Chapter 1: Let's Meet the Mischievous Lady
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
-x-X-x-
-Kagome-
It was so hard to be beautiful.
People had high expectations.
Even your pimples, split ends and blemishes were being monitored.
As if you were a Goddess of Beauty.
It was so hard to be wealthy.
People had high expectations.
You had to own many shiny jewelries, grand palaces and majestic carriages.
As if you were pooping money.
It was so hard to be intelligent.
People had high expectations.
You had to know everything, from the evolution of the cockroach to humankind.
As if you were Kami-sama.
It was so hard to be a lady.
People had high expectations.
You must be lovely all the time and wear various accessories.
As if you were a decorated doll.
I laid down the brush, picked up the parchment where I wrote the cynical poetry, and scanned it once more. Such pitiful whining put in writing would certainly annoy Father.
I sighed. Everything in the poetry were traits that I had to possess. Being pretty was a necessity for a girl like me, who was born in a ruling family, and having intelligence was of course expected. In addition to that burden, submission was just as needed. Even with the power demonesses behold, they were still women and thus, considered weaker than demon men. Prejudice would certainly follow them everywhere.
But to become a female and a hanyou? Prejudice would not just follow you. It would devour you, and reduce you into nothing but a broken glass, crunched beneath their feet, and simply trampled on the ground forever. This species was considered a disgrace, and they were immediately banished or murdered.
Unfortunately, I was born a female hanyou.
Another unlucky thing? I was born a female hanyou in a ruling family of the Eastern Lands sired by the Lord of the East.
Imagine the scandal that I had caused in the entire youkai world when I was born. It had been totally disastrous.
Would you like to know how I existed? Here are the dirty bits that they told me.
Years ago, the East attacked a human village just outside their border. The reason for the attack? The village had caused too much trouble and innocent lives were spilled. However, my mother, a gentle miko, possessed such a beauty that captured my father's attentions. Instead of killing her, he took her as his captive.
For two years of her stay in the East, everyone had thought that she was just father's pet. Yet, unbeknownst to them, at the night of full moon, father would take mother out of the palace and they would…uhm…do what mated people do.
Then they had me. Surprise! Ta-da! A baby!
The people of the East were so angry with their Lord and the scandal almost ruined the entire lands because of my existence. Everyone had seen his affair as an insult to the race of wolf-youkai.
Having an affair with another demoness might be acceptable, they might be taken as concubines. Having an affair with a human was definitely unacceptable, they will weaken the bloodlines. But having an affair with a miko? This was outrageous. An extreme betrayal. Mikos were youkais' enemies, and vice versa.
That's why, he was almost overthrown. Rebellion started everywhere, and the other lands tried to worsen the situation by invading the East.
Totally disastrous.
I was seen as devil personified by father and his family.
I was born a female, half-miko, and half-wolf-youkai in a ruling family of the Eastern Lands sired by the Lord of the East.
There was nothing more dreadful than the day of my birth. That may be the reason he hated me with a passion because I almost caused the demise of his entire clan. Not that it was my fault he lusted after mother. But still, blaming himself would be boring, right?
Three days after my birth, he had sent me and mother away. Exiled might be the right word for what he had done. Mother and I lived in a human village until my tenth year when father's enemies attacked our village.
The enemy, who had been in the middle of a war with Father, had wanted to take me to bring back the scandal to the East, and weaken Father's forces. This enemy killed Mother in front of my eyes, and anger, which I had never felt all my life, overtook me. I ended up killing this enemy.
The East learned about this. The mistake—me—did something right. Unintentionally, I had stopped the war by murdering the murderer of my mother who also happened to be the murderer of many people in the Eastern Lands.
My father had no choice. With such a heroic deed, I needed to be crowned as princess. On my eleventh year, he took me in…and made me feel worse than before.
The title that he gave me did nothing to curb anyone's hatred of my existence. When chance presented itself, spitefulness was thrown at me. There was never love or tenderness, only cruelty and hatred.
Fortunately, there was one person who treated me as a family. Miroku, a pureblooded wolf-youkai, who was also my half-brother, gave me high importance and unabashed support. Saving me from trouble had also been his priority.
"Lady Kagome, it is time," my servant, who always acted as my best friend, called to remind me of the meeting with a local lord. To forge an alliance within the East, Father arranged a mating between him and me. Father's eagerness to kick me out of the palace could either be amusing or appalling.
