InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sixteen Nights ❯ The First Night ( Chapter 1 )

Author’s Note:

After much debate, I decided to try giving writing another try. So as my resurrection of a writer, I wanted to begin with the story of Izayoi. There’s not much known about her, so most of her personality is made up. However, I will try to keep the story as culturally and historically accurate as possible while keeping true to the series. Therefore, I will have a lot of footnotes to explain things that may not make sense.

I also wanted to write this story in the ‘utamonogatari’ style. Which is like a story with poetry strewn into the story. In the Heian period (the period in which Izayoi lived), men and women wrote a LOT of poetry to each other. Some of the poetry I use may be taken from my studies. In that instance, I will cite which work it came from.

Also, I wanted to end the story with a short diary entry from the point of Izayoi. I never want to reveal the thoughts of the characters unless it’s displayed by a poem or diary entry. The first chapter won’t have a diary entry because Izayoi had not received her diary yet. She will soon enough though. I hope you enjoy.

Lemons will come in later chapters. If your reading from , the lemons will be posted in my mediaminer and adultfanfiction accounts.

I DO NOT OWN THE STORY OR CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY WITH RELATION TO THE SERIES INUYASHA.

x

Mysterious moon
Partly hidden by a cloud
On the sixteenth day
The light of love in Autumn
Shines on the land of the west

The carriage softly pulled by an ox made it’s course through a path in the woods slightly from the eyes of the city dwellers. It’s destination was for a Buddhist temple, a good two hours away from the aristocracy of Heian-Kyo. The contents of the carriage were four women of the elite nobility. The two sisters were the daughters of a powerful feudal lord who worked in the Agriculture department of the court. To pass the increasing boredom of their mansion amongst all the other Fujiwaras’(1) of court, the girls made their way to the temple with their attendees where they would pray and pass the time.

“Nee-chan, I’m tired of the bumpiness of the road,” spoke the youngest.

“Izayoi,” tested the eldest, “Buddha would not be pleased to have you speak so ill”

The young girl bowed her head and clutched the temari(2) ball in her hand. Her eldest slightly grimaced at Izayoi. Women were not made to play temari. Izayoi was only 9 years this coming summer, but she was almost a woman such as herself. Akiko had been married by the ritual age of 12 years(3) and at 14 years, she was already expecting a child. This was the life that was expected of her along with every other woman of the aristocracy. Why, even young Izayoi insisted on keeping her hair short below the shoulders. The other Fujiwara members had even teased Akiko on making Izayoi become a nun with how short her hair was(4). How brazen indeed to speak to her of such things. Well, Akiko would not have the other nobles of court slandering the name of the Minamoto clan. Even if Akiko had to do it herself, she would teach Izayoi to be a proper lady.

Soon they had arrived at the temple. The head priest of the complex came out to greet the noble sisters and their attendants. The priest congradulated Akiko on her expecting and guided them into the temple to recite sutras. During the process of expelling any evil demons or mononoke that may be cursing Akiko, the priest prayed and chanted in front of a painting of fearsome youkai while Akiko stayed behind bamboo blinds that hid the girl from sight. With her behind the curtain was Izayoi who was sitting patiently waiting for the ceremony to end. Akiko seemed pleased with her good behavior.

After the ritual was finished, the priest had assured all present that no harmful youkai would be harming Akiko and the baby. However, he had suggested that all present take a ritual purification ceremony to cleanse themselves and then give prayers of thanks to Buddha for a safe travel and for keeping them safe against evil spirits. It was then after suggesting such, that the priest noticed the young girl’s crestfallen face.

“Fujiwara no Yoshihide-sama(5), if I may, might I suggest that the young Minamoto play outside of the temple. The ritual has really no place for a child,” he suggested.

Akiko looked toward Izayoi still clutching the temari ball in her hand. It was true that it was unusually for a child her age to practice ritual purification, but she had hoped that Izayoi would experience what being a real lady was like.

“Aoi, please make sure that child doesn’t get into trouble,” Akiko said speaking to Izayoi’s attendant. The two girls bowed in respect. After the bow however, Izayoi ran straight outside.

“No! Hime-sama!(6)” the attendant yelled running after the young child. The priest chuckled and led them away to the springs behind the temple. All the while, the attendant ran after Izayoi and found her outside playing temari with herself.

“Hime-sama! You musn’t run off on your own!” Aoi scolded slightly watching her continue to kick the ball around.

“Aoi, are there any children for me to play with?” Izayoi asked while trying to keep the ball in the air and failing quite miserably.

“No hime, this is a temple, townspeople are not for miles away,” Aoi responded a little sadly. After all, Aoi remembered what it was like to be her age. Izayoi was five years her junior and Aoi had remembered the days where everything was carefree. When everything was about fun.

