A/N: Hello lovely people! I am back after quite a long time and I have been trying my absolute damn-dest to finish writing the original, 'The Heir'. I have written notes, upon note, upon notes, and I still can't get the story to line up without completely re-writing it. The biggest issue is the plot line surrounding the mob and their interest regarding taking over the throne/interest in Ileana. Also, there were some common sense things that I got completely wrong, but that I know how to fix if I can figure out where my plot line is going.
Anywho, in response to that, I have begun writing 'The Heir 2.0', which has a similar theme. For those of you who still love 'The Heir', if you have any ideas for the story, please let me know, as I won't pull the story until I know what I'm doing with it.
Additionally, I am running on certain premises to make the plot line flow and connect. So, please no grumpiness until you see where it's going.
The Heir 2.0
The rain outside pounded into the earth with deafening force, making it hard to hear anything else over its drumming. Looking quickly over her shoulder, a raven-haired girl peered out her car windows onto the wet, dreary streets of Kyoto. Her eyes darted across the people who crossed in front of her house, most of whom were trying to escape from the sudden onslaught of the storm. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she pulled her hood over her head, grabbed the door handle and rushed the hundred yards to her front door. Once she stood under the small amount of cover her roof's overhang provided, she lowered her hood and searched the street once more before unlocking her front door and rushing inside.
"Mummy!" A small voice called out before she felt its source collide with her legs. Looking down, the shadows in her eyes dispersed and the corners of her mouth lifted as she saw her daughter's smiling face lovingly looking up at her.
"Hey baby." She laughed, as she squatted down to the little girl's level and wrapped her arms around her tiny frame, lovingly running her hand over her hair. Her heartrate slowed as she held her daughter in her arms and finally released the breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
Across the room, her friend, and housemate of six weeks, stood leaning against the door frame, a tight smile pulled unnaturally on her lips. She met the other woman's eyes and felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle uncomfortably. Pulling her daughter away from her by her upper arms, she looked into bright, green eyes. "Ileana, baby, can you go and find all your favourite things and lay them out on your bed for me?" With a knowing nod, the little girl bounded away and climbed the stairs.
When the women could hear her moving around her room, her friend moved towards her. "Kagome," Her voice was fretful, "they were watching the house again. I don't know what you've gotten yourself involved in, hun, but you need to take Ileana and get out of here." She felt her chest constrict as, involuntarily, she flicked her gaze over her shoulder and towards the door.
They've never found us this quickly before, her mind warred against what she knew to be true. Hadn't she seen two strange men watching her only yesterday? She ran through every option she had left and felt her hands tremble as she realized there was only one.
No, I'm not ready.Her face paled as she tried to think of any other option. Any other choice.
After a moment, she looked at her friend and swallowed the lump growing in her throat. "Thank you for taking us in, Ayumi. I know I've put you in dan- "
Ayumi's finger on her lips cut her off. "Don't mention it. You know I'd do anything for that little girl." She gave her a slight smile as she dropped her hand to Kagome's shoulder. "Now, go get your things and leave before the rain clears up." With a curt nod, she pulled her closest friend in for a tight hug before quickly releasing her and rushing upstairs.
Ileana looked up at her mother from where she stood in front of her bed, a stuffed turtle and framed picture laid out on it. Her heart pulled in her chest as she realized these were the only things her daughter truly cherished. She didn't care about her toys or her dresses, just the stuffed turtle her grandmother had given her and the photo of a man she'd never met. "Are these all your favourite things baby?" Kagome asked, trying to push the rising emotion out of her voice.
Her rounded cheeks lifted as she smiled at her. "Mhmm." She said with a quick nod.
Kagome gently cupped her daughter's cheek as she thought again of how lucky she was to have her. "Alright then. Do you remember what to do?" She nodded her little head again and turned out of her mother's touch to grab her cherished belongings off her bed. Kagome watched her for a moment more as guilt constricted her chest. She hated that her daughter had become used to abandoning everything at a moment's notice.
Snapping into action, she rushed to the closet, pulled out a child sized suitcase, and began putting a few pairs of Ileana's clothes into it. Before she shut the bag, her daughter toddled over and gently laid the framed picture on top. Closing and zipping the suitcase, she handed the telescoping handle to Ileana. "Head downstairs to Aunt Ayumi. I'll be down in a second." Without argument, she headed towards the door with the bag wheeling behind her. Seconds later, Kagome heard the characteristic thumps of a suitcase being wheeled down stairs and then rushed into her own room.
She knew she didn't have time to over think what to take with her. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she mentally ran through the list of things she needed. Her duffle bag was already packed, with clothes and her and Ileana's important documents, at the bottom of her closet. Grabbing the bag first, she then flicked her eyes around her sparse bedroom. Deciding there was nothing there she couldn't live without, she left the room without a second glance.
