InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Soul Exchange ❯ Added Incentive ( Chapter 5 )

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

Disclaimer: All regular whatever apply to whatever I write - including the one about Hercules. I'm really put out about that... they stole my idea! (Although that's pretty much impossible as well)

AN: I'm so annoyed this week. My sister's back from University and she's given me some new virus. Now I've lost my voice and I keep answering the phone when it rings - only to realise moments later that I can't even say 'Hello? What do you want?'

Well at least I don't sound like Jacken anymore... I just sound like the wind...

















Soul Exchange

Added Incentive












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Everything was so cold. Her whole right side had gone numb with the cold and she couldn't feel her cheek. The air was frigid and bone chilling and even more importantly - her feet were so cold they might as well have been blocks of ice.

The rapid tapping sound in the background caused Kagome to realise something wasn't right. It was usually nice and warm in the mornings at this time of year... that's why she hadn't bothered with shoes lately. But right now it was brass monkey weather...

She slowly blinked open her eyes and blinked animatedly for a few moments, trying to clear the morning fuzz from them so she could see... but it was so dark she needn't have bothered. With stiff movements she slowly sat up on the freezing stone floor - a difficult task when her hands were tied behind her back.

Kagome shivered slightly as the cold reached her bones and her teeth began to chatter. Where the heck was she? Why did her head hurt? She wanted to reach up and touch the wet patch on the back of her head, but was unable to. So she set about trying to struggle free.

The last thing she remembered was wading through the surf with the gelding she'd bought in Inaki... It was like her memory stopped just about there and she'd been transported here. What on earth was going on?

As more of her senses returned to her she realised the tapping sound was the sound of rain, or hail outside. Which brought up the question of where she was again.

She was just about to try and stand when a new tapping sound reached her ears and she froze to focus on that sound. After a moment she realised it was the sound of footsteps drawing nearer. The footsteps stopped for a moment, and she listened intently, trying to locate them... when suddenly the door to her cell swung open and light flooded into the dingy little room.

Kagome blinked and turned away for a moment as the shock of bright light stung her eyes. She finally gathered enough courage to look back, and her eyes trailed up to see her visitor. An immensely tall young man with immensely long white hair with immensely expensive armour and an immensely fluffy boa? Or maybe it was a tale... Her stinging eyes picked up finer details... like the two red slashes across his cheeks, the crescent moon on his forehead... the amber eyes and the strange beauty around him.

"Are you... Are you Inuyasha?" she prayed to god that he wasn't. He may have been beautiful but an air of malice had entered the room with him. He terrified her even more than Naraku.

There was complete silence before he gave a low chuckle that sent little shivers down her spine. "How amusing. How is it you know that wretches name?"

Kagome had to restrain a big sigh of relief. He wasn't the Prince she was looking for. But that still didn't mean she was safe. "I..." she struggled to answer his question. "I was sent to find him... please... where can I find him."

"No where in this Kingdom fortunately."

Kagome mentally cursed Naraku. Had he deliberately led her wrong.

"You're Inu Youkai, right?" she asked hesitantly. "I mean... not to say you're scruffy... or you smell like wet dog or anything... but...?"

"Who are you?" He asked her bluntly.

"Um..." Kagome couldn't remember... her mind went completely blank. She didn't have amnesia or anything, she was just stumped with fear.

Suddenly the man before her sucked in a breath and crouched down before her. "Tilt your head up."

He had gotten awfully close all of a sudden, and Kagome's heart beat had doubled at once. She didn't particularly want to tilt her head and expose any more neck than necessary. When she didn't obey at once, he raised a strong hand and pushed her chin up harshly - so fast she almost got whiplash. He was looking at her in the light from the corridor behind him. Kagome just closed her eyes and wished he would go away, or release her from the prison she was in.

"Open your eyes." He demanded.

Kagome opened them without thinking and blinked rapidly. She saw him frown at once. "Close them again."

She paused before doing as she was told. She didn't like it back home when boys got close and then told her to close her eyes... yeah... like she'd fall for that...

