InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Without Words ❯ Pain ( Chapter 4 )

A/N: Hey all. Sorry for the long delay, but there were a plethora of communication difficulties between the esteemed betas and myself. Next chapter should be up in a more timely manner.

Story Notethat you should probably read: So, as Caeria has pointed out, there are some cultural things that I might want to clear up. "Without Words" is set in a fantasy world that is heavily influenced by the Japanese feudal era that the original Inu-Yasha series is based in. You'll notice this even more in the next chapter when we see glances of the language as Kagome is learning it, but more on that later. So, bear with me on clothing and castle design, and such. It's all very similar, but not… like how the doctor in this chapter has pockets in his robes… that's a more modern touch, I think. I file it all under the all-useful phrase of "Author Privilege," which basically means I get to make crap up as it suits/fits my master plan ::laughs::

Disclaimer: I so don't own Inu-Yasha.

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Without Words: Pain

Kagome watched the coming dawn spread tendrils of pearl and fire across the smooth ripples of the ocean. Her tail glistened against the pale sand of the beach like her scales were really the diamonds and emeralds in her mother's wedding chest.

She rolled the warm vial in her hand and tried to imagine what her family would do in four days when she didn't return from her stay with Kaede. Naoko would have a fit and probably accuse the miko of forcing Kagome into leaving. Yuka would cry, Ayame would fret over how to inform the court, and Eri would swim herself into the sand trying to keep peace between them all.

She didn't think about how her mother would react. If she did, she might lose her conviction and sacrifice thousands for the sake of keeping one woman from a second heartbreak.

In the end, she'd decided to give up her voice. A person learned more by listening than speaking, especially in the halls and niches of a palace, and she couldn't risk being in the same room as the jewel and not being able to see it. With her spiritual powers so wrapped up in keeping her alive, her miko senses would be nonexistent. If it weren't for that, within such a close range she could have followed the minds-eye sparkle of the jewel to its location blind, deaf, and mute.

Kaede had assured her that learning to write and read the land-walker's language wouldn't be too difficult if she could convince someone to teach her. The script of the mermaids was essentially the same, but stripped down to plain lines and angles that were easier to carve and press. Being mute was a handicap, but one that she could cope with.

The first few notes of a song trickled off her lips as she rubbed her thumb over the stopper of the vial hard enough to turn her knuckle white.

She'd come to the beach with the moon still bright, half its face glittering off the wet sand. Then, the waves had lapped at her tail, but now had abandoned her to follow the tug of the moon as it set.

The guard had passed high above her head several times during the night, but hadn't noticed her. They didn't stray close enough to the cliff's edge to see her and the wind had been blowing out over the ocean all night. Still, she could feel the salty nip of an ocean breeze as the new day brought a change of wind. If she didn't hurry, they would catch her scent.

She dragged her eyes away from the lulling roll of the ocean and stared at the potion lying in the palm of her hand. The liquid in the vial was a dull, ruby color that glowed faintly in the pre-dawn gloom. Kaede had warned that, while it would be tasteless and painless going down, the spell would trigger almost instantly.

Again her gaze was drawn back to the sea. If she stared hard enough, maybe she could see all the way down to the merkingdom where her family still slept. Her mother would awaken soon and go over the day's agenda with Kagome's grandfather and the former queen over a light breakfast. Her sisters would arise soon thereafter. Naoko and Ayame would accompany their mother to her meetings and audiences, learning the royal trade by observation and experience. Yuka was in the middle of wedding preparations and was excused from these lessons. She would probably be entertaining her future in-laws all day. Eri had a year of basic schooling left before she would join her elder sisters in their shadowing and would be stuck with the royal tutor until late afternoon.

Kagome belatedly realized that she would never get to finish her studies.

She placed the thought aside with the rest of her misgivings and let the comfortable numb feeling that had set in late last night drape back over her shoulders. No time to grieve over something that couldn't be helped.

The sun was rising.

