Title: Blue Ruin
Author: Hiko Mokushi
Pairing: NishixIzayoi, SesshoumaruxRin
Rating: Pg-13
Disclaimer: Takahashi-san is boss.
Summary: (AU.) Lord Nishi is bringing home his new wife – Lady Izayoi, humbly beautifully and obviously pregnant. Unfortunately, this does not sit well with most of his court, especially his eldest son and heir: Sesshoumaru.
Prologue – Defection
The slap echoed around the room, and the tall girl fell back against the wooden wall.
"I swear, Nanka, if you're lying to me. . ." Lord Shimamura Yoshifumi shook his fist at his second daughter, practically growling. He was already baring his teeth in a sort of maniacal, feral grin.
The young blonde girl gasped, clutching at the side of her face, palm kissing her cheekbone. She knew, all too well, that a dark welt would soon form over the pale skin. Did men learn how to slap a woman hard enough to make them feel like their cheek was caving in, or did they all just know how to do it from birth? "O-Otou-san!" she stuttered, her jaw sore. "I p-p-promise! I don't know a thing!"
Two menservants attempted to hold the older lord back. "Do. . . not. . . lie to me, Nanka!" Yoshifumi screamed and thrashed, his anger not yet dissipated.
"I am not lying, Otou-san!" Nanka pulled her feet underneath her, clutching at her kimono. "Onegai! Please! Believe me!"
Yoshifumi, taking a huge, deep breath, he growled one last time before he shook the two servants from him. He stared down at his daughter, towering over her smaller form, anger still full on his face. "I swear, Nanka." His arms shook at his sides, but his voice was steady. "If I found you have lied to me, you'll wish you had run with your whore of a sister. I'll make sure of that."
Nanka shuddered, but her father left the room, his menservants tossing her a pathetic glance before they shut the shoji door.
Her hand still clutching the side of her face, she lowered her head, cornsilk hair creating a sheet that shielded her features from view. Her shoulders shuddered, wracked with sobs, but no sound came from her mouth. "Izayoi-chan," she whispered to herself, her other hand wiping at tears that slid down her pale cheeks. "I hope you are happy."
The shoji door slid open quietly; the slight rustle of the rice paper against skin being the only sound that echoed into the castle. A pale hand wavered, quivering on the wooden door handle before it pulled away. Her room was at the back of the castle, but being friends with her maidservant had helped in learning the ins and outs of the castle's silent staff.
Shimamura Izayoi was running away.
The young woman had tied her hair back tightly, unlike the normal loose tail that trailed down her back – a common tradition amongst noble woman. Instead, it was braided into single thick, dark coil that hung down her back underneath her traveling outfit. She wore nothing but a slip of a thin ruby yukata, a coarse white haori, made specifically for her riding, creating a protective barrier from the December chill. The ties of the coat formed a knot at the base of her throat.
Her geta had been replaced with riding boots. They were normally only made for men, but she'd insisted upon having them for riding. She got her male shoes, just in a smaller size.
Izayoi tugged impatiently on her bag.
It was a small, black piece of silk that had once been the back of one of her less-loved kimonos. Now, all it contained was a few items that she refused to leave behind: the comb her mother gave her, a few favorite pieces of jewelry, a small painting that had been done of her, her mother and her father, her favorite lip perfume, and her lute.
Her breath came out in short gasps as she slid past the last shoji door. If she could make it to the edge of the yard by the time that the guards noticed her, she was sure she'd be able to run until Nishi could catch her.
"What are you doing?" A hand grabbed hers.
She spun, staring into her younger sister's olive eyes, and she instantly repressed a sigh. She almost dropped her bag, but her fingers wrapped around it tighter. It blew out through her nose instead of her mouth. It was in that action she realized how close her face was to the other girl's, for the action made her cornsilk hair flutter about her face.
Izayoi tugged her hand out of her sister's with a muted scoff. "I shouldn't have to explain myself to you, Nanka-chan." All at once, the nervousness that tugged at her gut was gone and she stared at her sister with the same arrogance expected of a young lady of her station.
