InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Seven Feudal Fairy Tales ❯ Reunite ( Chapter 59 )

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

 

 

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Reunite

 

 

Bright and proud, the horn sang once more, its brisk tune daring and vibrant as it flowed through the serene air of the perennially night-embraced palace. The line of an eyebrow furrowed, Kagome began her still shaky method of rising to her feet when a gnarled hand clasped hers to keep her seated.

 

“It is the emperor,” the Bamboo-Cutter gently admonished, setting his chopsticks across his bowl with his free hand, “You cannot berate this one. He is not some foolhardy knight, but instead meant to be a man of great prestige and honor.”

 

“But,” she objected and his hand then rose to cradle her cheek tenderly.

 

“Please, my dearest child, do not dishonor your title or your beauty by disregarding your role now. Even as I know that the responsibilities of a princess do not please you, allow us the luxury of treating you like such as we did at one time for own daughters. That is all we humbly ask.”

 

Finishing his simple request, the school girl's sepia gaze softened at the likening of her to his lost children and she found that she did not have the heart to argue. The old man smiled kindly in reply and the warmth of his hand left her cheek to steady himself against the low table as he chose to stand. Quick to be at his side was his dutiful wife and she busily straightened the fictional wrinkles that seemed to dishevel his refined clothes.

 

“How do I fair?” he asked with a hoarse chuckle as she swept her fingers gingerly over his shoulders in mystified frustration.

 

“As well as an ancient, old kami can,” the earth goddess stated coolly and then smirked at his practiced surprise of her expected remark.

 

“Then I suppose it will have to do.”

 

“Yes, it will.”

 

With another soft laugh, he leaned in to peck her sweetly on the lips before shuffling out of the room and toward the front door. The clattering of dishes soon followed as the old woman busily cleaned up the table, blushing faintly from his blatant display of affection yet unable to conceal her amusement emerging as a coy smile. Absorbed in her bustling work, she nearly forgot about the luminescent princess in her midst who watched on in a pleasant silence.

 

“Kushinada-hime!” she blurted out unthinkingly with her arms akimbo, “Why are you not in your room to await his highness?”

 

“I'm sorry,” Kagome apologized with a grin, catching the mistaken name even as the elderly woman did not. “I'm going. I'm going.”

 

“You had better, my child.”

 

Pressing her knees together tightly, the school girl pushed up on the balls of her feet, rising surely and carefully even as she wobbled slightly in the process. Her hands tucked into her billowing sleeves, she walked demurely with tiny steps into an adjacent room. A joyless sigh escaped her as she glanced over the dull space whose only features consisted of a cushion and the reed curtain that hung in front of it.

 

Slipping between the woven panels as they dangled securely from the ceiling, she found her seat on the plush pillow and waited. Beyond the walls, she could hear the quiet rasp of the Bamboo-Cutter and the unfamiliar, bold voice of who she could only assume was the emperor. In this moment, she was a beautiful princess and she lived in the opulent luxury that only a precious creature of her status could. Outside, the emperor of all of Japan beseeched her humble father for the opportunity to court her, promising to give her everything that she could ever desire with the title of empress foremost in his offer. It was the stuff of dreams and the little girl in her couldn't help but giggle at the lavish treatment. The soft scrape of a door sliding open escaped her notice as she sat there absorbed in her wistful thoughts of youthful fantasies.

 

“You are more beautiful than I imagined, fair princess,” a charming voice announced and Kagome gasped lightly in surprise. Peering through the part in the drapes, she spied her company as he in turn looked through the same gap to admire her. Black, glossy hair bound back in a high ponytail and the wisps of neatly groomed goatee framing a brilliant grin, the mysterious man watched her with his dark brown eyes sparkling in unconcealed appreciation. Adorned in fine, emerald silk with the fierce yet gentle depictions of golden kirins gracing his sleeves, he knelt on the floor before her. “The rumors do you no justice even as they honestly told of your unmatched beauty; after all I must admit there truly are no words to describe it.”

 

“I think that's a bit of an exaggeration,” she remarked softly, her flushed cheeks brightening her glow.

 

“It is not and I fear that I am captivated by it. I admit that curiosity was the lure for I could not believe that such loveliness could exist on this mortal plane. But now that I have witnessed it, I believe that you must not be of this world and it makes you all the more desirable.”

 

“You're right about that. At least the part about where I'm from.”

 

“So then I have reasoned correctly?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Then a maiden of such otherworldly qualities should not be betrothed to any man, but the best one.”

 

“And that would be you?”

 

“I am the emperor,” he stated absolutely before gesturing with mild distaste to the fine robes he wore, “I must apologize since in this moment, I am plainly dressed for a hunt in a nearby forest. My true motive however was to meet you and I stole away from my men so that I could come here in secret. A timid creature as you are reputed to be would not have entertained my presence had I arrived with too much fanfare.”

 

“And the horn?”

 

“I am the emperor. I must have a little fanfare.”

