InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fire In The Opal ❯ The Princess and The Miko ( Chapter 1 )

Fire In the Opal
Chapter 1
The Lady and The Miko
By Nodjmet

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a lord and a lady. The couple had tried for many years to produce a child, but to no avail. Finally, one day, a miko promised the disheartened lady a child, but warned the magic would make the baby more vulnerable to youkai possession. To ensure the baby’s humanity, the queen was to drink the tea made from the ginger root from the day of conception to the day of birth, but the forgetful woman was inconsistent and the baby was born with the eyes of a youkai. The child was shunned and hidden from the world, only known as a rumor even to the servants of the palace. To the outside world, the sad couple seemed barren, but then another child was conceived….
Zhi yao neng rang ni kai xinShen me duo yuan niZhe yang ai ni
Something was wrong. Kagome stirred in her sleep and clung to her mother’s yukata even tighter. Yes, even she could feel it–her mother was in pain. Kikyou reached over her mother’s swollen belly and gripped Kagome’s hand. The younger girl’s eyes opened and focused on her sister.
“Concentrate,” Kikyou whispered. “Can you tell me where it hurts? Nee-san will make it better.”
Kagome shook her head.
“I know you’re too young for training, but Nee-san needs to know so she can help. Concentrate.” She squeezed the tiny hand. “Kagome?”
The child screwed her eyes shut and turned her palm over to grasp Kikyou’s hand. “Tummy,” she said. “Tummy and…” she blushed, “down there.”
Kikyou nodded and sat up. She felt her mother’s sweating face. “Nee-san will be back with the miko.” She brushed the bangs out of her sister’s eyes and dashed out the servants’ quarters, wrapping an extra layer around her body and careful not to step on anybody. The additional cloth did almost nothing to shield her against the bitter cold as she sprinted across the snow-covered courtyard, shoving the shoji screen to the side as she arrived at the miko’s room. It was empty.
“She is with the lady.”
A pair of hard red eyes analyzed her as their owner continued to speak nonchalantly. “The lady is due tomorrow. She ordered the miko to stay by her side for the night.”
“My mother is in labor.”
“Your mother is a servant.”
Kikyou’s aura flared in response to the stranger’s mention of her social status, but withdrew quickly when it came into contact with the other’s inhuman aura. “A youkai should not say that to a miko,” she threatened, successfully hiding her fear and surprise. Youkai had been banished from the kingdom three generations ago, yet there was no mistaking the darkness cloaking the aura.
“A miko in training,” her opposition replied coldly. “I have no reason to fear you, but I do have a proposition.”
“I don’t bargain with youkai.”
The youkai’s face remained motionless as it turned and walked away. Once she lost sight of it, she rushed back to the servants’ quarters. Everyone was awake when she arrived, holding snow against her mother’s forehead or trying to comfort Kagome. The futon was wet and sticky with blood and birthing water. Kagome cried. Her mother screamed. Voices shouted. Amid the confusion, Kikyou managed to pry her sister away from their mother.
“Mama’s dying! Mama’s dying!” Kagome screamed, beating Kikyou with her tiny fists. “It hurts!”
“Get her out of here!” Kaoru, their adopted aunt, ordered. “Calm her down outside. Hojou! Get some more stable boys. If you can birth a horse, you can birth a baby!”
Kikyou dragged Kagome outside, kicking and screaming. In the frozen courtyard, she wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and held her. “Focus,” she murmured. “Can you feel Mama? Can you feel yourself? Me? Let go of Mama. She’ll be all right. Auntie Kaoru won’t let anything happen to her, but you’re not ready yet. Let go of Mama. Can you feel me? Can you feel that I’m not in pain? Auntie will take care of Mama. I will take care of you.”
“Always?” Kagome sniffled.
“Nee-san keeps her promises.”
“Nee-san?”
“Mm?”
̶ 0;I’m cold.”
To avoid the chance of Kagome’s over empathetic spirit connecting with their mother’s, Kikyou led the younger girl into the palace. As she tried to rub some warmth into her sister’s arms, the miko flew passed her towards the servants’ quarters.
