InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Facets of the Living Jewel ❯ Nigi-mitama ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters. Ms. Takahashi does.

From the manga by Rumiko Takahashi:

“Ara-mitama, nigi-mitama, kushi-mitama and saki-mitama.  All together these become one spirit, and in the flesh they live inside the heart.”

 

[Next frame. Miroku continues, while behind him Inuyasha looks a bit stunned.]

 

“Ara-mitama is courage, nigi-mitama is family (or friendship), kushi-mitama is wisdom, saki-mitama is to be in charge of love.  Human nature is correctly maintained between them.”

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters. Ms. Takahashi does.

 

 

Nigi-mitama

By Licentia poetica

 

Sango was having one of those days when everything and anything managed to irritate her. She blew an errant strand of hair away from her forehead as she prepared the group's dinner, whispering a curse that she usually used only in the heat of battle as it fluttered back to the same place in front of her left eye. Stabbing the dagger she was using into the heart of a daikon radish she grabbed the lock of hair and shoved it under her bound strands, smearing water in her hair in the process. `With any luck I've just smeared daikon in my hair. I'm sure I look lovely.'

 

She sighed and picked up the dagger, the hapless radish speared on its pointed tip, and stared morosely at it for a moment before plucking it off and slicing it into the rabbit stew. `I'm irritable because my cycle is off. And I haven't been able to practice my katas for two days. And my body is going to get fat and ugly. AND I need some exercise to keep me from killing some baka males!' She rolled her shoulders as she continued to slice, missing the discipline of the kata forms with both body and mind. `Here I am, a taiji-ya with years of training, playing baby sitter to a kitsune, washing clothes, mending, and cooking for a lazy houshi and hanyou.' The wayward strand of hair had worked itself loose again and she shot a withering glare through it at the seated, reading monk. `Even though Kagome helps, why is it only the females that have to do the cooking this afternoon?'

 

The fact that the men had hunted or bartered for the food she was cooking did not appease her in the least; she was not in a charitable mood. Exposed for several years to Kagome's completely different attitudes about a woman's role, she had become tired of the traditional roles placed on her in her own era. She shoved her hair back again and stabbed viciously at another vegetable for the stew.

 

`Why is it that I have to do this again? Why am I helping these…lazy men? All that the lecherous monk wants to do is put that cursed hand where it doesn't belong, and look at Inuyasha just lazing around in the tree…baka. All the experience and battles I've fought, and the stupid chores are just like before…'

 

She swallowed against the pain that always threatened to close her throat when she thought of her family. `Before. When I had my family to share the chores, and the songs, and the sorrows, and the joys.' She stared at the flames licking at the bottom of the stew pot.

 

She had grown up without a mother in a family that respected martial arts and killing creatures that made most humans weak with fear. She had been respected for her demon slaying abilities, but had little guidance on how to become a woman other than the traditional roles embraced by the other women of the village. Her father had expected her to perform both her obligation as a daughter and as a taiji-ya, even when the two duties seemed to conflict. She hadn't questioned it until she met Kagome and had become part of the band led by Inuyasha seeking the Jewel shards.

 

`Kagome is so different from any of the women I've ever known. On the surface she looks so fragile, but I've never known a woman as strong as she is inside. She's so aware of our feelings and she somehow forgives Inuyasha even when he is a complete baka.' She stirred the stew as it began to boil and pulled the pot slightly away from the flames. `She's my sister, my replacement family. She helped me mourn the loss of Kohaku and my father and the other members of the village.' With a slight smile on her face, Sango glanced off in the direction of the hot spring where Kagome was indulging in her addiction for warm baths. She had told Kagome to go relax, and that she would join her as soon as she prepared dinner.

 

She sighed and leaned back on her heels, wrapping her arms around her knees as she sniffed appreciatively at the bubbling stew. Miroku shifted slightly and she glowered in his direction when he didn't look up. `Here I sit cooking for the group, doing my feminine duty, and I'm not appreciated either as a woman or as a taiji-ya. I don't even get paid for demon slaying anymore!' She focused her gaze back on the stew and unconsciously gave a huge sigh, completely missing the concerned look that Miroku sent her over the top of his book. `I can't even decide if I feel badly that they treat me like a capable warrior. What's wrong with that?'

 

She shook her head and picked up the final radish, slicing the innocent daikon viciously into the pot to finish the stew. When she looked up Miroku seemed completely absorbed in his book.

