Flowers for My Daughter
Down the Well and Back Again
It had been a perfect autumn day: bracing, but not too cold, and the hillsides were carpeted in the rich warm russets and golds of the season. It had been a perfect day for a festival in Kaede's village, and indeed, it had been the perfect autumn festival. The villagers were cleaning up after the day's events, and Kaede was bidding a fond farewell to their guests of honor.
"It was so very nice of you to come," Kaede said as she walked with them along the main road out of the village. "And it is especially nice to see you, Kagome, when you're dressed as befitting a person of your station—"and not," she chuckled, "in the barbarous outfits of your own uncultured era." Kagome was dressed in a miko's finery in honor of the day, a flowing white kimono and vermillion hakama, her bow and arrows strung over her shoulder, and she smiled at Kaede's description of her usual clothing. For a long time, Kagome had felt quite uncomfortable in a miko's robes, because it was the clothing that Kikyo had worn—Kagome was especially uncomfortable when she was forced to wear the robes that had actually belonged to Kikyo, and the fact that they were absolutely the same size made it even worse. Kagome had gone through an extremely awkward period immediately after Kikyo had finally and truly died. She never told anyone--not her mother, not even Sango--but one day, she could actually feel the stolen portion of her soul, with which Urasue had reanimated Kikyo, returning to her body, and the rush of Kikyo's considerable spiritual powers joining with and redoubling her own. It made her feel like she didn't know who she was, or which of the souls within her body it was that Inuyasha truly loved.
That all changed forever with the birth of their daughter. When Kagome saw the tears of joy in Inuyasha's eyes and his rapturous smile when he held their child for the first time, and heard the love in his voice when he said "Kagome...she's beautiful," Kagome knew beyond any doubt that Inuyasha was hers, truly and forever; and the shackles of the past, which had held her heart captive for so many years, were gone for good.
Little Izayoi was contentedly munching on a sweet bun, happily holding onto her daddy's hand. She was wearing a red kimono like his, and she also had his long white hair and dog ears, which would perk up adorably when something caught her interest; but like her mother, her eyes were dark, such a dark brown that they were nearly black, and they were flecked with gold that sparkled when she smiled and sparked when she growled.
"It's always a pleasure, Kaede," Kagome smiled. "It's too bad that we can't stay, but tomorrow is a school day, and we need to get Izayoi back in time."
"Keh!" Izayoi crossed her arms, turned up her nose, and stomped her bare foot petulantly. "School is stinky. I don't want to go back. I want to stay here and hunt youkai with Kaede-obachan!"
"Now, Iza-chan," Kagome chided wearily. "We've been through this all before. It's a school day tomorrow, and we're going home, and that's that." She sighed heavily. "Honestly, Inuyasha, I just don't understand her. I loved school at her age. She must get this from you."
"Keh!" Inuyasha crossed his arms and turned up his nose. "Why is it that anytime she does something you don't like, it's because she got it from me?"
Kagome looked darkly at Inuyasha. "You really don't want me to answer that, do you?" she said duskily.
Kaede laughed. "Patience, child," she said half-jokingly to Kagome, and she knelt down in front of Izayoi. "Now Iza-chan, you're a very special girl. I've told you that before—you believe me, don't you?" Izayoi nodded grudgingly. "Well, special little girls have special responsibilities, and one of yours is school. How do you expect to grow up to be as brave as your father or as clever as your mother if you don't go to school?"
Izayoi said nothing, but she looked at the ground and scuffed at it with her feet. "I tell you what," Kaede continued, "the next time you get a holiday, you come back here, we'll have some sweet buns, and then we'll go hunting youkai. Don't worry—they'll still be here when you come back." She stood up, muttering under her breath, "There does appear to be an inexhaustible supply of them." Kaede put her hands lovingly on the little girl's shoulders, and said "Is that all right?"
"O-kay," Izayoi said reluctantly, kicking at the ground again.
"That's my girl." Kaede smiled as she patted Izayoi on the head. "Run along with your parents now, and I'll see you soon!" She turned to Kagome, placed her aged hand in Kagome's young one, and said quietly, "You know that I'm not going to be around forever. Please bring her back soon. And you know, you can do a lot worse than to raise her here. It's safer here than in your era, from what Inuyasha tells me, and the people here all love you. You could do a lot of good here...and they will need someone to take my place when the time comes."
