InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Harem ❯ Chapter 5

DISCLIAMER: Inuyasha, belong to Rumiko Takahashi and not to me. The AU world this story is set in, the plot and any additional characters do belong to me though, and so please don't try to take them without my permission. I make no profit of this story, and am doing it only for my own enjoyment (and hopefully yours too).

 

CHAPTER 5

 

It was a little over an hour since she had parted ways with Inuyasha, and Kagome had come to what seemed to her to be the most logical conclusion to her dilemma on her confused feelings for the Prince. She should stop thinking about it so much. It was a strange new set of circumstances she'd found herself in but overanalysing everything like she had been was no doubt making it even worse. She was a concubine now, whether she liked it or not, and wondering whether or not her favourable reactions to the prince's touch was proper was pointless and stupid. If the prince was kind enough to ensure that she took pleasure in the act too, why the hell was she making a fuss about it? She should be grateful, she was grateful. She'd honestly hadn't expected that, and she wouldn't have dared assumed to ask for it, but if he wanted to give her pleasure she sure as hell wasn't stupid enough to say no. She had also been thrown for a loop when she realised how handsome he was, but what difference did that make in the long run? So he was good looking, and she found himself attracted to him, so what? What did that change? Nothing, that's what. Either way she still had the same duty to preform, to grace his bed whenever he requested it from her. Like the fact that he was would ensure her pleasure as well as his own, the fact that the prince was attractive in her eyes was an added bonus, nothing else. Her repeated questioning of her feelings was pointless, she should just be grateful that life as Prince Inuyasha's concubine was so far shaping up to be far less unpleasant than she had expected, and stop worrying herself about everything that she felt and accept it. Yes, that seemed the best, it was time to stop worrying about everything and just deal with what happened when it happened. Yes, it was the most logical thing to do.

 

So why did Kagome still feel like there was more to it than that?

 

Kagome sighed and rolled over the bed in `her' room where she had been lying for the last hour. This was getting beyond pointless, she needed something to distract her and stop her stupid mind from running circles around itself. So what could she do? She remembered the maids saying something about organising a dressmaker to see her sometime today, but she had no idea when that would be and she needed something to distract herself now. The Prince had said something about how the gardens here at the harem were worth seeing, but Kagome was sure that she'd get lost long before she found them, she was still so new here and from what she had seen so far this place didn't exactly have the easiest layout to learn. She supposed she could find a servant to show her the way, but when you considered how unfriendly the servants had all been so far, Kagome was pretty sure she didn't want to go down that path. Why someone thought it was a good idea to have to have so many servants who disliked concubines working in a harem, Kagome just didn't get, but apparently that was what had happened.

 

Kagome was spared having to think of another idea just then by a knock on the door. Wondering who it could be, Kagome sat up and called for whoever it was to come in. She then smiled as Sango entered the room.

 

“Hey, how are you feeling this morning?” Sango asked, looking somewhat cautious as if she was scared that Kagome would break down crying if she said the wrong thing.

 

Kagome, however just gave a small smile and answered with a deep blush, “I was a little sore earlier, but I'm feeling fine now. Right now, I'm just bored and was trying to figure out what I could do with the day.”

 

Sango grinned at that. “Hopefully then I can help you with that. I wanted to see if you would like me to show you around this place today. It's been a while since I had someone to spend the day with, and I'm sure you haven't figured out your way around yet. So what do you say, do you want the tour?”

 

With a grin that almost stretched from ear to ear, Kagome nodded.

