InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Soul Exchange ❯ New Girl ( Chapter 12 )

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

AN: That's right. The person in INUYASHA'S bed was Jaken. ¬_¬

Ok, and a note on the spelling of Tetsusaiga/Tessaiga. Yeah, I know there is another spelling of the sword, but it's not illegal to spell it the shorter way. The kanji that make up the name in Japanese is not entirely clear. There is a symbol in the word that could either stand for 'tsu' or a pause which would make it double the letter (a double consonant) that comes after it. So it could be Te-tsu-saiga OR Te-s-saiga. I guess the only way to know for sure which way to spell it would be to ask Rumiko Takahashi herself, and even then she'd probably just shrug and say 'whatever floats your boat'. I know that can sound complicated, but since Tessaiga is faster and easier to type whilst in the flow of writing, I prefer that spelling rather than Tetsusaiga.

Sorry if that confuses people.

And here's an ultimate question that probably plagues everyone's mind right now: Will Miroku show up?

I'm not gonna tell yet ^_^













So ul Exchange

New Girl













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"Your majesty, there is someone outside who requests a hearing for a work placement in the palace." An advisor announced from the doorway.

Lady Inu stifled a yawn with her hand and nodded. "Show them in..."

She had half a mind to turn whoever it was away. The palace was full of all kinds of workers already, and the chances of Sesshomaru sending more spies was high. Besides... she had the early morning grouchiness to account for...

After a few moments the person requesting the hearing entered. Lady Inu glanced up and assessed her at once for her appearance. Young... attractive... very nice face and figure. She was dressed in dull work clothes that most young girls wore in the villages, her hair was tied back in a long plait down her back, but looked slightly scruffy and un-kept with wisps of hair coming loose here and there. White hair... fair skin...

"My lady..." the girl went on her knees and bowed so deep her forehead touched the ground.

Pity about her voice... Lady Inu winced slightly. It was a bit too high and shrill for her taste... making her sound much younger than she looked. But nobody was perfect. "You want a job here?"

"Yes, my lady." The girl said without looking up from her bow.

"What kind of job?"

"Anywhere you can spare. I'm a good cook and cleaner... I could work in your kitchens... or I could work along with the maids." The girl sounded nervous and unsure of herself.

"You may rise." Lady Inu stood from her throne and slowly walked a few steps forward. The young girl sat up but didn't look up at her. "Stand and look at me." Lady Inu told her firmly.

The girl seemed to stiffen slightly at such an unusual request. To look at the queen in the eye was rude... but it would be rude to refuse her request. She slowly got to her feet and awkwardly lifted her gaze to meet the queen's, blinking uncertainly and darting her eyes away every few seconds.

She had nice eyes... wide, innocent... eager to learn. If anything... this girl had an edge over both Kagome and Kikyo... She was stunning in fact. Lady Inu blinked in surprise as she realised this. 'Holy Hari, she's gorgeous!'

"What's your name?" Lady Inu asked gently.

"Urami... my lady..."

"Interesting choice of name..."

"My father was an interesting person, milady."

She spoke politely, she had a beautiful smile... she seemed pleasant enough to talk to. Her voice didn't seem to bother Lady Inu anymore. She would be the perfect new bride for Inuyasha.

"Urami... would you mind becoming a maid?" she asked the girl.

"I would be most grateful, your majesty." She dipped her head in thanks.

"For my son, I mean." Lady Inu smiled widely. "Would you like to be his personal maid?"

Urami seemed to falter again and she darted a shocked look at the queen. "Y- You mean... wait on his highness...?" she was practically bubbling with excitement. "I-I'd love to! - I mean... if that's acceptable..."

"You'll have the highest pay of any maid besides my own." Lady Inu smiled. "I'll get Sango to show you around. She'll give you your own quarters, but I daresay you'll be spending most of your time with my son."

"Thank you, my lady... I had no idea of your generosity..." Urami bowed again.

"You may go now. You'll find Sango milling around somewhere - she'll be the girl with the baby."

Urami bowed her way out. Lady Inu sighed when she'd gone. Kagome had seemed the perfect candidate before... but considering she was already mated to a wolf man, she wasn't available to become the Princess or the next Queen for that matter. And beggars couldn't be choosers... Lady Inu was just going to have to make the best with what she had. Urami may have been a peasant girl - but she was just as pleasant as Kagome, if not more so.

Everything looked like it was going to work out nicely after all.





^_^





When Kagome slowly began to wake up... the first thing she became aware of was Inuyasha's own distinctive smell. She realised this was because she was sleeping in his bed... but for some reason it seemed stronger than normal. With a sigh she snuggled closer to the mattress and breathed in deeply, taking in the comforting scent.

