InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sedition of Will ❯ A Lady's Grace ( Chapter 1 )

Sedition of Will

“A Lady's Grace”

 

Rin sat on some steps in the courtyard of the castle adjacent to the dragon corral. The mid day sun was shining pleasantly at her back from an unclouded sky. With a shamisen across her lap Rin was industriously attempting to tune it. She had become quite adept at playing the stringed instrument, but tuning it was still a tricky chore. She squinted and listened to the pitch of the twanging waver up and down as she tested the tautness of the strings from the pegs that held them tight. The plectrum stuck out of her mouth like a bread slice as she fiddled with the strings. Like so many times before, Ah-Un was her only audience. Both heads of the passive dragon watched her with great interest from his stable. Little more. No, not quite. Ahh, that's it. Rin grinned and ran her fingernails across the long row of strings producing a perfectly synced hum that resonated across the airy courtyard. Rin rested her hand across the strings and they instantly fell silent. She grinned in unabashed victory. Rin took the curved plectrum from her mouth and addressed her spectator ceremoniously.

 

“What would you like to hear today Ah-Un?” One of the heads twitched an ear in response. Rin giggled and began to pluck out a simple melody Kumiko-San had taught her. Kumiko was a beautiful peacock youkai Lord Sesshoumaru had invited to his castle to tutor Rin when she turned twelve. Rin had been very reluctant to meet her new teacher. She insisted to Lord Sesshoumaru that he was the only teacher she wanted.

 

“This Sesshoumaru cannot teach you the things you will need to know.” He explained. Rin could never defy her keeper but she made a show of her disinclination. When he first informed her she would have a new teacher she reverted to old muteness and wrung her hands anxiously, unable to meet Sesshoumaru's eyes. He saw her anguish and placed a patient hand on her small shoulder.

 

“Lady Kumiko was a trusted acquaintance of my father.” He told her. “Come. This Sesshoumaru wishes for you to meet her.” He removed his hand and straightened his posture, motioning for her to follow. Rin would never disobey a direct request and dutifully obliged, though she continued to wring the sash of her robes fretfully.

 

Lord Sesshoumaru accompanied her to her first lesson and she clung to his pant leg as though she were going to be meeting a typhoon, not a teacher. He led her to a spacious room overlooking the castle shrine where Rin's new teacher was waiting for them. Sesshoumaru slid open the screen door and urged her in. Inside was one of the most stunning women Rin had ever seen. The demoness knelt in the center of the beautifully decorated room, bowing respectfully as Sesshoumaru and his ward entered. She wore a creamy green kimono with an embroidered forest scene. Small silken pine trees dotted the front and scattered among them beautiful peacocks stretched their wings and basked around a silver stream. Around her waist was a wide mother-of-pearl obi that glistened in the morning sunshine filtering through the paper screen windows. Her ebony hair was pulled back in a knot and decorated by fluttering silver ornaments on either side of her elaborate hairstyle. The demoness had deep azure pools for eyes and her lips were painted bright crimson. She had a kind face and smiled at Rin.

 

“Good morning Lord Sesshoumaru.” She first addressed Sesshoumaru, and then turned to the small girl. “This must be Rin-Chan. I've heard so much about you. I am very honored to meet you.” She had a pleasant jingling voice. Rin peeked from behind her master's leg but was too shy to return the greeting. The woman laughed good naturedly at Rin's bashfulness. Sesshoumaru placed a hand on Rin's head.

 

“Rin, this is Kumiko. She will be your teacher.” He said. “Show her the same respect you would to your lord.” Rin would have jumped off a cliff if Sesshoumaru requested it and she nodded eagerly. Sesshoumaru seemed pleased at her mustered courage and rewarded her with a slight smile in approval. He removed his hand from her head and stepped out the door, sliding it closed behind him. Rin watched the door for a moment where her lord departed then turned to Kumiko, remembering her lord's words: `Show her the same respect you would your lord'.

