InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Assassin and the Sorceress ❯ The Beginning ( Prologue )

Here's the edited version of chapter 1, the assassin and the sorceress. I have always realized my need for a beta and I wish I had asked someone to do it sooner. So I wanted to send a really big THANK YOU! to Merith for helping me out on that. You never notice your own errors no matter how anal your are about making use of spelling and grammar check, go figure…..

Okay, let's get this out of the way.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inu Yasha or anything remotely connected to its creation. I just write fan fiction.

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As dusk calmly swept over a land framed by rugged mountains adorned with snow-capped peaks, a serenity seemed to spread over all, a scene that was that was belied by the inhabitants of the range's foothills. Underneath the rocky oak and pine covered hills were the burrowed dens of the inu youkai. The evening of peace was broken by the inu youkai young. Tonight, gathered in the communal area that linked each den together, were all those who were not yet considered an adult. And like any young thing, there was no such behavior as sitting still and being silent.

"Ow! Stop it!" shrieked a white-haired female pup, the two pointed ears atop her head denoting her as a hanyou.

"No! Move outta the way!" bullied her assailant, also a white-haired male pup of full youkai ancestry.

"No, it's mine!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh"

"Jii-chan, make him stop!" the female begged her elder who had been sitting silently, and with credible patience, amidst the loud noise and bickering caused by the group of pups in the cavernous interior.

`Why me?' the elder asked the gods above, praying for more of the patience he was swiftly running out of. He had to shut them up and quick before he completely `lost it'.

"SILENCE!" he roared, catching everyone's attention by the sound of his voice reverberating of the walls and commanding a stop to all sounds. The quiet he was rewarded with was more than satisfactory and he grinned smugly at his alpha male domination of them all.

"Now," he said and then cleared his throat, "do you want to hear the tale or not?"

Every little body turned to face him as he sat upon the rock where he usually laid down the law over the pack. Each ear turned to give its complete attention to story about to be told.

"Tonight, I will tell you a new tale," he began in a low, serious tone with every eye trained to his face as if by looking away they would miss something. "The one of the Assassin and the Sorceress……"

~*~

A dust storm in a land rarely punctuated by rainstorms was hardly an abnormal occurrence. However, the cause for such storms was often the subject of debate and opinion as maybe they developed a little too often and erratically. Such is the case for this day, as to anyone else's eye there seemed to be a storm passing a little too directly. After all, when does nature flow in a straight line?

Upon closer observance at the head of the dust storm, one could see a streak of something shining white in color. For those who didn't know, it would be dismissed as just something caught up in the storm. For those who did, they knew the one that caused the storms ran through these parched lands quite frequently.

At an even closer look one would find a boy, no, a young man at the head of the storm. The shining of white came from his abundant hair crowning his head and at present cascaded behind him like a flag.

~*~

"Ooooh, oooooh!" crowed a high pitched voice, while a little hand shot into the air. "Is it an inu, jii-chan?"

The elder snorted and rolled his eyes. "If you would let me tell the tale without interruption, maybe you'll find out."

"Gomen," he apologized

"Now as I was saying…..,"

~*~

He was of average height, not quite having finished growing. His body was gangly, yet well built as attested by his bare chest bronzed by the sun that blazed over his homeland day in and day out. His legs were equally as well muscled, but were currently clad by a pair of loose fitting pants made from the skin of the fire rat, so not much could be noted of them. Only a fool would've assumed otherwise, especially if you could see him running now. A mask of determination creased his otherwise expressionless face as he was somewhat pressed to reach his destination. His golden eyes sparkled with fire of their own as they scanned the land ahead for obstacles. But his most remarkable features from his otherwise very human appearance were the two small triangles sitting atop his head, his ears. The hair, eyes, and ears told it all. Our mysterious dust storm was caused by none other than an inu youkai, or more specifically and inu hanyou.

~*~

The elder paused for effect, but there were no exclamations of surprise. The moment was ruined by a pup that hadn't yet seen his fifth summer.

*sigh*

~*~

This particular inu hanyou was on a mission. It is now that one might notice the odd burden over the inu hanyou's shoulder. It looked like some kind of long bundle draped across his back and it was pretty cumbersome looking bundle at that. All you could really do was wonder what he was carrying.

The young, inu hanyou was none too pleased with his bundle. Had he really had a choice in the matter he would have left it, but his Mother would never had forgiven him if he had. It wasn't that it was heavy or the distance he had to carry it across, he was just annoyed with it. But how could someone by angry with an inanimate object you ask?

