InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Autumn Bane ❯ Battle Royal ( Chapter 5 )

Author's Notes: I should warn you all that I will be going on holiday to Portugal very soon and I'll be gone for a week or two at most. I think I'll be going on the 26 October which is a week from Sunday and I won't be back until the second week of November. It's my parents silver wedding anniversary present to themselves so they're dragging me along to a five star hotel (which I shall not leave once we arrive there - especially when I get a whole room to myself) and hopefully the weather will hold… But knowing my luck we'll probably drag the black clouds with us…

Autumn Bane

Chapter 5

Battle Royal

~Inuyasha~

Wolves are supposed to have reflexes that rival that of a supernaturally fast cat and intuition to boot… yet if you catch them off guard they're nothing but a bunch of pansies.

"WHERE'S KOUGA?!" I bellowed the moment I burst into their little clearing where they were temporarily camping.

The ones who hadn't keeled over with heart attacks jumped around, twitching, to face me. One wolf-man with spiky hair who had been gathered with a group of wolves rose a finger to point at me, his face wore a horrified look. "I-It's that dog guy!"

"Where is the Wimpy Wolf?!" I demanded again, advancing on the group angrily.

Not surprisingly, the wolf-men with sense backed off quickly as I approached. The real wolves, being dumber than the average land animal, began growling collectively and bracing to attack me. As if they stood a chance against my claws… "Where is he?!" I reinforced myself, if I hadn't already made myself clear.

"He went looking for you." The patchy haired one said, looking confused as only a wolf could. "Said he wanted to settled the score you started six seasons ago."

"Dammit!" I'd probably just missed him in that case. I turned heel and burned tracks out of the little wolf camp, trying futilely to follow any scent trail that opened up to me.

The smell of wolf was everywhere, and no matter how brilliant my nose was, I couldn't tell Kouga's apart from any other. It seemed like his scent changed every year - drastically - as he aged. It meant that it made it a lot easier for him to find me than it was for me to track him down first. He had the element of surprise and intuition.

I had what? A wooden sword? Somehow I think our little vendetta was going to turn in his favour this year…

First thing was first - with a wolf like Kouga roaming around Toshiyama I had to make sure that the Princess made it back to the castle safely. If she got picked off by Kouga then I would never hear the last of it from my father. Though I'm sure we'd all get over it given a month or so…

I practically flew to the castle, racing across the forest with every ounce of speed I possessed. I got there in record time and staggered to a breathless halt in the middle of the courtyard. "Where is she?" I gasped, grabbing the nearest servant who was unfortunate enough to be passing too close to me. "She should have been back by now - where is she?"

"Where's who?" Miroku had noticed my arrival and was walking towards me.

"The Princess." I released the servant guy who hastily stumbled away before I wanted any more information. "I sent her back here - is she here?"

"You sound concerned." Miroku gave me an amused look.

"For my own neck!" I snapped. "If Dad learns that I abandoned her in the middle of the forest with wild wolves running around then he'll throw me down the well and board it up for good!"

"You abandoned her in the forest?" he didn't look so amused anymore.

"I uh… no…" I lied blatantly. "That came out wrong… and…"

The arrival of a giggling twit called a Princess and a moronic show-off of a wolf called a Prince made we trail off. My skin literally crawled with contempt.

~Kagome~

"Oh Kouga - I'm too old to be carried around like this! I am a princess now, don't you know." I slapped his back playfully as he hauled me up the hillside, carpet style, on his shoulder.

"Princess, peasant, what's the difference? You still can't go wandering all over the hills like that with only a branch at your defence."

"But I'm very good with my branch." I said in a high pitched voice as he jumped the high wall around the castle and landed on the other side as gracefully as a feather touching down.

Kouga spoke breezily, "I'm sure you are, Princess Kagome."

"What the hell are you two doing?"