A smart pop punctuated the shallow rhythm of her breath as the stopper pulled free from the mouth of the vial. Kagome swirled the liquid gently and noted how badly the color clashed with the iridescent hues of her scales. She held it before her and caught a last glimpse of the ocean painted over in shades of red.

"I'm sorry."

She held her breath and tipped the spell into her mouth.

Her throat seized and she clutched at it with a startled gurgle. Pain lanced through her vocal chords and they swelled until she could barely breathe. A scream of panic bubbled up and popped silently in her mouth. She could taste blood. Her back arched tight enough to break as an invisible knife was drawn down her spine and ruthlessly ripped through her tail. Her mouth gaped in silent screams and she writhed on the sand as bones shattered and realigned themselves and scales melted into jelly. Suddenly there wasn't just one limb flopping helplessly on the sand, but two.

Her spirit shuddered and then folded in on itself, leaving her deaf and blind. Blackness closed over her eyes even as they continued to stare wide and sightless at the cliff face towering above her.

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Inu-Yasha glared at the door to his room from his perch on the window seat. All that kept him in the room, trapped with his boredom, was that measly slab of wood and a few snarled words from his father. For a week he'd been confined to his rooms, and right now even the wrath of the king didn't seem like much a price if it meant he could taste a bit of freedom.

"Keh, like anyone could really kill me," he muttered and tucked his chin to his chest. The only reason he'd stayed this long was that, despite his bravado, someone almost had.

He'd run from the shrine across two countries to get back to his father's kingdom. When he'd arrived, the castle doctor, Miroku, and Sango had all berated him for his foolishness. Even a hanyou wasn't immune to a concussion, apparently. That he'd lived through the night without drowning had amazed everyone. He'd scoffed and brayed about his strength enough to give a good show, but secretly he thanked whatever sea spirit had seen fit to steer his sorry, human hide to that beach shore. And if that miko hadn't taken pity on him, he could have been purified seven ways before he'd regained consciousness.

He'd thought he was fine, but apparently running for almost twelve hours through rough country with a head injury wasn't good-patient behavior. The doctor had condemned him to two full days of bed-rest. Only, when he'd opened the door on the third morning after his return, he'd found Sango and Miroku blocking his way.

"My Lord, it appears the rope of your safety line had been tampered with," Miroku had informed him when they'd pushed him back into the room.

Sango had nodded. "The king has ordered us to make a discreet investigation, and you are to remain within your rooms until we're finished. Besides the king, we're the only members of the staff who know. He doesn't want the assassins to get spooked and go into hiding."

"Bullshit, he just doesn't want a scandal."

"Nevertheless, it would be wiser not to let on that we are aware of the plot on your life," Miroku had soothed.

Inu-Yasha shook his head and stared longingly at the edge of the cliff that dropped to his mother's beach. In five days, his bodyguards weren't any closer to finding out who had arranged for the "accident" on the ship. The problem wasn't a lack of suspects, but that the entire court was under suspicion.

He shifted his shoulders and stifled a growl. To him, this latest threat wasn't anything to get excited about. The court made no secret of their disgust of his mixed heritage, even though his parents' marriage had originally been to foster more amiable ties between Shihai no Inu and its neighboring human-ruled kingdom.

When he'd been a child, Inu-Yasha's father had defended him and praised him as being a link toward progressive relations between the two races. Then, his fragile, beautiful wife had died and he'd lost the inspiration for the uphill battle. Now, when he remembered, the king tried to find ways of gently extracting his problematic son from the country. Twice in the last three nights he'd popped into Inu-Yasha's room to express his delight in how well Princess So-And-So was growing up, and "what a fine young lady" Whats-Her-Name was shaping out to be, and wouldn't he like to leave and start governing a kingdom of his own?

Inu-Yasha sucked in a weary breath and thought he could still smell his father's comfortable, musky scent as if he were standing right beside him.

He hadn't been within arm's reach of his father since before his mother had finally become too weak to leave her bed.

He growled low in his chest and flipped the latch to his window open. A few graceful leaps later, he was standing just outside the castle walls and staring over the grassy lawn that stretched to the cliff's edge. When he'd been a boy, the rough-hewn steps that wound down to the beach had been too steep for his runty legs. Now, he usually didn't bother with them at all.