Downstairs, Kagome found the little bag at the door and Ayumi sitting on the couch with Ileana, who was already in her hooded jacket, laughing. She smiled at the pair and silently thanked her friend for distracting her daughter from the fact they were uprooting, again. Seeing her mother, Ileana leaned over and hugged Ayumi. "Bye Auntie," She said warmly, then jumped up and grabbed her turtle.
Tears were gathering at the corners of both women's eyes as her friend, too, stood up. "You have everything?" Her friend's voice shook with emotion. When she nodded in response, her friend's arms wrapped her in a tight embrace. "Keep your head on a swivel, Kags." Ayumi whispered and softly kissed her cheek.
Kagome nodded, fighting back tears. "I will," she whispered back to her as she pulled away, instantly missing the other woman's warmth.
She was going to miss her friend.
Moving around Kagome and Ileana, Ayumi peeked out the front window's curtains. "Coast is clear."
Without another word, she pulled up her daughter's hood, and then her own, before lifting her in her arms and opening the front door, the wet wind blowing in mercilessly. Leaning down to grab Ileana's suitcase, she saw the spider spray painted onto the ground in front of the door.
Their close. She screamed internally as a shiver ran up her spine. Ayumi gasped behind her as she saw the mark that hadn't been there twenty minutes ago, but Kagome was already moving with quick strides towards her car.
00000
Twenty minutes later, she looked through the rearview mirror and saw her daughter sleeping soundly in her booster seat. Although Ileana was safe, Kagome's hands were shaking on the steering wheel as she fought back the terror that threatened to consume her.
They had never gotten that close to them before. Normally, it took them months and months to track them down. She ran through all of her movements over the last few weeks, from her substitute teaching job to grocery store visits. She was positive no one had seen them, no one had followed them.
As she pulled into the airport parking lot, she realized how they had found her, taking with it any hope she had of not boarding a plane to the last place she wanted to go.
Mum. Putting her car in park, she leaned her head on the steering wheel and felt anger well up in her. They had gone so far as to track her phone calls to her mother. The last time she'd spoken to her mother was last week when she had called Ayumi's house to tell her that her grandfather had died of a heart attack, breaking the protections they'd put in place.
Pain gripped at her, as just the thought of her Jii-san's face made the loss raw again. I couldn't even go to his funeral in fear they'd be watching for me. Expecting me to risk exposing us to come say goodbye. With a peeked glance back at her daughter, she knew that was something she would never do. She comes first.
She drew air in through her nose and out through her mouth, pushing away the pain. She couldn't think about the men who were chasing her and her daughter anymore, or how they had found them. Stay strong, keep moving, weakness will get us killed, she internally chanted to herself as she tried again to push her feelings into a box in the back of her mind.
Feeling composed, she readied herself to board the plane that would forever change her and Ileana's lives.
00000
If Kagome hoped the island nation's weather would be different than that of Kyoto's, she was sorely mistaken. If anything, the rain drops beat down harder, the storm raging around them a mirror of her feelings.
With Ileana wrapped against her side and hidden under her large, floor length, brown cloak, she looked up at the palace in front of her that stood looming formidably in the dark, a faint glow coming from some of the windows. Inside the well-illuminated guardhouse at the large wrought-iron gate, she could see three men relaxing. It was obvious they weren't expecting anyone to cause trouble in the middle of a tropical storm. Wind whipped into Kagome as she quickly worked out a plan, causing her to clutch her daughter tighter to her side as it threatened to knock them over. "Not much longer, baby." She said softly.
She knew they would never get through if they approached the guards. The low-paid men would just send them away. Please, let me see the way through, she prayed to whatever god was listening.
As if on cue, she saw someone jump out of a car that had pulled up to an unguarded side gate she had been watching and rush through it. The person never realizing when the gate they thought had latched, swung back open under the wind's pressure. Bingo. With firm hands, she lifted Ileana up, still tucked under her cloak, and bolted for their opening.
A few minutes later, Kagome stood at the front door of the palace, Ileana carefully hidden, and her hood up and still dripping. She was very proud of her daughter, who she knew was wet, cold, and exhausted, as she had not cried or complained once tonight. With bravery she didn't know she possessed, she loudly knocked on the door. When no one came, she knocked again, harder. In the back of her mind she was chanting, stay strong, keep moving, weakness will get us killed.
Kagome heard a commotion on the other side of the door before it pulled open a crack, showing a man in his late fifties wearing a butler's finery. The side of her lips twitched up in a smirk underneath her hood as she heard him gasp. For a split second, she thought he recognized her, but it seemed he truly hadn't expected anyone to be standing outside, especially since she knew the guards hadn't informed him first. "Please state your business." His firm voice demanded as he wrinkled his nose.
Pulling her hood back enough for him to see her face, "Tell Prince Inuyasha Takahashi I wish to see him."
