InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Whispers Of A Treasure ❯ Tradition ( Chapter 8 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: babydragon213 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Romance / Hentai / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.28.2007 | Pages: 10 | Words: 10.9K | Visits: 405 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Romance / Hentai / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.28.2007 | Pages: 10 | Words: 10.9K | Visits: 405 | Status: Work In Progress
Okay I just fixed the many mistakes on here, and have reposted it... I realized that there was a HUGE problem and the words were all smushed... I am sooo sorry about that guys. as a treat for my horrible errors if you guys would like to know what Inuyasha and the princess look like in the story, and how i can imagine it in my evil head!! go to this link
www.animevengeance.net and then go to the forums and there should be a post called fanart and hit that and it shall be the one called Babydragon’s showcase. Love you all!! And once more..so sorry about this ugly problem..even i was shocked about it.
Disclaimer: "I own Inuyasha I own Inuyasha". (suddenly hears a sudden knock on the door...and out of curiosity goes and opens it)
"Excuse me there, are you miss. Babydragon".
"Uh...ye--es".
"Come with us"
"Who me", points to myself innocently, "Why?", I question the tall men dressed in black.
"Because it has been brought to our attention that you Miss, Babydragon has been caught plagerising the wonderful work of Rumiko Takahashi herself, and it is unacceptable."
"Oh...really so she does own pitasha?"
"Come again?", the tall agent with a pair of dark sunglasses stares at me in confusion.
"Pitasha...its a type of...blue fruit...yes very rare. This blue fruit. He he he", I respond nervously.
One of the agents dressed in black look at me as if I am crazy.
"Look, I have a story to write here, so if we're done talking could you please leave?"
Still continue to look at me as if I'm nuts.
"Okay, okay. I don't own Inuyasha. Rumiko does. But I do own Pitasha, this blue fruit", I hold up a red apple.
"Riii--gh--t. Men let's move out, obviously this girl has completely lost it", the three agents turn around and leave.
"Wait come back it really is blue...Oh not this one…oops its just an apple…now where did I leave Pitasha?"
"Oh well...now on with the story".
Chapter 8~~~~~TRADITION
The news of Bankotsu and the Princess' battle spread like a wild fire throughout the entire week. Everywhere the General went he heard many rumors of them being the perfect match for each other, and how this battle was sure to be victorious. It seemed that every time he heard something that related to the Princess and Bankotsu, he just couldn't handle it and would get up and leave presence of the one whom was speaking. One particular elderly lady had even gasped in surprise when she opened her eyes after telling her little speech, only to find herself speaking to no one in particular.
He didn't know why he had been acting the way he had. There was no word to what he was feeling, and he himself knew it was something he could neither explain nor understand. It just nerved him to no end to hear that the Princess herself had to fight with someone, he just couldn't accept the fact that they made women submit to men so easily in this village.
'Whatever, it's not like I care anyway. I'm just going to find the damn treasure and get the hell out of here as soon as I can. I don't want to be here anymore', he huffed to himself. Even though he had to admit that it was actually quiet nice living in a place such as this village...where nobody was a total pain in the ass about differences between humans and demons.
He sighed as he took a moment to look at his surrounding area. Walking slowly towards a slope that overlooked a large plain, he scanned far into the grassy area below carefully. In the middle of the plain there was an enormous arena, with a vast number of the villagers surrounding it. The arena was white, covered with large mats for less damage to the fighters and for better foot grip.
The general stood and watched the two opponents that were just beginning the battle right after a short man in traditional, violet robes stepped off of the stadium in a dash.
Bankotsu was the first to make his move. He had shot forward with quick, practiced speed and raised his shinai at the last moment, then brought it back down with such force that the stick almost split in half. The princess held her ground firmly and shook off the convulsion the impact had caused quickly, and with a backflip, she kicked her opponent on the underside of his chin.
The warrior dressed in white clothing and without his blue armor stumbled back slightly, but before he fell he placed a hand onto the floor and pushed himself back onto his feet.
Inuyasha could clearly see the fine line of sweat forming onto the man's brow from his position, and he could even tell that at the moment Bankotsu was frowning towards the opponent in front of him. He shot forward once more and drove his weapon hard to the left. The warrior then made a quick series of movements with his shinai, after the princess had easily dodged his side hit. She made quick movements with her own weapon as well, always dodging every thrust or side swing that he threw at her.
At one point Bankotsu had to stop and take a couple of deep breaths, before he shot forward once again with a lot more determination then before. A sharp slap of wood against wood rang through the air and the two pushed back against each other with equal amount of strength.
Bankotsu then pushed down hard against the beautiful, yet deadly princess and made her stumble back slightly. At the mere point of her distraction in trying to regain her balance he raised his weapon and swung it down hard, sending her shinai sword flying through the air and into the anxious crowd.
The crowd of men cheered as well as some of the village women, knowing that the warrior Bankotsu was closer to being victorious in his battle against the princess. The elders that were on the sidelines, a space reserved only for the high elders of the village, kept stoic and expressionless faces as they observed the battle before them. Inuyasha bit the side of his lip out of nervousness, he wasn't sure why, but the idea of the princess being close to defeat just didn't settle right with him.
'This is not good. Now what am I going to do without my weapon? He's being a lot more aggressive than before now too', the warrioress dressed in her traditional, huntress' clothing frowned at her own problem at hand.
A low laugh met her ears, and a dark glint of satisfaction flashed in his eyes before Bankotsu was running towards her a full speed.
'Whatever happens...I must not lose this battle', she stood in a ready attack posture.
A sharp pain shot through her arm when she raised it up in defense, but she didn't let it stop her as she swept one of her legs underneath him and used the other one to kick him hard in the stomach.
He flew back a couple feet, rolling on the stage blindly and towards the edge. He dug his heels into the mats and flipped through the air towards her, one arm outstretched in his last attempt to take off her mask.
She bent at the waist and flipped, placing both her feet right into his stomach and sending the warrior flying straight through the air and a couple feet away from the arena.
The crowd went dead silent in that moment. The battle was over.
Bankotsu got up on his feet slowly, wiping at the bit of blood that had dripped down his chin, from the left corner of his mouth.
The princess doubled over slightly gasping for breath as the warrior in white she had known for a long time now, slowly approached her.
When he was within a couple of feet in front of her, he bowed politely, and avoided any eye contact with her.
She bowed in return as well, and when they had both composed themselves one of the elder priests in the violet robes walked over towards the two. The elder with long white hair and an amazingly, long white beard was going to make a speech about the honorable fight that had just passed, even though there was no victory. The elder had cleared his throat and was about to begin, when the princess turned away from him and walked straight away from the arena, and the surprised crowd.
The elder was left nervously clearing his throat, and making reasonable excuses for the princess's abrupt departure. Bankotsu crossed his arms and looked away from the on looking crowd, disappointment and anger clearly displayed on his features.
Up on the slope, Inuyasha stared at the scene both in confusion and with relief. Even though many had expected their battle to be victorious, he was somewhat amazed that it was not, and even more surprised when the princess herself had just suddenly left. The last look on her face that he had managed to catch had baffled him none the less.
'If she had cared for him so much, such as the villagers assumed she did, then why didn't she let him win?...Why in the world was she crying ?'
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nightfall approached quickly. Many went about their tasks for the day, whispering every so often about the princess and the battle that took place earlier on. A few had been , thinking that Bankotsu as great as a warrior himself, would of made a fine choice as their next king. Others that were envious of his close relation with the princess found it a relief that he had lost to her, giving them a chance to challenge the princess later on.
The princess herself was nowhere to be found at the moment, and many assumed that she was probably somewhere in the great forests taking time to herself. No one really worried for her, they more in fact felt sorry for her at the moment, as someone with a great responsibility she herself had it hard in life. The villagers left her in peace for the moment, before they all began to jump to conclusions and sent search parties after her. As for Bankotsu himself, he received a few glares from some of the villagers, they believe that he had been too rough during the battle, others scorned at him for his envious position, and a large number had given him a firm pat on the back for a 'better luck next time'.
The hunters of the village had gathered at the dinner hall, like many seemed to do every night. Inuyasha was amongst them, keeping mostly to himself as he watched the others, especially Bankotsu, drink the night away.
"He's drunk as hell", Souta mumbled sourly when he took a seat right next to the general.
"Feh, tell me about it", Inuyasha mumbled under his breath. The general then proceeded to lift a cup of sake to his lips, but then took one sniff of it and set it back down again.
Souta chuckled a bit when he saw the sour face cross the general's features. "Don't like the smell of it I see?"
"Nah...just changed my mind about drinking it, that's all", he set the cup aside.
"Well...if that's your excuse then".
Inuyasha decided not to comment on that and instead focused his attention to the one warrior dressed in white, sitting across the room and drinking heavily.
"I wish [hiccup*] I had....a li--ttle birdie...that I could pet and name it [hiccup*] Go-rd-y, and cuddle it with hugs", Bankotsu sang to everyone around him, while he took another swig of sake from a large jug, which he held in his hand.
"He's taking the loss pretty badly, if you ask me", Jakotsu, the odd looking man stated as he sat in between Souta and Inuyasha.
Inuyasha flinched slightly when the man next to him gave him a broad, sly grin. It sent chills down his spine and he moved slightly away from the creepy guy.
"Someone should take the jug of sake away from him. He's making a scene and a complete fool of himself", Souta huffed, completely oblivious to the odd man dressed in feminine clothing next to him eyeing Inuyasha.
One of Bankotsu's men, dressed in dark hunter's clothing and with big bulky arms, reached out in an attempt to swipe the jug away from the said man.
"No. NO...no touchy...my baby...no. No...touchy!", he slapped unmercifully at the warrior's hand.
"I guess this is a good thing then that he didn't win", Souta mumbled quietly to himself.
"And if he did", Inuyasha asked, hearing the young man beside him speak low as if to himself.
"Are you speaking to me?", Jakotsu chirped happily.
"No!", the general huffed, "If you don't mind I'd like some privacy...and quit acting like that, you're creeping me out!".
Jakotsu's face become sullen for just a mere moment until he spotted a group of hunters walking through the front entrance. Jumping up excitedly, he ran towards the young group of hunters with an enormous smile on his face once more.
Inuyasha sighed in relief, glad to have that creepy guy away from him. He noticed the group of young men enter the dinner hall talking excitedly about an intense game they had during the day. But what caught his attention more was the flash of white clothing that had sneaked behind one of the pillars.
He smirked to himself when he saw a dazzling pair of adamant eyes peek around the pillar.
'So she came'.
Souta was still frowning towards the drunken warrior and his attention was mainly focused on him.
The said drunken warrior had even began to climb on top of one of the tables and began dancing while he sang an unknown tune loudly.
"That's it!", Souta boomed as he rose up from off his seat and marched over to where the drunken warrior was dancing.
"And the bur-dies say [hiccup*]..say [hiccup*]..say [hiccup*]"
"That's enough Bankotsu", Souta snorted before he pried the jar of sake away from the drunkard's hands and knocked him upside the head with it.
