Huzzah! The final installment! What are you doing reading this! Go read the last chapter!

Not my Fairytale

Part Fourteen

The Swan Princes

"The king was very upset to find only his daughter in the castle, her six brothers had vanished. 'Where are your brothers?' He asked. The princess told him what had happened, how the jealous queen had used her evil magic to change the princes into swans and how they had flown away, leaving her behind." Kagome looked up from the chain of flowers she was dutifully weaving, plucking another long-stemmed blossom from the soft, sweetly-scented mound before her. Shippo was sitting across from her, his own small pile of cut flowers and large, thick-veined leaves slowly disappearing as he knotted stems together.

The raven-haired girl grinned at the sight of the little boy. He had a crown of spear-shaped leaves and clover on his head, his knees and hands were green with grass stains, his arms and fingers dirty with dark, sticky sap. He was busy linking a necklace of vivid lemony yellow and brilliant white flowers- probably for her.

Big sea green eyes looked up, light with carefree laughter, catching her gaze, and they both smiled as if sharing a silent secret. "What'd they do?" The kitsune asked, carefully inspecting his pile for bent stems and bruised petals before selecting a new flower.

"The princess ran away after her brothers as soon as her father left. She discovered a hut deep in the woods but there was no one home so she hid inside until night time. She was so tired she fell asleep and when she woke, her brothers were around her, happy to have found her." Shippo glanced up- his brows furrowed in a look of disgruntled surprise on his open face. Kagome knew what upset him before he could voice his question.

"But, Kagome, how'd they break the spell-"

"They didn't, wait for it." Kagome shook her head at his impatience and gave him a gentle tap on the nose with a flower before continuing. "The princess's brothers begged her to leave because the hut they were in was owned by mean bandits and robbers and they'd kill her if they found her! The little girl asked why her brothers couldn't defend her or run away with her home but the princes told her that the spell of the wicked queen forced them to become swans all day long and human for fifteen minutes at night. The little sister cried when she heard this and asked if there was anything she could do to break the curse."

"Can't they just take off the magic shirts?"

"Nope, they're magic. They couldn't take them off but if their imouto could sew six new shirts from tiny flower petals then maybe they could break the spell. But the princess would have to sew for six whole years in silence, never speaking and never laughing." Kagome stated very seriously, her voice low with solemnity. "It would be very hard for her." Shippo mimicked her grave nod, his own eyes wide at enormity of what was being asked of the little girl in the story.

"But," Kagome continued, "The princess was alone in the woods with no one to talk to and nothing to laugh at. She decided that she would save her brothers no matter what. She went deeper into the forest and climbed a tree where she sat for a very long time, sewing the shirts from flower petals."

"How long's that gonna take? And where'd she get a needle and the thread? What happened to the bandits? How can you sew a flo-" His tail flicked excitedly as his volley of questions gained momentum. Kagome snatched her kit's hands and held them down, forcing him to calm.

"Shippo-chan! Slow down!" The brunette laughed at the deluge of questions. "The bandits never knew she was there- she was gone before they even came back. I think she got the thread from the dress she was wearing and, uh, the needle, um . . ." Kagome actually had no idea what the answers to the kitsune cub's inquiries were, and some of them were really good questions. "She made it from the jeweled comb in her hair." 'Sure, that's a believable, spur-of-the-moment answer!' She thought triumphantly, the more stories she told him, the better and smarter his queries became, and she had to be more and more creative to answer them!

"Anyway, one day a young king was hunting deep in the woods and found her. He asked her who she was and what she was doing but she refused to answer. He spoke to her in every language he knew but couldn't get her to talk to him. The king was certain the maiden was in danger out there alone so he put his coat over her shoulders to keep her warm and carried her away to his castle where they were soon fell in love and were married-" Kagome suddenly found herself pummeled by an auburn fuzzball, flowers scattering everywhere.

The fox kitsune latched onto her deftly weaving fingers, halting their progress. She abruptly released her wildflower bouquet to catch the distraught little boy. "No! But- her brothers!"

"It's okay, Shippo! She didn't forget. She still spent every day sewing the shirts for her brothers." She gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his tiny hands. "But her new husband, the king, had a very mean mother, and she didn't like the new silent queen at all. She didn't know that she was really a princess and didn't think she was worthy of her son."

Shippo's eyes widened in a childish idea of delighted horror. He suddenly knew the already difficult situation was about to become even more impossible. "What'd she do?" He whispered, still not letting go of her hand.

The miko shifted the fox cub to her lap so she could free her hands to continue her flower plaiting. Her arms were securely around him and he was content to stay there, helping by choosing the next flower to hand up to his foster mother as she weaved.

