InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Blemished Armor ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Blemished Armor: Untainted Innocence

By:lito-muffin

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, I forgot to mention it in my last two chapters, so here I am, saying what hurts me most, I don't own him.

Chapter 3-

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`...whatever happens has its own reasons for happening.'

She couldn't get that thought out of her head, it kept attacking her over and over again, questions bombarding throughout her head only to be left unanswered.

Her hand dropped to her side to brush her fingers along the long leafy plants and the vibrant flowers, her finger rubbed together the collected dew from the night before and she closed her eyes, allowing her face to bask in the sun's warmth.

A slight flutter was heard and Kagome opened her eyes to see a gold and black butterfly swooping up and down, doing impressive figure eights and swirls. She followed after it quickly and silently, until it brought her to a small wooden bridge, badly in need of a good repair.

She placed one foot on the end of the bridge and placed pressure on it, testing to see if the bridge would hold on, satisfied when it only groaned in protest she began to walk towards the middle of the rickety connector.

The old wooden bridge looked terribly out of place, due to the fact that it was overhead a beautiful large koi pond with lush green lily pads surrounding the whole area, the water was peaceful, only rippled slightly by the fish happily swimming underneath the cool liquid.

She lightly touched the blossoming lotus and smiled slightly when it floated away from her touch only to have another replace it. She sighed, it was unavoidable, she was to be bonded to her destined forever and ever when the time was right-also known as now.

She had reached the age of sixteen, the age where all maturing Kami were to `bind' with the one they were made for since their births, it was only a matter of time before the High Ones would be able to scout out her unknown betrothed and she would be oh-so joyfully be bound to someone she didn't know for the rest of her life.

Averting her eyes from the overly happy color of the lavender lotus flowers, she sighed. Her life was about to end just as it was beginning to start. She would have to spend at least her first five years showing she could Protect, before she could bind herself to the one she was made for. After that, she would have to spend the rest of her time proving herself to be a full pledged Kami by `Sacrificing'-if her husband allowed her to do so.

If she had to wait until she had to finish her first Protecting assignment to be fully bound to her destined, then she would take at least hundreds of years just Protecting to avoid such a burden.

Look at her mother, she was one of the top Kami-in-training before she got bound to Kagome's father, now she was another noblewoman, socializing all day while sipping tea and gossiping about their children and such things. It was quite depressing actually.

How anyone could leave their life of slaying those who dare threaten their Protected or running amongst the flowers for a life of gossiping and tea sipping, was beyond her. It was simply unreasonable, who in their right minds would prefer a dull quiet life to a life promising fun and dangers?

Oh, right...half the woman did that, and one day, she would be expected to do the same, such a pity.

She stood up and stretched, pulling her arms above her head and heard the satisfying pop of her shoulder bone, she rotated her head to the left, then to the right, stretching out any kinks that had developed while she had sat there, deep in thought.

Taking the worn path down to her own bedchambers, she continued to twirl and jump at the butterflies and bees, occasionally brushing the flowers here and there. This was the life she wanted, and she'd be damned before she gave it up. She wasn't going to back down without a fight.

Happy with her new plan, she continued to hum a tune only known to her quietly. Reaching her own room, she quietly slipped open the door and crept in. Taking off her dirty kimono,

filthy from sitting on the bridge and running through the mud, she tossed it to the side for Mira, her servant came to pick up her dirty laundry. Slipping on a clean crisp blue kimono embroidered in red flowers, she stepped into a pair of matching blue slippers.

She fumbled over to the large copper mirror in her room and stood, looking over herself to make sure she had tied the sash on right. Assured she looked presentable, she opened the thin shoji screened door and scampered to the dining room to see her family getting ready to start dinner.

She cleared her throat quietly to announce her arrival and bowed respectfully before sitting in the empty seat beside her mother. She kept her eyes down, looking intently at her clasped hands underneath the table on her lap. After a moment of awkward silence, a servant walked in carrying a large tray with various dishes, bowing quickly, she began to set the food on the low table.