"Sooo-taaa", Bankotsu half whispered half giggled as if it were all a joke to him, before he collapsed onto the floor unconscious.
Inuyasha took the moment of distraction to sneak away from his table unnoticed, hoping to catch up to the princess before she disappeared again.
~~
There was a small trace of tears still lingering in the air when he walked out of the dinner hall. It was easy enough to follow her sweet scent as well through the passageways and routes, the rose petal and honeysuckle smell was a dead giveaway against the foresty scent in the village.
He spotted her quickly as she was nearing a bend and he ran to catch up to her quick, set pace.
"Hey!", he voiced when she didn't indicate that she noticed him beside her.
He noticed her stiffen and set off at an even more rapid pace, trying to lose the one that was following her at the moment.
"Wait...stop will you!", he growled as he reached out for her arm and grabbed it when she didn't slow down.
She gasped in pain and he quickly caught on to what he had done so he let her arm go.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to", he held up his hands innocently in front of him.
"It is all right", she massaged her bruised arm gently.
"Look, I don't mean to be nosy or anything, but what's with you...don't you care for him. I mean...shouldn't you go and talk to him, the guy's really taking it bad", he folded his arms in a signature fashion.
"Humph! Why should I take advice from you? Besides he is drunk and shall not listen to reason...and as you have stated, it really is none of your business", she spun on her heels and began her brisk pace once more.
"Hey I'm not done here yet...wench", he stormed after her once more.
"Now what is it?", she stopped as abruptly as she took off.
"I got a bone to pick with you! It's your stupid traditions, that's what! Why do you allow women to participate in combat. Isn't that going just a little overboard?".
"You are not from around here stranger, so I do not expect you to understand the meaning of our traditions".
"Understand?...heh, like hell. I understand perfectly well that you women are forced into battle, and against your will. What I don't get is that none of you do anything about it, you all just seem to go along with it and then get beat up for it."
"Is that how you view it all stranger?...Typical", she huffed, spun around once more and set off quickly.
His left eyebrow began to twitch in irritation, ' The wench!...Well she's not getting away from me that easily', he ran after her.
"You have a rude tendency to walk away from people when they're speaking", The general snapped.
"Oh, you were not done talking?", she replied sarcastically, and stopped in her tracks.
"Yeah, I'm not done", he ignored her sarcasm, "You're fucken hurt and need medical attention. You can't just be walking around like that!", he pointed towards her slightly cut arm, that wasn't bleeding but still needed treatment before infection seeped its way in.
She took a step back, surprised by his rude, yet worried tone.
"I am a princess of my people, I do not succumb to pain that easily".
"I don't care if you're the strongest being on earth! Those wounds right there have slight trace of infection in them already, and if you don't get proper treatment right now you're not going to use that arm of yours ever again", he snorted through his nose.
She looked the open wounds in her arms in worry, and then looked back up to the man standing in front of her.
"Fine! I do not know how it is that you know of this, but I shall take your word for it. So if we are done here...then I bid you good night stranger", she stated with as much irritation as she could towards the stranger, before she bounded through the village.
He was about to comeback with a witty remark, but decided against it.
She was way too difficult to talk to tonight, and provoking her was not something he wanted to do at the moment.
With one last look towards the direction in which the princess had left, he quickly walked at a brisk pace back to his hut.
'She didn't even answer my question, she just avoided it. Just what in the hell does she feel towards the guy anyway? Does she care for him like everyone thought? Feh, whatever...I got more important things to do that worry about some dumb, little bitch.'
He reached the front steps towards his hut and was about to go in, when he looked back towards the evening sky, lightly misted with the evidence of stars that were bound to glow stronger with the residing darkness over the land.
'But her aura...did seem terribly sad though', he shook his head to clear the image of a heavy burdened princess from his mind, and entered into the spacious hut.
~~~~~
It was early morning when the general woke from his light sleep. The first minute that dawn broke over the tall mountains in the far distance, he rose up from his futon and set about to preparing himself for another day in searching for the treasure.
Just when he was walking in the outer parts of the village, he noticed Bankotsu walking towards the forest with a group of men, looking sullen and depressed.
It wasn't as if he disliked the guy, and he did feel really bad for him. But heck, what could he do? It's not like he really cared, not especially since he had been the cause to some of the bruises the princess wore.
'Speaking of which...', he noticed that the same girl he had been thinking about all last night and early this morning, was at the moment approaching up towards the hill that he was currently standing on.
She was wearing a light pink, cheongsam dress, that ended an inch above the knees. It molded onto her every curve, and he couldn't help but notice that she indeed have an amazing, looking body. Her supple frame distracted him for a mild second, and he forgot at the moment that he was openly staring at her advancing form.
His small reverie was broken when he heard bouts of childish laughter and uncontrolled giggling that surrounded her.
She looked lively and full of energy as she came even closer. The small group of children then decided to race up the rest of the small hill, and she too joined in on their little game.
"Children wait up. I cannot carry all of these myself", she laughed the entire time up the hill.
The first child to arrive up the hill was none other than the all familiar kitsune Inuyasha had saved long ago.
"Inuyasha!", the kitsune hopped onto his shoulder playfully and out of breath.
"Hey kid...where have you been?"
"With the princess", he nodded his head towards the girl that had just reached the top of the hill with the remaining children.
There were still small cuts and bruises on her arms and legs, but for some reason they seemed to be fading fast.
"What are you doing all the way up here Inuyasha?".
"Just searching".
"For whaaaat?", another child beamed up at him brightly.
"A treasure", he replied secretively.
"Wow!", many of the younger children gasped and started talking amongst themselves excitedly.
"Princess", Inuyasha nodded his head towards her in a formal gesture.
"Seems as if you have the little ones excited now", she smiled.
He was slightly taken back by her gentle manner that it made his heart speed up a bit, he was so use to the spitting rage that she bestowed only upon him.
"Come along now children. We have a lot of work ahead of us if you want choco".
"Yeay! choco", the children squealed in contempt, forgetting about the treasure that had mildly distracted them from their yummy surprise.
"Inuyasha do you want to come and make choco with us?", Shippo had hopped down from his shoulder and tugged on his pants, while looking up at him with big, innocent eyes.
" come with us Mr. Treasure man", another child with short, brown hair added.
"It's not that easy", he mumbled, trying to resist their cute and innocent looks. He then turned towards the princess for any sign or indication of his next move.
"If you are not busy stranger, then please I bid you to join us", she stated and began to walk away towards the village.
"See...she said it was all right", a small girl with pigtails pulled on his pants for him to get moving.
"All right then", he sighed, 'Guess I couldn't escape this one', he half smiled and quickly walked up to where the princess was walking.
"Thanks for the invitation".
"It is nothing, besides...the children are a hand full and I will be needing some assistance", she smirked towards him.
He narrowed his eyes comically, 'Is this why she isn't bothered with me coming...just so I can be her work slave?'
The princess noticed the sour look that crossed his features before she burst out giggling. Without her notice, one of the items that she was holding in her arms began to slip out of her grasp and fell to the floor.
With quick movement, Inuyasha caught the item in mid air and before it touched the ground.
"Thank you", she blushed slightly by her mere moment of clumsiness.
"Just what is this?", he asked curiously, eyeing her cute blush that stained her soft ivory cheeks.
"They are fruits called cocoa pods and inside are these beans that we shall be making choco out of".
"I see...", he took a moment to study the reddish-brown looking fruit in his hand. It was oddly shaped, almost like a squash and it had a rough leathery texture to it. He took a sniff of it and noticed it had a sweet, musty smell to it.
'I know I've smelled this before...but where?'
"Interesting are they not?"
"Heh", he shrugged. "Here let me take some more of these...it looks like you got your hands full anyway", he indicated towards the children surrounding them and began plucking some of the strange looking pods from her arms.
She smiled up at him, but he tried to avoid the alluring smile she gave to him out of gratitude, and set to looking straight ahead of him with a frown.
"Maybe if you are a really big help...the children just might consider sharing a piece with you", she giggled.
"Are you mocking me", he huffed, looking slightly amused. 'She looks really pretty when she smiles...and those adamant eyes she has on her mask really do bring out her beauty.'
"My...if I was mocking you, then I think you would know", she smirked and walked a few paces ahead of him.
"Funny...very funny".
~~~~~
They all sat under a shady tree as the sun in the sky began to rise higher. The temperature was relatively warmer than usual and there were a couple of groans that escaped from the children every so often when they wanted something refreshing to drink.
At the moment the children were all in small groups of two or three and trying to open each pod with a small wooden mallet.
Inuyasha got frustrated after a while with the dinky mallet, and set it to the side. He then picked up an unopen pod and used his sharp claws to cut open the pod quicker and easier.
Some of the children stopped in their work only to 'ooh' and 'ahh' at the general's quick abilities to open the cocoa pods faster.
"Children it is not appropriate to gawk at someone who is intentionally showing off", the princess replied in a sing song voice and with a mocking tune behind it.
She then got up with a basket already filled with the cocoa beans, and headed towards a small cooking hut .
"I was not showing off", he huffed behind her retreating form.
Even when she returned from the hut and sat back down near the trunk of the tree, he was still glaring accusingly at her.
She acted as if he wasn't there, and he was pretty sure he was right even if he couldn't see the expression in her eyes, as she sat comfortably in the lush grass and removed her wooden sandals, placing them to the side.
He clicked his tongue against his teeth in irritation and began slicing the pods once more with the dinky wooden mallet.
'I'll show her that I wasn't showing off'.
She giggled so softly, that he almost missed it in his mild state of irritation, and he at once forgot about what he was pissed off with her to begin with.
When all the beans were removed from the pods, the baskets were then taken into the hut, where a small group of heavy looking women set to cleaning and crushing them to pieces.
Inuyasha watched in mild fascination for a mere second till he was 'shooed' away from the hut by one of the women and informed to go and wash up for his midday meal.
He snorted slightly through his nose when he was ordered by a woman to leave the interesting activity going on inside the hut. But then he thought that it was a good idea considering his stomach began to churn at the mere mention of food.
The children were washing near a large, wooden basin. Each child set about to washing their tiny hands with light colored, scented soaps and splashing each other a bit in amusement or creating bubbles that would then pop at the mere warm pressure of their curious hands.
Inuyasha chuckled to himself when a little girl also used the soap to make a fake beard on her chin made from bubbles.
'Their joy and laughter is just so innocent'.
When they had dried off, they walked back under the shaded tree that had a large blanket already set up with various dishes of freshly sliced fruit, and sandwiches.
The children gathered around the food and each one took a helping to some fresh fruit and other delicious snacks.
Just before they were about to dig in on the feast, each child and the princess herself, closed their eyes and bowed their heads for a moment of silence.
'Even the children do what the adults do...but what is the significance of all of this', he himself bowed his head out of respect for their mysterious custom, but his eyes remained open and observant.
When the quiet moment had passed each one opened their eyes and began to hungrily devour the food right in front of them.
The princess was silently munching on a piece of plum, looking pensive and deep in thought.
