A/N: Happy Holidays everyone! And since it is the Holidays, I have a special, 3-weeks-earlier than-planned story release because of the holiday. This first chapter will stick to the main theme of having a 'Chirstmassy' style (Snow, rebirth, a new start, coldness etc…)
So here's the new story that I promised, and I don't know why, but I'm really excited to be presenting this to you people. I've never really been that 'happy' about writing and submitting a story until now…
This story will be another romance for the SessXRin fans out there… and to make things more interesting – it will be in the storyline of the ancient Disney classic fairytale – Snow White. So here is the character list for this story…
Rin = Snow White (Of course!) Evil Queen = Kagura (?)
Mirror on the wall = Kanna (Maybe Magatsuhi? I don't know…)
Prince Charming: … *drumroll*…Sesshoumaru (Of course, again.)
Jakken: Prince's companion
More characters will come up as the story progresses, but I will stop here for now so that the character list doesn't spoil my plans! Please read and tell me what you think! – But most of all – please enjoy what you're reading. A good author's ultimate goal is to make sure his/her readers are understanding and enjoying the story more than anything else! (Well, that's the kind of author I am XD, no offense)
So here I go! And as always, I appreciate any suggestions or comments about how I can make this story better – for I seek improvement through the narrow road of criticism and sweet tears… (LOL, Just please don't make me cry though….)
And oh, by the way, I'm not just making this thing up, but if you guys look it up in the Inuyasha character wiki, the meaning of Rin's name – does really mean 'bell'
_A Snowbell_
A great domain is not conquered from without – unless it has destroyed itself from within… ~ W. Durant
(Sixteen years ago… On the fifth month of the year of the Almighty Tiger.
Phase of the Waning Gibbous moon…)
Once upon a time…
In a far away land…
Lived a powerful warlord and his exceedingly beautiful wife – Lady Harada.
It was said that Lady Harada as a very attractive and appealing woman whose legendary fairness even rumored that she was a direct descendant of the gods themselves…
She was gentle yet stunning – a combination that Lord Daijiro couldn't have been more pleased with himself.
As for Lord Daijiro, he was still fine-looking young man, full of promise and of success. Owning acres of land by the thousands, with a formidably well-trained army by the ten-thousands, and livestock? By the hundred- thousands.
He was a good man that abided by the golden rule, a man of stupendously high standing who lived up to life's highest morals.
As wealthy, as perfect, and as elegant everything was in their world, they lacked one thing.
The one thing that turned their utopia up-side-down.
For it seemed that – Lady Harada – could not have children.
Lord Daijiro could be the father of many, but Lady Harada could not be their mother.
Although Daijiro still loved her as much as if she had been able to give him children, he knew that it ate her up with distress from the inside.
Many a night would he witness his wife's beautiful face in a pool of tears when she turned away from him, thinking that he was asleep…
Days turned into weeks, and weeks dragged on to months, the ground was now covered with snow – for it had become winter.
Lady Harada's pain of wanting a child was still a never-healing wound, but even so, she tried not to dwell upon it.
Then one day, while outside still howled the winter's winds, Lady Harada sat inside the large mansion, busily putting all her concentration into an intricate piece of needlework.
Suddenly, without warning, a strong gust of the cold winters' wind abruptly opened a window in her room, letting the snowstorm rage into the mansion.
Jumping up in great shock and surprise, she pricked her finger on the needle she was holding as she hastily ran across the room to shut the fury of the storm.
Once she shut the window securely, she noticed the small group of bells that hung on the mansion's balcony, tinkling melodiously amidst the raging and the howling of the blizzard.
She smiled at the sight and turned her attention to the formidable pile of snow that was blown inside her room.
Walking towards it, she bent down and cupped her hands as she gathered some of it.
She was surprised that snow – though cold – was so soft.
She was even more surprised when she realized that the pure snow had a taint of red on it as she noticed the prick on her finger.
"How I wish I had a child, with skin as fair as snow, with lips as red as blood, hair as black as the depths of the night. Filled the sunny warmth, having the countenance of joy like that of bells ringing through the darkness…"
Her daydream was broken as several servants rushed into the room – hearing the commotion earlier – and went to work right away, cleaning until there wasn't a single trace of snow left.
Lady Harada sighed somewhat happily, daydreams were something that gave her temporary comfort from the harshness of reality.
Little did she know that she was about to be touched by fate's miraculous hand.