Kagome waited until her father had taken his first bite before given the nod from her mother to begin, Kagome inclined her head lightly and reached for her chopsticks. Placing it in her hands, she immediately grabbed whatever was closest to her, not wanting to attract much attention to herself. The uncomfortable silence was starting to get to her, usually, her siblings would be blabbering away, telling each other of their own days, but tonight, everyone was sitting quietly. No one was even fidgeting in their seat, as the usual impatient movements of wanting to finish dinner as quickly as possible before going out to play a few more hours before it was time to turn in.

She `ahemed' softly in her throat, causing her family to turn their gaze at her, she looked up defiantly, silently commanding to know what was being roused up in the household.

Her siblings all looked away guiltily and returned to their unnecessary meal of human food. She turned to her solemn father to find him looking at her sternly. Her mother had kept her eyes averted, refusing to meet her eldest daughter's eye.

Her father leaned over and took another morsel before turning to Kagome, "I have been informed." He bit off a bite and chewed thoughtfully before swallowing. "They have found your destined."

Kagome could only stare at him, chopsticks lodged between her teeth, mouth slightly open, one by one the chopsticks fell out of her fingers to land on the table with a clatter; she blinked twice before finding her voice.

"What?"

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"Kagome, it won't be that bad."

Kagome shook her head defiantly and burrowed herself into her pillow, chanting over and over in her head, I'm not going to be bound, I'm not going to be bound, I'm NOT going to be bound!

Her little mantra drowned out her mother's lecture on how every Kami should know their proper place in life, how female's role is to bear future Kami babies and blah blah blah. She closed her eyes and started to count to a hundred, or until her mother finished, whichever came first.

"-so, you should be grateful the High Ones found you such a nice man."

Kagome rolled her eyes childishly and sat up, "Alright Mother, but I don't want to be bound yet, and I still need to finish my Protecting training."

Her mother pursed her lips, and shook her head. "No dear, I didn't get to finish my training, so neither will you."

Anger flaring inside of her, Kagome sat up and clenched her hands, "Are you saying that because you couldn't finish your training, you will deprive me from having the same chance?"

She watched as Aiko falter and fumbled to compose herself, her mother licked her full lips and frowned, "I'm merely thinking of you and your future Kagome."

Kagome narrowed her eyes, "You're being selfish, you don't want me to take this opportunity because you never had the advantage, you want to make all of us be the same way as you! You merely want us to follow in your dishonorable footsteps!"

She never saw the slap, just heard the resounding crack and the next thing she knew a stinging feeling was left on her cheek. Cradling the heated skin, she glared at her mother boldly and saw Aiko holding her hand in midair, staring at the appendage in horror.

Glowering, Kagome looked at her mother as Aiko turned her horrified gaze towards her.

"K-kagome, I'm sorry..." Aiko stammered as Kagome watched her warily.

"I'm tired, would you please excuse me, I need my rest," was Kagome's reply, clearly laced with scorn.

She watched as her mother stumbled out the door and closed the thin screen behind her. Kagome bit her lower lip as the footsteps carried grew fainter and fainter, falling backwards to hit her futon, she looked up at the wooden beams on her ceiling still cupping her reddening cheek.

Gently, she ran her fingers over the swelling bruise and winced. Her mother had never hurt her physically, Aiko wasn't a good example of a mother, but she never had hurt her children, until today. Kagome crept out of bed and looked into the water basin, shocked to see the purple and blue starting to form on her cheek.

Kagome had remembered the times she and Kechi had gone through the historic scrolls of past Kami-in-training in great detail, surprisingly, there has been many scrolls dedicated to Aiko, her mother, on how she was diligent with her training and had been an eager leaner, but that she was one of the few that were bound to another before she could finish her training.

Aiko had started her training at an early age, at the age of eight, ridiculously young, but Aiko seemed to of managed it. She had developed a good outlook on training and had been very impatient with her teachers for making her learn slowly due to her young age.

At the age of ten, she had started to prepare for Protecting, but the trainer had sadly died, despite the immortality of Kami. Aiko had waited patiently until they had found a suitable teacher for Protecting; she was the age of 15 when they finally found one of use to teach.

She had proved herself worthy of any task and she had been one hell of a student to teach due to her stubbornness and one minded ways. She was one of the most beautiful female Kami ever walk among their people and she was praised well for it.