"You look more like her with your eyes closed." He dropped her chin and pulled back. "Too much naivete in you I think."

"I agree." Kagome said without thinking, before wanting to kick herself. She didn't want to do anything to provoke this guy.

"You want Inuyasha you say?" he stood up suddenly and clapped his hands. The sound of rapid footsteps could be heard from outside before. Kagome glanced past him as a guard arrive holding a cup of steaming broth. The man took it from the guard before holding it out to her. "Drink."

Kagome only realised how thirsty and hungry she was until that point, and she almost greedily accepted it. But then she realised... she didn't know whether or not it was poison... She cast a sceptical look aback up at the man.

He smirked before holding it to his own lips. "It's not poison." He took a short swig and swallowed. "See?"

He held it back down against Kagome's lips... until her thirst got the better of her and she hastily gulped it down. When she had taken enough he tossed the cup over his shoulder and sniffed. "Well not poisonous to me at least."

Kagome stared at him as realisation sank in, and her stomach heaved. But she practically had nothing in it... and she couldn't bring anything up.

She heard her captor chuckle as she clutched at her throat. "Little fool... you were right... you really are naïve."

"Why?!" Kagome asked sharply, trying to spit out the liquid she'd drank. "Does that even merit a point to poison me? Why not just kill me and have done with it?!"

"Because then you would be useless to me." He smirked. "You will die in three months if you don't receive the cure to that poison. I suggest you do as I say... or I won't give you the cure."

Kagome rubbed her mouth. "Go on..."

"You look like Kikyo. Are you aware of this?"

Kagome nodded. She had a feeling she knew where this was heading...

"I want you to go see the Southern 'prince' after all." He almost spat the word 'prince'. "Get to know him... then report back to me and tell me his greatest weakness."

"His greatest weakness?" Kagome echoed. "What if he doesn't have one?"

"All scruff like him have weaknesses. Just tell me the night he turns human."

"He turns human?!" Kagome gaped at him. Her plans to use the prince were fading slightly... she was bound to feel more compassionate towards humans... but... what on earth was he that he could be both demon and human.

She didn't ask or push her luck.

"You'll give me the cure if I tell you when he turns human?" Kagome nodded. Maybe she could do that... it wasn't like she was going to be forced to kill him...

Maybe she could give this guy what he wanted and get the cure... and then she could take the Shikon off Inuyasha and use it to hide from Naraku... and then she could live the rest of her life by herself, alone... with no Kouga...

"I can do that." Kagome nodded quickly. "But where do I find him?"

"Don't worry, I, Sesshomaru will take you as far as the border."





^_^





"Uh. .. Sango?"

"Not now, your majesty, I'm busy."

"No - Sango - you really need to take Fushi." Inuyasha trailed after her.

"But I'm busy - I have to deliver this material to your mother's seamstress in five minutes otherwise she'll bite my head off." She glanced back at him before quickly adding, "Your majesty."

"Sango - take the damn baby before it pukes on me!" Inuyasha forcibly dumped the bawling infant into her arms. "It needs changing too."

"Well why can't you do it?" she scowled, adjusting her hold on the baby before passing him straight back.

"He's your son - not mine!"

"You could have also said that you are the prince and I'm just a servant," she told him but shrugged. "But please - the seamstress is a real old crab - if I'm late she'll work me in the kitchens - and then your mother will be mad at me for not attending her."

"I am NOT changing the baby!" Inuyasha growled. "I'll fire the damn seamstress if I have to, but I am NOT doing anything more than fucking babysitting."

Sango lunged for the child and covered his ears. "Would you at least TRY and keep your cussing mild in front of Fushi?!"

"Oh... sorry..." he was about to hand the baby over when Sango turned tail and hurried away. "Wait - where are you going?!"

"To the seamstress!"

"I order you to stay here and clean Fushi!"

"I obey your mother, Inuyasha - not you." She called over her shoulder as she disappeared up the corridor. "I'll be right back!"