Reversing the odds…
Making what was thought of as impossible – possible.
Two fortnights lapsed.
News broke out that Lady Harada was with child.
Lady Harada was beside herself with conflicting emotions - Is this real? Was she dreaming?
If so, how was she going to find a way to wake herself up? But at the same time, she felt dizzy with happiness.
"Daijiro, my Lord" she said as he came to her to congratulate his wife.
"– this… must all be a dream – I simply cannot bring myself to believe it."
Lord Daijiro simply drew his wife close to him and shook his head.
"No, it's reality… my dearest."
He kissed her forehead and embraced his wife.
…..^…..^...^...
It was no dream indeed…
Exactly in the sixteenth day of the ninth month, along with the cool September's winds was heard a cry – a newborn baby's cry.
Lord Daijiro nearly tore the door off of its' hinges as he came in, hearing the sound.
"Milord!" cried one of the midwives, "it's a beautiful girl!"
The baby was quickly bathed and wrapped in a large cloth that was imprinted with his lordship's emblem – a sign that the child was of royal descent.
Daijiro held his new daughter with great pride, unable to express his joy. Approaching his exhausted wife, she smiled weakly as she received their daughter from his arms.
Lord Daijiro felt overflowing joy as he realized that they really had become family now.
So overjoyed that he failed to notice the abyss a sudden turn of events would eventually lead into – or the midwives mixed faces and torn feelings of tragedy.
"She is divine –" He commented into his wife's ear as their baby grasped her tiny fingers around her father's thumb. "- just like her mother."
"Her skin is as fair as snow, her lips in the beautiful shade of crimson. Her hair is as black as the depths of the night. With the countenance of joy like that of bells ringing though the darkness…" she continued on weakly.
"Daijiro, will you promise me, that you will take care of our only child with all that you have? I- I'm afraid that … I cannot walk life's journey anymore with you..."
It took Daijiro a full minute to understand what was being said. He turned sharply to the midwives standing about.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"Milord, we did everything in our power to help her, but has lost too much of her blood. I'm so sorry… I'm afraid there's not much even we can do now"
At that moment, he didn't know which emotion was stronger – the happiness of gaining an ever wanted child, or losing his wife, his soul mate – his destined companion through life.
He looked back at his wife with untold horror as he finally noticed the irreversible river of blood that was swiftly taking her away from him – forever.
"Harada – You… you can't leave me, not now… Now that we have a child, surely you can still fight –"
"Daijiro Milord…" she cupped her hand and placed it on his cheek, their tears rapidly flowing out in unison.
Smiling weakly, she continued on.
"Name her Rin, meaning 'bell' for she shall carry the aura of joy and light and – like a bell- wherever her name is heard or spoken, there shall happiness also be…
Take care of her – please – let no harm come upon her… and –
I love you Daijiro"
Gradually, her world grew black as darkness crept in from the corners of her vision.
The last thing she saw was her husband – her beloved Daijiro – calling out her name in peerless agony.
…..^…..^…..^…..
Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter – A year.
Newleaf, Greenleaf, Leaf-fall and Leaf-bare – a second year.
Birth, Life, Closing and Death – a third.
But the seasons do not end in winter, for spring always returned to revive the world with new life – new hopes.
Neither does a leaf's lifespan end and stop in leaf- bare, because Newleaf always came back, with each leaf more glorious than the one before it - rebirth.
And just as the world continues spinning – turning nights into days and seconds into centuries –
Life still goes on…
Rain, Sun, Wind and Snow – a fourth year.
And so on for another four years as the seasons flew by.
Daijiro still grieved for his forever lost wife. The painful scars in his heart refused to be healed completely.
But every time he saw his daughter's smile, her lighthearted laugh and the very essence of just being near her sunny aura, somehow, mysteriously, made him feel whole once again.
"Father!" a small happy voice cried out.
He turned to greet her with open arms.
Ts was her – Rin – who by now was nearly a decade old, the liveliest little girl anyone had ever observed – and a mirror replica of that of her mother's goddess- like appearances, graces and charms.
"Whatever are you running away from now, my little snowbell?" he inquired, staring down into his daughter's brown eyes.
"There's a frightening demon named 'history lessons' that's coming this way to lock me up in a small room and make me memorize all the important peoples that were borned into our ancestry! Hide me, Father!"
The small child blurted out breathlessly as she hid behind her father's large katana – for protection.
It wasn't very long before Yuina-sensei, her private tutor, appeared panting n pursuit of her runaway pupil.