 

***

 

Inuyasha barely stifled a yawn as he exited the meeting room where he'd been coped up all morning. Once or twice a week, Inutaisho would get his advisors together and the group would sit down and discuss everything that was going on throughout the kingdom and beyond that might be of importance - from military threats, to farming shortages and annual rainfall - in order to best determine everything that might need to be done to ensure the kingdom continued to run smoothly. Both Sesshomaru and Inuyasha were also required to attend these meeting. Sesshomaru as the eldest child and future king naturally needed to be fully aware of how to run the kingdom when it came to him. Inutaisho also insisted that Inuyasha attend as well, because even though Sesshomaru was next in line didn't mean that everything always went as planned and if, Gods forbid, something happened to Sesshomaru Inuyasha would need to be ready in case the throne came to him. That, plus Inutaisho always said that it didn't matter what position one held in life, that knowledge of what was happening in the world would always help give you an advantage. Inuyasha didn't argue, he knew his father was right. He just wished that the damn advisors weren't so boring and longwinded. With the exception of Asad (an elderly general who was Inutaisho's Military Advisor) and Abdullah (Inutaisho' Spiritual Advisor and Miroku's grandfather) they were all capable of putting you asleep with just a few words and seemed to spend more time trying to suck up to Inutaisho than give him advice. It didn't help that the general consensus of the meeting today was that everything was going well. The biggest topic in those meetings for the last few months had been those villages, mostly near the border, who hadn't been paying the crown proper mind, and with Ado the last of them had just fallen back into the fold. Now that that was over with, they'd temporarily run out of thing to talk about.

 

`Well,' Inuyasha thought to himself as he headed towards the castle kitchens with the intent of grabbing some lunch, `at least it's over now and I won't have to listen to those idiots babble on about what a wonderful leader my father is and how everything is going perfectly in the kingdom for a few days at leats. Maybe by the time the next meeting comes around they'll actually have something worth talking about.'

 

“Well, that was certainly a productive meeting.” Miroku said dryly as he followed after Inuyasha. As Inuyasha's Spiritual Advisor, he too was required to attend such meetings, much to his disgust. “Just think, only four days and we'll be back in that room once more listening to speeches about how your father is the most just and handsome ruler this kingdom has ever known.”

 

Inuyasha rolled his eyes but otherwise didn't bother to answer. There was no point, after four plus years of attending those damn meeting together Miroku knew all too well how Inuyasha felt about them, and besides they'd reached the kitchen already.

 

The two didn't even have to ask, they'd been turning up looking for food after meeting like this for years now, and the kitchen staff had been expecting them. In fact, they'd barely set foot in the kitchen when Shiori ran up with two wrapped packages for the two of them. With her pale blood hair that showed her half-blood status, her father being one of the few fair-haired barbarians from the north that called Inu home, Shiori would always stand out in the crowd but the shy kitchen hand was a rather sweet girl. With a duo of quite thanks, the two took their lunches and left in search of somewhere quite to eat them.

 

“So Inuyasha,” Miroku said a short while later as they sat in one of the palace's many gardens. “I heard you got a new concubine last night.”

 

“Where'd you hear that?” Inuyasha asked, honestly surprised that Miroku had heard so soon when he himself hadn't even known before Kagome was already in the harem and had been for a couple of hours.

 

“Your father told my grandfather last night.” Miroku explained with a shrug. “My grandfather then told my father and me at dinner last night. She was part of the tribute from Ado, right?”

 

Inuyasha nodded, he should have guessed Miroku had heard it from Abdullah, Inutaisho told Abdullah almost everything. “Yeah, her name's Kagome.”

 

“Soooo.” Miroku said with his trademark lecherous grin appearing on his face “Is she pretty?”

 

“Yeah.” Inuyasha said, most of his attention on his lunch. For some reason he didn't feel like talking about Kagome with Miroku.

 

“Is she good in bed?” Miroku asked even more eagerly. Inuyasha just grunted and found himself blushing for some reason, which was odd when you consider that he was no stranger to such questions from Miroku.

 

“Oh, so she's THAT good.” Miroku said with a laugh, noticing the blush instantly. “Do share the details.”

 

“Miroku, shut it unless you want me to do it for you.” Inuyasha snapped before tearing into another bite of his lunch and staring resolutely forward. He really didn't want to get into this right now, if ever.

 

“Oh come, can't you just tell me a little bit?' Miroku pressed on, oblivious to the danger he was walking into. “How she like it, gentle, rough, fast, slow? Come on, give me something.”

 

Next thing Miroku knew he was lying face down on the ground, wondering where the pain in the back of his head had come from.