"You're meeting that man again. No!" Nanka pointed a finger down at Izayoi. "Not a man. That demon." She'd always been taller than her older half-sister, and now Nanka would be damned if she didn't use those three-and-a-half inches to try and make her look even a little more threatening.
"So what if I am," Izayoi snapped, slapping at her sister's finger. "What are you going to do about it?"
Nanka almost could have growled her annoyance. "You're going to get us in trouble, with Otou-san! Do you remember the last time he caught you sneaking out? We were both confined to our chambers for a week!"
Izayoi sniffed and closed her eyes, feigning indifference. "If you hadn't tried to follow me," she whispered back vehemently, "then neither one of us would have been caught."
"How could you not have been caught?" Nanka retorted sarcastically.
"What do you mean?"
The younger girl sighed, expelling so much hot air into the space between them that Izayoi could practically feel it condensing on her cheeks and nose. "You're horrible at sneaking out. I could hear you. Those boots are no better than the wooden sandals; they make as much noise when you wear them!"
"Well, if you'd just let me leave then you wouldn't have to worry about Otou-san punishing you." Izayoi's coffee-coloured eyes flashed with uncharacteristic anger.
All at once, Nanka's hard eyes turned watery and she dropped her hands to clutch at the older girl's haori. "You're leaving, for real, aren't you?" She blinked, and for a moment, Izayoi's mouth dropped as she noticed that there were tears in the other girl's eyes. "You can't leave!"
Izayoi sighed and glanced over her shoulder, towards the edge of the castle, before patting Nanka's shoulder lightly. The two of them had never exactly gotten along, but they had never hated each other. She was utterly confused by her half-sister's sudden compassion and affection towards her. Before she could totally lose her head fully, Nanka sniffed and wiped at her nose and then her eyes, before sitting on the ground, her sleeping yukata falling awkwardly around her long, pale legs as she glanced up. Izayoi gracefully lowered herself to her knees, setting her makeshift bag on the floor lightly.
"Are you okay, Nanka-chan?" Izayoi asked quietly, when her sister didn't say anything.
Nanka shook her head. "Why do you love that demon, Izayoi-chan?" she asked, with enough intensity that it made Izayoi gasp. "He's a demon! But not just a demon, he's the demon that has tormented Otou-san for years. Since we were young! You saw him fight Otou-san yourself."
"I know," Izayoi replied, shaking her head. "But I can't explain it. I love him."
"Demo. . . you can't be serious. He's a demon!"
Izayoi's head snapped up and she glared at her sister for the second time that night. "What does that have to do with any of this, Nanka-chan? Because he is a demon, he cannot feel love? That is like saying a dog cannot feel pain."
Despite her tone, Nanka couldn't help but smirk weakly. "A fine comparison. A demon and a dog – why, he is both!"
"What do you have again Nishi?" Izayoi asked breathlessly, her brown eyes fueled slightly. Nanka's rather insulting statement had obviously angered her. "You have never spoken to him, never even taken the time to glance past the fangs and claws and understand that he is a living creature too. With feelings and feelings for me!" Tears rolled down the young woman's cheeked and she bunched her coat in her hands before wiping them away. "I do not expect you to understand, Nanka-chan. I only ask you to accept."
"You will leave, still?"
"I will leave no matter what. It is only the matter upon which I leave." Her eyes darkened. "Whether by my own free will, without the injury of any Shimamura, or by force, when Nishi comes to take me."
Nanka gasped. "He wouldn't!"
Izayoi nodded. "He would. And. . . gomen. . ." She shook her head. "I don't want anyone hurt. This is the easiest way!"
Nanka sighed and shook her head. "I understand. . . even if I can't comprehend your love for a demon."
"Some demons can't comprehend the idea of loving a human."
Izayoi sighed and rose steadily to her feet, once again taking the cloth bag into her arms. "Please, keep Kyo-chan safe." Her eyes were watery as she spoke. "He will look fully to you now for guidance."
