Disclaimer:
All characters of "Inuyasha: Sengoku Otogi Zoushi" a.k.a. "Inu-Yasha: a Feudal Fairytale" are the 1998 property and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi; Shogakukan Inc.; Kitty; Fuji TV; and, Viz Communications. No copyright infringement is intended.
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School
Chapter 03 - Let's Enjoy School Life Together
A fanfiction by Yukatado
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Kikyou sat in languidly in the alcove of her modest home's tea room. Hers was a much older home, built in the sixteen hundreds' momoyama style due to a fire that taken out her previous dwelling, and thus its tea room retained a window through which she could gaze upon the inauspicious, fenced-in Japanese style garden that few visitors to the shrine ever knew about. Despite the home's Japanese Baroque origins, it remained relatively un-ostentatious to the inattentive eye. Decorative subtlety however filled the home in ways that alone, were rather ineffective or even strange, but as a whole, made the place an extremely comfortable and beautiful dwelling. Money was no object for Kikyou at that point, though she never flaunted it, nor truly cared for it. It was, to say the least; rather unnecessary for her continued existence . . . it did however have its own advantages that made life, even for an immortal golem, much less burdensome.
She propped her chin upon her raised right knee and hugged her leg close as she watched the sun descend below the horizon. As her garden grew dark, an unnatural fog began creeping on the ground further concealing the plants and rocks from view. The eerie feeling that she got from it all gave her pause and she sighed. She stood up and went to the door, slid it open and leaned against the door post, gazing out at the shrine grounds, which were now completely enveloped in a dense mist.
A lone figure of tall and handsome stature seemed to almost float towards her as the fog concealed less and less of him. That was of course until a very annoying yelp came from behind him followed by a stream of curses for the evil that was a slightly raised stone over which the subject tripped. The mood ruined, Sesshoumaru buried his face in his hand and shook his head disappointed in Jaken's never ceasing ability to be extremely vexing.
Kikyou smirked and then her face relaxed into a more kind expression of mild sympathy. "Always one for dramatic entrances, aren't you? It's been a while Sesshoumaru. May I inquire as to what occasion brings the Lord of the Western Lands, and Japanese Diet Member to grace this humble shrine with his presence? Or are you simply here to rekindle an old flame?"
"I am actually here because of something else . . . although, when did your last husband die . . . Anyway; I am here because Beniko is graduating at the end of the month. I wanted to thank you for taking her under your tutelage. She is a fine archer . . ."
"Oh you bad boy . . ." Kikyou chided playfully as she walked up and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm getting jealous though . . . what do you know or care about Beniko? HOW do you even know her? Torakichi died fighting a bunch of rabble down south of here for the Emperor; and, you should already know that because you were asking me the same thing a year afterwards . . . if you think I still need some 'comforting,' I'm sure that I can be quite . . . receptive . . . but back to Beniko . . . or does this have to do with the wee bit of youkai blood running in her veins?" In the background Jaken milled about and generally cursed the odd stone he tripped over in the mist.
"In fact, it would have to do with that. You see, Beniko is my . . . let's see, 18-greats-granddaughter in a direct line from my marriage with Rin. I have a vested interest in my family line as it's the only one I have left," Sesshoumaru said bluntly.
"Yes, yes, that precious family line of yours. The only reason you've never bothered to ask me to marry you in all these years, but you still keep coming back around after my husbands die, and disappear when I meet someone new . . . not that I'll complain, mind you, but I really think you should move on if you want to raise some kids again . . . after all, as much as I like you, I don't like the thought of being your stress relief every thirty to fifty years," Kikyou said, waving him off as she turned around and headed back in. He just stood there, somewhat dumbfounded. She reached her door and stopped. "You're welcome, by the way, for Beniko. Now, if you're done talking, I'd like to go to bed . . . with or without you, but I think you know which one I'd rather have.
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Kikyou awoke and dressed for school. Sesshoumaru was not there, as she suspected he would not be. She shook her head and tut-tutted at no one in particular. "What a silly creature you are."
She descended the shrine steps with an extra bounce in her step and met up with her friend. "Something quite nice must have happened to you this weekend! I was worried when I heard you had skipped Saturday's classes after I didn't see you at practice," Beniko said.
"Oh, yes, I um . . . met up with an old flin . . . friend of mine. It was quite nice to see him after all this time," Kikyou replied.
Beniko looked positively scandalized, "you didn't . . . you know . . . did you?"
Kikyou's tone took on an ever so slight edge as she cryptically replied, "What do you think? You know that I'm a Miko."
Beniko sighed in relief. "Heh, I'm sorry Kikyou, I didn't mean to imply anything. Of course you would remain pure for your job."
"Let's get going, we don't have much time before classes start," Kikyou said, changing the subject. The two girls took off down the street to school.
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Tadahiro watched Kikyou during practice. He really couldn't keep his eyes off of her. The Sakurabara Girls Archery team practiced in a range built adjacent to the Tokorozawa Private Boys School baseball diamond. He would watch her everyday while his baseball team practiced. In fact, he only really joined because he knew that he'd have an excuse to have a good vantage point to watch her after school almost every day. He didn't really care all that much about some sport from America that had become all the rage in his own Japan.