Shippo had stuffed almost an entire sandwich in his mouth when he poked Inuyasha in the side to grab his attention towards him.
"Fy...wur yu feekum furin fanful fime?", the kitsune replied with a mouth full of food.
"Huh?", the general raised an eyebrow in question as to what the kitsune was trying to mean.
Shippo managed to swallow the food after a quick chew, "I said why were you peeking during thankful time. I saw you...and you were peeking", he quietly whispered as if he would be caught doing something wrong at any minute.
"You're suppose to keep your two eyes closed and say thank you in your head for everything that you got".
Inuyasha blinked a couple times as he let the information he just received from a small child, probably no older than six, as if he was experienced with a greater knowledge than any elder would ever be.
"Thanks...I'll keep that in mind next time", he whispered back, not wanting to hurt the kit's sense of pride at the moment.
Although he did make a mental note to himself to ask someone who might understand the importance of this moment of silence before a meal.
When everyone had finished the last of their food, the princess went towards the hut and brought back a tray with pieces of delicious looking wagashi, and with large, red strawberries on top of each piece.
She handed the largest slice to him and he took it gratefully.
He set it to the side for the moment, and accepted a cup of fresh milk from one of the large ladies that came from the hut and served everyone with a nutritious beverage, and then went back in.
He sipped at the cool milk slowly, he was never one to drink anything other than tea, water or sake, but he had to admit that the milk that went down his throat; was the best, sweet tasting milk he had ever tried since his youth.
He sighed in contemplation when he realized how good it felt to be free of worries and other disturbances.
It was only when he finished the last drop of his milk and reached for his treat, that his brow began to form into small creases.
'What the?...my wagashi treat...its gone', he stared baffled at his empty wooden plate.
'One of the kids must of taken it...but who?', he stared at each and every single child within a couple feet of him.
They all had cream and red strawberry stains on their faces and hands, but he just didn't have the heart to accuse one of them for stealing his treat.
'Even if I did yell at them...they'll cry and I'll make the princess mad, then I'll be in for it. Besides if I make any of them upset I'll just look like a bad guy and that will make matters worse.'
'Ah well...nothing to get upset over for anyways...although it did look really good'.
It was only after that they had finished eating that the children settled down on the ground and entertained themselves with small games.
One by one they began to feel the drowsy effects of the early afternoon and started taking comfort near the princess or the treasure hunter.
The princess was casually massaging her neck and Inuyasha noticed a large, dark bruise on the underside of her forearm.
He narrowed his eyes slightly towards it, 'She shouldn't have to be covered in bruises such as those, after all is she not the princess? Her people should protect her...not force her to fight.'
"Why do you do it?".
The princess turned to face him for a second and then turned away, staring towards the grassy plains once more.
"I beg your pardon?"
“I said why do you do it?”
“I have no understanding of what you are trying to imply stranger?”, she replied.
“This fighting…these so called traditions of yours. Why do you enforce them on your people?”.
“Not this argument again”.
“Yes this argument again…because the first time you didn’t even answer me damn it”, he nearly yelled.
“Lower your voice stranger, remember that the little ones are sleeping”, she hissed as silently as she could, so as to not rouse the young children sleeping near them.
He snorted through his nose.
“As to the answer of your question…I do not enforce these laws in my people. The traditions of this village were made by my great grandfather, for he saw fit to it the ways of our culture. My father followed the same laws, and so shall the rest of the villagers and I do so until the next generation hereafter”.
“Yeah, but can’t you change them…I mean that is why you’re their leader isn’t it?”
“I can not change the laws of our village, only a king may do so”, she stated calmly while she stroked the fine hairs on the kitsune’s scalp gently.
“Then get him to change your laws then”, he growled as low as he could without wanting to stir the children sleeping near his legs.
He noticed that she stiffened in her posture and bit the bottom on her lip in a worried fashion.
“That is not a possibility”, she nearly whispered.
“Why…would you rather have women submit to men then?”
“No,…it is not that”, her bottom lip began to tremble, “The king…my father…is dead”.
Inuyasha was slightly taken back, ‘Damn it! How could I have forgotten that her father and mother were both killed by Tsubaki. Man I’m such an idiot’.
“I’m…I’m sorry”, he whispered.
“That is all right”, she half choked, then she set the children to the side gently and got up to leave towards the hut.
Inuyasha sighed, ‘What have I done? Now I’ve gone and made her cry. I’m so stupid. STUPID! How can I make her cry like that’.
He hated it when women cried, especially those he knew, even if he hardly knew them at all.
He could smell the saltiness of her tears and a gentle sob escape her mouth before she had composed herself and went inside the hut.
Now he really felt bad. He just had to go and ask her questions that were really none of his damn business, and then he had to go and open up old memories.
‘I don’t even know where my head is anymore’, he silently mused to himself.
He felt one of the younger children of the group scoot closer to him and suddenly felt a strange stirring deep within him.
‘These children…they’re not afraid of me. They trust me. Well…at least I didn’t make any of them cry, I don’t think I could’ve handled it’.
The princess returned after a short while, he couldn’t really tell what her expression was, but he could definitely sense her aura, with deep sorrow and frustration.
“I’m really sorry about that…I had no right to say…”.
She shook her head in a negative fashion, “Let us talk about it later…right now would you mind helping me stir the children. It is time to go and prepare the choco for conching”, she didn’t stare in his direction and instead went about to waking all the children up.
“What is conching?”, his right eyebrow lifted up in curiosity.
“It is the final step in choco making…but if you see for yourself you shall understand what I am trying to mean.”
“All right then”, he would have to see this ‘conching’ for himself. ‘I wonder what it is?’
~~~~
He swore that his arms would fall off at any second, but he just had to offer now didn’t he? He just had to play the gentlemen in front of everybody in the room.
When they had all arrived inside the hut, an enormous blast of cinnamon, sweet vanilla and other spices filled his lungs pleasantly.
It smelled incredibly sweet in the hut and he copied what the children around him were doing as well, taking second and third deep breaths of the sweet air. He could see the surreal, and content looks on all the children’s faces that crowded around the large women currently turning a giant handle.
Each lady took a turn at cranking a large handle, that was connected to two large rollers pushed together and a slick, smooth sheet that rotated over and over again.
The slick sheet kept repeating it’s process of continually going through the two large rollers. There was a clay built oven underneath the rollers and sheet, and a fire was currently being feed by firewood every couple of minutes by one of the women. A dark layer of some sort of substance kept coming through the rollers, only to be squeezed out by a thinner and much finer layer then before, only to go through the process once more.
“We have found that we need to knead the choco paste into a very fine layer, because if we do not it is too gritty and bitter. What the village women are doing right now is what we call conching. It is very hard work to make choco and it takes a great deal of patience”, the princess explained all this to the general who was just staring at the whole process with awe.
The princess couldn’t help but smile at his fascination, he had the same expression as the other children in the room had as well, for they too have never seen the process of making choco until today.
“Allow me to take a turn, for you must surely be sore by now”, she had offered the large lady who had her brown village dress soaked in sweat, and wisps of hair escaping from her once neatly tied up bun.
“Thank you princess. One of us will take your turn when you wish to stop”, the large lady bowed politely, and went outside for some fresh air.
“Thank you”, the princess replied before she grabbed the big handle and started rotating it semi-clockwise just as the other lady had been doing.
She had been only rotating it for about fifteen minutes when the general offered to take over her spot.
She stated that she was fine and that she could go on for another couple of minutes, but he didn’t want to hear any of it and told her to give the handle to him.
If there weren’t any children that were currently becoming disinterested and fussy at the moment she would of protested. But it was her duty to watch over the children today and she couldn’t well let them start running around just because they were bored.
“All right then, but if you grow tired you can stop and let one of the stronger ladies take over for you”, she lightly mocked.
He snorted through his nose, not liking the tone that she was using with him.
“I’m sure I can handle it. How hard can it be anyway?”, he gave her a smirk before he took the handle with his two hands.
“All right then if you say so…we shall see you in a bit then. I will just be taking the children outside for a walk”, she indicated the children to follow her outside the hut, tossing over her shoulder for him not to hurt himself while they were gone.
“Keh”, he mumbled back, ‘We’ll just see who has the last laugh in the end.’
And that’s how he got to the point of where his arms felt like they were going to fall off any second.
He had only done it because even though he knew that the princess was the strongest one in the village, she just seemed so tiny and fragile when she was turning the handle, compared to the bigger women that had been turning it before her.
Sure it was bad of him to think that, and he couldn’t well voice it or he might humiliate the princess or the large women themselves, so he just offered to take over for her without a fuss.
But that was well over an hour ago and he was still turning the big handle.
The four large ladies that had taken a small break had come back only to watch in fascination at the newcomer work with much determination. Two of them even started giggling with each other and whispering things that he’d rather not hear, for fear of finding out their perverted thoughts.
“He is so handsome looking”.
“He has a lot of strength, and his arms…how I wish they were wrapped around me instead”.
“Did you catch what his name was…I’m not even sure if I heard him state it”.
“Ladies…stop gossiping I think he can hear us with those ears of his”.
The ladies all became silent as they watched the man that was currently rotating the handle in such a irresistible manner.
A light sheen of sweet coated his brow, and one drop of his own perspiration rolled down the side of his face and just under his chin, where it dangled for a second or so until it fell on the clay, paved floor.
The princess arrived afterwards with a flush on her cheeks and smiling. The children came busting around her talking excitedly of all the great games they had just played.
Seeing the princess in such a manner with a beautiful hue to her cheeks made him perspire more. She was definitely a sight to behold when she wasn’t biting people’s heads off that is.
She took one look at the newcomer who was still rotating the handle with as much determination and energy as he started, and almost gasped out loud.
‘There is no way he could have been conching the choco paste the entire time we were gone…there is no way’.
Inuyasha smirked in her direction, “Is there something the matter princess”, he replied coolly.
She closed her slightly parted mouth quickly and crossed her arms.
“Truth be told, I am just surprised to see you still at it stranger”.
“Keh, this is more like a vacation for me”.
‘Actually his arms were screaming for a much needed rest at the moment, but he would rather ignore the soreness he was feeling just so he could show the princess that he really could do this.
She stepped closer to where he was, “You will tire yourself out soon”, she sang in a mocking tune.
He ignored her and concentrated on his task at hand. If he focused himself then he could finish the rest of the conching process on his own without letting the other women tire themselves out, so long as he droned out the princess’s teasing.
“You women have must have it hard if the process takes this long to make”, he huffed.
One of the larger women blushed while she responded to the handsome man’s response, “It may take some effort, but it is well worth the process”.
The princess noticed the lady’s blush but didn’t comment on it, and instead placed her attention on the younger ones whom were hungry once more.
Inuyasha saw her leave with the children once more and became slightly disinterested in turning the handle, he was just doing it to prove her wrong.
He was about to give his turn to one of the nearby ladies were watching him with interest, when she quickly came back inside the hut.
“I shall be outside with the little ones for a bit again…come and tell me if the newcomer faints from exhaustion”, she smirked in Inuyasha’s direction before she ran back out again.
