InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Seven Feudal Fairy Tales ❯ Penance ( Chapter 57 )

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

 

 

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Penance

 

 

“The earth gods?” Kagome wondered aloud, her sepia eyes squinting slightly as she examined the somber woman reflecting in the mirror. “The ones who were tormented by Yamata-no-Orochi?”

 

“Yes,” the old woman replied quietly, resuming her methodic strokes as she smoothed her princess' hair. “My husband's name was once Ashi-Nadzuchi and I was known as Te-Nadzuchi. In the mountains overlooking the head-waters of the River Hi, we dwelled and raised our eight daughters. We were proud parents for our children were as unmatched in beauty as they were in their purity. This was only natural since cleanliness is greatly revered by the heavens and as dutiful kami, we often bathed ourselves in the refreshing waters born from the pristine snow that capped our mountains. This pride however would inevitably lead to our demise at the thrashing jaws of an unimaginably evil beast.

 

“The crushing weight of its presence is impossible to describe, my child, but as it wound around us that day and dammed the deep river we enjoyed with only its body, we knew our untroubled existence had met its end. Surrounded by glowing, red eyes and trapped by fear as much as by scales, we beseeched the eight-forked serpent to spare our lives with the prudence of our pleas numbed by flashing rows of teeth and growling bellies.”

 

“And because of that, you sacrificed your daughter,” the school girl remarked coldly, pulling her neat, ebony locks away from elderly woman's gentle fingers so that she could face her directly. “One after the other, year after year for seven years. That's more than a moment of fear. The first one maybe you couldn't prevent, but what about the ones that followed her?”

 

“Each daughter we hoped would be the last and we mustered our courage through the passing seasons to ensure that it was so. Yet, when the shadows of the sickened trees that lined the dragon's endless back were cast over us, our determination dissolved in the vapor of its soiled aura. Then another innocent child was gone and our shameful weakness grew and smothered us until only one remained.

 

“A few days before the serpent was expected to return, the great god, Susanou appeared before us. Banished to the frailty of humanity but no less confident than we could expect from the one time creator of storms, he assured us that our last daughter would be spared along with our own lives. The price however, was her. It was a simple decision really; we could perish to a gruesome death by the maiden devourer or we could give our only remaining child's hand in marriage to a god who was brother to the sun goddess, Amaterasu and be spared. The choice was plain and Kushinada-hime was given to him.

 

“As if assured of our decision before we were even asked, Susanou instantly set us to work in our roles. Masters of alcoholic infusion, we tested our merits by distilling a brew of sake purified eight times through. When finished, the mere scent of it drowned the air with an intoxicating fog so that even the tallest, thickest trees of the forest drooped in a drunken stupor. After years of hiding in disgraceful cowardice, we now hid and eagerly awaited the despicable beast and its eminent demise.

 

“Turning the virginal waters of the river black with filth as it slithered across, Yamata-no-Orochi approached our stone vats of sake, lured by the thick perfume of its purity. After drinking it all in its greed, the wicked serpent succumbed to a deep and soon deadly sleep.”

 

“I know how he died,” Kagome interrupted curtly, not caring to listen again about how the dragon was tricked and slain. “What of him that survived told me about what happened to him and his brothers.”

 

“You sympathize with him?” the former earth goddess asked with a touch of surprise coloring her voice. “Do you believe him a victim?”

 

“No, not then. I believe he was incredibly evil beyond my imagining and still is. But, I can't help but think that he paid for his past cruelty when his brothers died and he was left to live for eternity alone.”

 

“I see. You are a wise for such a young woman,” she conceded with a somber smile, “Having been tortured by Yamata-no-Orochi and having watched nearly every daughter of mine perish by its hunger, my opinions of that beast are warped by anguish and despair. But, you are right about it receiving its just punishment on that fateful day, as I remember when what remained of it blinked awake the following, dismal morning.

 

“Busily cleansing our home of its tainting blood, the serpent's persisting life horrified us and my husband and I fled behind a boulder in our fear. Bellows of agony unlike any that have shook the world before or since quaked the ground as it rose. Around the meager rock, we peered as it nudged the mutilated remains of its brothers, crying out their names and especially that of the eldest, Akane. Even now the desperation of its pleading howls haunts my memories.

 

“As our fear of it ending our lives in a bout of perverse retribution reached its pitch, we finally stepped out from behind the boulder and demanded that it leave before it shared its brethren's ill fortune. The serpent scoffed at our threat with its brilliant red eyes boring through our resolve. Our determination as always crumbled before its piercing glare and silently, we readied ourselves for what only our daughters had experienced until then. However, from behind closed eyes and over whispered prayers, we soon heard a contemptuous laugh, both dark and wretched. Peeking out, we spied the maiden devourer looming over us with its reptilian face twisted in wounded amusement.

 

`Pathetic gods,' it called us venomously, `You are not worth eating for your taste was spoiled the moment you offered your first daughter for our consumption. Now you have given all you have away and are as alone as I am. The mercy of a quick death was too kind for me and it shall be too kind for you.' Having had its say, it then bit into the murdered bodies of its brothers, ripping away at their clinging flesh until it was free. Departing without a pause of indecision, the lonely beast slithered away and left us to our rising misery as we gradually realized how truthful its final words were.”

 

“You lost your purity and your daughters,” the school girl spoke up, her voice considerably softer after the long silence that took root between them abated. “With all of the guilt that you undoubtedly feel, why did you say earlier that you deserve to be here? That you deserve to be punished by Susanou in this prison?”

 

“It is not for Susanou that we deserve to be here, but for our last daughter, Kushinada-hime.”