A deep breath of the sea breeze chased lingering memories from his mind and nose. He sighed and gathered himself for the sprint to the ledge when he registered a different, subtle flavor to the breeze. He tensed and lifted his face to catch the wind, his ears flicking forward sharply.

There was someone down there.

He took a stiff step forward and paused again, resisting the urge to whine in frustration. A human, and female, but… there was something odd about her scent. Something almost familiar…

"Keh," he spat and sprinted to the edge. He peered down and caught a glimpse of pale skin and waves of black hair before jumping down and landing lightly in the sand behind her.

"Wha-?" He stumbled back a step and color tinged his cheeks. Not only was she unconscious and bedraggled looking, but she was also completely naked.

Anger stirred in him. How dare this wench disturb this place? Even the Guard weren't allowed to do more than make a cursory glance over the ledge to make sure there were no trespassers.

"And what a damn good job they're doing," he snarled darkly and crouched down next to the girl.

Pale, pretty face, absurdly long black hair, slender limbs, modestly curvy build.

"What the fuck are you doing on my beach?" He nudged her shoulder with the back of his hand and scowled. He'd never seen her before, but there was something vaguely familiar about her.

His ears snapped forward. "She looks like that miko." Suddenly he found himself reassessing her in a less harsh light.

Pale and pretty, but with dark circles under her eyes and black hair that was matted with sand and seaweed. Her arms and legs were twisted oddly, like someone had just tossed her to the ground, and there were tiny cuts and bruises marring her clammy skin.

His eyebrows rose. "What the hell happened to you?"

He shrugged out of his outer robe and draped it over her body. Whatever had happened, it hadn't been pleasant. In fact, she looked like she'd just washed up onto shore.

His ears drooped slightly and his mouth flattened into a thin line. Empathy welled up in his chest and he recalled the stark beauty of the miko's face as she'd stared at him from across the beach. If a miko could take pity on a half-breed like him, surely he could show a little compassion for this half-drowned girl.

Mindful of his claws, he placed a hand on either shoulder and gently shook her.

"Hey, wench, wake up. You're trespassing."

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Half-formed figures swirled before her like dancers in a ballroom. Tiny lights pricked the darkness and her eyes with colors that bled like watching the fireworks from under the waves. There was a distant roar that washed out the noise and jumbled the words of the person speaking to her.

Kagome rolled her head, trying to shake the seaweed stuffed into it so she could focus on the words being spoken to her. There was a gnawing ache inside where the gentle hum of her miko powers usually warmed her. She sifted through herself sluggishly, trying to find where she'd misplaced her spirit.

"-aid wake up!"

A shadow passed over her eyes and it was only then that she realized there was light around her. Her mind pushed her disorientation aside and she felt the world start to make sense again.

She sucked in a deep breath and smelled the sea, heard it lapping at the shore. The sun had risen and was warm on her skin, which was stiff with brine and sand. And there was someone talking to her.

"I know you're awake, so why don't you just open your eyes and get it over with?"

She obeyed without thinking, snapping her eyes open to stare into the face of the man crouched next to her. Her eyebrows drew down slightly and then shot back up. The prince! Panic had her pushing away from him with her arms before her brain could catch up. She twisted her tail to push against the sand and froze.

"Shit, calm down," the prince grouched. "I'm not gonna kill you just for trespassing. I mean, I could, but I know you probably didn't mean to… Hey, are you listening to me?"

Kagome tore her eyes away from the awkward angles and sickly pale skin of the new limbs growing from her body to stare at him blindly. Tears welled in her eyes.

His eyes widened and his ears snapped forward. He raised an arm in front of him as if to ward her off. "Hey, don't cry. I know you didn't mean to, so I'm being lenient. So did you fall off a boat, or what?"

Her eyes wandered over his face while she extended invisible fingers to feel his aura.

