Letters from a Prince by Katie

The letters in the book

“Whatcha readin’?” It was such an innocuous question, but Kagome almost dropped the pestle she was using to crush herbs anyway. She slammed the book lying on the table before her closed on the secret letter it was disguising. 

“Hehe, it’s a book about herbs that Kaede loaned me. It’s one of her old notebooks actually. She kept really good notes. And the sketches! Wow they are amazing...” she let her sentence trail off. By the look on Inuyasha’s face she was busted. 

“Uhhuh, and books about herbs make you blush? Oh and-“ he tapped his nose and Kagome went ten-shades of red. 

Most of the story was true. She had borrowed a book from Kaede that was full of notes and sketches of herbs, their uses, their magical properties, even their more mundane aspects like flavor. Kaede really had taken excellent notes. There were even dried sprigs pressed carefully between the yellowing pages. 

But it was the very private letters that had held her interest over the past few weeks. 

They had been cleaning out the storeroom for the winter, getting it ready to hold the plentiful bounty of rice that Inuyasha and Miroku had earned, when Kagome stumbled upon a treasure trove of Kaede’s old journals. Dust and mold eroded the pages and when Kagome asked if she could borrow them Kaede simply waved her off. She must have forgotten over the years about the missives that were hidden between the pages. They were tucked away like the pressed flowers, neatly folded and obviously once treasured. 

Kagome studied Inuyasha where he sat against the opposite wall with his legs crossed over one another and a bowl of stew either done or forgotten in his lap. Could she trust him with this? Should she? Would he judge her for reading these so blatantly private letters? 

The hanyou was on good terms with the elders of all the nearby villages so he might actually be of some help. Maybe with a few carefully chosen details they could suss out the author and reuinte them. 

With a sigh Kagome stood and pulled the stack of letters from their hiding spot under her futon. The paper was pristine, obviously of a much higher quality than the paper of the journals.  Taking a seat next to Inuyasha she shuffled through the folded papers. It had taken quite some time to piece together a timeline. They weren’t stored in any order, rather just a letter here and another that was obviously written years before there. 

They started off rather innocently. At first Kagome had assumed that they were from another miko, maybe one in training with Kaede. They were mostly terse replies outlining ways to slay a certain type of demon or revealing their weaknesses. There were sweet parts even in those early letters, encouragement and support for Kaede’s daily life. Love advice. 

As time went on they became more intimate. Still Kagome thought the author was a woman. The strokes were precise. She knew for certain that the author was well educated. There had been plenty words that were so antiquated it took Miroku to translate them. 

Standing in the dusty death of a battlefield I saw the rising sun reflected in a pool of blood soaked earth. It reminded me of you. 

Some of the sentiments were rather... odd. The author was obviously immersed in battle often. Kagome figured that was fairly normal for a priestess. If it weren’t for the later letters Kagome wouldn’t have been sure it was even a compliment. 

Then came the pining. And pine the author did. Those were the letters that made Kagome decide the author couldn’t be a priestess. There were too many references to opulence that a mere shrine maiden would never be afforded. 

I long to see the dusky peaks of your breasts straining against moon spin silk. 

There had to be a chunk missing, or maybe it had happened suddenly, because the next section in her timeline they had certainly become physically intimate. The tone of the letters changed from terse sentences to downright erotica. It was with these letters that Kagome realized the author was not a woman as she had suspected. The sheer number of times he referred to his genitals gave that away.

Nightly I conjure the sight of my cock pulsing with completion in your petulant mouth. 

More than once Kagome found herself stealing a moment alone with that section. She knew the words were stolen and that somehow sweetened the deal. She would hardly touch herself before orgasm rippled through her abdomen. 

Kagome built a mental image of the man who loved Kaede. He was a dark haired, brown eyed prince. There were lots of references to their hair lying pooled around their bodies in the throws of passion so she deduced he had long hair. She thought his eyes would be kind, simply because that was what Kaede deserved. He was a prince, and a warrior. He was full of contradictions. 

Kagome was half in love with this man who was either old or dead. But more than anything she wanted Kaede to have some closure. The letters ended so abruptly. She understood a lot of her fascination with this long ago love story was projecting her own desire for a love like this. 

And love her he did. The later letters were full of odes to all her flaws. He wrote poems about the stretch marks on her hips. There were pages and pages of gentle encouragement toward her training. He lifted her up with praise and kind words at every turn. He trusted her. He had unshakable faith in her competency. 

It was the romance Kagome’s heart longed for. 

Inuyasha flipped through the stack of letters, too quickly to be reading them, but with the difficulty she had she was sure he wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails of them. “What are they?” He finally asked after a few minutes. 

“They are letters to Kaede. I don’t know who wrote them. There are some clues though. I was hoping maybe you would know.” She read him off some places and battles the suitor had been in and some names that were mentioned. 

“Nope. What kinds of letters? Why do you care?” He was grumpy, but the way his ears perked told a different story. He was curious. He would have read them too if he could and that gave her some comfort. 

“They are love letters, some are really racy. I just think it would be nice to find the guy and maybe bring them back together or pay respects. I don’t know.” Her tone was defensive, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care.

“Keh, gross this is old lady Kaede. What’s she going to do with a romance? Quit meddling.” At the fury that sparked in her eyes his ears dropped in an act of self preservation. 

“So what if shes old! She deserves love and romance and and and whatever she wants!” 

An hour later they were still fighting when Rin popped in to retrieve the herbal poultice that lay forgotten in the mortar. The letters were spread around them and Kagome was showing Inuyasha where the suitor had expressed his sadness at being spurned. 

Rin peeked over her shoulder. Before she could read the letter that was rated way too high for her pre-teen eyes, Kagome crushed it against her chest.  “Did Lord Sesshomaru send you a letter?” Brown doe eyes full of wonder and innocence met Kagome’s own.

“Oh no these are...” there was no way to explain it to her. While Kagome searched for a reasonable lie Rin plucked a page off the ground. 

“This is Lord Sesshomaru’s handwriting. What is this about a breast-“ Kagome snatched the letter from her hand and scrambled to scoop the rest off the floor and into a stack. 

“Haha there’s no way that it’s Sesshomaru’s hand writing!” For once Kagome was grateful that Inuyasha was speaking up. She was too busy rewinding through weeks of reading in her head and pinpointing all the clues that it was, indeed, Sesshomaru. 

“My lord has very distinct handwriting.  Here see how fine the characters are? That’s because he uses a very fine brush. And this little swoop at the end, he always does that. Oh! And here, that’s because his claws drag a little.” Rin pointed to the paper in Kagome’s slack hand, the swoops where she would have had her hand smacked in elementary school and the occasional smudges she had noticed. 

Kagome grabbed Rin’s face between her hands ignoring the girls look of confusion and shared a pleading one of her own. “Are. You. Sure?” 

Rin. Sweet innocent Rin, grinned back and nodded despite Kagome’s death grip. “Absolutely certain.” 

Through Inuyasha’s raucous laughter and Rin’s volley of questions Kagome was still and silent as the dark haired-dark eyed- warrior prince she had fallen in love with was torn apart by poisoned claws.