My fun deflated like someone had stuck a rather sharp pin in it. A pinhead like Inuyasha. Unfortunately, Kouga chose that moment to turn and face the source of the voice, leaving me on his shoulder and facing the opposite direction. I sighed heavily.

"Still scraping with humans, Dog-turd?"

Hey, I resented that!

"Still scraping full stop, Wimpy Wolf?!" Was Inuyasha's sharp retort, his voice drawing nearer behind me. I wondered what scraping meant in this context…? "Put the Princess down."

"I don't take orders from dogs."

I tapped Kouga on the back to get his attention. "It's ok, you can put me down now." These two didn't get on, and I didn't want to be the cause of another tussle, not if I could help it. Inuyasha would only blame it on me if he got a split lip later on.

Kouga slowly let me down on the ground and I turned to face Inuyasha, expecting him to be glaring challengingly at Kouga like he usually did when they crossed paths. The rest of the world might be turning to flames but he's never notice with the amount of attention he paid. So I was slightly unnerved and self-conscious to find him glaring at me instead… like he somehow blamed me for… for something…

"What?" I mumbled quietly, giving him my wide-eyed innocent princess look.

"Don't give me that look - you know full well 'what'!" he barked back.

I really hadn't a clue why I'd upset him. "What are you talking about?"

"Just go back inside, Princess." He snapped and switched his attention to Kouga instead.

I gave a slight shake of my head, bewildered at what I'd done wrong this time. But with so many people watching I wasn't going to disobey my future husband, so I just put my head down meekly and pattered off towards the castle building, trying to analyse the situation from Inuyasha's point of view.

He'd seen me arrive with Kouga? So what? He should be relieved that there was someone trustworthy out there to bring me back safely when he'd flat-out abandoned me. Perhaps he was just worried that he would now get in trouble for leaving me out there and as usual he would pin the problem on me.

If he was angry at me for some other reason… well it was way beyond my grasp.

~Inuyasha~

Such a stupid flirt… every year she leads him on - and not just Kouga - but practically every guy she talks too. Batting those ridiculously long eyelashes and laughing at really unfunny jokes…

Only this year it's going to be slightly more serious…

"She's not a child anymore, Kouga." Miroku threw caution to the wind between us and the wimpy wolf. "You can't handle a Princess that way anymore."

Kouga gave a sharp flip of his head that had his hair flicking out behind him arrogantly. "Glad at least someone has noticed," he gave me a pointed look. "Kagome has turned into an even more beautiful young woman this year that before." I wanted to gag at this point. "For all the years I've known her, everyone has ignored her developing beauty, taking it for granted, except for me."

I made an angry sound. "What a load of-"

"Since I have watched over her the longest - I've come to announce my intentions."

Oh god no…

Kouga began in a loud voice so that everyone around could hear. "To make Lady Kagome - my Lady."

Miroku had to physically restrain me from beating that announcement right back into his toothless bloodied mouth! "What the hell did you just say?!" I snarled as I strained against Miroku's grip on my arms. "You come closer and say that you two-bit swaggering heap of - of - of WOLF!"

Not my best insult to date. Kouga just smirked at me. "I'm sure you heard me fine, Dog-turd."

"You can't just turn up here and say that!!" I exploded angrily. "You can't have her anyway - she's already engaged to me!"

"I know, I know," Kouga shrugged it off easily. "She complains about it all the time. Well, I'm going to free her of her mundane human betrothal to you."

"You say that to Lady Jun!"

He'd met Lady Jun. Needless to say, he began looking nervous. "No you tell her that - me and Kagome are going to run away and elope!"

"Ha!" I laughed caustically. "Says who?! Kagome wouldn't look twice at a tramp like you!"

"At least she smiles at me - all she ever does is glare at you!"

True, very true, but that still didn't mean he was just going to steal her away like this! Not when I still had so much taunting left to do to her. "You'll have to fight me for her!" It had sounded more sensible and less honourable in my head. When I caught Miroku's approving look I groaned aloud. "Not like that!"

