Much Ado About Nothing

A/N: Hey people, sorry long time no talk. I've been working on this one since last year and finally finished the first chapter. I'm a fan of the movie, what can I say? I think that the few quirks and kinks that I threw in here will be fun. Oh, and this isn't going to be a tame story; expect more sex than the movie and lost of WAFF moments.

The Shakespeare Series:

Much Ado About Nothing

Cast:
Beatrice- Sango; a lady and cousin to Kagome
*Benedick- Miroku; a count and friend to Inuyasha
*Claudio- Inuyasha; a prince, brother to Sesshomaru
Hero- Kagome; a lady and cousin to Sango
Don Pedro- Sesshomaru; prince of Aragon
*Don John- Naraku; bastard brother to Inuyasha and Sesshomaru
Borachio- Bankotsu; Naraku’s gentleman
Conrade- Renkotsu; Naraku’s gentleman
*Ursula- Rin; Kagome’s gentlewoman and secretly in love with Sesshomaru
Margaret- Kagura; Kagome’s gentlewoman and in love with Bankotsu
*Kilala- Sango’s gentlewoman and childhood friend
*Shippo- Young soldier desperately in love with Kilala
*Friar- Kaede; the priestess
*Kouga- A soldier in love with Kagome
*Ayame- Sango’s gentlewoman and childhood friend in love with Kouga
Leonato- Kagome’s father and lord of Messina
*Ame- Kagome’s mother and lady of Messina
Antonio- Sango’s father and Leonato’s brother, lord of Natissa
*Hisa- Sango’s mother and a lady
*Inutaisho- Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, and Naraku’s father
*Izayoi- Sesshomaru and Inuyasha’s mother
*Souta- Kagome’s younger brother, worships Inuyasha
*Kohaku- Sango’s younger brother and Souta’s best friend, also worships Inuyasha

*either the characters are not in the original play or they have been altered for this story


It had to have been one of the most beautiful days anyone could remember in Messina. Summer had not yet begun, so the trees were still a vibrant green and the sun shone gently instead of beating them with its harsh rays. Everywhere in the meadow and vineyards people were enjoying the day; Lord Leonato sat on a blanket sharing a goblet of the past year’s wine with his wife, who giggled when he pulled the wine from her lips and snuck his own in to replace the lost goblet; Lord Antonio chased his shrieking wife around a small grove of oak trees with his son Kohaku cheering him on; Kagome, trying not to watch her parents’ public display of affection, sketched Ayame sitting in the middle of the wide, warm meadow. A breeze tugged at her bright red hair, threatening to pull out her iris pin holding her hair off her neck, tendrils escaping and brushing her jawbone and forehead like a mischevious fire licking the ripe summer air. Rin and Kagura eagerly attacked the cheese and bread after running for an hour after Kagome’s brother, Souta; he could find a way to get hurt in a room full of pillows. It was Kilala who now restrained the struggling child with Kagura laughing and tossing chunks of warm bread soaked in honey into her open mouth. She stopped laughing when Kohaku sprinted past her without his clothes on, causing her to leap to her feet and chase the errant boy.

But the person having the most fun amidst all the folly and merry-making was none other than Sango, Kagome’s shrew of a cousin and Antonio’s only daughter. She had perched herself into a tree, a small book in one hand and a bunch of sun ripened grapes in the other. This was her personal poetry book in which she spent long hours creating new parodies and sonnets to read aloud to the amusement of her family and friends. Usually, to her cousin’s mounting frustrations, they mocked the offices of love and wooing; Sango would never get married, common knowledge that she herself was quick to assure to be fact. Her mother and uncle were horrified, her father and aunt amused by her declaration of eternal bachelorhood.

Some of her sonnets mocked one person in particular, the very bane of the young woman’s existence; Count Miroku of Padua. Oh, how she had loathed him the very first moment she set eyes on him! No, that’s not true; for the span of five seconds she had fancied herself intrigued by him. Until he made a scathing remark about a woman’s proper place being in the kitchen cooking a feast for a guest and not being presented to them for inspection. Her feather’s royally ruffled at his impertinence, that day five years ago had begun a feud known all the way from Messina to Florence, with bets along the way who would finally snap and kill the other with barbed retorts.

