InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In My Secret Heart ❯ A Day in the Life ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: hmm? Oh ya, Inuyasha isn't my character, so on and so forth, whatever…

Hello my wonderful readers! I'm back with a new fic! I'm sorry I had to shut down my other ones but I just couldn't finish them, anyway, this is a completely new one and for those of you who have read my previous fics, I'm sorry, no game will be included. Anyway, enough chit-chat, on with the story!

Quote of the Chapter:

Two roads diverge in a shallow wood, and sorry I could not travel both- Robert Frost

In My Secret Heart

A Day in the Life

Childhood is probably the most coveted of all ages, some people don't really understand why. Perhaps it is the simplicity of being young, or the innocent ignorance of the world that keeps one young, or perhaps it is the luxury of not knowing what is fantasy, and what is reality. When you were very young maybe your mother read you bedtime stories to help you sleep, they were never real of course, but it was exciting to believe. The tales of talking animals and good fairies, even the evil wicked things like goblins and demons have alighted many a young mind, only to be shunned and discarded at an older age, and possibly repeated to a younger generation. Everyone knows that every story has a basis, what if I were to tell you that the basis of those demon and stories of old are real.

Not here of course, we've chased the demons from our world, we humans were lucky enough to win, but somewhere else people were not so lucky. The story and time I speak of is years, and worlds, away, somewhere most older, wiser folk have discarded, but a place you can see sparkle in every child's imagination who has ever dreamt of fantasy. The only difference, is the fact that this place isn't imaginary…

~*~*~*~

"Kagome!"

A young human girl with long black hair turned from her current work in the extensive garden. Her gentle chocolate-brown eyes searched the landscape for whoever had called her.

"Kagome!"

The girl turned completely in the voices assumed direction. No one else seemed to be in the large garden she occasionally visited, but then with all the vegetation growing in the area it was hard to see much of anything. She gingerly picked up the dirty straw basket, full to the brim with herbs and medicinal plants before spotting the familiar face.

"Sango! You look out of breath, why the hurry?"

The girl opposite Kagome was older, and a bit taller than Kagome, but not by much. Her cheeks were currently flushed from the sprint across the acres of landscape, not to mention finding her way through the labyrinth of trees that surrounded the garden. Her hair was slightly lighter than Kagome's, and her eyes a deeper brown, mysteriously so, but for their closeness they were often mistaken for sisters.

Sango took a couple breathes before answering, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find you in this mess?"

Kagome looked around the garden, it was large, but fairly organized, "It's my mess, and I know perfectly well how hard I am to find, that's why I come here."

Sango laughed good-naturedly, "You'll be the death of me some day, seriously, why are you out here?"

Kagome shrugged, "Kaede needed some more herbs for her remedies, I volunteered."

Kaede was the house priestess, though a more fitful name may have been second mother. She did the usual things, providing remedies for the sick, even those outside the household, and blessing the household, but she also acted as the wet nurse and had a soft spot for children, maybe because she had none of her own.

Sango nodded, "Master Koga wants to see you."

Kagome sighed, lately, since her 16th birthday, her master, Koga the wolf-demon, had taken a shine to her. Sango suspected he was attracted to her, though Kagome couldn't see why. A demon girl, Ayame, with higher status than a human slave was practically throwing herself on him for attention.

"Alright," Kagome said, heading toward the route she'd memorized at childhood, "I'd best go before he gets angry."

"We wouldn't have to worry about that were Inutaishou still reigning," Sango mumbled bitterly.

Kagome nodded. Human slavery had been allowed for as long as anyone could remember; human slaves were sold like objects, male and female, adults or children, doing various jobs, from laborers to concubines. Inutaishou however had been working to abolish the slavery; many human slaves had been set free including Kagome's parents and grandparents. Unfortunately, Inutaishou and his youngest son, Inuyasha, had been assassinated, leaving only Sesshomaru, Inutaishou's oldest son, to govern the Western Lands. Lord Sesshomaru had undone all his father had worked so hard to accomplish, humans were put back in to slavery, those who had become accustom to the gentler life died of the harsh conditions, Kagome's family, even her youngest brother, Souta, had died. Sango too had lost family to the demons, though not the same way, her family had gone to revolt against Naraku, the sub-leader, below Sesshomaru but still governing quite a bit of land. Naraku had mercilessly slaughtered her family leaving her to look after her younger brother Kohaku who was already dieing of pneumonia. Kohaku had died 2 months later, leaving her with no family and only Kagome as a friend. Sango came to hate demons, but could do nothing but suppress her anger and succumb to their every need. Kagome, being as kind-hearted as she was, could not hate demons, but held no love in her heart for the relentless creatures.

As Kagome and Sango neared the gargantuan mansion were their master resided, a young girl, maybe a year younger than Kagome bolted out the front door. She was obviously another slave, her hair was like Sango's but her eyes were more of a honey-brown. She looked troubled and stumbled down the stone steps that led to the mansion.

"Rin? What's wrong?" Kagome asked worriedly.

Rin finished the steps and grabbed Kagome's white tunic sleeve anxiously, "Lord Koga, he's growing restless and is yelling at one of the servants. He's even threatened to whip him."

