InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Spring fertility festival ❯ chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Spring fertility festival

I do not own any of the characters in the story.

A spring fertility festival in feudal japan. Kagome and Sango help Keade with the villages spring festival.

Please note: I am freely adapting Japanese legends and Shinto festivals to my purposes. The specific activities in this story, while based on real events, are fictional. I am taking, mixing, matching and altering things to fit my story. I do think, however that this is close to what might have happened in a Japanese village in the middle of nowhere during the feudal ages, but do not take this story seriously.

Lemon: Sexually situations.

Chapter 1

Keade's hut . . . It's raining and it has been the last few days . . .

"Inu-yasha! I'm not going to listen anymore!" Miroku yells as he stomps out of the hut and into the rain.

"We've got to stop this stinking rain! We can't go hunting in this shit! Come on, monk, do it!" Inu-yasha yells as he chases after him.

After a few minutes, Miroku stops at the edge of the village, turns around and yells at Inu-yasha, "You want me to try to talk to the weather gods, so you can threaten them into stopping the rain, Inu-yasha!"

"Damn right, I do!" Inu-yasha waves his sheathed sword over his head. "Once I put the fear of me into them, They'll stop the rain and we can go hunting!"

"You're crazy, Inu-yasha, you've got cabin fever! You plead with the gods, you beg the gods, you can even bribe the gods. But you don't threaten them, Inu-yasha!" Miroku yells back.

As the boys argue lets go back to the hut and back in time a few minutes . . .


Sigh, "There are times when Inu-yasha really gets to me . . . " Kagome says under her breath. 'I wish that he would let me go back home, but I promised him I'd stay this week and no matter what the weather is, he's holding me to my promise' she thinks.

"Girls," Keade says, "Since, due to the weather, you won't be going leaving for a while, I have a favor I would like to ask of you two."

"Sure, Lady Keade. No problems." Kagome says brightly.

"Of course, Lady Keade. What do you need?" Sango says with interest. Anything would be better than sitting around the hut getting cabin fever.

"As you know, the spring equinox is approaching. It'll will be here in four days. And given the current weather and my weather prediction spells, you will, in all likelihood, still be here at that time. The village, traditionally, has a festival to celebrate the coming of spring. I would like it if you two girls, could help me."

The two girls look at each other, shrug, "OK, lady Keade, just tell us what to do." Kagome says and Sango nods her agreement.

"Well, girls . . . here is my idea . . . " Keade begins.

Now back to the boys . . .


"NO! WAY!" The boys, even at the edge of the village, can hear that cry.

The two boys look at each other and the start running toward Keade's hut. When they get within sight of the hut, they can see the two girls on the porch yelling at Keade, who is still inside.

"You're joking!" "I'm not doing that, ever!"

"What's happening?!" Inu-yasha yells!

Keade sticks her head out of the hut, makes a vague gesture, and Inu-yasha and Miroku run into a barrier. "This is between me and two girls, boys, at least right now." She says.

"I don't want them to hear this!" Kagome yells.

Keade makes a gesture and suddenly, the two boys can't hear any sound coming out of the barrier. The two girls and Keade go back into the hut. A couple of seconds later, Shippo comes out of the hut, carrying his coloring book, the one that Kagome has brought him, and leaves the barrier. He goes to the two boys. "Do you know what just happened?" Shippo asks.

"You were in the hut, don't you know?!" Inu-yasha yells at Shippo as he picks him up by the tail.

"I was drawing!" Shippo yells back. "I wasn't paying attention! They were talking about a festival and then, BAM, they're yelling and I don't understand why!" He finishes by gnawing on Inu-yasha's fist.

"A festival, you said," Miroku says in a soft voice. "Hmmm, the spring festival is approaching."

"Why would they yell about that, monk?"

Miroku's voice lightens and he smiles, "As a professional courtesy, I've asked some of the villagers about the details of this festival. Each village tends to have a different festival, so knowing exactly what happens here might be useful. This is interesting, she asked them to help her . . . " Miroku's grin grows and his eyes cloud up as his imagination starts.