Nothing. It was like someone had filled her head with sand. The world around her lacked the colors and flavors of energy that were once so thick she could taste them on the back of her tongue. She couldn't even tell which way was north. The subliminal tingle that kept her oriented was gone.

The spell had gutted her.

A clawed hand waving before her face brought her out of herself. She stared listlessly at the prince and wished he would leave her alone so she could curl up and let the waves dissolve her.

"Hey, bitch, I'm trying to help you here. Are you deaf or just stupid?" He spat the words out like looking at her left a sour taste in his mouth.

Something in the tone of his voice snaked up her spine like an eel. Her vision focused sharply and for the first time since she'd left him unconscious and vulnerable on the shore, she looked at the prince.

Her eyes narrowed and her mouth pinched into a small frown. This was the man she'd risked her life for? His words filtered to the forefront of her memory and her scowl deepened. She'd known he was crude from what she'd seen of him on the ship, but she hadn't picked up on the `callous jerk' flavor.

"You gonna say something, or what?" He crossed his arms over his chest and jerked his chin up.

`Would it be too much to show a little compassion?'

Her heart thumped painfully in her chest and suddenly she couldn't seem to pull in a deep enough breath. A hand flew to her throat and clutched at it hard enough to bruise. She'd forgotten. On top of everything else, she'd lost this as well.

Inu-Yasha eyed her uneasily. "Hey, what's your problem?"

She blinked back her tears and clung desperately to her anger. She jabbed a finger at her throat and slowly mouthed each word so he would understand.

`I can't speak.'

His ears flicked madly on top of his head and he leaned forward with a thoughtful frown. "Hey, speak up, wench. I can't hear a damn word you're saying."

A frustrated scream welled up in her, partly at his idiocy, but mostly for herself. She pushed it out of her throat and between her lips, her lungs compressing sharply with the effort.

The faint `shh' sound of rushing air was all the fury she could express. Her anger left her in a breath. Too much. She slumped forward with a silent sob and buried her face in her hands. It was all too much for her right now.

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Inu-Yasha blinked at the crying girl sitting before him and resisted the urge to scratch his head in confusion. What was her problem? She was acting like someone had just told her she'd lost everything, not just her voice.

He considered that idea as he watched her, his arms draped uselessly in his lap. Maybe she had. She certainly looked like a castaway from some shipwreck. That she'd apparently lost her voice meant trauma, physical and mental. Rin hadn't spoken for months after she'd been found ravaged by wolves at the kingdom's border.

Inu-Yasha tried to remember what his brother had done to get her to speak again and realized he hadn't paid enough attention to know. He sighed and decided to handle this problem in small steps.

First, "Hey, just calm down. I'll take you to Old Myouga and the Doc and they can look at your throat, alright?"

His ears perked when she shot him a startled glance from above her hands. Her mouth was gaping like a fish and she looked like hell, but at least she'd stopped crying for the moment.

Now for another basic; he gestured at the robe crumpled and forgotten in her lap. "Put that on and I'll take you up to the palace."

She followed the angle of his finger and stared at the clothing like she'd never seen anything like it before. Hesitant fingers plucked at the thick fabric and she glanced at him again questioningly.

"Yeah, it's mine. Just put it on."

The transformation was instantaneous. The haunted look in her eyes retreated to make way for a cautious smile. He shifted his shoulders self-consciously. Keh, it was just a robe.

She pulled the cloth from her lap and shook it out so she could look at it. She looked at him again and then slipped her arms into the sleeves with slow, awkward movements. He watched her fumble with the ties for a moment before sighing and scooting closer to her to reach for them himself. Commoners didn't always know what to do with the intricate ties of court clothes.

Her cheeks pinked as he tucked the folds around her snugly and secured them. The thing fit her almost like a dress. He glanced at her face as he leaned back and huge blue-gray eyes met his own for a long moment.

"I got something on my face?"

The barely formed smile on her face shot down into a frown and she huffed an annoyed sigh at him. He got the feeling that he'd just killed a recovering opinion she'd had of him. Whatever.

He rose to his feet and jerked his head at the stairs. "Come on, I've got stuff to do."