"If I have to win Kagome's hand by force - then by all means - let's get on with it!"

Miroku turned without a word and backed off quite sensibly to a safe distance. I cracked my knuckles and braced myself for the battle whilst Kouga kept smirking and looking exceptionally smug with himself. "Alright, wolf - whenever you're-"

I broke off as he disappeared from my line of view, moving faster than I could follow. The next thing I knew of him was his knee embedding itself in my back - without even waiting for the go-ahead!

Kouga always did fight dirty…

~Kagome~

"I don't get it…" I murmured, my whole head filled with confusion as my brain struggled to follow what was going on. "Inuyasha's fighting for me…" I turned to Sango. "Are you sure that's our Inuyasha down there?"

"It's simple male psychology, Kagome." Sango shrugged lightly as she watched the two young men battle it out below. "He never knows what he's got until it's gone… or begins slipping away."

"You must be joking…" I didn't believe it.

"It's true." Sango glanced at me. "Remember that time you said that when you were six you took his ball?"

"He wasn't playing with it - it was fair game!" I defended the memory of my actions.

"And he bit your head off about it-"

"He bit me plain and simple."

"Well that's because even though guys may not necessarily notice or use their possessions, they still get huffy when they lose them." Sango turned back to the fight. By now Inuyasha had Kouga in a headlock.

"Oh?" I carried on watching Sango from the side. "Are you saying that I'm nothing more than a possession to him?"

"Male psychology, Kagome." Sango shrugged again. "It doesn't have to make sense to us because we're women."

"That's just typical female logic."

We both turned to see Miroku entering the bedroom, approaching us by the window. Sango immediately grew hostile. "That's just like a man to say that."

Battle of the canines downstairs, battle of the sexes upstairs. There was no getting away from it… I just had to roll my eyes and silently cheer Kouga on, hoping that perhaps he would gouge out an eye or two.

"I have my own theory about the reason why Inuyasha is defending Lady Kagome's hand." The Monk said over my shoulder.

"Oh yes? And what would that be?" I was open to suggestions.

"He's jealous."

Me and Sango snorted with laughter at that one. But when Miroku failed to laugh along with us, we sobered slightly, "Excuse me?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Inuyasha is merely jealous. Sometimes the simplest reason is the true one." Miroku smiled slightly. "Just now while I was down there I heard Inuyasha professing that he would not allow your pure hand to fall into Kouga's unworthy one. He says he would fight… for love."

I laughed again… but this time Sango didn't join me. I shut up at once and nudged her. "Hey!" What was with the thoughtful expression on her face?

"Maybe he's right." Sango said slowly. "I mean… from what I've heard from Lady Jun, he's always been a bit quick to respond to jealousy." She glanced at Miroku. "Didn't you say he beat up one of the servants last year for pinching her bottom?"

"Indeed." Miroku nodded gravely.

"He did that?!" I pointed at Inuyasha. "Oh my god… that poor man."

"That 'poor man' did assault you." Sango pointed out.

"Yeah… but still…" I kinda felt a little sorry for him. One day he'd pinched my rear and then the next he was being carted off to Kikyo for urgent medical treatment. Inuyasha had said that he'd fallen down the stairs.

Miroku carried on. "But doesn't that prove the extent of his protectiveness of you?" he asked me, though it didn't really strike me as a question. "He feels so strongly about you that he is willing to fight to the death to keep you."

We all turned as a few explicates echoed up from the courtyard. "That was below the belt Be-low the belt!"

"You can't be serious…" I ran a hand over my forehead. "Inuyasha doesn't 'fight for love' he fights so he can blame his injuries on me!"

Miroku just gave an allusive shrug. "That's just Inuyasha psychology. We're not meant to understand it because we're sane."

