InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Displacement ❯ "I Am Called..." ( Chapter 5 )

Displacement

 

Chapter 5

 

“I Am Called…”

 

Inuyasha got a brief glimpse of what it might have been to be Sesshomaru at that moment. It seemed like ice itself was flowing through his veins and slowing his heart to where it seemed to stop beating altogether. He only had the fuzziest memories of a single brief glimpse before he was carried screaming into the night as a pup, but they fit. The man before him couldn't possibly be…

 

“I asked you a question,” The youkai snapped, bringing the hanyou back to reality. “How is it your sword is the same as mine? Tetsusaiga is my blade alone,” the youkai said.

 

“It's…uh…” Inuyasha stammered. Could he really tell him the truth? `You don't know me, but in a thousand years or so I'll be your son, but you won't live to recognize me anyway'. Would he even believe it?

 

“Answer me, boy,” the youkai growled, drumming his fingers along the hilt of his Tetsusaiga. Inuyasha thought quickly. A lie made up so fast wouldn't be easy to pull off, but the truth…

 

“It's an heirloom,” he blurted. The youkai raised an eyebrow. “From my…from my father,” Inuyasha explained.

 

“Do you think me a fool, boy? That blade is of an inu-youkai fang, and an extremely powerful inu-youkai at that,” the youkai replied. Inuyasha mentally cursed and tried to cover his tracks.

 

“Yeah, he…he was a warlord…a powerful taiyoukai,” he said. The youkai nodded after a moment, and Inuyasha let out a sigh as he accepted the argument.

 

“Another inu-youkai taiyoukai, eh? Tell me, what is your father's name?” he asked. Inuyasha visibly flinched.

 

“I don't know. He died when I was a kid, a long time ago,” he whispered sadly.

 

“My sympathies,” The youkai said, although he didn't really sound like he meant it. The shoji burst open behind Inuyasha as three youkai ran inside. Two of them had long blue hair and smelt like koumori-youkai, armed with small katana. Their leader was a female neko-youkai with long, flaming red hair and bright blue eyes. Iron armor of inter-locking plates covered her torso, and a red skirt flowed to her knees. Two pads of iron with blunted spikes covered her shoulders, and a scabbard was strapped to her back.

 

“My lord, stand back!” she cried, pulling her arm back and grabbing the hilt of her sword. The youkai held up a hand.

 

“That's enough, Yuka. Our friend here seems to have stayed his hand for the time,” he explained, sheathing his Tetsusaiga. Yuka kept her eyes trained on Inuyasha, and they widened slightly.

 

“My lord, this hanyou…he's…”

 

“A inu-hanyou, yes,” the youkai confirmed. “Do not think I did not notice right away.” Yuka blushed slightly and bowed.

 

“Apologies, my lord. The resemblance was just surprising,” she said. The youkai nodded.

 

“Now, boy, I believe we were speaking. It occurs to me you have not been forthcoming with your name,” he continued. Inuyasha thought for a moment. Hell, he had already told him the truth…well, half-truth, about Tetsusaiga.

 

“Inuyasha,” he replied. The youkai nodded and frowned.

 

“Interesting name…and your scent, not to mention your father's standing…tell me, is it possible I've met him before?” he asked. Inuyasha bit back a sarcastic remark and reminded himself that his “father” was just a random inu-youkai lord.

 

“Yeah, I think you probably have,” he replied.

 

“Interesting…well then, I suggest you decide what you're going to do. I'd rather like to keep you alive, I have no interest in murdering a young hanyou. If you wish to fight me then say so, otherwise I'd like you to leave my borders at once. My men and I have battles and trips to plan,” the youkai said.

 

“I…can I come back tomorrow?” Inuyasha asked. “There's a lot more I have to say.”

 

“Which I'm sure will likely be of little interest to me, but as you wish, you may return,” the youkai replied with a wave of his hand. Inuyasha scowled. Now he knew where Sesshomaru got it…

 

“I will escort you to the barrier,” Yuka said harshly, taking his arm. Inuyasha watched as the youkai lord sat down and refilled his cup with the pot of tea before taking a scroll from beside him and spreading it before him.

 

“Wait,” Inuyasha whispered. The youkai continued to use a finger to mentally map out some travel destination, but moved his head slightly to acknowledge the hanyou. “I didn't get your name,” Inuyasha finished. The youkai lord folded his arms in his lap and lifted his head. The moonlight from the windows cast an unearthly glow over his silver hair and twin crimson stripes on his cheeks. His bangs ruffled, and Inuyasha took note of the small crescent moon there. The room was silent for several moments.