*COUGH! COUGH!* "I don't suppose you could slow down Yash? All of this dust is killing me," the bundle said.

"I don't think so," Yash replied. "The faster I go, the sooner we'll be home."

"But I'll probably choke off the dust flying in my face before we get there," the bundle whined.

"Just shut up, Miroku!" Yash yelled at Miroku the Bundle, glancing briefly over his shoulder. "If you kept your hands to yourself, you wouldn't be there in the first place."

"I've already told you that this wasn't a matter of keeping my hand to my self," Miroku defended himself.

"So you mean to tell me that all this had absolutely, positively NOTHING to do with a woman?" Yash asked.

"No…not exactly," Miroku tried to explain.

"What does `not exactly' mean?" he asked menacingly.

"You see, what had happened was-," Miroku began.

"Oh, boy, here comes the lie," Inu Yasha muttered.

"I'm not lying! Just listen!"

Inu Yasha rolled his eyes and snorted, but both ears turned back to catch every word from his nuisance of a burden brother.

"Anyway, there was this girl named Sango and-," Miroku tried again, but Inu Yasha's short temper didn't allow him to go a word further.

Miroku found himself dumped unceremoniously from his prone position over Inu Yasha's shoulder. The impact from the landing stirred up a small amount of dust and caused a few of Miroku's lesser wounds to reopen.

"Dammit Yash! That hurt!" Miroku half yelled, half moaned at the hanyou standing over him.

"It was supposed to hurt, you baka!" Inu Yasha yelled back. "I'm tired of getting caught up in your woman problems! What the hell did you do this time? You said something to the wrong girl this time didn't you?"

Miroku flinched at Yash's increasingly disturbing accuracy.

"Let me guess: this Naraku is Sango's father and she went crying to him about you offending her modesty? Or better yet," Inu Yasha continued, his voice getting louder with every accusation, "you actually managed to convince some female to `bear your heir' and now her father's pissed!"

Miroku's mumbled response which Inu Yasha didn't hear because of the sound of his own blood was pounding through his ears from getting so worked up. Once his mind registered that his dark-haired brother had made a response he said,

"What?"

Miroku sat up a little, using the arm that wasn't broken to push himself up. He looked at Yash out of the corner of his eye knowing he wasn't going to like his response.

"Something like that," he muttered again, before flinching away fully expecting his brother's violent youkai temper to come down on him. When nothing happened immediately, he cracked an eye open to see why he wasn't being beaten back into a pulp. He saw Inu Yasha kneeling beside him with his head down, taking deep, heaving breaths. His silvery-white hair had fallen around him, shielding his face from view. Miroku had hoped that this was his brother's attempt to control his temper, but when Inu Yasha lifted his head and Miroku saw the red glow that had taken over his eyes, he knew he was done for.

~*~

"Is he really going to beat him up, jii-chan?" asked Kumi, the female being harassed before the tale had even begun.

"Unfortunately, no. Although……,"

~*~

The growl now emanating from his brother practically confirmed his death sentence and he tried his hardest to scoot away on his behind using his injured legs for propulsion. He didn't manage to get far before Yash was on him, lifting his body from the ground by the tattered remains of his shirt. Miroku found his face only inches away from that of the furious inu hanyou.

"You have to the count of five to give me a GOOD reason NOT to maul you and leave your carcass for the scavengers!" Inu Yasha snarled, teeth bared.

Miroku swallowed audibly and opened his mouth to speak, but not another sound followed.

"Five……..," Inu Yasha began.

"Okay! Okay! I met this girl Sango and," Miroku blurted out.

"Four…….."

"we fell in love and,"

"THREE!" Inu Yasha let go of Miroku, so that he was now holding him up with one hand. The other hand he brought back, poised for rending, making a great show of cracking his knuckles and flexing his claws.

"I SWEAR I didn't know anything about this Naraku guy!"

"TWO!"

"ANDSHESGOINGTOHAVEMYCHILD!!!"

"ONE-, what?!"

The angry red faded away to original warm amber gold Miroku much preferred, especially when it was directed at him. Inu Yasha's anger washed away like ice melt. He dropped his elder brother without thinking, his mouth gaped open in surprise, waiting for a bug to take up residence.

"My child," Miroku repeated. "That's why we have to go back, that's why we've got to do as Naraku asked. We have to do what he wants. We have to save them both."

