Chapter 1: I Can't Be Your Bodyguard

Well this will be my third fanfic, but my first fanfic in the Inuyasha universe. I already have two stories under Naruto and they are doing pretty well. I read a lot of Inuyasha fanfictions and I like a lot of them and for awhile I've had this idea for a Inuyasha story so I decided to try and see if people would like it and if I didn't upload it I was pretty sure it would annoy the hell out of me until I did so.

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The country was torn between four major kingdoms, Artemis (Forest Land), Aether (Mountain Land), Nesoi (Islands), and Mnemosyne (Valley Country).

The Nesoi country or the Nesoi Island is separated from the other three kingdoms which reside on the mainland and has been in a state of peace for one hundred and ten years so far and is separated from the mainland by 750 miles of water and the land itself is 2,941,299 sq. miles and the country itself is amongst the more wealthy and has flourished the most out of the four kingdoms by using fishing, farming, and excavating a small mountain area with a rare metal. Most of the country's demons reside in the ocean rather than the land and It's military is a naval fleet that protects the kingdom's ocean leading to Nesoi and a fairly large army that protects the land itself should they find their land conquered.

Artemis is the largest of the four kingdoms with about 3,704,427 sq. miles, but it is one of the more dangerous with the civil wars that have devastated the country. Most of the land is covered in a deep forest with the trees towering over most mansions and contains most of the land's demons. Despite the war torn country it has the strongest and largest military out of the four and the more brilliant inventors.

Aether is the more smaller of the kingdoms at about 519,734 sq. miles. The land is the more political and makes it's wealth through the largest series of mines that surround the kingdom which resides in a heavily defended mountain area and it's because of this defense that the country has never been invaded by the other kingdoms nor has it had any involvement in the wars that occurred during the years. Most of the countries mineral materials are mined from this country in large quantities despite Nesoi having the rarer of the rock minerals, but because of the countries larger and more supplied mines is why the country has never had to worry about financial issues and use the slave trade of demons to mine for the minerals. The downside to the countries belief that they were safe they did have the smallest military of the four kingdoms.

The final and second largest kingdom Mnemosyne that is a valley country with the land ranging about 3,854,085 sq. miles. This kingdom has been the one that would be at war with Artemis kingdom since their founding in an attempt to expand their lands. Mnemosyne is a farming land that supplies the most produce and is home to the second largest military and the greatest tacticians. This kingdom made most of it's time of peace since it's last war with Artemis 76 years ago in creating a wall that separates the kingdom Artemis from Mnemosyne and like Aether it uses the slave trade of not only demons, but humans as well to speed up the building of the wall.

The four kingdoms have since been in peace since Artemis and Mnemosyne came to a yet another understanding, however the inhabitants of both kingdoms, Nesoi, and Aether knew it was a matter of time before the two countries were at each other's throats yet again. Some demons are enslaved and the slavery of the demons is more common in Aether and Mnemosyne while Nesoi doesn't use the slave trade and Artemis uses the demons more as a military using specialized collars that keep the demons in line.

The four kings that rule the four kingdoms are Shuhan Higurashi who rules over the Nesoi Islands and his family has been ruling over the island for as long as the country could recall. Shuhan is to be expecting his first born child in the coming months.

Artemis's ruler is a tyrannical one which is why the kingdom is in such disarray, Senshu Onigumo and his family only recently came into power and his son is next in line for the throne and is just as vicious as his father, Naraku Onigumo.

The ruler of the mountain kingdom Aether is Saiseki Shikigami and is the oldest ruler of the kingdoms and has had the most experience as one since he is the first known demon ruler of the four kingdoms and it was he who started the demon slave trade.

Suzuran Misora is the empress, queen, or ruler of the land Mnemosyne and is the only known female ruler of any of the kingdoms and despite her undying beauty which many believe she is a demon at first is because she once saved a demon witch and it was because of that good deed that she was granted eternal beauty until her death at which point her body will turn into it's rightful age, however she is still in her prime years.