 

“I am called…Toga,” the lord replied. Inuyasha's breath hitched, and he bowed quickly before leaving. After decades of trying and remembering nothing but a pair of golden eyes with a silver mane…he had a name. He mentally cursed that Kagome was here. The nosy wench had a habit of guessing and sorting out his feelings. It would have been nice for someone else to make sense of all that had just happened because he sure was hell couldn't.

 

Yuka and her guards left the room, and Toga lifted his cup to his lips.

 

“The hanyou son of a dead inu-youkai lord with a sword carved from his fang…” he whispered to his tea before sipping. He lowered it down and stared into the embers of the firepit, stroking the rim of the cup with a slender forefinger.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

Ribbons of yellow, orange and red weaved in and out of the clouds on the horizon. Finally, the sun rose over the distant hills, the gleaming rays casting off the shroud of night that had blanketed the lands. The light sprinted over the distant farms, crawling over the roofs of the peasant huts before leaping over the wall of the castle and climbing up to bask the man overlooking the land in its warmth.

 

Ying Zheng smiled. He enjoyed watching the sunrise in the early morning, long before anyone had woken up with the exception of the two guards who kept vigilant before his chambers in the night. He admired the sun, in a strange way. The land was covered in darkness, supported by the shadows cast by everything from the mighty mountains to the lowest rocks and the simple trees. But the sun rose above such opposition to cover the land in its life-gifting rays, allowing plants to grow, animals and people to be warm. The sun alone was able to restore the country from night and breathe life into it, allowing the continued existence of a people that needed it to thrive and watching over their lives all the while.

 

It reminded him of himself, in a way. He, above all others, understood the burden and challenge of nurturing a country back from destruction.

 

With a curt nod and a silent agreement to the golden giant, Ying Zheng turned and walked inside, drawing the golden curtains to his balcony behind him. He lifted his robes from the wall on his left and placed them over the simpler hemp-cloth undergarments he wore in the night, tying them with a golden sash. When he had first come to power in Qin years ago, the nobles were reluctant to follow a lord who wore the colors of an Emperor. Of course, he was merely wearing and acting like the very being that, in a small while, he would become.

 

Ying Zheng frowned as his thoughts turned to the day's tasks. There were the great pits outside the city, he had planned to see them that day. But as they had a habit of doing, his thoughts turned to the campaign against Chu and the last shoji standing before the imperial throne that was rightfully his. It would be so much easier if the Chu would just stand down. The war would inevitably end in his victory, but in the meantime the lives of good soldiers were wasted and his patience was tested.

 

His thoughts then turned to the yaoguai warrior that had been dispatched to deal with the Japanese allies the Chu had been harboring. Inuyasha, he recalled the creature's name was. He would make sure to at least give the beast the simple honor of being named when his scribes recorded his conquest of China. He was a yaoguai, and thus was not worthy of even that humble respect, but at least his actions would allow his campaign to be completed with minimal time. That was something.

 

He walked to the curtains of his chambers and walked out, casting an annoyed glare at the guards slumped against either wall. He knelt and picked up the dagger-axe one of them had dropped, and rapped the hilt on their helmets.

 

“Ah!” the one screamed, clutching his helmet. “What is…oh, my lord!” he quickly recognized who stood over him and bowed. His companion acted similarly.

“In the future, if you cannot protect me properly, then I shall send you out to the fields and find two who can,” Ying Zheng said coldly.

 

“Forgive us, my lord,” the other guard begged. Ying Zheng ignored him. Empty threats they might have been, but as long as no one knew that, they served his purposes.

 

“For now. Go and have one of my palanquins prepared, I will see the construction of the pits today,” he ordered. The guards nodded and stood, running off to deliver the message. Ying Zheng entered his chambers again and opened his robe, placing a discreet piece of iron plate with a hemp rope over his neck. He was a lord, assassination attempts would be made, and he would be ready. He tucked his sword into his sash and slipped on his sandals.

 

He did want to make sure that the digging for the pits was going as planned, but in the end he had more important matters to attend to. The Chu and the Japanese obviously, not to mention the young beauty he had living under his care. Ying Zheng smiled at the thought. The maiden Kagome would most certainly be a lively addition to his court and his bed, although she was a little young and perhaps innocent. Not to mention the trouble with her yaoguai friend and the necessity for her favor.

 

Ying Zheng's eyes went wide, and he swept back to his balcony where the guards ran across the courtyard.

 

“You there!” he called. The guards stopped and turned to look up. “Have two palanquins prepared, and send Ryuichi to my chambers at once,” he shouted. The guards nodded and continued running. Ying Zheng turned and gathered a blank scroll with which to record the progress of the pits, his mind alive with delight at the reaction such work would surely get from his guest.