"I think you're forgetting the LORD before my name, bitch - oops!" he quickly clamped his mouth shut as he remembered he wasn't supposed to swear in front of the baby. "You're mother's a nasty piece of work you know that?"

Fushi's response was to carry on bawling at the top of his lungs. "Uh..." Inuyasha held him at arms-length... not entirely sure what he was supposed to do now.

He could always dump the kid off on one of the maids... but he didn't entirely trust full blooded demons to take it easy on a full blooded human baby. Plus Sango would be mad at him if he did that. Best take Fushi to his mother...

"Ma - y0u gotta let Sango take it easy - she isn't getting any time with Fushi... any..." he trailed off as he arrived in the throne room. "...more..."

"Oh, wow - what a cute baby!" a completely unknown woman rushed up and all but snatched the child from his hands. "Who's the iddy biddy, human baby, eh?!"

Inuyasha cast a stumped look at his mother who was smiling widely at him. Inuyasha glanced back at the woman - before quickly realising that she was a she-wolf. He snatched the child back without warning, holding him just out of her reach. "And who are you?"

"Inuyasha - allow me to introduce Lady Kameri." Lady Inu's smile was so wide it could have cracked her face in half. "You remember we talked about this, son? She's Kouga's sister..."

Inuyasha's brow lowered dangerously.

"We were just discussing the prospect of marriage!" Lady Inu pressed her hands together happily. "A union between our two cultures could result in peace - and create valuable allies in this war against Sesshomaru."

"And I just adore men with responsibility." Lady Kameri grinned before pointing to the baby boy. "Is he one of yours?"

"Ma..." Inuyasha growled dangerously as he stomped over and dumped the baby on her. "I thought we already argued about this..."

"Yes we did. And I won." She said without a break in her smile as she bounced Fushi until he'd settled down.

"So tell me more about yourself, Lord Inuyasha." Lady Kameri came forward. Inuyasha inched back slightly, trying to position his mother between them. He couldn't stand wolves...

"Well he's sporty, refined, has rather good fashion taste if I may say so myself." Lady Inu spoke before Inuyasha could. "He enjoys dining and horse riding."

None of the above was true whatsoever.

"Wonderful! I do love sporty men! I love horses!"

"Ooh... too bad... I can't stand them." Inuyasha smirked. "Sorry, don't do sports either - I'm just a big lazy ass that hangs around the palace."

"Since when?" his mother frowned at him.

"Since she wanted a sporty man." Inuyasha answered quietly.

Just then Sango burst in through the doors, obviously out of breath. She smiled sheepishly at Inuyasha and Lady Inu and hurried forward to take Fushi. "Sorry about that... had to go see seamstress... it's ok now... I can change him..." she said between pants before scowling at Inuyasha. "I thought you'd ran off with him... I was looking everywhere."

"Serves you right." Inuyasha shot back.

"Thanks for taking care of him though, bye." She hurried off again with Fushi in her arms.

Lady Kameri watched her exit, seemingly less than impressed. "I really do think you should have more control over your slave's manners of behaviour."

The smile disappeared from Lady Inu's face and she exchanged looks with Inuyasha who sent her a smug smirk. Lady Inu liked Sango as her lady in waiting... Sango didn't need to be so formal. She'd been through a lot. Obviously Lady Kameri had just outstayed her welcome.

"Well, it sure has been a pleasant visit, Lady Kameri." Lady Inu said at once. "Inuyasha - could you please escort our lady to the barge so she can return back to the mainland."

"With pleasure." He smirked and dragged the young woman off to all but throw her off the island.





^_^





Kagom e staggered as she tried to keep up with the pace Sesshomaru was setting. He'd been generous enough to give her fresh clothes, allowed her to bathe, and let one of his attendants see to her wound on the back of her head. He'd even let her bring her horse along. Beside the fact that he'd poisoned her... he'd been quite polite.

That still didn't mean she liked him any more than she should.

"Keep up, girl." Sesshomaru called stoically over his shoulder, never betraying a hint of emotion.

So far Kagome had gathered enough information to know that the island was split into two separate kingdoms. The north and the south... of course she'd just HAD to have gone north and gotten herself into a worse state... Getting caught up in a civil war wasn't what she'd had in mind.