~Inuyasha~

"This is all your fault." I told Kagome later that afternoon. She just rolled her eyes slightly and went on dabbing the damp wash cloth against the tear marks on my upper arm. "If you hadn't flirted with him - he wouldn't be making stupid proposals and I wouldn't be having to fight him!"

"You know, you could have just let him have me!" She pressed a little harder on the wound, making me hiss. "Then you wouldn't have troubled yourself with me!"

"Did you want to go with him?" I snapped.

"That's not the point!" She said angrily. "If it bothers you so much to defend my honour then don't bother doing it - I could get someone else to do it!"

"Yeah, someone you chatted up a few minute before hand."

"Not this again." She breathed angrily. She refused to speak after that, keeping her lips firmly shut and concentrated on the task of dressing my wounds. She was only doing this because her mother had told her to and my father wouldn't let anyone else touch me. It grated on my nerves…

"Any pain when I do this?" I squeezed his wrist.

"No." he answered sullenly.

"Any tingly sensations down your arms?"

"No."

"Any gigantic pains in the ass?"

"Only you."

"Any reason why I should be talking to you at all?" She quite deliberately pressed against a hidden wound on my chest. "Does it hurt when I do that?" She did it again just to demonstrate,

"Knock it off, bitch!" I slapped her hands away angrily. "That hurts!"

"Well then you shouldn't have gotten into a fight!" she shouted back. "It's stupid and dangerous! What if he'd really hurt you?!"

It surprised me that she had been worried about me, not about Kouga. I guess that meant that she really hadn't wanted to go with him… "Nothing can hurt me." I scoffed. "I'm much tougher than someone like you who would bawl like a baby the first time she got hit!"

"What if I really hurt you?" she raised her fist warningly. Like that would ever scare me.

"I hope you learned a valuable lesson from this." I said seriously.

"What, me?! It's you who should have learned from-"

"To not got flirting with me - it only gets people hurt!" I interrupted bluntly. "From this day on - I will not permit you to speak with any other men, you're my fiancée and I will not have you go around sharing yourself with others!"

She glared at me, a deep quiet rage smouldering beneath the surface. Her hands shook with anger and I could see that she was struggling to contain whatever she was dying to say to me. In the end she lost the battle.

"You conceited bastard!" she all but screamed in my face. "I am not your possession to govern - and you are not my husband and you cannot decide who I should and shouldn't talk to!"

"Then stop flirting!"

"I do not flirt!" she yelled back. "What you think of as flirting is polite conversation - you wouldn't know about that because you've never been polite to anyone in your life except for Kikyo! So am I right in assuming that you must be flirting with Kikyo?!"

"No!"

"Then what gives?" she stood abruptly. "I don't have to sit here and take this - I will talk to whoever I want and you can't stop me! If you try to I will set my mother on you because as far as I am concerned, until we make our vows I will not be controlled by you! And I would rather die before I ever make a vow of faithfulness to you!"

"You'll only get more people hurt if you continue to be unfaithful now!" I shot back, getting to my feet as well so she wouldn't be looking down her nose at me. Now she had to crane her neck back to look me fiercely in the eye - I liked it better that way. "What kind of person do you want to come across as if you cheat constantly!"

"I've never cheated anyone in my life!" she sounded outraged. "And you're only saying that because you're jealous."

That last one had me floored. I gaped at her in horror for several seconds before I found my voice again, and to my further horror it was high and petrified. "What?!"

"You heard me!" she took a step towards me, making me step back quickly to avoid any contact between us. My foot knocked the water basin over behind me. I looked down at the spreading water but Kagome continued to rant. "The only reason you picked the fight with Kouga was because you were jealous of me, wasn't it?! Admit it! You can't stand the thought of me being with someone else! You were willing to fight for me to stay with you because that's how you like things! You were jealous!"

My feet were wet, my body ached from the fight, my head was spinning with accusations flying around - but I caught the gist of what she was saying. "I was fighting because me and Kouga are enemies! It had nothing to do with you!"