 

“Why don't you come have a seat Rin? We can have a chance to get to know one another.” Kumiko gestured to the space in front of her. Rin obediently approached and sat a few feet away from the demoness cross-legged, keeping her eyes downcast on the tatami floor. Kumiko chuckled warmly.

 

“You are a very pretty young lady Miss Rin. How old are you?” She inquired. Rin blushed. She had never been called pretty before.

 

“Twelve ma'am.” Rin replied in a tiny voice.

 

“Ah year of the monkey! What a playful girl you must be!” Kumiko tittered delightfully. “Well little Rin, do you know what I will be tutoring you in?”

 

“Lord Sesshoumaru says you're going to teach me how to be a lady.” Rin replied.

 

“That's right. And not just how to be a lady, but how to defend yourself as a lady.” Rin raised her eyes from the floor curiously. Kumiko chuckled again. “First I have something for you.” Kumiko rose up and fluttered across the room to a closet. From a shelf she pulled a strange long necked object and returned to Rin's side, kneeling gracefully.

 

“This is a shamisen Rin, and if you like I'll teach you how to play it.” Kumiko placed the stringed instrument in her lap and folded the belled sleeves of her kimono back. Rin watched in amazement as Kumiko pulled a triangular shaped object from thin air and pressed it to the strings. Kumiko plucked at the strings and made the shamisen come to life with sound. Rin sat transfixed as the peacock youkai's lulling song permeated the room, changing tempo from slow and lulling to swift and vivacious. She had never heard a master play before. Rin's eyes became unfocused and the notes drifted in her mind, swaying all about her like smoke. She became lost in the music; different scenes from Rin's life played before her, urged by the song. Chasing butterflies across the impossibly green fields. Jakken yelping in surprise as she tossed a stone at him. Lord Sesshoumaru turning elegantly to meet her animated greetings. Beautiful, placid gold eyes. Suddenly the music stopped and the enchantment ceased. Rin blinked and recentered her attention on the kneeling yokai.

 

“That was amazing!” She cried, forgetting her shyness. Lady Kumiko smiled and tilted her to the side.

 

“I'm glad you liked it. With practice, you'll be able to make your own songs.” Kumiko replied. Rin clapped her hands, unable to contain her excitement. Her? Play like that? Kumiko scooted closer and placed the shamisen in Rin's lap and began to describe the parts of the instrument to her.

 

Now six years later as Rin practiced for Ah-Un she had become quite good. She played a song called “A Stream In Summer”, thusly named because it was to imitate the sound of water running through a babbling brook. With a final thrum her song concluded and Rin bowed theatrically. Ah-Un brayed in praise. She giggled and rewarded the dragon with a long scratch between the ears of both heads. At length she gathered up her shamisen and made her way back to the castle. Rin followed the snaking corridors and hallways that she had learned to navigate years ago to the kitchen. Jakken was there dictating to the chef, a plump boar yokai named Yamahara, what to make for dinner.

 

“Good afternoon Jakken. Good afternoon Yamahara-San.” She greeted cheerfully and sat down at the preparation table stacked with vegetables.

 

“Hmph, what's so good about it?” Jakken huffed.

 

“Good afternoon Rin.” Yamahara answered, pleased to see her. He had a stuffy sounding voice as if he was talking with is mouth full, which was often the case. “Keeping up with your lessons?” he asked, gesturing to the shamisen in her lap with a swoop of his fat hand.

 

“Oh yes. Kumiko can always tell when I haven't been practicing. She may be a peacock yokai but she has ears almost as good as Lord Sesshoumaru's.” This earned Rin a hearty chuckle from the wide-girthed chef and a scowl from Jakken.

 

“Impertinent girl! You shouldn't compare our Lord to lesser demons!” Jakken squawked, shaking a wrinkled green finger at her. Rin sniggered and flicked a pea at him. It landed right on target at the collar of his robes and disappeared inside. He bellowed in complaint and Rin stuck her tongue out at him playfully. Jakken muttered something about `humans' and searched his kimono for the invading pea. Setting her shamisen aside Rin took up a knife and began chopping the heap of vegetables on the table.