"I'll think about it," said Kagome. "But I will bring her back soon, as soon as I can, I promise." Kagome knelt down and Izayoi climbed onto her back, then Kagome climbed onto Inuyasha's back. Kagome smiled and called to Kaede, "Thank you again, Kaede, for everything! OK, Inuyasha, let's go home!" Inuyasha bounded off into the forest, and the three of them quickly disappeared from Kaede's sight.
Soon they arrived at the bone-eater's well, and they jumped in to begin the journey back home. Kagome was lost in thought as they glided through the time stream, making a mother's usual mental to-do lists: get Izayoi bathed (usually a battle), make sure that tomorrow's school clothes were laid out, find the notebook she keeps misplacing. She was completely shocked when she felt a hard "slam," like an airplane running into turbulence. Something changed in the flow of the time stream, and she felt herself being sucked sideways, down a completely new path. She reached for her daughter, fearing that they might be separated and each might be lost in a different era; but Inuyasha was faster. He had already grabbed the little girl's ankle with one hand, and with the other Kagome's wrist, and his look of grim determination to hold on, no matter what happened, raised her spirits considerably.
After alternately being buffeted harshly about and pulled rapidly in new and uncomfortable directions, they came to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the well. Kagome looked up, and saw the roof of the building on her family's temple grounds. "Thank goodness we made it home," she said. "Is everyone all right?"
They all nodded, but Inuyasha looked unconvinced. He sniffed the air suspiciously, then he growled, "The air smells wrong...and it feels wrong."
Izayoi sniffed and twitched her ears. "Daddy's right. The city sounds different, too."
"Well, we can't stay here forever," Kagome said. "We don't know who we'll meet out there, so cover up, you two, and let's get out of this well."
Inuyasha pulled a baseball cap from his sleeve and put it on, and from her own sleeve Izayoi pulled out a red kerchief and tied it over her head, covering her ears. Inuyasha climbed up the ladder, looked around, then said "It looks safe. Come on up." Izayoi climbed onto her mother's back, and Kagome climbed up to the top of the well, where Inuyasha helped them over the lip of the well.
They slid open the door of the well-house, and looked out onto the temple courtyard. It was a late autumn afternoon, and it appeared that here too there had been an autumn festival. There were a few people wandering about the courtyard, but clearly the bulk of the day's activities had already been concluded.
"It looks pretty normal..." said Inuyasha pensively.
"No it doesn't," said Kagome. "Just look at what they're wearing. It's all wrong."
"I can't tell the difference," said Inuyasha. "What you humans wear looks pretty much the same to me."
Kagome snorted. "Of course you wouldn't notice...but I do. Everything is...well, it's old. I haven't seen this sort of thing since I was a child. Just look at their hair...look at the clothes they're wearing."
Inuyasha looked dubious, but he was willing to believe her. Just then, a darling little girl ran up to them. She was about Izayoi's age, and she had dark eyes, a thick head of long dark hair, and a beautiful smile. "Hello," she piped. "Are you here for the festival?"
Kagome made a choking noise; Inuyasha turned to see that she had turned as white as her kimono, and her eyes were wide. "Uh...uh huh," she said with difficulty, and nodded.
The little girl didn't notice Kagome's distress; her eye had been drawn to Inuyasha's and Izayoi's bright red kimonos. "Your kimonos are so pretty! Oh dear...everything's been put away by now..." she said thoughtfully; but then she leaned in close to Izayoi, and with a twinkle in her eye, she whispered conspiratorially, "but I know where they keep the leftovers!"
Izayoi turned to her mother; like all children her age, she seemed perpetually hungry. "Can I go with her, Mommy?" Kagome nodded, her expression unchanging, her wide eyes still fixed on the dark-haired girl.
Izayoi and the little girl ran off together, and Inuyasha whirled towards Kagome. "You let her go?" he said harshly. "I mean, she's just a human, but we don't know anything about her. There's something wrong here--we don't know that it's safe!"
"Yes, we do...it's safe," said Kagome distantly. She continued to stare at the retreating figures of the two girls, then she slowly turned to Inuyasha.
"That little girl...is me."