Disclaimer; I do not own Inuyasha, nor the story of Esther. I really hope I'm spelling 'Esther' right, because I've seen it spelled 'Esthar' before, but I think that was in some anime show I watched. o.O

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 Four;

(Inuyasha's Pov)

My eyes widened immediately when they laid on the young woman, a woman much younger than I thought she would be. Her majesty Kagome didn't seem all that surprised by our dumbfounded reactions, because hey, who wouldn't be surprised considering most of us never thought we would be standing in the palace with royalty, much less the Queen.

More shocking to me was not that I was standing within ten feet of her, was when I felt my heart wrench around just a little bit when I realized with a stabbing of the heart just who she looked like to me. It was almost uncanny and certainly unfair. A flood of memories swarmed into my mind of a woman who nearly two years ago had stood along side me giving me that same soft smile, that I now saw on the face of her majesty Kagome in front of me. I shook my head trying to rid myself of the living nightmare, but a ghost of depression crept over me in my state.

"Are you alright?" I heard Miroku whisper next to me. Again, I shook my head trying to rid myself of the feeling.

"Not sure." There was a loud 'ssh' behind us and I brought my eyes to face Lady Kagome once again.

She cleared her throat once then began to speak to us in a loud clear voice.

"Welcome to my home. First off, allow me the privilege to apologize for how suddenly you men were all rounded up and brought here. I hope no one is hurt or to upset to stay, but if you feel you want to leave then take your leave now." She stood there looking over the crowd silently watching over us. There was a low murmur running through our group, some people not sure what they wanted. A few people quickly left out the door we had entered, deciding against this chaos, whatever 'this chaos' was.

The majority stayed.

She gave another smile that lifted a little bit of the tension in the room.

"Now, I'm sure your wondering what is going on. Needless to say, you will certainly soon find out, but first we will have you properly suited into your rooms. Once we have you situated, my highest advisor Sango," she said with a gesture of her arm to the other woman that had entered in the room with her, "will brief you over what is going on. You will then have another chance to leave if you so desire. You and I will adjourn again tomorrow afternoon. If you have any furthering questions, then that would be the time to ask them." Again, she surveyed over the room. When no reply was made, not that anyone would dare question royalty, she turned and went her way through the double doors from whence she had entered in through. The woman, Sango her name way, immediately came forward.

"Alright men, if you will follow me." She said, and started walking towards a set of doors and I just recently discovered. When the majority of the mass of men had stood still where they were, she turned and raised a brow.

"Are you going against orders?" She said her voice sounding like death in just that one sentence. There was a low murmur throughout our group, and one lanky man stepped forward hesitantly.

"Excuse me miss, but some of the men feel it is…….. Out of character to follow the orders of a woman. They-," Sango immediately had stepped forward, grabbed the man and displaying a wide variety of attack skills had him in the floor as she stood triumphantly over him. Most of the men's jaw dropped, mine and Miroku's included.

"Anyone else have anything to say?"

There was no reply. She smirked and once again called for everyone to follow. There was no question to taking the order this time.

She let us through a maze of hallways, eventually leading us to another slightly smaller set of double doors that she threw open, standing to the side of the entrance to let us on through first.

Inside, many beds and blankets were neatly organized throughout, a medium sized chest sitting next to each.

"Alright men," Sango called behind us, clapping her hands once to get our attention. "Now I sure as hell hope your mature enough to not squabble over who gets which bed. Quickly pick a place, and sit down. You have a chest to keep any belongings you might have on you, or acquire throughout your time here."

We began to shuffle around, sitting down on our now designated pallets. Miroku grabbed the one next to me, and I wondered in passing why he was still set on trying to get to know me.

My attention was brought back to the current situation, as we all were settled down and once again Sango called for our attention.

"Very good. Now as to why your here…" She walked down the middle row in the center of the room, addressing all of us. "As I'm sure all of you know, our King died not all too long ago. As there was no heir to take the throne, or family that could take the position, neighboring lords and advisors came and it was decided that to appoint a new king..." Here she sighed shaking her head "It was decided that a competition would be held."

There were many gasps throughout the room and a couple shouts of 'what?!'. Even I had to admit that it sounded like a bit of a stretch of an idea.

Sango held up a hand for quiet. When we had obliged, she began to speak, in a softer more kind voice.

"You men, have been chosen by the most basic of requirements to serve your country. This competition will be grueling, and test and train you for all skills needed of our next king. You will be taught edicut, military defense and attack skills which will also lead us to hand to hand combat plus how to properly handle a sword." I felt my fingers brush against Tetsusaiga's sheath absentmindedly. I had a habit of carrying it around. Even if the blade was dull and whatnot, I had felt I should, if only because my father had left it for me.

