full, to notice the similarities between us two.

I walked past Kaede's stand, giving a small nod towards the woman in acknowledgement. She did the same before continuing on the packaging of some sort of fruit.

The marketplace was the busiest it had been since the kingdom learned of our king's death, everyone coming out to hopefully make a profit with so many visitors of the Lord's guards, advisors, and wards. The smells of freshly baked bread and freshly cut fruit permeated the air, and my sensitive nose was having a party inhaling all the wonderful scents. I breathed in deeply, a small smile tugging against my lips for a brief second… that was before I walked right into a human carrying a load of crates to a market stand. On instinct, I reached a hand out steadying the startled man and attempting to catch the top crate that threatened to fall over at any second. I started to open my mouth to quietly apologize, but suddenly he was shouting.

"Thief! Get away from me!" I pulled back my eyes wide, my jaw dropping slack a big. The man continued to shout at me, as I stood there in disbelief. All I had done was run into the man on accident, and here I was being accused of stealing? Finally, self defense instincts called me out, and I pulled my hand into a fist trying to make my voice come out as controlled as possible.

"Hey! I wasn't trying to steal anything." I ground out.

"Lies! You filthy demons are always scrounging around, trying to make a break for our belongings!" The man cried out. He spun around, the top crate finally crashing down on the ground splitting into a wooden mess.

"Now look at what you've done!" The man yelled out.

"Me?!" I yelled, appalled. "What the hell did I do?" The man turned around pure hatred in his eyes.

"This is all your fault!" He shouted, pointing a finger at my chest. It took all the control I had not to punch him across the face right then in there. I forced a growl to stifle itself in my throat before I spoke.

"I was just trying' to apologize for running into you." The words were clipped short, as my anger throbbed painfully.

"Sure, sure That's what they all say," The man muttered scrambling to pick up the broken crate after having set down the others next to his stand, "Filthy low class demons. Have no sense of value for others belongings, stealing anything and everything they want, just because they think they're stronger than us."

I was fixing to say something oh so witty, something that probably involved my fist to his face, when a hand landed on my shoulder. I turned my head sharply, wondering who the heck was trying to interfere. I was fairly surprised to see a human male, someone whose name I didn't know. I raised a brow at him, noting that his hand was still on my shoulder. He smiled brightly.

"Hi." He said in a bright conversational tone, as if he wasn't talking to a very pissed hanyou.

"And you would be…?" I said, cutting right to the chase. The man feigned hurt, laying his free hand over his chest.

"You don't know? Oh gee, well I suppose you can't reach everyone. I'm Miroku," he started, "and I just moved her to Shikon No'Tama a few weeks ago."

"Sucky timing." I muttered. This guy.., Miroku, was unfazed. The crowd that had gathered and circled around us when the yelling started began to shift and continue on with their monotonous routines, a few blatantly starting at the strange sight in front of them. I couldn't say I understood it anymore than they did.

"So I've seen. Might you spare a name?" He said, finally removing his hand from my shoulder. I turned fully facing him now, sizing him up.

"What do you want with me?" I asked not bothering to answer his question. His face didn't even falter.

"Well it looked like things were fixing to get a little dirty here, and I figured that since it wasn't your fault in the beginning to jump in and help…alleviate the tension." Miroku replied easily.

"Hmph. Not your business to help me."

"I help who needs help," here he gave a little grin, "even if it is an angry demon." I had to admit, this guy was throwing me off. Even if people did realize I wasn't stealing anything, they would never have jumped in to help my cause.

Miroku was definitely weird.

"Feh, thanks I guess." I said, brushing past him to melt back in with the crowd so that I could get back home.

"Wait! You never gave me your name." he said catching my haori sleeve. I shot a look at him that at least got him to let go of me.

"Inuyasha." And then I left him standing there.

I reached home in quite the mood. I was still angry at the man in the marketplace, confused by the behavior of the strange man Miroku (emphasis on strange), and now I was just tired. I kept my head low, ready to make it inside to hopefully catch a nap.

The sound of feminine laughter caught my attention, making my head snap up to see Shippou and a young human girl laughing in our small yard, if that's what you would call it. I felt my walk slow as I watched the two laugh as Shippou pulled out his fox toys, showing the young woman the tricks. Something about her seemed familiar an I tried hard to place where I had seen her.

Shippou happened to look up and noticed me standing on the small path. He smiled big and waved me over excitedly.

"Hey Inuyasha! I'd like you to meet Rin. She's with Se-"

"Sesshomaru. I saw you when you guys entered in the city earlier today." I said, easily placing where I had seen the girl in that split second. The girl gave a small timid smile, but didn't appear at all afraid to be in company of demons.

"I'm sorry to intrude on you guys, but Seshomaru's been stuck in meetings all day, and I was starting to get bored, so I wandered into the marketplace. It had looked so fun earlier, but when I got there, everyone was starting to close up… But then I met Shippou who showed me some of his tricks…" she said, her voice growing more confidently by the second. I raised a hand, which caused her to quiet. I gave her a small smile.

"It's fine, I don't mind you here. Good for the kit." I said, and flicked him on the head.

"Hey!" He pouted, rubbing his forehead. Rin giggled good naturedly.

"First off, does Sesshomaru know where you are if you are indeed under his care?" I asked, not wanting to face Sesshomaru's wrath, had he thought I had for some reason stole her away. Rin snorted.

"Unfortunately. The toad follows me around when I leave the 'safety of the palace'." She said thrusting a thumb over her shoulder where the toad laid strewn on the ground, where it looked like he had received a bit of a beating from two rambunctious kids. I had to give a grin. I liked this girl already.

Rin hung around for a couple more hours, making Shippou laugh more than I could remember ever hearing him since I had met him. It made me feel good, to see his smile so permanently etched into his face. Eventually she did have to go home, the toad drawling on about how if she caught a cold in the night chill, Sesshomaru would have his head. Rin had already started out the door when I stopped her.

"He Rin?" I asked, leaning against our door. She turned, both of us ignoring the complaints of the toad at another hindrance to the return to the palace.

"Can I ask just how you would up under Sesshomaru's care? I've never known him to take a liking to humans." I said, trying to not make it sound as insulting as it probably was. But she smiled softly.

"It's a bit of a story."

"Perhaps I could return tomorrow?"

"It's fine. It's nice to see Shippou laugh like a normal kid for once." I said feeling a smile tug at my mouth once again for the day. Rin smiled as well.

"It certainly does feel to laugh." She said, but it sounded as if she was speaking to herself.

"Go on Rin, no need to keep Sesshomaru waiting any longer." I nudged her forward gently with my words. Sesshomaru's name pulled her out of her stupor, and instantly she waved then returned to walking down the path, the toad's babbling continuing as they walked down the alleyway.

I shook my head, not believing how the day had played out.

Chapter Three Preview Sentence;

'"No." His voice was without emotion. That was Sesshomaru for you.'

A/N; And slowly the plot begins to form. Very slowly.

I wish I had more of a talent at starting off my stories.

Oh, and if you notice strange typo's or errors, please tell me.

I was re-reading chapter one, and I noticed that spellcheck had changed 'inuyasha' to 'natasha'. It's fixed now though.

P.S. Don't think I'm going to keep posting chapters this quickly. Its just the break, and I have alot of time on my hands for the next week or so. But the second school starts, chapters will be coming maybe once a week/every other week. I have AP classes I worry more about. Woe is me. =P

R Compliments, Critisicm, Flames? I don't care.