Izayoi caught the ball in her hand and asked innocently, “will you play with me Aoi?”

“I cannot hime, it is not proper for me to play temari,” Aoi answered honestly and added, “perhaps you should learning to be a proper lady also?”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because one day, a very soon day, you will be at the proper age for marriage and will need knowledge of how a married women should act,” explained Aoi.

“I don’t want to be married,” Izayoi said simply kicking the ball again.

“Why ever wouldn’t you want to be married?” Aoi asked curiously since she herself wanted to be wed.

“First comes marriage, then children. Wouldn’t I die soon afterwards? Mother and eldest sister did,” she responded without emotion. Izayoi’s mother had died soon after giving birth to herself and her previous eldest sister, Miho, had died from complications of child birth. This was the reason for the trip to the temple. With Akiko’s due date fast approaching, the family wanted to make sure that everything would go well without any problems.

“Izayoi, we must think positively, for your sister,” responded Aoi sternly, “now put down that ball and come over here by the temple steps.”

Now is not the time
To be thinking of yourself
As one all alone
Three Poets at Minase - 1488

Izayoi picked up the ball and sat by Aoi on the steps of the temple. There, Aoi had read excerpts from the classics of her time. This was done in preparation for womanhood. Most women had nothing to do to bid their time, but write poetry and have their attendants read to them. It was Aoi’s job as her attendant and tutor to enrich her in Japanese literature. Soon after, the purification ritual was over and Aoi emerged from the temple in her bright colorful robes that matched the current season, Autumn, with her coat trailing behind her.

“It is now time for us to part,” spoke Akiko walking down the steps of the temple.

The men who had accompanied them on their journey to the temple rounded up the ox for the carriage and began setting up for their journey back. Once everyone had been settled into the carriage, they once again began moving. The male servants had been guiding the ox pulling the carriage on the way back to their mansion at Heian-Kyo. However the men had begun discussing among themselves about arriving on time for a poetry contest that all present would want to witness. Not to mention night was falling and they would want to be away from any bandits along the way. One man pointed out a slight short cut for them to take and redirected the group that would save them half an hours time so they would be able to make it just in time.

As the carriage made it’s new path through the woods a mist came upon the travelers. Though ominous as it seemed, the men pushed on, determined to get to their city in less time. It was then that they heard the howling of wolves in the far off distance. The men were frighted, but would not show that sort of emotion on their face, for fear of being considered unmanly. However, in the carriage, the women held each other tightly. Suddenly a blood curdling scream from one of the males and a shudder was felt through the carriage and a slight jerk sent the women falling over each other. Izayoi’s ball then flew out the window through the parted curtains.

“Ah, my ball!” Izayoi shouted leaving the carriage and running after it.

“No Izayoi, leave it!” yelled Akiko, but it was far too late, as Izayoi had run out to retrieve her ball.

The young princess had grabbed her ball in held it in her hands as she surveyed what was going around her. Everything had seemed like a blur. She had seen one of the males that had accompanied her laying dead on the ground. All around her, she had seen unsightly men in leathered armor with weapons. The ox, being freightened had dashed away with the two remaining men running after it, trying to take control of the reigns. A lone guard had tried to hold off the men, but what killed almost instantly. All Izayoi could do was stay frozen in place.

“Hurry! We have to catch that carriage! It belonged to a noble!” yelled one of the bandits.

“I have a better idea,” smirked the leader of the small band, “how about we take this child as ransom? Surely this princess would fetch a few more treasures than the carriage itself?”

“We are not interested in treasures,” argued another, “we are but poor farmers, the greastest treasure there was the ox!”

“Idiot! With this princess as ransom we could get more than just an ox!” concluded another

“So what do you say little sister? You want to come with Nagi and his nice band of brothers?” teased the leader of them.

Izayoi stared at them for a few seconds and then suddenly threw the temari ball into the boss’s face and yelled out “no!” as she ran away from the men. She ran as fast as she could trying to make her way back home. Little did she know that she was going deeper and deeper into the forest. She out ran them just a little as she sprinted through the thick brush trying to find a familiar tree or anything that would tell her where to go.

“Brothers! Let’s not chase her anymore! She is heading into youkai territory!” called one farmer to the others. Most of them had stopped, but the leader of the group, who was not a farmer, did not listen to his underling and continued to chase her.

“Boss!” yelled one trying to run after him to reason with him. The other farmers stopped him.

“Leave him Eiji,” warned the eldest of the group, “the other two men that were killed had very fine bows and swords. We will sell them at the market and make a profit for the village.” With that the farmers left the bandit to his own devices. They were too scared to cross into the youkai territory.

