AN:Whelp, this is the sequel to The Darkangel. You probably want to read that before this one. It might make more sense if you do. I guess you don't have to read Darkangel, though I recommend it.
Also, sorry for starting on this late. I was actually planning to start this story a bit earlier but I've been stressing my time on making my website...which I FINALLY finished. O.O Thank god.
Make me happy and visit it. It has most of my drawings on it so I think you'd want to check it out. I don't draw that bad... And while you're at it, please sign my guestbook. ^_^
http:// spiritedaway. chaotik. net
Just ignore the spacing and you get the site.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha nor the original ideas of the Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce that this story is based on. Um, what else? Ah, and the whole Charter and Free Magic ordeal is based on the Old Kingdom Trilogy by Garth Nix. Hm, I think that's it. Yeah, that's it.
This chapter's bound to have some grammatrical errors in it because I haven't looked over it yet. But I will when I find the time to.
Horns blew from the watchtowers as the wind swept Inuyasha and Kagome's transport high over the city gates of Esternesse. Kagome turned to her sleeping companion. She sighed, wishing she did not have to be the one who had to wake him.
The wind caress his skin and gently blew through his silver white hair. His adorable ears twitched as the ocean breeze whisked playfully at them. The red haori and hakama that they found eariler at the castle looked remarkably well on him. His face seemed so calm and at ease, it seemed like a sin to wake him from his peaceful slumber.
Kagome reached over and nudged him gently on the shoulder. "Inuyasha," she whispered. "Inuyasha, we're here."
Inuyasha shot up at Kagome's slight touch. His ears twitch and his eyes whipped around alarmingly. His sudden movement caused the featherly sail to rock slightly in the air. "What?"
"We're here."
Inuyasha's body tense and his breathing sped up a knotch as his eyes averted to the lady emerging from the doors of the palace they were approaching. Kagome laid a hand gently on his arm.
"Calm down," she murmured. His breathing slowed but his body was still stiff.
Kagome followed his gaze. The lady was dressed in the most elaborate robes she had ever seen and her hair was held up by beautiful ornamental sticks. She stood tall with her chin held up high and her walk was graceful but held an aura of power and authority.
Kagome heard Inuyasha draw breath and whistle a low note, summoning a wind to bring their transport down onto the square in front of the palace. Guards swarmed around them, their spear tips gleamed wickedly in the sunlight. Once it had settled, Kagome stepped off the heap of feathers with Inuyasha following close behind her.
Kagome bowed low to the lady in front of her. "Are you Lady Shinako?" she asked. "Queen of Avaric?"
The beautiful woman nodded. "Yes. I was the Queen of Avaric many years ago. Who are you?"
"I am Kagome," Kagome replied. "I've come from Avaric to return to you your son." She shifted uncomfortably. Speaking so formally felt unnerving. She was really just imitating the polite manner she had seen Renko display during special occasins back in her village.
Kagome felt Inuyasha close to her, not touching, but she could feel his long hair brush the back of her hand. He said nothing. He stayed silent with his eyes focused on the lady in front of them. Lady Shinako's eyes did not leave Kagome.
"My son is dead," she said. "He fell in a desert lake and drowned."
Kagome shook her head. "He didn't drown. That was a lie his nurse told you." Her skin grew cold at the thought of Dirna. Dirna was the young prince's nurse in Avaric who was later sold in Terrain to be a servant in the house of the syndic, where Kagome drew to know her. Kagome turned back to the Lady. "Your son's nurse, Dirna, gave him up to the lorelai, a water witch who kept him for ten years as her prisoner beneath the lake. Then..."
She stopped. What was she suppose to say next? Lady Shinako, your son turned into a darkangel. You know, those evil, bloodthirsty creatures who show no mercy to anyone. The White Witch steals children and turns him into those soul-sucking creatures then sends them out to prey on the world. But don't worry, I save him and turned him back to the way he was before. But in the years he was under the witch's enchantment, he sucked out the sould of thirteen maidens, one of them being my best friend, drank out their blood, and murdered them.