"Well, a year went by and the young queen had a child. The old woman stole it away and claimed the queen had killed it. The queen couldn't speak to defend herself but her tears convinced the king of her innocence. Another year passed and she had son, but the wicked mother stole him too and the next after him. After the third baby disappeared the king could do nothing but allow the queen to be judged. She was found guilty because the king's evil mother had convinced everyone to believe her and the young queen couldn't say anything to explain that his evil mother had stolen the children away. She just kept crying for her lost children and sewing the shirts for her brothers."

Kagome had Shippo's full attention now, a flower dangling forgotten in his hand, his head twisted at an uncomfortable angle so he could see her. His jade eyes were riveted to hers, watching with a somber concern. The schoolgirl mentally shook her head as she finished the knot on her blooming necklace. He should know by now not to worry so much, there was always a happy ending when she told a story.

"The queen was sentenced to death but the day she was to be executed was the last day of the six years when she couldn't laugh or talk. The shirts were all finished except one that was missing a sleeve. Just as the guards came for her, six huge swans flew down and surrounded her, protecting her from the guards and the old woman. She threw the shirts over them and the swans suddenly became princes again and they all laughed and hugged each other. Their little sister had lifted the curse! Only the youngest brother still had a swan's wing instead of an arm. The queen went to her very surprised husband and told him what really happened. The children were returned, the king's mother was sent away forever, and the young queen's brothers lived with their sister and new family."

"And they lived happily ever after!" Shippo shouted, flinging handfuls of flowers up in the air as he leapt from her lap. He circled around her, skipping and leaping from ground to shoulder to flower pile. She chased him on her knees, seizing his feet, nipping his tail, tickling his sides.

"Yep! Happily ever after!" The girl cried, tossing her chain of dandelions and daisies over the little boy's head. Together they collapsed into the grass laughing. It was a few moments, after gasping and catching their breath, and lazily watching the cottony clouds bloom in the sky that Kagome caught on to something.

The trees that surrounded their lonely glen in InuYasha's Forest, had eyes.

The miko pushed herself up on her elbow, the kitsune child lying with his head on her stomach gave her questioning glance before rolling over and taking off after a butterfly.

The girl's warm gray gaze fell on the tree line, and the glint of silver that flashed within its vast green depths. She grinned secretly, and fell back into the soft earth, long reedy grasses tickling and poking her skin through her shirt and socks. Immortal he may be, but she could easily wait him out.

The friendly sun's constant heat slowly warmed the brunette as she basked. The plump, downy clouds were infrequent but thick enough to chill her skin quickly when they came between the sunlight and the earth. A playful breeze blew over top her, just kissing her nose and pulling at her loose sienna locks among the tall grass. The shushing whisper of the leaves all around her melted into a steady song like the unceasing crash of ocean waves. The sound was appreciated for a moment then dismissed like the quick blazing fire of each day's daily sunset, seen for only a minute or two before dying and being forgotten.

The giggles and rustling of her young kitsune cub rose intermittently amongst the world's soft noises, tugging at the young woman's lips. She sighed, her back relaxing against the solid ground, her arms and legs soaking up the sun, fingers burrowing into the sweet green carpet.

What peace . . . what calming quiet . . . No car horns or neighbors' radios or sirens . . .

The miko was half asleep, lulled by the serene droning of the thriving, vibrant world, when she felt a looming presence encroach upon her meadow of tranquility like the heavy coolness of a cloud's passing shadow. She sighed fondly, opening one eye and reaching out an arm to snag the fox pup that darted past. He had been stealthily placing bouquets and rings of flowers all around the sleeping girl, slowly covering her in sweetly scented, sticky dandelions, daisies, lilies, clover, and every other imaginable blooming flora under the sun.

"Kagome! You're s'pposed to stay asleep! Only the prince can wake you!" The kitsune whined playfully.

"Oh? Am I you're Snow White or Sleeping Beauty now?"

"Yes."

Kagome giggled at his simple, concise answer. She released the fluffy-tailed child and he scrambled onto her stomach to order her back to sleep. She obediently closed her eyes once more and the boy leapt off to continue his gathering.

"And when am I allowed to wake?" She asked softly, knowing the youkai cub would hear her.

"Not yet, not yet!" He cried, rushing to her side once more to make sure her umber eyes were still shut. The girl smiled and allowed herself to fall back into her drowsy, semi-sleep while the little boy continued to play within her hearing range.

The ominous presence crept up on her again, this time stronger and she knew her precious moment of secluded peace was ended.

The shadow crossed over her before she was ready- She could hear Shippo some distance away, she didn't even bother opening her eyes to react to the figure now hovering above her- there was nothing she could do to avoid him now.

"Oi, wench!"

Kagome heaved a long-suffering sigh and rolled her eyes before raising her gaze to glare wearily up at the red-clad form. Dark honey eyes and a mild scowl of his own met her bemused glance.

"Yes, InuYasha?" She asked as she let her eyes fall shut once more, resting her head back amongst the soft leaves and petals.

