InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Look Before You Leap ❯ Trouble in Not Quite-Paradise ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha characters or the story Mara Daughter of the Nile; please don't hurt me!

A/N: Hi everybody, it's me again and I have a new story for you all to read. I really don't have much to say `cause I'm kinda in a bad mood, so to keep it short, here's the story. Please review, you guys. I know you're out there, and deep down, you want to review. So fallow that little voice in your head <me in disguise> and review!

"blah-blah" - talking

`oh he's cute!'- thoughts

Chapter 1 - More Trouble In (Not Quite) Paradise

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooo

The sea wind swept through his hair, messing up the neat ponytail he had it in. Miroku sighed and pushed it out of his face impatiently, looking anxious. His eyes scanned the dock as if he was searching for someone or waiting for something to happen…

Because he was waiting for someone: his new passenger who was now 30 minutes late. Miroku couldn't take any more time, because he had cargo to deliver, and he himself had a schedule to follow.

A hand touched his arm and he turned, hoping to see who he was waiting for, but it was only one of his crew. He bowed and Miroku nodded his head. "Cap'im, the cargo has all been loaded and secured." Miroku nodded. "Good. Tell the rest to get ready. We're about to leave." The man bowed and walked away. Miroku sighed and wondered again where his strange passenger was. "I know, I'll walk once around the ship, and if he's not here when I get back, we'll depart," he said to himself.

Miroku started along the deck, thinking. His passenger was more than strange. He was unusual. In the beginning he seemed simple enough, with his plain clothes of a commoner and his polite attitude. But there were stranger things about him that Miroku didn't notice until later. Like how he always had his head wrapped in a turban, how his eyes were a strange color of amber and liquid gold. And sometimes Miroku thought that he saw fangs. His name was what really made Miroku pause. `Sure,' he thought. `These are feudal times where demons run around everywhere, but to have the name Inu-Yasha?! That's just insane! Unless he is a demon…' Miroku shook his head. It didn't matte how weird his name was. More importantly was how Miroku almost committed treason in front of him the other day. Miroku shivered, remembering how close he had come.

Flashback

Miroku frowned when he saw another huge monument proclaiming Kikyo the rightful Queen of the country, followed by another huge golden temple with statues of Gods flanking the door. Miroku sighed and shook his head at the sight.

"Something wrong with you?"

He turned. Inu-Yasha was leaning on the rail next to him. How he got there so quietly Miroku still wondered about. "Oh, I was just wondering how many more temples of gold our fair queen will build before our country dies," he answered calmly, although his fists were balled and his eyes were hard. Inu-Yasha took in all of this without comment, instead saying, "But our queen only wants the people to have a place to worship, and shouldn't a God's temple be beautiful?" "But does every temple have to be covered in gold? And how do scenes of Her Majesty related to Gods?" Miroku countered. Inu-Yasha shrugged casually. "Some say that she is a gift from the Gods unto our country, and others say that she is a God herself. Either one may or may not be a reason why she is there on the temple walls."

Miroku crossed his arms. "I still don't think her image belongs there. I really don't understand how she became Queen in the first place. Before her, there was a king who was a dog demon, and he had two sons. When he died, the elder, Sesshomaru I think, would have become King, but suddenly Lady Kikyo appeared, and next thing you know, she was Queen Kikyo, Her Royal Majesty! I don't remember the younger brother's name but wonder why he is just sitting where ever he is and not doing anything!"

Inu-Yasha's eyebrows rose. "So you are against Queen Kikyo?"

Miroku's mind stopped dead in its tracks and processed what was just said. He gulped and said in a shaky voice, "No, of course I approve of her! I-I don't know what I was saying earlier. Long live Queen Kikyo!!!"

Inu-Yasha nodded, but there was a gleam in his eyes that scared Miroku. He nodded again, and his face was calm. "Don't worry Captain. The sun is really hot out here, isn't it? It can mess with a fellow's senses. I have complete faith in your declaration to our Queen. I don't at all believe that those were your true words, and that you would try to overthrow her." Miroku nodded shakily, wondering if he was being pulled into a trap. Suddenly, Inu-Yasha smiled, making his face a beautiful sight. Then he turned, and walked down the deck, leaving Miroku, confused and scared about what had just happened.

End Flashback

Miroku sighed again when he reached his original spot on the deck. From that day on, he had watched Inu-Yasha very closely, thinking more each day that his guest was more than what he appeared to be. This morning, they had docked in the city, and Inu-Yasha had gotten off, saying that he would be back on the ship before it left. Here it was time for them to leave, and he was nowhere in sight. Miroku didn't know if it was better for him to leave, or wait. He decided that he would wait a little longer, but his nerves couldn't take much more suspense. He watched some ladies go by his boat. They winked and giggled at him, but he just glanced at them distractedly. His heart, or something else, just wasn't in it. WHERE WAS INU-YAHSA?!

oxo

The girls sat in the corner of the gardens, under one of the huge trees were no one could see her. In her hands was a book, one of her favorites. Her eyes went over each word as she said them to herself.

Time passed. The sky overhead lightened past dawn into daybreak. He hurried deeper into the trees, fearing lest someone should follow him, try to force him to return…

"Kagome!"

The girl sighed and closed the book slowly. She got up and walked through the garden to the kitchen door, where a woman was waiting for her with hands on her hips. "Kagome, get in here! There's plenty of work to be done, which leaves no time for reading! If the master even catches you with one of his books, you'd be in more trouble than you could imagine. It will happen soon enough if you don't go wash the floor!"

Kagome rolled her eyes at the woman as she put the book on the shelf with the others. "I'm going, so there's no need to worry," she answered glumly and went to get a bucket. She was a slave whose master was mean and evil, and would beat his slaves without a second thought if he felt like it. "One day," she muttered to herself as she filled the bucket with water at the well. "One day, I'll be free! Free from that man, and I'll have a life. I know that I wasn't born a slave! That's just impossible!" Kagome's thoughts went back to the book she had been reading. She thought about how the part was so interesting when she had to put it back. `What does the master need it for?' she thought sullenly. `He can't read to save his life! And yet he has a whole bookcase full of untouched books, just for show.' She paused in her thoughts. `But I'm not saying he's stupid, he's just…… Okay maybe I am saying he's stupid.' Kagome grinned. `But only when it comes to reading books. He isn't stupid when it comes to selling slaves for the right price, or splitting up a family,' she thought bitterly.

Walking back to the house with the bucket of water, she passed a huge wall that surrounded the house. Kagome slowed down and looked at it. There were huge chunks of stone missing. Just enough to create footholds to climb up. Kagome looked at it pensively.

`On one hand, if I run away, and I get back before the master does, he'll never know I was gone. But my chores won't be finished, so I'll get in trouble.' Kagome frowned. She didn't like the thought of getting in trouble. `On the other hand, if I get back after he does, I'll get in trouble for running away and not doing my chores.' Her frown deepened. `On the other other hand, I could run away and never return, so I won't get in trouble. But I'll starve to death if I don't get a job. So there's no way out of trouble, unless I just stay here and do my chores.' With that painful thought, Kagome turned away from the wall and reached for the bucket she had left on the ground. "YEAH RIGHT!!!" she shouted and ran to the wall.

`Oh well, if I get in trouble, at lest I have a moment of being free!' She pulled herself up the edge of the wall and looked at the outside world, the village square, the river glistening in the sun. Then she jumped to the ground and ran towards the village without a backwards glance. Her last thought was: "Next time I make a decision that involves so many `other hands', I have to hire someone to hold them, since I only have two!"