Being the free-willed child she was, she had rebelled against the idea of being bound when they found her destined a month into her sixteenth birthday. Her parents had thought the young man-Ryoichi-was a perfect match for their exquisite daughter. Ryoichi was the first son of Ryo, the leader of the Mountain clan, strong, handsome and had a good status among their people.

Aiko's parent did anything in their will to get Aiko to agree to bind herself to this charming young man, but Aiko being the rebellious teen, decided to go against her parents wishes and chose to continue training.

Her teacher had chastised her for being so foolish and not binding herself like a proper female should. Her peers tormented her on her status of being a female, which role should be to bind herself to a good family and live a peaceful life as a submissive wife, and her parents berated her on bring shame to the family name.

After much verbal tormenting from those around her, she crumbled beneath the pressure and gave herself to her rightful roles, as Ryoichi's destined. She had grown to adore the stoic man, the emotions of a statue and the grace of a swan, but Ryoichi never returned the feelings, he believed it was just another duty to reproduce, insuring the ongoing line of Kami.

Finally, after many moons of being neglected, Aiko the ethereal beauty, grew from the strong-willed and stubborn young woman, to the submissive and meek wife belonging to Ryoichi, future heir to the Mountain clan.

Kagome slowly placed the water-soaked cloth on her heated flesh and allowed the cool liquid to soothe it, sitting back down on her bed; she grabbed the carelessly strewn blanket on her bed and traced the intricate designs on sewn on the silk.

Sighing, she allowed her head to fall onto her pillow and looked sideways at the wall beside her bed, she turned to her uninjured side of her cheek and rested her palm beneath it, curling up into a ball with her feet tucked to her chest, she allowed her eyes to slowly drift shut, but before she feel asleep, a single thought raced through her mind, quirking a small smile to her face.

Looks like the perfect race of Kami didn't seem so perfect anymore.

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"Nee-chan?"

Kagome turned over moaning to the high pitched voice, blinking away the sleep from her eyes, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room. A blurry silhouette wavered in and out of her vision, blinking a few more times, the sleep cleared from her eyes, allowing her perfect vision.

"Keichi?" She frowned when she saw her little brother's worried gaze, his eyes were looking at some spot on her face, raising her hand to touch whatever he was looking at, she brushed against the bruise and winced.

"Nee-chan! You're hurt! Are you alright?" Keichi asked with concern clearly shown in his tone.

Kagome nodded and raised her hands above her head to interlock them together and stretched, yawning as she did so. Flopping back onto her bed, she placed the blankets around her in a nest-like position and tried to fall back asleep.

"Nee-chan?"

Groaning, she turned to her brother, aware of her bruise and smiled at him tiredly, "I want to sleep in for a few more minutes alright? Will you excuse me from breakfast?"

Keichi nodded, his tiny brows furrowing at the sight of his sister. "I'll go tell Mama that you're not hungry yet alright? Don't sleep too late; you have lessons with Kechi-sama later! Don't forget!" Smiling at his sister, he toddled out of her room and closed the door with a `bang' behind him and Kagome's head fell against her pillow as sleep once again clouded over her mind.

`...you have lessons...don't forget!'

She sat straight up in bed and rubbed her eyes furiously, she had lessons and she was going to be late! She peered out her window, lifting the thin woven mat hiding the world from her room, the sunlight streamed in, little rays of sun flashing on her polished mahogany furniture.

"I'm so dead," she murmured to herself as she stripped off the sleeping yukata and threw on a hopefully clean kimono and stepped into the matching shoes. Combing her unruly hair with her fingers, she managed to make herself look half awake and ran out of her bedroom door.

She slowed her pace down when she passed the servants' quarters, remembering her mother's lessons on how a proper lady should act like. She murmured a quick `good day' to the guards outside and stepped into the bright sunlight.

"Ouch!" She covered her eyes when the sunlight bounced into her eyes, slowly lifting her hands, so that it was above her eyebrows, she started down the familiar path to her teacher's house. She walked quicker than usual, hoping that she was on time, since Kechi didn't exactly like her students being tardy.

Knock knock.