Today was different. She had a glow about her and a smile that melted his heart today. He firmed up his resolve. Today he would go to her shrine, he had found out that much about her, and ask her father for permission to court the lovely archer maiden miko Kikyou.
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Tadahiro walked up the steps of the shrine and found Kikyou in her miko-outfit, sweeping the grounds.
"Ahem . . ." he cleared his throat, gaining her attention. "Um . . . Kikyou . . . san . . . I wanted . . . I wanted to speak with you . . . my name's Tadahiro, Ookamino Tadahiro"
Kikyou smiled and propped her straw-broom against a stone lantern. She walked over to him, bowing politely. "Yes, Tadahiro-kun?" she asked seemingly innocently, but inside she could tell by his mannerisms where this was going from a mile away. "What is it that you would like to talk about?"
"Um . . . I've seen you . . . here and there, and . . . " Tadahiro said waffling but he got a hold of himself, "and I just wanted to say that I think you're really pretty and that I'd like to ask your parent's permission to court you!"
"That's so sweet of you! Why don't you follow me inside?" she asked. Well, it was time for the demonstration . . . again. Tadahiro let himself be led by the hand by the miko, a brazen gesture to say the least, but he definitely would not complain. When the door shut, Kikyou's demeanor changed completely. "Sit in the tea room," she commanded. "I have something I must show you. If you still wish to court me after that, then I will allow it. If not, then that's up to you."
"But . . ." he said, startled by her personality reversal.
"No buts, Tadahiro," Kikyou chastised him, "I've been burned enough times that I don't stick my hands in the fire any more; and my family has long been dead, so you needn't anyone's permission." Kikyou scurried off down the hall and Tadahiro sat with his legs tucked underneath himself at the low table in the tea room and awaited her return.
When Kikyou returned, she was carrying a tray of tea and noticeably had two swords, one long, a katana, and one short, the wakizashi, hanging from the ties of the red hakama she wore. She sat and placed a cup before him and then before herself in perfect tea ceremony fashion. Just as the atmosphere seemed to relax and become pleasant, Kikyou whipped her arm stiffly at an angle away from Tadahiro so that he could see. Pulling the wakizashi from its scabbard, she jabbed it into her upper arm and cut a line down the middle to her forearm. She did not so much as flinch and when Tadahiro finally stopped screaming and panicking, he took noticed that not a drop of blood had come out of her wound. The gash looked as if she had cut into solid stone or clay and it was beginning to close up even as she re-sheathed the shorter blade.
"Wha . . . what the hell happened!?" he inquired confusedly, as if his pleasant dream had descended into a nightmare.
"If you do not still wish to court me, I will understand. I am not like other girls, and I cannot give you children," Kikyou explained, "If we marry, I will watch you grow old and die and I will remain just as you see me now. I think it would be best for you to leave now and come back after you've thought well on this, if you still want me.
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After Tadahiro left the shrine, Kikyou came out and watched him go, leaning on the post of the torii gate. "I wonder if he'll be back. It used to be way back then that guys jumped at the chance, it was like living in their own little ghost story. More and more men are so unsettled by the supernatural that I imagine that he won't be back . . ."
"Of course he won't be back for a slut like you. Don't think I didn't know that stupid Dog was there this weekend, you whore. What with going from man to man, and back to that Dog. What was wrong with me, huh?" Onigumo sneered and berated her, gladly ruining her mood.
"Some of us have moved on, and move on when our loved ones die," Kikyou rebutted, "I've loved and been devoted and faithful to every one of my husbands until they died and when Sesshoumaru comes around, it is only when I am not married to another man. I don't betray my husbands. What would you know of love anyway? You only lusted after me, you were barely able to open your eyes and when you did, you leered at my body. Then you became a hanyou who stopped at nothing to kill me. You are nothing but a boiling culdron of lust and hate. That's all you ever were and sometimes I wonder if there is a chance that you ever will be. Just remember one thing Onigumo. When I sealed you here, it was out of love and compassion, not hate. Your heart was the only human thing about Naraku and we could have just as easily destroyed that, but it was I who convinced them that you deserved a chance to reform and become something more than you were. Are you purposefully attempting to remain as evil as possible to make me look stupid? Whatever, I've got homework." Kikyou went back inside and cleaned up the tea Tadahiro spilt on the tatami as best as she could. "That'll need to be replaced . . ."
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To be continued . . .
Author's Notes: Well, I wonder if anyone figured out Beniko's origin's before I posted this? If you did, then congrats. If not, then oh well. Anyway, the clue was look at Beniko's family name: Hayashibara. Hayashi = Forest, bara comes from hara, which = field or orchard. The kanji for forest is also pronounced "Rin." Now, see if you can tell who Tadahiro is descended from.
Okay... that just didn't work. Not at all. Kikyou plays even more like a complete doll to her environment. The whole revealing bit was stupid. The instant acceptance of just a flirting go after is also bad. There's no build up whatsoever to it. It simply blasts out of no where.
Additionally, the longer the Onigumo sub-plot goes on, the less interesting it's gotten. There doesn't feel like there's something worth carrying about there. There's no real tension or anticipation built up. It just is flat.
Dracos