(I'm pulling this part out of air)

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With the summaries of the four kingdoms, it's rulers, and the state the four kingdoms are left in, we begin our story in Mnemosyne where the two rulers Suzuran Misora and Shuhan Higurashi who finished their business with each other which left the Higurashi family and it's escorts heading to the Mnemosyne port, but they were far off from the port since Suzuran's castle was located in the center of her kingdom and was a two day's travel from kingdom's central city and the city where the port resides in.

The Higurashi caravans were being heavily guarded by their royal army. The center of the major group contained the caravan with the king Shuhan and his pregnant queen Nodoka Higurashi. The queen was seven months into her pregnancy and wasn't to thrilled with going overseas this soon, but she didn't wish to reside in her home any longer.

The king Shuhan is a fairly tall man, brown eyes, straight short brown hair, chin hair, a slightly darker color skin than his wife, and he was adorned in a very expensive red kimono. His wife Nodoka had short ebony black hair, brown eyes, and like her husband she was wearing a very expensive loose fitted red kimono that hid her seven month belly well.

Shuhan was known by both his family, friends, guards, overall everyone in his kingdom knew how carefree and kind he was, but when situations called for it he could be emotionless, but during these times of piece he's been more carefree and happy especially concerning the fact that he was going to be a dad soon. He often wondered if this was how his dad felt when he and his siblings were close to being born.

His sister already had a daughter, his two month newborn niece Sango Kawashima who took up her father's name instead of the Higurashi name. His sister was with grief as her husband and his entourage were killed on a diplomatic mission to Artemis. Senshu Onigumo denied any involvement in this attack and suggested that bandits were to blame. This was something Shuhan denied as his brother-in-law was a skilled weapons master and to be killed by run of the mill bandits is impossible, but with no evidence to even point to Senshu as being behind it they had no choice but to accept that he might've been killed by bandits.

His younger brother by two years had his first son, Bankotsu Higurashi who's already going to be one in a few months. His little brother was the Navy fleet commander and was damn good at his position and for a human he carries a giant halberd that would be impossible for an ordinary man to even lift up.

Shuhan was just excited that with both his little brother and sister having their kids that he was about to have his first child as well.

The king was looking from outside the small window of their caravan to his pregnant wife who was rubbing her swollen belly through her kimono. He gently reached his hand over and started to rub his wife's stomach asking her, "Excited? Lady Kaede said that you only have three more months until the baby comes."

"Yes I'm very excited. I've been counting the days until this little one is born." said the excited Nodoka. Shuhan looked out his window again and took a good inhale of the air and said, "The air is a bit salty, yup we're getting closer to the ocean so which means that we'll be home very soon." Nodoka couldn't wait since even though she didn't want to be home, but she couldn't wait to sleep in her own bed… Hormones can sure be annoying for a pregnant woman.

The trip to the town was quiet and it was going very well. The lieutenant who was traveling outside the caravan along with the soldiers kept looking around cautiously and it would remain that way until they reached the town and they would be able to see their Navy Fleet. He came to a stop when he heard some rustling on the side of the road that had a very thick tree line. The lieutenant held his closed hand up signaling everyone to stop. (The soldiers of Nesoi have japanese style red armor)

Once the five caravans containing the king, queen, a two generals, and a three council members came to a halt all the guards came on edge. Shuhan immediately had his wife lay low in case something happens. Soon the two generals walked out of their caravans and one of them asked, "What is it?"

The lieutenant told the general, "I heard a series of sounds in the outlining trees. Sir please go back in your caravan."

One general went back in his caravan while the other took up his samurai helmet and sword and took over shouting, "Okay men we will go at the same pace we've been going, but stay alert!" Everyone agreed and began going at the steady pace they've been going. The lieutenant asked the general, "Was it wise to tell our men to stay alert General Hakan?"

Hakan merely told the young lieutenant, "If someone, a group, or a pack of demons are out there, then they'd use their brains and know that after stopping that we'd be on alert and whether I whispered it to every single soldier here wouldn't change that." The general looked into the tree line that he saw the lieutenant looking in and said, "We'll keep going at our pace. If we rush they might attack sooner rather than later and it'll give me enough time to think of a counter attack."