"Tell that to somehow who cares!" she yelled as she turned quickly, whipping me painfully in the face with her hair. I caught a hint of wildflower scent. "I'm going to go see my mother about this," she stomped out of the room without a backward glance.

"Bitch…" I muttered venomously under my breath. She hadn't acted grateful at all that I had saved her from a disastrous fate with Kouga. All she cared about was messing with my head. Still… it was her fault that I was injured now and her fault further still that I hadn't been cleaned up properly.

"Need any help?"

I glanced up to see Miroku in the doorway. He'd been a bit of a trouble maker recently and I regarded him suspiciously. "No thanks, I'm fine." But he obviously wanted to talk to me since even that wouldn't deter him.

He came forward into the room. "They might get infected if not treated properly." He pointed out. I just rolled my eyes, but I didn't protest when he picked up the bandages and made me sit down on a dry part of the floor so he could patch me up. "I had an interesting conversation with Lady Kagome earlier." He said.

His conversations with women were always interesting…

"She said that she was very flattered that you were fighting for her honour."

"Really?" I gave him a sideways look. "She seemed pretty nasty about it if you ask me."

"Oh no, that's only because she was worried about you. She didn't want to go with Kouga, but she was going insane with worry for your safety." Miroku told me seriously.

Well… she had expressed a little concern for me a moment ago. But I still was disinclined to believe it. "You're still spewing rubbish, monk."

"Then why did you bother fighting for her?" Miroku asked easily, but with a sharpness on the edge of his voice that had my hackles raising slightly.

"I was fighting for myself - Kouga pisses me off!"

"So that fact that you were jealous because perhaps lady Kagome preferred Kouga to you had nothing to do with it?" he asked casually as he wrapped the strip of cloth around the gouges in my arm.

"Nothing whatsoever."

"So you admit you were jealous at all?" Miroku gave me a small smile and I realised I'd walked into that one a little too easily.

I jerked my arm away from him and stood up. "You're just putting words in my mouth!" I snapped and tried to storm away… but his words made me hesitate slightly.

"You can lie to me Inuyasha but you can't lie to yourself. How do you really feel about her?"

I stomped out angrily.

There was a time when I would have been really certain of the answer to that question. No. I didn't like Kagome. She pissed me off and had made every Autumn for the past ten years a miserable season to endure. And was due to make to the rest of my life very, very miserable if I was going to have to marry her. If she'd been some other Princess I may have just sent her away once we were married so that I'd never have to look at her again… but Kagome was more wilful than that. There was no doubt in my mind that she would be a thorn in my side till the day either one of us died.

But now I wasn't so sure of the answer to that question. How did I really feel about her? I admit at least to myself that I admired her in a way. She was strong, irrepressible by nature and… and perhaps she wasn't that bad looking. She was definitely going to be a wife to be proud of, but at the same time she made me uneasy. Sometimes she was too irrepressible and strong-minded. Sometimes the friction between us was too strong, and sometimes I realised that perhaps we were too similar to get along in the long run.

There were times when I realised she knew me better than I knew myself, a habit that came from being around each other for so long. That was usually irritating… but what if it held a deeper meaning?

And what if Miroku was telling the truth, however unlikely it was? Kagome did seem to be a little different this year and she did seem to be looking at me a lot more than usual and getting flustered every now and then when I was half pleasant to her.

Perhaps things could change…?

I laughed it off… or more like laughed and then broke off coughing thanks to a well placed punch that Kouga had landed on my chest. Sadly, I hadn't won that fight, more like we had both mutually given up and Kouga had gone back to his tribe and I had gone back into the castle. I was sure there would be a next time. That would be a tradition that never changed.

But whilst some things remained the same, other things did change and since I'd disregarded Miroku's advice and had laughed it all off… it hit me when I was most unprepared for it…

AN: Hopefully I'll update before I leave, if not - see you when I get back ^_^