InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Harem ❯ Chapter 15

DISCLIAMER: Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi and not to me. The AU world this story is set in, the plot and any additional characters do belong to me though, and so please don't try to take them without my permission. I make no profit of this story, and am doing it only for my own enjoyment (and hopefully yours too).

 

CHAPTER 15

 

To say that things were currently tense would be the understatement of the century. In fact, in all of Kagome's time here, she could not remember a single moment in time that the atmosphere in the Harem had been even half as oppressing as it had been for the last twenty-four hours or so. By now, word of what Dalal had told Inuyasha had spread like wildfire throughout the Harem, and everyone within was currently trying to take it in and acting differently because of it.

 

Dalal, of course, was still gloating. As far as she was concerned, everything was already as good as settled. Inuyasha would soon be ordering the execution of her former rival Sango, thus forever removing that throne in her side. And of course, with Sango's execution would also come the execution of her lover, Miroku. That was also good, as that damn priest had never liked her, which Dalal was sure was part of the reason why Inuyasha had never paid her all that much attention before. That so-called `priest' must have been whispering nasty things about her in the Prince's ear for years and making it that much harder for her to achieve the position that was rightly hers. He and that slut Sango must have orgastrated things to keep themselves in the Prince's favour. How else could such a plain woman as Sango have gained and kept the Prince's attention for so long? She should have realised this ages ago, but no matter, it was all over now. And then there was that idiot Kagome, Sango's supposed friend. Well, that was a laughable concept since concubines didn't have friends amongst each other, but the fact that Kagome and Sango had maintained the fiction that they were could only help Dalal now. No doubt some of Sango's betrayal would smear Kagome in Inuyasha's mind, thus costing that common wrench her status of favourite concubine and leaving the position open to none other than Dalal. And of course Dalal would take it. After all, she was the one to discover this horrid betrayal in the first place, of course Inuyasha would want to thank her for that, and Dalal knew just the perfect way for him to do that. She would become Inuyasha's favourite concubine and share his bed every night. She would one day bare him an heir, and be rewarded further more for that with a life of absolute luxury. And who knows, maybe the Prince would one day take her for his wife?! The King did that with Inuyasha's mother after all, his once concubine Lady Izayoi. Princess Dalal had a lovely ring to it after all, didn't it?

 

Muna on the other hand, was plain furious with the whole thing. Oh, she wasn't upset that Sango had allegedly had an affair with the Prince's Spiritual Advisor. Hell, no, if anything she was ecstatic about that! After all, she hated Sango as much as Dalal did, and was far from unhappy about having he permanently removed as a rival. No, what really pissed Muna off was the fact that Dalal had found out and not her! She should have been the on to expose Sango's affair with Miroku and earn the gratitude of the Prince! It wasn't fair, she was the one who deserved to be the Prince's favourite! She was the most beautiful, most wonderful woman in the Harem after all! But now, one of her biggest rivals was about to be gone forever and she couldn't even celebrate properly because Sango's removal was actually all but paving a path for Dalal to rise in favour. And to top it all off, Dalal didn't even use the situation presented to her all that well. Or sure, she exposed Sango, good for her, but what about Kagome? That common bitch was actually their biggest threat right now, but did Dalal use this opportunity to get rid of her too? Of course not. It would have been so easy for Dalal to also claim that she was sure Kagome knew about the affair but was keeping it a secret. Even if she couldn't prove it and Kagome was allowed to remain Inuyasha's concubine it would have forever cast a shadow of doubt on the girl and stopped her from ever being able to win back the prince's favour. It was so obvious, but did Dalal think of this? No! Bloody Hell, she was being outplayed by an idiot who was lucky enough to literally stumble onto the find of any concubine's dreams. It wasn't fair!