Today Sango chose to read a favorite of the women, one she wrote only a week after that fateful encounter with Count Idiot. Her voice as strong as her will carried across the fields, bringing laughter from the women and groans from the men.

”Sigh no more, ladies,
Sigh no more;
Men were deceivers ever.
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant, never.

Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny.
Converting all your sounds of woe,
Into hey, nonny, nonny!

Sing no more ditties,
Sing no more
Of dumps so dull and heavy.
The fraud of men was ever so
Since summer first was leavy.

Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny.
Converting all your sounds of woe,
Into hey, nonny, nonny!”

The women clapped and cheered, whistles renting the air, while the men glared at Sango and braced themselves for the male-bashing about to commence. This was the women’s fight song; Sango must be in a particularly bad male-related mood for her to be rallying the troops on such a fine day as this. Wasn't it just a little unfair for her to punish all menfolk for the idiocy of one?

While the women whooped for their leader, said feminist bit off a warm purple grape form the bunch in her hand with relish. Sango was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful women in Messina, despite her anti-male tendencies and unusually quick mind. Thick dark auburn tresses fell in soft waves down her back, a few tendrils sticking to her rosy cheek moist with perspiration from the intense heat of the Italian day. Sharp yet rich chocolate brown eyes swept across the valley, a satisfied smile gracing her pink lips in contentment at the merriment. Because of the warmth, all the women wore white or light colored dresses and skirts; Sango chose a thin white camisole and a light blue skirt, currently bunched around her knees to keep her from becoming too warm, horrifically scandalous in her mother's eyes. A smooth, lightly tanned leg dangled from the branch, the other braced on the trunk for balance. Her camisole strained against her bosom as she lifted her arms and stretched, catching many an appreciative male eye. A piece of metal resting on her chest caught the light; it was a locket her parents had given her on the day she was born, a small gold piece that she cherished above all things.

Lady Kagome, much more mild mannered and proper than her liberal cousin, sighed and rubbed her temple, her aunt mimicking her actions. She worried about her fair cousin’s future if she continued to rage against marriage; who would take care of her? Sango was closer to her than any sister could have ever been; Kagome wanted nothing more than to see her cousin look upon a man with love in her eyes with their children running around their feet. She truly wished for nothing more than her beloved cousin’s happiness.

Kagome was colored more fair than her cousin; dark raven silk plaited tight at the top, with soft waves cascading down her shoulder to the bow that laced her camisole. Her eyes, unlike Sango’s, shone an ethereal silvery blue in the Italian sunlight, framed by sooty lashes that brush her cheek as she blinked ever so lightly at her dear cousin's antics.

Was it truly so terrible for her to depend, nay, even love a man? By the Lord above, Kagome did love and envy her cousin for the freedom to do and think as she pleased; she wouldn't be Sango if she weren't arguing with her mother and reciting literature to further her cause for old maidenhood. But Kagome didn't want to see her cousin, much like a sister, shunned by the good people of Messina and lose her chances at finding love and security. As unfair it was, if Sango were left destitute and alone, she would not find any kind of respectable work that could keep her fed and clothed. And that thought is what spurred Kagome to gently but firmly try to sway her cousin to considering one of the suitors her mother and her uncle were setting up for her.

"Cousin, come down from there, or have you become a sparrow now to dance and live in the trees? Mayhap we've been wrong to find you a groom; a strapping young robin is what you need."

Sango grinned at her cousin's rare show of boldness and wit. "Aye, dear cousin, I would prefer a robin's song to the clumsy confession of love from a man. May God grant my wish and let me live happily ever after as a songbird!"

Kagome rolled her eyes, standing and brushing the dirt off her skirt. "How about a dove then? Or is that too romantic and soft for your sharp tongue?"

"Oh no, never. How can I blame a dove for the mistake of man to associate the poor thing with the ridiculous notion of love and affection? I would not mind a dove, mayhap I could teach a lesson to a lovestruck fool and peck his eyes out just for spite."

