InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chou Shoki I: Learning from Yesterday ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 3 )

I'll be that light, unmeaning thing,

that smiles with all and weeps with none.

-Lord Byron, “One Struggle More and I am Free”

 

CHAPTER 4

 

I closed my eyes, focusing my aura, as to sense my surrounding and find my attacker. I easily avoided the swing of the blade that came by jumping forward and landing perfectly in a tree branch without the slightest of sounds. I watched as my attacker frantically searched for me. I waited for him to walk directly under me. I dived, hands first in order to land on his shoulders, flipped to the front, and pulled him over me. I sat on his back; one hand pulling his head back by the hair and the other hand was holding one of the blades to his throat.

 

“I should slice your throat for being stupid enough to enter my home.” My resentment was evident in each word.

 

“Your home? I know all the residents of the imperial palace and I have NEVER seen you! You are probably a thief. Whoever you are, the rest of the imperial guards are on their way. Even if you manage to kill me, you will not escape.”

 

“If they are as smart as you, I highly doubt they'll even catch my breath!” I hissed. “However, they will get a glimpse of your headless corpse. Now, tell me half wit, before you die, what is your name, so I may tell my father the ineptness of his guards.”

 

He seemed to ponder on my reply before he gasped and answered, “Kagome-chan?!”

 

With swiftness, I turned him over and removed his helmet. “How dare you speak to me like I am your equal?”

 

“It's me, Hiroyaki. I... I...I-I, oww, I thought you were an intruder, a thief! Sumimasen!”

 

I moved back without removing the blade from his neck and squinted my eyes, inspecting his face. The name sounded familiar, but his face did not register in my mind.

 

My eyes widen a fraction as my memory of him returned. He had changed much. He still withheld some boyish features but I noticed he was now a young adult of sixteen. I removed myself from him.

 

I stood up and held out my hand to him. Reaching out with his hand to mine and I pulled him up. He rubbed his neck and looked down in embarrassment. I sized him from head to toe and had to blink twice when I realized that he was at least two heads bigger than me. As a young adult, Hiroyaki had long brown hair. His eyes were a chocolate brown and his face was captivating. The planes of his face were perfect and chiseled. Masculine. But for all his attractiveness and charm, he was only an acquaintance to me. One who had often acted like an overprotective big brother.

 

In my most serious voice I said, “As you can see I am no thief. But had I been one, you would be dead. My absence has made you soft. I believe training is in order?!” I waited for his reaction.

 

His head snapped up and I had to smirk at the look of a child who was caught stealing treats before dinner. “It is alright. Come and walk with me inside.” Hiro nodded and smiled back.

 

“It is a gift to us that you have returned home. The villagers will be happy to know that their princess is back.” He said.

 

“Where is Kirara? I do not sense her aura anywhere near.” I changed the subject suddenly.

 

“Since you left for the monastery, she has taken long absences from the palace and city. She only comes back every once in a while and leaves immediately. No need to tell you why,” he finished taking a side glance for my reaction.

 

I sighed heavily. It was no secret that my father could not stand Kirara or any other demon. The only reason he had allowed her to stay before, was that my mother had loved her. Even the feared okami (emperor) of Nippon could not deny his wife such a request. It was probably seconds after I left, when he must have sent my companion away.

 

I felt Hiro's hand falling on my person, but I quickly pushed it off as gently as possible. “Gomen, Kagome-chan,” he murmured. He smiled and said, “Do not worry for her. She can fend for herself. Her last visit was a month ago. She is due any day now.”

 

His words did make me feel a bit better. I nodded and wondered where she might be going to.

Thoughts of her health entered my mind. I shooed them away. I trusted implicitly in her and I realized that I had a good idea where she might have been heading off to all this time. That thought brought more peace to my mind.

 

“May I ask a question?”

 

“I suppose,” I replied not really interested in answering.

 

“All black?”

 

I looked down at my black chihaya (USUALLY a dark red hakama, pleated pants (like kendoists wear), a white kimono shirt with very long and wide sleeves, and tabi socks). It was abnormal to see a samurai, much less a miko using all-black robes. I simply glanced sideways at him. “I think it suits me perfectly.”

 

He must have understood the hidden meaning in my words for he only nodded.

 

On our way inside he informed me on the changes my father had made to his ruling. I was surprised to know that he had raised taxes and had even forbid any commoner to come within a quarter of a mile of the palace. Any complaints would have to go to the village head priest, whom in return, would come and talk to my father.

 

Hiro also talked about the death of his father last year and how my father had offered one of the palace's tenshukaku to him. The late general Kobayashi, Hiro's father, had died during a small struggle with a small furusato south of the city. After that, Hiro was taken under my father's tutelage and named captain just a month and a half ago.

 

He continued talking about certain little things he'd done. We sat at the table waiting for dinner. I looked around while he chatted and I remembered the many dinners we had had here as a family. Dinners, that sadly, would never be the same. I was not the same.

 

It was silly to recognize that I had not missed this place. In fact, my heart seemed to have been left behind in an old monastery hidden in the mountains of the west.

 

FLASHBACK

 

My third year of training, Tanaka-sensei and I were walking up the path of the mountains. He had told me the night before that we would leave the monastery before dawn to practice my kyudo up on the more wooded area of the mountain. I had been scared to make that particular trip. The entire left side of my face hurt every time I tried to blink. A scar had fused the lid to my cheek, making the muscles in my face ache. My right eye, while somewhat operable, had a strange haze over it. I'd been beaten two days before by a trainee in the training grounds that the inner lining in my right eye had been severely damaged. I wasn't capable of seeing much more than shadows and blurs. I didn't tell about the incident because it wouldn't help anyways. My right leg was stiff, barely able to bend from all the times it had been broken and not set. My right arm was much the same way. At least, I had my left appendages.

 

We had traveled almost for five hours when I stopped abruptly. I felt a shiver run down my spine. Something was coming and judging by the power it radiated, it was definitely not human. It must have felt the calling of the jewel as so many other demons had.

 

“Go and hide behind those boulders over there! Do not come out until I say it is safe.” He readied his yumi (bow) and ya (arrows).

 

I dropped the bag of food supplies I had been carrying and yelled at him. “I am not hiding. Let me test my strength with these youkai (demons)!”

 

“Iiee. You will do as I say. You are just a student here and I say you are not ready. I am the one who gives the orders. Besides, I will not just hand them that jewel so easily,” he said while pointing at the purple sphere around my neck.

 

He had barely finished saying the last word, when all demons attacked at once. He picked me up and pushed me over the boulder he had indicated earlier, placing a small barrier around me. Thank Kami (god) for heavy vegetation! When I recovered from what he had done, I peeked out from behind. I “saw” as his aura deflected them, but the demons kept coming. It was as if killing them only made things worst. It seemed hours, while he fought with them.

 

Mother, is this how your final moments were spent?

 

Little by little, Tanaka-sensei began to weaken, the aura surrounding him diminished. There were just too many. I felt weak and cowardly hiding there while he risked his life for mine. So, I jumped out from behind and stood there with my eyes closed. I saw him turn to me, yelling at me to hide, but I did not heed his words. `I need to save him' was all I could think of. I crossed my arms in my chest to form an `x'. I began concentrating, as he had taught me, drawing out my power. I felt something forming at the center of my stomach and it started to grow rapidly. And when I couldn't hold it in anymore, I opened my arms and yelled as loud as I could, letting out whatever it was that was begging to be released.

 

END OF FLASHBACK