InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forbidden Love ❯ Chapter I ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Forbidden Love: Chapter I

The ume trees were in full bloom, and the sakura flowers were beginning to open their petals to the early spring warmth, dappling the land with pink and white as it woke from long winter slumber. The scents of the blossoms hung in the air, lingering on the gentle gales that whispered through the tree boughs and plucked shreds of rose and ashen from the branches. Birds danced and twirled against a blue canvas sky, singing and twittering their spring melody, the sunlight playing upon their golden feathers as they stretched their wings. Spring’s first grasses blanketed the once dead ground, emerald sprinkled with white and violet flowers. All was starting anew. Spring was here, colourful and alive.
She picked an ume bloom from amongst the leaves, tenderly clutching it in her graceful hand, and, stepping down from the bench, brought it to her face to breathe in the sweet fragrance. She smiled to herself, and tucked the little pink flower in her ebony hair. Yes, it was a wonderful time of year. A lovely time for this lovely young woman. Her raven hair tumble to the stroke of her hips, and her deep brown eyes glittered like starlight. Her face was gentle and fair, and her smile was bright. Not too tall, but certainly not short. Slender, willowy, and elegant. She was the daughter of one of the village nobles, a wealthy and distinguished, but very busy man. Not two years had her mother been passed away, gone to leave her daughter’s father to care for the dues and demands of aristocratic life himself.
‘I wonder if Father needs help,’ the young lady thought to herself. ‘Lord know that he could use it.’ She skipped lightly over the paved stone path to the garden veranda, and opened the shoji to find her father busily scratching on the washi before him, his head bent over his work - a man getting on in his years, world-weary and fatigued from such a tireless life. His graying brows were creased together in concentration, he tired old hands working zealously with the brush.
He glanced up to his daughter. “Oh. Hello, Izayoi.” He gingerly se the brush next to the washi. “What did you need, my dear?”
Izayoi smiled and bowed her head, clasping her hands in front of her. “Nothing, Father. Do you need help with your work today? I would gladly lend a hand.”
Her father hesitated, eyebrows raised, and then chuckled loudly, little crow’s feet forming at the corners of his eyes. “Goodness, no. I may be old, but I’ve still got plenty of life left in me.” He stood from his chair with a groan, and moved to loop Izayoi’s arm through his. “Aye, I could use a break anyhow.”
Izayoi laughed. “You work too hard, Father. Come. We’ll sit outside.” Together they stepped out onto the veranda, her youthful gait slowed to accommodate her father’s seemingly unhurried walk.
He dropped heavily onto the bench with a sigh. “Ah, these old bones just aren’t what they used to be.” He gazed thoughtfully around the garden, admiring the vibrant spring blossoms as his daughter settled next to him, folding one foot beneath her and readjusting the rosy flower in her hair. “Lovely. The garden is looking wonderful, my girl.”
“Thank you, Father,” Izayoi grinned as she glanced at the yard. “I’ve done what I can to keep it after Mother passed away.” She let out a melancholy sigh. “It is not as beautiful as her work, but I have tried my best.”
Her father frowned at her. “You’re being too hard on yourself, Izayoi. The garden is magnificent.” He smiled, pulling her into a gentle hug. “Your mother would be proud.”
Izayoi reluctantly grinned at her father. “Yes. She would.”
Her father chuckled, and gave her shoulders a loving squeeze. “I could imagine her no other way.” Releasing his embrace, he slapped his knees and got to his feet. “Well, it’s time that I get back to work, my dear.” Izayoi nodded in acknowledgement as she watched him shuffle away, his graying topknot bobbing with his steps, and he disappeared through the shoji.
With a listless sigh, she turned her gaze over the garden. Really, she didn’t think that it was anywhere near as breathtaking as her mother’s, but it looked…nice. The veranda stairs ended where a walkway of silver and blue stones began, weaving past a bamboo fountain, and down a set of wooden steps to the second of three terrace levels of the yard. Ferns flanked a miniature waterfall that poured down from the pond, and a bridge gently arched over the little stream that the fall created. Here, the path split into a fork, continuing down a pair of stairs on either side of the terrace to the bottom level. To one side, a marble statue sat alongside the ferns, and the footpath passed a fully bloomed ume tree, and rounded a vibrant flower garden, crossing another bridge, finally joining with the other end of the fork by a second ume tree standing tall beside its bench companion. The path moved only a little farther, scaling one more staircase to the shrine, a small building skirted by ume trees and ferns, where Izayoi’s mother’s memory was carved into stone. On the opposite end of the yard, a hundred-year-old willow stood lone and proud, a wooden swing suspended from its great boughs. The swing, hung many years ago, was a monument as old as her grandfather - Izayoi’s cherished childhood friend.
Izayoi stepped from the pathway, casually heading toward the row of sakura trees at the border of the garden. On the other side was the forest. Often she had gone for peaceful strolls through the woods, but how her father hated it when she chose to go off on one of her meandering walks alone. “There are demons in those woods!” he would scold. “It is no place fro a seventeen-year-old girl to be cavorting about unaccompanied!” Izayoi shook her head with a sigh. He was far too protective of her. With a careful glance over her shoulder, just to be sure that her father wasn’t looking, she slipped through the barrier of trees and into the woods.
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