"Come in, Ah Chen." I said softly.
"Hey…" She opened the door and peeked at me.
I shook my head to rid of the memories of the past. I looked at the parchment in my hands and proceeded to tuck it away. I turned to Ah Chen and asked with a mischievous glint in my eyes, "Do you have my clothes?"
She sighed dejectedly as she entered my room. "Here they are," she said, looking resigned before tossing me the clothes.
The clothes were for commoners and when I go out of the palace, they were necessary in order to blend in and not attract any attention. I formed a habit of going outside of this unbearable castle to feel free for a little while. Ah Chen strongly disapproved of my forbidden outings because of father's wrath.
"Your sire will be so angry," Ah Chen mumbled as she pulled her own clothes over her head. She would follow through everything just to please me. But I know that she also liked going out of here but she was afraid of my violent father.
"He is always angry!" I retorted with a laugh while changing clothes. "Besides, he knows that I am not yet ready for mating."
"As if he listens to you," she scoffed.
"I would not mate for his politics," I said, crossing my hands over my torso.
"Ah, yes. You are still waiting for your one true love!" She teased, chuckling at her own joke.
"Shut up! I am still young, just sixteen years of age," I said childishly. I grew up like a human but my brother said my aging would stop at my twenty-first birthday. Immortality was a trait I took from my youkai heritage.
"You are of mating age, my lady," she said in a patronizing tone.
"I know but not yet," I replied uninterestedly. "Let us go."
"Alright," she said, a smile brightened her pretty face. Going out of the palace always made me happy and my happiness made her happy in return. Your loyalty means everything to me, Ah Chen. We went out my room and carefully walked through the hallways toward the gate in the back of the palace.
"Lady Kagome, where are you going?" father's guard asked, his tone disapproving, as he emerged from behind us.
Ah Chen sent a look to me that meant, "We're dead!"
"Uhm…we're just going outside for a while?" I laughed sheepishly as I turned to face him.
"Guards, please escort our Lady Kagome to the lord," he ordered and the guards swarmed around us.
Not good. Meeting that lord for a possible mating was out of question! I glanced to my right. A low castle wall...
I smiled softly and relaxed my posture. "Okay," I conceded. "We'll come. No need to escort us like prisoners."
He did not believe me but he relaxed a little but and turned his back to us. "Faster, then. The young lord is waiting."
I feigned obedience but when chance presented itself, I screamed to Ah Chen. "Now!" Running as fast as I could towards the low castle wall, I jumped out of the palace yanking Ah Chen beside me.
"Lady Kagome! Stop. Don't run!" The guards yelled, shuffling towards us, annoyance evident on their faces.
I laughed and threw a smirk to father's guard. I escaped the palace again and avoided a possible mating. "Ah Chen! Turn to the right and climb that tree. Okay?"
"Okay!" Once up the tree, we hid our scent and suppressed a giggle when the guards lost us. Oh, the looks on their faces are definitely funny! They ran past the tree, cursing as they lost our trail. When they were far enough, I went down.
I smiled widely. "That was fun!" I remarked happily.
"Fun? Your father will kill us," she said with a shake of her head.
"Better make my last day fun then, before my father orders the entire East to hunt me down and kill me."
"Not funny!" She glared.
"Oh, come on. Just kidding," I grinned. "Let's go!"
We slowly walked to the woods that will lead to the city where gambling houses were built.
"I am going to make so much money today!" I announced, skipping steps and grinning like a fool.
-x-X-x-
-Sesshomaru-
"Sesshomaru…" My father whispered my name. "I understand that you are mad at me."
"It is of no importance," I replied. "I do not care."
"I left you when you were still young and did not come back until last fifty years ago, yet I know that until now, you still resent me. I have made a mistake but…I loved her even if she was human," he explained although I told him not to. "I understand how difficult it had been for you to rule seeing that I left the West in disarray. Still, you managed to bring it back together. I know how difficult it might have been but…love drew me away and…"
"That is pathetic," I remarked, a bit of hostility in my tone. "You made yourself look pathetic."
He smiled sadly at me. "One day, son, you would find someone worth fighting for and she would bring you down to your knees. When that day comes, I will tell you how pathetic you look."
-x-X-x-
Word Count: 1800
Prompt: None