“I think she’s going to help Mama,” Kagome said quietly. “She feels rushed. Didn’t you ask her earlier? She’s late.”
Kikyou hummed distractedly. Her eyes were focused in the opposite direction. Kagome turned her head to see, several meters down the hall, a seven-year old girl not much taller than her sister lock eyes with Kikyou. She was expectant.
Kikyou approached the other girl warily. “I didn’t ask for you help.”
“You needed it.”
“The stable boys can handle it.”
“Do you really want boys touching your mother?”
She had no answer.
“Mariko-sama can help relieve the pain.”
“What is your influence over her?” Her tone was suspicious again.
She shrugged. “The same as any youkai princess in a human kingdom.”
So this was the rumored hidden princess. The one the lord and lady were so ashamed of, her existence was unknown outside the palace. She had no power in her title, but much in her race. “What do you want in exchange?”
The girl stared at her for a moment. “Train me.”
“What?”
“The miko, being the old bag that she is, is not flexible enough to adjust her exercises to match my youki and does not bother teaching me the basics of control.”
“If I train you, I will be teaching you the skills needed to–”
“Prevent unnecessary deaths,” the girl interrupted. “When I lose my temper, men die. It will be their blood on your hands if you refuse.”
Kikyou fell silent. What the youkai said was true, but if she accepted, the youkai would also have the control needed to kill thousands with the flick of a wrist. Either way, she would kill people.
As if she could read her mind, the youkai spoke. “You need to fight against a youkai to be an effective miko.” Her garnet eyes were calculating. It was a gamble. Neither knew what the other was capable of.
“Nee-san.”
Kikyou bent down to Kagome’s height.
“She’s desperate. Say yes.”
She straightened, her guarded expression unchanged. “I will not address you as –sama, -hime, or –dono.”
“Titles are meaningless.”
“I can stop teaching you whenever I want.”
“Yes, Kikyou-sama.”
Kikyou glared at the youkai. She was mocking her, but Kagome’s presence stopped her from attacking the insolent creature. No matter. She would purify her soon enough. She was sure of it.
Zhi yao neng rang ni kai xinShen me duo yuan niZhe yang ai ni
The princess was beautiful. Her white kimono, pale complexion, and platinum blond hair only served to accentuate her dark shining eyes. Rumor of the Lady Kanna’s beauty had traveled throughout the land and lord from nearby territories awaited eagerly the day the princess was old enough for marriage. However, lord and lady never mentioned the mark upon her back, nor the aura that resembled that of a youkai. The child possessed no youki. Nobody would have to know.
The lady Kanna, at twelve years old, was doted upon and well loved by the court and all the servants. She was given an assortment of gifts on a daily basis and the daughters of the other lords eyed her jealously. Despite the glorified care she received by all social classes, nobody understood the seemingly unnatural love she held for the invisible princess, Kagura, for who could love a youkai, even if she was family? As order from the lord and lady, to protect their beloved daughter, she was to be in the presence of a miko during all times she accompanied her sister. As a result, Kaede, the youngest of the three miko sisters, became her constant companion, and closest confidant.
“Onee-sama! Nee-san!”
Kikyou looked up to see a small figure waving to her from the covered walkway. Behind her sister, the pale figure of the young lady stood out against the dark wood of the building. The miko beckoned to the two younger girls as she continued to weed the herb garden. Kagome nudged her older sister lightly. “Kaede will not want to help with the chores,” she said softly.
“She is old enough to help.”
“You can be so serious sometimes. Let her have more of a childhood than we did.”
The princess and her escort approached slowly, Kaede holding a flowered parasol over her lady’s head. “Where is Kagura?” Kanna asked. Her quiet and delicate voice matched her appearance perfectly. Everything about her was like glass.
“You called, hime?” on cue, the hidden princess dropped out of the sky beside the white girl. She kneeled immediately, bowing before her princess. Kagome flinched back slightly. Despite the love Kagura felt for her sibling, her pride still forced a stab of bitterness through her heart every time she was forced to acknowledge her place was below the twelve year old.