Kagome's mother laughed, braiding her long tresses over her shoulder and securing it with a green satin cord. "Ah, Sango, you poor shrew! I will pity the poor man who wins your heart!"

"Then pity God, m'lady, for that is the only man who shall ever hold a place beside my father and uncle there. Love is not for me, and I am not for it; nay, we would do much destruction together, but apart we are harmless save for a few barbs."

Kagome opened her mouth to retort, but was cut short by the sound of a horse approaching. All of the hillside party turned their heads sharply as a fine black mare halted, a soldier disembarking from her back. Souta and Kohaku immediately broke away from poor Kilala and Kagura and ran to the beautiful creature, beaming when she lowered her head calmly to be petted by the two mischevious boys. Leonato approached the young man, still clad in his uniform, red hair pulled up into a high ponytail and green eyes glowing with excitement.

The soldier shook Leonato's hand and promptly handed him a scroll message, for which the lord of Messina thanked the man. He unrolled the missive and read it quickly, his eyes widening almost as quickly as his grin.

"I learn from this message that the wars are over, and that straight from battle come Lord Inutaisho and his sons to Messina!"

A great cheer rose in the air, the women hugging each other and the men slapping each other on the back. Sango leapt down from her tree and sat next to her cousin, eager to hear what other news her uncle would disclose.

"Pray, how many have been lost to the war?"

"Very few if any, my lord. The Inu and Kitsune clans triumphed over the Nekos, and the demons who threatened us from the south and east have asked for a truce, and peace is here again."

"What is your name, soldier?"

"Shippo of the Northern Lands, m'lord." The soldier glanced away briefly, but found that he had to tear his gaze away from the beautiful neko demoness giggling with two human females. He could see a hint of fang when she smiled, and her blond ears with black tips twitched with her mirth. Long wavy blond hair draped over her shoulder like a curtain of silk, the very tips a deep black, and he held back a smile when her tail curled around her thigh, black strips contrasting with the blond fur. When he caught her eye for a moment, he almost couldn't breathe at the ruby orbs that peered back at him shyly.

"Where are the lords now, my friend?"

Shippo mentally shook himself and tore away from the entrancing neko. "They were not two leagues off when I left them."

"Pray, dear soldier, has Signore Mantanto returned from the wars or not?" A smooth voice full of mirth and coyness addressed him this time, one of the human girls gossiping with the neko beauty.

Shippo frowned. "I know no one by that name, m'lady."

Kagome elbowed her cousin in the ribs, making her cough around another grape. "She means Signore Miroku of Padua."

Shippo nodded in understanding. "Yes, m'lady, and as pleasant as ever."

Sango stood and sauntered the soldier, swallowing another grape. "Well, how many has he killed in this war? How many? For indeed, I did promise to eat all of his killings."

Shippo frowned at the young woman as the others in the party snickered. "He's done a great service to these lands, and is a fine soldier too, lady."

Sango laughed. "'And a fine soldier to a lady?"

Kagome, sensing that Sango might be upsetting the first of their guests to come, stood up and grabbed her arm. "Please do not mistake my cousin, good Signore. There is a merry war between Signore Miroku and her. They never meet, but there is a skirmish of wit between them."

Shippo shook his head with a smirk. "I would do well to stay friends with you, good lady."

Sango offered him her grapes in peace. "Do so, good friend."

Shippo bit off a few grapes, stealing more glances at the voluptuous neko female. he didn't even question her being here when he had just come off the lines of fighting hordes of her kind; if Lord Leonato and Lord Antonio accepted her, she must have been close to them. She had no mate, he could tell by her scent, which was all he needed to know.

The pounding of hooves reached their ears yet again, and they looked over the hillside. In a cloud of dust, Sango could make out flags and four tall men, riding with stiff backs that only status could give. Behind them was a cloaked lady, Lady Izayoi, she surmised.

Leonato grinned. "Lord Inutaisho approaches!"

A/N: Ok, I need you guys to tell me if you like this story, or it I'm kidding myself here. it only takes a minute and doesn't need to be long.