“Why that little…”, he growled audibly to himself.
The women chuckled, thinking that she was only teasing the handsome newcomer and not being serious at all.
‘I’ll show her who’s the one that’s gonna faint once I’m done with this’.
~~~~~~~~~
“Go treasure hunter!”.
“Yeah you can do it !”
“Just an itsy bitsy more Mr. Treasure hunter”.
The children were cheering for the general who was almost done conching the cocoa into a fine sheet of soft choco.
The said man’s right eyebrow began to twitch in slight irritation, not from the soreness of his arms…but of the nickname that the children had given him.
‘Treasure Hunter?’
The princess had her arms cross and was just standing there looking displeased or irritated he wasn’t sure which one exactly, but he definitely was trying hard not to rub it in her face.
He felt encouraged by the children, they were all cheering him on with a lot of enthusiasm and energy that he himself pushed the last of his strength into turning the handle a couple more times.
The ladies had informed him that the conching process was finished and set about to scraping off the fine material from the slick sheet attached to the incredibly large, heavy rollers.
Inuyasha huffed for air as he examined his sore hands, ‘Boy what a workout! I’m going to need to take care of these blisters though’.
There were large red welts on his rough, calloused hands and when he touched one it stung a bit.
“My my, ye should go and put something on it before it becomes infected”, a large lady with a slightly piggish nose and with beady eyes, informed.
“Yeah…um I’ll just go and wash up”, he shrugged as if it weren’t a big deal.
‘They don’t have to care…its not like it hurts anyway. And besides I proved the princess wrong too. The wench’, he huffed as he headed round the back of the hut to pour some cold water on his blisters.
~~~~
He drew back a small amount of air through his teeth when he immersed his hands into the cold water.
‘Damn it that fucken hurts’, he silently mused as he gritted his teeth hard.
“You should of not have done that”.
Inuyasha glanced behind his shoulder at the girl was approaching him from behind.
“Says who?”, he replied defiantly.
“I do…those blisters of yours will only become worse now”, she took one of his hands out of the water.
A bolt of electricity shot through his being at her mere touch and he fought the oncoming blush that was tempting its way across his face.
“What the heck are you doing?”, he snapped and pulled back his hand from her grasp.
“What does it look like…I am bandaging it up for you”, she held up some white bandages for him to see.
“I don’t need them’, he huffed.
“Quit trying to act so tough”, she gently replied and took his hand once more into her own two and began to swiftly tie the bandages around his hand.
He blushed a shade of red when he realized how close they actually were, and then he blushed another darker shade of red when he let the realization sink in that she was actually touching him.
“Why are you doing this for me anyway”, he mumbled softly.
“Because it is my way of saying thank you for finishing up the rest of the conching process”, she began to tie the other hand with bandages as well.
“Keh”, he looked away blushing.
She giggled softly and when she had finished wrapping up his hands she slapped the backside of his hand playfully.
“Now the next time you think that you are going to show off, do not do it when the little ones are around all right. For you are showing them a bad example”, she giggled and spun on her heels, leaving the treasure hunter to gawk behind her.
“Heh, like I was showing off!”, he reasoned with himself that he wasn’t that he was just trying to prove a point with her. But the more he thought about it on his way inside the hut, the more it seemed that he was in fact showing off as the princess had put it.
‘But at least she was nice to me for being an idiot’, he took a quick glance of her handiwork before he stepped foot inside the hut.
The children were already settled around a table waiting patiently for one of the ladies to hand them a piece of thick piece of rice paper each.
As soon as he neared the group, one of the children, a small boy with hair tied into a small braid, pulled the treasure hunter to his side of the table where Shippo and some others who had taken a great liking to the said man.
He settled onto the floor in between the children and was given a piece of thick rice paper of his own.
“We figured after all the hard work you put into making this choco, you deserve a little bit too”, the princess gave him a big, toothy smile.
‘Oh she’s mocking me again…I just know it’.
She smirked before she turned and left to help the other women, at the larger table near an open window, with making choco for the village people.
The children around Inuyasha began to scope up some of the choco in heaps onto their rice paper. Many of them began to make shapes in all different sizes and some ate the choco as they went along trying to make a design.
Inuyasha scrunched his brow in concentration for a moment until he finally decided of what to make his choco out of. He was surprised to find it tasted exactly as the same mysterious sweet the princess herself had given him on the last day he was in the forest lost.
He turned to look at the princess who was busy wrapping up another white parcel. She was beautiful, witty and strong and he couldn’t deny that her anger also made her seem cute somehow, what with the rosy flush of her cheeks and the spike in her scent.
After a moment of gazing at her graceful form, he shook his head mentally and looked away abruptly. ‘I shouldn’t be thinking of these things…I could get into a lot of trouble for it later.’
Excitement broke out amongst the children when they had finished with their small projects. Each one examined the other’s next to them and then took giant bites out of the delicious tasting sweet, that had taken a great chunk out of their time today.
“Inuyasha what is yours suppose to be? Mine’s a big sun”, Shippo peered curiously at the man’s design next to him.
“It’s a sword”, the general took the said item in his hand and pretended to stab at his mouth as if it were a formidable foe and took a big bite out of it when it went past his lips.
The group of children squealed in excitement and then pretended that their pieces of choco were weapons as well, even if some of their designs were actually teddy bears and flowers.
‘Such hard work for something so simple…and yet’, he looked at the young faces that looked up to him for the moment, ’ it was all worth it…just for them.
The women began to leave one by one until there was only one lady with long, fiery red hair, large brown hazel orbs, and soft features who cleaned the remaining things up and readied the children for their trip home.
The children whined when they were told that they were to be taken home because it was close to their last meal of the day. None of the little ones wanted to go home, not after they had made an interesting, new friend and had lots of fun playing.
The princess chuckled when one of them, a little boy with dots across his face and down his neck and shoulders, clung onto the treasure hunter’s legs as if it were his only lifeline of escape from being sent home.
Inuyasha looked at a lost for a moment, until he grinned mischievously and began to play the dragging game with the boy still wrapped around his leg.
The other children found the new game interesting between the two and began to crowd around the hanyou excitedly, talking all at once that they too wanted a turn.
The General lightly sweat dropped, ‘Great…now what?’
“Seems like you have your hands full…I mean legs”, the princess replied with a grin when she exited the hut.
Inuyasha crossed his arms and snorted in her response.
“Thank you for all your help today lady Kanisha, without the help of the women as well as yours today I would have been at a loss”, the princess bowed politely to the red haired women.
“Nay, the pleasure was all mine. Please do send my regards to the Lady Kaede and tell her I shall stop by tomorrow for a cup of tea”, Lady Kanisha bowed politely in return and left towards the village.
When the women had left, Kagome turned towards the newcomer dressed in the traditional dark clothing of the hunters in the village.
“Would you care to accompany me to each of the children’s homes, it would be nice if you become acquainted with some of the people of this village. Or would you rather be off now…you must be incredibly tired now after a long day?”.
“No, I don’t have much to do so I’ll tag along if you don’t mind princess”, Inuyasha picked up a child that was wanting some attention, and hefted him onto his shoulders.
“Thank you so much for everything stranger. I really do appreciate all you have done for me today”, the princess readjusted the basket she was carrying in her hand and onto the crook of her arm.
“It was nothing”, he shrugged.
The princess chuckled and turned back to look at the children who were slowly dragging their feet with sullen looks on their faces.
“What is wrong children?”, she bent to pick one of them up who looked close to tears, and with a chocolate covered cheeks.
“I don wanna go home”, he replied innocently, with pouty lips and puppy dog eyes that it made the princess want to hug him for being so adorable.
“But do you not want to show your mama and papa your adventures today?”.
Some of the children behind the boy brightened up and started nodding excitedly, but the boy with the adorable puppy dog look shook his head in a negative fashion.
“Why not?”, she replied gently.
For a moment Inuyasha almost believed that she was speaking with her son, what with the way she was talking so sweetly and gently towards the small child.
He snorted at his own stupid, irrational thoughts and focused on how he could probably help out in the situation instead.
“Becauth”, he sniffed.
“Because why”, she smoothed out his hear in an affectionate, motherly way when a child was upset over something.
“Becauth my mama and papa don wanna play with me. They think I’m too little and don have time fo me. I wanna stay with you princesth and Mr. Treasthure hunter.”
“Come on kid I bet your parents want you home now. Besides there’s always another day that we can all hang out again”.
He couldn’t believe what he was saying, and even the princess turned to look at him.
‘Why would I even want to spend time again with a bunch of kids when I got things to do around here. But still it wouldn’t be so bad, they can actually be a lot of fun. I guess’.
“Really?”, the boy’s face suddenly brightened up. “Okay then…I will go home only if Mr.Treasthure hunter can carry me”, he waved his hands excitedly.
Inuyasha sighed, looking for a moment as if he were about to protest, but then he glanced down at the brown haired boy’s innocent look and just gave in.
“All right then, but hold on tight”, he hefted the child onto his other shoulder.
The two children that were happily riding onto of the general’s shoulders squealed with excitement.
The princess chuckled, “Wow, they really adore you”.
“Keh”, inuyasha replied as his cheeks turned a hue of red.
“And everyone really enjoyed the way the choco had turned out”.
“Heh of course! I helped make it didn’t I?”, he replied smugly.
“Yes and the blame shall be on you if anyone becomes sick. Okay”.
“Oh you’re just asking for it aren’t you?”, he snorted.
“Whatever do you mean stranger?”, she feigned innocence.
“Forget it”, he nearly growled and shrugged his shoulders slightly so the children riding on each side of his neck could stay on comfortably.
The princess giggled softy to herself, “ I was only teasing stranger. No need to take the matter seriously”.
“I wasn’t”, he huffed, and continued to look straight ahead of him in a serious manner.
The girl next to him dressed in a beautiful light pink cheongsam, fitting to her every feminine curves remained quiet for the remaining short trip back into the village, only speaking to the children next to her every so often.
It wasn’t until they had passed the village entrance that the princess noticed something very odd in the stranger’s hair.
At the very top of his hair there were three sets of brown hand prints.
She couldn’t figure out why in the world their were three sets? Two she could understand quiet clearly for their were two children on his shoulders, but the third…they seemed a lot bigger, too big to belong to one of the children.
“Um…stranger”, she began.
He turned to look at her with a questioning gaze and then frowned when she began to bite her lip, procrastinating the moment with what she was intending to say to him.
“What is it”, he asked in a bored, monotone voice and then looked away once more.
“Nothing…its nothing”.
‘I better not tell him, he might upset the children. Besides it is quiet funny to see those cute, small hand prints in that mane of his.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Yeah! Another chappie done… and sorry for the long, overdue wait. I’ve been receiving a lot of strange threatening emails too, but here it is finally. And I’ll try not to let that much length in time happen in between each chapter...it so destroys the mood. Hope you all enjoy and please review…please with choco covered cheeks and a cute puppy dog face (lips slightly trembling)
Love ya all!!!!!
Definitions.
