InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Once Upon a Time ❯ Introducing Inuyasha ( Chapter 3 )

Inside, a woman showed them to a table in the corner, big enough for six people. At Kagome's confused look, Miroku coughed and said, "Um, I was actually planning to eat here with an old friend of mine...hope you don't mind."

 

"Oh, no no, don't worry about it," Kagome shook her head, "but wouldn't they be offended if you invited someone else without their permission?"

 

"Oh, he'll get over it," Miroku grinned, "especially if it's a pretty lady like you."

 

slap!

 

They all sat down, Miroku with a fresh handprint on his face and Sango with a furious expression on her place. Kagome smiled.

 

After ordering their food, Kagome decided she should know more about Miroku's friend.

 

"So...what's their name?"

 

"Hmmm?" Miroku replied absentmindedly. He was staring at the woman who had taken their order, or more like her backside. Rin waved a hand in front of his face without getting a response.

 

"I think he's dazed from something," Rin declared innocently, which caused another one of Sango's handprints to land on Miroku's face.

 

Trying to save some of his remaining dignity, Miroku cleared his throat and said to Kagome, "ahem. Sorry, what was it you said?"

 

"She was asking what our friend's name was, you hentei," Sango replied acidly.

 

"Oh, right. Well, his name is Inuyasha, and, well, uh, Miss Kikyo?"

 

"Just Kikyo please."

 

"Well, Kikyo, have you ever met a demon before?"

 

Kagome's eyes widened. "He's a demon?" Kagome only knew one demon personally, and that was Koga. Based on Koga, she wasn't fond of meeting another demon anytime soon.

 

"No! Not at all," Miroku replied quickly, "He's not a DEMON demon, if you know what I mean..."

 

Kagome was perplexed. "I'm afraid I don't."

 

Sango sighed at her husband's lack of eloquency. "What Miroku is trying to tell you is that Inuyasha is a..."

 

"Half-demon?" A mysterious voice finished for her. Right behind Kagome.

 

Kagome jumped up in surprise and whirled around, coming face-to-face with a pair of amber-colored eyes. They flashed with contempt. "Hello, Kikyo."

 

 

The stranger glared at Kagome and said in a mocking tone, "So you just have to rub it in my face, don't you? Oh yeah, pretending not to know me and make them say what I am; that is so like you, you twisted wench."

 

His tone was cold, his jaws set in a tense line. A moment of silence lapsed, in which Kagome took in this stranger's silver hair, Amber eyes, and most importantly, the white dog ears on top of his head. He noticed her staring and snidely commented, "What's wrong? Am I too good for you? Are you not worthy to breath my air? That's an unusually smart thought for you, Kikyo."

 

His rude tone finally broke through Kagome's speculations on his ears. In an irritated tone, she shot back at him, "And who are you to call me a twisted wench? What proof do you hold on that?"

 

It was only a second after that that she realized this person was probably someone Kikyo knew, therefore Kagome was supposed to know. She bit her lip.

 

The boy rolled his eyes and replied sarcastically, "Who am I? Oh, I'm just a half-demon passing along on the street on a way to meeting my friend, who, by the way, has some explaining to do," here the boy glared at Miroku, who cringed back against Sango, "and I happened to know that you are the same twisted Kikyo who seduced the princess of the kingdom to take her into the castle! Did you enjoy your few minutes of pathetic luxury in there?" he added mockingly.

 

Kagome was fighting to control her temper. This guy was totally mind over manners! It was like Kagome was trying to talk to an uncivilized monkey. With an unusually big ego to boot. "The castle is...is NOT pathetic! And I am not twisted, you...you...uncivilized idiotic demon!"

 

(Please note that Kagome grew up in a very civilized culture; curse words are unknown to her)

 

Silence reigned over the little group. Inuyasha tried unsucessfully to remove the shock from his face. "Wow, Kikyo, I'm surprised that you have the nerve to say that, considering I can rip you apart right now as easily as ripping paper."

Cracking his knuckles in emphasis, he smirked in triumph as fear etched Kagome's features for a few moments.

 

"And besides," he continued as if talking to a five-year-old, "You really don't think that INSULTING me is going to get you anywhere?"

 

Kagome's blank stare met his cocky ones. "Get me anywhere?" Kagome questioned, "exactly where is where?"

 

He looked blank for a second. Then, he snorted and crossed his arms, saying in a tone that Kagome didn't like at all, “I've been on to you, Kikyo. Ever since you found out about…it…..you've been trying to crawl into my lap! Your pathetic attempt to impress me at the castle this morning has made my opinion of you hit rock-bottom, let me tell you. But then again, my opinion of you has never been very high,” he added with a smirk.

