We’re All a Little Mad by Kagome Yuki Niwa

My Plague’s Begun

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Alice in Wonderland', the plot, or the characters and all belong to Charles Lutwidge Dodgson aka Lewis Caroll. I respectively adapt my own twist but claim nada.

Genre

: Romance/Angst/Drama/Adventure/Horror/Tragedy

Summary

: An Alice in Wonderland Adaptation; A tree, a girl, and a hatter who is more cruel then mad [though insanity is a flighty thing]. Two unlikely individuals embark on a journey to destroy the Red Queen through a place where impracticality knows no bounds and has no rules. Things making sense? Not in this place.

We’re All a Little Mad

Chapter One: My Plague’s Begun

“We just tear down the walls in the home that our jealousy built.” – ‘Graveyard Dancing’ ~ Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows

x . . . . x

She loved her father but she didn’t always like him.

It was a truth she had learned to live with as she stared into the almost crimson gaze of the one that had helped in her creation. His lips were pursed into a frown but she just didn’t seem to care. She may have been spoiled – yes – but this was the one thing she had ever truly asked of her father.  As tears threatened to spill over cerulean hues she practically begged her father for the one thing he would not provide her.

Marriage.

“ – is a good man, Father!” she almost cried as he gazed at her unrelenting.

With a sigh, he stood from his seated position and to her own bowed and hunched over one and pressed a calloused hand to her shoulder. She almost shrugged him off but thought better of it as he pulled her forward and hugged her to him. She let the tears fall as she took in the familiar scent of the tobacco he smoked and of old parchment and ink. His wavy onyx hair mingled with her own ebony waves and his baritone soothed over her softly, “I cannot, Kagome… do not ask this of me.”

She buried her eyes into his haori and continued to cry, cry, cry before finally whimpering out a soft, ‘why?’.

He pulled away and tears stained the dark purple silk of his clothing but he brushed the tears away with regret reflecting within his bordering crimson orbs, “You are my daughter. I cannot let you go.”

Anger rose within her swiftly, “But I love him!”

He nodded his head, “And love is a fickle thing, Kagome, and you are young with flighty affections.”

“I’m sixteen summers, father! There are village girls that have several children younger than even I am!”

He sighed again and touched a flushed cheek, eyes soft, “So much like your mother you are. So full of life – so full of curiosity and the need to fight.”

She looked away from the softness because it made her uncomfortable. The gaze in his eyes never ceased to unnerve for it was not the way a father would look upon a daughter. No – no ­– physically innocent she may be but she was not naïve and she knew that the hunger in her father’s gaze was not normal. He never acted upon his impulses and so she ignored them. She would not become like Mei –Fong, the maid whose father came to her repeatedly for months until she found herself a way off the mainland and to Nippon.

No – her father had restraint and her father loved her too much to defile her in such a way.

She also knew he only looked at her that way because she reminded him so much of her deceased mother Kikyo.

His hand brushed over her hair and he pulled away as there was a knock upon the shoji screen door.  He uttered a light ‘enter’ and a maid entered with a bow.

“Naraku-sama, Kouga-sama is here to speak with you.”

Immediately Kagome’s heart began to race.

Kouga would convince her father of their marriage! He would be able to help! She watched as her father’s face hardened with anger and disgust and he gestured for the maid to let him in. A moment or two passed before the Northern Prince entered the chambers and bowed to her father, offering her only a quick glance and a wink from his almost too blue eyes.

Kouga had been visiting with his father several months prior – coming to briefly reaffirm their treaty as they did every five or six years. The Northern and Eastern territories had a profitable alliance and though they had come before it was the first time the Northern prince had come along with his father. It may have been love at first sight but Kouga proposed to Kagome several months later with a smile and chaste kiss that Kagome couldn’t help but agree to.

“Naraku-sama.” Kouga greeted with a seriousness she had never been able to associate with him. He was a royal – like her – and had an all around jovial nature. He was playful even during the worst of times and there was never a moment he was without a smile. This was the first time she had seen him without his carefree grin and though she found it odd it brought her comfort to know the one she wanted to marry would be able to be stern when the time arose. Naraku did not answer Kouga but instead dipped his head at him to continue. “I have come to formally ask for Kagome-chan’s hand in marriage.”

Naraku glared at the insolent boy – just barely a man – and snorted almost in disgust. “As I have told my daughter, the answer is ‘no’.”

Kouga frowned and shook his head, “That is not acceptable. We’re in love – would you truly deny a love match between our lands? That is foolish.” Kouga murmured, his own rough voice soothing away her tension. He was a good monarch no doubt. He had the ability to get even the most stubborn to cave in and she was convinced he would be able to change her father’s mind.

Naraku turned to Kagome and offered her a light smile, the action changing his face from cruel and unyielding to the father she knew and loved, “Kagome… why don’t you leave Kouga-sama and I to discuss this, alright? It’s late and this can take a while. In the morning you will have your answer.”

Kagome nodded quickly, not wanting to argue and upset her father which would affect the negotiations she was sure. She stood and walked to her father, placing a customary kiss upon his cheek and whispered a soft, ‘goodnight’. As she was leaving the room, she walked by Kouga and touched the swell of bicep and gave him a bright smile, “Good luck.” She whispered and his too-blue eyes softened and he nodded his head.

“I’ll do my best.” He murmured gently, turning back to her father.

She walked away and from the room, closing the door behind her, leaving her fate with the two men she loved more than life itself.

.

Morning dawned bright and though she didn’t get much sleep the night before she woke early and perky. She wasted no time in gathering her day kimono but instead asked her hand maiden to gather her robe. She pulled her hair into a sloppy bun along with the robe and practically ran from the room to the informal dining room where her father was sure to have his morning tea.

Her heart was beating fast, her stomach was in knots, and she didn’t think she’d be able to stand it when she burst into the room. Her father was sitting there and she almost tripped over herself as she ran to the low table.

Naraku glanced up at her with no emotion showing anywhere on his face as he sipped his tea, “Yes?” he inquired lightly.

“Well?” she had to refrain from screaming at the blank look in his eyes. “The negotiations? Kouga-kun? How did it go?”

Recognition shown through his eyes and he pulled the tea cup away with a soft, “Ahhh.” He gazed at her with a quick smirk and nodded his head, “Your answer is in the courtyard.”

She almost ran from the room and to the courtyard. Was Kouga there waiting for her? She hoped so. She knew it as truth. Why else would her answer be in the courtyard? She almost slipped several times on the hard wood floors and definitely ran into one or two disgruntled maids.

She reached the door that would take her outside and pursed her lips as she opened it quickly. The light blinded her for just a moment and she quickly blinked it away. She took a few steps out of her home as her vision came back to her.

The first thing she did was blink slowly as her mind tried to process what was before her.

When she did… she screamed.

For there in the courtyard was Kouga – rather what was left of Kouga.

She couldn’t stop screaming.

A hand touched her shoulder as tears slipped along her pale cheeks and she knew who it was without turning to see, “I told you before, Kagome… you are my daughter. I cannot see you leave me so you never will.”

Kagome continued to scream.

.

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‘Gome Yuki:: Chapter One is a little short but the next chapter will be much longer. This has been on my profile for a few months now as a plunnie but I finally got around to writing it! Set most lilely during the Meiji Era of Japan. I know - sad start but it happens. Let me know what you think, yus? BTW, Alice in Wonderland is numero dos in my fave fairytales and stories next to Little Red.