InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Spellbound Destiny ❯ Chapter 1: The Plan ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.  I do thank Takahashi Rumiko for creating both the manga and the anime. ^_^

Author's Note:  In regards to Inuyasha's father, his name is never given and I instead refer to him as Inutaisho which is his title and means Great Dog Leader.  It's used in the same way you would refer to a King as Your Highness or Your Majesty.

Pronunciations:
Avaren – Aa*var*in (a as in apple, var like far but with a v)
Haedai – Hay*dye

Spellbound Destiny

Chapter 1: The Plan

6 Years Later

Higurashi Mitsuko stared blindly at the cooking pot over the fire in her small but comfortable home.  Six years had come and gone since the death of her husband at the hands of Naraku and his youkai army.  Once she had reached the meeting place with her two children, she had found her father-in-law waiting for her.  Together, they had set out on an abandoned path to the Kingdom of the West, Haedai.  The inu youkai who ruled there had strict laws concerning youkai of other kingdoms but allowed any human seeking refuge safe passage into his kingdom.  Mitsuko knew they would be safe there.  It was the one place that the monster who had taken over Avaren could not touch without severe consequences.

At first, Mitsuko and her daughter had found jobs as cooks in a high end brothel.  Jii-chan and Souta helped out by doing odd jobs like mending walls and cutting wood.  It was hard work but necessary for them to continue to live somewhat peacefully.  Mitsuko did not regret her decision to work as a common person.  Especially when she considered that only the high nobles of the other kingdoms knew what she and her family looked like.  The commoners had no such knowledge.

Slowly, as they worked, news from their former home trickled into Haedai.  It was disheartening to hear the atrocities that Naraku enforced.  He executed people for the slightest infraction of his laws and let his youkai servants run rampant and unchecked over the land.

A year after keeping a low profile, a young lord from the Hojo family paid a visit to the brothel.  After tasting one bite of Mitsuko's food, the young lord knew he had to have Mitsuko become his new cook.  Leaving the brothel wasn't hard.   Mitsuko strongly believed a brothel was no place for children to be raised in but had had no other choice when she first arrived in Haedai.

Things were quiet and content after that.  Until now.  Mitsuko shook herself out of her reverie.  Kagome's seventeenth birthday had just past a few days ago, and, though she seemed to be quite happy living as a servant to the Hojo family, Kagome was royalty and the true heir to Avaren.  The rumors that streamed in from Avaren were heart breaking and the violence was only escalating.  It was finally time to act.  Kagome was of age now.  She could be married to one of the many strong youkai lords here in Haedai to secure an alliance.  With that alliance, an army could be formed that would fight for Avaren's safe return to her rightful ruler.  

Strengthening her resolve, Mitsuko waited for her daughter to arrive home.  She would need it for her daughter to accept her plan.

O o O o O o O o O

Kagome shaded her eyes and stepped out of the servant's entrance to the kitchen.  Even though the sun was setting, the light was still bright for the beginnings of winter.  She gazed longingly at the sky, wishing she could be anywhere else other than at the Hojo estate.  A field full of flowers perhaps?  Or a lake, shining with the colors of the setting sun?  Or maybe a hot spring to relax her body?  Kagome sighed dejectedly.  Even a small farm on the outskirts of some small unknown village would have been better than this sprawling estate.

Most of the servants were fine, and she had even found three other girls around her age that she could call friends.  They were daughters of other servants who worked at the estate.  But each day was tiring.  Not so much physically for she loved the physical labor of cooking and creating something for others to enjoy and feeling her muscle ache in response to her heartfelt effort.  No, it was mental taxation.  The young lord's distant cousin had come to stay at the estate two years ago. Since then, Hojo had been “pursuing” Kagome in his own way.

He never blatantly said he was interested in her.  He instead gave her strange gifts that were to preserve her health or some obscure cure for the common cold Kagome suffered from time to time.  He was dense.  Kind, but dense.  Kagome had liked the attention at first, even encouraging Hojo to pursue her.  But he was never bold, never tried to do anything to her and never overstepped the bounds of propriety.  He stayed the same, an unchanging block of wood.

Kagome shook her head, scattering her miserable thoughts, and started to walk down the path to her house.  Not paying attention to what was in front of her, Kagome ran into someone.  Warm hands settled on her arms then quickly moved away.  She looked up to see Hojo, a blush suffused his skin and staring at anything but her face.