A slight shift in the bed made the quilt stir against her, and Kagome's eyes snapped open at once as she realised she wasn't alone in that bed. She sat up at once and stared at Inuyasha's turned back. Once more she didn't seem to be able to breathe, or maintain her heart beat normal pace... What was he doing in his bed?

Kagome leaned over slightly to see his face and bit her lip anxiously. He was fast asleep, breathing deeply and steadily with his head bowed and his hand tucked under his chin. Kagome nearly allowed herself so go 'awww' but only just managed to stop herself when he rolled over towards her suddenly, to fling his arms out to the sides as she stopped on his back.

His arms had just barely missed her... but if she stayed much longer than she was sure he would wake up... and be mad at her - just like last time. It was best to just get out of there before he woke up...

Quietly, she slid off the bed and tiptoed her way across the room to the door, she slid it open and carefully slipped out without a sound. Once she'd closed the door again she finally allowed herself to breathe and started off in the direction of Sango's room... she needed to talk to someone - and if not Inuyasha, it would be Sango.

But alas, when she arrived at Sango's room she discovered that the servant girl was already was already talking to a young female Inu Youkai. So seeing as she was busy with the new girl, Kagome decided to do something else in the mean time. She could always go see Kouga...

Then again maybe not.





^_^





"The full moon?" Sesshomaru watched his spy intently. "His human night is the full moon, the one night the lunar cycle is at its strongest?"

The man nodded numbly. "She told me... I don't think she was lying... I have never seen the Prince on the full moon night... never in all my years in the Southern palace."

Sesshomaru seemed to consider this before leaning back in his throne. "Very well... we attack on the next full moon. Tell the men to prepare and recruit as many new warriors from the villages as possible."

"Yes, my lord." The spy nodded.

"And inform the other spies in the palace to get back to work."





^_^





Natura lly, Kagome found Inuyasha under the tree beside the lake. His bow and arrows lay close behind him, but he'd evidently given up practising with them in favour of skipping pebbles.

"Morning." She greeted with a smile as she came up behind him.

"Afternoon actually." He corrected her shortly with a glance up at the position of the sun.

"Right..." Kagome could sense his warning in the tone of his voice. He was tense about something... but she didn't know what it was about. Maybe he knew that she'd been in his bed all night...?

A long rather awkward silence fell on them as Inuyasha continued to snap stones across the lake surface, skipping them much further than Kagome had ever managed. Meanwhile... Kagome tried to think of something conversational to say. She had something to tell him... she'd needed to tell it to him since yesterday, but the right moment never seemed to arise. She supposed now was a good a time as any.

"Where were you last night?" Inuyasha asked expressionlessly, out of the blue, dragging Kagome from her thoughts.

"Huh?"

He carried on skipping stones. "Sango said that you didn't sleep in your bed last night. Where were you?"

"Um..." she didn't know how to answer that one without making him mad at her.

"Were you with Kouga?"

"Yeah." She sighed, glad that he'd managed to think of an excuse for her.

"Mm." Inuyasha grunted and carried on skipping stones, slightly harder than before. One even managed to get halfway across the lake before it sank. "Figures..."

Kagome watched him with pursed lips. "Is something wrong? You seem a bit ticked off today."

"I'm fine." He threw another stone so hard it missed the lake completely and embedded itself in Inuyasha's target practise tree on the opposite bank. Kagome assessed the damage before giving him a flat look that he caught. "I am! I'm just fine!"

Kagome continued to stare at him.

"What?" He barked at her defensively. "I said there's nothing wrong, so there's nothing wrong! Stop looking at me like that!"

"Like what?"

"Like there's something wrong!" he snapped.

"Fine..." she rolled her eyes and averted her gaze elsewhere. For some reason this didn't seem to pacify Inuyasha in any way.

"What are you doing here anyway?" he growled angrily. "Shouldn't you be off with zit face?"

"Kouga isn't zitty!" she jumped to his defence at once.

"Do I care?!" Inuyasha snapped back and kicked the remaining stones into the lake angrily. "Why are you even here when your mate is over there?" he pointed towards the forest ahead of them.

"Can't wait to kick... me... out..." she trailed off as she realised what he'd said. "Mate?"

"Might as well kick you out. You're just a pest to keep around and you eat food so fast that it's MONEY going down your throat you know."

"Hang on!" Kagome jumped to her feet. "Why are you just presuming Kouga is my husband?!

"Presuming? I'm not presuming anything! I KNOW he's your fucking husband!" he shouted back.

"I bet he told you that didn't he! That's just like him! He can't get me into bed fast enough so he just goes around and tells everyone that he already did! Typical male behaviour that is!"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you saying that you're NOT his mate?"

