InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hotaru Ai ❯ Fairy Tale ( Chapter 1 )

"Hey Kagome?"

"Yes Shippo-chan?"

"Could you tell me a story?"

Kagome smiled at the small kitsune, " Of course Shippo-chan! What story would you like to hear?"

"A story about a princess."

"Hmmm," Kagome started, "A princess? I don't know many like that? But I'll give it my all Shippo-chan."

"Once upon there was a princess named Ai…"

"That wasn't her name," Shippo said matter-of-factly.

"What was her name Shippo-chan?"

Shippo smiled mischievously, "Guess."

"Hotaru?"

"No."

"Yukina?"

"Wrong again?"

"Tokiko?"

"Nope. But I'll give you a hint. It starts with a `K' and ends with an `E'."

Kagome's eyes lit, "Kagome?"

Shippo nodded vigorously and Kagome smiled at him gently.

"Alright, once upon a time there was a princess named Kagome. She live in a big castle with many friends who lived with her."

"Was there a kitsune?"

"Yes in fact there was. His name was…Shippo."

Shippo jumped up and down, "Was he Kagome's best friend?"

"He was more than that Shippo-chan. He was like her son. She loved him so much. Princess Kagome was a very happy princess. She had all she could ever need. But she didn't have the one thing that she wanted. She didn't have the man she loved."

"Ewwww."

"Shippo-chan, you asked for a story about a princess, and most are love stories."

"Alright…if it has to be one."

"Like I was saying, she didn't have the man she love. He was a man in the village named…Hojo."

"Hojo? You mean like that guy we met that had the celestial robe?"

"No, this Hojo was different. He was mean and nasty and never said anything nice to Princess Kagome. He made fun of her and called her hurtful names."

Shippo looked at her in shock, "But…but then why did Princess Kagome love him?"

Kagome gazed at the sky wistfully, "Because he made her happy."

"So did Hojo ever love her back?"

"…no. He was still in love with a woman he had been engaged to several years prior."

"En-gay-ged?"

"Er, betrothed. Hojo was still in love with the women he was to have been married to years before."

"Why is that?"

"I'm not sure Shippo-chan. Maybe he couldn't let go. Maybe he didn't want to."

"What was his betrothed's name?"

"Keiko. She was Kagome's older cousin. They looked very much alike. They looked so alike, that Hojo sometimes thought that Kagome was her."

"That's horrible!"

"Well one day Kagome was out in the village and she saw Hojo by a big tree and she asked him, "Hojo, why are you here." And he looked at her with eyes she'd never seen before and told her, "I love you." Kagome was elated."

"Awsome! So they got together in the end?"

Kagome sighed aand rubbed her temple, "No Shippo-chan. There is more to the story. After that Hojo and Kagome were inseperably. They did everything together. One day, Hojo left Kagome's side without telling her. When she went to search for him, she found him with her cousin Keiko. They were in tight embrace, and Hojo was saying how much he never stopped loving Keiko."

"What a baka!"

"Hojo," Kagome started, ignoring Shippo's comment, "Left with Keiko and went to her castle. He choose her to Kagome. Kagome was crushed, she didn't know if she could love anyone else."

"But…"

"Kagome pined for Hojo till the day of her death…and Hojo didn't even know she died." Her eyes took on a misty quality, "But I wonder, would he even care?"

"Kagome are you-"

She pushed him into her sleeping bag, "It's time for bed Shippo-chan."

"But!"

"No buts. Bedtime is bedtime."

"Alright," Shippo finally gave in, "Goodnight Kagome."

"Goodnight Shippo-chan." Shippo snuggled into her sleeping bag and quickly drifted into dreamland.

Kagome sighed and sat under a tree near her. Suddenly she felt a pair of strong arms snake around her waste. She gasped slightly, before relaxing against Inuyasha.

"I won't allow you to die."

"You'll be with Kikyo. You can't prevent what you are not involved with." Her eyes darkened and filled with tears.

Inuyasha wiped them away, "You're mine. Mine to protect. Mine to need. Mine to love."

"Inuyasha?!"

He nuzzled his nose into her neck and took her scent in slowly, "I won't allow you to die. The gods can kiss my ass. You're not going to leave me."

"But Kikyo!"

Inuyasha clutched her tighter, "Kikyo is gone. I will avenge her, that's the least I can do for her. But I need you."

Kagome shifted and cuddled into his chest, "You'll leave, and I'll be alone to die."

"I won't leave you. I swear."

"But you will! I know it, you'll go with Kikyo and I'll die alone."

Inuyasha sighed and slackened his hold on her. He lifted her chin up so he could look into her eyes, "Kagome, I couldn't leave you. You're my world. You know me better than I even know myself, or ever would want to know myself. I trust you with every part of me. I love you princess." He closed the gap between them and gently pressed his lips to hers.