InuYasha Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Fake Masquerade ❯ An Engagement ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: We don't own any of Rumiko Takahashi's characters! Ranma ½ & Inu-Yasha belong to her! >.< Damn... It's not fair!

A/N: Look! We have another InuYasha/Ranma AU crossover! Sorry for not updating our other stories.

Fake Masquerade
by Lonely Soul & Elysium

Chapter 1: An Engagement

Kagome forced herself not to slam the door behind her as she stormed out of her mother's chambers and headed outside towards the palace gardens, the only peaceful place where she was able to get away from everyone.

Why is this happening to me?! She thought to herself. Everything was just fine until this had to happen.

When the young raven-haired girl reached the gardens, she hastily sat down on the nearest bench she saw. She sighed out loud as she remembered the news her mother had told her only a few moments before...

"Betrothed?!" Kagome exclaimed with stunned, wide eyes.

"Yes, dear." The elegant, older woman said to her very shocked daughter who seemed to already be losing it. "I know it may seem unfair, but do try to calm down before you make any assumptions, Kago---"

Kagome quickly interrupted her mother before she even had a chance to finish her sentence. "But why?! He's a hanyou! I thought the youkai were our greatest enemy!"

Her mother's voice remained calm as if she wasn't affected by Kagome's shouts of anger at all. "The youkai are not our enemy, Kagome. There are some demons who hate humans, but their are also some humans who hate demons. The late Queen of the youkai was a human, and the royal youkai family would never turn against us the same way we would never turn against them. So, please, do not make up false accusations."

"But why did you agree to this? Did you ever think that I didn't want to be in an arranged marriage with someone I do not love?!"

The raven-haired girl watched as her mother's eyes grew stern and her usual calmness seemed to fade a little; it was very rare to see her mother even the slightest bit angry.

"Kagome, I do care about your feelings, but this is the only option we have left. After your father died, our kingdom has been in need of a male heir, and King [insert InuYasha's father's name here] has offered to let you marry one of his sons, Prince InuYasha. The engagement has already been arranged, and so that you won't feel as if you're marrying someone you don't love, you will meet with Lord InuYasha at his father's palace tomorrow evening and stay there for a month to get to know him better before your marriage."

By now, Kagome was beyond shocked. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. A month! With some stranger she was going to be forced to marry?! Did her mother actually think she'd go through with this?

This is happening too quickly, she thought angrily to herself. It just isn't fair!

The young princess remained silent, and before her mother could say another word, she did a swift bow and quickly left the room....

Kagome knew she was being stubborn and selfish, but she didn't want to be in an arranged marriage! She was too young to get married, and here her mother was already marrying her off to some hanyou guy named InuYasha. What if he was some creepy old pervert? She shuddered at the thought. "Eww.. I guess it is best not to think about things like that."

"Lady Kagome!"

At the call of her name, Kagome glanced up and most of her angry mood immediately disappeared as she saw a familiar figure with long, navy colored hair heading towards her. "Akane!" She called out to the girl in surprise.

Kagome quickly stood up and met Akane halfway, giving her a hug. Akane was one of her very few true friends that she trusted and confined to, and she was extremely glad to see her.

"I'm glad you came, Akane!" Kagome said with a smile as the two parted from the hug.

Akane giggled. "You seem different today, Kagome! How have you been since the last time that I saw you?"

"Well, um.. Fine.. I guess..." Kagome slowly answered with a fake grin as they both walked over to the bench she had been sitting on just a couple seconds earlier.

Hearing the tone in Kagome's voice, Akane sat down on the bench and asked with concern. "What? What's wrong?"

Okay, now's my chance to tell Akane everything my mother told me about the engagement, she thought to herself. Her fake smile suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a frustrated frown. "You won't believe what I found out today."

"What?"

Kagome sat down beside Akane and looked down with a sigh. "My mother told me that I am in an arranged marriage."

The navy haired girl had confusion written all over her face. Did she just hear correctly? Kagome.. engaged?!

"Really? With who?!" Akane tried not to sound too surprised at this sudden revelation; it wasn't like arranged marriages were that uncommon during this time, but she never knew anyone personally who was in an arranged marriage and she couldn't believe Kagome was engaged.

The raven girl sighed once more. "His name is InuYasha."

After a moment of hearing only silence from Akane, Kagome finally glanced up at her friend and knew by her expression that she had millions of questions to ask. Before Akane could say anymore, Kagome took a deep breath, and then once again retold the whole conversation she had with her mother to Akane, but this time in full detail. Starting all the way from when her mother called on her, up until the point after she quickly left her mother's chambers.

"Now, all I am wondering is how I am going to get out of this engagement," Kagome finished with a sigh.

Through all of this, Akane sat there with wide eyes and bewilderment. Kagome had to leave tomorrow? That soon?! Her mother just told her today...

By the way she spoke and looked, Akane knew Kagome was not at all happy about the whole situation. If she were Kagome, she definitely would not want to get married to someone she didn't love especially if she had never met them before either.

While Akane tried to think of a solution to help Kagome, the person she was trying to help interrupted her.

"Akane... Can I ask you something?"

Akane glanced over at Kagome questionably. "Yes, what is it?"

Kagome held up her hands in front of her like she was praying and practically begging at the same time. "You don't have to say yes if you don't want to, but um.. When I leave tomorrow morning can you come with me? Please?!"

Akane blinked with confusion and then playfully slapped Kagome's hands. "Yes, of course I will come with you! Why didn't you ask before? Did you think I would say no?"

Kagome sweat-dropped and waved her hands in front of her like she had been caught lying. "Oh, uh, yeah that's it! I thought you would say no! Sorry.. Heheh.."

"Don't worry Kagome. I wasn't going to tell you this, but I was planning on going with you even if you didn't ask to make sure that hanyou, InuYasha, doesn't try anything funny with you, okay?" Akane said with an evil grin.

Kagome quickly hugged her friend with excitement. "Thank you!"

Deep down the young princess was a little worried about what was going to happen tomorrow because she had something else in mind to escape from being engaged to InuYasha. Akane is going to kill me when I tell her what I really want her to do! Hopefully she doesn't figure out that I am planning something, and I pray that everything works out as planned or I'll be stuck in this arranged marriage with Prince InuYasha.

To be continued....

A/N: Well, some of you guys might be wondering whose gonna end up with whom, right? Hmm... We can't say, but it should be pretty obvious. Does anyone know what the heck is InuYasha's father's name? ><; We've heard so many different versions that we're confused.