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Rhapsody of A Fallen Angel
by Yui Shunrei Ryuzaki
Disclaimer: InuYasha and its characters isn't mine.
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Chapter 1: Beware
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Next to Rin's chamber, the sounds of the samisen echoed in a riotous progress. As Rin knelt waiting for the right time to arrive, she heard the merrymaking as she would have heard a distant windstorm. She was still wearing her thinly quilted lavender silk robe and a heavy brocade sash. Over it, she wore a full, pinkish colored satin coated embroided with phoenix and crimson rose petals. It kept her warm in the chill night of the winter season. Its heavy, trailing sleves were folded neatly across her thighs, as though she was a guest at a tea ceremony.
The soft light from the lantern outlined the long slope of Rin's neck rising into a shiny black locks of her hair. The collars of her robes were set far back to reveal the most alluring part of a woman's body, the sensous, vulnerable curve of spine and nape. The light glowed on Rin's delicate and slender face. The gold of its flame was reflected through the dark brown orbs of Rin's eyes.
Rin had an expressive eyes. Her featherly black eyebrows arched naturally that gave her an innocent exquisite look. Her narrow, high bridged nose and her full lips of her small mouth cast shadows across her pale smooth cheek.
Rin was cultured as she was beautiful. She was the only daughter of a daimyo, Lord Hasegawa. She had been trained in music and literature and art. She had never thought she would use her skills in a brothel in Edo's pleasure district. But then she couldn't have foreseen the tragedy that had brought ruin and disgrace to her parents.
Two years ago Rin, whose real name was Hasegawa no Sakura (Cherry Blossoms in a long valley river), had arrived here on foot. Royal bloods and High ranked officials with their family members aren't allowed in this pleasure district. She had hidden herself under a travel cloak and large brimmed hat. She took with her a single chest that contains her remaining silk robes and sashes, her favorite books and scrolls, her cosmetic set and a few of her precious keepsakes.
Rin had signed a contract with the owner of the house where she would live. By the time she first stepped on the threshold of the house, she had been struck by doubt so sudden and intense, she had almost turned around and left. But Rin's nature wasn't to quit what she'd begun. She had hidden all her fear and grief with her loneliness, behind a lovely, impassive mask ever since.
It was usual custom to give oneself a new name when starting out. A different name is vital in Rin's case to keep her real identity a secret from the others. Her new friend Kumiko had begun calling her Rin. Kumiko used the name affectionately, and it caught on. Others begun to call her Rin because she was a graceful, dignified woman. But Rin couldn't replace her sorrow the way the nickname Rin replaced her old name and identity. She could only do her duty as the daughter and heiress of a lord and a warrior and endure her fate without self pity or complaint. She moved through her duties in the brothel called the Impregnable Blossoms with the grace and reserve of her class and breeding. She already had attained the second rank but she still preferred to act the part of a grand courtesan, to dazzle her guests with her wit, to talk little, and to be hard to please. She'd often been known to refuse to grant her favors, and always her guests had to spend a long time charming her but still failed to let them undo her sash. By this way, Rin kept her virginity intact and she was still as pure like a wild rose. Now it seemed that she would be spared the necessecity at politely spurning her guests.
With her legs demurely under her and the toes of one white-clad foot overlapping those of the other, Rin sat back on her ankles. The cool, tight weave of the thick rigid mats covering the wooden floor gave slightly under the pressure of her toes and knees. Rin leaned forward almost imperceptibly to study her cat.
At first she had thought that her cat had passed out from exhaustion or just fell asleep after eating some fish served on her table. Without rising from her knees, Rin moved closer. She laid two pale, slender, impeccably manicured fingers on the cat's neck. Nothing. Not a flutter of heartbeat. The cat had left its homely body, never to return. Rin felt a sudden panic rising from the seat of her soul. She drew several deep breaths. She needed to be calm. She needed to think clearly. Soon the watchman would strike midnight. At midnight, the night guard would close the small door in the great gate. He would lock Rin and her dead cat inuo the pleasure district without giving her a chance to escape from the brothel.
Rin knew that her cat was accidentally killed. The murder and death was supposed to be hers. The murder weapon, or what was left of it, lay on the tray that also served as a table. The Fish had been cleaned carelessly for a deadly purpose. Only a single slice of fish remained. Unless cleaned correctly, a speck of poison of the fish could kill a person.
Naraku, Rin thought. He won't be content until he could have me or killed me.
Tomorrow was the second year anniversary of her father's suicide. Lord Hitomi no Kagewaki, more commonly known as Naraku had been responsible for that suicide. Maybe Naraku feared Rin would do something rash on the anniversary day. Maybe he thought she was plotting revenge. Maybe he merely decided to ensure that Rin bore no children from another man aside from him to threaten him in the future.
With a chopstick, Rin poked the last slice of fish from the porcelain bowl. Not often did death arrive in such a lovely package. The slices of the fish had been artistically arranged in the form of a flying crane. It was the sort of ironic gesture Lord Naraku would make. The crane was a symbol of longevity. A pinch of death was spice for fornication as well as for food.
It was a great problem. Lord Naraku was trying to kill her. As Rin knelt on the floor in the pool of pale golden light thrown by the lantern, she withdrew into herself. She calmed herself and closed her eyes. Rin knew she had to act.
Slender and graceful, Rin rose in a murmur of silk and glided across the elegant room, her satin overrobe billowing behind her. She slid aside a panel of the paper wall and slipped into the small dressing room. Her toiletries lay scatted on the freestanding elegant shelves. The mirrors, combs, jars, and matched well the shelves. All bore the Hasegawa family crest. In a corner, her other big cat slept on a third set of shelves that held her books. She moved to the screen standing on the opposite corner.
"Yume-chan." Rin knelt beside the pallet behind the screen. She gently shook the sleeping child under a pair of thin blankets.
"Rin-sama." The girl sat bolt upright and met her cold gaze. "Get up, Yume-chan." "What hour is it, Rin-sama?" Yume mumbled.
"Almost midway through the midnight."
"Where are you going?" Yume was confused. The hour was too late to promenade or to run an errand. She had not gone outside the walls of the pleasure district since her distraugh and impoverished mother had sold her to Rin a year ago before the girl was eight years old. As far as Yume knew, her mistress, Rin, had left it only a few times.
"I need you to comb out my hair." Rin whispered over her shoulder as she brought the rough jug of water from the shelves. Yume hastily wrapped an apron around her wadden cotton sleeping robe, tied back her sleeves and pondered this latest surprise. Rin never drew her own water. The owner of the brothel employed a small army of maid and servants and apprentices to do that sort of work.
Rin obviously wasn't going to explain anything and Yume dared not to ask more questions. She knelt behind Rin, who sat in front of the big round mirror. While Yume untied the ribbons that held the coils of Rin's hair, Rin scrabbed the white make up from her face.
"How shall I fix it, Rin-sama?" Yume asked softly. The soft, glossy mass of hair lay across her palm, and continued combing it almost reverently.
"Simply tied it."
Yume wound a flat, red ribbon around the hair, catching it just above Rin's waist in a style no longer in fashion. The thick cascade made her appear archaic, like a lady of the royal court.
Rin looked like a demon, a very beautiful demon. She stood up from her seat and take a last look on her reflection from the mirror.
"Yume-chan, please gather the clothes I need on my trunk. I'll just scan the area before I escape." Rin told Yume in a nonchalant voice.
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A/n: A concept suddenly popped out from my mind so I decided to write it down before my laziness strikes again. Please tell me what you think about this story.
Arigatou, minna-san!
~Yui Shunrei Ryuzaki