InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Black as Night, White as Snow ❯ Facing the Music ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Summary: Kagome must flee from the wrath, and slight insanity, of her elder stepsister, Queen Kikyou. With a not so charming prince and a magical keeper of an enchanted mirror after her as well, will she stay in safety? Or will this Snow White, with only the help of seven odd dwarves, be doomed to forever be on the run?

To those who happen to be Kikyou fans, don’t read this if you don’t want to. I am not a Kikyou hater, and simply used her so that the readers could picture who it was. She is even OOC. Please don’t flame, for I realize all the things that Kikyou fans and haters argue and I don’t need a summery of it. I’m not taking sides.

I’m following more along the story line of the Brother Grimm’s story line than the Disney movie. I’ll be sure to mention anything you might not know if you’ve never read the original story.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the story of Snow White.

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Black as Night, White as Snow

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Chapter One: Facing the Music

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A young queen sat at her windowsill, idly watching the outside world. In an intricately designed cradle nearby, her newborn daughter lay asleep. “She shall grow up to be a beautiful maiden, you’ll see. Its woman’s intuition, you know,” she told the canaries and magpies chirping outside her window. Getting, up she stepped quickly beside the small resting-place to gaze at her lovely infant.

The queen reached out and ran her fingers through the already long hair, “Black as night.”

Running a hand down her daughter’s smooth face, “White as snow.”

Gently tapping the young princess’ lips and cheeks, “Red as blood.”

The young girl yawned widely and stretched like a small cat. The little maiden starred deeply into the kind brown doe eyes of her mother, and gave a small smile. The mother reached inside and kissed her child’s forehead.

Looking back into the infant’s eyes, “Blue as sky.”

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17 years later

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The heavenly music floated easily on the light breeze. The haunting melody sounded of flutes, pianos, cellos, and violins. But the notes were not made by any of these instruments. In the center of a courtyard stood a beautiful young maiden. Her silky, black hair fell in waves around her milky white face and shoulders. Azure eyes gazed lovingly at the gatherings of animals around her. Lips and cheeks of cheery red adorned her pretty young face. Currently those cheery lips were parted as the haunting music flowed; she danced among the many birds in a slow waltz. As the blue jays and cardinals sang in time with her sweet voice, rabbits and cats, a truce called for the moment, twirled in time with her slender feet.

Suddenly, from the highest window of the tallest tower, a cold, daunting voice yelled. “Kagome! Stop that infuriating, ugly, noise! It gives me a headache!”

Instantly pausing in her movements, the maiden tilted her head towards the offending words. “Yes, Queen Kikyou.” The beauty called back, her voice as lovely as any songbird’s.

“Good,” the cold drawl reached her ears.

Gliding smoothly to the stone and wooden well in the middle of the courtyard, the young maiden perched on the very most edge. Blue eyes surveyed her garden. She had planted, weeded, and watered the rows upon rows of plant life since she was a whelp. She glanced back at the deep blue water that mirrored her eyes in the well. Cocking her head at the reflection, she sighed. Time to get back to what she had previously been doing. Her chores.

At this moment, that meant scrubbing the court free of dirt. Not an easy task, considering the courtyard was made of dirt.

A mischievous glint brightened her stormy eyes, and the maiden leaned slightly away from the sapphire waters. Taking a few shifty glances left, then right, Kagome delicately spit into the very center of the clear liquid of the well before skipping back to her abandoned brush.

The well that only the queen was allowed to drink from.

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Inuyasha scowled as he trudged deeper into the scratchy underbrush of the dark forest. The voice had stopped. The lovely voice he had been listening to for the last few minutes as he drew closer to the castle. The voice that soothed his normally abused hanyou ears.

His amber eyes narrowed.

He’d really wanted the voice to continue, but there was nothing to do about it.

His scowl turned deeper as he returned to his dark thoughts. ‘Why must *I* visit the castle? I’m not a prince...I’m a lord! Damn brother. Thinking since he's the oldest and the one who had our kingdom passed onto him that he can order me around. Fucking idiot, I might as well screw up this meeting with the neighboring queen just to piss him off. That sounds...Fun.’ Cackling evilly in his head, the young man continued on his way towards the black castle. ‘Looks like Frankenstein was their interior decorator...at least the garden doesn’t hurt the eyes,’ Inu thought as he eyed the black, daunting castle and the bright, lovingly cared for garden surrounding it.

He frowned in frustration. Where was this queen? He needed to find her, talk to her, and get out of there before dark. Thoughts of the queen of this stone building crawling out of a coffin to suck his blood flashed through his brain, and he shivered. Tuning disgustedly to a black haired maid nearby, he demanded, “Where’s Queeny? I need to ‘chat’ with her.”

The kneeling woman in a dirt covered and colored kimono stopped her work. The maiden sighed; the sound of leaves blowing in the breeze. Without turning around or getting up, she called over her shoulder, “In the castle,” of course she wasn’t done, “Idiot. Where else in all the hells would a queen be?”