Miroku himself was now panting after the mild exertion. He sighed in disgust at his inability to perform the simplest tasks.

Yash crouched down to Miroku's level. "Are you sure?" he asked with all seriousness due to the situation.

"I would say so since I'm her one and only," Miroku answered with smug male certainty at the implied question.

Yash was now clearly amused. He shook his head in disbelief before hoisting Miroku back over his shoulder. That situation defused, Miroku relaxed as Yash took up his previously interrupted lope.

The dust trail created by his rapid passing rose and fell like a wave. His pace was incredible and few other youkai could keep up, much less an ordinary human. Even if Miroku had been of sound body, he wouldn't have been able to keep up either. Being raised among other young inu youkai, he did possess more strength, speed, and endurance than most humans, but it would never be enough to match his younger brother.

In all honesty, Miroku felt extremely lucky to have a little brother like Inu Yasha. It was strange, but normally it was the elder brother that looked out for the younger. No matter how stupid the situation Miroku got into, he could always count on `Yash' to get him out of it. Of course the expected thorough beating he received in disguise as training was worth it to compensate for Yash's time. Yash's demon heritage gave any human a pause before deciding whether or not to tangle with him. Even other full youkai didn't want to fight him. His lineage alone backed off most, the rest were afraid to see proof of his training.

~*~

"See, Takeshi!" Kumi admonished her `assailant'. "I told you a hanyou could be just as strong as a full youkai!"

"Feh," was Takeshi's only response, obviously still not ready to believe.

"ANYWAY," the elder continued over the pups.

~*~

Yash had decided when he was still small that he wanted to be the one to protect their Mother and as a result he learned fighting techniques that most didn't even have the temerity to contemplate much less master. Miroku followed his training as much as his body would allow, but Yash always more than surpassed him. In his final stages of learning Yash chose a trade, one extremely rare for inu youkai, but one that seemed to suit Yash perfectly.

Assassin.

~*~

"But there are plenty of inu's to take up that trade," called out an adolescent who lounged at the edge of the group. "It's what this pack is known for."

The elder shook his head in disgust. Obviously, this one hadn't understood this was a tale of the PAST.

"If I have to tell any of you to shut your mouths again and listen, I won't finish the tale!"

~*~

Many didn't think to much of the idea especially his parents, but with the loss of his Father and his Mother trapped by illness there wasn't much protesting either could do now. Yash would take any target as long as the price was right. He had never failed and his skill was spoken of in awe.

"You know Mother is going to be furious about you bringing home a pregnant mate without her having met her first," Yash said over his shoulder without breaking his stride.

"Huh, well, having her furious with me for bringing home a pregnant mate is better than not bringing home one at all," Miroku countered.

Yash growled in response.

~*~

"Now while all that is going on, there is another's story we must consider," the elder went on.

"You mean that of Inu Yasha's future mate, Kagome," stated a female inu, far older than any of those seated before him.

"Sayaka!" the elder snapped. "You'll spoil the tale!"

Sayaka laughed softly. "Maybe if I hadn't heard the tale so many times, otou-san, I wouldn't be able to tell it."

She grinned in innocence while her otou-san mumbled something about `ungrateful pups' under his breath. His irritation didn't last long, for while this pup of his bore his coloring and hanyou features, she also had the look of her mother in her youth. His soft spot for his mate was well known and often abused, especially by his daughters.

"Be about your business, Sayaka," he ordered.

"I have no business to be about, otou-san. I just came to listen," she sat gracefully off to the side before further arguments could be made. Three of her own young pups, who had been sitting in the group, immediately clambered over to nestle about her.

"Now, if that's the last interruption…….," the elder looked out the corner of his eye at his daughter.

She grinned back good-naturedly and held her hands up in peace.

"Next, I'll tell you of Kagome, who was unhappy with life and was forced to perform deeds that weighed heavily on her conscience."

~*~

"Do it, Kagome," the woman said to the young girl at her side.

"I can't," answered Kagome.

"I said do it NOW!"

"But I just don't think it seems right -,"

"I'm not asking you to think, I said strike!" The warning glowed in the first speaker's eyes and Kagome knew what would happen if she didn't do as she was told.

Kagome turned to ragged line of people down below her. Prisoners, all of them, or so she had been informed. She was high at the top of the stairs of the High Temple where all executions were conducted. The pitiful people below didn't deserve the sort of death she could deal out.

"STRIKE NOW!" she was again commanded.