Shinai– wooden sticks, similar to swords, that are used in Kendo… (I wanted to use the word Bokken, but I figured this is more descriptive)
Choco– well I was gonna use chocolate’ but figured uhh..well that was discovered by the spaniards.
Well good bye everyone and thanks to all those who have reviewed thus so far you all are an amazing inspiration.
~~~~Blessings~~~~
Babydragon
< br>
www.animevengeance.net and then go to the forums and there should be a post called fanart and hit that and it shall be the one called Babydragon’s showcase. Love you all!! And once more..so sorry about this ugly problem..even i was shocked about it.
Disclaimer: "I own Inuyasha I own Inuyasha". (suddenly hears a sudden knock on the door...and out of curiosity goes and opens it)
"Excuse me there, are you miss. Babydragon".
"Uh...ye--es".
"Come with us"
"Who me", points to myself innocently, "Why?", I question the tall men dressed in black.
"Because it has been brought to our attention that you Miss, Babydragon has been caught plagerising the wonderful work of Rumiko Takahashi herself, and it is unacceptable."
"Oh...really so she does own pitasha?"
"Come again?", the tall agent with a pair of dark sunglasses stares at me in confusion.
"Pitasha...its a type of...blue fruit...yes very rare. This blue fruit. He he he", I respond nervously.
One of the agents dressed in black look at me as if I am crazy.
"Look, I have a story to write here, so if we're done talking could you please leave?"
Still continue to look at me as if I'm nuts.
"Okay, okay. I don't own Inuyasha. Rumiko does. But I do own Pitasha, this blue fruit", I hold up a red apple.
"Riii--gh--t. Men let's move out, obviously this girl has completely lost it", the three agents turn around and leave.
"Wait come back it really is blue...Oh not this one…oops its just an apple…now where did I leave Pitasha?"
"Oh well...now on with the story".
Chapter 8~~~~~TRADITION
The news of Bankotsu and the Princess' battle spread like a wild fire throughout the entire week. Everywhere the General went he heard many rumors of them being the perfect match for each other, and how this battle was sure to be victorious. It seemed that every time he heard something that related to the Princess and Bankotsu, he just couldn't handle it and would get up and leave presence of the one whom was speaking. One particular elderly lady had even gasped in surprise when she opened her eyes after telling her little speech, only to find herself speaking to no one in particular.
He didn't know why he had been acting the way he had. There was no word to what he was feeling, and he himself knew it was something he could neither explain nor understand. It just nerved him to no end to hear that the Princess herself had to fight with someone, he just couldn't accept the fact that they made women submit to men so easily in this village.
'Whatever, it's not like I care anyway. I'm just going to find the damn treasure and get the hell out of here as soon as I can. I don't want to be here anymore', he huffed to himself. Even though he had to admit that it was actually quiet nice living in a place such as this village...where nobody was a total pain in the ass about differences between humans and demons.
He sighed as he took a moment to look at his surrounding area. Walking slowly towards a slope that overlooked a large plain, he scanned far into the grassy area below carefully. In the middle of the plain there was an enormous arena, with a vast number of the villagers surrounding it. The arena was white, covered with large mats for less damage to the fighters and for better foot grip.
The general stood and watched the two opponents that were just beginning the battle right after a short man in traditional, violet robes stepped off of the stadium in a dash.
Bankotsu was the first to make his move. He had shot forward with quick, practiced speed and raised his shinai at the last moment, then brought it back down with such force that the stick almost split in half. The princess held her ground firmly and shook off the convulsion the impact had caused quickly, and with a backflip, she kicked her opponent on the underside of his chin.
The warrior dressed in white clothing and without his blue armor stumbled back slightly, but before he fell he placed a hand onto the floor and pushed himself back onto his feet.
Inuyasha could clearly see the fine line of sweat forming onto the man's brow from his position, and he could even tell that at the moment Bankotsu was frowning towards the opponent in front of him. He shot forward once more and drove his weapon hard to the left. The warrior then made a quick series of movements with his shinai, after the princess had easily dodged his side hit. She made quick movements with her own weapon as well, always dodging every thrust or side swing that he threw at her.
At one point Bankotsu had to stop and take a couple of deep breaths, before he shot forward once again with a lot more determination then before. A sharp slap of wood against wood rang through the air and the two pushed back against each other with equal amount of strength.
Bankotsu then pushed down hard against the beautiful, yet deadly princess and made her stumble back slightly. At the mere point of her distraction in trying to regain her balance he raised his weapon and swung it down hard, sending her shinai sword flying through the air and into the anxious crowd.
The crowd of men cheered as well as some of the village women, knowing that the warrior Bankotsu was closer to being victorious in his battle against the princess. The elders that were on the sidelines, a space reserved only for the high elders of the village, kept stoic and expressionless faces as they observed the battle before them. Inuyasha bit the side of his lip out of nervousness, he wasn't sure why, but the idea of the princess being close to defeat just didn't settle right with him.
'This is not good. Now what am I going to do without my weapon? He's being a lot more aggressive than before now too', the warrioress dressed in her traditional, huntress' clothing frowned at her own problem at hand.
A low laugh met her ears, and a dark glint of satisfaction flashed in his eyes before Bankotsu was running towards her a full speed.
'Whatever happens...I must not lose this battle', she stood in a ready attack posture.
A sharp pain shot through her arm when she raised it up in defense, but she didn't let it stop her as she swept one of her legs underneath him and used the other one to kick him hard in the stomach.
He flew back a couple feet, rolling on the stage blindly and towards the edge. He dug his heels into the mats and flipped through the air towards her, one arm outstretched in his last attempt to take off her mask.
She bent at the waist and flipped, placing both her feet right into his stomach and sending the warrior flying straight through the air and a couple feet away from the arena.
The crowd went dead silent in that moment. The battle was over.
Bankotsu got up on his feet slowly, wiping at the bit of blood that had dripped down his chin, from the left corner of his mouth.
The princess doubled over slightly gasping for breath as the warrior in white she had known for a long time now, slowly approached her.
When he was within a couple of feet in front of her, he bowed politely, and avoided any eye contact with her.
She bowed in return as well, and when they had both composed themselves one of the elder priests in the violet robes walked over towards the two. The elder with long white hair and an amazingly, long white beard was going to make a speech about the honorable fight that had just passed, even though there was no victory. The elder had cleared his throat and was about to begin, when the princess turned away from him and walked straight away from the arena, and the surprised crowd.
The elder was left nervously clearing his throat, and making reasonable excuses for the princess's abrupt departure. Bankotsu crossed his arms and looked away from the on looking crowd, disappointment and anger clearly displayed on his features.
Up on the slope, Inuyasha stared at the scene both in confusion and with relief. Even though many had expected their battle to be victorious, he was somewhat amazed that it was not, and even more surprised when the princess herself had just suddenly left. The last look on her face that he had managed to catch had baffled him none the less.
'If she had cared for him so much, such as the villagers assumed she did, then why didn't she let him win?...Why in the world was she crying ?'
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nightfall approached quickly. Many went about their tasks for the day, whispering every so often about the princess and the battle that took place earlier on. A few had been , thinking that Bankotsu as great as a warrior himself, would of made a fine choice as their next king. Others that were envious of his close relation with the princess found it a relief that he had lost to her, giving them a chance to challenge the princess later on.
The princess herself was nowhere to be found at the moment, and many assumed that she was probably somewhere in the great forests taking time to herself. No one really worried for her, they more in fact felt sorry for her at the moment, as someone with a great responsibility she herself had it hard in life. The villagers left her in peace for the moment, before they all began to jump to conclusions and sent search parties after her. As for Bankotsu himself, he received a few glares from some of the villagers, they believe that he had been too rough during the battle, others scorned at him for his envious position, and a large number had given him a firm pat on the back for a 'better luck next time'.
The hunters of the village had gathered at the dinner hall, like many seemed to do every night. Inuyasha was amongst them, keeping mostly to himself as he watched the others, especially Bankotsu, drink the night away.
"He's drunk as hell", Souta mumbled sourly when he took a seat right next to the general.
"Feh, tell me about it", Inuyasha mumbled under his breath. The general then proceeded to lift a cup of sake to his lips, but then took one sniff of it and set it back down again.
Souta chuckled a bit when he saw the sour face cross the general's features. "Don't like the smell of it I see?"
"Nah...just changed my mind about drinking it, that's all", he set the cup aside.
"Well...if that's your excuse then".
Inuyasha decided not to comment on that and instead focused his attention to the one warrior dressed in white, sitting across the room and drinking heavily.
"I wish [hiccup*] I had....a li--ttle birdie...that I could pet and name it [hiccup*] Go-rd-y, and cuddle it with hugs", Bankotsu sang to everyone around him, while he took another swig of sake from a large jug, which he held in his hand.
"He's taking the loss pretty badly, if you ask me", Jakotsu, the odd looking man stated as he sat in between Souta and Inuyasha.
Inuyasha flinched slightly when the man next to him gave him a broad, sly grin. It sent chills down his spine and he moved slightly away from the creepy guy.
"Someone should take the jug of sake away from him. He's making a scene and a complete fool of himself", Souta huffed, completely oblivious to the odd man dressed in feminine clothing next to him eyeing Inuyasha.
One of Bankotsu's men, dressed in dark hunter's clothing and with big bulky arms, reached out in an attempt to swipe the jug away from the said man.
"No. NO...no touchy...my baby...no. No...touchy!", he slapped unmercifully at the warrior's hand.
"I guess this is a good thing then that he didn't win", Souta mumbled quietly to himself.
"And if he did", Inuyasha asked, hearing the young man beside him speak low as if to himself.
"Are you speaking to me?", Jakotsu chirped happily.
"No!", the general huffed, "If you don't mind I'd like some privacy...and quit acting like that, you're creeping me out!".
Jakotsu's face become sullen for just a mere moment until he spotted a group of hunters walking through the front entrance. Jumping up excitedly, he ran towards the young group of hunters with an enormous smile on his face once more.
Inuyasha sighed in relief, glad to have that creepy guy away from him. He noticed the group of young men enter the dinner hall talking excitedly about an intense game they had during the day. But what caught his attention more was the flash of white clothing that had sneaked behind one of the pillars.
He smirked to himself when he saw a dazzling pair of adamant eyes peek around the pillar.
'So she came'.
Souta was still frowning towards the drunken warrior and his attention was mainly focused on him.
The said drunken warrior had even began to climb on top of one of the tables and began dancing while he sang an unknown tune loudly.
"That's it!", Souta boomed as he rose up from off his seat and marched over to where the drunken warrior was dancing.
"And the bur-dies say [hiccup*]..say [hiccup*]..say [hiccup*]"
"That's enough Bankotsu", Souta snorted before he pried the jar of sake away from the drunkard's hands and knocked him upside the head with it.
"Sooo-taaa", Bankotsu half whispered half giggled as if it were all a joke to him, before he collapsed onto the floor unconscious.
Inuyasha took the moment of distraction to sneak away from his table unnoticed, hoping to catch up to the princess before she disappeared again.