But was it even her place to say? Kagome glanced back at Inuyasha, whose gaze was drawn to the stone floor. Would he be angry at her if she said the whole story? How would she say it? The Lady's gaze still stayed intently on Kagome. Kagome cast down her eyes.
"He was the witch's prisoner for ten years," she said, "then another fourteen years more under enchantment in Avaric." It wasn't a lie - but it wasn't the whole truth either. Kagome found the Lady's eyes again. "But I undid that spell." Now the truth. "Your son is free."
Lady Shinako studied Kagome for a long moment. She drew breath and turned to look at Inuyasha. She started for she had not really looked at him before. Kagome felt him move past her. He knelt and the Lady stared.
Kagome saw Lady Shinako's eyes saddened. She dropped her eyes. Inuyasha caught her hand as she moved to turn away. The quards drew their swords half-way out their sheaths while the others held their spears threateningly in hand. Lady Shinako drew back in surprise but did not pull away.
"You changed a lot since the last time I saw you," Inuyasha said in a low tone. "But I still know it's you. Look at me."
Lady Shinako signed heavily but said nothing.
"Fine," Inuyasha growling suddenly, casting off her hand. He tossed his head towards the tense guards. "Tell them to attack. Say that I'm not your son. That I'm not Inuyasha."
An awkward silence quickly followed. Kagome could feel anxiety wrapped its icy fingers around her neck. The Lady drew breath again and drew closer. She traced the five faint long scars on Inuyasha's cheek, then outline of his amber eyes.
"You have his eyes," she whispered. She then smiled and her hands dropped to his shoulders. "I can't, because you are my son. My Inuyasha."
Kagome held a small lamp in her hands as she stood in the doorway of Inuyasha's room. She watched as he twisted and turned in his sleep. His bedsheets crumpled underneath him and his silver hair laid sprawled about his pillow. It had been three days since their arrival and he had been having nightmares ever since.
Kagome placed the burning lamp on the low table beside her and knelt beside Inuyasha's sleeping form.
She shook his shoulders as she whispered. "Inuyasha. Inuyasha, wake up."
She shook him another time when she heard him gasp and wake. She slowly withdrew her hands as Inuyasha sat with a start, blinking and staring at her. Kagome quickly stood up and stepped aside as he swung his covers aside and slid quickly out of the bed. He walked across the room and threw open the window to let the cold night's breeze blow in. He grasped the window sill as his chest rose and fell rapidly.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.
Kagome drew closer with concern. "I heard you. I came in and saw you were having another nightmare."
Inuyasha whirled around in anger. "They're my dreams," he almost shouted at her. "They're none of your business."
His face changed as he turned away; the fierceness of his gaze disappeared into an expression she couldn't name. He whispered so softly Kagome barely caught it. "You can't help me."
Kagome gripped her thin yukata tightly. "You can barely sleep three hours together," she whispered urgently. "Everytime, you wake up shaking from your dreams. Let me call a healer--"
"No."
"Then at least let me tell Lady--"
"No!" His voice grew hoarse and dry. "Don't tell her anything."
"What do you dream?" she asked softly.
He gripped the sill tightly til his knuckles grew white. "Go away," he said tightly. "Can't you just leave me alone? I didn't ask you to come here."
"But, I--"
"Go."
"Inuyasha! Just--"
Inuyasha abruptly turned, his eyes shone with the irritation and frustration that he felt. He pointed to the open door angrily and shouted. "Go!"
Kagome jumped at the sudden change of volume in his voice. She slowly backed away until she reached the door frame. She turned and fled so he would not see the unshed tears that threatened to fall.
"Inuyasha...he has changed."