This time, frightened for her own life, she did as she was bade. An answering glow filled her own eyes, brighter than star shine, as she raised two fingers to her forehead. The glow seemed to spread into her fingers from this slight touch and they too shone with a burning white fire. No sooner had the fingers left her head to point down at the prisoners, the light shot from her hand faster than any arrow and completely obliterated all those standing execution pit.

A scorch mark and a little ash was all that was left. The power had receded had Kagome closed her eyes to the scene. She knew that there wasn't any sort of gore left to be seen, but that didn't change the fact that she knew people had been standing there but moments ago. Her eyes clenched even harder as she had to suppress the bile trying to find exit from her stomach.

"That was well done, Kagome. You're much improved from the first time I set you this task," the same female voice praised her.

"May I go now, Lady Mother?" Kagome asked with all neutrality that she could muster.

"Yes, yes, you may go," Kagome's mother permitted her with a wave of her hand. "I will see you at dinner."

Kagome bowed with grace that had been trained into her from a young age and quickly excused herself into the High Temple. She took deep breaths, hoping to calm her stomach as she descended into the tunnels below that connected the High Temple to the Palace. She walked briskly through the tunnels made of sandstone with mage lights at regular intervals to keep the darkness at bay. Her goal was her own bedroom where she could have some peace to herself away from the atrocities her Mother forced her to commit.

The tunnel let her out into a hall, not far from the wing where all of her family's rooms were. For once, she was glad to have a room to herself rather than still be in the nursery with her other younger siblings. Before she could step onto the marble floors that paved the halls, she removed her sandals she had worn and carried them. Her mother permitted no scuff marks on her precious floors, by neither her children, servants nor staff. Kagome had seen people executed for lesser offences.

She made it to her room without passing another soul, not even a guard was in evidence, but that was how her Mother liked it. She wanted them to be doing their jobs, but she didn't want them to be seen doing it; all part of her strategy to seem more vulnerable than she actually was. Not that Kagome had any desire to come near anyone, actually, most people stayed away of their own accord. No one wanted to be touched by this particular daughter of the queen.

Kagome closed the door soundly both with a conventional lock and key and with a small seal from her magic that only she, or a greater sorceress, could open. Rather than head for her bed, she sat at the small pond near her balcony. She stared at the colorful fish swimming back and forth lazily without a care in the world or a more important thought in their heads than `where's the next meal?'. She often wondered why she couldn't have been born to a more simple life.

She focused on her reflection in the pool. The same serious face that looked at her everyday stared back. The lack of emotion often unnerved people, but since that was how she had been schooled to be it was hard to break out of the impassivity. Her wild, dark hair framed a face that was far too pale to belong to someone that had grown up in a desert, but again it seemed to be another characteristic that she just couldn't shake. If anything it gave her a more exotic look. Her brown eyes, often compared to the color of pure copper, held no amusement, nor anger, or anything else. They just stared back too with the dark line of kohl beneath them actually enhancing her exoticness.

Her hand slapped against the water in frustration. She was tired of everything about her life and often contemplated running away to a place that knew nothing of her or her mother, where she could start over and just be a regular girl.

The chances of that happening were very unlikely.

Kagome wondered what her elder sister was up to and closed her eyes to feel out her presence using her `Other Sight'. The use of `Other Sight' was tedious. Usually you had to know specifically what you were looking for or you would spend most of your time fumbling around. Everything gave off a certain amount of a certain type of energy. Her mother's presence was excessively easy to find as her power shone out like a beacon for miles around to anyone that could see it. The aura was a deep purple as well as most other users of magic that Kagome had ever come across. Her sister's aura would be purple, but of a significantly reduced power level. Kagome's `eyes' passed over quite a few things and people before she found her eldest sister in her own room shouting at maid. Kagome felt a moment of pity for the creature, but she had chosen to work here and could leave at any time.

Soon Kagome opened her eyes to stare at the opulence of her own bedroom cast in the warm golden glow of the setting sun. She would give it all up just to find true happiness.

*KNOCK, KNOCK*

Kagome's looked at her door and instantly willed her `Other Sight' to show her who was there. All it revealed was one of the guards.

"Yes?" she called out, making no move to open the door.

"Lady Kagome, her highness, Queen Yokota, wishes your presence," the guard relayed precisely.

Kagome sighed and briefly wondered how long she had been sitting there woolgathering. It was time for the evening meal already.

"Tell my mother that I shall be with her shortly."

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okay. That was it. Do your worst.

*kiyse*