InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Owakare ❯ Owakare ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Owakare
Summary: “Farewell, until we meet again.”

 

~*~

 

He had thought her asleep until she spoke.

 

“Anata.” Her voice was barely more than a sigh but in the quiet, he heard it clearly.

 

It pulled him away from his brooding and back into the shadowed room where they lay, her back pressed to his chest, his hand covering hers on her swollen belly.

 

“Hai?”

 

“You will not leave before I have helped you don your armor?”

 

He stilled, shut his eyes. He had indeed meant to slip away with the dawn but she blighted those plans with a simple question, for he could neither lie nor deny her.

 

“No. I will not.”

 

She nodded and in his arms, he felt her relax. At length, she slept, leaving him to let his thoughts wander in the deep stillness of the night.

 

On the morrow, he would go forth to face a deadly foe, one who would see him and everything he held dear destroyed.

 

The child was near its time; if he had the choice, he would wait until his wife's hour of need had passed before going to battle. But that luxury was denied him; the enemy sought to crush them and the danger grew with each day that passed.

 

He forced his breathing to calm, made his body lax through an act of will. The dragon king and his cur, echoed the voice of malice in his mind.

 

No, he resolved. It shall not come to pass that way.

 

He did not seek a great victory, only the strength to protect that which he had vowed to keep safe. And even if the battle cost him his life, for the precious human woman lying beside him and for their unborn child, he would not - could not - falter.

 

~*~

 

The air was heavy with emotion, the silence filled with words unspoken.

 

He stood, straight and still, feet splayed, expression stoic, while she move around him as the moon around the earth.

 

Silk whispered, coming to rest on his skin, and then another layer draped on top of the first, white-and-blue on deep maroon. She tugged his hitatare to precise folds so that the blue pattern that marked his aristocracy sat on one shoulder and a thin band of red showed at his throat. With difficulty, she bent, one hand pressed to her belly, to pull his pelt from their bed and settled it about his shoulders.

 

Clothed, he sat on the low bench beside his armor chest while she took out the heavy dô, with its single long kusazuri. Resting it on the wooden rim of the chest, she connected breastplate and back with one hinge, leaving the other free.

 

Unconsciously, a muscle twitched in his jaw as she lifted the heavy cuirass and slipped it around his torso; it was almost half her weight and he would not have her tire herself but she had insisted and he had not the heart to refuse her.

 

She fastened the other takahimo on his left shoulder then turned back to the chest and he relaxed slightly; the rest of his outfitting would be easier.

 

The sode, segmented and bristling with curved fangs, covered his shoulders and arms, attached to the metal and leather watagami of his dô. Then came the kote, protecting his forearms and the back of his hands. She laced them securely, lips moving in prayers for his safe return.

 

There was only one thing left; he stood and she knelt awkwardly to tie the maroon and blue obi around his waist. As her hands fell away, he caught them, coming alive now that the deed was done. He helped her stand, and they looked at each other in the silence, her hands in his. The room was no longer dark and outside a bird woke to greet the day.

 

It was time to leave.

 

“Sayo—“

 

“Ii-e,” she whispered her denial, for once fierce. “This is not `goodbye', but `farewell until we meet again'.”

 

Despite the cold knot in his stomach, he managed to smile. “In that case, owakare, until we meet again.”

 

He allowed himself one more embrace, one more kiss. Then, he strode out swiftly, taking his swords with him, leaving her in the room.

 

As he walked, he slid the swords into their customary place at his side and back, and with every step that led him away from her, one word resounded in his head:

 

Sayonara... sayonara... sayonara...

 

~*~

 

Credit: Armor information is from Anthony J. Bryant's An Online Japanese Armor Manual.

 

Glossary:

Anata - dear (used as endearment)

Dô - central component of armor, commonly called the cuirass or breastplate

Hai - yes

Hitatare - over-robe worn under armor, usually combined with hakama

ii-e - no

kote - forearm, wrist and hand guards laced up the bottom of forearms and hooked on thumb

kusazuri - skirt-like flap in front (and usually also back) of armor

obi - sash that is tied around the waist

owakare - farewell

sayonara - goodbye

sode - shoulder and arm guards that are attached to the dô by connecting to the watagami

takahimo - the clasp, frog or tie that holds front and back of dô together

watagami - the bands of leather and or metal that end with the takahimo