Kagome's eyes widened in alarm. Rin and Kagome's sole service was to tend to Koga's every whim. Koga was supposed to be away with a neighboring lord and had apparently returned early. Kagome had been assisting Priestess Kaede all day to pass the time. It seemed that Koga suspected Kagome had runaway as more and more slaves had been attempting to do.

Kagome and Sango ran up the numerous stairs, and bolted through the door to the main room where Lord Koga was viciously interrogating a boy around Kagome's age. The boy was bowing, head to the ground, and whimpering every time Koga yelled particularly furiously or a hint of a growl entered his voice. Upon Kagome's entrance both the boy, who Kagome identified as Hojo, the boy with an infatuation with her, and Koga turned to face her. Hojo's face eased with relief as he realized who the girl in the doorway was and Koga also seemed to ease, though not to Hojo's extent. Koga pushed Hojo away from him with his foot muttering an annoyed `Dismissed' before Hojo scampered away into the servants' quarters sobbing pitifully. Kagome pitied Hojo, he never was the bravest or cleverest boy, but his heart was in the right place.

"Kagome," Koga said in what Kagome wasn't sure was anger or relief, "you weren't here when I came back."

Kagome nodded, and bowed lowering to one knee, "You weren't supposed to be back so soon."

Had any other slave said that they would have had a couple bruises and some lovely whip scars to show for it, but Koga fancied Kagome, though he refused to admit it or expose it.

"And what," Koga ground out, "did you do in my absence?"

"I helped Priestess Kaede," Kagome answered, keeping her eyes on the floor, "she needed an assistant and has not been granted one."

Koga's eyes flared, "So this is that old hag's fault."

Kagome's head snapped up in apprehension, "No! I didn't mean that, it was my fault, I took to long getting back here, please leave Kaede out of this."

Koga's expression softened at Kagome's beseeching eyes, "Very well, but I don't expect this to happen again."

Koga turned to leave, but was stopped by Kagome's voice.

"Please," Kagome asked as humbly as possible, "Might Priestess Kaede have an assistant, maybe even a child, someone of no use to anyone else."

Koga looked halfway over his shoulder, "You may find one yourself, I can hardly be troubled with slave's affairs, but if it becomes a nuisance to me…"

Koga let his sentence trail off for emphasis. Kagome nodded and turned to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" Koga asked, a hint of annoyance entering his voice.

"To find Priestess Kaede an assistant," Kagome answered blankly.

Koga shook his head, "That would be a nuisance, it's almost dinner time, go to the garden and fetch some grapes."

Kagome nodded, grabbing the straw basket of herbs to give to Kaede. She dropped them off hurriedly, not wanting Koga to suspect her brief disobedience, and hurried out to the garden to retrieve her master's grapes.

~*~*~*~

Kagome weaved through the trees that led to the garden she loved so much. In reality, the trees at the front of the garden weren't that hard to navigate and the trees were much less numerous and thinner than the ones in the back of the garden. There were miles and miles of unexplored forest in the back of the garden, Kagome longed to explore it, but being a servant she didn't have permission, nor the time. As she walked slowly through the foliage she became aware that the sky was darkening, luckily, the moonlight was enough to light her way through the dense shrubbery. Kagome was almost at the entrance to the garden when she realized that something was already in the garden. It sounded too large to be a squirrel or raccoon. Kagome was baffled, no one knew the way through the garden but the gardeners, Kaede, Sango, and herself, no one else bothered. The gardeners were attending other area at this hour, Kaede would have sent someone else, and Sango had no reason to retrieve her. Kagome cautiously entered the garden, being careful not to breathe too loudly or step on leaves or twigs. As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she realized a man was in the garden, his back turned to her. His long silver hair cascaded down his back onto the rough red cloth he wore loosely in a haori. She could see little silver triangles atop his head that twitched occasionally in different directions. Kagome was momentarily surprised by the presence of another living thing in her garden, obviously not a slave, and not a demon in the household that owned this garden. Anger bubbled up inside her as she realized her was stealing food from her garden.

"Hey you, stop tha-"

Kagome's breath caught in her throat as the demon's head snapped in her direction. He had the most gorgeous golden eyes that reflected the moonlight and caught her spellbound, defenseless to his gaze. His long, beautiful silver hair caught the moonlight and framed his handsome features, his unmarred face shown fair in the moonlight, though scowling at her for interrupting. The scowl lost some of its intensity due to the distracted twitching from his delicate almost white-silver ears. He seemed almost amused though at her shock letting a smirk slip onto his face. The moment was broken when he laughed a harsh `Keh' and jumped into the forest behind the garden, taking the stolen fruits with him. The trees settled, and there was no sign of the demon who had been there only seconds before. One could have imagined it, but she didn't.

Bewildered, Kagome grabbed the grapes as if in a daze and stumbled through the undergrowth back to the mansion. All the while wondering the same thing: Who was that boy?

~*~*~*~

Yes a slave fic, I know, who'da thought, I'll post this later, don't forget REVIEW!!