InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Soul Mates Saga I: The Defeat of Naraku ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

A/N: I added more to the title of this story because I'm planning 2 more stories after this one. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please R&R! Thanks!

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

 

Chapter 4:

 

“Now which way?” Keiseki said, rather glumly, to herself.

 

Keiseki woke up early that morning, set on leaving the village quickly so as not to draw anymore attention to herself. But now as she stood on the outskirts of said village she suddenly realized she had no idea what she was doing.

 

So intent was she on fleeing her home a week ago that she hadn't stopped to think through a plan. She had no idea which direction to travel in, other than as far away from home as possible. And then that thought alone, not seeing her parents ever again, made her want to cry. And then there was the fact that if she wasn't going to be a noble lady any longer; what exactly was she going to do to support herself?

 

Standing there, looking every which way, hoping for a clue, she thoroughly felt like crying. And to her amazement she did just that. Slumping down onto the ground she let herself shed tears for her own miserable existence.

 

“I still think we should stay where we are,” Keiseki heard a familiar voice say, from some distance away.

 

“Look, we'll go to a couple neighboring villages, see how far Naraku's stench extends then maybe we can find the center of it. And get to him,” a gruff voice replied.

 

Keiseki didn't know who Naraku was, but she did know that the gruff voice belonged to the demon Inuyasha. He was coming her way.

 

Keiseki smiled unconsciously as she listened for their approach.

 

“That sounds like a good plan Inuyasha,” she heard a girls voice, Kagome's, ring out.

 

“Don't sound too surprised,” Inuyasha replied, sarcastically.

 

Their other two companions laughed in the background.

 

There was a pause in their conversation and then Inuyasha announced loudly, “Hold on there's someone ahead.” Keiseki froze, not daring to move an inch. “Nah… never mind, it's just a human girl.”

 

At his proclamation of her being `just a human girl,' she felt a sudden wave of indignation. `Well this human girl could probably kick your butt,' she thought.

 

With that last thought, the group of interesting looking people came into view. She was ready to greet them, but they just continued on with their conversation, not noticing her.

 

Suddenly angry, she blurted out, “I can't believe you're just going to ignore me like that!”

 

The two girls stopped and turned to look at her. The girl, whose name she did not know, seemed to soften and said, “Wait Inuyasha. This girl has been crying, we should stop to see what's wrong.”

 

“Feh,” Inuyasha answered. Keiseki spared Inuyasha an incredulous glower and seriously reconsidered her previous awe of him. Well that is until his left ear twitched and she couldn't help but think that he was totally adorable.

 

Inuyasha and the other man turned to her and she caught a weird gleam in the man's eye before he hurried to her.

 

“What is wrong fair maiden? My name is Miroku, I am a monk. I'll be glad to assist you in any and everything,” the man, Miroku announced, grabbing her hand.

 

Instinctively Keiseki's other hand rose up and slapped Miroku on the cheek.

 

The nameless girl smiled happily. “Nice one. I've been meaning to do that all week.”

 

Keiseki watched confusedly while the girl pulled the monk, Miroku, away by the ear, while he said indignantly, “Why is everyone slapping me today. First Kagome, now this girl. I didn't do anything.”

Keiseki heard Inuyasha let out a disbelieving snort and she smiled at him. Kagome came to kneel in front of her while Inuyasha stood right behind her with his arms crossed staring off into the distance.

 

“My name's Kagome. This is Inuyasha, that's Sango, and well you now know Miroku too,” Kagome introduced, pointing everyone out.

 

Keiseki wiped her eyes quickly and sniffled, “I'm Keiseki.”

 

“Is there anything we can do to help you?” Kagome asked gently.

 

“I… I don't know,” Keiseki answered, all of the sudden feeling sad over her current predicament. Another tear slipped.

 

“Oh man, you made her cry again,” Inuyasha said, uncomfortably.

 

Keiseki watched as Kagome shot Inuyasha a glare. She turned back to her and patted her on the back. “It's all right. Maybe if you tell us what's wrong we can help you out?”

 

Keiseki didn't know what to do. These people sincerely seemed to want to help her, but on the other hand she didn't know them at all, and didn't know if she could trust them.

 

“Hey, it's all right, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to,” Kagome told her, understandingly.

 

The understanding in her voice made Keiseki feel like she should continue. “I well… I ran away from home.”

 

“Any particular reason why?” Sango asked.

 

“My parents were going to force me to marry a man that I don't love or like,” Keiseki answered, leaving out who exactly her parents were.

 

“Sounds tough; looks like you've got some nasty parents,” Kagome commented.

