Masquerade by Sada

Prologue

Revamped. Re-mastered. Redone. The story has been edited, too.

Title: Masquerade

Author: Sada

Category: Romance. In your face!

Spoilers: Post-series. Which means, yes. Most likely.

Rating: R... Okay, really R. But not in a bad way.

Summary: The jewel was completed, Naraku defeated and Inuyasha didn't choose Kikyou. Things are looking up for Kagome! Wait... No, no they aren't.

Disclaimer: Mm-hmm. Nope.

Author's Note: ... Not sleeping for several days really does make you delusional. And also induces first tries at many things. Like fan-fiction.

Feedback: Would be appreciated. Soon.

Setting: Sengoku Jidai – Post series, after Naraku's defeat.

Prologue- Avoiding the Masses

Kagome was no stranger to being kidnapped.

She'd been taken to caves, huts, villager's homes, concubine's halls, inns, caves, shrines, fortresses, and caves. But this? This time-

This was the last straw.

She understood her kidnappers' reasons, sure. But that didn't mean she was going to accept it sitting – or as it were lying - down.

Kagome was twenty-one now, had been for a while, so she was pretty well aware of what happened when a man and a woman got together. Not from a hefty sum of personal experience, mind you, but from common facts she'd picked up in her own era. She'd even learned a couple things from this time.

Shifting uncomfortably, Kagome scowled into the darkened room.

Three years ago, Naraku had been vanquished and the Shikon no Tama had been restored...and everyone lived happily ever after, etcetera, etcetera.

Everyone, that is, except her.

The Bone-Eater's well had chosen to stop working once the jewel was wished upon, and Kagome had been conveniently stranded in the Feudal Era.

Of course, she'd been devastated at first - hardly eating, refusing to speak for months – but finally she'd shaken herself out of it and set out to do something useful in the Sengoku Jidai. Something useful as in training her priestess powers.

That was when she was forced to seek out the most powerful priestess in Japan.

Dammit, had happened to be her first thought.

Who was the most powerful miko in Japan? You guessed it. Kikyou.

I was like chewing on glass, but she'd sought out the undead woman - alone - and asked for her guidance in exchange for a larger portion of her, Kagome's!, soul. Kagome hadn't returned any part that held spiritual power, but rather parts that held emotions she knew the older miko would appreciate. Or at least use.

Kagome had a natural talent for picking up new skills, relatively speaking, so in a record amount of time she'd managed to hone her abilities. After that, she'd opted to travel around the mainland wearing traditional robes and carrying not only a bow but also a katana.

Kagome could handle herself against demons, bandits, and sometimes even a horde of each. She figured she didn't have anything to worry about.

Ah. But I'm sure you've all ready figured out she was wrong.

So-

When the trained, full-grown, armor-equipped, 'I could kill you with my pinkie' ninja/bodyguard things attacked, Kagome had reverted back to her fifteen-year-old schoolgirl days and screamed like a little girl.

Thus the kidnapping ensued.

And so, she ended up here- at a brothel.

That's right kiddies, a whorehouse.

... Wasn't irony a bitch? After spending years protecting her virtue, then becoming a full-fledged miko, swearing never to give herself to a man-

She'd been bathed, perfumed, painted, dressed in the most provocative kimono ever sewn, and was currently waiting for the big, bulky man to come and lead her to the front room where she'd be auctioned off like livestock then thrown against her will to a hard, most likely filthy mat and- holy freaking crap she didn't want to be thrown down on the hard, unforgiving floor.

And just as the thought flitted through her head the shoji screen door slid open revealing the house's Head-bodyguard that Kagome had so lovingly named Ogre.

Ogre looked at her impassively, but a small hint of sympathy swam in the depths of his onyx eyes. "Come, little miko. Unfortunately for you, we've drawn quite a crowd tonight."

Worried that she might have judged him wrong, she quickly - and silently - renamed him Giant.

Perhaps Giant was another kidnapping victim?

Kagome looked over his massive, muscled form, and watched as the scarred and bronzed skin gleamed slightly from the candles lighting the halls and his eyes flitted about in with the educated awareness used to protect oneself in battle.

Uhm. No.

The sounds of rich male laughter and sake bottles hitting wooden tables brought her attention to the decorated screen door at the end of the hall, somehow making this closed entryway more portentous than the rest.

A sudden wave washed over her, filled with tranquility and serene knowledge. She'd live through this- the Shikon embedded inside her knew and pulsed with its own brand of wisdom, so it had to be true.

Her face drained of all emotion, her brilliant sapphire orbs turning a blank, arctic color-a side effect of training with the female equivalent of an ice block.

Giant stopped outside the door and the sounds from inside faded. Kagome glanced up at the well-built man, seeking some small form of reassurance.

"No one will hurt you, priestess. You have my word." That tiny flicker of sympathy she had seen in his eyes grew into kindness, and he offered her a tight smile.

She returned the pleasantry with little feeling, nervously twisting her hands inside the vast sleeves of her ocean blue furisode. She attempted to tell herself everything would be okay, that nothing would happen, but the small, insufferable part of her brain that was prone to panicking continued to run around in circles, fanning the horror rising in her head. She forced herself to take a deep breath and once more her emotions were trampled down. Giant nodded once and slowly pulled the screen open, softly smiling again.

Kagome strode in gracefully, the hems of the many layers of her kimono whispering against the tatami floors and rippling like waves of the sea. Despite her confident appearance, inwardly she was gasping from anger, sorrow, and shock.