The lieutenant agreed and followed behind the general. Hakan walked close to the king's caravan next to the window. Sometime during their travel the general heard more and more of the rustling and he put on the bottom half of his mask telling the king, "My lord, I believe that a battle will take place soon. I suggest you allow me and a few soldiers to hold them off and I order the remaining forces to safely guide you and the other council members to the port town."

"Well now general I wouldn't be to happy letting you go and do that on your own, so I'll stay behind as well." said Shuhan. Immediately the queen objected as well as the general, but they had no time to react as a few arrows shot at the caravans and one barely missed the general's head. Hakan spun around and pulling out his sword shouting, "All hands battle positions!"

The Nesoi soldiers pulled out their swords and they saw a gang of bandits on horses charging at them shouting. The second general came out of his caravan and headed for the king's caravan telling Hakan that he'd guard it.

The two forces engaged one another and the horse drawn caravans started to move away quicker to get to town. Shuhan grabbed his katana and despite the protest of his queen he jumped out of the caravan, he then shouted to his second general, "General Choe protect my wife's caravan and make sure that everyone get's to port then send reinforcements! That's an order!"

General Choe gritted his teeth and told the caravan drivers to advance to the town as quickly as possible.

Once out of sight Shuhan joined his men in combat using only one hand he successfully killed all the bandits that dare swing their swords at him. Shuhan saw that his soldiers were far better trained in combat than some robbers who swing their weapons wildly. One bandit tried to stab Shuhan, but he deflected the blade with his sheath than he used his blade and stabbed it into the man's right collar bone severing it.

The bandit screamed in pain and he used his foot and slammed it down onto the man's left arm pinning him to the ground. The bandit looked up and saw the emotionless face of the king Shuhan Higurashi.

The king immediately smiled after he saw the battle was over already and he turned to the man pinned to the ground and said, "Are you aware of that the series of caravans you attacked are of royalty?" The bandit snickered and saw that the rest of the soldiers came over aiming their swords and naginata weapons at his face. He then told the king, "It's a job. We didn't know we attacked royalty, as long as the pay is good then we'd attack regardless."

Hakan stomped his foot down on the man's head demanding, "What was your job?" The bandit began to snicker some more saying, "Our job was to kill Nodoka Higurashi. We don't know who paid us, but you basically left her all alone while the brute of our forces wait further down the-" He was silenced once Shuhan took his blade out of the man's body and successfully severed the man's head from his body in a quick motion.

The general kicked the man's head away and shouted, "To the caravans quickly!" Shuhan was already ahead of everyone running far ahead of his entourage worried for his wife's sake.

* The Caravans *

The five caravans were currently under attack by a larger force of bandits. General Choe was successfully diverting everyone from the queens caravan, but as for the council members their caravans were set afire and they couldn't get out and a few of the soldiers were dead.

Choe heard a series of footsteps running at him from his side and he saw two men wearing ninja attire. One leapt into the air and kicked the general in his chest knocking him away from the caravan. Choe landed some distance away and tried to get back to the queen, but his attacker kept him at bay successfully matching him move for move.

The second ninja wearing nothing but black ninja gear stood in front of the entrance of the queen's caravan and he ripped the door open. There he saw the queen with her arms wrapped around her stomach.

Nodoka saw the man pull out a small tanto sword and she could hear the man's voice clearly, "You die here." She saw him raise his blade and attempted to thrust the blade at her.

She quickly looked away and waited for the eventual end of not only her life, but her unborn child's life as well. Something was off though, she felt no pain, but only a splatter of what she thought was water. Nodoka looked up to her attacker and saw that he was frozen in his mid stabbing motion, but he had a metal blade sticking out of his chest. The man dropped his weapon and was tossed clear away from the entrance by a mysterious figure wearing a hood.