Nanka nodded her head silently. "He'll be heartbroken that you're leaving."
"He'll have you," Izayoi was swift to reply. "I was only a surrogate mother, for Kizuna-san was not good enough. A child must leave the nest eventually. I'm just doing it for him. He will be fine."
"Why are you leaving? Just because you're in love with him?" Nanka's voice was barely a whisper. "We're supposed to marry for the advantage of our Clan. Not love. You've been promised to Takemaru-san; how are you supposed to walk out on us?"
Izayoi didn't speak for a moment. When she did, it was only after she had taken a deep, calming breath, and she spoke as though she wished to choose her words carefully. "I am wish child, Nanka-chan." She allowed her sister to gasp almost comically, her mouth falling, before she continued. "I will bare a demon child. I wish my child to not only know his father, but to live, Nanka-chan. If I remain here, then Otou-san will realize that my child is hanyou. When he realizes it, he will kill my child."
Her sister had no reply for her.
Slowly Izayoi, leaned down and placed a kiss on her younger half-sister's forehead. She paused for a moment, and then slipped down the wooden steps, the frozen grass of the garden crunching slightly beneath her feet. She glanced over her shoulder as she walked, before taking a deep breath and removing herself from the yard.
Be strong, sister, she thought to herself, fiddling with the tie of her haori nervously, as she walked in the darkness.
Her eyes tried to spy the markings that the demon had left for her to follow.
Past the tree that was broken down the center, and towards the river, away from its waterfall. She was nearly halfway there already. He didn't want her walking too far from the castle; for fear that demons other than himself might pick up on her scent. Her feet were nearly silent as she came to a stop. From the mist that the river created emerged three figures.
"I trust you got away safely?" If she hadn't known his every move and outline by heart, she probably wouldn't have been able to tell that the voice was coming from the tallest figure; she couldn't see any of their faces and couldn't even see a mouth moving.
"Of course," she breathed, walking towards the figures, though slightly more hesitant now that she had an audience before her. She had only met one of her lover's vassals, and he had looked rather human. Even so, she could tell that he was not one of Nishi's current companions. "Nanka noticed me, but she's my sister. She wouldn't betray my secret."
Nishi nodded as he walked forward, and Izayoi reached out to grasp his proffered hand. Momentarily, she wondered if he could feel hers tremble inside his larger one.
The second-largest of the figures shifted uncomfortably. "My Lord, shouldn't we check?" His voice was cold, with a slight lisp that she had come to realize characterized demons with exceedingly long canines.
The third figure's head snapped to the side, and Izayoi caught the same aristocratic outline, though the features obviously less sharpened by youth, as her Nishi. The figure did not speak, just stared, but she could feel the cold chill that Nishi's vassal's question had invoked in the young youkai. Sometimes passed between the two males, something she didn't understand, but something that Nishi caught.
"Enough." Nishi ended any further dispute and the two young demons just turned back to face the pair. "We've already lingered too long." Pressing his hand to Izayoi's back, he pulled her close and then enveloped them both into a large, white ball of light. For the singular moment before it shot from the ground the two lingering youkai glanced over at each other, their faces illuminated by the glowing light.
"You forget your place, Sune-kuyasha-sama," said the shortest one; an expressionless face decorated with twin maroon slashes on his face and a periwinkle crescent, completing the look of the aristocratic young daiyoukai. "Do not question my father's choices again. Or his new mates."
Sune-kuyasha, charcoal hair gleaming and ashen face pale, merely rolled his mercuric-coloured eyes before smiling, revealing two long fangs. "Do not play games. You too, Sesshoumaru-sama, do not like the idea of a human living in Toride Shinden."
"Once again," Sesshoumaru stated with a growl before he turned, speaking over his shoulder. "Do not forget your place again, Sune. Even if I do agree with it."
Well, prologue's up. As always, constructive criticism is welcome. Flames will be ignored and Flamers shot.
- Hiko Mokushi