"Are you sure the sentries won't grab me and knock me out too?" Kagome called as she hurried to keep up, holding the skirts of her long kimono to run. "Because I don't think I'd survive if they hit the same spot twice... my head still hurts."

"Of course it does. You're a delicate little human. Naturally it would kill you."

"That's not what I wanted to hear..." Kagome said slowly, looking up at him as she kept pace. "WILL they hit me too?"

Sesshomaru sighed deeply. "Probably not. Their leader is a human after all. Of course she'd have a soft spot for others of her kind. You'll be taken straight to her no doubt."

"Human - wait!" Kagome stumbled in surprise. "I thought this guy Inuyasha was the ruler."

"Not as of yet."

"So the ruler is a human woman? Ruling over Inu Youkai?" Kagome asked, plucking her skirts from the thorns of a bush that she passed. "Don't they mind."

Sesshomaru remained neutral. "No."

"Why not?"

"It is not your place to ask questions, girl." He interrupted. "The next question you should ask will be aimed at Inuyasha - inquiring as to when his human night will occur."

"Ok... gotcha..." Kagome muttered.

Suddenly Sesshomaru stopped and Kagome drew to a halt a few steps ahead of him. She looked back. "Is something wrong?"

"Is that another question?" he glared at her.

Kagome sealed her lips.

"This is the border between the two kingdoms." He gestured with a hand. "Continue on until the sentries find you and knock you out."

What was worse than a creep guy? A creepy guy with a twisted sense of humour...

"Ok..." Kagome looked around, wondering how the hell he could tell that this was the border. It just looked like the average forest...

Kagome turned to look back at Sesshomaru... only to find he had vanished... almost the same way Naraku liked to do. With a worried little frown she pulled herself up onto the geldings back and carefully set off through the forest, wondering when clubs were going to come flying out of the trees and knock her off the saddle.

The gelding seemed a little nervous... no change there... it didn't seem to like demons too much. Kagome patted his neck compassionately. "It's ok... you're not the one that's been fed poison..."

She didn't know that for sure of course... but she didn't want to cause him unnecessary worry. Kagome realised that her own tension must have been setting him off too, and so forced herself to relax. But she might as well have asked the waters to part to let her back across the sand bridge.

Then finally they found her.

"Halt! Who goes there?!"

She drew to an abrupt halt as one lone man dressed in armour approached her on his own dark coloured horse. Kagome quickly took in his appearance... white hair... amber eyes... though fortunately his armour was a different colour to the sentries in the north... and if anything it looked a little cheaper. This guy didn't have any stripes on his face either... maybe there were two different types of Inu Youkai here?

"Who goes there?" he repeated, flashing a look at her dark hair and slightly grubby clothes. Yes. After only wearing them for three hours she'd managed to turn up as grubby as ever.

"Uh... I er... came to see your Lord - or Lady." Kagome didn't know which to ask for. "Um... take me to your leader!"

"Bold demands." He commented.

"I'm in a bit of a hurry."

"You're human."

"And you're very observant!" she smiled cheerfully.

"I shall take you to our queen." The man rode up to her, snatched her reins from her grip before she could protest, and began to guide her in his own direction.

Well at least she wasn't being clubbed to death, so there was a good start. She just sat back and waited for him to take her to some place interesting.

They must have been travelling for over an hour, making Kagome wonder how big the island really was, until they finally emerged from the forest into a large landscape of fresh looking green grass. Kagome sat up at once and looked around. "This looks like a nice place." She said to the sentry who just ignored her.

Kagome looked up at the sky... blue as anything compared to the grey climate up north... and the grass was short and lush - being kept by various wandering cattle that dotted the landscape here and there.

Her gaze finally looked ahead to see two large lakes stretched out before a large... rather exquisite looking palace that was set against a rising slope. Forest surrounded the meadows of grass and ran behind the palace. Beyond that Kagome guessed was the sea.