Nodoka saw the hooded figure wearing a sleeveless white coat, a black long sleeve military shirt under that, black combat pants, boots, black leather gloves, a red sash wrapped around his waist. She couldn't see this one's face because of the hood, but she could tell by this one's posture and body size that her savior was a 'he'.

Choe saw the unknown warrior who saved his queen, but the man moved quickly he appeared out of nowhere, stabbed the assassin, and tossed him twenty feet away with relative ease and by those standards he guessed the man a demon. Choe's ninja assassin (love that movie) rushed at the new guy swinging his blade trying to kill avenge the death of his comrade. However the masked fighter dodged quickly and then the general noticed that this hooded man was using a spear weapon and was a master considering how effectively he used it.

The second ninja and this mysterious man engaged in a back and forth battle, but eventually the hooded man grabbed his coat and he ripped it off of himself and tossed it at the ninja. The foolish ninja however jumped the gun and was about to slice through the diversion, but the moment he got close the spear tip of this hooded fighter shot through the coat and hit the ninja in his face killing him instantly.

The bandits, soldiers, the general and Nodoka who was looking out the entrance to the caravan saw what happened. They could clearly see the man now and saw that he had long silver hair, lightly tanned skin, and two dog like ears atop his head, but what stood out was that he had a metal like collar around his neck. He swung his spear with the man still on the blade of the spear tossing the man a number of feet away.

After the bandits saw the ninja fall dead they immediately made a retreat since their aces were killed off so easily. The soldiers didn't bother to follow since there was no honor in killing cowards. Some of the men rushed to the queen's caravan surrounding it so no one got close while the general and the other soldiers surrounded this silver haired man and aimed their weapons at his throat.

The queen rushed out of the caravan, but was careful not to fall shouting, "All of you lower your weapons now!" General Choe shook his head, "I'm sorry my queen, but we know nothing about this man."

Nodoka was next to the general and said, "He saved my life! That's enough to trust him!"

The general was about to try and reason with the queen, but they heard an all too familiar voice, "So this guy saved my wife?"

The entire group looked to the back of the caravans and saw the king, the general, the lieutenant, and the soldiers that remained walking up to them. Shuhan was smiling again and rushed to his wife embracing her, she explained what happened while they were gone. Shuhan raised his open hand to his soldiers signaling them to lower their weapon, which they did reluctantly. Shuhan could see the man's back and said, "I'd like to thank you for saving my queen and my unborn child's life. You have my thanks… um… May I ask your name?"

The silver haired savior turned around and the king and a few of the others saw the man's golden colored eyes. He looked fairly young at least in his early twenties, but the king knew better and guessed that this demon was possibly older than that. After a brief silence he spoke, "My… name is… Inuyasha."

Shuhan smiled and said, "Well Inuyasha again I'd like to-" he was cut short when Inuyasha dropped his spear and fell to his knees unconscious.

As Inuyasha could hear muffled out words he cursed that he let himself fall this easily because he didn't eat anything in a very long time. Before he lost all train of thought he wondered if they would kill him right there… It wouldn't surprise him if they did.

* Sometime Later *

Inuyasha was laying down and was slowly waking up, he tossed and turned for a moment before he opened his eyes and looked around. He saw that the room he was in was fancy, he laid in a comfortable bed, but two things caught his attention. One the ground was moving as if on water and two the king Shuhan was sitting next to his bed starring at him with a smile on his face. He sat up and noticed that he was bandaged up along his stomach and asked, "Where am I?"

Shuhan kept his smile and answered, "Your aboard my ship the Amatsuotome." Inuyasha then thought, 'That explains the strange movement.'

The king asked Inuyasha, "You hungry? I assume that was why you fainted… That or that unsightly gash in your side."

Inuyasha looked away and said, "I got this while hunting, but a few demons attacked me and took me by surprise."

Shuhan put both his elbows on his legs and his hands to his chin resting it on them he said, "Even though your a demon as well you could still die from wounds like that if untreated properly."

The demon looked at the king and asked, "If you know I'm a demon then why help me?"