Kagome stepped back once she had knocked on the wooden frame of the shoji door and waited for her teacher to acknowledge her. A faint `come in' was heard from the room. She slid open the door and walked in.

"Good morning Kechi-sama," addressed the young Kami-in-training.

Kechi replied with a nod and signaled for Kagome to sit down, and began their daily ritual of her pouring tea and they would both sip it until Kechi indicated what they would be doing that day.

"Kagome," drawled the older Kami.

Kagome snapped back to attention and looked at her teacher, cocking her head to the side, "Yes Kechi-sama?"

Smiling, Kechi placed her tea cup back on the table and clasped her hands together in front of it.

"I take it you have been told that the High Ones have found your destined?" she clarified as she raised an eyebrow.

Seeing Kagome's forlorn nod, Kechi leaned over and slightly patted Kagome's hand.

"It's alright child, everyone has to live up to their obligations, maybe if this young man is willing, you can come back to train." Kechi smiled at her student when she brightened at the idea and nodded.

"Then it's settled? If your destined is willing, I will continue to train you. Your training is but a few more lessons before it is fully done. You will become a Protector soon Kagome, I'm sure your wonderful young man will allow you to have one assignment before binding himself to you, am I correct?" Kechi gave one last pat before raising her tea cup to her mouth.

Pursing her lips together, Kagome nodded, trying to think it over, it would be wonderful if her destined would allow her to continue with her training-or what's left of it. She had waited for so long to become a Protector, she won't let some old fashioned law come in the way of her goal when she was within reaching distance.

She will do anything in her will to reach it, even if that means she will have to fight for it.

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Staring at the young man, Kagome narrowed her eyes causing him to look away, fidgeting under her intense gaze.

This was the reason she was pushed and pulled at for the whole morning? This was the reason she had numerous sores all over her body from her servants `preparing' her?

She fought the tempting urge to burrow her face in her hands and moan about the unfairness of the whole situation. But no, it would smudge the heavy make-up, oh-so tenderly placed on her face this morning. Instead she found herself gripping the edge of the oak chair while smiling falsely at their guests.

"Kagome? This is Jiro, he is the-," her mother continued with her little speech while Kagome slowly drowned out her mother's voice, deep in her own thoughts.

She had been rudely awaken early this morning and was poked and primped at for over an hour. Her hair was tortuously yanked and pulled at, all the servants gathered around cooing over which design to place her hair in, fancy braids swirling around her head? Curled hair pulled up into a high pony tail? Or brushing it up into a thick braid to weave into a bun? Then, they finally decided it looked better down with half her hair in a tight bun on the back of her head.

She frowned at the memory. Then came the dressing part, her arms were so sore from tying sashes and obi designs, the servants decided to have their entertainment by holding various dresses to her scantily clad body and debating whether yellow or red looked better, until they all concluded she looked best in blue.

Oh, then came the bathing, usually one of her most favorite things to do in the world, but today had made it seem like her worst nightmare. Her skin was scrubbed in every place possible, leaving her skin feeling slightly raw and had a great resemblance to a tomato. She was dumped into an indoor bath, one of the many built by her influential father, and had been washed clean of any dirt or muck that could have collected during the nine hours of sleep she had.

The bath itself had flower petals scattered all over, floating lazily on top of the water. They had a huge argument over whether Jiro-kun would like roses or lavender, until they decided to do a democratic vote, majority deciding on roses. So, roses it was.

"Kagome?"

She turned to where her name was spoken, "Yes Mother?"

Her mother turned on a forced smile and nodded, "The ceremony is in two days alright?"

Kagome nodded slowly, "I have one request." Licking her lips, she clenched her hands together wishing for luck.

"I want to continue my training."

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A/N: Alrighty, I decided to go over this chapter again, at 1:10 pm on April 5th, 2004. It was almost three am last night, so I found a lot of teeny errors here and there *winks* anyway...here is the third chapter <7 pages! Celebration is needed!> and I'm working on the fourth one soon!

Remember! Reviews help me write quicker and makes me feel special-er!

Also, thank you to Shiori-chan for helping me correct my grammer *giggles* I can't speak enough Japanese to save my life! *places hand on forehead* So, much thanks to Shiori-chan!

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