As she was led on she began to notice that not only cattle hung out in the pastures, but people too. If she hadn't known any better she would have mistaken them for humans, but here she knew they had to be demons. But they all did some rather human things... like the youngsters were all playing and running around.

No wonder Sesshomaru wanted this Kingdom for himself. His kingdom sucked compared to this...

She was led all the way across the meadows, between the lakes and through the large gates that enclosed the palace. They stopped at the bottom of the steps leading up to the main entrance and the sentry ordered her to dismount.

"Is your leader in there?"

"No she's mucking out the pig sties, what do you think?" the sentry said sarcastically. Kagome made a defensive gesture with her hands as she followed him inside.

"Alright, alright..."

A couple of minutes later Inuyasha came wandering up idly to climb the steps into the palace, nonchalantly chewing the end of a straw. He was about to ascend the steps when he noticed a big brown gelding had just perked up at the sight of him. He paused, staring hard at the animal for a moment while continuing to chew. After a moment he frowned lightly and cocked his head.

"Have we met before...?" he asked vaguely.

Surprisingly... the horse didn't reply, only turned its head sideways to see him better.

"Weird... déjà vu..." Inuyasha shook his head before shrugging and continuing up the steps to the open doors of the palace. Just as he reached the top step it hit him and he spun back around to face the horse down below, the straw dropping from his mouth.

"No..." he shook his head in disbelief. "I sold you! What are you - a damn homing pigeon?!"

Somehow... he didn't think that gelding had arrived all by himself...

With a muttered curse he spun around and charged into the palace.





^_^





"Inte resting - so you just stumbled upon the sand bridge last night?" Lady Inu said with awe as she poured some tea for the younger girl. "That is interesting... you must be the first human to have done that in decades..."

"I was just curious to see where it led." Kagome smiled timidly. She was really trying to hide how nervous she was. Not only was she lying through her teeth - but lying to a noble - a QUEEN no less! She really had to watch her step.

"A girl looking for adventure." Lady Inu smiled. "I do admire that type."

Little did Kagome know, but Lady Inu was forming a plot in her own devious mind. (can you see it coming?).

"So you rule this kingdom of demons by yourself?" Kagome looked around, eyeing the guards that were stood on either side of the doors.

"More or less." Lady Inu sipped her tea. She discreetly eyed Kagome's dress. She was obviously fairly wealthy to be wearing such fine silk... maybe a little dirty now - but she HAD been travelling alone for quite some time. She looked fairly clean though, and even Lady Inu couldn't fail to notice the pleasant aroma that followed Kagome around.

A girl like this was a gold mine. She was human, seemingly kind and pleasant to talk to. She was just PERFECT for Inuyasha. If they could get married then Lady Inu wouldn't have to worry about finding Inuyasha an heir anytime soon.

A heavy shudder ran through the floor and the walls, making the tea set on the table clink with the vibrations. Kagome's eyes went wide. "Was that an earthquake?"

"Oh no..." Lady Inu set her cup down and rubbed her temples. "He just HAS to be in a bad mood now of all times..." That moron was going to scare the poor girl off.

"What's going on?" Kagome asked hesitantly as a crash sounded far off in the palace and the room gave another shudder, making things on shelves and mantels rattle and fall.

"That would be my son." Lady Inu said flatly. "Lord Inuyasha."

Panic constricted in Kagome's chest before forcing herself to laugh it off. "Oh... he doesn't sound so bad... can't be as bad as the young man I met a little while ago. A right hooligan he was."

Lady Inu blinked in surprise at Kagome's casual use of language... almost how a commoner might speak. But that was ridiculous considering Kagome was obviously a noble.

"Oh I don't know." Lady Inu put a hand out to stop her cup tipping over as another rumble vibrated through the throne room. "My son is demon... they tend to have more temper than human men."

Kagome tried very hard not to hyperventilate.











AN: Ooh... Sango's got a son! Three guesses about who the father is? Anyone? And will he show up? Um... I haven't decided yet... And what about Shippo...?......

Next chapter - 'Red-Handed' Should be up right now ^_^