InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Seven Feudal Fairy Tales ❯ Of Apples and Melons ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and other associated companies.

 

 

Chapter Eight: Of Apples and Melons

 

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama!” Kagome called out, hurrying after the tai youkai and his unnaturally quick stroll. Running at least looked fast, but how he covered so much ground with a stride that appeared to be little more than a casual walk was still a mystery to her. “We have to help—“

 

The youkai lord looked back over his shoulder, the icy glare of his golden eye dissolving her words before they left her mouth. After a moment of awkward silence, he returned his gaze once more to the chaotic marketplace that sprawled before them. His pace never wavered as they crossed through the rutted earth of the busy city center. As Kagome struggled to keep from being trampled by rushing messengers, haggling customers and laded wagons pulled by horses and humans alike, he passed through without so much as a misstep. The school girl pouted, diving away from the shod hooves of a passing fish cart. Whether he is four inches tall or fifty feet tall, he's always a lord.

 

“We have arrived,” he spoke, stopping in front of a massive wagon, loaded with fruit and wooden crates of dubious contents, “This vessel will take us to the castle.”

 

Kagome peered up at the dirt-caked wheels and massive, red panels encasing the cargo, her brow making a fine furrow on her face. From where she stood, she couldn't even see the top let alone determine a way to climb up to it. It was more mountain than produce cart.

 

“I will aid you,” Sesshoumaru said impassively, sensing her consternation, “There is no easy path for a human of your abilities to ascend.”

 

“Thank you,” she replied, unsure if she had been insulted or not, “How did you know that this cart—“

 

A warm hand snaked around her waist, ending her question with a sharp squeak. Before she could further protest, he swiftly picked her up off the ground, the fine points of his claws pressed against the delicate skin of her belly and his thumb at her back. Watching her feet dangling beneath her, the disconcerting notion of him tossing her up the side of the wagon flitted across her mind. “W-wait, don't throw me. Fragile human here.”

 

An indignant snort was his reply and the tai youkai raised her further into the air. Then with a smooth movement of his striped wrist, he flipped her over, letting her land roughly on his shoulder. The school girl breathed a ragged sigh of relief. Despite the pain of his spiked metal armor digging into her side, she could take comfort in the fact that he hadn't launched her to the top like a spear.

 

“Hey, what do you think—“ Kagome blurted out in a blushing protest as the warm clawed hand returned, gently slipping down the back of her squirming thigh.

 

“Be still,” Sesshoumaru commanded, his nails pricking her skin slightly as he gripped her legs firmly. Stepping back to gauge the best route, he looked up, studying the high sides of the huge wagon. Then within the blink of his amber eyes, he vanished, sprinting up the steep curve of the wheel.

 

Glinting silver and white swirled in Kagome's vision, as the tai youkai's fine strands of silky hair bathed her downward hanging face. Reaching the summit of the wooden wheel, Sesshoumaru leapt onto the vertical panel of the cart, scaling it quicker than gravity could claim him. The school girl felt her innards lurch into her throat at his speed and her buried face driven deep into the soft fabric and hardened muscle of his back. Desperately, she opened her mouth, struggling as her breath was robbed from her lungs.

 

With a single elegant leap, they crested the smooth gate of the wagon, landing lightly onto a neatly stacked pile of melons. His breaths steady, as if he had exerted no more energy than it took to raise his arm, the youkai lord stood still, surveying the sea of fruit he was adrift in. Satisfied that there were no surprises lurking amongst the oranges and apples, he let the frazzled school girl down off of his shoulder.

 

“That-was-fast,” she said between gasps, her trembling hands on her shaking knees as she bent over to try and steady herself. And she thought riding with Inuyasha was like being on a rollercoaster. A satisfied grunt escaped his throat to accompany the subtle smirk that adorned his face. Then with a turn on his heel, the tai youkai leapt onto the highest stacked melon and settled down onto its hard, glossy surface. His legs gracefully crossed in front of him and his hand tucked into the sleeve of his haori, he sat motionless, patiently waiting for his chauffeur. Only his observant golden eyes and the fluttering of his bangs in the gentle breeze betrayed any movement. Kagome silently wondered if he expected an artist to suddenly show up and carve his image into a slab of marble. Although, being portrayed perched atop a fruit might not be his ideal way of being immortalized.

