Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own any part of Inuyasha, I'm just borrowing part of the story to play with for a while
Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart,
E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea;
Then will all clouds of sorrow depart, -
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
~ Stephen Foster
The sky outside was dark and gloomy, glowing with an almost otherworldly green light. Izayoi sat in the doorway of her room feet playing against the dry earth. She watched as the trees on the other side of the palace wall began to toss their heads in protest of the coming storm. Gradually the temperature began to drop and a faint drizzle began to fall, lightly soaking her layers of her juni-hitoe. She began to hum a childhood song as the rain picked up and fell harder and harder, the tune making an eerie counterpoint to the low howling of the wind. For once she was content. Normally she was so busy in the closed confines of the palace that she rarely got a few precious moments to watch the world around her. Because of the rain, she was alone except for the guards which were stationed throughout the compound to ensure her family's safety. It was blissful, the smell of the air and the wind like an exotic perfume which permeated every cell of her body. She loved the rain. However, Izayoi was not fated to long enjoy her moment of bliss. Izayoi heard the inner door of her room slide open as light footsteps began to approach her.
"Izayoi-sama! Izayoi-sama!"
The worried call of her attendants broke Izayoi's concentration. Wearily Izayoi slipped off her sandals and stood within the confines of her room. A soft smile graced her face as she slowly turned to face her servants Hina and Misaki. Their scowling faces didn't do a thing to dampen Izayoi's mood.
"I know, not the most princess like behavior. Correct?" Izayoi said with a slight laugh, holding up her hand in an effort to head off the protests that she knew were coming. "I couldn't help myself. Look at how beautiful the land that the kami has blessed us with is… It would be unfitting to not honor their blessing with a few moments of contemplation."
Izayoi knew that her words had had no impact on her upset attendants when their scowling faces didn't lighten at all.
"Izayoi-sama, you know very well that although it is befitting of your station to recognize the beauty of this land, it is not befitting for you to do it outside in the pouring rain. Not only could you catch cold, but you are also are ruining your clothing. Not to mention I have a feeling you were 'contemplating' for far more than a few moments." Misaki said with a dark look, her brown eyes filled with disapproval. Misaki was quite obviously not in the mood to deal with any unseemly behavior today. Her fingers were twitching at her side in irritation as she made her way closer to Izayoi to help her begin changing out of her soaked clothing.
Misaki was one year older than Izayoi at seventeen. She had long black hair and sharp features which cast dark shadows in the lamplight. She was considered quite a beauty among the members of Izayoi's father's court and was often sought out by the young men due to her wit and grace. It seemed as if Misaki had always been around Izayoi, from the time she could remember. Izayoi had seen Misaki around her father's court on and off for her entire life. Misaki's father had been a close friend of Izayoi's father and fought next to him in battle many times. Whenever Misaki's father visited the palace, he would bring Misaki to serve as a companion to his friend's younger daughter. Almost two years ago Misaki's father fell in battle. Because Misaki's mother had died giving birth and her father had never remarried, Misaki became an orphan at fifteen. Izayoi's father took in Misaki as his ward after his friend's death in honor of his memory and to keep his promise to protect and provide for Misaki should his friend die in battle. Consequently, Misaki took up a more permanent position as Izayoi's attendant upon her arrival. However, it was unclear how much longer she would remain with Izayoi. She was at the age of marriage, and the moment that Izayoi's father decided on a husband, Misaki would leave to go to her new home. Izayoi cherished every moment with Misaki because she never knew when it would be her last.
Next to Misaki stood Hina. Hina was fifteen, and a flighty fifteen at that. Immature and fun-loving, she had a petite frame, dark brown hair, and light brown eyes. Hina had traveled to Izayoi's home in order to meet and get to know the young men that surrounded the daimyo. It would be these men that would rise to power in the future and as the youngest daughter of a moderately known samurai, Hina needed any edge she could get to make an advantageous match in the future. Unfortunately, Hina didn't seem to recognize the fact that her future depended on making a positive impression on the young men at court. She was extremely flirtatious and wasn't extremely picky about which man she had the chance to flirt with. She flittered from man to man as a butterfly flies from flower to flower, staying but a moment before moving on. Izayoi supposed that in Hana's case, ignorance is bliss. Despite her faults, to Izayoi, Hina was like a breath of fresh air in the constricting atmosphere of the palace. However, at the moment Hina's customary care-free smile was gone, an irritated scowl in its place.
"Izayoi-sama, you do realize you are making so much more work for us!" Hana whined in irritation. "We'll be late to dinner at this rate and I wanted to talk to Hitoshi-sama. He's so handsome… I'll bet we have to sit in the corner now, while he sits next to some other gorgeous woman. I'll never get the chance to talk to him at this rate. Hitoshi-sama will be stolen away before I get the chance to win his heart!" Hana frantically waved her hands about during this dramatic tirade, completely neglecting to help Misaki with Izayoi's juni-hitoe.
Izayoi inwardly gave a sigh of irritation as she shed the sopping layers of her kimono and dried herself. Hana's attitude was starting to ruin the peaceful mood she had obtained in the rain. The inanity of her complaint began to wear on Izayoi's nerves, not that Izayoi could show her irritation. For the past sixteen years, Izayoi had learned the mannerisms and attitudes that befitted a princess. She had had her lessons drilled into her until she no longer had any problem hiding her true thoughts and feelings. It certainly wouldn't be proper to snap at Hana for her comments, especially considering that Hana's comments were not actually as bad as they normally were. They just seemed worse than normal when compared to the utter bliss that Izayoi had just experienced. It was a pity that Izayoi was losing her earlier peace of heart. For a while her soul had felt content and filled. Izayoi couldn't say why that particular rainfall had had such a strange influence on her heart, but she knew that the influence it had had was quickly fading.
