InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The King and I ❯ Keeping your promises ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1

*
*
*
*
***

***

*

*

*

*

It was twitching again.

It wasn't obvious, but give or take a few minutes, his eye would start going completely spastic. I wasn't sure if I could hold in the laugh this time…

Sigh…

"…and then the last thing we need is an uprising. My lord, we've discussed this before! Your father had specific wishes, to be fulfilled at least five years after he died-it's been seven." `Oh Gods there it goes!'

"Your people want answers."

I coughed, hiding my mouth behind a hand as I struggled to look elsewhere. I focused my attention on my brother sitting to my left. He was twiddling his thumbs, and didn't seem to notice I was looking at him.

"My lord?"

"Can't we just tell them I'm not ready?"

I could feel the waves of frustration rolling off my top advisor. Then again, I was pretty used to this by now-we went about this same argument at least once a week.

Glancing up, I stared at the dancing eye muscles, wondering if he knew…

"Lord, that is no longer the answer to satisfy them. That's been your excuse for the past two years. We can't wait any longer. There is too much talk of instability. Too many whispers. This can't go on. You need to find a queen!"

I will admit, things have gotten rough the past couple of years. We've had to quell a few uprisings here and there, but the threat was always present. Spies could no longer be counted on to watch everything and everyone. I knew deep inside, Myouga was right-I had to get married or my country would spin out of control.

It's always been a mystery to me why I was even in this throne, why I wore this stupid crown, and especially why the oblivious little twit next to me wasn't in my place. He was older! Wasn't the eldest supposed to assume the damn throne? Where was the justice?

Then again, I knew my father had made his choice for a reason. My brother…he was an odd fellow to say the least. We've always been exact opposites, him and I. Where he is quiet and stately, I'm loud and brash. He is perfectly fine with the formality of the court, whereas I'd rather be off, trekking through the mud somewhere. Our differences had been apparent since childhood-not much had changed.

Of course there was always that other minor detail…Sesshomaru was scared of people. Not just other demons and not just humans-he was scared of everyone.

No one really knows why, and he's never admitted it aloud. But it's plain as day, even now as he still refuses to make eye contact with anyone else in the room.

That's why I sit here now, having my entire life orchestrated by various simpletons who can't get a clue that I don't want to get married. Hell, I've never even spared more than a second glance at a woman let alone consider bedding one. I suppose when you look at it, that's where Sess and I are most alike-our fear of women.

Suddenly the throne room doors slid open violently.

"Lord! Hey, Lord!"

`Speaking of one such Amazonian terror…'

I hardly even blinked before I was out of my seat and headed for the nearest door.

"HEY DON"T YOU RUN FROM ME!!"

*gulp*

I took a sharp turn and dived out the open window instead. Once on the grass, I made haste towards my only safe haven-that big tall tree in the distance.

I cast only a single glance back as her screams carried on the wind.

"I'll get you Inuyasha! How dare you teach Kohaku that word!"

*
****
****
*

It was almost dark before I decided to head back home.

`Home-is that what this place is?'

As I passed over the tall stone wall guarding the mansion, I began to wonder what exactly made it my home. Was it because I'd lived here and only here for my entire life? Because my family had built it, because my father had ruled from here?

What was it about this place that kept me here?

"Inuyasha? You`re back?"

I looked up to see a pair of bright blue eyes watching me from beneath auburn bangs. I smirked, and made my way to the youth sitting on the stable fence.

"Yeah, runt. What's with the look?"

"I wasn't sure if you'd come back tonight. Sango's still pretty pissed at you."
Self-consciously, I peered over each shoulder, making sure the woman in question was nowhere in sight.

"She's in her room, washing out Kohaku's mouth."
"With soap?"
"No, acid." He quipped rolling his eyes. Abruptly, he found himself suspended by his tail, eye to eye with me.

"Do you wanna go join him, brat?"
"Nope," was his only reply before I released him. I continued on my way to the house, barely registering his weight as he climbed up to ride on my shoulder.

"Well, my lord, it's good to see you home."

I gave a dismissive wave to the violet eyed man sitting on the front steps. As he rose to follow me inside, the metal rings on his staff jangled annoyingly.

"Where's the wench?" I asked quietly.

"If by wench, you mean my very angry wife, she's still punishing her brother. For your wrongdoing may I add."
"Keh. If the kid happens to repeat what I say without better sense, I don't see how it's my fault. I mean, if ya give a monkey a katana, and the monkey kills someone, who are ya gonna blame? The monkey?"
"What if it was a monkey youkai?" Shippo chirped in. I rolled my eyes.

"It's not, it's a hypothetical, normal monkey."

"You know that statement actually doesn't defend you in any way, right?" Miroku asked dryly. I merely shrugged in response.
"Well, then was it in self-defense? Did he kill the person who gave him the sword or someone else? And why would he give him one if he knew the monkey was just gonna kill him with right after…"

Even as he was unceremoniously shoved off my shoulder, he continued to scamper after the monk and I, asking questions about the rampant, homicidal sword-monkey.