“I wish to speak to you. Preferably alone.” Kanna glanced at her friend.
Kikyou shifted her focus from her hands to the kneeling youkai, then to Kagome. “Kaede, come tend the garden.”
“Onee-sama!”
“You will disobey your miko?”
Kagome placed a hand on Kikyou’s sleeve, but spoke to Kaede. “Please listen to Onee-sama. Nee-san will gather herbs with you later. It is time you began to help your sisters.”
Kaede twisted her hands in her kimono, glancing nervously between her sisters and her charge. “It’s against the lady’s orders.”
Kagome smiled. “I will go.”
“No.” Kikyou stood. “My aim is better.” She picked up her bow and quiver.
Kagura smiled bitterly. “Twelve years and you still don’t trust me? I’m hurt,” she said, the sarcasm rolling off her tough easily. “I am not so foolish to harm Kanna-sama.”
She was ignored. “Kanna-sama. Lead the way.”
Kikyou allowed the two sisters to walk several meters ahead. Though not as empathetic as Kagome, she could relate to Kagura. Twelve years of mutual hatred had created an odd sort of understanding between the two women and Kikyou, as much as she resented it, understood the pain the youkai felt every time her pride was beaten down just by the presence of her sister, who in her eyes had no more virtues than she did. Kanna’s delicacy had made her well-loved and pitied. Kagura’s strength had made her most feared and hated person in the palace. It had also become clear that he had no natural maliciousness, but a bitter resentment of all humans formed by her nineteen years of isolation.
Kanna and Kagura walked in silence through the gardens for a while before they settled themselves on a wooden bench in the center of the chrysanthemum garden. Kikyou leaned against one of the support beams on the edge of the garden, careful to keep out of earshot, but close enough that she could see every detail. Her eyes settled on Kagura’s fan hand and she was still.
“The lord and lady wish to have you assassinated,” Kanna said. She didn’t need to whisper. Everything she said was quiet. She turned to face the older youkai and her face twisted into one of anguish. “I don’t want you to die. You are the only sister I have, even if everybody else denies it. Please, let’s run away.”
“Kanna-sama…” She wanted to hold her. Comfort her. Be a true sister.
“I don’t want to stay here anymore,” Kanna admitted. “I can’t talk to you like this, ever. Kikyou-sama is risking her life by standing so far. Mother and Father only keep me because they need an heir and my youki isn’t as strong as yours. I want to show the world that I have an older sister. I don’t want to hide you anymore.”
“Kanna-sama,” Kagura interrupted the girl’s tirade. “It is only a fantasy. We can not afford to leave the palace. No matter how miserable our lives are here, we have never experienced the outside world. How will we survive? You are safe here, Kanna-sama, and that is all that matters.”
“I want to be with you more.”
“I, as well, but the difference in our social status does not permit it.”
“There is still the issue with the assassin.”
“I will sleep elsewhere when the assassin comes.”
“I order you to stay alive, Kagura.”
“And I vow not to die.” Kagura slid off the bench and bowed. “As long as I live, I shall defend Kanna-sama with my life.”
“It is your life that I fear for.” Kanna hesitated, and then wrapped her arms around the youkai’s shoulders. The embrace was awkward. Never had one held the other so intimately and Kagura froze in shock and fear. Feeling her tense, Kanna pulled away quickly, a slight pink tingeing her cheeks as she mumbled an inaudible apology.
Kagura remained kneeling, her muscles frozen in position. She jerked her head up to see Kanna squirming in discomfort, her pale skin blazing in embarrassment. Quickly, Kagura jerked the younger girl’s body into her arms and held the frail body closely. “I’m a youkai,” she whispered, turning her face so that her cheek rested against Kanna’s obi. “I can defend myself.” It was still awkward, but Kanna bent down and slowly wrapped her arms around Kagura’s shoulders in a timid, but coveted embrace.