 

“I suppose you should,” she agreed with a laugh and he joined her swiftly with his own warm chuckle.

 

“What do think of such a life that I can provide for you? After all, you cradle my heart in your elegant hands and I cannot bear departing without it. Will you not return with me so that I may never be apart from it and more importantly you?”

 

“As you said,” she began, her amused grin sobering to a sad smile, “I'm not of this world and I'm not meant to stay here. He's going to come for me soon and after that I'm going home. Forever.”

 

“You cannot,” the emperor blurted out, startling the school girl as his disarmingly charismatic voice darkened to an unforeseen desperation. “Not again.”

 

“I'm sorry, but I can't. I have to go home.”

 

“No!” he half-yelled his objection and rose up onto his knees, “Every time I venture here and profess my love, you dash it to pieces and then escape to the moon while leaving me behind, shattered by your rejection. I cannot endure it again.”

 

“I don't know what to say other than that,” she added nervously, reflexively sliding back on her cushion to put more distance between her and the rapidly crumbling man in front of her. “If I was meant to help you, I would.”

 

“Then stay with me. Give yourself to me.”

 

“No, I'm not going to give myself to you and what's wrong with you? I thought the emperor in this story was supposed to be respectful and gentlemanly. He arrives at the Bamboo-Cutter's home and tries to convince the Moon Princess to become his wife, but he doesn't demand her.”

 

“The emperor of that story only had to endure her dismissal once and I have suffered through it countless times.”

 

“Are you a prisoner, is that it? Is Susanou punishing you too?”

 

“Susanou created me just as he created all magic here, however as time and interlopers have affected this realm, so has it affected us,” he elaborated, scooting forward on his knees as he undeniably moved toward her. “Yes, I am a prisoner, but not by Susanou's hand, but by yours instead for it is the agony of the heartbreak you cause in our every encounter that grieves me.”

 

“You're like the others, aren't you?” she wondered aloud, keeping her voice calm as the muscles in her legs flexed with her feet sliding into a ready position beneath her in case she needed to hastily flee from her slowly approaching suitor. “Like Fe-San and Mon-Ki. No, wait, you're not. You're more like the tortured neighbor who begged Shiro-sama to give him gold just once. I'm sorry for how this world has manipulated your existence into such a tragedy, but I can't let you have me. I don't belong here. He's coming for me and when he does, I'm going home.”

 

“No, you are not.”

 

Once his definite promise was uttered, the emperor lunged at her, ripping away at the flimsy screen that shielded her from him. A startled squeak a surprise escaped her as he grabbed her by the knees when she hurriedly tried to rise to her feet. With a painful thud, she went down hard to the floor in a silken heap. Wrenching a leg free from his tenacious grip, she quickly planted her foot firmly in his face as she attempted to pry him loose.

 

“Let me go!” she yelled angrily, trying to kick him about the head when the kinder pressure of shoving him with her foot only seemed to tighten his hold. However, the taut, unforgiving fabric of her elaborate dress kept her from doing more than a few pathetic nudges before he snatched her leg, bruising her through the heavy cloth with the iron vice of his fingers.

 

“You are quite spirited for a princess of such rumored coyness,” he remarked huskily as he continued to slither from around her thighs up to the spread of her hips without lessening his grip. A devious grin curled on his lips and he slid his creeping hand to her rounded backside and squeezed it firmly.

 

“You bastard!” she roared vehemently and slapped him viciously across his handsome face, leaving four lines of blood to ooze and drip once the brilliant sparkles of the protective barrier disappeared after her strike. Encouraged rather than thwarted by her defiance, his sinister smile broadened and a dark chuckle rolled through his throat.

 

“Saucy minx! Who has taught you such ill words from an uncivilized tongue?”

 

“I'll call you something worse if you don't release me right now!”

 

“That is quite all right for I believe I am aware of a better method to tame unruly tongues.”

 

Pressing her struggling body beneath the overwhelming weight of his own, the emperor grabbed her slender wrists and pinned them down securely to the floor above her head. The slow rhythm of his hot breaths warm against her skin, he leaned in close and then seized her painted lips, smearing the color as she squirmed underneath. Muffled by his mouth, her livid shouts of protest emerged as little more than exasperated murmurs and as he laid over her, she could feel his chest shuddering with his disturbing laugh.

 

Then a strange, black blur appeared out of the corner of her eye, shattering beautifully against her deranged assailant's head. Retreating from his assault to clutch at the gushing wound flowing from his battered skull, the emperor withdrew to sit up, wisely straddling the school girl between his thighs to keep her from escaping.

 

“I knew there was something odd about your early arrival,” the old woman growled angrily before launching another dish from the armful she still cradled from dinner. Leaning forward to swiftly dodge, the ceramic plate flew by harmlessly, however he was not quite as fortunate as he then unwittingly collided with Kagome's fist as she attempted to crack him across the face.

 

Blinking slowly as he tilted to one side, the school girl heaved the dazed man off of her recumbent body and scooted guardedly toward the old, earth goddess and her shocked husband who had swiftly arrived after hearing the loud clatter of breaking dishes.