~~
There was a small trace of tears still lingering in the air when he walked out of the dinner hall. It was easy enough to follow her sweet scent as well through the passageways and routes, the rose petal and honeysuckle smell was a dead giveaway against the foresty scent in the village.
He spotted her quickly as she was nearing a bend and he ran to catch up to her quick, set pace.
"Hey!", he voiced when she didn't indicate that she noticed him beside her.
He noticed her stiffen and set off at an even more rapid pace, trying to lose the one that was following her at the moment.
"Wait...stop will you!", he growled as he reached out for her arm and grabbed it when she didn't slow down.
She gasped in pain and he quickly caught on to what he had done so he let her arm go.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to", he held up his hands innocently in front of him.
"It is all right", she massaged her bruised arm gently.
"Look, I don't mean to be nosy or anything, but what's with you...don't you care for him. I mean...shouldn't you go and talk to him, the guy's really taking it bad", he folded his arms in a signature fashion.
"Humph! Why should I take advice from you? Besides he is drunk and shall not listen to reason...and as you have stated, it really is none of your business", she spun on her heels and began her brisk pace once more.
"Hey I'm not done here yet...wench", he stormed after her once more.
"Now what is it?", she stopped as abruptly as she took off.
"I got a bone to pick with you! It's your stupid traditions, that's what! Why do you allow women to participate in combat. Isn't that going just a little overboard?".
"You are not from around here stranger, so I do not expect you to understand the meaning of our traditions".
"Understand?...heh, like hell. I understand perfectly well that you women are forced into battle, and against your will. What I don't get is that none of you do anything about it, you all just seem to go along with it and then get beat up for it."
"Is that how you view it all stranger?...Typical", she huffed, spun around once more and set off quickly.
His left eyebrow began to twitch in irritation, ' The wench!...Well she's not getting away from me that easily', he ran after her.
"You have a rude tendency to walk away from people when they're speaking", The general snapped.
"Oh, you were not done talking?", she replied sarcastically, and stopped in her tracks.
"Yeah, I'm not done", he ignored her sarcasm, "You're fucken hurt and need medical attention. You can't just be walking around like that!", he pointed towards her slightly cut arm, that wasn't bleeding but still needed treatment before infection seeped its way in.
She took a step back, surprised by his rude, yet worried tone.
"I am a princess of my people, I do not succumb to pain that easily".
"I don't care if you're the strongest being on earth! Those wounds right there have slight trace of infection in them already, and if you don't get proper treatment right now you're not going to use that arm of yours ever again", he snorted through his nose.
She looked the open wounds in her arms in worry, and then looked back up to the man standing in front of her.
"Fine! I do not know how it is that you know of this, but I shall take your word for it. So if we are done here...then I bid you good night stranger", she stated with as much irritation as she could towards the stranger, before she bounded through the village.
He was about to comeback with a witty remark, but decided against it.
She was way too difficult to talk to tonight, and provoking her was not something he wanted to do at the moment.
With one last look towards the direction in which the princess had left, he quickly walked at a brisk pace back to his hut.
'She didn't even answer my question, she just avoided it. Just what in the hell does she feel towards the guy anyway? Does she care for him like everyone thought? Feh, whatever...I got more important things to do that worry about some dumb, little bitch.'
He reached the front steps towards his hut and was about to go in, when he looked back towards the evening sky, lightly misted with the evidence of stars that were bound to glow stronger with the residing darkness over the land.
'But her aura...did seem terribly sad though', he shook his head to clear the image of a heavy burdened princess from his mind, and entered into the spacious hut.
~~~~~
It was early morning when the general woke from his light sleep. The first minute that dawn broke over the tall mountains in the far distance, he rose up from his futon and set about to preparing himself for another day in searching for the treasure.
Just when he was walking in the outer parts of the village, he noticed Bankotsu walking towards the forest with a group of men, looking sullen and depressed.
It wasn't as if he disliked the guy, and he did feel really bad for him. But heck, what could he do? It's not like he really cared, not especially since he had been the cause to some of the bruises the princess wore.
'Speaking of which...', he noticed that the same girl he had been thinking about all last night and early this morning, was at the moment approaching up towards the hill that he was currently standing on.
She was wearing a light pink, cheongsam dress, that ended an inch above the knees. It molded onto her every curve, and he couldn't help but notice that she indeed have an amazing, looking body. Her supple frame distracted him for a mild second, and he forgot at the moment that he was openly staring at her advancing form.
His small reverie was broken when he heard bouts of childish laughter and uncontrolled giggling that surrounded her.
She looked lively and full of energy as she came even closer. The small group of children then decided to race up the rest of the small hill, and she too joined in on their little game.
"Children wait up. I cannot carry all of these myself", she laughed the entire time up the hill.
The first child to arrive up the hill was none other than the all familiar kitsune Inuyasha had saved long ago.
"Inuyasha!", the kitsune hopped onto his shoulder playfully and out of breath.
"Hey kid...where have you been?"
"With the princess", he nodded his head towards the girl that had just reached the top of the hill with the remaining children.
There were still small cuts and bruises on her arms and legs, but for some reason they seemed to be fading fast.
"What are you doing all the way up here Inuyasha?".
"Just searching".
"For whaaaat?", another child beamed up at him brightly.
"A treasure", he replied secretively.
"Wow!", many of the younger children gasped and started talking amongst themselves excitedly.
"Princess", Inuyasha nodded his head towards her in a formal gesture.
"Seems as if you have the little ones excited now", she smiled.
He was slightly taken back by her gentle manner that it made his heart speed up a bit, he was so use to the spitting rage that she bestowed only upon him.
"Come along now children. We have a lot of work ahead of us if you want choco".
"Yeay! choco", the children squealed in contempt, forgetting about the treasure that had mildly distracted them from their yummy surprise.
"Inuyasha do you want to come and make choco with us?", Shippo had hopped down from his shoulder and tugged on his pants, while looking up at him with big, innocent eyes.
" come with us Mr. Treasure man", another child with short, brown hair added.
"It's not that easy", he mumbled, trying to resist their cute and innocent looks. He then turned towards the princess for any sign or indication of his next move.
"If you are not busy stranger, then please I bid you to join us", she stated and began to walk away towards the village.
"See...she said it was all right", a small girl with pigtails pulled on his pants for him to get moving.
"All right then", he sighed, 'Guess I couldn't escape this one', he half smiled and quickly walked up to where the princess was walking.
"Thanks for the invitation".
"It is nothing, besides...the children are a hand full and I will be needing some assistance", she smirked towards him.
He narrowed his eyes comically, 'Is this why she isn't bothered with me coming...just so I can be her work slave?'
The princess noticed the sour look that crossed his features before she burst out giggling. Without her notice, one of the items that she was holding in her arms began to slip out of her grasp and fell to the floor.
With quick movement, Inuyasha caught the item in mid air and before it touched the ground.
"Thank you", she blushed slightly by her mere moment of clumsiness.
"Just what is this?", he asked curiously, eyeing her cute blush that stained her soft ivory cheeks.
"They are fruits called cocoa pods and inside are these beans that we shall be making choco out of".
"I see...", he took a moment to study the reddish-brown looking fruit in his hand. It was oddly shaped, almost like a squash and it had a rough leathery texture to it. He took a sniff of it and noticed it had a sweet, musty smell to it.
'I know I've smelled this before...but where?'
"Interesting are they not?"
"Heh", he shrugged. "Here let me take some more of these...it looks like you got your hands full anyway", he indicated towards the children surrounding them and began plucking some of the strange looking pods from her arms.
She smiled up at him, but he tried to avoid the alluring smile she gave to him out of gratitude, and set to looking straight ahead of him with a frown.
"Maybe if you are a really big help...the children just might consider sharing a piece with you", she giggled.
"Are you mocking me", he huffed, looking slightly amused. 'She looks really pretty when she smiles...and those adamant eyes she has on her mask really do bring out her beauty.'
"My...if I was mocking you, then I think you would know", she smirked and walked a few paces ahead of him.
"Funny...very funny".
~~~~~
They all sat under a shady tree as the sun in the sky began to rise higher. The temperature was relatively warmer than usual and there were a couple of groans that escaped from the children every so often when they wanted something refreshing to drink.
At the moment the children were all in small groups of two or three and trying to open each pod with a small wooden mallet.
Inuyasha got frustrated after a while with the dinky mallet, and set it to the side. He then picked up an unopen pod and used his sharp claws to cut open the pod quicker and easier.
Some of the children stopped in their work only to 'ooh' and 'ahh' at the general's quick abilities to open the cocoa pods faster.
"Children it is not appropriate to gawk at someone who is intentionally showing off", the princess replied in a sing song voice and with a mocking tune behind it.
She then got up with a basket already filled with the cocoa beans, and headed towards a small cooking hut .
"I was not showing off", he huffed behind her retreating form.
Even when she returned from the hut and sat back down near the trunk of the tree, he was still glaring accusingly at her.
She acted as if he wasn't there, and he was pretty sure he was right even if he couldn't see the expression in her eyes, as she sat comfortably in the lush grass and removed her wooden sandals, placing them to the side.
He clicked his tongue against his teeth in irritation and began slicing the pods once more with the dinky wooden mallet.
'I'll show her that I wasn't showing off'.
She giggled so softly, that he almost missed it in his mild state of irritation, and he at once forgot about what he was pissed off with her to begin with.
When all the beans were removed from the pods, the baskets were then taken into the hut, where a small group of heavy looking women set to cleaning and crushing them to pieces.
Inuyasha watched in mild fascination for a mere second till he was 'shooed' away from the hut by one of the women and informed to go and wash up for his midday meal.
He snorted slightly through his nose when he was ordered by a woman to leave the interesting activity going on inside the hut. But then he thought that it was a good idea considering his stomach began to churn at the mere mention of food.
The children were washing near a large, wooden basin. Each child set about to washing their tiny hands with light colored, scented soaps and splashing each other a bit in amusement or creating bubbles that would then pop at the mere warm pressure of their curious hands.
Inuyasha chuckled to himself when a little girl also used the soap to make a fake beard on her chin made from bubbles.
'Their joy and laughter is just so innocent'.
When they had dried off, they walked back under the shaded tree that had a large blanket already set up with various dishes of freshly sliced fruit, and sandwiches.
The children gathered around the food and each one took a helping to some fresh fruit and other delicious snacks.
Just before they were about to dig in on the feast, each child and the princess herself, closed their eyes and bowed their heads for a moment of silence.
'Even the children do what the adults do...but what is the significance of all of this', he himself bowed his head out of respect for their mysterious custom, but his eyes remained open and observant.
When the quiet moment had passed each one opened their eyes and began to hungrily devour the food right in front of them.
The princess was silently munching on a piece of plum, looking pensive and deep in thought.
Shippo had stuffed almost an entire sandwich in his mouth when he poked Inuyasha in the side to grab his attention towards him.
"Fy...wur yu feekum furin fanful fime?", the kitsune replied with a mouth full of food.
"Huh?", the general raised an eyebrow in question as to what the kitsune was trying to mean.