Once Izayoi had donned a new dry juni-hitoe, she left her room to attend dinner accompanied by her two companions. As they walked Izayoi listened to the sound of their soft footsteps and the swishing noise of their kimonos. After a couple minutes of sedate travel, (a daimyo's daughter should never rush), Izayoi arrived at the doors leading to the dining hall. She waited patiently as the serving woman in the hall gently slid open the door, allowing Izayoi and her attendants to enter the room.
The dining hall was austere but in an intentional way. Strategically placed flower arrangements and a few wall hangings were the only adornment in the room. Izayoi's father and his advisers were already seated- along with Izayoi's mother Hiromi, and her two brothers Hideyoshi and Yoshiro. The entire Takahashi family was in attendance.
Izayoi's mother gave her a side look of disapproval as Izayoi made her way over to her empty place. Izayoi knew she was late but for some reason couldn't make herself feel badly for her tardiness. She shot a small smile back at her mother and gracefully sat down next to her younger brother Yoshiro. Yoshiro was seven years old and the darling of the court. His glossy black hair and black eyes only added to his natural charm. He was a loving and caring child, if a little spoiled due to the constant attention that was part of his life. He looked up at Izayoi when she sat down with an adoring smile. Yoshiro loved his older sister with all his heart. Her beauty, grace, and kind nature were legendary in his eyes. Izayoi always took time from her days of lessons and duties to spend with her baby brother. She was a constant fixture in Yoshiro's life.
Yoshiro knew better than to interrupt his father's conversation with his advisors to greet his sister, so he pretended to stretch his arm and grasped his sister's hand, squeezing it tightly. After that initial contact he retracted his small hand and returned to eating his food. Although Yoshiro was young and like all seven year olds a little antsy when forced to sit still for long periods of time, he knew how to behave politely when necessary.
Izayoi ate her dinner with small bites and no conversation. She sat elegantly and ate quietly in an effort to make up for her late arrival. Eventually her mother's lips no longer twisted slightly in disapproval when glancing at her daughter and Izayoi began to relax a bit.
Her father and his counselors were deep in conversation about trade routes and the amount of protection necessary for caravans when traveling across the Takahashi lands. The discussion became quite animated at one point when one of the counselors described the desolation left behind from a bandit attack that had decimated one of the caravans that he had invested a great deal of his fortune in.
"There weren't big enough pieces of the men to identify the bodies! These bandits are brutal; they care nothing for the dead or the living. They remind me more of demons than men. In fact I expected it to be a demon attack until the local miko said that it defiantly wasn't the work of demons. The carnage was incredible! And don't even get me started on what little remained of the merchandise…."
The counselor stood up for emphasis and raised his voice.
"Those bandits are a menace that must be dealt with immediately! Who knows who they will go after next? It could be any one of us. They are becoming much too bold, they must be destroyed!"
Izayoi's father gave a stony smile and said calmly and deliberately, "Kiyoshi-san. Can you please sit down so we can discuss this politely? Some things should be discussed in a more proper setting." With his final words Izayoi's father's eyes flashed with warning. The counselor sat abruptly, as if his legs had lost their strength.
"Of course, I'm sorry Takahashi-sama. Forgive my impoliteness. My actions were unworthy of your company. My soul has just been moved for the plight of those poor men who sacrificed their lives for my benefit."
Izayoi's father smiled warmly, "Of course, all is forgiven." Then, directing his attention to the entire hall he proclaimed, "I do believe that I will retire now. Thank you for the meal."
With that statement he calmly rose and stalked out of the room, his counselors following him like chicks following their mother.
Izayoi relaxed in her futon, feeling her muscles relax and unwind. Her day had been much like any other. Nothing was different- nothing was new. She could feel the weight of her life pressing down on her body, making her long for her dreams where she could find some form of freedom.
It was not that Izayoi felt like her life was bad. She knew that she had been blessed beyond measure by the kami. She felt their goodwill in every part of her life, and she would never deny their goodness to her. Izayoi just felt caged, locked in routine. She had been living a certain way for so long that she was afraid she would remain this way forever. Today it was her father's house and sometime in the near future it would be the house of some lord her father wanted to reward or impress. Izayoi was property, she knew that. She was a pawn to her family's will. She was bound by the ropes of familial duty and love.
If that was her fate so be it. She would find some way to become content. Most of the time she was content, but sometimes something changed. Sometimes, she felt a call, like when she had sat in the rain before dinner. Izayoi had felt that there was something so vast-so great she could almost touch it calling her. It was a peace that permeated every part of her being. Earlier she had been unable to describe what it was, but she now thought that she might possibly be beginning to understand what it was. Izayoi knew something was about to change. There was something bigger waiting for her and it was coming towards her faster than she could possibly imagine.
A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first story ever on fanfiction so I would appreciate any and all feedback. Any and all reviews are welcome. Like I said, this is a first attempt so please bear with me as I strive to figure out exactly how my writing will progress. I don't know when I will post next but hopefully it will be within the next week. Thank you all very much for reading. Arigato gozimasu!