Inu was extremely ‘ecstatic’ that the maid was still on her knees and not looking at him. His face burned with embarrassment at his obvious mistake. ‘Shit.’ Turning to the ivy covered side door of the castle he cast over his shoulder, “See you later Wench!”

The poor boy didn’t see the scrub brush coming until it slammed into the back of his pretty silver head.

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Kagome had never been one to allow things to bring her down. She had food, water, clothing, and shelter. She was an extremely optimistic and cheerful person and few things dampened her mood. Actually, it wasn’t a ‘few’ things. It was one thing. Her stepsister, the queen, Kikyou.

The man who had just left her garden had sounded like a young man. A ‘handsome’, if not rude, young man. Men always came to visit Kikyou. She was the queen, the beautiful queen, of the land. Kikyou’s hair was stark black. Black as a raven’s. Her skin was pale and perfect. Yet it didn’t have the milky white quality of her sister who also contained rosy cheeks. Kikyou’s skin was just pale and smooth. Her eyes were a steely, cold gray. It held none of the light and warmth of her sisters, but they were still lovely. While Kagome’s full lips were red, Kikyou’s thin ones, always set in a grim line, were a subtle pink.

Kagome was surrounded by warmth and colors. Kikyou had always been cold and calculating, lacking color, yet still beautiful in her china doll way. Kagome was full of life, while Kikyou was extremely distant and detached. They were slightly similar in their looks, yet nothing alike at all.

No one knew this, but Kagome was not the maid of the castle.

In fact, she was a princess.

But Kikyou, after the death of Kagome’s father and her own mother’s death in a carriage accident, had stripped Kag of her title. Kagome had been sent away from her comfy room to the servant’s quarters. She was now a maid.

But she didn’t mind.

Kagome was once supposed to be queen, but after her doting mother’s sudden illness and death, and the remarriage of the King, her stepsister took the spotlight. Kikyou was elegant in every way and the queen's mother had made sure Kag’s father noticed how Kikyou would be a better queen.

And her father had agreed.

So when they died, Kikyou became a queen and Kagome a maid. It’d been that way for long enough that Kagome let it no longer bother her. She was happy.

Plus, princesses and queens could be so cliché.

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“Looking glass, looking glass on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all?”
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"---I must say, my ‘dear’ Queen Kikyou, though it is sad,

You are the fairest, so you can’t be mad. ---"
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Kikyou nodded her head resolutely, her mouth in a grim grin. She stood in her tower room, facing her floor length enchanted mirror. Instead of a reflection, she saw the form of a young girl in her mirror. A short female with flowing white tresses that surrounded her pure white skin and solid white dress. A silver flower was her only decoration; she didn’t even wear covering on her tiny feet.
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Inuyasha stood, his hand raised and poised to knock on the wooden door. A shiver ran through his spine. That voice had been so...so...so creepy! What kind of crackpot poetry was that, and who in their right minds would ask such an odd question of to a kid?! Taking a slight step backward, he puckered his lips to give a silent, innocent whistle as he backed away. ‘Lets not visit Queeny, and say we did?’ Scrunching up his nose in concentration, he walked carefully to the top of the spiral stairs to make his getaway.

Or he would have.

“Come in, Lord Inuyasha!” A voice demanded from the room that he had been about to enter; the room where he had heard the conversation.

Golden eyes narrowed in instant dislike. Inu snarled at the closed door, ‘No one orders me!’ Curiosity building at seeing ‘Queeny’, he entered, which effectively threw his thoughts out the window. Stepping into the bedroom of the queen of the neighboring kingdom of his own, Inu froze. The entire area on each and every wall, except for one with a ridiculously large mirror (‘Vain, are we?’), was covered with weapons. Shiny, silver, pointy objects were everywhere. Arrows, knives, sais, swords, daggers, maces, and even a...

...er...

Was that a dinning fork of the east wall?

Shit, who kept a fork next to a katana?!

Kikyou cocked her head at him; she was wearing an expensive, scarlet, velvet kimono. Almost as if trying to add color to her colorless form just for the meeting. But Inu wasn’t eyeing her outfit; he was eyeing her hands. Which were currently fingering an extremely sharp looking arrow, almost lovingly. “Inuyasha, tell me why you were sent,” she commanded him, still sliding a finger up and down the edge of her weapon.

Keeping his eyes trained on her moving hand, Inuyasha answered darkly, “My brother wanted us to discuss the raids on the northern border.”

“Wrong, Inuyasha, there was another reason.”

“What in all the hells would that be?” Inu snapped quietly, afraid to make big moves in case Queeny decided to charge.

“Lord Sesshoumaru has set something up,” she calmly told him.

“Is that right?” Inuyasha drawled dryly.

“In three weeks, we shall be married. Have fun till then.”

“WHAT THE-?!"