 

`Baka male. He has no problem touching my body or expecting me to serve him like a woman, and not just where food is concerned.' Unbidden, her body responded to the memory of his last shockingly intimate touch. She bit her lip and focused on stirring the stew, once again repressing the throbbing ache between her legs. `I wonder how it feels. I wonder what he would do if I ever let him finish what he starts?' Suddenly she shook her head again to rid herself of the tempting thoughts, sighed, and began to tidy up her work area.

 

While she worked she focused her mind on the intricate steps of a kata form to give herself something else to concentrate on besides her confused feelings. `Sometimes I feel that my rebellious feelings are a rejection of my family.'

 

In her dojo, she was taught control of ego, physical self-control, and appreciation of and cooperation with others in the martial arts group. It had become a part of her, not questioned or even acknowledged as something special. She had put that training to good use working with Inuyasha's explosive style of fighting, Miroku's staff, Shippo's fox fire, and Kagome's arrows. `My skills in battle are the only thing important to the men, other than the lecherous grope from Miroku. He doesn't think I have any feelings; he just likes the way I feel!'

 

As she finished cleaning up the scraps she bent her head. He was reaching for her rear end less and less these days.

 

She bit her lip to keep from sighing. `Oh, get over it, Sango! He told you that you're special, just that he doesn't think of you that way. You're a comrade in arms to him…'

 

Huffing in annoyance at herself, she stirred the pot of stew again as it bubbled merrily over the fire. Miroku glanced up from the book he was reading to look at her. She glared in his direction and he quickly looked back down at the page in front of him.

 

`Miroku. I can't keep my mind off him. Kagome warned me about his habits with women, but he's handsome, wise, and kind and…' she distractedly stirred the stew and blinked back a tear, `…and I love him. I wish I knew what he really thinks of me. I want to be more than a female body, more than a comrade in arms; I want him to be my family. He said he might be my husband some day and I need a companion; someone to end the ache of all the losses. But I don't know how to tell him and I'm getting so old! I want to have what other women have. I want a family!'

 

She had no training, no dojo, to help her find her way. Tears filled her eyes, and she bit her lip hard to keep more from coming. Uncharacteristically and clumsily she dropped the spoon she was using to stir the stew. The clanking sound as it fell into the stew pot drew another glance from Miroku and she quickly turned away so that he couldn't see her face.

 

`O.K. enough! Get up and get some exercise! This is not helping. Gods I wish my cycle would start.'

 

Sango entered Kaede's home, quickly changing into her demon slayer's outfit. She walked outside to the open area next to the hut and began the movements of the tenshin happo kata, sighing with relief as her mind began to calm and she regained some control over her emotions. After finishing the kata she walked over to check on the stew. It was almost done so she moved it slightly away from the fire while glancing at Miroku. He was still studiously reading Kagome's book. `I guess I have time for a quick bath and then we can eat.'

 

“Would you keep an eye on the stew for me while I join Kagome?” She was half afraid that Miroku would try to sneak a peek and half hoping that he would. She sighed at her own idiocy.

 

“Of course, lovely Sango. I would do anything for you.” Miroku's tone was light and the smile on his face warmed her.

 

`Don't take his words too seriously. Don't get your hopes up, taiji-ya.'

 

As she walked towards the hot spring, loosening her clothing, she reflected on her situation. `I do have a family, such as it is. Kagome is my sister and along with Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippo we will defeat Naraku somehow. I will have revenge for my lost family.' She squared her shoulders, lifting her head to stand straighter. `The men are my brothers-in-arms, and I will protect them with my life, and ease their quiet times by doing the stupid cooking, and the stupid cleaning, AND the mending, AND…' she took a deep breath to control her rising irritation, `and…family things. I will give them the boring, everyday, quiet, mindless-but-have-to-be-done chores that keep everyone comfortable.'

 

Her resolve to protect her makeshift family stiffened in spite of the emotional upheaval she had put herself through in the past few hours.

 

`And maybe, just maybe, we can save Kohaku.'

 

As she walked down the path she got the strangest sense that she had made the same resolution before, walking the same path, at the same time of day. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

 

“Gods, I wish my cycle would start!”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Japanese Translations:

Baka: fool, idiot; foolish.

Dojo: “place for the exercise of the way” (martial arts school)

Kata: martial art movements composed of a series of techniques which can be practiced alone or with a partner.

Tenshin happo: eight directions of defense