“Hojo-kun?” Kagome asked.  She darted her head in the directions his own head went in an attempt to get the boy to look up at her instead of the ground or a bug that had landed on a pretty wild flower.

“Higurashi-san, I...have...something,” Hojo stuttered and patted his clothes in an tempt to find some gift.  “Ah, here it is.”  Hojo beamed up at Kagome while holding a dried frog leg out to her.  “I bought this from a passing merchant who said that if you steep this in water and make a tea, it will cue muscle aches.”

Kagome stared at the shriveled piece of leg and blinked.  “Um...arigatou, Hojo-kun.”  She was unsure of what else to say to him.  He took her hand and placed the dried frog leg into it then covered the top with her other hand.

“I hope this helps you to relax.  I know sometimes the work in the kitchens can be difficult.”  Hojo quickly released her hands and dropped his own to his sides.  He started to fidget nervously.

“Is there something else, Hojo-kun?”

“I was wondering...do you...want to go to the festival in the village?  With me, I mean.”  He shyly looked up at Kagome, blushed and bit his bottom lip.

Kagome smiled brightly at him.  He had finally asked her to do something with him instead of just giving her gifts.  “Sure, I'd love to.”

“Great, I'll be by your house at sunset on your day off.”  Hojo beamed, truly glad she had accepted his offer.  It had taken him so long just to get up the nerve to ask her, he had to get a medicinal remedy as an aid to start the conversation off right.  With his head in the clouds, Hojo turned around and began to walk cheerily away from Kagome.  She could already tell he was making plans as to what they would do at the festival.

Kagome blinked at his back, surprised he didn't even say goodbye but she guessed that he had thought she would turn down his offer.  He must have been extremely happy.  Shaking her head at what an oddity Hojo was, Kagome became aware of three very excited girls running towards her.  They each wore big smiles on their faces.  Ayumi, Yuka and Eri slid to a stop in front of her.  They clasped her hands and looked at her with dreamy expressions.

“Well, well, what did Hojo-sama say?” Yuka asked in a rush.

“Did you say yes?” Eri followed up.

“What did Hojo-sama give you?” Ayumi asked.  Yuka and Eri eyed Ayumi strangely, as if to say that that was the least of their worries for their friend.

“He asked me to go to the winter festival with him,” Kagome answered nonchalantly.

“The winter festival?” Yuka yelled at the same time Eri yelled, “Did you accept?”

“Yes, the winter festival and yes I accepted.”  Kagome leaned away from the two as they grasped each other and hopped  energetically, shouting with glee.

“I'm happy for you, Kagome,” Ayumi said with a smile, excited but unwilling to get hysterical about it.

Kagome shook her head at her friends' antics.  She loved them but sometimes Yuka and Eri tried to force her and Hojo together.  Ayumi was respectful and polite about it, excited for Kagome but she also understood that Kagome wasn't sure Hojo was who she wanted to be with.  “It's just a festival guys,” Kagome admonished them.  “It doesn't mean we are going to get married.  Besides, Hojo is nice but there's something that's missing.  I can't explain it but I just feel like there should be more to love than what Hojo and I have.  And after two years, you would think there would be more to us than stammered greetings and strange medicinal gifts.”

“Kagome, you don't have to love him.  His a lord's distant cousin.  He has money and social status, enough so that you could live comfortably and not have to cook anymore.  Plus he's kind and gentle, not at all like some other men you hear about.  He wouldn't abuse you,” Eri explained exasperated.  Yuka nodded adamantly.  It was the same argument Eri brought up every time Kagome hedged around marrying Hojo.

Kagome sighed and shook her had, fed up with the same old argument.  “Look, I have to get going.  Mama is expecting me for dinner.”

Her three friends let her go with a promise to give Hojo a chance at the festival to further their relationship.  Yuka and Eri hoped that Hojo would propose during the new show that involved something called fireworks.  After hearing what the show would be like, Yuka and Eri thought it the most romantic time for Hojo and Kagome to make it official.  Of course, they would have to get Hojo's cousin's permission to marry but that was such a small obstacle, it didn't matter.