 

Kagome blinked, forgetting for a moment who she was supposed to be. “Ever since Kikyo found out about….what?”

 

Inuyasha looked at her suspiciously. “Since when did you start talking in third-person?”

 

Kagome mentally slapped herself for her mistake. She had to be careful or else she would blow her cover. The last thing she needed was to be caught out in the streets as the second heir to the throne.

 

Then, another thing he said came to her mind. Careful to retain he poise as Kikyo, she demanded, “Wait, it's your fault that I was being beaten up this morning?”

 

“No, you were the one who was showing off.”

 

“But they might've killed Ki-me!”

 

"Ah, tell me that when I start to care.”

 

Kagome couldn't believe her ears. He left Kikyo to be beaten to death, even though it was partially his fault? She admitted that trying to impress someone by climbing over the palace gates probably wasn't such a good idea, but it still grated on her nerves that he could be so nonchalant about it.

 

"Well, I hope you're happy," Kagome spat out. She couldn't understand why she was so angry at him, but she was. She was furious. Venomously, she continued, growing louder in volume with each word, "You are a cruel, heartles, psychopath jerk and I never want to see your sorry face again!"

 

She sent a resounding slap across his face, took Rin's hand, and marched out of the room, fuming and muttering under her breath about knocking some manners into idiots with a big ego.

 

Everyone it the restaurant stared at Kagome, and then warily shifted their gaze to Inuyasha. Inuyasha's temper was legendary among the streets; there wasn't a single person who would cross the line with him around.

 

Inuyasha stood there, stunned, with his head rotated slightly from the force of Kagome's hand. Miroku and Sango also stood speechless, gaping at the handprint on Inuyasha's face with their mouths open.

 

Nobody, NOBODY, hit Inuyasha and got away with it. And everyone in the room knew it.  Especially Inuyasha.

 

 

Inuyasha was the first to recover. He growled at the others in the building, daring them to make a comment. They took the hint and returned to their business in silence.

 

"Shut your mouths before you gag on a fly," Inuyasha snapped at his friends. They immediately clamped their mouths shut. Quite suddenly, Inuyasha took on an expression of absolute calmness. He pointedly looked at Miroku.

 

"Well?"

 

Miroku looked uncertain. "uh, 'well' what?"

 

Just as suddenly, Inuyasha exploded. "Well, why did you invite KIKYO along when you of all people know how much I despise her?! Do you WANT a Sango to become a young widow?!"

 

Miroku backed away in his chair, trying to keep out the obvious fear in his voice, "Well, Inuyasha, you're always talking about how Kikyo is an annoying wench who never knows when to back off or keep her mouth shut, not to mention that she doesn't have a decent bone in her body and has a REALLY unappealing attitude..."

 

The insults of the woman seemed to calm Inuyasha down a little. "Yeah, go on..."

 

Miroku looked to Sango for confidence, and got a pointed glare. Inuyasha rolled his eyes as an unhappy Miroku continued, "Well, me and Sango have never met Kikyo, and going by your description, we didn't even imagine that THIS Kikyo could be the same person as the one you describe."

 

"And why," Inuyasha growled softly, "would this Kikyo not be the same wench?"

 

"Well, she has a very nice smile, but not as good as Sango's, of course," he hastily added as Sango's hand fisted up, "and you always say that her smile makes you want to throw up. And she didn't seem like `a manipulative, psycho, and mentally deranged disgrace to the female and human race' to me, did she, Sango?" He looked hopefully at Sango. She sighed.

 

Look, Inuyasha," she said, "If you say that the girl who just slapped you and walked away is the Kikyo you hate, we'll have to agree. But from what I saw, she seemed like a really kind-hearted person."

 

Inuyasha snorted. "Yeah? Well, she was probably putting up a front. I swear, turn your back on her and your purse will be gone with her."

 

"And that's another thing I was getting to," Sango continued, "she GAVE Miroku back his purse full of coins, apologizing about how her sister stole it from him, and even made little Rin apologize for it, too. If she had been the Kikyo you know, she probably would've run off with it, right?"

 

"Feh," was all Inuyasha said as he sat down on the chair Kagome had been sitting in. Now that he thought about it, Kikyo hadn't behaved like herself at all. Inuyasha analized the list of differences to be something like this:

1) she didn't latch onto him as soon as she realized he was there.

2) she seemed to mean it when she insulted him, not just baiting him.