Shippo managed to swallow the food after a quick chew, "I said why were you peeking during thankful time. I saw you...and you were peeking", he quietly whispered as if he would be caught doing something wrong at any minute.
"You're suppose to keep your two eyes closed and say thank you in your head for everything that you got".
Inuyasha blinked a couple times as he let the information he just received from a small child, probably no older than six, as if he was experienced with a greater knowledge than any elder would ever be.
"Thanks...I'll keep that in mind next time", he whispered back, not wanting to hurt the kit's sense of pride at the moment.
Although he did make a mental note to himself to ask someone who might understand the importance of this moment of silence before a meal.
When everyone had finished the last of their food, the princess went towards the hut and brought back a tray with pieces of delicious looking wagashi, and with large, red strawberries on top of each piece.
She handed the largest slice to him and he took it gratefully.
He set it to the side for the moment, and accepted a cup of fresh milk from one of the large ladies that came from the hut and served everyone with a nutritious beverage, and then went back in.
He sipped at the cool milk slowly, he was never one to drink anything other than tea, water or sake, but he had to admit that the milk that went down his throat; was the best, sweet tasting milk he had ever tried since his youth.
He sighed in contemplation when he realized how good it felt to be free of worries and other disturbances.
It was only when he finished the last drop of his milk and reached for his treat, that his brow began to form into small creases.
'What the?...my wagashi treat...its gone', he stared baffled at his empty wooden plate.
'One of the kids must of taken it...but who?', he stared at each and every single child within a couple feet of him.
They all had cream and red strawberry stains on their faces and hands, but he just didn't have the heart to accuse one of them for stealing his treat.
'Even if I did yell at them...they'll cry and I'll make the princess mad, then I'll be in for it. Besides if I make any of them upset I'll just look like a bad guy and that will make matters worse.'
'Ah well...nothing to get upset over for anyways...although it did look really good'.
It was only after that they had finished eating that the children settled down on the ground and entertained themselves with small games.
One by one they began to feel the drowsy effects of the early afternoon and started taking comfort near the princess or the treasure hunter.
The princess was casually massaging her neck and Inuyasha noticed a large, dark bruise on the underside of her forearm.
He narrowed his eyes slightly towards it, 'She shouldn't have to be covered in bruises such as those, after all is she not the princess? Her people should protect her...not force her to fight.'
"Why do you do it?".
The princess turned to face him for a second and then turned away, staring towards the grassy plains once more.
"I beg your pardon?"
“I said why do you do it?”
“I have no understanding of what you are trying to imply stranger?”, she replied.
“This fighting…these so called traditions of yours. Why do you enforce them on your people?”.
“Not this argument again”.
“Yes this argument again…because the first time you didn’t even answer me damn it”, he nearly yelled.
“Lower your voice stranger, remember that the little ones are sleeping”, she hissed as silently as she could, so as to not rouse the young children sleeping near them.
He snorted through his nose.
“As to the answer of your question…I do not enforce these laws in my people. The traditions of this village were made by my great grandfather, for he saw fit to it the ways of our culture. My father followed the same laws, and so shall the rest of the villagers and I do so until the next generation hereafter”.
“Yeah, but can’t you change them…I mean that is why you’re their leader isn’t it?”
“I can not change the laws of our village, only a king may do so”, she stated calmly while she stroked the fine hairs on the kitsune’s scalp gently.
“Then get him to change your laws then”, he growled as low as he could without wanting to stir the children sleeping near his legs.
He noticed that she stiffened in her posture and bit the bottom on her lip in a worried fashion.
“That is not a possibility”, she nearly whispered.
“Why…would you rather have women submit to men then?”
“No,…it is not that”, her bottom lip began to tremble, “The king…my father…is dead”.
Inuyasha was slightly taken back, ‘Damn it! How could I have forgotten that her father and mother were both killed by Tsubaki. Man I’m such an idiot’.
“I’m…I’m sorry”, he whispered.
“That is all right”, she half choked, then she set the children to the side gently and got up to leave towards the hut.
Inuyasha sighed, ‘What have I done? Now I’ve gone and made her cry. I’m so stupid. STUPID! How can I make her cry like that’.
He hated it when women cried, especially those he knew, even if he hardly knew them at all.
He could smell the saltiness of her tears and a gentle sob escape her mouth before she had composed herself and went inside the hut.
Now he really felt bad. He just had to go and ask her questions that were really none of his damn business, and then he had to go and open up old memories.
‘I don’t even know where my head is anymore’, he silently mused to himself.
He felt one of the younger children of the group scoot closer to him and suddenly felt a strange stirring deep within him.
‘These children…they’re not afraid of me. They trust me. Well…at least I didn’t make any of them cry, I don’t think I could’ve handled it’.
The princess returned after a short while, he couldn’t really tell what her expression was, but he could definitely sense her aura, with deep sorrow and frustration.
“I’m really sorry about that…I had no right to say…”.
She shook her head in a negative fashion, “Let us talk about it later…right now would you mind helping me stir the children. It is time to go and prepare the choco for conching”, she didn’t stare in his direction and instead went about to waking all the children up.
“What is conching?”, his right eyebrow lifted up in curiosity.
“It is the final step in choco making…but if you see for yourself you shall understand what I am trying to mean.”
“All right then”, he would have to see this ‘conching’ for himself. ‘I wonder what it is?’
~~~~
He swore that his arms would fall off at any second, but he just had to offer now didn’t he? He just had to play the gentlemen in front of everybody in the room.
When they had all arrived inside the hut, an enormous blast of cinnamon, sweet vanilla and other spices filled his lungs pleasantly.
It smelled incredibly sweet in the hut and he copied what the children around him were doing as well, taking second and third deep breaths of the sweet air. He could see the surreal, and content looks on all the children’s faces that crowded around the large women currently turning a giant handle.
Each lady took a turn at cranking a large handle, that was connected to two large rollers pushed together and a slick, smooth sheet that rotated over and over again.
The slick sheet kept repeating it’s process of continually going through the two large rollers. There was a clay built oven underneath the rollers and sheet, and a fire was currently being feed by firewood every couple of minutes by one of the women. A dark layer of some sort of substance kept coming through the rollers, only to be squeezed out by a thinner and much finer layer then before, only to go through the process once more.
“We have found that we need to knead the choco paste into a very fine layer, because if we do not it is too gritty and bitter. What the village women are doing right now is what we call conching. It is very hard work to make choco and it takes a great deal of patience”, the princess explained all this to the general who was just staring at the whole process with awe.
The princess couldn’t help but smile at his fascination, he had the same expression as the other children in the room had as well, for they too have never seen the process of making choco until today.
“Allow me to take a turn, for you must surely be sore by now”, she had offered the large lady who had her brown village dress soaked in sweat, and wisps of hair escaping from her once neatly tied up bun.
“Thank you princess. One of us will take your turn when you wish to stop”, the large lady bowed politely, and went outside for some fresh air.
“Thank you”, the princess replied before she grabbed the big handle and started rotating it semi-clockwise just as the other lady had been doing.
She had been only rotating it for about fifteen minutes when the general offered to take over her spot.
She stated that she was fine and that she could go on for another couple of minutes, but he didn’t want to hear any of it and told her to give the handle to him.
If there weren’t any children that were currently becoming disinterested and fussy at the moment she would of protested. But it was her duty to watch over the children today and she couldn’t well let them start running around just because they were bored.
“All right then, but if you grow tired you can stop and let one of the stronger ladies take over for you”, she lightly mocked.
He snorted through his nose, not liking the tone that she was using with him.
“I’m sure I can handle it. How hard can it be anyway?”, he gave her a smirk before he took the handle with his two hands.
“All right then if you say so…we shall see you in a bit then. I will just be taking the children outside for a walk”, she indicated the children to follow her outside the hut, tossing over her shoulder for him not to hurt himself while they were gone.
“Keh”, he mumbled back, ‘We’ll just see who has the last laugh in the end.’
And that’s how he got to the point of where his arms felt like they were going to fall off any second.
He had only done it because even though he knew that the princess was the strongest one in the village, she just seemed so tiny and fragile when she was turning the handle, compared to the bigger women that had been turning it before her.
Sure it was bad of him to think that, and he couldn’t well voice it or he might humiliate the princess or the large women themselves, so he just offered to take over for her without a fuss.
But that was well over an hour ago and he was still turning the big handle.
The four large ladies that had taken a small break had come back only to watch in fascination at the newcomer work with much determination. Two of them even started giggling with each other and whispering things that he’d rather not hear, for fear of finding out their perverted thoughts.
“He is so handsome looking”.
“He has a lot of strength, and his arms…how I wish they were wrapped around me instead”.
“Did you catch what his name was…I’m not even sure if I heard him state it”.
“Ladies…stop gossiping I think he can hear us with those ears of his”.
The ladies all became silent as they watched the man that was currently rotating the handle in such a irresistible manner.
A light sheen of sweet coated his brow, and one drop of his own perspiration rolled down the side of his face and just under his chin, where it dangled for a second or so until it fell on the clay, paved floor.
The princess arrived afterwards with a flush on her cheeks and smiling. The children came busting around her talking excitedly of all the great games they had just played.
Seeing the princess in such a manner with a beautiful hue to her cheeks made him perspire more. She was definitely a sight to behold when she wasn’t biting people’s heads off that is.
She took one look at the newcomer who was still rotating the handle with as much determination and energy as he started, and almost gasped out loud.
‘There is no way he could have been conching the choco paste the entire time we were gone…there is no way’.
Inuyasha smirked in her direction, “Is there something the matter princess”, he replied coolly.
She closed her slightly parted mouth quickly and crossed her arms.
“Truth be told, I am just surprised to see you still at it stranger”.
“Keh, this is more like a vacation for me”.
‘Actually his arms were screaming for a much needed rest at the moment, but he would rather ignore the soreness he was feeling just so he could show the princess that he really could do this.
She stepped closer to where he was, “You will tire yourself out soon”, she sang in a mocking tune.
He ignored her and concentrated on his task at hand. If he focused himself then he could finish the rest of the conching process on his own without letting the other women tire themselves out, so long as he droned out the princess’s teasing.
“You women have must have it hard if the process takes this long to make”, he huffed.
One of the larger women blushed while she responded to the handsome man’s response, “It may take some effort, but it is well worth the process”.
The princess noticed the lady’s blush but didn’t comment on it, and instead placed her attention on the younger ones whom were hungry once more.
Inuyasha saw her leave with the children once more and became slightly disinterested in turning the handle, he was just doing it to prove her wrong.
He was about to give his turn to one of the nearby ladies were watching him with interest, when she quickly came back inside the hut.
“I shall be outside with the little ones for a bit again…come and tell me if the newcomer faints from exhaustion”, she smirked in Inuyasha’s direction before she ran back out again.
“Why that little…”, he growled audibly to himself.
The women chuckled, thinking that she was only teasing the handsome newcomer and not being serious at all.
‘I’ll show her who’s the one that’s gonna faint once I’m done with this’.
~~~~~~~~~
“Go treasure hunter!”.
“Yeah you can do it !”