Kagome was out in the balcony sitting on a white wooden bench, minding her own business. The ocean breeze gently blew through her dark hair as she stared out at the harbor where seagulls cawed and sailors shouted. The skies were clear of dark clouds with the sun out in its brightest. Its light reflected off the aquamarine waters, causing the hulls of the ships to glow with magnificence. The beauty of it all easily cast Kagome off into her own world. She looked up in surprise when she heard the soft voice.
Lady Shinako quietly walked beside Kagome, her eyes averted ahead of her.
"Well, from the last time we've been together."
Kagome looked away. It was too much to hope for the Lady to be oblivious to it all.
"He had so much energy inside him. He hated to be cooped inside the castle where he'd be surrounded by scholars scolding him to learn the history of his royal kin and how to manage the kingdom when his father would pass away. He would always find some clever way to sneak out and play "Horse Dung" with the stable boys." Lady Shinako chuckled. "Oh, how his father scolded him. He lectured and yelled but you could still see the amusement in his father's eyes. But of course Inuyasha would not listen and go off to play games that involved getting extremely dirty.
"And his manners! By the time he was six, he could swear worse than a sailor. No matter how much time we took to teach him etiquette, he never learned. I guess letting him go out to the harbor was never a good idea."
Kagome looked at the Lady at the corner of the eyes. Why was she telling her all of this?
"But now, he's quiet and subtle. I feel like all the energy that once built up in him escape to some far off place. When he talks to me, he's cold but polite. His replies are short and never tell me much. Hn, he'd make his teachers proud, but his parents sad. I feel like I've lost my son." She looked down at Kagome. "I don't suppose you could tell me why."
Kagome stared down at the floor. She shook her head.
The Lady sighed. "I guess it was too much to hope for." She sat beside Kagome. "So tell me, what is it between you and Inuyasha. Are you his wife? I figured it from your attire when you first arrived."
Kagome nearly scoffed. Wife? Hardly. "I don't know."
"You don't know if you're his wife or not?"
"No. I'm not his wife," she said with little uncertainty. Truthfully, she didn't know what Inuyasha thought. "We're just...acquainted with one another."
Lady Shinako said nothing for a little while. "My servants said he has nightmares." She looked away. "He won't tell me anything. Nothing of what has happened to him in the last twenty-four years. I hardly think what you have told me was the whole story. What was the enchantment on my son? How did he get those scars on his cheek?"
Kagome could not find herself to look at Lady Shinako in the eye. "I'm sorry, but it's not my place to say."
The Lady fell silent. She straightened and smiled gently with understanding. She eyed Kagome and cocked her head to a side. "You have beautiful eyes, did you know? Green as emeralds. I knew someone who had such as eyes as yours. She was a very good friend of mine." The Lady turned away to looked at the blue skies. "She was regent here when I married the King of Avaric." Her face saddened a bit. "I never heard of her since then."
Kagome slowly looked to the Lady.
"Natsune," she heard her murmur. "Her name was Natsune."
Kagome watched soundlessly as Lady Shinako straightened herself and turned to Kagome as she stood. She smiled and patted Kagome's arm. "I hope things go well between you and my son."
Kagome said nothing. But when her words fully registered into her head, she stood up and turned. "Wait! What's that suppose to mean--?" Her voice trailed off when she realized the Lady was gone and she was alone again.
Kagome sank down onto her bench. "I hope things go well between you and my son"? What was that suppose to mean? She frowned. The Lady couldn't possibly mean that she wanted Inuyasha and she to be...?
She rapidly shook her head. That was impossible. She and Inuyasha could never be an item. But then again, it wouldn't be too bad...
He was incredibly good-looking. Back at the darkangel's castle, he wasn't too modest in covering every inch of his body. His very fine body to be exact. She remembered he was muscular, not bulky and barbaric, but trim and nicely curved. When he moved, they would nicely...