3) she had slapped him. Big mistake on her part, by the way.

4) Her little sister was willingly sitting next to Kikyo.

5) Lastly, her smell seemed slightly altered. It was hard to tell, but he could have sworn he had smelled lilac and rosemary on her, a deeply entoxicating scent.

 

But of course, he wasn't buying it. She still smelled a lot like the old Kikyo. He decided that Kikyo had put something on herself to make herself more attractive. Yes, that made sense. Even though it seemed a bit too much trouble for something Kikyo would do.

 

Inuyasha frowned. Kikyo was going to pay for slapping him in public. It had damaged his reputation considerably, and word would get around faster than lightning. He was well-known throughout the alleyways, and a little blow to his pride was something he couldn't afford. He would have to teach her a lesson.

 

 

---In the castle, Kagome's room---

 

Kikyo sat on the silken bed, admiring the softness of the quilt. She looked around her in satisfaction, her eyes gleaming each time she noticed something of value in the room. This was just too easy, she thought. Nobody is going to suspect that she wasn't the princess, and she would do whatever it takes to keep it that way.

 

A knock on the door had her bolting up in a second. She composed herself, cleared her throat, and said in what she thought was a commanding voice, "Come in."

 

A woman came in with her head bowed and announced, "The meeting with the foreign ambassadors will began in about 10 minutes. Shall I escort you to the room?"

 

Kikyo hesitated. The stupid princess hadn't mentioned anything about a meeting. But then again, it would be the perfect opportunity to test out just how much power she actually held as princess. "Yes," she smiled, "lead the way."

 

As she followed the maid through the hallways, she smirked and thought, 'Kagome will learn that not everyone is a goody-goody simpleton like her.'

 

 

 

Kagome stomped through the streets, Rin trailing meekly behind her. Of all the conceited, rude, uncivilized jerks....

 

"Um, sister?"

 

Kagome started and looked at Rin. "Yes?"

 

She looked guiltily down at her hands, as Kagome heard her stomach growl. "I have to go home..."

 

Kagome looked at her and smiled sadly. "Yes, well then, you should get going. We don't want to get in trouble, right?"

 

Rin nodded, whispered a barely audible "sorry," before running up the street.

 

Kagome watched her run off and thought to herself, oh well, I'll have to kill some time before going to the castle's western gate, seeing as I'm not allowed in `my' house.

 

She continued on her way, looking this way and that, until she deemed that it was about time she headed back. She could see the reddish glow in the sky and presumed that it would be nightfall soon.

 

Turning on her heels, Kagome made her way back to the castle turrets peaking out from over the buildings. At length, she got a dreading feeling that someone was following her. Carefully glancing to her left and right, she discerned about five men nonchalently closing in around her. Almost nobody else was in the streets, and the few people that were out were quickly entering doors left and right.

 

Fighting down an overwhelming panic, Kagome began to speed up. So did the men behind her. She concentrated on not tripping over as she looked up at the castle towers. They seemed a million miles away, and she could hear her followers closing in around her.

 

She finally broke into a run, faster than she had ever had to run before, looking for an avenue of escape. A dark alleyway presented itself to her, and without thinking, she turned into it. She skidded to a halt, crying out in dismay.

 

Yup, you guessed it: a dead end.

 

She turned back to see the men, darkly silhouetted against the fading light. She could see that no one was in the street behind them, no one would hear her if she screamed.

 

"Heh, we got a pretty one tonight. Must be our lucky day," one sneered.

 

The others nodded eagerly, sick grins plastered on their faces.

 

Kagome cringed, trying to shrink herself, blend into the unyielding walls behind her.

 

Never in her life had she felt the fear she felt now. She had always been safe, always protected; someone had always been close by if she shouted for help. Now, she had no one, and had never felt so vulnerable, so weak.

 

Shrinking into a corner, she did the only thing she could think of.

 

"Somebody, HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!"

 

 

 

After departing the restaurant, Inuyasha had tried to track down Kikyo's scent. Of course, this wasn't easy, credits going to the facts that:

1) All kinds of street vendors had food out on display, making it impossible to concentrate on any other scent.

2) The throngs of people. (need I say more?)

3) The stupid wench had backtracked on herself, making him waste his time going back and forth.

4) Most importantly, his senses were getting fainter; tonight was the night of the new moon.

 

All he wanted to do was to pound a lesson into her that she would never forget; why was she making it so hard?

 

The sun slowly sank into the unseen horizon; Inuyasha felt his senses dulling, his hair fell in dark crops around his head. He looked at his claws, which were fast shrinking into normal human-sized nails. He made an irritated noise. He would have to go back home for now. He never let anyone see his human form, not even his friends, and most certainly not Kikyo.