 

After all, what better way to display your power and authority to a woman than to show her the pits that were to become your tomb? When Kagome saw the labor and effort he commanded, no doubt she would also see that she would be privileged to be his concubine. He could picture her awe now.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

Kagome spent what was probably a few hours staring at the glowing square on the wall where the sunlight had shone through the window. What else was there to do? Ryuichi had made his orders, and therefore hers, clear. She was not to leave her room without him, and he would be both her acting servant and her guide for the time she was with them, until Inuyasha returned.

 

She wasn't uncomfortable, exactly. Her clothes were neatly folded and washed to lay by her bags, Ryuchi explaining that the lord had requested she wear proper noble attire during her stay. To that end she had been given a plain, pale tunic with no sleeves that hung down to her knees as an undergarment, and a deep crimson robe to wear over it with a matching sash. To say the garment wasn't nice would be a lie, it was very soft silk and in the modern era would likely fetch quite a price far beyond the means of a schoolgirl. But still, she was being forced to wear it, and that was not something that sat well with her. She wasn't in a cell anymore, but she was likely going to be treated as a prisoner one way or the other.

 

She had been fed, some sort of cooked meet with simple rice cakes and bread. She wasn't sure what kind of meat, although it hadn't tasted bad, and the rice cakes and bread were at least things she recognized. To say she was being treated badly would be wrong, but to say she felt safe wouldn't be very accurate either. Ryuichi had done nothing to betray her trust, and even if the charm around her neck made it so that the language barrier was no longer a problem, she felt more secure around him than anyone else in the castle. On the opposite end of the scale was the mysterious lord Ying Zheng she had only met once. Her books had been returned to her the day before and she had taken the opportunity to read up on the man that was easily one of the most famous - or infamous - men in Chinese history. The historians hadn't been kind to him, nor had the peasants he ruled once he died. Ryuichi had told her that Ying Zheng would unite the country and found a dynasty that would last a thousand years. She didn't have the heart to tell him it would barely last ten.

 

The shoji to her room slid back, and Kagome turned over in the small, primitive mattress she had slept on, or not. It was simple and made of some sort of material she couldn't identify, although it felt like it was stuffed with hay or something similar. Ryuichi had entered the room and bowed. Kagome was still in the pale undergarment as well as her own modern ones under that, but it was still strange lying in bed without a sheet to cover herself.

 

“Good day, Kagome,” Ryuichi said, rising. He looked over his shoulder and nodded. Two servant girls came in behind him. One of them had a small box and the other lifted Kagome's red robe from where it hung on the wall. “Please, get dressed,” Ryuichi explained. Kagome stood up and held out her arms as the second servant slipped the robe onto her. The other produced what looked a lot like a small comb from her box and moved behind her. Kagome blushed slightly as her robe was tied and her hair combed. It was kinda nice to be waited on, but it make her feel awkward at the same time.

 

“What's going on?” Kagome asked, wincing as a knot in her hair caught the comb. From her history textbook she knew the Chinese were and would remain ahead of most of the rest of the world in the technology department, although Europe would catch up and eventually surpass them after the dawn of the Christian era. Still, she didn't suppose that they were advanced enough for hot water and shampoo. Would it really be interfering with history that much if she introduced the concept of a hot bath to them?

 

“Lord Ying Zheng has made a special request for you to accompany him on his travels today. We'll be escorting you to the palanquin that will take you there,” Ryuichi explained. Kagome nodded as the servants finished, and the three followed Ryuichi out of the room. Kagome's brow furrowed as he led her to the courtyard and along the path. What could he possibly have to show her?

 

Koumori - Bat

Neko - Cat

Palanquin - a chair or seat carried by poles on the shoulders of servants. Wikipedia can provide more details information.

 

Historical Notes

 

Yes, the Chinese used hemp, stop laughing. Actually, because it grows well in most climates and was resistant to mold and moisture, it was a premiere material for clothing, rope, shoes, etc. In later times centuries after Ying Zheng's day, it would also be dried and used as a form of paper.

 

Yup, China was unified and the Qin Dynasty founded in 221 BC, and the empire fell apart in 206 BC. The Han Dynasty that was founded soon after, though, was able to preserve much of China's unification including standardized writing, weight and measurement systems under a much more moderate government. They did slightly better than the Qin, ruling until 220 AD. The Han reign is considered a golden age in Chinese history and even in the modern world, “Han Chinese” is a very notable ethnic group, accounting for 19 percent of the world populace.