"What the hell's all this crap? You're gonna stink like weeds- no one with a half decent sense of smell'll come within yards of you!"

"Baka," She scolded gently, not troubling herself enough to even move let alone gear up for an argument with the evidently irritated hanyou. "Shippo gave me all these, we're playing. I'm the sleeping princess and I'm waiting for my prince to wake me up." She managed a frown at his rudeness but that was about it. She didn't have the energy to even bother removing some of the flowers he found so offensive. Who cared what she smelled like anyway? The only ones who would be able to tell were him and the one whom had covered her in this floral blanket.

Speaking of . . . She let her senses wander, searching for the little kid in question. "Where is my prince?"

At that moment, Shippo returned, arms full of greenery. "Hey! InuYasha, you're not s'pposed to wake her up yet, I'm not done yet!" The kit deposited his last bouquet and leapt up on the hanyou's head, gripping his hair and one ear to keep his balance.

"Dumb, pup, why're you covering up Kagome's scent? What if something happened and I had t' find you?" InuYasha snatched at Shippo's tail to drag him off but the cub switched it out of his grasp and calmly hopped back down.

"Nah, you were here the whole time, you couldn't lose us." He answered confidently and rearranged a particularly colorful and fluffly garland around the miko's head. Kagome suddenly felt like a table with the two boys talking over her like she wasn't even there. But she was content to lie there, half-asleep while they bickered. After all, it's what they did.

The kitsune cub placed the last blossoms in the girls curled tresses and hopped back up on InuYasha's shoulder to admire his handy work from afar. With practiced ease, he scurried out of the inuhanyou's reach, after the few moments InuYasha tolerated his presence, and clung to the fire-rat haori on his other shoulder. He giggled that mischievous little boy giggle and launched himself off into the open meadow, calling back over his shoulder to the older boy.

"Okay, NOW you can wake her up!"

Kagome's bronze eyes flew open, suddenly realizing what the kid meant. A similarly wide-eyed glance from InuYasha caught her attention before he turned away, fighting a growing redness tinting his skin. Her cheeks soon mirrored his blush and she carefully sat up, dropping twists of flowers and clusters of petals like clumps of snow. Shippo meant InuYasha to be her prince . . ?

"Uh . . ." The brunette had a hard time even trying to meet her friend's gaze after that and she ended up trying to nervously laugh it off. That only earned her a 'keh' and a better view of the back of InuYasha's ivory head. "Um, why . . . don't I go see what Miroku and Sango are up to- it must be close to dinner time by now. Maybe I can help." She pushed herself up to her feet, brushing some of the petals from her skirt and sticky-stemmed dandelions from her hair. The young man sat on his haunches, back to her, apparently doing all he could to not look at her and her silliness. "I- I'll call you two back when the food's ready, 'kay?" She fingered the long daisy necklace Shippo had given her, debating whether she should relinquish it along with the rest, before abruptly turning on heel to march back into the forest, back to the village and away from this incredibly embarrassing situation.

"H- hey, wait." Kagome bit her lip at InuYasha's unusually quiet, hesitant voice. She swung around to face him once more, a huge grin pasted on her face.

"Yes?"

He was standing again, not quite facing her, but no longer turned away. She could see a sad, pensive expression on his face, a heaviness in the resigned lines of his body. The look was regrettably familiar to her. The hard sorrow in his eyes, half hidden by his thick silver bangs, belied the miserable calm on his face. She saw that calm collapse as he shook his head, snorting gently.

"Never mind."

"Ah . . . um, are you sure?" InuYasha twisted away again, no longer allowing her even the slightest glimpse of his handsome face. She could feel him closing himself off again but it was a slow, struggling process for him- he must have had something to say but . . . couldn't.

"Keh, just don't listen to the brat, you're fillin' his head with stupid ideas."

"Excuse me! What 'stupid ideas' am I filling his head with?" Kagome's mouth dropped open in disbelief- this was certainly NOT what she'd been expecting! She clamped her mouth shut and glared at the half-demon's cringing back.

"All this fairy story crap-"

"It's not 'crap!' I told you before, Shippo likes these stories cause he needs to know bad things happen to good people and good people survive them. Everyone's allowed to dream; he's an orphan who's found a new family, his friends are cursed and abandoned but he knows that it'll all be alright as long as we have faith in each other." Prickling tears welled in the girl's eyes and she clenched her fists at her sides, trying to force her attention away from her aching heart. How many times had she been through this with him already? How many more times would it take to get him to understand?

InuYasha rounded on her, apparently as passionate in his belief as she was. "That's not it!" He shouted, mere feet from her face. "This isn't your fairytale, and I'm not your prince!"

It had taken months of knowing him, dealing with his issues and problems, his enemies and ex-girlfriends. She had fought so many battles; with him, for him, against him- but at last it happened. With those few simple words.