 

“So where is our Lord today? I haven't seen him yet.” She asked, cutting through a beet.

 

“Not that it's ANY of your business girl, but he had important dealings in the Northern Province today. He left this morning.” Jakken informed her, shaking his robes.

 

“That's odd. He didn't take Ah-Un with him. Or you for that matter.” She considered aloud.

 

“Who Lord Sesshoumaru does or doesn't take on his trips is none of your affair!” Jakken retorted, giving his robe a final quake. The pea finally dropped to the floor from his kimono and rolled away. He snorted in exasperation.

 

“I wasn't- oh never mind. Mean ol' coot!” Rin huffed in mock frustration. Jakken pretended to ignore her. Yamahara chuckled. Watching the two bicker was always classic entertainment. Rin finished chopping the vegetables and nudged them into orderly stacks according to color.

 

“Well I better get going. I don't want to be late to meet with Kumiko.” Rin announced, wiping her hands off on a kitchen linen.

 

“Good. Go bother her.” Jakken snapped, not bothering to look up from the chicken he was plucking. Rin tossed a cut of radish at him that landed smack in the middle of his forehead that stuck there. Jakken howled and was about to unfurl a string of cursing at the girl but she was already out the door with her instrument. Rin laughed softly in amusement at the muffled oaths echoing from the kitchen. She could hear Yamahara's bellowing laughter. Satisfied with her mischief Rin was on her way.

 

Before entering the training room Rin smoothed down the front of her kimono and checked for any stray hairs that might have escaped her simple ponytail. She knelt down parallel to the thin paper and wood door and slid it open. Rin then stood and entered using small delicate footsteps. Once inside she knelt again beside the door and raised her hands one foot apart and placed them on the door again, just barely touching it with her fingertips, and slid it shut. Rin stood up and raised her eyes to the room for the first time at Kumiko-San who had been watching her with great attention.

 

“Wonderful! Just as I showed you.” Kumiko beamed. Rin could barely contain her grin as she knelt across from her teacher.

 

“I had to practice on my room door last night several times before I got it right. Lord Sesshoumaru caught me and gave me the funniest look.” Rin confessed. Color rose to her cheeks just recalling the incident. Rin had no idea how long Sesshoumaru had been watching when she looked up to find him standing there silently regarding her as she knelt outside her door, opening and closing it `as a lady would'. Instead of questioning her odd behavior he just slid his door shut, leaving her alone in the hallway, jaw agape. Kumiko just laughed softly at the remark.

 

“Are we going to practice shamisen today?” Rin asked, quickly changing the subject.

 

“No, today I thought might practice your toujistu.” Kumiko replied. Rin brightened at hearing this. Kumiko hadn't been joking when she originally informed Rin she would be teaching her how to `protect herself as a lady'. Roughly translated, “toujistu” meant “lady martial arts”. Because of Rin's humanity, inviting Lady Kumiko to train Rin had been a very wise idea indeed. She instructed Rin in many secretive methods of self defense and attacks that involved the tools and subjects a woman of good breeding would have readily available. Rin already knew several different ways to kill an unsuspecting opponent using only her shamisen plectrum, and much more. The skills she'd been refining in Rin such as dance, tea ceremony, common conversation, and overall gracious etiquette were deeply interwoven with cunning awareness.

 

“Today I'd like to show you a trick using a simple object. A hair ornament.” Kumiko continued. Rin listened attentively. Kumiko raised her slender arm up and drew out a long lacquer stick from her elaborate hair knot and offered it to Rin. Rin leaned forward and took it from her, examining it closely. It looked like an ordinary hair piece, though very beautiful. It was a black stick with a glossy finish tipped by a round red bead. Rin turned it over in her hand, and after finding nothing unusual about it, looked up to her teacher, waiting for her to explain it's certain magical properties. Years ago Rin had stopped doubting what seemed absurd. Kumiko could take the most everyday object and turn it into a worthy device of intent.