 

`Sesshoumaru-sama, god of melons,' Kagome thought as she desperately suppressed the giggle trying to escape her lips. His critical eye at her contorted expression didn't help her any either.

 

The lurching motion of the produce cart as it began to move distracted the school girl from her thoughts and saved her from further embarrassment. Leading the shaggy, bay pony harnessed to the wagon, walked an old, hunched man, clothed in worn, gray robes and a broad cone-shaped hat. The color of his wrinkled skin matched his clothing and he revealed his sunken face as he reached back to affectionately pat the nose of his loyal beast. Kagome's lips frowned. A man his age ought to be resting at home, surrounded by doting grandchildren, not toiling away in the potholed streets of the capital.

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama, we have to help these people,” Kagome said, fixing her jaw, “We can't let them suffer like this anymore.”

 

“We will do no such thing,” he replied impassively, maintaining his poised posture.

 

“How can you say that? Look at them. They have nothing. They've been stripped of everything by roving bandits and an uncaring emperor.”

 

“That means nothing.”

 

“You're a ruler. Are you saying that this sort of behavior is acceptable? Is this how you treat your subjects? Do you let bandits roam your lands and rob your people?”

 

“You forget yourself, miko,” the tai youkai spoke in a measured tone, his glare piercing. Kagome gulped her breath at his withering expression. “And you have forgotten where you are. Tell this Sesshoumaru why you gave your only food to that old woman?”

 

“B-because she and her son were starving,” she stuttered, searching for her voice as she held onto her resolve, “Because they had already lost so much, they deserved to get something back. They deserve so much more back.”

 

“And what will you give that woman?” he replied, slipping his hand from his sleeve to point along a distant wall. Surrounded by her possessions sat the same thin woman, yelling at her boy to calm down and sit by her side.

 

“That could be the same woman from before.”

 

“Ah, so she gathered all of her belongings and went to another wall with her whelp trailing behind in such a short amount of time? Amazing, I never knew weak, malnourished humans were so able.”

 

“Look—“

 

“No, you look, miko,” he spoke firmly, his tone brooking no argument, “Tell me what you would do for that woman? Or perhaps that one?” His clawed hand gestured to a woman hobbling across the street and then to another stealing a handful of rice while her son distracted the merchant.

 

“I-I don't know,” Kagome muttered. They were all the same woman, echoed over and over. It was like the endless forest in the Kintaro legend. Repeating trees then and repeating people now.

 

“You have already given your food. What next? Your clothing? Your arm? Your heart? Your life?”

 

“I only wanted to help,” Kagome spoke softly, looking down at her fumbling hands.

 

“Those women, these humans are meant to suffer. To give reason for the existence of the bandits told in the story and in the poem. You cannot save those who are created to live in pain.”

 

“It doesn't matter to me,” the school girl declared loudly, her voice suddenly seething and choked as she looked up into his cool, citrine eyes, her own glossy with impending tears, “I still want to save them. Real or not, is it wrong to care? Is it wrong to help them anyway?”

 

“Compassion is not a flaw,” he replied after a space of time, his tone almost imperceptibly softer, “Reckless compassion is. If you give so much that you sacrifice your own well-being, you help no one. A thimble of rice will not feed that woman or her child, but it would have fed you. Now three people will starve instead of two.”

 

“I know,” Kagome said quietly, gulping the moisture building in her throat, “But if that one little bit of rice made a difference then it was worth it. Maybe if we had gone to a market and found some more rice, it would have helped more.”

 

“We?” Sesshoumaru spoke, his voice hard once more, “Again you use that word. Your techniques for forcing others into helping in your mission will not aid you here. I will not be manipulated like my pathetic half-brother.”

 

“That's not what I meant.”

 

“Isn't it?” the youkai lord said coolly, “Perhaps you don't realize what you do.”

 

“I don't force people to do anything,” Kagome spoke adamantly, “I ask them to help or they choose to help, because it's the right thing to do.”

 

“And you decide what is right?”