I ignored him, mentally debating whether or not to make a dramatic rescue of the poor kid now having his mouth cleaned, or to just hole up in my room until Sango's anger waned.

I decided on neither and just kept walking. Miroku eventually stopped following me, instinctively knowing he had to rescue him on his own, and Shippo followed. Alone I walked down the long halls, blatantly ignoring the "evening, my lord" that I got from each guard I passed. Finally I reached the furthest room of the mansion, and slid the door aside.

Inside, the room was dimly lit by simple candles, and a faint yet unobtrusive scent of recently extinguished incense hung in the air.

`Sesshomaru must've been in here…poor guy…I bet he misses mom more than I do."

I sat down before the low altar situated in the middle, and gazed at the portrait hanging on the wall directly behind it. Izayoi, my mother, was smiling back at me in her gentle way.

It'd been at least six years since she'd died. Almost exactly one year after my father had passed away.

Myouga and the others had said it was from heartache, over losing my father. That answer had been plain enough without them saying so. The love between my father and my mother was the stuff of fairytales and legends. Women told their story to their children before bedtime.

After all, a full blooded dog-demon doesn't just marry a simple human woman everyday.

My father, Sugimi, was the ruler of the entire western lands. Our kingdom stretched far beyond the borders of the horizon, and I had never once been out of our lands. Neither had Sess, or even my mother in that case.

The kingship had run in my family for generations, always passing from father to son, father to son, blah, blah, blah…

But when it came to Dad, things went a little differently. The fact was, the title of heir had never gone to the youngest, and certainly not one with less than full demon blood.

That of course, is what I am.

I'm half human, I'm half demon, and I'm in charge of so many people, it's scary.

The humans, peasants and such, make up most of my subjects. Then of course there is the court itself, made up almost solely of youkai. There are a few influential mortal lords, but for the most part, demons are pretty much the royalty.

Since the power had shifted to me, things had become a little more than just unsteady. My mixed blood has been the source of all the "whispers" Myouga had mentioned earlier. Most of the court was finding it hard to accept my rule, since half-bloods have never been looked on too keenly. Of course that's not the only thing they've been gossiping about…

I've been putting off something for a long time now. A promise that I made to my father right after he died, a promise I then seconded to my mother before her own demise.

I promised that by the time I hit the age of fifteen, I would have found a queen fit to rule the land by my side.

Fifteen seemed a little too young to me when it actually rolled around- so I put if off for a few months. That few months eventually turned into an entire year, which in turn became two years. The longer I put if off, the more tense the court became.

That's why I was backed into the corner every week or so by my advisors. They claimed that if I didn't at least fulfill that promise soon, things were going to get much, much worse.

Especially with the Lord of the North. Naraku was trouble, and in due time, an invasion was to be expected. After all, my father had stolen his wife…

It was weird to say the least. Almost silly. This whole rivalry between our countries was all because of one woman. All because she chose her heart over her duty-because she loved my father with every fiber of her being, that she left the man she'd been contracted to marry since her birth.

Needless to say, that's why we'd never wandered outside the borders. Things had been tense with the North since I could understand what tension was. And now that my father had gone and died…

I knew they were right. All of them-Myouga, Miroku, Sango-hell, even the runt had told me to find a girl already.

But I was afraid. I was scared shitless, to be honest.

And why not?

Love was a scary, powerful thing. It could either ruin my life, or make it better, but why take the gamble? When my parents were alive, love was more than abundant, happiness was a constant part of my life. But after Dad, everything went downhill quickly. I'd basically watched my mother fade away before my eyes. She died because she loved him, because she couldn't live without him.

So why the hell would I put myself in a position to do the very same? The world was fickle and dangerous. Why would I risk my life for something that might very well kill me in the end?

But…

Afraid or not-I had made a promise. And above all, I would die before I broke it. If I ran the risk of infatuation, then so be it. My mother had taken the risk, so had my father. If they hadn't, I wouldn't be here.

I sighed deeply, and took another lingering glance at Izayoi, the beauty who'd live forever in legends and tales. Her absence was what made me wonder what home really was. But being in this room, knowing her spirit, and my father's still watched over me, brought me the kind of peace I'd never admit to.

So if anything, I ruled for them. I took the place I was given, I watched over the people they had placed in my care. I called this place my home because it was still their home.

I stayed because of them.

*
*
*
*
*****
*****
*
*
*
*
Hiya! Hope you guys liked the first chapter of the fic, though I know it's not much. This started as just a writing project, to remedy some vicious writer's block, and I kind of liked how it turned out. I will be posting this simultaneously with "My Will", but that particular fic will have the priority.

I don't expect to have much adult material in this story, but who knows? Once a Hentai always a Hentai!

Anywho, thank you very much for reading!

Ja ne!

~Sabichan~