 

“Your last daughter, Kushinada-hime?”

 

“That you would know the story of the Dragon King, but not that of Oto-hime is a curious thing, my child.”

 

“Wait, Susanou imprisoned his wife in the scroll?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Why would he do that? Even if he originally intended to only retrieve the sword, Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, he still married her to save her life, right? He fell in love with Kushinada-hime, didn't he?”

 

“Your innocence reminds me so well of my children before they perished and now I wish not to spoil it with truth. Let it be, child.”

 

“I'm not innocent,” Kagome adamantly denied, the sound of her words resonating deeply in her heart. “I haven't been for a long time, so tell me why he married her.”

 

“Very well,” the old woman replied with a pained sigh, “If that is your wish, then I shall continue. That damnable god married her under the guise of love, so that we would aid him in his quest for the sword hidden in one of the eight-forked serpent's tails. A deceitful being as he could not trust us with the knowledge of his true purpose for we might decide to steal his priceless weapon. Thus, he invented a tale of unsurpassable affection for our remaining daughter and even with the murmurs of doubt whispering in our minds, we could only hope that his adoration was honest. Our Kushinada accepted it without hesitation and with that, our consent could only follow. That afternoon before she was transformed into a comb would be the last we would ever see of our beloved daughter.”

 

“Even if he didn't love her, why would he imprison Kushinada-hime? Was she going to reveal his reprehensible acts to Amaterasu when he offered her the sword? I don't see how that would serve her if she did it.”

 

“It would not. To join him as his wife in the heavens would have been a great honor to our daughter and she was wise enough to avoid such imprudence. Susanou however, did not treat her as a man should treat his wife. Instead of awarding her a position worthy of her title, he valued her more as a worthless whore to satisfy his base desires. When she objected to his treatment, he swiftly banished her to the depths of the ocean for her dissent.”

 

“That's horrible.”

 

“Yes, it was,” she answered shakily, unbidden tears seeping from her dark eyes and slipping down her wrinkled cheeks, “And we, her parents were ignorant of her fate until the first visitors journeyed through our tale bearing the knowledge of who and what had imprisoned us. We cannot perceive much beyond the boundaries of our own stories here, but when we learned what had become of our only daughter, knowing our part in it struck us deeply with grief. A brief death to satiate the hunger of an evil beast would have been a fairer fortune for Kushinada than a lifetime of abuse and loneliness exacted by a merciless god. That is why we deserve to be here. For every lonely moment she is entrapped, we will pay an equal penance at her side, even though we cannot share a single word of warmth with her.”

 

“I'm sorry,” the school girl apologized, smiling weakly in an attempt reassure the aggrieved woman at her back. “I judged you both earlier for what happened to your children. No matter how I might have felt, it doesn't compare with the sorrow you both have been living with for hundreds of years.”

 

“Our grief has not gone unheard. The gods to whom we pray have heard us even secreted away in a pair of inconspicuous scrolls as these.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“The glorious goddess, Amaterasu and her noble brother, Tsukuyomi have touched this place with their power and have given us hope.”

 

“Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi know about the scroll?”

 

“Susanou could not conceal forever a magic this powerful and I suspect that it is the strength of his resentment for being banished to humanity that keeps this scroll from being broken. Crafted when he regained his power, he undoubtedly feared that if Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi learned of his deceit on the mortal plane that they would somehow force him to return there.

 

“Many years passed and our pleas for salvation continued to go unheeded until we sensed the brilliant power of our sun goddess and the cool strength of our moon god radiating around us. Unable or unwilling to rupture the magic more than a mere crack, they manipulated the nature of this world enough to permit us a way to slowly peel away the shackles of our internment. Whether it was anticipated or not, their kindness also allowed travelers such as you and your companion a way to enter this realm and to give us and all prisoners heart after so many years spent alone.”

 

“Does it really mean that much to all of you that we're here?”

 

“Perhaps not to all, but for my husband and I, each one of you connects us to our daughter and we know that through the impenetrable walls of ink and paper, she still exists here and that alone promises us that one day we will find each other again.”

 

“Hm,” Kagome murmured, taking up a lock of her hair in her fingers and toyed absently with the ends. “Despite all of the pain and torment here, everyone I've met has found some measure of solace. No matter what happens, no one seems to lose hope.”

 

“Amaterasu's sunlight breaches Susanou's stormy clouds and gifts us a rainbow, my child. If we look, we cannot help but to see it.”

 

“I think I understand what you mean now,” she said with a nod and returned her fiddled hair to the long cascade of tresses that flowed down her back. “If you don't mind, would you finish combing it? I know that it's probably already been brushed enough, but it reminds me of when I was younger. When my mother used to do it for me.”

 

“Of course, my child,” the old, earth deity agreed, once more pulling the comb down gently through the school girl's hair. “Do you miss her?”

 

“Who?”

 

“Your mother.”

 

“Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't,” she admitted, biting her painted lip as she stared at the reflection of a young, almost unrecognizable woman in the mirror who seemed to return her troubled look, “At least not until a moment like this comes. Then I realize how much has changed and how much I've lost. Innocence doesn't last forever. It's just not meant to. Sometimes though, it's nice to pretend. To go back to a time when a tangled knot in your hair was your biggest worry.”

 

With only the whispers of burning lanterns and the smooth rushing of a comb running through hair lingering in the air, the bamboo-cutter's wife and mother to Kaguya-hime brushed her princess' tresses. Words unnecessary as they both did their parts, leaving each to recall a peaceful time in their pasts before the troubles of their fates would affect their lives forever.