She spared him a weary look before concentrating on gathering her feet under her. Her arms wavered at her sides as she pushed herself up, her face serious and focused. His eyebrows rose at the unusual effort, but he didn't comment. Maybe she'd knocked her head on a rock when she'd washed up.

He was about to snap an impatient `hurry up' when she took a stumbling step forward. Her face crumpled in pain and her knees folded under her. He had an arm out to catch her before he even thought about it. She clutched at his sleeve and looked up at him with lost eyes.

He sighed and quickly scooped her up into his arms. "Probably a sprained ankle," he muttered at her. "You're more trouble than you're worth-OW!" He jerked his head away and stared at her in surprise as she withdrew her hand from a forelock of his hair. Her face was suspiciously bland as she waved a hand at the stairs.

"Damn bitch."

She got another yelp out of him as he began leaping back up the cliff. He'd have taken the stairs to avoid scaring her, but dumping her in someone else's hands as soon as possible seemed like a better way to keep his hair on his head.

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Kikyo turned from the sight of the rising sun with a faint sigh and began walking back up the beach to the winding slope that led to the shrine. The other girls would be coming down soon to say morning prayers and to meditate and she didn't want to disrupt their concentration with her unsettled soul. With the turmoil of the last few days, they needed all the solace they could gather.

A full week since the strange girl had unwittingly released the disaster of the jewel upon their shores. Research had revealed little about the relic's powers or properties. What the monks and mikos of the shrine and its neighbors had found had been informative, but not very useful.

It was formed during the Race Wars thousands of years ago when the humans had asserted their dominion against the encroaching powers of the youkai. Back then, mikos had been more than just spiritual leaders, but warriors that balanced the inherent inequalities between the two races. Their ability to purify youkai energy had countered the advantages of long-life and raw power the youkai had over the relatively weak humans.

In a battle that turned the tides of the war, a great miko general had prevented the collapse of a country the army depended on heavily for supplies and manpower. Single handedly, she managed to destroy a massive youkai regiment with her power. What she had done, and how, was lost to history, but what resulted was a jewel of power that ripped free of her breast, killing her as it killed the youkai she fought. The histories hinted that the jewel had been a terrible force and so had been secreted away, but again the details were merely shadows beneath the vague lines of text.

What they did know was that it attracted the interest of every power-monger within the neighboring lands. In the past week alone, two youkai and three rouges had tried to force their way into the shrine.

Kikyo regarded the fine girdle of light-weight armor that protected her chest and abdomen with wry sadness. The mikos of her shrine were getting a firsthand lesson in history they'd thought abandoned. Once again, they were donning armor and focusing their meditations not only to center their souls, but also to gather power.

Three had fallen already and two more were gravely injured. Of the monks, two had fallen and another was recovering from a broken wrist. Then, the group that had come was filled with older, fully-trained men. The mikos of the shrine were young, and most only half-trained. Kikyo did not like the shadows forming in their eyes with every attack. Wisdom should not have to be gained by violence.

Kione nodded to her as they passed on the trail and Kikyo paused to watch her descend to the beach. The youngest girl in the shrine, but showing a promise that had been muted before the arrival of the jewel. Now, some of the girls looked to her for guidance when only a week ago they'd sent her on petty errands and patted her head like a child.

She closed her eyes briefly and turned back to the shrine. No time to dwell on what could not be changed. All she could do was lend her strength to protect the jewel and continue her morning vigils on the beach.

Private research led her to believe the girl was in fact one of the mermaids of legend. There still existed some stories of benevolent Sirens that would steer blind ships with their voices, but they were few and not well known. Though they were mentioned casually in the texts before the Wars, they'd fallen into obscurity in the past millenniums.

Kikyo felt the disappearance of the jewel and the mermaids at the same time wasn't just coincidence. The mermaid girl's possession of the jewel stirred ideas that she dared not share with her contemporaries. They hadn't seen the compassion in the girl's face as she'd looked at the half-drowned man she'd saved. Her theories would be brushed aside under the assumption that all sea creatures were demons.