She hadn't been kidnapped into any normal brothel, nope. It was a demons' whorehouse! And judging by the powerful auras emitting from the many humanoid beings in front of her, they were all taiyoukai.

So that was why they'd fallen silent when they were outside the door- obviously they'd been aware of the presence of their newest potential toy.

But why didn't I sense them before I entered this room? Her mind whispered angrily. There must be a barrier around the room.

Pulling herself out of the confines of her mind, Kagome lifted her eyes and scanned the room dispassionately. But, inside, a small, hormonal part of her was squealing like a little girl... again.

All the taiyoukai were beautiful. Strong, elegant figures all dressed in the finest silk. They looked like royalty. Okay, so they probably were royalty, but...

The hormonal Kagome squealed again.

The owner of the brothel was standing next to her, taking bets and waving enthusiastically at different parts of her anatomy. Had she not been faced with a room of gorgeous man-beasts and currently having her virtue threatened she might have laughed- the owner was dwarfed by her uncharacteristic height, only accented by the layered furisode.

Her gaze roved around the room blankly before she landed on one of the youkai and froze.

It was Sesshoumaru. At a whorehouse.

Shocked enough by his attendance to allow her eyes to widen marginally, she missed the last words of the auctioneer and the steadily larger bids being placed on her person.

Sesshoumaru didn't seem to recognize her, unsurprising since last time she'd seen him she'd been trailing behind Inuyasha in a sailor fuku and shooting wildly with her bow.

Something flashed deep in his golden eyes, and she shifted her attention in front of her, choosing to drill her eyes at an insignificant spot of the wall behind all the stunning beings. Suddenly, she wished fervently that he wouldn't recognize her, so ashamed she was of her present predicament, as unasked for as it was.

The bidding stopped abruptly when someone whom she couldn't see offered a mind-blowing amount of Toraisen.

A man from the back of the room stood, tall and proud, and Kagome's breath caught.

Well, too bad I don't plan on loosing my virginity tonight, because he'd certainly be a nice contender.

Shimmering white hair, dark amethyst eyes and tanned skin with metallic markings made up the impressive youkai. Kagome figured him to be feline, maybe a tiger of some sort.

He walked forward arrogantly, grabbed her arm, and dragged her out of the room, up a narrow flight of stairs, and into a luxurious room at the end of another long hall. Several rooms they passed were not exactly noiseless, but after he'd opened the door and thrown her into the luxurious room everything was silent.

Another barrier. Damn.

Slowly Kagome raised her eyes to the youkai, who was looking down at her with the barest hints of a grin. Her hands came in front of her once more, and she dug in her right sleeve for the tanto she'd hidden earlier. Her eyes remained locked on him as he fluidly inspected the room, checking for hidden openings and unwanted guests. Finally, Kagome's fingers grasped the slender hilt of the small weapon, and she rose to her feet.

Abruptly the youkai was in front of her again, slowly trailing his dark eyes over her form. "I know who you are."

The tanto almost slipped from her fingers.

"Wh-wha?"

Purple eyes clashed with blue. "I said...I know who you are."

Um... okay?

Kagome's eyes narrowed dangerously, the grip on the small knife tightening. "What does that have to do with anything?" Jerk.

"I didn't buy you to steal your virginity."

...

Yay?

Her shoulders straightened, but her tanto remained in hand. "Doesn't mean I'm gonna trust you, buddy."

"'Buddy'?" He shook his head as he approached the window, opened the screen, and surveyed the ground below. "We will escape at midnight. Be ready, I'll be back shortly." And with a swish of fabric, he was gone.

Kagome blinked slowly. "What just happened?" She mumbled as she slid the tanto back into the sheath secured on her left arm.

So... I was kidnapped, had my virginity threatened by an extremely...delicious- evil! Evil... male, and now I'm waiting for my supposed rapist to help me escape from the place that had every intention of continuing to auction me off every night for the rest of my life. All in all, I think I've had a pretty productive day.

Sighing, she made her way over to a small table, set with warmed sake and some vegetables and meat, presumably for the youkai.

Either she could stay here and be defiled some other night or she could escape with this strange youkai who supposedly was royalty.

The decisions were endless.

Okay, not-rapist demon it is.

Yay for irony!

At exactly midnight a loud thump awoke Kagome from her light slumber leaning against the table.

"Come on. Put these clothes on now, we have to go." He tossed a package at her lap and turned around, his entire frame taught.

Kagome stood groggily and painstakingly slipped out of all the layers of the kimono and into the hakama and haori provided. Pulling the sleeves up her arm lazily while stifling a yawn she almost didn't notice the distinct feeling of magic passing over her as the cloth settled on her shoulders.

That bastar-!

"It is a concealing spell so no one will recognize you, and if anyone asks you are my-"

"Sister. I'll be your sister."

The demon shot her an amused look before grabbing the back of the haori collar and jumping out of the window in one powerful move.

Pulling numerous hair ornaments out and trying not to scream, Kagome once more questioned her sanity.

And then, yet again, the magic of the Shikon passed over her, and she was confident that she'd made the right choice.

Now, if she could just figure out why her 'savior' had to be an imperial cat-demon.

Kagome: I'm going to hell for this...

Sesshoumaru: Mm. Yes. Because obviously all the others things you've done are of no contest.

Kagome: I have to sleep with you in later chapters! I- I can make you pay! ... Wait, whoa, I- I never agreed to this!

Sesshoumaru: Yes, you did. It was on the fine print of your contract.