 

***

 

Kagome had to admit that the harem was actually a very beautiful place, a lot bigger than Kagome would have imagined. There was room for a ten concubines (Sango had also told her that prince's Sesshomaru's harem was set out the same, although the King's could hold up to twenty-five concubines if he choose to), although at present only four of the rooms were occupied and Sango told her that Inuyasha wasn't looking for new concubines to fill the empty rooms anytime soon.

 

Closest to the concubine's private rooms were the common rooms; the reading room, the music room, the painting room, the sunroom, and the dining room. As one might expect, the first three were set-aside for the concubines to use for the pursuit of what were considered appropriate hobbies; reading, music and painting. Not exactly things Kagome had had much chance to follow back in Ado, since she and her family were usually too busy working on their small plot of crops or doing chores around the house to bother with such things, but Kagome thought it might be interesting to try her hand at them now and then. The sunroom was basically a room with a couple of comfortable couches facing a couple of big floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the biggest of the gardens. It was a nice place to socialise, but as Sango pointed out, in a place were the concubines seemed to be forever looking for ways to stab the other in the back, socialising was rare. The dinning room was pretty self-explanatory.

 

Next Sango showed Kagome the outbuildings, including the bathhouse. She then took the time to direct Kagome towards the servant's quarters, where the kitchen was also located. Sango said she could go there if she ever needed something and couldn't find a maid, or if she was hungry and it was a while before the next meal was to be served. However, Sango also warned Kagome that heading there unless it was pretty damn important wasn't generally worth it, as the maids were for the most part real bitches who got especially put off when you entered their domain. From what Kagome had seen of the maids so far, she didn't doubt it and decided it best to take Sango's advice in this matter.

 

Finally came the gardens, and what beautiful places they were. Two were traditional flower gardens, the larger one overlooked by both the sunroom and the Prince's balcony, the smaller one more intimate and surrounded by high hedges. The third was a water garden, which was a true novelty for Kagome and stunningly beautiful. There was also a small courtyard which would have been lovely for entertaining Kagome couldn't help but think, if it wasn't for the fact that having people approved to enter the harem so that they could be entertained was a nightmare. The maids had made a point of explaining that to her yesterday, as a kind of warning against getting friendly with anyone outside the harem.

 

It was now approaching lunchtime, so the two were heading back towards the dinning room where every meal was served unless the concubine requested to take it somewhere else. According to Sango the other two concubines in the harem, Jalal and Muna almost always requested to eat every meal in their rooms so that there wasn't much chance of running into them there, something which Kagome wasn't sure how she felt about. On one hand, from the way Sango described them she didn't think she'd be making friends with them in a hurry. On the other hand, she kind of wanted to see them if only to get a better sense of who they really were and how best to deal with them.

 

Since they still had some time left, the girls took a long way back through the winding paths of the larger garden. Partway through, Kagome noticed another building Sango hadn't shown her before, this one surrounded by a high wall that looked every bit as intimidating as the wall surrounding the harem itself.

 

“What's that?” Kagome asked, pointing to the new building, curious about what could need that much protection when the harem itself was so well guarded.

 

“Oh, that's the Tiger Lily Pavilion.” Sango explained. “It's this harem's version of the Jasmine Pavilion in the King's harem, or the Camellia Pavilion in Prince's Sesshomaru's.” Seeing the blank look on Kagome's face, Sango explained. “It's where a concubine who falls pregnant with child is kept until the baby is born. The extra protection is just in case a jealous fellow concubine tries anything, as well as anyone from outside who doesn't want another heir to the throne. It's also where a concubine who is to be upgraded to wife would be kept until the wedding as well.” Sango added.

 

Kagome had been nodding in understanding until the last sentence, but the idea of a concubine being upgraded to wife had thrown her for something of a loop.

 

“How often does that happen?” Kagome asked, having never heard of a concubine being made into a wife.

 

“Very rarely,” Sango admitted, “but it has been known to happen. You know Lady Izayoi was once the King's concubine?”

“She was?” Kagome asked, surprised. That was one fact that never made it to Ado.