 

“No, I just—“ she stuttered, holding her hand up to her forehead, trying to gather her thoughts, “It's not this complicated. When someone needs help, you help them. It's what you do. Umm, umm… Rin. You helped her, right? You saved her with your healing sword. You apparently decided that even though her suffering was over with her death that she deserved a second chance at life.”

 

“Hn,” Sesshoumaru quietly snorted, thinking of the human girl that trailed behind him wherever he traveled, “Rin was not revived out of reckless compassion, miko. She was not revived, because it was the right thing to do.”

 

“Then why did you do it?”

 

“I was curious,” he said after a thoughtful pause, “Regardless of my reasons, when I returned her life; she was placed in my debt. She became my responsibility. To give aid to someone is to take responsibility for their well-being. What would you have done if you had saved her life? She is no youkai like that kitsune whelp who travels with you. She is fragile and weak like any other human child.”

 

“I don't know. I wouldn't have abandoned her.”

 

“But you would have. You would have left her with a village elder, at a shrine or at a human orphanage. If that place decided to sell her or abuse her, then you would have given her a far crueler fate than death. How many human children have you saved and then left to that uncertain destiny in your travels here?”

 

“Why do you make this so much more complicated than it is?” Kagome said softly after a defeated sigh, looking out into the passing city and at the countless clones muddling through their illusion of life.

 

“Because it is, miko.”

 

Silence lingered in the air, louder than the waning noise of the distant marketplace. Slowly the cart made its way up the earthen street, flanked by the increasingly elaborate buildings. The elegant temples seen from the river were even more impressive up close. Huge pagodas reached into the sky, their square towers richly decorated in dark wood carvings of flowers and leaping koi fish. Through the thick walls, resounded the harmonious, exotic chants of the monks, honoring their love and loyalty to their glorious gods.

 

The wagon ambled to a shuffling halt before a massive iron gate centered in a crimson wall that stretched endlessly in both directions. Two guards dressed in elaborate, samurai armor stepped out, conversing with the old man.

 

“It would be wise for you to hide, miko,” Sesshoumaru spoke nonchalantly, still seated peacefully on his melon. Kagome mumbled under her breath at how nice it must be to be invisible as she slipped down through the narrow spaces within a basket of apples.

 

After a genial exchange and a few laughs, the heavy gate whined open and the cart returned to its slow progression towards the castle. Leaning near the wagon as it passed, a guard gingerly lifted an apple from its brethren, brushing it softly against the side of his maroon pant leg, one of the few places his black armor didn't cover.

 

“That man should rethink his future as a guard,” the tai youkai said, his tone more unimpressed than usual, “And you should rethink your ability to hide.” Pressed against the hard red fruit at her back, Kagome let out her breath, her heart thumping in her throat. Sitting up slowly, her eyes still wide with fear, she stared in disbelief at the youkai lord. Of all the fruit the giant man had to take, he took the one she was hiding under.

 

“How was I supposed to know he was going to take that apple?”

 

“I am not human and you are. You should be able to understand their behavior and anticipate their actions. Or hide deeper within the basket.”

 

“You know, I would like to see, just once, things not work out to your benefit,” Kagome fumed slightly under her breath as she clambered out of the apple-shaped hole.

 

“Hn.”

 

The hardened dirt road swiftly transformed into carved slate and the shod hooves of the pony clacked on its smooth surface. The dark narrow tunnel leading from the gate opened up into a bright, vast courtyard. Along the distant walls, red flags displaying the white floral crest of the emperor billowed in the wind.

 

A broad set of steps rose up to meet the massive castle celebrating the wealth and prosperity of the current ruler's reign. Majestically built from dark wood and black stone, the stately building rose further into the air, dwarfing the pagodas and temples outside its walls. At its summit, it was accented by a rich crimson tiled roof. Before them and flanked on each side of the steps, sat a pair of foreboding iron lions, their maws agape, inviting trespassers to try their luck.

 

“We are leaving here,” Sesshoumaru said with finality, rising from his warm seat. As he spoke, the cart began to angle away from the stairs, heading toward the rear of the building to off load its cargo.

 

“Right now?”

 

“You wish to speak with the emperor?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Then we shall do so through the front door.”