Just then behind her she heard one of the men give a grunt and then fell down. Next came screams of terror. Izayoi looked behind her to see that the man had been attacked by wolves. All her life, Izayoi had been told of stories of how wolves were to be trusted. They were the senders of the Shinto(7) gods to aid the people of Nippon. After she saw the struggling stop, the wolves began devouring the man. Izayoi stopped to catch her breath. The wolves then turned their attention to Izayoi.

“Ano... thank you for saving me ookami no kami-sama(8)” Izayoi said with a bow.

‘Ookami no kami?’ barked one wolf with a slight snicker.

‘What easy prey..’ growled one to the others.

“Eto.. Still hungry?” Izayoi asked nervously taking a step back, she clenched her fists, “well I don’t taste very good you know!”

‘What a bold girl,’ laughed one wolf, ‘true... humans do not taste very good at all, but..’

‘Food is quite scarce around these parts,’ finished the leader of the hunting party, ‘we’ve had our fill, but our pups are quite hungry. A human child should be enough for them.’ The wolf howled to his pack and the others went running to the girl. Izayoi ran again. However unlike the bandit, these wolves were much faster. They gained on Izayoi’s trail. The fear coursed through her little body and all she could think of doing was getting home and seeing her sister and father again. She ran under a branch from a young tree and pulled it back sending the branch flying into the wolf’s face. The wolf whimpered as the rest of the pack continued chasing after her.

“Please! Kami-sama! Anybody! Save me!” she yelled crying for help. As luck would have it though, Izayoi had tripped over an upturned root.

Just then a large white dog with long ears and a beautiful silky looking coat jumped over her and landed on one of the wolves. The wolves battled rather pathetically with the large white animal and was fended off, running with wounds and their tales between their legs. Izayoi tried to get up and run from her now new enemy, but fell back down with the pain in her ankle. The dog then faced the human girl and looked upon her curiously.

“Are you going to eat me?” asked Izayoi with a tinge of fear in her voice.

Suddenly the dog had shape-shifted into a more humanoid form- a female humanoid form. “Eat you?” she spoke elegantly, “you humans think very highly of yourself. Why would I do such a thing? Your kind don’t taste good.” She wore a beautifully spun kimono with a few colored layers underneath her main garment. Her hair was arranged in a strange fashion to Izayoi. What she could only describe as two very long topknots on each side of her head. Her hair was very pure white just like the snow in winter. Her face was very pale and seemed like it was spun of very fine silk. Her lips were rouge and she had slight swirl markings on her cheeks with a crescent moon upon her forehead. She was very beautiful, a very ethereal type of beauty.

“Pretty..” she breathed out unknowingly.

The being smirked, “flattery will get you no where child, what are you doing in my husband’s territory.”

“Ano.. I’m so sorry.. I was just trying to escape some bandits... then the wolves..” Izayoi stammered, “um.. Thank you for saving me.”

“How very polite you are,” she teased the young girl, “not very often a human thanks a youkai.”

“Youkai?” Izayoi repeated, “an Inugami(9)?”

“Maybe..” she said with a smile, “however do not think you can become an inugami-mochi(10) now.”

“Um, no ma’am,” Izayoi responded politely.

The demon sighed dramatically, “though my son will think quite ill of me for bringing home a human, my husband will be upset if I left you to yourself, you are injured are you not?”

“Um, yes ma’am,” mumbled Izayoi.

The very beautiful youkai carried the child, “Well then young one, you must hold on while I take you to my castle.” Izayoi nodded and the youkai had changed herself back into her canine counterpart and set off toward her castle. They flew high over the clouds to the western land of Japan in the region of Chuugoku. In the far off distance a castle broke out from the parting clouds and gradually became larger as the dog demon flew toward it. There were guards at the gate waiting for their mistress to arrive. Of course the demons had made a fuss about the smell of a human entering their castle, but with one disapproving look from the female youkai, their actions and ramblings ceased.

“Fetch a healer and have them arrive at the pavilion,” she ordered and watched as two guards left their presence to do as she asked as quickly as possible.

The demoness had still held onto the child and laid her onto a pillow. She had examined the ankle and noticed that it was just a simple sprain. Nothing that would be troublesome for a youkai. Such injuries were minor to them as they healed in no time at all, however so those such as humans, such a thing could be very unfortunate.

“For now, let’s keep this elevated,” she spoke lifting the frail human child’s leg onto a short stool.

“Ano.. This may be rude to ask, but why are you doting on me?” Izayoi asked in a small voice.

“Rude indeed young one,” agreed the demoness resting the appendage, “however, how shall I say this? Humans are quite fun.”

“Fun?” Izayoi questioned.

“Yes, fun,” the demoness repeated, “So frail... so delicate.” Her deadly claws traced over Izayoi’s skin which made her shiver slightly in awe at the sharpness. “Just a little more pressure and I could slice you to ribbons,” she spoke with a slight smile.