 

“Yeah, she was, for about three years.” Sango explained. “His Majesty didn't make her his wife until just after Inuyasha was born. From everything I've heard from Inuyasha over the years, both are very happy together now, so I guess it all turned out okay in the end.”

 

Kagome nodded, still feeling surprised. She hadn't even known that a concubine could be made into a wife, let alone that some had and one was now favourite wife of King Inutaisho himself. Still, not that Kagome supposed it made any difference to her, the chances of such a fate befalling her was probably about a million to one.

 

Kagome and Sango arrived at in the dinning room just in time to see the maids set out plates of some delicious smelling spicy stew, which had the two girl's mouths practically watering as soon as they stepped into the room. However, one thing they both noticed right away was that there were four plates being set out.

 

“Four plates, Hafsa?” Sango asked the older of the two maids who were now setting out the utensils.

 

“Dalal and Muna have decided to eat in here today.” Hafsa said primly, paying much more attention to making sure the knifes were all polished to a shine than she was to the young woman she was speaking to. “They both said something about wanting to meet the new concubine.”

 

Sango sighed, turning to look at Kagome with something between disgust and resignation on her face. “I should of known it wouldn't be long before they came to sniff you out. Oh well, at least the food should be good.”

 

The food was good but Kagome and Sango had barely started to enjoy it when two young women entered the room side by side. One was wearing a short purple robe almost the exact colour and cut of the one the maids had given Kagome the night before, prior to Sango loaning the poor girl one of her outfits. She had dark eyes, a straight and elegant nose, and hair long enough to sit one which was died red with henna. The other woman was slightly shorter, with full lips, brown eyes and curly black hair which Kagome felt was more likely the result of a lot of work with a curling iron rather than natural. She was wearing a long bright yellow gown that might have been considered almost conservative, if it not for the fact that it so shear it was almost completely see-through, leaving nothing to the imagination.

 

“Well, well, what have we here?” The woman wearing purple with red hair said, and ugly sneer covering her otherwise pretty face. “Sango aren't you going to introduce us already?”

 

With a sigh of what could only be resignation, Sango answered. “Dalal, Muna, this is Kagome, the harem's newest concubine. Kagome, this is Dalal,” she gestured to the redheaded woman, “and Muna.” She finished waving to the woman in yellow.

 

“I hear you're from Ado.” Muna said, as she and Dalal sat down, neither taking their eyes of Kagome as they sized her up as if already trying to figure out the best way to be rid of her.

 

“I am.” Kagome said, not liking the way they were staring at her, nor the obvious slur Muna had just put on her home village.

 

“A commoner then.” Muna said with a sneer. “It won't be long at all until your novelty wears off and Inuyasha grows tired of you.”

 

“Too true Muna.” Dalal said with a smirk. “Not long at all. No commoner can hope to hold the interest of a Prince for long, after all. Then he'll get back to his rightful favourite, me.”

 

“You?” Sango said scornful with a laugh. “Since when were you ever his favourite?”

 

“Shut your mouth bitch!” Dalal all but yelled. “I don't know what kind of spell you've put on the prince, but it won't be much longer until he realises my true worth, I'm sure of it. After all, I am the most you beautiful woman in the whole harem if not the whole palace.”

 

“You?” Muna demanded, taking her eyes of Kagome at last to stare furiously at Dalal. “With those elephant ears? Don't be absurd, that claim belongs to ME!”

 

“You?” Dalal demanded, now glaring at Muna. “With that pig's snout of a nose? I think not!”

 

Almost instantly there erupted a fight between the two as to who had the most imperfections, most of which were completely invisible to Kagome. Before long it appeared that both had forgotten that Sango and Kagome were in the room.

 

“It looks like they'll be at it for a while.” Sango whispered to Kagome after a few rounds of insults. She probably could have shouted and still not be noticed by that stage. “What do you say we go and eat our lunch somewhere quieter?”

 

Kagome smiled slightly and should up. “Why don't we?”

 

The two picked up their plates and left the room, the other two concubines none the wiser to their departure, if they even remembered they'd even been there at all.