"Milord… your daughter –"
"– is here" he finished as he revealed a wide-eyed girl hiding behind his sword.
He bent down and looked at her on the eye as he smiled.
"I'm afraid I can't rescue you from this one my princess –" he said, fingering her hair.
"A History lesson is a good kind of demon – as you refer to it – a very important one too, so I suggest that you learn her teachings and be wise before an even more frightening demon comes along and gets you for not learning."
His daughter looked up to him with keen interest.
"What kind of demon father?"
Making a funny face, Daijiro spoke in a grated, teasing voice.
"The daddy-demon that gets onto little girls like snowbell and steals them awaaaaaaay!"
Rin, who was now truly frightened, started backing away from her father and backs towards Yuina- sensei.
"Ehh… Well then, maybe lessons aren't so scary after all!"
And with that, she sprinted to her sensei as fast as her little legs would carry her.
Yuina held her student's had and smiled a 'thank you' to Daijiro and sighed. In some ways, a parent's reasoning powers were stronger than that of her tutor's.
Daijiro waved as he saw them off.
He would need to explain some things to his daughter later on, he smiled.
…..^…..^…..^…..
He was being selfish, he thought.
As he had been for the past eight years…
He had been so consumed in his own sorrow for his deceased wife that he thought he was taking care of their daughter the best he could when in reality – he failed her one thing.
He had given her everything she could ever want – from imaginations wildest fantasies, to life's simplest basics; from first-rate kimonos to mother-of-pearl hairpins inlaid with ivory – everything.
But to him, it was all for nothing now that he realized what his daughter had been missing all along…
Ruffling his hair in pure frustration, he grabbed a scroll laying nearby and started writing until he reached the bottom of the scroll.
Walking briskly outside, he summoned a messenger horseman to fulfill the task.
War over his lands was looming overhead, and knowing whether or not he would be back alive to see his precious daughter again made him carry out his decision in haste.
What he sent out- was an announcement to the neighboring lands' warlords.
His daughter needed a mother.
And so he needed a wife.
…..^…..^…..^...
On the sixth day of the fourth month of the year of the Watchful Rooster…
Lord Daijiro of the Northwestern Warlands took Lady Kagura – daughter of Naraku, the hanyou lord of the Southwestern Warlands – to the sacred altar of marriage of matrimony to be his wife.
He knew that he could never bring himself to love another woman like the way he loved Harada. In the same way a shattered glass can never again fully hold its contents despite of anyone's attempts to repair it back into perfection.
She was an ideal definition of the word 'flawless', having long, black hair, fine skin and eyes filled with the look of keen determination.
She had a headstrong character that was especially needed for her to be the Lady of the Northwestern Warlands, and she seemed to be polite and somewhat caring around Rin, and so the arrangements were quickly settled the fortnight.
Rin thought she couldn't have been happier finally having a mother that she had always imagined.
Little did Lord Daijiro know that his decision just paved the way to what would be known as the 'Reign of Darkness'…
…..^…..^…..^…..
On the eighteenth day of the sixth month of the year of the Watchful Rooster…
The combined forces of Daijiro and Naraku marched out in the battlefield to meet their foes with a staggering army count fifty-thousand foot soldiers, ten-thousand elite-leveled archers and five-thousand spearmen on horses – a count totaling sixty-five thousand men in force.
As Naraku and Daijiro surveyed the enemy's number of men, they were both rather – crestfallen.
For the opposing side's number of forces covered the hill opposite of them like grains of sand by the seaside.
Naraku strode his horse toward Daijiro and halted.
"I can't really name the specifics, but their army outnumbers ours at least fifty-to-one." He said making an emphasis on the word 'least'.
Although Naraku was a half-demon, he could still mow down at least half of the opponents' army with his demonic powers, but he and his daughter decided not to use any of their powers – for it was not part of their scheme.
Lord Daijiro, in all his years of combat experience and military prowess, came up with a strategy immediately. His intelligence was what thousands of his and Naraku's men depended their lives on.
"This is what we'll do." He began, raising his sword high to get his army's attention.
He lined up twenty-five thousand of his foot soldiers into a tight wedge, interlocking their shields together side-by-side with their long spears facing forward.
The ultimate battle positioning – the Greek Phalanx.
"…and if an enemy somehow gets past the phalanx, he'll have to meet the second line of twenty-five thousand more soldiers, and if he still makes it through, he'll have the archers, the spearmen – and us."