Kagome stopped herself and shook her head violently. Acquainted, her ass. By the way she was thinking about him, it seemed the exact opposite of their relationship towards each other. She sighed heavily and covered her face with her hands. She didn't want this. She wanted to be somewhere far away from here. Somewhere where she wouldn't have to deal with this any longer. She wanted to go home. But then again, she didn't have a home to go home to...
Kagome's head jerked up when she heard raised voices. She stood up and walked to the edge of the balcony. Down below she saw six young men walk into the empty courtyard, laughing and talking with carefree ease. She smiled at the familiar faces. She turned and made her way down to the courtyard.
"Kagome! Over here!" cried six boys under the shade of large thriving trees.
Kagome smiled and waved. They were all Inuyasha's cousins from his father's side, heirs of Esternesse. But unlike Inuyasha, their ears were pointed, and not very dog-like. They were full youkai. Their families' left to Esternesse to find her their Queen after their King's death. For its a belief that a kingdom with no heir is cursed. Lame, but what could she do about it?
Touya, the oldest, beckoned her to come closer. "We just came back from the scholar's lessons," he said with a hint of disgust in his tone.
"Really?" Kagome said with mocked interest. "And how were they?"
Kyo, the second oldest, blew lazily at a drifting leaf. "Boring, as always. If the heat doesn't kill us, the scholars will."
"Or Scholar Tojo's smell," said Shinta, his body propped awkwardly on the wall behind them all. All six boys groaned heavily in agreement.
"We've been telling him that he eats too much garlic, but he never listens." Shinji, Shinta's twin, sighed pitifully. Kagome smiled sympathetically with laughter on the edge of her throat.
"Tell us a story!" Eijiro piped up, his ear twitching with excitement. "One of Midoriko!"
"Yeah!" Daiki, the youngest, jumped and pulled Kagome onto one of the cushions. "We never heard of that story until you came."
Kagome sat down. "I don't know..."
"Aw, come on," Kyo whined. "You remember! Midoriko was one of the last Ancients to leave the world."
"Because the world was crap and everyone else was turning it evil," Touya continued.
"But Midoriko left the world with lons, one for every land," Eijiro said as he repositioned himself on the pillow.
"And the lons brought justice and stuff like that after the Ancients left." Shinta moved out of his awkward position and into a sitting one.
Kagome laughed. "You basically just told me the whole story."
Six heads snapped towards her.
"Aw, man! You guys did just tell her the whole damn story!" Daiki groaned. He smacked the head nearest to him, which happened to be Eijiro. "You idiots!"
Kagome cocked her head to a side. "What difference does it make? You guys know the story just as much as I do."
Shinji pouted. "Yeah, but it's better when you tell it. I feel like I'm actually seeing the story happen before my eyes."
They all made some sort of noise, voicing their agreement.
Kagome smiled and shook her head. "No stories today. Shouldn't you guys be at the temple or something?"
They shook their heads. "We're going to the festival in the city."
Daiki pulled at the sleeve of her kimono. "Come with us. You look like you need some cheering."
Kagome grinned. "No, it's alright. I need to talk to Inuyasha."
Kyo snorted and looked away. "He's probably at the temple, like always."
"He's always waiting for the priests and priestess to remake the starhorse," explained Touya. "Nothing makes him more happy but to know that he's gonna get a winged steed."
"Too bad there isn't more than one," Eijiro murmured. "Then I could help him fight those damn icari--"
"He's not there," Daiki interrupted.
Kagome rose. "Where is he then?"
Daiki rose with her. "He's in the gardens. There." He pointed to the right. "He had daggers in his hand."
Kagome followed the line of his arm and turned. Nodding her thanks to him and the others, she walked away.
Each dagger made a dull 'thump' as they were thrown onto the wooden target. Inuyasha glanced at Kagome's approaching figure as he walked to the target and pulled out the daggers.
"Your mother came to me earlier," she said, "and talked about you."
He stiffened but said nothing. But she could tell he was waiting for her to continue since he did not move from his spot.