Kagome strolled down the path to her home, dazed.  To her three friends, a guy like Hojo would be a dream catch.  But Kagome hid a secret form everyone who knew her.  Kagome was royalty.  If she were in her own palace in Avaren, she would be expected to do much better than Hojo.  A prince or, at the very least, a very high ranking lord.  The laws of Avaren stated that the first born child ruled, regardless of gender.  The man she would have been expected to marry would have been king upon the completion of their marriage vows.  She would have been crowned Queen of Avaren a few days ago, on her seventeenth birthday.  If Naraku hadn't destroyed her family, she would be living in the palace, her father would still be alive and life would be so much brighter.

She shook herself out of such thoughts.  She knew thinking about what-ifs was useless.  Instead, Kagome continued on her way home and daydreamed about what they would have for dinner.  

Her daydreams disappeared the moment she moved the cloth door aside.  Nothing in the last six years had prepared her for the serious look her mother gave her when she stepped across the threshold.  Souta and Jii-chan were not sitting with her mother like they usually did for dinner.

“Kagome, sit and eat,” her mother offered in a quiet command.

“Mama, what's wrong?  Where's Souta and Jii-chan?”  Kagome's brows creased in puzzlement.

“I have asked them to go to the market for a while.  We need to talk Kagome.”  Her mother took a bowl and poured some of the stew from the pot into it.  She handed the bowl to Kagome and sat back with her hands in her lap.  “You are now seventeen, the legal age of when you would have taken the throne since your father's death six years ago.  I know you remember that night like I do.  Since we are not safe to return to Avaren yet, I have made the decision that we will seek help from the youkai lords here in Haedai.”

Kagome stilled her hand halfway up to her mouth, dread forming in the pit of her stomach.  Whatever her mother was about to say would not sit well with her.  She slowly set the chopsticks down on the rim of the bowl and placed the bowl in front of her.  After she had her hands firmly in her lap, she looked up into her mother's face.  She saw the steely resolve it was set in and gulped silently.

Her mother continued.  “Inutaisho is hosting his annual festival in two days and I have asked the Hojo family to allow us time off in order to go.  I have saved enough money to buy you the necessary kimono and two horses for the journey.  The festival will be a week long and in that week, I would like you to choose a husband among the youkai lords.  The only way for our family to get Avaren back is with the help of a powerful youkai lord by your side as your King.”

Kagome paled, sitting still and straight as a board.  Iie, she can't possibly make me do this!  I don't want to marry for political reasons.  I want love.  I want what this new life has to offer in marriage.  A free choice! Kagome screamed inside her own mind.  Outwardly, she looked almost like a statue.  The only thing that moved were her eyelids as she blinked rapidly to stem the flow of tears that wanted to fall.  Had her wish been granted, of being anywhere but at the Hojo estate?  If so, she wanted to take it back.  A political marriage was no marriage at all.  It would be worse than if she married Hojo!

Mitsuko looked at her daughter.  She was not immune to her daughter's expressive chocolate doe eyes, seeing what Kagome would not voice.  She knew what she asked was hard on her daughter but it was the only way.  Mitsuko had tried hard to keep the more gruesome rumors from her daughter but she knew that servants loved to gossip.  Kagome most likely overheard most of Naraku's exploits over the years.  He had to be dealt with.  Other than the rumored group of Taijiya that were hidden somewhere in Haedai, the only other beings who could hold their own against Naraku were other youkai.  She felt sad at sacrificing her daughter's happiness by marring her to someone she didn't love but if that was what it took to save their people, she would force Kagome to do it.

Over the past six years, Mitsuko had hidden their location form Naraku while trying to find a way to regain Avaren.  Nothing worked, however.  Naraku seemed to evolve as time passed in ways a normal human couldn't comprehend, if all the rumors were to be believed.  As the former Queen of Avaren, she could not sit by idle while her people suffered under the hands of a madman.  She had to set things right.  And Kagome would be the one to to do it.  With Kagome's kind and sweet heart, Mitsuko knew she could heal the people of Avaren in a way Mitsuko never could.  

At some point, even if Naraku had never attacked, Kagome would have had to marry eventually.  The process might have been a bit similar with candidates chosen out of high ranking lords and nobles of their own kingdom and their neighbors as Mitsuko was proposing now but Kagome would have had time with each suitor, to see if a companionable marriage could be made and, eventually, love would come as time passed.  Mitsuko's own marriage to Yuichi had been just like that.