"Not yet at least." Kagome sighed angrily and she flopped back down to lean against the tree. "He's so annoying when he does that..."

Inuyasha watched with stumped surprise as Kagome's dark angry look suddenly flashed off her face and she sat bolt upright. "Oh! I have to tell you something before I forget!"

"Go on..." he dropped down next to her, wary to keep his distance.

"It's about your father."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "If you've been sent by ma to try and convince me he's dead then you better just march back to her and tell her to go screw-"

"No - this has nothing to do with Lady Inu. Your father is very much alive in fact." Kagome said, turning to look at him seriously.

Inuyasha's gaze froze on hers. "How would you know something like that?"

"Because I saw it." She looked at her hands as she tried to remember. "That morning when Kouga arrived with his men - I was out for a walk down by the beach when I got another vision thing. It all went black and white and then I saw you making you're way up the rockies around the cliffs - but then I realised he wasn't you because he was wearing those cuff things that your mother said your father wore while he was King."

Inuyasha had visibly stiffened up.

"And well... then he turned around and I realised he didn't actually look like you... he looked more like Sesshomaru-"

"How do you know what Sesshomaru looks like?" Inuyasha asked suddenly.

"Oh..." Kagome struggled for another lie. "I saw his portrait in his room..."

"You've seen his room? How did you know it was his room? When did you go in there?"

"Stop making this difficult!" Kagome gave him a light push on the shoulder. "I'm trying to tell you something important."

"Sorry - go on."

"Well he was looking off behind me so I turned around and I saw a troop of human samurai coming towards us across the sands. There was this woman leading them... she was dressed in Miko robes, but I didn't see the colour... Anyway, they attacked your father and captured him inside this iron cage thing... and I remember that the woman said something about the Shikon no Tama - I saw her lips move to say it."

She glanced up to gouge his response, but Inuyasha was still watching her quietly with a frown.

"I think they captured him for the Shikon no Tama... I think this happened when he came back from retrieving the Shikon jewel from the warlord in Inaki." Kagome sighed sadly. "The last thing I saw was them carrying him to a barge moored on the beach... I would have followed but the vision ended before I could see where they were heading."

"Samurai... do you remember their colours? Their emblems? Who was their lord?" Inuyasha asked quickly.

"I'm sorry... I didn't see the colours." She touched his hand gently. "I don't remember their emblems... I'm really sorry."

Inuyasha sighed deeply and squeezed her hand, causing Kagome to duck her head to hide her blush. "Don't be sorry... at least he's alive somewhere... maybe... at least I can rub that in Mom's face."

"What a caring son you are." Kagome told him sarcastically.

"I do try." He released her hand, which for some reason seemed to ease her conscience. She'd just been feeling a little guilty for Kouga... but why? She looked up at Inuyasha to see him watching the lake.

"Inuyasha...?"

"Mm..." he hummed without looking at her.

"About Kouga..." she started, lowering her gaze when he looked sharply at her. She would have continued if they hadn't been interrupted.

"Your highness!"

They both looked towards the palace gates and saw a rather pretty girl heading towards them. Kagome recognised her at once as the girl Sango had been introducing to the castle, except now she wore slightly more expensive clothes... she looked more like one the maids now.

"Yeah?" Inuyasha sat up as she arrived before them. Kagome gave him a slanted look to see how suddenly all his attention was focused on this girl.

"Your Highness..." she bowed deeply, getting onto her knees. "My name is Urami... Her majesty the Queen has assigned me as your chamber maid."

"Really?"

Kagome was surprised to hear he didn't sound too upset about that. she glanced at him, annoyance creeping into her expression.

"I shall do my best to try and serve you to the best of my ability." Urami sat up and smiled at him. "It will be an honour, your highness."

"You can call me Inuyasha." He shrugged.

"LORD Inuyasha." Kagome quipped quickly, eyeing the girl warily.

"Lord Inuyasha... your mother suggested you might be so kind as to show me to your room... point out what you want cleaning and what you want left untouched."

"Oh... sure..." Inuyasha stood up. "Let's go now then, yeah?"

Urami smiled a dazzling little smile and rose to follow him.

"Wait!" Kagome scrambled to her feet to grab his sleeve. "I want to tell you about me and Kouga. I-"

"Oh yeah... him." Inuyasha looked bored and irritated. "Maybe later, I'm busy right now."

He turned and walked off with the new maid, happily chattering away. Kagome watched them depart, seeing how the maid would laugh in a high tittering tone until they were gone from ear shot.

"I just wanted to say... I don't love him anymore... and... I'm going to try and break off the engagement..." Kagome muttered, before leaning back against the tree with a sigh. Well... maybe she could tell him later...





