InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kingyoko ❯ Kingyoko ( Chapter 1 )

AN: Something a little different. I painted a picture of a girl with goldfish features to her in Japanese wood block style and after trying to think of some back story for her, the scenarios were all very SessRin-ish to me. I had been reading some Japanese folk tales a few weeks ago, and with those still in my mind, I came up with my own tale.

SessRin in a different story, but the elements are all the same. I wrote this in a "story telling" style, so I hope it is enjoyable, at least hopefully interesting :3

Kingyo means 'goldfish' in Japanese. The painting is in this same story posted on my Moonlight Flower account, the link is in my profile

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

 

Once upon a time, there was a young demon prince. The prince was cold, ruthless and selfish in all things. He cared only for himself and the growth of his own power and control over others.

 

One day the demon prince got into a fierce battle with a water god in the deepest lake under the tallest mountain. The prince being arrogant and foolish challenged the god and his powers, thinking no man, demon or beast could defeat him. The water god quickly defeated the prince, leaving him alive, but horribly wounded and humiliated. The water god warned the prince that stubbornness and arrogance would be his ultimate demise as he left him bleeding and dying on the banks of his lake.

 

A young fisherman's daughter was walking along the banks of the lake when she spotted the injured demon. At first she was frightened, but her kind heart quickly overcame her fear and she went to his aid. With all her strength she drug the demon's body into a dilapidated unused boat house and tended to his wounds. She kept him secret and hidden from all the other villagers, for she knew they would surely kill him in his weakened state.

 

When the demon prince awoke, he saw the young girl and asked her why she had helped him. She smiled and never answered him as she left the boat house.

 

The next morning, a man who had seen the girl carrying goods into the boathouse the day before, went to go investigate and came across the sleeping prince. He immediately ran back to tell the other villagers, rousing much anger and fear. The man grabbed the young girl out of her home and told them she must be conspiring with the demon, that she was bewitched and would bring bad fortunes upon the entire fishing community. Voices raised in rage, fists in anger and spears in retribution. The young girl was left dead by her own villagers, bleeding and beaten on the ground. Her body was dragged to the lake edge where it was left to be taken out later on a boat as a hopeful sacrifice to the water god to appease any bad fortune she may have brought upon them.

 

The villager hoard then turned to the boat house the prince was sleeping in and made its way to attack. The demon prince was now mostly healed and had nearly all his strength back, defeating the mob was of little effort to him. When the slaughter was over, something on the lake edge caught his eye. He went to see what it was, and came across the body of the young girl who had helped him. For the first time in his life, the prince felt for someone besides himself, he felt compassion and sympathy. He called out to the water god and asked him humbly if he could exchange anything he had for the young girl's life returned to her. The water god agreed, he told the prince that he would grant the young girls life back to her in exchange for the prince's stubbornness. The prince didn't understand, but the water god refused to explain in detail and warned the prince that if he did not get past his stubbornness and pride, if he would not humble himself, the gift of life would be changed into a curse. If he did, and surpassed, the gift would become more glorious than he could imagine.

 

The prince agreed and the young girl was brought back to life.

 

For many years the young girl stayed with the prince, he eventually took her as his wife and they had a daughter. Shortly after their daughter was born, the prince's wife fell ill. Being human, she was weak to such ailments and she was soon near death. Her one request to her demon husband was to tell her that he loved her before she died, regardless of her being a human, beneath him and weak.

 

The demon prince could not bring himself to admit it.

 

And so the prince's wife died never being told she was loved by her husband.

 

Almost immediately after her death, a large storm brewed, clouds fierce and ominous swirled around their home. The water god appeared to the demon prince for the first time since he had revived his wife all those years ago. He told the prince he had failed at his end of the exchange, after all these years and having the love of a beautiful woman, he still couldn't let go of his pride to tell her on her death bed his love for her. The water god told the demon if he would have done that one small thing, his wife's life would have been eternal to match his own. She would had returned to her youth and never would fall victim to the inherent weakness of human's ever again. The water god grabbed the demon prince's daughter and told him since he failed, and the life of his wife was gone, he was taking their daughter's in return. The demon prince fell to his knees and begged the water god for another chance, and pleaded him not to take his beloved daughter, but the water god refused. He returned to his lake with the child, turning her into a daughter of the lake. She would forever live in his lake, never able to return to her father or humanity, she was his punishment for his pride.

 

And so, when the villagers that fish in the deepest lake under the tallest mountain, they sometimes hear a girl sing in a melancholy voice:

 

The red scales of the goldfish belie

The lonely color of its eyes

Cherry blossoms burst into flowers

But I plunge with my sorrow into grief's abyss

 

They named her Kingyo-ko; her soul ever searching and lost, paying for a sin not her own.