InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Miko Bride ❯ The Miko Bride-His Identity Revealed ( Chapter 6 )

(Cut to Naraku and his men, investigating the sight of Rouyakan's defeat.)

Naraku: Someone has defeated a giant here! There will be great suffering in Guilder if she dies!

(He mounts his horse and rides off, with Hiten and the samurai behind. Cut to the Man in Red, dragging Kagome down a wide stretch of trail. As she nears exhaustion, he stops and pushes her against a boulder.)

Man in Red: Catch your breath.

Kagome: Release me, and whatever you ask for ransom, I swear you will get it.

Man in Red: And what is it worth, the promise of a woman? You're very funny, `Highness.'

Kagome: I was giving you a chance. Prince Naraku is the greatest hunter in the land. He can track a falcon on a cloudy day. He can find you.

Man in Red: You think your dearest love will save you?

Kagome: I never said he was my dearest love.

Man in Red: You admit you do not love your fiancée?

Kagome: He knows I don't love him.

Man in Red: `Are not capable of love,' you mean.

Kagome: I have known dearer, deeper love than a killer like yourself could ever dream of.

(The Man in Red raises one clawed hand as though to strike at her, but halts inches from her face.)

Man in Red: That was a warning, Highness. Next time, my hand flies on its own. Where I come from, there are penalties when a woman lies.

(Cut to Naraku, examining Kikyo's corpse and the empty iocaine packet. He hands the packet to Count Hiten.)

Naraku: Iocaine powder. I'm sure of it. The princess's footprints go off down the trail that way. She is alive, or was an hour ago. If I find her otherwise, I will be very put out.

(Cut to the Man in Red and Kagome. They are running by a steep ravine. Again, he releases her.)

Man in Red: Rest.

Kagome: I know who you are. Your cruelty reveals everything. You are the Dread Pirate Kouga, admit it.

Man in Red: With pride. What can I do for you, Highness?

Kagome: Die slowly, cut into a thousand pieces.

Man in Red: Hardly complimentary. Why loose your venom on me?

Kagome: You killed my love.

Man in Red: Possible. I kill a lot of people. Who was he? Another rich, scabby prince?

Kagome: No. A hanyou…poor and perfect, with amber eyes that could stare into your very soul. Your ship attacked on the high seas…and the Dread Pirate Roberts never leaves prisoners.

Man in Red: It's nothing personal, Highness. I just can't afford to make exceptions. Once word gets out that a pirate's gone soft, people start disobeying, and then it's work, work, work, all the time.

Kagome: You mock my pain!

Man in Red: Life is pain, Princess. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something. Incidentally, I think I remember this hanyou, This would be about five years ago, correct?

(Kagome nods numbly.)

Man in Red: He died well, that should please you. No bribe attempts, no blubbering. He just said `Please.' Just `Please, I need to live." That caught my attention. I asked him what was so important for him. He replied, `True love.' He spoke of a girl of unsurpassed beauty and faithfulness. Thank me for destroying him before he learned what you really are.

(Kagome is fuming now. If she weren't frightened for her life, she would probably punch the Man in Red.)

Kagome: What am I?

Man in Red: Faithfulness he spoke of, your enduring faithfulness. When you learned of his death, did you get engaged to the prince the same hour, or did you wait the whole week out of respect for the dead?

Kagome: No more! I died that day!

(Before the Man in Red can reply, he is distracted by the sight of the Prince and his men riding towards them.)

Kagome: For all I care, you can die too!

(She shoves him down the ravine. As he tumbles down, three familiar words float up to her.)

Man in Red: As…you…wish…

Kagome: Oh my god, Inuyasha! What have I done?

(Without a second thought, Jill…er, Kagome goes stumbling after. Cut to Naraku, standing at the boulder where Kagome promised ransom for freedom.)

Naraku: Disappeared. He must have seen us coming, which would account for his panicking in error. Unless I am wrong, and I am never wrong, he is headed dead into the Fire Swamp.

(The very mention of the place makes Count Hiten's face go pale.)