"What's got him going?" Inu-yasha asks Shippo.

Shippo shakes his head, no. "My parents never taught me anything about human festivals, did yours?"

"Festivals? All a festival is that the villagers listen to Keade as she tells them a couple of religious stories, they have a feast, and get drunk on sake. Why would that get the girls upset?" Inu-yasha says. Shippo shrugs.

Miroku's smile grows, "once the barrier is down, I must volunteer my services to Lady Keade." He says.


The next day at the well . . .

A depressed Kagome appears at the bottom of the well.

"Wench! You can't go back anytime you want!" Inu-yasha yells from the top of the well.

"Sit, boy." Thump! Kagome says in a depressed tone of voice.

"Bitch, what was that for?!"

"Sit, boy." Thump!

Kagome climbs out of the well. "Inu-yasha, fair warning, I'm in a very bad mood, leave me alone, or you will see how many times I can say sit, boy." She says in a dull monotone.

Thump!

"Stay, Inu-yasha, sit, boy." Thump! "I'm going to find Sango." She says as she leaves the well, leaving Inu-yasha in his hole.

"What got shoved up her ass?" Inu-yasha mumbles from the mud.

As she is looking for Sango, she finds Miroku's unconscious body on the trail to the river. The pounding he's taken is one of the worst she's seen. She kicks the body over, so Miroku isn't trying to breathe mud, but she leaves the body on the trail.
She finds Sango near the river. Sango's obvious mood makes Kagome's seem bright. "That bad . . . " Kagome says as she approaches.

"Worse . . . "

"You go first." "You go first." They say at the same time. They stare at each other for a minute. Kagome sits down next to Sango and grabs Sango hand for a reassuring grip. But, what starts as just a friendly gesture quickly changes as Sango and Kagome start to hug each other tightly. Tears start to fall from their checks. After a couple of more attempts to start talking, they finally separate and Sango starts to talk. They are still holding hands as Sango speaks in a dead tone.

"I talked to the village girls . . . refusing Keade isn't an option. Even hinting about doing so, caused them to wail and cry. Sigh. To decline the honor of participating in the dances is just not possible."

"Never, Sango?"

"I even ask the grandmothers, They said that nobody has ever declined the second dance, and the only person to decline the first, ever, was Kikyo."

"Kikyo! Why? This is a Shinto festival."

"She felt this was demeaning and declined."

"I normally hate to follow in her footsteps, but in this case you might want to . . . "

"Kagome, I couldn't, but you . . . I think . . . When I mentioned you might decline the honor, on the chance we switch dances so you could get out of the dance, the grandmother I was talking to said this. That Kikyo's refusal, just proved to the villagers that Kikyo felt herself to be above them like a goddess. And your occasional Hi, Hello, and the help you give to the villagers is much more heartfelt, then anything Kikyo ever did. It was Kikyo's duty to help, but you like it."

"Of course, I like helping people, but I don't see . . . "

"She said if you decline, then the villagers will start thinking that you are going down the same path Kikyo did and become as cold as she became, so a lot of the good will in the village you've gotten, might and probably would dry up." Pause, "Like hopefully the weather will, really soon, so we can leave . . . " she finishes under her breath.

"Down the same path Kikyo . . . " Kagome stops, bits her lips, "I don't want to do that. The villagers want us to do this?"

"Yes, everyone I talked to you, praised me and you, for volunteering. The villagers only get to celebrate a few times each year. Otherwise, it's the daily chores in the fields. So disappointing them . . . "
"Yes, I understand, to disappoint them . . . "

"Moreover, they know about your powers, Kagome, and they are sure that this year, the festival will be special, and they are all looking forward to it."

Sigh, grimace, "We can't disappoint them." Kagome remembers all the hopeful looks and nice things she's received since coming here. "Sango, about volunteering . . . next time, I tell lady Keade, I'll do sometime without asking questions first, please hit me."