 

The maids were mostly still in shock. They could not believe this. How could one of the concubines be having an affair with the Prince's own Spiritual Advisor… and they didn't know about it?! How could just horrible, scandalous, juicy gossip escape their attention for so long?! This was unbelievable! And yet, maybe it was too unbelievable. How could they be sure that what Lady Dalal claimed was true? After all, it was a well-known fact that Lady Dalal had always been jealous of Lady Sango and how she was the Prince's favourite for so long. Even now that Miss Kagome had claimed that sort after position, Lady Dalal still held a grudge against Lady Sango. Maybe this was all some kind of horrible lie designed to destroy Lady Sango. It was an especially evil way to get rid of a rival, accusing them of something that carried a death penalty with it, but it certainly wasn't unheard of and when it came right down to it they couldn't rule out the possibility that Lady Dalal was capable of that. But just because she was capable, did that mean she had actually done it? Oh it was all so confusing. If Prince Inuyasha would just say which one he believed they could move on, but as it was they were stuck in a kind of limbo, not knowing which concubine to side with. The Prince had yet to order Lady Sango's execution, which would be proof that he believed Lady Dalal; and he had yet to remand Lady Dalal or expel her from the Harem, which would be proof that he believed Lady Sango to be innocent. This was all so confusing, and for the moment the maids were all working very hard to stay completely neutral in this matter. If they were seen siding with one or the other, it could and most likely would come back to haunt them in the end. Only one maid in the harem might have been willing to throw caution to the wind. Shiori would have no doubt sided with Sango, despite the risk such a move would have put her in, but of course Shiori was not here. She had been at home looking after her sick mother the last few days and was not expected back for at least a few more, by which time the whole situation would likely be resolved one way or another. Of course, Shiori would have no clue as to what was happening at the Harem right now, as no one in their right mind would dare gossip about such a horrible rumour until Prince Inuyasha settled things one way or another. Which was another reason why the maids were all hoping everything would be settled soon. With news like this to gossip about, they would be the envy of every other servant in the whole palace! One way or another, they were so going to rule the gossip world for the few weeks.

 

The Harem guards were the only ones seemingly taking this in stride. Okay, sure, they were probably as shocked as everyone else when the word got out, but these were trained fighting men who knew what their business was and gossiping and speculating wasn't part of it. Once the Prince decided what he wanted to do, then they would have work to do; whether it be to escort Sango to the executioners, or to expel Dalal from the Harem for false allegations if it came to that. Until then, it was best for them just to keep their heads down and their mouths shut, so as to not make things any worse than they already were.

 

Of course, everything was made that much worse by the fact that no one in the Harem had seen Inuyasha in almost a full day. Ever since he had left the Harem early yesterday morning, he had not returned. He had even slept in his quarters in the Royal Wing of the palace yesterday, something he had done only a handful of times since his Harem first opened. His continued absence had everyone in the Harem guessing as to what he was doing and how he was feeling, and added that much more to the tense atmosphere of the place.

 

But in one room in the Harem, were two girls to whom what everyone else was thinking or doing was the last thing they were concerned about. They had much bigger worries on their minds than how smug Dalal was acting or how much the maids wished they could gossip about what was happening. No, to Sango and Kagome such things had no meaning when compared to the rest of their problems right now.

 

Sango was lying face down on her bed, crying as she had been on and off for the last thirty hours. Ever since she had left Inuyasha's room the night before last, she had been crying, stopping only occasionally when her eyes ran temporally dry or she passed out for a short while from emotional exhaustion. With how she was feeling right now, it was all Sango could do. This was her worst nightmare come true. Inuyasha knew about her and Miroku, Inuyasha felt hurt and betrayed and Miroku was likely going to die because of her weakness! Because she wasn't strong enough to tell Miroku no months ago, because she was too caught up in the kiss to notice that bitch Dalal. Now she had lost one of her closest friends, had destroyed a lifelong friendship, and the man she loved was going to die, all because of her, and there was nothing she could do to change that! The fact that she herself was in very bit as much danger as Miroku barely occurred to her, she didn't care that much. In fact, if Miroku died, she actually wanted to die with him. At least in death, they may be able to be together.

 

Kagome knew everything that Sango was thinking. She had heard it all in last twenty hours she had been sitting with her friend. The first place Kagome had ran to after that awful conversation, if you could even call it that, with Dalal yesterday, had been Sango's room and she hadn't had to look further. Sango had been lying on her bed crying, in almost exactly the same as she was now, and had barely moved since then. She had been forced to get up and go the latrine once, but immediately after had returned to her spot and started crying again. If Kagome hadn't left at one point yesterday to grab a couple of pieces of fruit from the Harem kitchen, Sango wouldn't have eaten anything all of yesterday either, and Kagome had barely managed to get her to actually eat much of that anyway.