“If Naraku had not attacked us and your father had not died, Kagome, you would have married eventually.  I'm sure the process would have been longer, allowing you almost a full year to meet potential suitors, but you would not have been able to choose freely just anyone.  Because your husband would be King one day, he would have had to be of equal station to you.  Your father and I would have allowed you to choose someone you got along with and eventually love.  But we do not have the time right now for that.  I am asking you to save our people from that monster's hands.  If I could do it instead of you, I would, but I do not hold the blood of the Avaren royals.  You do.  By law, you are the heir.”  Her mother's voice shook with pent up emotion: sorrow for what she forced upon her daughter, pain at the loss of Yuichi and her people, hopelessness of ever seeing things set aright, confused as to the reason Naraku why still sought them out when he had already gained the Throne of Avaren and despair at how utterly helpless she felt.  

Upon her own marriage to Yuichi, Jii-chan had abdicated the throne in favor of Yuichi's rule.  Jii-chan, being older than anyone Mitsuko knew, could not rule then nor could he take the throne again now.  The affects of old age were starting to show with loss of memory, a slightly crippled body and painful joints.  Souta was still too young, only twelve, and was not considered the true heir.  Mitsuko had married into the Royal House of Avaren so she could not rule by her own right.  Only Kagome could and that made Mitsuko worried.  It was a lot of pressure to place on such a young and innocent girl.  

Mitsuko began to feel her own age for the first time.  She truly felt the tiredness seep into her bones, the weariness of living as they had for the last six years.

Kagome looked at her mother a saw, truly saw, her for the woman she was and not the mother Kagome remembered from their happier times in Avaren.  Her mother looked worn out.  Gray streaked her lovely wavy sable tresses.  Wrinkles bracketed her mouth and eyes while bags from weariness made her skin look paler than normal.  Her eyes, once bright and clear that shown with the depth akin to the many shades of ground coffee, seemed lack-luster and dull.  Much joy had been zapped from her, even though she made sure she laughed and had fun with her children.  

Kagome had never guessed how hard it was for her mother to be parent, protector and Queen.  She began to respect her more.  And Kagome decided.  She would do it.  It upset her, sure, but it would spare her mother further grief.  Maybe one day, Kagome would come to love her people as her mother so obviously did.  But for right now, she would accede to her mother's wishes and marry for political gain; if only to help wipe out the worry and weariness from her mother's face and to shift the burden of being ruler off her mother's overly heavy shoulders.

“I'll go but you must promise me one thing.”  Kagome paused and looked her mother straight in the eye.  “If no one suites me, you will not force me to marry.  You will need to give me time to find someone,” Kagome said determinedly.  She would marry but she needed the time to become acquainted with the man first.  And if there was no one at that festival, she needed the time to find that someone at a later date.

Her mother smiled wanly.  “Alright but you will also have to promise me that you will try, truly try, to get along with your suitors and not rule anyone out hastily.”

“Fine.  When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow at mid morning.  We can pack what little we'll need to bring tonight and get fresh food supplies tomorrow before we leave.  The new kimono I purchased for you have already been packed.”

Kagome nodded her assent and stood slowly, taking her bowl with her.  She left the house quietly, wondering to the back small garden to think about what her future now held.  This was not what she had meant by wishing to be anywhere else than the Hojo estate.  And she would have to make an excuse to Hojo about why she couldn't go with him to the festival.  Somehow, blurting out that she was the true hair to Avaren and that she was going away to make a political marriage did not seem believable.  It would end up hurting Hojo's feelings for he would think she was lying to get out of the date.  Fate seemed to enjoy her misery.

Kagome turned sad eyes to the sky, blue-black in the moments of twilight as the stars began to appear.  Things were never simple or easy.  What else would she have to sacrifice to get Avaren back?  Did she care enough about her former home to fight for it?  In a heart beat she knew she would.  It was who she was.  Kindhearted and caring, Kagome helped all who were in need no matter whether they were youkai or human, peasant or noble, whore or simple servant.  She would do as her mother asked, marry for Avaren and hope her life would be happy.  If not, she would find a way to be happy.

Her thoughts settled, Kagome stood and headed back into the house, bowl still in hand and full.  She was no longer hungry after the disturbing thoughts of her future.  Souta and Jii-chan were already laid out on their futon, sleeping in their respective spots against two separate walls.  Her mother sat up in her own corner, writing it seemed.  Kagome headed to her own spot, climbed into her futon and fell into a dreamless emotionally drained sleep.  All she could do now was wait for her fate to come.
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