"You will also be taught in not just the ways of our small country, but the ways of all the lands. You will become knowledgeable and use that knowledge to help your wisdom in this competition. You will be trained in every aspect we believe you should know. After training is complete, we will hold trials over and let you show us what you have learned. Only a handful of people will pass through each time. We hope to have at least two possible candidates in which our Lady Kagome will ultimately choose. How will she choose? Easy. Throughout this competition, Lady Kagome will be watching over you men, occasionally coming in to see how the training goes. This is not simply a choice for our next king, but for her next husband. You will be expected to be able to mingle and let her get to know you as a side job. For after all, she has to be able to stomach one of you men for the rest of her life." She looked around at us all letting the weight of this surprise sink in. Then under her breath, "or at least till another horde of demons takes the king out and we have to do this all over again."

While no one else probably heard her except the other demons in the vicinity, I felt my ears lower and a small cloud of depression creep over me. While I had no reason to believe I would make it far in this competition, it still hurt that it felt like I was yet again being judged before anyone knew me.

"Alright men. Now once again, if you feel as if you would still like to leave, now in knowing what it is going on here then you may now take leave."

More men than what had before left this time, grumbling a bit about how silly this all was. I thought about leaving, but a sudden feeling of wanting to prove someone, anyone, wrong in this competition that he was better than they thought he was. Sango's comment had made me want to prove that all demons weren't killing rampant machines. I stayed in my place.

"Okay then, for what's left of you," I glanced around the room noticing that at least thirty odd men were still sitting about the room. "A morning wake up call will arrive tomorrow early so that we can get a tour of the palace in before we meet Lady Kagome in the afternoon. Get sleep. Training starts the day after tomorrow." And with that she left.

It was silent for a little while, and then slowly the men in the room began shuffling around at their pallets unsure of what to make of all this. I laid back on my pallet crossing my arms over my chest, and closed my eyes.

"Your not going to sleep right now are you?" Miroku said, poking at my side. I shot him a small glare.

"S'what if I am?" My voice was perhaps a bit harsher than it should've been.

Miroku wasn't even fazed. "What do you think about this thing? A competition for a king? I mean….it's crazy!" He said, his hands flying in a gesture to emphasize this point.

I sighed and rolled over on my side, facing him. "Yeah it is a little..crazy. But I'm sure the council knows what they're doing." My voice sounded fake even to me.

Miroku snorted, "Yeah right." I found myself smiling just a bit as he laughed a loud. There was a cry for quiet somewhere across the room and Miroku quieted, now whispering.

"So what about that Sango person?"

"What about her?"

"Wasn't she beautiful?" Miroku said dreamily. I furrowed my brows at him.

"I didn't notice."

"Didn't notice! Blasphemy!" He said laughingly, once again being 'ssh'd, but he paid no mind this time. "And the way she handled that man in the first room? I love my women with a little fight in them."

"Miroku, she'd have you pulverized in the ground if she heard you say that." I said rolling my eyes.

"Probably. But she'd be flattered all the same." He said sighing and flopping on his bed in contentment. I smiled a little wider this time. Miroku was certainly a rather… perverse man I might've said, but his antifcs were doing a good job of alleviating tensioin in not just me, but the entire room that listened to his jesting. Soon the men were talking amongst themselves, quietly as it was starting to get late.

I was close to sleep when Miroku decided to speak again. "I know why you didn't notice fair Sango's beauty." I groaned. Should I even ask? "And why, oh why, would that that be?" Oops, too late, it slipped out.

He said it quietly, perhaps as a small act of privacy to me. "Because you were too distracted by Lady Kagome's beauty. I saw the way you were staring at her in there." He said a small knowing smile on his face.

My jaw dropped for the umpteenth time that night.

It took me a second to recover after he had outright said that. I shook my head, then realized in the now dark room he wouldn't see it. "I definitely wasn't thinking along those lines."

"Oh ho? Then what were you thinking of? You certainly were thinking something for sure."

I felt my face drop. I rolled back over on my other side.

"It's nothing."

Miroku was quiet for a second before piping up, "It doesn't sound like nothing."

"Doesn't matter. It was the past." The way I said it made it clear that I wouldn't say anymore on the subject.

Miroku quieted down, letting it be.

Sometime in the next hour I was, miraculously, asleep.

A/N; Sorry for the wait on this chapter, the internet has been kinda screwy lately, and I never know when it's going to work. Thank you and for your cooperation in making sure my internet sources were killed.

As usual,

R&R.