 

Though all of this, Sango had been babbling from time to time about what she was feeling and her relationship - such as it was - with Miroku. She was so upset that not all of it was exactly understandable and she repeated some parts several times over, but by the end Kagome knew all about Sango's feelings for Miroku and his for her, how they tried to repress how they felt for so long, and about the kiss that was the catalyst which lead to their current state. Kagome wanted to cry with Sango, this whole thing was so unfair! Sango and Miroku never meant to do anything wrong, they never wanted to betray Inuyasha. They shouldn't be punished simply for falling in love! Kagome wanted to believe that Inuyasha wouldn't punish them as the law required, but she also knew that when it came down to it he may have no choice, especially if his father got word of it. Oh, this whole situation was so wrong on so many levels, there had to some way to fix this!

 

“It's going to be alright, Sango.” Kagome said softly as she comfortingly rubbed her friend's back, more out of a desperate hope than because she truly believed it.

 

“Alright?” Sango repeated through a hiccupy sob. “How is it going to be alright, Kagome? Inuyasha's furious and hurt, Miroku's going to die, and it's all my fault! How is it ever going to alright again?” With that Sango dissolved it to more tears as Kagome continued to rub her back in the vain hope of offering comfort.

 

`I wish I knew, Sango.' Kagome thought to herself, biting her lip in worry. `I really wish I knew.'

 

***

 

Miroku walked around the outskirts of the palace, not thinking about his destination, just unable to stay still for very long right now. The shock of Inuyasha discovering about him and Sango had worn off within a few hours, and a few hours after that he was done with his crying. Now, he was still sad beyond words that it had come to this, but for the most part he was just waiting.. waiting for the evitable. He knew the punishment for having an affair with a royal concubine, had known it since long before even he knew Sango. He knew it was only matter of time now before he had to face it, but he was not truly scared, he was just sad that his life would be ending in this way and that it would fall on the man he had called his best friend since he was a child who would have to order his death.

 

In truth he held no malice towards Inuyasha. The same laws as everyone else bound his friend, in fact Inuyasha was bound by far more. No man in the whole kingdom was more restricted in what they could or couldn't do than the King and Princes, despite what the common people might like to believe. And the obligation to follow the laws for them was absolute, as the King liked to say. After all, King Inutaisho liked to say, if the Royals do not follow their own laws, how can they ask anyone else to. And while Inuyasha might be far more inclined than his father or brother to bend the rules to suit his own liking, if Inutaisho found out about Miroku and Sango, and Miroku had no doubt he one day would, then Inuyasha's hands would be tied. Inutaisho would no doubt feel guilty about ordering the deaths of Miroku and Sango, he was fond of them both and Miroku's grandfather was one of his closest friends after all, but he would feel it his obligation to do so. No, there was no way to escape this.

 

Miroku had actually considered briefly last night, once it sank in that he would no doubt be dieing within a few days at the most, simply running away. Inuyasha had not yet ordered him arrested or put guards on him. There wasn't anything stoping him from leaving and once he was out of the city it would rather difficult to track down one single man without any truly distinguishing features. Actually, no, that was wrong. There was one thing stopping him from leaving. Sango. Sango was still here, in as much trouble as he was, and she couldn't run away. If Miroku left he would be leaving her to face her fate on her own and that was something Miroku was not willing to allow. He loved her, and no matter what he would not abandon her.

 

Besides, Miroku was still hopeful that Sango could be saved. In his heart, Miroku truly believed that Inuyasha would not want to execute him and Sango, and maybe Miroku could play off that to get him to spare the life of his love if not his own. After all, he had been the one to kiss Sango, not the other way around. The law did make exceptions for concubine who had another's attention forced upon them after all, so maybe he could convince Inuyasha to use that excuse to let Sango live? It was worth a try after all, and if that did not work, he could at least die with her.

 

***

 

Inuyasha frowned to himself as he once again battered away at the practice dummy in the guards training room. Actually, it was a new dummy, the old one having been totally destroyed in by him in his rage yesterday. Wooden dummy verus battle-axe wielded by pissed off prince, isn't actually a fair fight after all. Today however, Inuyasha was back to using a blunted practice sword again and feeling much calmer about it. In fact, Inuyasha was mostly whacking away at the dummy on automatic while his mind was considering the situation with his former favourite concubine slash close friend, and his spiritual advisor slash best friend.