"Excuse me?" He said incredulously, his eyebrows raising in surprise. Catching himself, he narrowed his eyes and took her in for the first time, his eyes raking over her unkempt hair and mud splattered, drenched cloak. "I do not know who you think you are, but I will do no such thing. In fact, I believe the guards would be interested to know how you got past them."
Kagome smiled at the man, who wasn't in on her secret. She had no doubt she would be inside those doors in the next few minutes. "I believe you should let him and the Royal family make that decision about whether or not to entertain me."
"And why is that?" He lifted an eyebrow, amused by her assertion.
She could feel Ileana's face pressed into her leg. She's scared. Kagome's heart thumped in her chest, betraying the courage she wore as a mask, as the moment of truth had finally come. She still wasn't ready. With care, she pulled the cloak back just enough for the butler to see the silvery hair that spilt from her daughter's head to her waist.
With a choked sound, the butler's face went red as he struggled to stammer out an answer. "Now, please tell the Prince that Kagome Higurashi would like to see him."
00000
A well-polished man sat in front of a twelfth-century antique desk, his eyes scanning over the pile of paperwork his assistant had given him that afternoon. One piece in particular seemed to call his attention, no matter how much he tried to put it out of his mind.
Feeling the sudden urge to loosen his collar, he reached up to find it and his tie were already loose. Just thinking about the announcement for his upcoming engagement made him feel as though a noose was being tightened around his neck.
With a frustrated growl, he stood up and began pacing in front of his window, taking note of the ferocious tropical storm that howled past the thick glass. Seems Mother Nature has a sense of humor, he snorted, as the weather embodied the turbulent feelings that were warring inside him.
His life had changed so much in the last six months.
His brother Sesshomaru's accident had rocked everyone and set into motion a series of events that would irrevocably change his life. As the bastard son of his father's beloved mistress, he was never meant to inherit the throne. Sesshomaru was the one who was the steadfast one, the one who was willing to do anything in service for his country.
Now? The prince with a different mistress each week, and no issues more pressing than what party he needed to attend, was now expected to marry a woman for the sole purpose of producing an heir. The trade agreement that came with the match was just a bonus for his family. That wasn't the truth of his existence, but the media didn't seem to care about that.
As he thought about the woman he was to be betrothed to, he shuddered. She was the definition of cold, from the indifference in her green eyes and her pale, bony body to her icy personality.
The complete opposite of the girl who shares her features.
Memories of a raven-haired girl with vibrant green eyes and generous curves, whose name escaped him, rose in his mind unbidden. Sighing, he ran his hand through his silvery hair as he tried to push her image away.
An urgent knock at his door pulled him out of his own internal struggle. "Come in." He called, turning to see his family's butler, Myoga's, unusually red face.
The older gentleman stammered in front of him in a way he had never seen before, even when him and Sesshomaru had upended the tree on Christmas morning. He could still remember watching the colored bulbs rolling across the family sitting room around the man's feet. Myoga's face had been red, but this shade of cranberry took it to a new level. The older man's eyes were bulging now, and he was becoming worried.
"Spit it out, old man. What's happened?" He barked, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Prince I-Inuyasha. There is a young woman downstairs asking for you." Myoga stammered.
Inuyasha raised one brow. "Why is this my concern?"
"B-because she has a child with her." When the words left his mouth, the old man looked like he would faint.
"Keh. Is that all?" Inuyasha laughed. "Myoga, when has a false paternity claim every sent you stammering like a fool?"
Myoga's eyes were steely when he looked back at him. "When the child has silver hair."
Any laughter left in Inuyasha's throat died and he suddenly understood the older man's reaction. There's no way. There had been false paternity claims before, but they were easily disproven.
All children of the Takahashi's had one defining feature in common – silver hair. Even the women who had gone so far as to dye their child's hair or photoshop pictures could never get the exact coloration right.
Apparently, one had finally mastered the coloration. There was no way he had a child.
"Does anyone else in the family know yet?" Inuyasha asked, his eyes darkening.
"No, sir. I felt it was best to let you deal with the problem yourself."
"Good. Did she say what her name was?" Looking towards the window and seeing the storm outside still raging, he was curious what woman would brave the storm outside to claim she had the heir to the throne.
"Kagome Higurashi, sir." Inuyasha turned quickly to face Myoga as the name brought forward memories of the woman he had just pushed out of his mind.
Kagome. He could see her raven hair and green eyes clearly in his mind's eye once again and swallowed down the lust that raised through him as he memories of her in his bed assaulted him. However, they were quickly replaced with anger.
How could she fall into the pools of shallow, lying women that had claimed to have an heir to the throne? His hand clenched into a fist at his side as the anger took root in him.
Feeling the butler's eyes on him, he schooled his face into an indifferent mask. "Alright, take me to her and I'll get this sorted out."
A/N: Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think, as this is 'The Heir 2.0'.