 

“Not true!” Keiseki blurted out. She loved her parents and didn't want them slandered by anyone. “My parents love me; they're just trying to do what's best for their people.” Realizing what she said, she pressed a hand to her mouth, as if that could take back her already said words.

 

“Their people?” Inuyasha said suspiciously.

 

She looked around and saw the monk staring at her shrewdly. He took a few steps toward her and said, “You wouldn't by chance be Lady Keiseki, daughter of the Lord and Lady of the Northern lands, would you?”

 

Keiseki stared back at him shocked, but didn't answer; his friends turned their questioning gazes on him.

 

“While we were at the Inn, I overheard some men talking about the Lady running away right before her wedding day,” Miroku explained to them. “Well are you?”

 

Everyone turned to stare at her, she was sure she was bright red. She looked down and nodded her head. She was found out.

 

“I see,” Miroku said.

 

“My parents are afraid that the youkai lord of the Western lands will one day choose to attack our lands. They wanted to ally themselves with neighboring lords. They chose to marry me off to the Lord of the Southern lands. That man is a pompous snob and I'm not ready for marriage. And I've also seen no evidence that the youkai lord is planning an attack,” Keiseki hastily explained.

 

“Sesshoumaru huh?” Inuyasha said. “Figures he'd have something to do with this.”

Keiseki looked at Inuyasha confusedly. And Kagome quickly explained. “Sesshoumaru is the youkai lord and Inuyasha's half brother.”

 

Keiseki quickly brightened up. “Then surely you'd know if he has any devices on our lands.”

 

Inuyasha let out an indelicate snort. “Not likely. Sesshoumaru and I don't really do much talking when we see each other.”

 

Keiseki didn't know what he meant so she let his comment go.

 

“So what are you doing now?” Kagome asked.

 

“I decided to flee the night before my wedding day. I've been running for a week. But I've just realized I don't have a place to go to, a future,” Keiseki answered sadly, sniffling a bit.

 

Inuyasha stood up and turned his back towards the group. “Well good luck with that, because well, see we've got our own quest and we don't have time to fix your life.”

 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome shouted. “How can you be such an insensitive jerk?”

 

Keiseki looked at him too, wondering the exact same thing. She didn't expect them to `fix her life,' but it would have been nice to get a suggestion or something like that.

 

Inuyasha turned to stare at the group. “Listen if we don't get a move on we'll definitely lose track of Naraku's saiyoumusho. He's leading us somewhere and I definitely want to be there and get the jewel shards back.”

 

“Jewel shards?” Keiseki inquired. “The Shikon no tama jewel shards?”

 

“Yes, now can we go?” Inuyasha asked impatiently, starting to walk ahead.

 

“Wait!” Keiseki blurted out quickly. “I can help you.”

 

Inuyasha was about to reply, most likely to say something rude, but Miroku beat him to it.

 

“Forgive me Lady Keiseki, but how can one as beautiful as you help us?”

 

Keiseki heard a growl come from Sango but answered, “I am trained to fight.”

 

“Trained to fight?” Inuyasha scoffed.

 

“Yes, I've trained with the commander of our army since I was able to move on my own.”

 

“Uh huh, whatever,” Inuyasha replied.

 

“Do you want proof?” Keiseki replied angrily, drawing the sword at her hip.

Inuyasha gave her a hard stare, as if measuring her up. He looked from her diminutive figure to the large sword she managed to hold up. He turned abruptly around tucking his arms in opposite sleeves. “Feh. You can come but don't expect me to save you from every youkai we come across.”

 

“I won't,” she replied sturdily.

 

“You say you can fight, then you fight,” he added.

 

“I will.”

 

“Fine, then lets go,” Inuyasha said.

 

Kagome climbed onto Inuyasha's back, and Sango and Miroku onto Kilala's. They all looked at Keiseki expectantly.

 

“I left my horse behind in the village, I can go get her,” Keiseki offered.

 

“You do that!” was Inuyasha's quick reply. “We'll wait here. Hurry up.”

 

She turned to run for the village but stopped, looking back at them. “You guys aren't going to leave and abandon me are you?” she asked suspiciously.

 

“Don't worry, we're sticking around,” Kagome answered. And Keiseki knew she could trust her smiling face, so she ran for the village.

 

Miroku turned to Inuyasha once Keiseki was off. “Inuyasha why did you agree to let her come?”

 

“Because fighting Naraku, we're going to need all the help we can get,” Inuyasha answered, staring off in the distance at the small girl.

 

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I hope you enjoyed. I'll try to update soon. Leave a review and let me know what you think.

 

Thanks to my two reviewers: Inuyasha's_angel_89 and i_luv_the_cat_sohma52. Thanks a lot.