“Inu-chan, I suggest you go to prepare. Sesshy wanted this union to join our lands and make us stronger.” Kikyou interrupted smoothly, her lips quirking up at the edges with the faintest of smiles.

“I chose who I marry! And I swear to all that is sane that I will not marry you!”

“Taking this a little over dramatically, aren’t we?” Kikyou arched a perfect eyebrow at her fiance.

Inu gaped at her. His half brother and this witch just expected him to give up his life and marry her! What in all the seven layers of hells?!

“Inuyasha?” Kikyou had come closer and was taping him on the nose with the arrow to gain his attention again. He had been kind of spacing.

Inu opened and closed his mouth, for the first time ever at a loss for words.

“I had the impression I was engaged to a half inu youkai, not a goldfish,” Kikyou joked dryly.

Inuyasha growled low in his throat. “I’ll be back, Queeny. I need to ‘talk’ with my brother,” he cracked his knuckles as he bolted from the room as if the she-devil herself was at his heels.

Which...

...She was.

“I’ll be speaking with you soon!” Kikyou called after him. Frowning she turned back to her mirror. “What did you think, Kanna?”

The young girl who lived in Kikyou's mirror reappeared. “About what ‘Queeny’?” her whispery voice questioned.

“Inuyasha, of course.”

“He sounds great,” Kanna humored the queen. Kikyou, for the last few months since Sesshoumaru had given her his proposition, had been watching Inuyasha through her mirror.

Suddenly the queen went slightly cross eyed. “I will get you Inuyasha!” she cackled evilly before erupting in a hacking cough. “I --chuckle-- will --cackle-- get --wheeze-- you --hack--!” Kanna swiftly disappeared before Kikyou asked her anything else. Kikyou took a deep breath and magically reverted back to her calm self. “Maybe I should stop eating jellied cow hooves before I go to sleep,” she wondered aloud as she walked over to the window to watch the rapidly disappearing hanyou.
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“Nah!”

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Kikyou slid out from under her silk sheets to stand before her mirror again. It was like a morning ritual, to ask her favorite question. “Looking glass, looking glass, on the wall, Who is the fairest of them all?”

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"---Black as Night, White as Snow, Red as Blood, Blue as Sky,

You are no longer the fairest; of this, I can not lie. ---"

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Kikyou started to smile and nod before bursting out in surprise. “WHAT?!”

Kanna seemed barely be able to keep back a grin at finally being able to shatter Kikyou’s thoughts of being the most beautiful woman of all. So she said it again, just to bother her ‘employer’ even more so. She couldn’t lie as the keeper of the enchanted mirror.

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"---The young Kagome’s beauty is now fully grown, she has taken your title,

There is no way to take it back; your resistance is futile.---"

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Kanna disappeared so she couldn’t take on the full wrath of a pissed of Kikyou. She’d seen the other smashed mirrors. Kikyou actually remained quite calm. Slipping over to her window she peered downward. Directly in her line of sight was her young stepsister. “Kagome, I will never forgive you. ‘Futile’ is not in my vocabulary...

...Of course neither is ‘onomatopoeia’...”

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“Yes Kikyou, what can I do for you?” Kagome asked sweetly, kneeling before the thrown. She happily eyed the cup in her sibling’s hand, as it was tilted to her lips. It was full of water. Well water.

“Yes, Kagome. I am now engaged. My loving fiancée, Lord Inuyasha, shall be visiting soon and I would like a bouquet of special flowers to decorate my room.”

Kagome nodded, slightly confused. “Congrats. But would you like the red or the white roses from the garden?”

“You seem to have misunderstood me. I want special flowers, meaning I need you to travel to the valley a few miles away to gather those lovely wild flowers.”

“Of course, Queen.” Kagome backed out of the thrown room, head still bowed.

“Thank you, Kagome,” the queen whispered. Once the ebony haired female was gone, Kikyou whispered again, “Soon, very soon.”

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“Kouga! As my axeman, I order you to find the maid known as Kagome and slay her, she has committed treason against me and I shall not have it.” Kikyou commanded simply to the handsome wolf demon standing in front of her. “Oh, and one more thing...Bring me her tongue. I want to eat it for dinner. And kill her with my grandmother’s fork, it was an heirloom to me.”

“Her tongue?” Kouga asked, trying hard not to gag.

“Yes...”

“Right. Why not her heart?” Kouga suggested. After all, isn’t that what a truly wicked, twisted queen would do? Eat the heart of her bitter enemy?

Kikyou frowned slightly. “No. Her tongue. Eating a heart gives me a tummy ache.”

Kouga nodded and began to slowly back out of the room, hoping the queen might not try to jump him to prove her ‘heart’ theory.

And he grabbed the fork on the wall on his way out.

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A/N: How was it? Please review. This is a remake of the strory Snow White and it is an Inuyasha/Kagome. Kouga is not going to be a bad guy. I love Kouga...Ja ne!