"Because you saved my wife and my baby. I always say good deeds should be rewarded, but this isn't a good deed… It is a Grand Deed and something like tending to your wound or feeding you is not a good enough a thanks." said the happy Shuhan, "My wife told me of your battling prowess and so did my general. I must say for a slave you fight rather well."

Inuyasha brought his hand to his collar and said, "My previous master taught me to fight in the case he was attacked or couldn't defend himself. He died however from a disease and released me, so I became free." Shuhan pointed to his neck indicating the collar to which Inuyasha replied, "It's a remembrance that it's because of this collar that I lived a great life. Unlike most demons who have a harsh life my master cherished every moment with me up until his death and I cherish the times with not only him, but his family as well."

"That is a fairy tail story." said Shuhan. Inuyasha looked at the king and said, "You don't have to repay me… I just did what my master always told me to do. Help others in danger."

Shuhan stood up and told the demon, "Well regardless of what you say I need to repay you. You saved not just my wife and baby, but you saved mine. If I lost them I don't know what I'd do, so I ask you… as thanks and because of your combat abilities I want you to be my family's bodyguard. You'll be well taken care of and you'll have a home, I could rest easy at night knowing that you'll be there."

Inuyasha frowned and said, "How do you know I'll do such a thing? I could just be putting up a facade so I could get close to you and kill you. I'm sorry, but I just can't be your bodyguard and I don't think I'm the right demon for the job."

Shuhan smiled and said, "Well don't sell yourself short because of your heritage. You can't control race as much as a man can control the color of his skin or the family he's born into. As to answer your question I really don't know, theres something about you that gives off a relaxing aura. Besides the way 'you' talk about your former master and his family shows your loyalty to him long after death and his teachings of kindness reside in you. You don't have to give me your answer now, but I'd like for you to think about it. I'll send someone in later to bring you something to eat." With that the king closed the door leaving Inuyasha in a small room.

He forced himself to stand up and he noticed that his boots, gloves, and shirt are nowhere in sight nor is his spear and he guessed that it was the kings soldiers that asked that his weapon be as far from him as possible. Inuyasha was quite confused as to why the king trusted him this much, as he stated for all the king knew Inuyasha could've been a thief, an assassin, or a number of other things and yet the king took him on his ship, dressed his wounds, is willing to feed him, and is asking him to become a bodyguard. This was out of the ordinary for him for the past seven years.

He limped over to the window and looked out and saw endless blue caused by the ocean and the starry sky with the stars reflecting off of the surface of the water. Out of the corner of the port window he saw another ship just barely out of sight. He knew that since this was the ship the king rides on, then behind this ship was a large fleet to escort the king back home. With nothing else to do and he highly doubted that he'd be allowed to leave the room he sat down on his bed again and could do nothing else but calm his growling stomach.

As if his prayer was answered the door to his room opened up and in walked a short elderly man at at least 2'8'' with a round head with gray hair around the sides, a needle like nose, a small gray mustache, and a formal kimono. Inuyasha immediately knew this man to be a demon. The elderly man was carrying a tray of food and he set it down on the table next to Inuyasha's bed saying, "Hello my name is Myoga Ogata and I'll be serving your food. For dinner here is beef, chopped carrots and potato stew along with bread, and a glass of water. Enjoy."

The younger demon simply nodded and saw Myoga leave his room. Inuyasha cautiously took the bowl of stew and he inhaled it without really tasting it, next the bread was eaten within two good bites and the water was shown no mercy as well. After he was done he put his dishes back on he table and laid back down to relax and get some rest not knowing if this is all a blessing or a trap.

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(A/N)

Hello D.o.A. here! Well what did you all think? Good?… Bad?…. it was Okay?…. Well I'd like to get some feedback either in a review or PM just so I should know if I should continue this story or stop right here. Thank you for giving my story a read and if you read Naruto fanfics check out my two Naruto stories on my profile entitled 'Naruto's Rise' and 'Raised a Criminal'. On another note Inuyasha will get Tessaiga in a later chapter.

-Stay Gold