 

Yesterday, once Inuyasha had exhausted his anger on the then in many pieces practice dummy, he had wandered around in a almost daze for the rest of the day, thinking about everything that had happened. Miroku and Sango's words came back to haunt him many times, as did Dalal's, and also the laws regarding to concubines which were recited to him in a voice that sounded suspiciously like his old tutor in law, that boring old fusspot Naqib. The old man used to bore him to the point of falling asleep during his lessons when he was younger, and seemed to still be haunting him to this day. He had avoided going back to the Harem last night, as both Sango and Dalal were still there and he felt that if he saw them they would just confuse him again and he would have to start sorting his mind out all over again. And while he missed Kagome, and would have liked her input on this, he didn't want to drag her into the middle of this mess. It was better for her to just stay out of it, although considering her close friendship with Sango he knew that might be too much to hope for.

 

Now that Inuyasha had had the time to think about everything and sort his feelings out, he was sure that his anger was not in truth directed towards Miroku and Sango, or at least not totally and not for the reasons that had been previously assumed. No, the reason he was mad was not because Miroku and Sango were in love, he was mad because they had kept such a large secret from him, that they thought they couldn't trust him. If they had told him sooner, well he would likely be mad for a while, granted, but he would have got over it and tried to find some way to help them sort out the whole mess before it got to this stage. But no, he had to find out from Dalal. His anger was directed at that, and not truly at his friends.

 

And when it came down to it, Inuyasha now knew, that exactly what they were; his friends. His very good friend who he honestly wanted to see happy. And actually, the thought that the two were in love with each other didn't bother him all that much. Actually, it was almost a relief in a way, with their lives and responsibilities (and in Miroku's case his personality), he would not have considered them the type to find love very easily and was actually happy that they had happened to find it.

 

But therein lay the problem. They had found love in places that weren't only difficult but full on illegal. Concubines were only allowed to be with the master of their Harem, otherwise it constituted a death sentence for both the concubine and her lover. Now that he'd had a night to think it over, Inuyasha could honestly say he could not care less about that law, but unfortunately he knew his father just might and force Inuyasha's hand.

 

This was a real pickle he had found himself in, and unless he wanted two of his closest friends to die (and that was a resounding NO) he had to find a way to sort this problem out and fast. So far rumours of what Dalal saw hadn't gotten out of the harem, but once they did it was only a matter of time before they reached Inutaisho and then any hope Miroku and Sango had would be lost. If he had found out from Miroku and Sango themselves, before Dalal or anyone else saw anything, he could have simply released Sango from his service as his concubine. She and Miroku would have had to pretend to only be friends for a few months to avoid rumours of them having an affair while she was Inuyasha's concubine starting, but after that they would have been free to do whatever they wanted. Of course now, thanks to Dalal and her big mouth that was no longer an option. Now, even if Sango was no longer his concubine and she and Miroku waited decades before restarting their relationship, somebody around the palace would remember what Dalal said she saw, and they would be back in the same pickle as they were now. The Inu law system didn't have any limit on how long after the fact a crime could be tried and as long as Inutasiho was still King they no doubt would be tried. In fact, even Sesshomaru would likely want to do so, he was every bit as dedicated as his father.

 

The only option Inuyasha could currently see was to deny Dalal's rumour and keep Sango as his concubine, possibly forever, but that would only hurt his friends. Clearly they were already suffering from pretending they were only friends, or else the kiss would never have taken place in the first place, and prolonging that suffering was just cruel. And while he could possibly find ways for the two of them to be together without the rest of the world finding out, such an act would only last so long and they'd be back in this same situation.

 

`Fuck!' Inuyasha thought, giving the practice dummy a particularly hard whack. `This is getting me nowhere. Fuck it all, why the hell couldn't they have told me sooner! Or why didn't I fucking notice sooner, there were plenty of signs after all, what with Miroku repeatedly joking about how he'd like… Oh shit, that's it! That's the answer! Why the hell didn't I think of that before! Never mind that now, I got to get going, this is going to take some work to do it right.'

 

With that, Inuyasha raced out the door past startled guardsmen, barely remembering to stop to return the practice sword. He had the answer to this dilemma, now he just hoped he could pull it off.