Happy Lunar New Year! I tend to want my chapters for this fic to be looked at by one of my betas first before publishing hence the delay in posting.

Jolie's softly spoken words felt like a blow to his head.

"You… You don't?"

Jolie softly repeated as she shook her head. "I don't."

All his life, he had suffered disdain simply because he was of a mixed bloodline and wasn't a demon or a human. Kikyō asked him to wish on the jewel to become a full human so they cou;d live and die together as ordinary humans. If he stayed as he was, he would outlive her and at the time, such a thought was unbearable, but it didn't change the fact that she had died after sealing him because she had succumbed to her shoulder injury. He ended up outliving her because Kikyō sealed him to the tree instead of finishing him off with one blow. But why didn't she?

Instead of focusing on that unanswered question, Inuyasha decided to focus on another.

"…But why?"

"You are who you are and that includes what you are. It is true I cannot fathom what you would be like if you were to become one or the other even if the jewel had no risks for wishing but do you think I would be comfortable with you as a fiancé or a husband if I did not accept you as you are?"

Inuyasha pressed his right hand to his forehead, looking somewhat distressed as he replied. "But… I'm a half demon, all my life, people and demons have come after me because of what I am. If we get involved, people will come after you as well. Not only that but since you gave me a shard of the jewel, demons will definitely come after us, and I want to collect more shards in hopes of finding Kikyō's killer. I can't give you the comfortable life you want, Jolie."

Jolie slightly tilted her head as she looked at him. "We've already been through our fair share of danger together and we've already established that we shouldn't go near human villages. You said you would protect me, did you not?"

"I did."

Jolie straightened her head, "I understand that this quest to find Kikyō's murderer by gathering the shards of the Jewel of Four Souls is important to you, but 50 years have passed since then. There's a slim chance we could find her murderer."

"As long as there's a chance, I still want to take it. If we do end up getting involved, are you coming?" Inuyasha looked at her with a stern expression.

"I don't have much choice now do I? If we become engaged, I will go where you go. When I washed up here, I didn't really have much hope of a comfortable life until I came across you, only to find that they were falsely placed upon you. I'm not like my twin sister so I can't promise I won't complain at times. Besides, I'm tired of provincial life and this quest could very well be exciting yet despite the perils that lay ahead in store."

Inuyasha playfully scoffed as he raised a skeptical brow. "Exciting?"

"I've heard tales about quests undertaken by knights."

His voice became firm, "Remember Jolie, this isn't a tale. This is going to be our reality if we get involved. This isn't fun and games."

"I'm aware, I'm just saying, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." As risky as it is to collect all the shards of the jewel, there may be something worthwhile from this quest aside from you potentially finding Kikyō's killer."

Inuyasha raised a brow. "You're surprisingly pretty optimistic at times, aren't you?"

Jolie smiled. "Would I have kissed you if I didn't have foolish hope?"

Inuyasha closed his eyes while wryly smiling. "I guess not."

"…But, while this arrangement would benefit me as you would be protecting me aside from my propriety being honored, I can't see this arrangement benefiting you in the least. Back home, I had the qualifications befitting that of a potential wife. You see the dress I'm wearing?" Jolie held up the skirt of her pink peasant dress.

She released her skirt. "I dyed the cloth pink and made it myself, I knew how to clean, cook, wash, and work as a vendor but all my knowledge means nothing given our current circumstances and the fact this country's culture differs from mine. I rely on you to help me eat. Unlike you, I do not know how to fight, I could very well be a liability for you."

For some reason, it irked him to hear her describe herself as his disadvantage.

"Don't say that about yourself Jolie, you're not useless or a delicate flower. Just because your knowledge can't be of use right now doesn't mean you're incapable. You're smart, have guts, quick reflexes, you can run fast. You're surprisingly strong, you managed to keep up with me, and you tried to protect me. That doesn't make you incompetent, not in the least. I don't mind keeping us fed and fending for you. Worst case scenario, you can run away or suck their blood."

Jolie softly giggled at his jab and his heart fluttered. She scrunched up her brows at the sound his heart made. She couldn't have been hearing things, right?

"Your heartbeat is beating oddly. Do you… Perhaps, fancy me?"

Inuyasha pinned his dog ears back as he blushed and retorted. "Keh, don't flatter yourself."

Jolie got closer and tilted her head while smiling. "And yet you're blushing. I may be prideful and hopeful but that doesn't mean I lack awareness nor am I a fool."

Inuyasha snapped. "Keh. Shut up."

Jolie turned her head to the right, crossed her arms, and said, "Hmph."

Despite the slight twinge of guilt he felt for being rude to her, he decided to change the topic as he looked at her from the corner of his eye. "So… How are you going to test my intellect?"

Her crimson eyes looked up at the clumps of fruit. "You see those apricots you found?"

"Yeah… What about them?"