“Just an itsy bitsy more Mr. Treasure hunter”.
The children were cheering for the general who was almost done conching the cocoa into a fine sheet of soft choco.
The said man’s right eyebrow began to twitch in slight irritation, not from the soreness of his arms…but of the nickname that the children had given him.
‘Treasure Hunter?’
The princess had her arms cross and was just standing there looking displeased or irritated he wasn’t sure which one exactly, but he definitely was trying hard not to rub it in her face.
He felt encouraged by the children, they were all cheering him on with a lot of enthusiasm and energy that he himself pushed the last of his strength into turning the handle a couple more times.
The ladies had informed him that the conching process was finished and set about to scraping off the fine material from the slick sheet attached to the incredibly large, heavy rollers.
Inuyasha huffed for air as he examined his sore hands, ‘Boy what a workout! I’m going to need to take care of these blisters though’.
There were large red welts on his rough, calloused hands and when he touched one it stung a bit.
“My my, ye should go and put something on it before it becomes infected”, a large lady with a slightly piggish nose and with beady eyes, informed.
“Yeah…um I’ll just go and wash up”, he shrugged as if it weren’t a big deal.
‘They don’t have to care…its not like it hurts anyway. And besides I proved the princess wrong too. The wench’, he huffed as he headed round the back of the hut to pour some cold water on his blisters.
~~~~
He drew back a small amount of air through his teeth when he immersed his hands into the cold water.
‘Damn it that fucken hurts’, he silently mused as he gritted his teeth hard.
“You should of not have done that”.
Inuyasha glanced behind his shoulder at the girl was approaching him from behind.
“Says who?”, he replied defiantly.
“I do…those blisters of yours will only become worse now”, she took one of his hands out of the water.
A bolt of electricity shot through his being at her mere touch and he fought the oncoming blush that was tempting its way across his face.
“What the heck are you doing?”, he snapped and pulled back his hand from her grasp.
“What does it look like…I am bandaging it up for you”, she held up some white bandages for him to see.
“I don’t need them’, he huffed.
“Quit trying to act so tough”, she gently replied and took his hand once more into her own two and began to swiftly tie the bandages around his hand.
He blushed a shade of red when he realized how close they actually were, and then he blushed another darker shade of red when he let the realization sink in that she was actually touching him.
“Why are you doing this for me anyway”, he mumbled softly.
“Because it is my way of saying thank you for finishing up the rest of the conching process”, she began to tie the other hand with bandages as well.
“Keh”, he looked away blushing.
She giggled softly and when she had finished wrapping up his hands she slapped the backside of his hand playfully.
“Now the next time you think that you are going to show off, do not do it when the little ones are around all right. For you are showing them a bad example”, she giggled and spun on her heels, leaving the treasure hunter to gawk behind her.
“Heh, like I was showing off!”, he reasoned with himself that he wasn’t that he was just trying to prove a point with her. But the more he thought about it on his way inside the hut, the more it seemed that he was in fact showing off as the princess had put it.
‘But at least she was nice to me for being an idiot’, he took a quick glance of her handiwork before he stepped foot inside the hut.
The children were already settled around a table waiting patiently for one of the ladies to hand them a piece of thick piece of rice paper each.
As soon as he neared the group, one of the children, a small boy with hair tied into a small braid, pulled the treasure hunter to his side of the table where Shippo and some others who had taken a great liking to the said man.
He settled onto the floor in between the children and was given a piece of thick rice paper of his own.
“We figured after all the hard work you put into making this choco, you deserve a little bit too”, the princess gave him a big, toothy smile.
‘Oh she’s mocking me again…I just know it’.
She smirked before she turned and left to help the other women, at the larger table near an open window, with making choco for the village people.
The children around Inuyasha began to scope up some of the choco in heaps onto their rice paper. Many of them began to make shapes in all different sizes and some ate the choco as they went along trying to make a design.
Inuyasha scrunched his brow in concentration for a moment until he finally decided of what to make his choco out of. He was surprised to find it tasted exactly as the same mysterious sweet the princess herself had given him on the last day he was in the forest lost.
He turned to look at the princess who was busy wrapping up another white parcel. She was beautiful, witty and strong and he couldn’t deny that her anger also made her seem cute somehow, what with the rosy flush of her cheeks and the spike in her scent.
After a moment of gazing at her graceful form, he shook his head mentally and looked away abruptly. ‘I shouldn’t be thinking of these things…I could get into a lot of trouble for it later.’
Excitement broke out amongst the children when they had finished with their small projects. Each one examined the other’s next to them and then took giant bites out of the delicious tasting sweet, that had taken a great chunk out of their time today.
“Inuyasha what is yours suppose to be? Mine’s a big sun”, Shippo peered curiously at the man’s design next to him.
“It’s a sword”, the general took the said item in his hand and pretended to stab at his mouth as if it were a formidable foe and took a big bite out of it when it went past his lips.
The group of children squealed in excitement and then pretended that their pieces of choco were weapons as well, even if some of their designs were actually teddy bears and flowers.
‘Such hard work for something so simple…and yet’, he looked at the young faces that looked up to him for the moment, ’ it was all worth it…just for them.
The women began to leave one by one until there was only one lady with long, fiery red hair, large brown hazel orbs, and soft features who cleaned the remaining things up and readied the children for their trip home.
The children whined when they were told that they were to be taken home because it was close to their last meal of the day. None of the little ones wanted to go home, not after they had made an interesting, new friend and had lots of fun playing.
The princess chuckled when one of them, a little boy with dots across his face and down his neck and shoulders, clung onto the treasure hunter’s legs as if it were his only lifeline of escape from being sent home.
Inuyasha looked at a lost for a moment, until he grinned mischievously and began to play the dragging game with the boy still wrapped around his leg.
The other children found the new game interesting between the two and began to crowd around the hanyou excitedly, talking all at once that they too wanted a turn.
The General lightly sweat dropped, ‘Great…now what?’
“Seems like you have your hands full…I mean legs”, the princess replied with a grin when she exited the hut.
Inuyasha crossed his arms and snorted in her response.
“Thank you for all your help today lady Kanisha, without the help of the women as well as yours today I would have been at a loss”, the princess bowed politely to the red haired women.
“Nay, the pleasure was all mine. Please do send my regards to the Lady Kaede and tell her I shall stop by tomorrow for a cup of tea”, Lady Kanisha bowed politely in return and left towards the village.
When the women had left, Kagome turned towards the newcomer dressed in the traditional dark clothing of the hunters in the village.
“Would you care to accompany me to each of the children’s homes, it would be nice if you become acquainted with some of the people of this village. Or would you rather be off now…you must be incredibly tired now after a long day?”.
“No, I don’t have much to do so I’ll tag along if you don’t mind princess”, Inuyasha picked up a child that was wanting some attention, and hefted him onto his shoulders.
“Thank you so much for everything stranger. I really do appreciate all you have done for me today”, the princess readjusted the basket she was carrying in her hand and onto the crook of her arm.
“It was nothing”, he shrugged.
The princess chuckled and turned back to look at the children who were slowly dragging their feet with sullen looks on their faces.
“What is wrong children?”, she bent to pick one of them up who looked close to tears, and with a chocolate covered cheeks.
“I don wanna go home”, he replied innocently, with pouty lips and puppy dog eyes that it made the princess want to hug him for being so adorable.
“But do you not want to show your mama and papa your adventures today?”.
Some of the children behind the boy brightened up and started nodding excitedly, but the boy with the adorable puppy dog look shook his head in a negative fashion.
“Why not?”, she replied gently.
For a moment Inuyasha almost believed that she was speaking with her son, what with the way she was talking so sweetly and gently towards the small child.
He snorted at his own stupid, irrational thoughts and focused on how he could probably help out in the situation instead.
“Becauth”, he sniffed.
“Because why”, she smoothed out his hear in an affectionate, motherly way when a child was upset over something.
“Becauth my mama and papa don wanna play with me. They think I’m too little and don have time fo me. I wanna stay with you princesth and Mr. Treasthure hunter.”
“Come on kid I bet your parents want you home now. Besides there’s always another day that we can all hang out again”.
He couldn’t believe what he was saying, and even the princess turned to look at him.
‘Why would I even want to spend time again with a bunch of kids when I got things to do around here. But still it wouldn’t be so bad, they can actually be a lot of fun. I guess’.
“Really?”, the boy’s face suddenly brightened up. “Okay then…I will go home only if Mr.Treasthure hunter can carry me”, he waved his hands excitedly.
Inuyasha sighed, looking for a moment as if he were about to protest, but then he glanced down at the brown haired boy’s innocent look and just gave in.
“All right then, but hold on tight”, he hefted the child onto his other shoulder.
The two children that were happily riding onto of the general’s shoulders squealed with excitement.
The princess chuckled, “Wow, they really adore you”.
“Keh”, inuyasha replied as his cheeks turned a hue of red.
“And everyone really enjoyed the way the choco had turned out”.
“Heh of course! I helped make it didn’t I?”, he replied smugly.
“Yes and the blame shall be on you if anyone becomes sick. Okay”.
“Oh you’re just asking for it aren’t you?”, he snorted.
“Whatever do you mean stranger?”, she feigned innocence.
“Forget it”, he nearly growled and shrugged his shoulders slightly so the children riding on each side of his neck could stay on comfortably.
The princess giggled softy to herself, “ I was only teasing stranger. No need to take the matter seriously”.
“I wasn’t”, he huffed, and continued to look straight ahead of him in a serious manner.
The girl next to him dressed in a beautiful light pink cheongsam, fitting to her every feminine curves remained quiet for the remaining short trip back into the village, only speaking to the children next to her every so often.
It wasn’t until they had passed the village entrance that the princess noticed something very odd in the stranger’s hair.
At the very top of his hair there were three sets of brown hand prints.
She couldn’t figure out why in the world their were three sets? Two she could understand quiet clearly for their were two children on his shoulders, but the third…they seemed a lot bigger, too big to belong to one of the children.
“Um…stranger”, she began.
He turned to look at her with a questioning gaze and then frowned when she began to bite her lip, procrastinating the moment with what she was intending to say to him.
“What is it”, he asked in a bored, monotone voice and then looked away once more.
“Nothing…its nothing”.
‘I better not tell him, he might upset the children. Besides it is quiet funny to see those cute, small hand prints in that mane of his.’
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Yeah! Another chappie done… and sorry for the long, overdue wait. I’ve been receiving a lot of strange threatening emails too, but here it is finally. And I’ll try not to let that much length in time happen in between each chapter...it so destroys the mood. Hope you all enjoy and please review…please with choco covered cheeks and a cute puppy dog face (lips slightly trembling)
Love ya all!!!!!
Definitions.
Shinai– wooden sticks, similar to swords, that are used in Kendo… (I wanted to use the word Bokken, but I figured this is more descriptive)
Choco– well I was gonna use chocolate’ but figured uhh..well that was discovered by the spaniards.
Well good bye everyone and thanks to all those who have reviewed thus so far you all are an amazing inspiration.
~~~~Blessings~~~~
Babydragon
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