There was one other doubt that kept her voice silent. Despite her belief that the mermaids were in fact the protectors of the jewel, she couldn't reconcile the fact that the girl hadn't returned to retrieve the relic. Every morning that she did not see a dark head surfacing from the water, her idea seemed less and less likely. Perhaps the girl hadn't known what she possessed, thinking it only a precious bauble.

If that were the case, there were no experienced hands to return the jewel to and the mikos would have to continue protecting the jewel and do their best to keep its presence from being known.

What kept her returning to the beach every day was hope. She did not want to see the bright promise of Kione's abilities snuffed out defending a cursed piece of crystal.

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Kagome opened her mouth and gracefully submitted to having the doctor, a human, grasp her chin and tilt her head awkwardly on her neck.

"Hmm," the flea youkai on his shoulder droned nasally. She stared at him discreetly. Inu-Yasha had dumped her on the table and bellowed for `That old geezer, Myouga.' When the doctor had walked in, she'd been surprised to see a young man. Then she'd realized that the dark lump on his long, gray robes wasn't a stain, but a demon.

The doctor leaned back. "I hate to admit it, but I don't really know what's wrong with you. There's no swelling in your throat that would indicate your vocal chords have been damaged, but at the same time, there was blood in your throat swab, though that could have been from a superficial mouth wound."

He leveled her with a serious frown. "Are you sure you haven't always been mute? A head injury might have caused hallucinatory dreams that made you believe you could speak."

The prince snorted from his position, lounging against the door to the examining room. "Doc, I saw the look on her face when she tried to say something. It was like someone hit her with a tree." He nodded his head in her direction. "She spoke before she was shipwrecked."

The doctor turned from the prince to look at her again. "Well, then, I'm afraid all I can do is suggest you get some rest. I can't explain the pain in your feet when you walk, either. There isn't any evidence of trauma that would suggest nerve damage."

Kagome shrugged and resisted the urge to scratch at her shoulder where the cloth of the short robe she'd been given itched against her skin. How could land-walkers stand to be cocooned in such irritating stuff?

He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and straightened from his stool.

"Come back and see me in a week and we'll see if anything new develops."

The flea demon bounced from his shoulder onto hers and she had to crane her neck to see him.

"Don't worry, m'lady, I'm sure the prince will make sure you're given a comfortable room where you can recover."

Inu-Yasha blinked and then scowled. "Hey, why is she suddenly my responsibility?"

Myouga bowed in the prince's direction. "She is a woman in distress, and you are the gentleman who has rescued her. You are bound by honor, My Lord."

"What? She's some commoner from who-knows-where." He jerked his chin to point down the hall. "Let the maids find some place for her."

Kagome kept her face carefully blank. She wasn't terribly surprised. Her opinion of the prince kept bouncing between Secretly Thoughtful and Shark Bait; this was just one more point for the latter assessment.

The flea gasped and waved several hands at her. "My Lord, how can you say that? Look at her smooth, pale complexion, the way she carries her head, the set of her shoulders!" He clasped his hands before him and nodded solemnly. "She may be disoriented and exhausted from her ordeal, but she is undoubtedly of noble breed."

Golden eyes snapped onto her face and raked over it a couple of times. She met his gaze blandly. Her story was that she was from a small, costal town far to the north. She dared not claim noble heritage in case the kingdoms kept in close contact.

"Girl," he snapped, "are you a noble? We can send word to your kin, if you are."

Well, that wouldn't work. The other half of the story was that all her kin had been lost in the wreck. He didn't look like he thought she was royalty, anyway.

She shook her head.

"They kept you inside most of the time cause you're crippled?"

The flea gasped and the doctor shot him a neutral glance.

She didn't see how that made any difference, but decided to go along with him on the assumption that he was proving she was common. This time a nod.

"See? A commoner. She can't write, either."

Myouga huffed and folded his arms together. "How do you know that?"

Inu-Yasha shrugged. "I kept asking her why she didn't speak up, but she didn't try to write out in the sand what was wrong. She just kept pointing at her throat."