^_^





"Did you see that?" Lady Inu grinned happily and clapped her hands together. "They just hit it off!"

"Who knew Inuyasha would be into the peasant type...?" Sango said softly.

"Peasant or Princess, it doesn't matter - as long as he finds a bride and produces an heir - I'll be one happy grandmother... though it looks like I'll only be getting white haired grandchildren now..."

"I don't know..." Sango cocked her head as she looked out the window and watched Kagome sitting under the tree, staring out over the lake. "He had a great rapport going with Kagome just then..."

"Yeah..." Lady Inu sobered a little and looked down on the tree. "Bah... I don't understand Inuyasha these days... if only I could just crack open his head and see his thoughts."

She caught Sango's stare.

"Not in the literal sense, of course..."

Sango looked away with another little sigh. "It's a shame she's engaged to Kouga... they would have made a nice couple. She may be Kikyo's cousin... but I don't think there could have been a more un-Kikyo like person in the world."

"Well... Urami could probably give her a run for her money." Sango smiled. "That girl's really nice... really, really nice..."

"I thought so." Lady Inu smiled. "Well... if we can't have Kagome we'll have to settle for the next best thing."

"Yeah... Inuyasha's chamber maid." Sango grimaced. "Sounds like we're scraping the bottom of the barrel a bit though..."

"I know, but what else can we do." Lady Inu shrugged. "This way they'll spend the most time together. She'll give him baths... wash his back... one thing will lead to the other and eventually she'll get pregnant and then they'll HAVE to marry."

"Ew... I don't want to imagine that..." Sango pulled a face. "I'll go back to Fushi... he needs feeding soon."

She left the Queens chamber and headed down the corridor at an easy pace, heading for her own quarters a few floors down. She was just passing through the entrance hall when she spotted Kagome coming in. At once she noticed the young princess looked a little down in the dumps. "Something the matter?"

"Oh no... nothing..." Kagome fell into step beside Sango, not really caring about where she was going. "Just... I seem to have gotten myself stuck into a lot of problems lately..."

"Really? What kind?" Sango asked casually.

"Oh... you know..." Evil dead spirits stealing her soul, evil half-brothers feeding her poison, worries of when she would be able to obtain the Shikon jewel... worries of when she'd get that cure before her time was up... worries of what would happen when Sesshomaru attacked... what Kouga would do when she told him how she really felt... concerns about how amazingly interested Inuyasha seemed in the new maid. "Silly little problems... just teenage hormones I suppose... getting me down."

"Poor thing..." Sango rubbed her shoulder. "I thought it might have been to do with Kouga."

"Well... in a way it is." Kagome said flatly.

"Hm?"

"I..." Kagome forced herself to say it out loud at last. "I don't love him... before I kept saying it again and again... but inside I kept doubting my words, thinking I was just saying them because I was hurt because I loved him beyond all reason. But now that I see him again... I don't feel the way I used to... I just feel... incomplete around him..."

Sango stared at her. "What?!"

Kagome jumped at her sharp tone. "Sorry - but I can't help it... I don't love him anymore... I'm not really sure I ever did if I can lose interest this quick... And I know this is bad! If Inuyasha doesn't give me to Kouga then he'll risk conflict with the wolf clans..."

Sango was hitting her head repeatedly against the mental brick wall. She couldn't believe it... Kagome didn't love Kouga... she was available... and she and Lady Inu had just sold Inuyasha off to the new maid. Oops...

"Don't worry about it." Sango said tightly. "If you don't want to be with Kouga, no one can force you. We can just wait this out... but don't go breaking up with him yet because he might attack us straight off, ok?"

Kagome nodded grimly. She hated pretending... but if she had to pretend she still loved Kouga then... she would do it for Inuyasha's sake. "Ok..."

"Ok..." Sango sighed and pointed to her bedroom door up the corridor they were travelling down. "Could you just go and feed Fushi - there she be some fresh milk on the shelf, just heat it up and feed it to him."

"Why - where are you going?" Kagome blinked as Sango scuttled away.

"I need to talk to Lady Inu!" Sango called over her shoulder before disappearing.

Kagome shrugged indifferently and carried on her way to feed the baby. All the while, in her mind she was trying to find logical reasons why Inuyasha had suddenly hit it off with Urami. Reason number one: Urami was simply the best looking Inu Youkai, Kagome had seen on that island so far...

And she was going to stick with the reason. Inuyasha liked the girl based purely on her looks... she probably had a horrible personality... under the surface...

But Kagome was worried.












AN: Urami's my character - I own her, she's my bitch, I can do whatever the hell I want with her ^_^ She's so dead...

Anyway, it's now ten to five in the morning, and even though I'm in no way tired, I really think I should go to bed now. Au revoir!