 

“Let me have a few of those,” she asked as she scrambled awkwardly to her feet, her usually extravagantly bound hair loose and messy. Procuring several teacups as the couple looked on wordlessly; Kagome approached the stunned man sprawled on the floor and immediately began to pummel him mercilessly with her trove of earthenware. The hazy memory of a frivolous princess doing the same to a nameless bandit surfaced in her thoughts and she soon had a greater understanding as to why the hime from Issunboshi had enjoyed it so. “You bastard! How dare you touch me! I'm Kaguya-hime, the princess of the moon and I am waiting for him! And when he arrives here, he's going to take me home. Do you hear that, Sesshoumaru-sama?! I'm ready! I want to go home! Please take me home! I don't want to be here anymore. Sesshoumaru-sama!”

 

A burgeoning silence swelled once she was finished and the school girl hastily brushed away the unbidden tears wrought by the wearing tension that still coursed through her. A warm hand then clasped her shoulder and she spied back at the Bamboo-Cutter who kindly offered the meager solace of his presence as he had nothing else to give.

 

Rattling quietly at first, the wooden shutters sealing the window then began to shake and a pale blue light filtered through the thin gaps in the seams. Brightening with every passing moment, the cool radiance grew as a loud rumbling joined the rapid tapping.

 

“What is it?” she asked curiously, her widened gaze finding the elderly man at her side.

 

“It is the messenger of the moon, my child,” he replied with a hint of sadness at the imminent loss he would soon bear, “It is time for you to go home.”

 

“The messenger of the moon? But what about the final knight? He hasn't failed me yet. I know he's still coming and I can't go anywhere without him.”

 

“We will miss you, our dearest daughter,” the elderly woman spoke up as she moved to stand in front of her princess. Wrapping her lean arms around the puzzled school girl, she hugged her tightly, quelling the tears that threatened to flow from her reddened eyes. Then the old goddess released her and took a step back to allow her husband his final embrace of their eternally departing child.

 

“Goodbye, Kaguya-hime,” he choked out with his gruffer than usual voice and then he too let her go. “This is for you.” Opening her hand, he placed a plaque whose gentle glow resonated softly with her own. Etched on its smooth surface was the familiar, rectangular shape of the kanji for the moon. Satisfied that she had a good grip on it, the Bamboo-Cutter then joined his wife and clasped her hand before they together vanished into nothingness.

 

“Wait!” she called out vainly to the empty room with which she only shared with an unconscious and severely beaten emperor. Then the shutters flew open and the brilliant light flooded around her. A dark silhouette came into focus as she blinked away the brightness and as it approached, its tall figure eclipsed more and more of the radiance. “I can't go yet. I have to wait for Sesshoumaru.”

 

“What point is there in waiting,” the shadowy man replied with a deep baritone, “When he has already arrived?” Silvery hair shimmering with the notes of dazzling moonlight behind him, the tai youkai stepped weightlessly through the large window onto the tatami mat floor. “I heard you call my name and suddenly I am here.”

 

“So the scroll sped your return so that you could rescue me?”

 

“What point is there in rescuing someone who has already rescued herself?”

 

“You're repeating yourself,” she observed with a wide grin gracing her expression.

 

“And you have a tendency to ask questions that require redundancy on my part,” he added with an indignant snort before handing her the dark red pelt that hung over his arm. “Your prize and the object of my quest, hime.”

 

Her luminescent glimmer brightening with his proper address, Kagome cheerfully accepted the hide of firerat fur, the downy nap soft under her stroking fingers. A nearly unnoticeable smile formed on his lips as she delighted in the gift he had acquired. Curing the skin had been easier than anticipated as the natural heat of the beast's body had dried it out swiftly along with the unexpected remnants of salt from the ocean water it had once been drenched in.

 

“Are you pleased?”

 

“Quite.”

 

“Then shall we go home?” he asked, nodding slightly toward the glowing seal she held securely under the blanket of fur.

 

“Oh, of course,” she mumbled, sliding the pelt up her arm so that she could see the plaque. Nimbly turning it over in her hand, she found the next lines of poetry written in kanji. “Seven fairy tales have passed. Their heroes and villains played.”

 

“The way of the land,” Sesshoumaru continued as leaned over the shoulder of the young woman below him, “The strength and might of the small. The pride of a dog.”

 

“The peace of a dragon king. The lonely heart of the sea.”

 

“The value of friends. The faith lent by the waiting. Final words remain.”

 

With the last lines spoken, the pale seal shattered, but as the brilliant glitter fell to their feet, the swelling sparkle of a trail of stars grew in the dust and rose out the window into the night sky outside.

 

“Shall we?” the youkai lord asked, holding out his clawed hand as he stepped confidently onto the deceivingly sturdy path that seemed to hover in the air.

 

“Yes,” she answered, accepting his hand and together they ascended the stars to the gleaming moon hanging in the sky high above.