"Hit me, also, Kagome."

Kagome nods her agreement, and she says, "Yes. But don't the girls that perform the dances get looked down on?"

"No, I asked last years girls and the couple of years before as well. Doing the dances is an honor and privilege. The first dance shows off the girl to the village, and makes sure that she can pick and choose the best man in the village. The second dance . . . "

"But, no bad looks, no embarrassment, afterward?"

"No, if there is, all the girl has to do is mention it to the family of the man giving her that type of look and he'll suffer. This is a privilege, not a perversion . . . "

"Ok . . . so we can't get out it from this end, but . . . You seemed more depressed that I thought you would be. Lady Keade, told us most of what you just said, yesterday as we were arguing. What else happened? Did Miroku find out, or something? Is that why he's in the mud?"

"Miroku . . . Miroku volunteered to help with the second dance, Kagome." Sango head is lowered and she is staring at the ground.

"He did what!" Kagome screams. "I was supposed to do the second dance!"

"He volunteered, and when Keade tried to get Inu-yasha to do it, he refused, saying no way was he going to do a stinking human dance in front of the village and then he left and hasn't come back yet."

"So he does not know . . . "

Sango nods her head, yes.

Kagome continues, "There's no way Miroku and I . . . Inu-yasha would kill him . . . "

"Miroku and Keade have already made some seals to control him."

"Not good . . . " Kagome looks at Sango. "Do we switch?"
Sango nods and she sighs. "It would be best, although, this . . . "

"It's not what we have dreamed of . . . " Kagome says softly, and Sango nods.

"What about, you, Kagome? Did your mother or grandfather help?" Sango asks her voice brightens a little with hope.

"No. They didn't. Sango." Kagome lowers her head and she says softly, "when I told my grandfather, he got so excited about me doing the real traditional dance, that he . . . "

She shakes her head. "Apparently, about one hundred and fifty years ago, from my time, the government caused the family to change the spring festival. And me performing, in his opinion, the true dances, is so important to him, he doesn't care what the dances actually are . . . Right now, he's getting video tape and karaoke equipment. Plus lights, batteries and the cables. He wants me to tape the dances, so he can show them . . . "

"Why?" Sango asks in a strangled voice.

"One of my grandfathers," Kagome grimaces as she tries to come up with the right wording, "Ideas, is that all the new cultural changes in recent Japanese culture are wrong. He wants to go back and ignore any changes done in the last one hundred fifty years."

'The fact that taping and using modern karaoke equipment would change things, is an argument he just ignores . . . ' she thinks.

"Then why, the what did you call it, video tape. That is the moving picture's story machine you've told us about, right?"

"Yes, the movie machines. He wants the tape to show his friends and to help with their cause. By showing true Japanese culture, uncontaminated by the west, he hopes this will help . . . "

"So . . . even though . . . "

"He said, that if I can get out of it, that fine, but no matter who dances, he wants this taped." Kagome looks at Sango, "and since there no way to get out of dancing . . . "

"Your mother?"

"I agreed to help Lady Keade . . . If Lady Keade changes her mind, I can get out of it, otherwise. She wants me to learn to watch what I say and promise . . . "

Sigh . . .

Sigh . . .

"Lady Keade said that they would be lots of sake at the feast . . . I think I'm going to get drunk . . . that way, I can always blame the drink . . . "

"Good idea . . . "

Pause . . .

"So, in front of the entire village, we'll have to dance . . . "

Deep sigh . . .

Deep sigh . . .


"So, in the first dance you're Uzume, Kagome."

"Yes, and in the second you're Izanami, Sango."

"With Miroku being Izanagi . . . "

End chapter 1

If do a search for Japanese myths and use the names given above you should find the dances they will do . . . Otherwise, I should them have them up in a week or so.

In the 1870/1880's the Japanese government reorganized the Shinto shrines. Part of this was to get rid of some of the more risque festivals, dances, etc. (too many Western tourists complaining about the nature of some of the ceremonies . . . )