 

He was about to turn around and head back when he heard a distant "heeeeeeeelp!!!"

He swiveled around, concentrating. He could barely hear it, what with his useless human ears, but he was sure that it was Kikyo's voice. Or at least it sounded a lot like her. Come to think of it, her voice had been different from this morning. Had the beating she received altered her vocal cords?

 

It was possible. Anyway, Inuyasha liked the change better; her voice didn't test his nerves like they usually did. They actually seemed…comforting; a nice sound to hear.

 

Shaking his head to clear the thoughts, he growled in annoyance. What should he do now? Should he go see what she had gotten herself into THIS time, or should he just leave her to her own devices? He pondered for a moment.

 

It was a VERY hard decision indeed.

 

 

 

Kagome closed her eyes and waited for whatever sick plan the men had in store for her. Tears squeezed out of her eyes. Even in the situation she was in, this shocked Kagome. She had never cried in her life, not once.

 

Suddenly, she heard one of the men shout, "Hey, who are you?”

 

Another one snarled and said, "Well, if he wants to share, he'll just have to wait his turn; we caught this one first!"

 

A somewhat familiar voice coolly called out, "Your sick minds never fail to disgust me."

 

This statement was followed by a series of scuffling noises, clear sounds of a fist connecting to various parts of the human body, and sickening crunches and thuds that Kagome didn't want to know about.

 

She cautiously raised her head out of her arms to see the unmistakably ending pose of a one-sided fight. A stranger with long black hair (who had his back to her) was watching five beaten-up men crawling out of the alley as fast as they could.

 

She looked at her saviour and stammered out, "Th-thank you, sir, I-I don't know what I would've done i-if they had....."

 

He turned around and looked down at her.

 

Her eyes widened. She recalled in a flash what Miroku had said his name was. "I-Inuyasha?"

 

Yes, it was Inuyasha, but what was he doing here? Why had he rescued her? Why did he look so different? She stared at him, questions going through her head.

 

He crossed his arms and stared back at her and said in a bored tone, "Honestly, Kikyo, I've seen slugs put up a better fight than those so-called thugs. You couldn't even handle THAT?"

 

Kagome wobbled to her feet and shakily retorted, "Well, there were five of them, and besides, you're here, so it doesn't matter anymore...right?"

 

"Feh, I didn't know it was you! I just heard some pathetic voice shout out 'help' so I decided to check it out. By the way, that shout was really pathetic. I mean, I hate to repeat the same word over and over again but that seems to be the only word to describe you. Pathetic."

 

Kagome ignored the insult. She was tired, hungry, and just wanted to be back in her comfortable room.

 

But before she went, she was curious.

 

"Why do you look different, Inuyasha?" she asked innocently.

 

Immediately she regretted it. She could almost see the smoke coming out of his now-human ears. "IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, AND IF YOU TELL ANYONE WHAT YOU SAW TONIGHT I WILL PERSONALLY SLAUGHTER YOU!! UNDERSTAND, WOMAN??"

 

"Okay! Okay!! I....I won't tell anyone, happy now?" she looked up at the sky, and noticed that it was dark. She stared at the stars for a moment before realization hit her.

 

"Oh, no!”

 

"What now?" Inuyasha asked, momentarily startled.

 

"Quick! Is it past nightfall?"

 

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Well, duh. That would explain why I've turned into a...hey, where are you going?"

 

Kagome was up and running, past Inuyasha and out into the deserted streets. She paused long enough to call out to Inuyasha, "Thanks for the help, really appreiciate it, I gotta go now, oh, and DON'T YOU DARE FOLLOW ME!!" before making her way hastily up the streets, praying with all her might that Kikyo had been patient enough to wait for her.

 

 

---Koga's Ball---

 

Kagome was, in fact, the farthest thing from Kikyo's mind. She was enjoying herself immensely and had no intention of going back early. In her new even fancier dress, Kikyo was everywhere at once, getting more and more comfortable in the royal life. She openly flirted with Koga, figuring that it couldn't hurt to get on everyone's good side. The obvious attention she was giving Koga was apparently very pleasing to the King and Queen, who had both tried, unsucessfully over the years, to let Kagome see the good side of Koga.

 

Koga didn't seem too displeased, either. In fact, he was all over her, his hand never leaving her waist, clearly enjoying the thought that Kagome was all his. Prince Idiot, Kikyo thought as she smiled seductively up at Koga.