 

“You see, every woman who feels so inclined can wear something pretty likes this in her hair. They do it all the time. And say you were going to a party where you knew someone was going to be whom you didn't particularly trust. Well you couldn't very well bring in a sword now could you?” Kumiko gave Rin that told her she expected an answer. Rin shook her head vigorously. It was a rhetorical inquiry but Kumiko liked to keep her teachings very animated and always made sure Rin was deeply involved in them. “Since you cannot bring a usual weapon to protect yourself with, you must be inventive. There are always things around that you can use to save yourself. A hair ornament, if chosen correctly, is a wise and reliable friend.”

 

“And the shamisen plectrum.” Rin added.

 

“That's right Rin.” Kumiko nodded approvingly. “And today our concentration is the hair ornament. Beautiful, and possibly deadly. Try wearing it.” Rin nodded and took her ponytail in one hand and slid the slender rod into the base of her hair with the other. A moment later it slipped out and pattered to the tatami mat floor. Rin scowled and snatched it up and tried again, this time placing it higher. The slender stick stayed in place.

 

“Good!” Kumiko commented. “Now as always, when you are engaging in an attack of this nature you are relying heavily on surprise, and it is likely you will only get the chance for one strike.” Kumiko stood up and knelt close to a low table in the room. On it was a beautiful china vase with a single white orchid. Kumiko's expression was the very symbol of friendly charm. In an instant her hand was at her hair and she slid another hair stick from its place, sweeping it in a swift arc before her. Rin blinked. Then the orchid fell to the table where it lay still, split in half at the stem. Rin clapped her hands in amazement. Kumiko smiled pleasantly and slid the ornament back into its place in her bun. Rin spent the rest of that afternoon practicing the hair stick attack with the peacock youkai.

 

 

 

Somewhere in the northern border of his lands Lord Sesshoumaru surveyed his territory. He was watching and waiting. His nose confirmed the reports he'd received yesterday evening. A reckless demon had infringed on his lands and was causing unnecessary disorder. It had attacked one of the few human villages that lived just outside the boundary of the western lands and were rumored to be hiding in his forests. Sesshoumaru had no opinion one way or the other about the human losses to life or property, but he did not like the prospect of foreign demons using his carefully guarded lands as cover. Especially without his consent. Sesshoumaru stood sentinel among the branches of a great alder tree. His hands were thrust in the wide sleeves of his white outer kimono. It had taken him nearly ten years to fully grow back the left arm Inuyasha had cleaved off with Tessaiga. Though occasionally it still ached and was not back to its full strength, the skin had finally smoothed down and looked no different than his right arm. Sesshoumaru had never felt fully comfortable with only one arm resting in his sleeves and it relieved him that he could take up the familiar stance he stood in now. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and honed in on the scent he'd been tracking. He had been scouting all day and dusk was just settling. If not for the chief task at hand Sesshoumaru might have enjoyed the orange and gold hues the sky was turning. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. It smelled like some kind of lesser aviary youkai. He leaped from his perch and followed the scent, drifting silently from tree to tree. It was not long before he came upon his quarry. Sesshoumaru snorted in disgust. The stench was almost unbearable. A filthy looking hawk youkai was on the ground feasting on the corpse of some hapless mortal. Probably just some peasant farmer in the forest gathering fire wood. Sesshoumaru soared to the ground landing easily on his feet. His hair settled behind him like a white flag, coming to rest at his back. The hawk demon turned its bloodied beak to the intruder and bellowed; obviously angry something dare interrupt its meal.

 

Sesshoumaru scoffed. This wretched excuse for a demon was what he left his castle for? It wasn't even worth unfurling Tokijin from its sheath. The feathered adversary hissed and turned on its haunches to face Sesshoumaru. Apparently it didn't want to be distracted from its repast any longer, and Sesshoumaru would not disappoint. He lunged forward just as the hawk demon did and they charged each other. The open beak of the hawk demon revealed multiple rows of ghastly teeth covered in dripping blood. Sesshoumaru flattened his right hand and drove it forward just as the two combatants clashed. A blur of activity and the two were on opposite sides of the small battlefield with their backs to each other. A moment passed and the hawk youkai slumped soundlessly to the forest floor, twitching a few death throws before laying still. Sesshoumaru dropped the bloodied heart he seized in his hand. He raised his arm up then directly heaved it away, coating the nearby shrubbery in warm crimson liquid, thoroughly removing it from his limb. His forest was once again quiet. Without glancing once at his fallen enemy Sesshoumaru prepared to bound up into the trees again. He should reach the castle before even half the night was over.