"I want you to gather as much apricots as you can without picking them or using your hands and arms."

Inuyasha looked at his arms before clenching his hands into fists. He couldn't use his hands and arms to gather the apricots after all. He ran towards the tree with his fists at his sides before jumping up, spinning forward in mid-air so his knees could hit all the fruit down, before landing down in a squat.

Jolie put her hands on her hips. "Clever and graceful, remind me not to challenge you with a test of intellect that involves your extraordinary physical abilities."

Inuyasha smirked. "Don't tell me you're going to go back on your word now."

"No, I won't, a promise is a promise, and you have passed my test."

She sat down, smoothed out her dress, and held out a ripe apricot. "Thank you for these by the way."

Inuyasha sat down next to her cross-legged. "No problem. It was kind of a fun challenge."

After Jolie swallowed the first ripe apricot, she replied "I'm glad you think so because when asking for a princess's hand in marriage, a potential suitor usually has to undergo more difficult challenges."

Inuyasha asked with a full mouth. "Trying to see if I make a worthy husband like the princess, you are?"

Jolie shook her head with fond exasperation. "If it pleases milord to see it that way then you may do so."

She took another bright orange apricot with red tints before biting into it.

Inuyasha scoffed after swallowing. "Hey, don't call me that. We may have noble bloodlines but I ain't no lord."

Jolie giggled and as they both continued to eat the pile of apricots, she regaled him with the tale of Donkeyskin, a story of how a king who had a donkey whose droppings were made of gold followed his wife's promise to not remarry anyone unless the woman was as beautiful as his late wife. The husband concluded that none other would compare than his own daughter.

"What the hell?"

Jolie exhaled. "You and your foul language."

"Keh, you may be my fiancée, but you can't stop me from talking the way I want to."

Jolie rolled her crimson eyes before resuming speaking. "And that's why in this tale, the engagement challenge is necessary. Her fairy godmother, the Lilac Fairy, advises her to ask for a dress with all the colors of the sky, a dress the color of the moon, and a dress as bright as the sun."

Inuyasha noted that her face seemed to light up imagining such magical dresses.

"—Aside from the hide of his precious donkey."

"So did the bastard get her what she wanted?"

Jolie sighed while looking annoyed again. "Yes."

Inuyasha frowned and scoffed. "What a bunch of crap just cause' he's a king, he can get everything he wants even if this is a stupid fairy tale, makes the engagement challenge kinda useless, don't you think?"

"Patience Inuyasha. The gifts from the engagement challenge serve a purpose as well."

As they continued eating apricots, Jolie told how the Lilac Fairy gave her a chest to hold all her gowns and told her to leave home wearing the donkey's skin to disguise herself. The princess flees to another kingdom and finds work and lodging at a farm and people find the princess to be ugly because of her disguise that she is nicknamed "Donkeyskin".

Inuyasha had a knowing smile.

"What?" Jolie looked unamused at him.

"I can see why you like this story so much now; pretty dresses and the princess gets mistaken as an ugly girl because of her disguise, just like you."

"Yes, I concede that's why I like this tale aside from the happy ending."

"Hmph."

They resumed eating while Jolie told the rest of the story. Donkeyskin locks herself in her room on holidays and wears the magical dresses her father gives her. On a holiday, the prince of the kingdom sees her through the keyhole, falls madly in love, and becomes ill from longing.

Inuyasha snorted. "What a lovesick fool."

Jolie shook her head with tender annoyance before she continued telling how the prince declared that only a cake baked by Donkeyskin would cure him and her ring fell into the cake mixture as she prepared the cake. The lovestruck prince stated that he would marry the woman whose finger fits the ring. Donkeyskin is summoned to try the ring after every other woman in the kingdom fails and it fits perfectly. The princess removes her donkey's skin to reveal the beautiful dress she has, the Lilac Fairy explains the princess's background to the prince's parents, the prince and princess have a grand wedding with kings of neighboring countries, even some from the east, and she reunites with her father who begs her for her forgiveness.

Inuyasha snorted then stretched. "Well, thanks for the story even if it was ridiculous."

Jolie had a somewhat irritable face, "Well, thank you for listening even if you found it to be rubbish."

Inuyasha had a cheeky expression, "I can see why you like it though; the princess probably dropped her ring on purpose just like you kissed me on purpose, hoping I was a nobleman to help solve your problems."

Jolie's face reddened as she averted her gaze. "Well, can you fault a woman for using such measures during desperate times?"

"Guess not but it shows you are foolishly hopeful thanks to these stories. See, you ain't useless, you can tell me stories when we get bored."

Jolie shook her head then giggled. "Well, I'm glad my storytelling pleases you."

"Yeah, it ain't that bad. Man, I'm stuffed. Guess you are too." He put a hand over his stomach as he looked at her.

She nodded.

Inuyasha stood up before holding out his hand to her. "Let's go Jolie."