Naraku smiled in satisfaction, his dark eyes shimmered with mischief.
This human has a dangerous mind… he admitted quietly to himself.
A yell from the enemy's side was heard as they started charging towards the hostile army – Their army.
"This is it Naraku, victory is as good as ours"
"Failing is not an option. No retreat, no surrender."
They gave each other a nod, gave the signal, and charged like a stampede of furious hell beasts…
…..^…..^…..^…..
Several hours later, the battlefield in which was once stood on by two rivaling sides was now reduced into nothing more than flame, smoke and countless thousands of dead bodies strewn with countless hundreds of arrows.
It was a nauseating view.
The phalanx arrangement was a stunning success against am army with overwhelming advantages. They had completely annihilated the enemy and captured the warlord of the opposing army, executing him there and then without hesitation or mercy.
But victory gained together – was about to turn into betrayal planned by one.
As Naraku managed to isolate Daijiro from the army and from prying eyes, he instantaneously pulled out a poisoned arrow, aimed, and shot it – straight into Daijiro's chest.
"But… we're allies – how could you…?" he stammered as blood slowly made its way out of his mouth.
"Fool. We were once allies, but all I really needed was your military skill and your lands since you've been a troublesome hindrance to my quest for power."
"T- traitor!"
"Yes, that's right, hate me with every bit of yourself. To think that a demon like me would actually want to make an alliance with you – ha!
You flatter yourself too much. Marrying my daughter was a mistake that you should have seen in the first place – but no – you did not see it because of your haste in wanting to secure your daughter's future, So instead, you yourself have brought doom upon her, for she is now under the mercy of my daughter – the Lady of the Northwestern Warlands." He concluded with a malevolent leer.
Seeing that he did not have much time, Daijiro fell of off his horse onto the ground and replied.
"You're right – it was my mistake to even … associate with either of you in the first place…
You may reign my lands for a time, but things gained through deceit – will never last.
So a time will come when everything that you have gained dishonestly will be seized from you just as you have seized my domain from me…"
The smirk that was once on Naraku's face darkened as he heard those words.
"You still have the energy to talk like that, eh? Well let me help."
Pulling out another arrow he shot Daijiro for the second time.
"Harada, I'm so sorry –"
Naraku let out a villainous laugh as he savored his moment of supreme victory.
…..^…..^…..^…..
A small child walked down the hall in a moderate pace…
She was a ghost-like figure with pale skin and hair, wearing a white gown, with dull black eyes; on her hands was a small, round mirror that she was never seen without.
Approaching a door, she quietly entered.
"Kanna? Is that you?" Kagura asked painting herself in front of a mirror. Turning to confirm who it was, she frowned.
"…couldn't you at least knock? I am the Lady around here after all – what do you want?"
"It's a message from Naraku" the child replied in a small voice.
"Oh? This had better be good. Come closer Kanna, you don't expect me to see it from that far , do you?" she commanded.
As Kanna came forward, her mirror suddenly came to life as it revealed a battlefield – with one army standing, and the other in a total chaos of lifeless bodies – proof of complete victory.
"So they won as expected." She confirmed, staring into the mirror with interest as the scene changed – revealing Daijiro's dead body.
"What? He's done for too? I must say father, that was all too fast…
Well this is the best news ever, for that means that I am now the only ruler of the Northwestern Warlands. How epic." She exulted, opening her fan and fanning it on herself in ecstasy.
"The fool, hm. The best part is that he won't get to see how his daughter would be treated with the best of care…" she crooned, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
Kanna looked up to Kagura – which was very rare sine she never looked at anyone in the face.
She sensed it.
"Times of despair are upon us, the moon's light will be obscured by black clouds…"
But Kagura didn't hear a single thing, for she was too busy thinking about how she would run the lands now that she was the only ruler.
…..^…..^…..^…..
The moon was covered from sight by clouds.
The snow became tainted with impurity.
And the chaste sound of tinkling bells was drowned out by the sound of a river's strong current – a river of innocent blood.
Such darkness that could swallow up light…
The Reign of Darkness had begun.
Har, har… That was finally done. But like I said before – I am not very good at battle scenes so I apologize if it sounded childish or fishy to any of you..
Shall I continue this story? I'm not too sure if any of you people would like a SessXRin story in the storyline of Snow White, but then again…
Well, in any case just let me know
Thanks so much for reading!
HazyDaisy