 

“Leaving so soon Sesshoumaru?” A familiar voice called out. The demon lord stopped in his tracks. Kagura. He must have missed her scent in the overpowering stink of the human remains and already decaying hawk demon.

 

The beautiful demoness stepped out of the shadows. Sesshoumaru did not offer her a reply. Kagura's ruby eyes gleamed in the dim light of the rising moon and she sauntered closer, tapping her folded fan to her hip.

 

“You'd come all the way out here just to kill my pet?” She asked in her sultry tone. Sesshoumaru turned to face her, only partly masking his irritation. He chided himself for not plucking her scent out sooner. He had not expected to ever seen the demoness again. With Naraku defeated he assumed she died with him. Evidently she had not, and was now slinking around his domain.

 

“If there is a reason I should not kill you, you had best utter it now.” Sesshoumaru replied icily. Kagura only smirked and touched her fan to her lips.

 

“That is no way to greet a visitor. I thought they raised Lords better than that.” She purred. Kagura wore her patterned robes low around her shoulders and the moonlight emphasized the creamy complexion of her smooth skin. Sesshoumaru wondered if she still had that repulsive arachnid brand on her back.

 

“There are more conventional means of acquiring my notice than sending familiars. Your methods reek of Naraku.” Sesshoumaru stated pointedly. Kagura only laughed.

 

“Yes, I suppose that's true. But then I couldn't have met you on such a beautiful night as this.” She traced the tip of her fan from her lips to her chin, revealing her spiteful smile. Sesshoumaru turned to leave, having had quite enough of this foolish woman. Her adverse servitude to Naraku had obviously tainted her mind. While he could do nothing about that, he felt no need to remain in her presence. Just as he was about to jump into the trees something caught he sleeve. Sesshoumaru glanced down at the demoness who clutched at him. The character malice was absent from her features and she seemed to be struggling with a cross between friendliness and discouragement.

 

“Would you really leave so soon?” She asked, her voice wavering slightly.

 

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes, glaring down at her.

 

“And why should I not?”

 

Sesshoumaru was losing patience. Kagura seemed to be wrestling with some very strong emotion and he found it distasteful. Her ruby eyes darted about as if unsure as to what to look at. At length he trapped her in his golden gaze. She loosed her hand from his sleeve and grasped at the front of his haori, pressing her body into his. Sesshoumaru stiffened, locking his arms at his side.

 

“I am free now. Liberated of Naraku's rule. My choices are now entirely my own…would…would you not have me?” Her diminutive voice trailed off. She rose up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. Kagura's lips tasted like cinnamon and warmth passed between their bodies as she curled into his muscular frame. Her robes slipped down her shoulders baring her nude breasts and she pressed further into him, eager to savor him. He lifted his brows. This was certainly an unexpected development. Sesshoumaru lifted his arms placing his hands on her narrow waist, and slowly but firmly pushed her away.

 

“I've no desire for your company tonight, Kagura.” He said over his shoulder has he stepped passed her. Kagura could only blink in bewilderment. Suddenly aware of his rejection she gathered up her kimono to cover her chest. He was disappearing into the rising mist of the damp underbrush like an apparition. All at once Kagura was very angry.

 

“It's that girl isn't it?” She bit out. Sesshoumaru halted, casting a deadly glance behind him. “Does she please you well my lord?”

 

Sesshoumaru cut her off.

 

“If you say no more, woman, you'll escape this night with your life. I recommend you hold your tongue.” He growled low in his throat. Kagura opened her mouth to say something more but the words never came. Sesshoumaru regarded with one last look of disgust before turning from her for the last time. She could only pout venomously at his back as he disappeared into the woods.