"She wanted me to tell her about...about what happened before we came here."
She saw him blanched. "What did you tell her?"
"Nothing," she answered. "But she knows about your dreams."
He turned further away from her, clearly refusing to look at her. "When I was a darkangel and heard your stories about mortal things," he said softly, "dreams started to come to me, driving me mad because I wanted those things again, but couldn't."
Kagome stared at him. That was most that he had said to her since their arrival to Esternesse.
"And what do you dream of now?" Kagome whispered, afraid that the question would scare him off.
He opened his mouth to answer, but when he looked up at her, it was as if there was something on her face that made him close it and turn away.
"It's none of your business," he whispered.
Kagome clutched her fingers together. But she pressed on. "Do you dream of the lorelai's house?"
Inuyasha stiffened and slowly turned around. Kagome saw the surprise on his face.
"It's cold," he said softly. "And everything's so still." He stopped himself before he could go on. He turned away again and started to pull the deeply imbedded daggers out of the target.
"But you're in your mother's house, now. You're free from all those miseries."
"Sometimes I wish you told her everything," he muttered. "But she doesn't know me."
Kagome looked at him. She felt as if she was slowly falling away from him. "You're her son. "
"You don't know me at all," he spat.
"But you're my husband." Kagome stopped. Words came out of her mouth before she could stop it. But her reckless words caused him to snap at her.
"Am I? Do you really think that wedding toast can make it happen just like that?"
He made to strode away but Kagome stopped him.
"Alright, you're right. That was stupid. You're not my husband nor do we have any kind of that relationship. But, I want to at least be your friend. But I can't if you don't let it."
"Why? Why would you?"
His back was facing her, so she couldn't see his face.
"Because I want to help you! I know you have a lot things you need to talk about, and I'm here to listen. You have a lot on your mind, I know it! If you talk to me about it, it could ease the burden on your shoulders. With all those thoughts built up in your head, if you don't talk about it, you'll explode with emotion!--"
"I don't need you." He said it so softly, she barely caught it.
"I said, I don't need you! And I don't need anyone else! All I need is for people like you to leave me alone!" His voice was so harsh and hard it made Kagome flinched. He strode hard away from her without looking back at her.
Kagome felt her insides harden. She could feel the hurt from his words wrapped their icy fingers around her neck and erode her heart bit by bit. She watched him continue to wrench the daggers out of the target. He turned and nearly jumped at the sight of her. She then realized that he had expected her to leave. But she couldn't move. It was almost as if her feet were rooted into the ground. He stepped towards her and for moment his clothes gleamed pale. She almost thought he was the darkangel again.
As he neared her, a frown passed over his face. Kagome broke from her motionlessly and turned abruptly to leave.
"Wait."
Kagome halted, mostly from the sheer surprise of feeling his hand on her arm.
"You're crying."
Kagome was about to protest until she felt the warm tears spill down her cheeks. She then realized that she could hardly hear him. Dismay clouded her ears and tears of misery blinded her eyes. When she freed the darkangel, she thought she had brought her freedom. Now she realized that she only brought herself into another cage.
Her whole body shook as she managed to choke through the tears. "Fine," she whispered. "Fine, then. I get it now. I'm not your wife, friend or anything like that. So what does that make me now? Your tormentor?" He said something, but she didn't hear. She didn't want to hear. "Is that why you hate me so much?" she said through gritted teeth.
Kagome wrenched her arm out of his tight grasp and ran. She didn't know where she was heading, but all she knew was that she had to get out of there. Far away from there.
If Inuyasha had called after her, she didn't hear him. No, she realized, she didn't want to hear him. She didn't want to hear his voice, because for some reason, it made her heart ache. She covered her ears with her hands and continued to run deeper into the darkness.
End of Chapter 1
AN: Okay, well, chapter one's done. Now I need to work on Double Life. -_-
Okay! Well don't forget to check out my site, which I work so friggin hard on.
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