“Surely it’s far beneath you to kill an injured human child?” she asked nervously.

“Surely,” she agreed taking her claws off her skin with a flick of her wrist. She turned a smirked glance at Izayoi, “there is no need to fear young one. Killing any human without provocation is far beneath me. They are much too weak to have any satisfaction in killing.”

“My son on the other hand...” she said with a faint smile turning her head to the door that burst slightly open.

Another demon who looked just like the lady demon in front of Izayoi appeared. Although his face seemed stoic, his eyes held distaste. “A human?” he asked with an eyebrow quirked.

“Oh I do wonder where you get your manners Sesshoumaru?” the queen said folding her arms and turning her nose up in the air, “no charm what-so-ever, are you even your father’s son?”

“Why have you disgraced the palace with such a thing?” he asked in a deep snide voice.

“The only thing being disgraceful is you, Sesshoumaru,” she retorted back to him, “honestly speaking to your mother in such a way.”

“The youkai court will most certainly catch wind of this,” he argued trying to keep his face as stoic as ever.

“Let them hear,” she said indifferently, “what will they do?”

“Do as you please then,” Sesshoumaru said as he turned his heels from his mother’s sight and walked off to the training rooms.

“I have borne such a dreadful thing,” the demoness said dramatically ushering in the healer that was too frightened to enter because of Sesshoumaru’s anger.

“I could leave..” suggested Izayoi bowing slightly to the imp-like youkai that was tending to her swollen ankle.

“Nonsense,” the demoness said aloofly, “he cannot always have his way.” She smiled staring off into the distance. “Besides his father would like him to learn some compassion,” she ended.

“Um, I know this is far too late, and I’m terribly sorry, but, I should have introduced myself,” apologized the girl, “my name is Minamoto no Yoshimura. If you like you can call me Izayoi.”

“Human girl... my name is from an ancient inu no youkai(11) language far too foreign for you to pronounce,” began the demoness, “so name me well.”

“Eto...” Izayoi thought long and hard about the name. She would be the first to name this creature and wanted it to be something that would be remembered throughout the land, “Miyabi. The god who assists at night. It can also mean ‘elegance’. Three kanji just like my name!”

She smirked in amusement, “let it be so. From now on, all humans shall refer to me as ‘Miyabi’.” Miyabi had shooed away the healer from Izayoi once she had finished bandaging and splinting the injured leg. Izayoi yawned.

“It is late young one, you should rest for the night,” Miyabi said in a tone that was not meant to be argued against.

“I am not sleepy though,” Izayoi argued rubbing her eyes.

“Oh?” said Miyabi in a question like manner. She waved her hand over Izayoi’s face and soon the young girl fell into a deep slumber.

“Sorry young one,” Miyabi continued carrying the girl inside the castle to an unused guest room. “However, wifely duties and all..” she trailed off and set the girl in the futon. Soon after she spoke a triumphant roar resounded throughout the halls of the castle. Her husband, the great Inu no Taishou, had arrived from his most recent battle. The demoness had locked the room to keep away from curious guards and went to meet her husband by the main palace entrance.

x

Footnotes:
1. The Fujiwara clan consisted of most of the aristocracy of the Heian period.
2. It’s like hackey sack but with a decorated ball around the size of a soccer ball.
3. By 12 years in the Heian period, you were already considered an adult and ready for marriage. At 9, Izayoi should be training to become a proper lady of the court.
4. Women were expected to have ridiculously long hair that tended to trail to the floor. Many women would retire to become a nun, where they would have to shave their hair.
5. Women were hardly called by their birth names and were usually referred to the clan they belonged to and the husband or father. Therefore, Akiko was married into the Fujiwara family and her husband’s name is Yoshihide. Her real clan is the Minamoto clan.
6. Princess
7. Japan’s main religion other than Buddhism and Confucianism.
8. Wolf gods
9. en./wiki/Inugami
10. Inugami trainer/wielder
11. Dog demon

Author’s notes:

Yes, I did have Izayoi meet Sess mom first. And yes, I did have Izayoi name her. Why did I have Izayoi name her? Convenience. Sesshoumaru’s mother or father remain unnamed officially throughout the Inuyasha series. I didn’t wan to have them remain un named and I didn’t want to claim a name to them or anything, so I thought it’d be interesting to have another character give her a name. I just think it’s more interesting this way. I hate stories where “their eyes first met and they fell deeply in love with each other.”

So yes, I will make it that much more complicated.

Thank you for reading and please review!

Oh and also, if you feel the need to submit poetry to this story, I would absolutely love to put it in the story. I am not too good at writing poetry, but I am however EXCEPTIONAL at copying and pasting already made poetry.

Take care.

Bunny