Kagome's heart finally stopped.

The abrupt switch from its furious pounding to the sudden drop to her feet was too much.

InuYasha continued in a dull, submissive voice, refusing to meet her gaze. "The kid's got it all wrong. Even if there was a happy ending to all this- and I'm not expecting one- I can't . . . I can't give you anything. I can't give you a castle or treasure, hell, I can't even guarantee there's anywhere in the world we could go and not be chased off. People hate demons, and hate hanyou worse, despite what you think. There's no future with me. All I can do is protect you and half the time I can't even do that right. I've still got a lot to learn-"

Reality rushed back into the empty space left in her chest when her heart beat faded to silence. He didn't mean it. He was just scared. And didn't believe he was good enough to be a prince-

Kagome didn't know what say but she couldn't let him keep talking himself down, she knew he wasn't very good at talking to begin with and soon he was going to say something really stupid.

"What makes you think I want a castle or treasures?" She asked gently. "I don't need anything more than what I have right now. I'm happy just being by your side, just to stay with you. I keep telling you but I don't know how else to get it through your thick skull. You always promised to protect me, to cheer me up and stay with me." She remembered that particular late afternoon stroll fondly. InuYasha had carried a very depressed Kagome home from school, telling her to cheer up and promising that he'd always be with her. It still brought a smile to her lips.

"You're kind . . . to me, InuYasha. I'm happiest when I'm with you just because I'm with you. And I'll stay here as long as you'll let me- but please, don't ever make me leave for some stupid reason. If you can't stand the sight of me-"

"Ah hell, Kagome . . !" The boy growled, his fierce golden eyes searing through hers. Guess he couldn't stand her talking herself down either.

"InuYasha . . . I know you take your promises seriously. You promised you'd always be with me even when you were bored out of your skull. And I know you promised you'd go with Kikyou to hell. So when you're ready to leave with her, I'll let you go, you don't have break one promise to keep another. But . . . I wish you would . . . for- for as long as you can . . ." Something cold landed on the girl's numb hand- it took her several moments of staring at it to figure out it was a drop of water. Her fingers rose to the sides of her face to discover cool, wet trails lining her cheeks. When had she started crying?

Before she could muddle through a coherent answer to that silly question, InuYasha had grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a crushing hug. Kagome could count on one hand how many times InuYasha had held like this- and it seemed each time something drastic had driven him to it. It wasn't that she didn't trust him but she had to wonder if the world was about to end.

She devoted a moment to memorizing the feel of his tight arms circling her, pressing her face into his soft haori, her dark bangs and his silver hair blending like ink and milk. She could feel his thudding heartbeat through his chest against her cheek, his warm breath on the top of her head. His strong arms strained and trembled to hold her so close, she had to return the squeezing embrace for all that she could for as long as she could. It was easy, they fit so neatly together like puzzle pieces, her arms around his waist, his over her shoulders and draping her back, her head nestled under his chin. It was like waking up in a soft warm bed after a long night's rest, it was like coming home-

But nothing gold can stay. The girl raised her eyes and pulled away to meet her hanyou's gaze.

"InuYasha . . ? What's wrong?"

"I promise."

"Promise what?"

"I promise to keep my promises. I'll stay, with you, for . . . for always."

"Wha- What do you mean?" Kagome asked slowly, blinking carefully. If she breathed too hard, this unreal moment might shatter.

"Kikyou understands. She told me, her one goal is to purify the jewel and destroy Naraku in the process. She knows . . . she won't survive. And she knows that I'll try to protect her but-"

"It's okay, InuYasha, I know that too. I know you'll try to protect her too, that's why I have Sango and Miroku and Shippo to help me so you can help her-"

"That's not what I'm tryin' to say, dammit! Just shut up and let me talk!" Kagome's mouth snapped shut, too surprised to retort. "She doesn't want me to protect her, she pretty much released me from my vow. She wants you to live. Us . . . to live. I think she knew before I did . . ."

"Knew what?" The girl ventured softly, afraid of disturbing this confession and scaring her shy hanyou into silence once more.

"Where my heart truly lies . . ."

The End

For now . . . ;D

This tale is actually told in two different versions, one the girl uses aster flowers to sew the shirts, it's a little more girly, minus the children, and less scary. The other the girl weaves the shirts from nettles and goes through a more difficult time so it's a little scarier and more Christian. It was a lot of fun comparing the two and coming up with a blend that didn't neglect either story.

Remember, this kind of story can always be added to, come back and check on it when you think of it and maybe there'll be a new little chapter! Also go check out the illustrations I've made for this story and various others! I have some on Media Miner and a LOT more on Deviant Art. Just search my name, the title, or "fairytale" and "Kagome".

Thank you so very much for all your reviews, comments, and support! I hope to see you again in the future!

Until we meet again . . .