"She was under stress!"

Again, she found herself under the prince's unexpected scrutiny.

"You tell them, then." She pointed at her throat and he growled. "Can you write and read?" She shook her head and smothered a grin. "Commoner!" he barked and turned to stalk out of the room.

Myouga danced on her shoulder. "But Lord Inu-Yasha, you still have a responsibility! What about chivalry? What about your honor as a prince of Shihai no Inu?"

He snarled at the flea youkai. "Right, they remember I'm a prince when they don't want to deal with something." He turned his glare on her. "Look, you don't want to have to hang around me, do you?"

She blinked at having the choice laid in her lap. She glanced at the doctor and down at Myouga. Her quest said she should go with the prince because he had the jewel, but even aside from that Inu-Yasha was the only person in the whole country that she knew. A sudden stab of isolation made her turn back to his familiar face. And to be fair, he'd been more than gentle when helping her with the clothes and carrying her up the cliff.

Kagome nodded jerkily.

His face lifted in surprise before slamming back down into a scowl. "Keh." He turned his head away, but didn't move to leave the room.

The doctor chose that moment to pipe in. "And if you do this, I won't tell your father how his son seriously endangered his life by running all over the continent with a severe concussion."

The prince kept scowling at nothing, but Kagome saw the subtle shift of his shoulders and nervous flick of his ears. There was an odd familiarity to being mute. She often sat at the fringes of conversations and just listened and observed. With four overprotective sisters and a monarch for a mother, she was used to silence. The prince's unusual inclusion of her presence was almost uncomfortable.

"I still haven't given him my official report about that. He's been too tied up in court business to deal with basic paperwork." He shrugged and tucked his hands in the deep pockets of his robe. "I could just say you over exerted yourself a bit and I was being cautious. Or, I could put in all the gritty details. Depends on what kind of a mood I'm in."

Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes and unfolded himself from the door. "Fine, I'll take the wench." He glowered at the flea and doctor. "You two are lucky I like you or I wouldn't put up with this kind of shit."

Doc just smiled and stepped forward to help Kagome slip off the short examining table. Inu-Yasha came to flank her other side as she braced her hands against the table and lowered her feet to the floor. She winced as her toes made contact and clenched her teeth against the full pain as her weight transferred onto her new limbs.

This time wasn't as bad as on the beach. She simply absorbed the pain with steady breaths like Kaede had taught her to do. A miko couldn't let a minor injury take her out of fighting. She had to learn to deal with pain.

Still, she'd never suffered more than bumps and scrapes in her fifteen years, so the feeling of thousands of spear tips searing her flesh every time she took a step was a little overwhelming. Her knees wobbled and she felt tears prick her eyes.

"Weakling," the prince muttered and again scooped her up in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, half annoyed and half relieved. As a princess, she was used to having people assist her from time to time, but here she was just a miko. A miko needed to be able to take care of herself.

But since the prince was already striding down the hall at an almost breakneck pace, she decided she could save the argument for later.

They traveled down tall, stone corridors lined with giant armor and weapons, the prince's footsteps muffled by plush, white carpets. High, narrow windows let in light and the balmy breeze of the ocean. The occasional sprig of brightly colored flowers set in ornate vases saved the halls from being too forbidding and Kagome wondered who had decided to put them there. In her experience, men didn't think to mix in softer elements with their displays of power.

The few servants they encountered stopped to bow as the prince passed and gave them curious glances from beneath their lashes. Kagome wondered if there were any other nobles living in the palace. Her mother always had one or two families visiting at any time to keep up relations.

As if he'd heard her thoughts, Inu-Yasha suddenly broke the silence. "The king won't want you to take up any extra room since we're going to be hosting a ball soon, so I'll see if Sango will put up with you. She's got an extra bed in her room."

She nodded, and his eyes flicked down to give her an unreadable look.

"What's your name, anyway?" The voice was still rough, but there was genuine curiosity there.

Maybe not so much shark bait, she decided.

Very carefully, she mouthed the syllables so he would understand.

`Ka. Go. Me.'