Kagome Higurashi was eighteen on the day of her marriage to Inuyasha Tashio. Everyone delighted in the lovely couple. She, as dainty as a flower in her red wedding dress, glowed with happiness. And Inuyasha in his new, belted tunic was a handsome groom. The entire village was invited to witness the ceremony and partake of the feast that lasted for several days. The festivities over, the young bride and groom settled down to the routines of village life. They thought of themselves truly fortunate, for they never felt hunger nor suffered from the cold. Deeply in love with his wife, Inuyasha found pleasure in fulfilling her every wish.
Their peaceful life was shattered on late summer day. Barely moments after they had come in from the fields, a stranger appeared at their door. He was dressed in an official's gown, and behind him stood two men in army uniform. With no word of explanation, he commanded his soldiers to seize Inuyasha and take him outside. Kagome, a look of bewilderment on her face, watched them push her husband toward the milling crowd assemble in the center of the village road.
The younger men from the neighboring cottages had all been rounded up, and they stood in a tight knot ringed by armed guards. Women, children, and older people had been ordered to remain at some distance.
Kagome's heart pounding heart made it difficult for her to breathe. As she approached the villagers, she heard a woman ask, "Could the emperor be conscripting men again? How well I remember when they took my father. I was just a young girl. I never saw him again."
Grandfather Hu, a village elder respected by all, offered his opinion. "The emperor has probably been convinced by his advisors to undertake another one of his foolish projects. No good can come of this."
Children fidgeted and cried, while the restlessness of bystanders increased as their anxiety mounted.
"Silence!" cried the official. "I bring an order from the emperor." The murmuring ceased. "Wild horsemen are attacking from the north. These barbarians are looting and killing, burning whole villages to the ground. The emperor has issued a call for all able-bodied men to build a great wall, the highest and thickest wall ever built by men. The enemy will never be able to break through its impenetrable defense, and our people will live in peace. It is the duty of every man to obey the emperor's summons. Anyone who refuses does so on pain of death."
"Forward!" he commanded. Lined up three abreast, the men were marched off. Soldiers carrying spears walked along the sides of the column. Escape was impossible.
Tearful parents, wives, and children were left behind to fend for themselves. An old farmer leaning on a cane shook his head sadly.
"Heaven alone knows if I shall ever see my son before my life is over," he said in a hoarse whisper.
Only a few months passed since that terrifying day, but for Kagome it seemed like ages. Without her husband at her side, time dragged by interminably. In her fervent prayers she asked that he be kept from hunger and thirst. The winter would bring its bitter winds that blow unceasingly from the mountains. How was Inuyasha going to survive in so hostile climate without a warm jacket and cotton quilted shoes?
The last days of autumn were drawing to an end. It was the time of year when the dusk came early, but Kagome would not stop until darkness forced her to lay aside her sewing. Her needle flew ever faster as she layered fabric with cotton padding, fashioning a comfortable outer garment. She took particular care to design thick-soled shoes, sewing them with extra strong thread. Time was her enemy as she worked to finish the task she had set for herself.
Kagome swore a solemn oath. Inuyasha would not do without winter clothes. This she vowed. No matter how perilous the journey, she would take them to him herself. A woman traveling alone might encounter unexpected dangers, and she wondered if she would endure the long trek on foot. But she banished the troubling thoughts from her head.
The evening before her departure, she prepared a small bag of rice and another of millet, only the barest necessities to sustain her along the way. On a large cloth square she placed Inuyasha's jacket and shoes. By tying the opposite corners of the squares together, she made a bundle to carry over her arm.
Before daybreak she left her home. No one was yet awake, and the narrow streets of the village were deserted. It was still quite dark. In the east, Kagome saw a rosy glow that announced the beginning of a new day. "O good omen," she mused.
Word had come back to the village that the section of the wall where Inuyasha was working lay at a great distance. If the snows came early, there was no telling how long it would take to get there. Kagome learned she must travel in a northwesterly direction, but beyond that she did not even know for certain where she would find her husband.
Never having traveled more than a few miles from her village, she could not imagine the vastness that lay beyond it. Nor could she conceive, in her wildest flight of fancy, the size and length of the wall that the emperor had planned. Neither could she picture a wall three thousand miles long that would climb over the mountains, descend into deep valleys, and cross forbidding deserts. But the grandeur of the emperor's ambitious undertaking meant nothing to her. She only knew she must plod ahead for as long as it would take her to join Inuyasha.
As the days wore one, Kagome found she had to rest more and more frequently. Often, as she passed through little villages, she begged for food. She had finished her rice and millet long ago. People who had spoke to her and learned where she was bound praised her devotion but shook their heads in disbelief.
Once she heard a woman lamenting loudly to a friend, "Our sons are gone, our daughters widowed, and the pile of dead grows ever larger at the foot at the emperor's great wall." Kagome shuddered.
From sunrise to sunset she doggedly trudged on. When darkness fell, she looked for a place to lay her head. Many nights her bed was just a pile of scratchy straw.
The day Kagome reached the Yellow River, her strength was beginning to fail. At the point where she stood, the river was wide and the currently of its silt-laden water, swift. For the peasants who lived along its banks it was life-sustaining, but for Kagome it was yet another obstacle that had yet to overcome. Except for a lone shepherd grazing his flock of sheep, there was not a soul in sight.
"I have not come this far in vain," she thought. "I will not turn back!"
With determination born of despair, she walked into the water holding Inuyasha's clothes over her head to keep them dry. A few yards out from shore her feet could no longer touch bottom, and she tried to swim. The effort to keep afloat was beyond her endurance. Finally she gave up the struggle and let the river claim her. The cold water dragged her toward the murky bottom-down, down into an inky blackness.
Kagome's distress did not go unnoticed. A river god came to her rescue, plucking her from the deep and carrying her to the opposite shore.
When Kagome opened her eyes, a shadowy specter was hovering over her.
"My brave child, do not abandon hope," it soothes. "All the spirits along the way will help you to the end of your journey." The shadow drifted away and melted into the air. Kagome was along. She had no recollection of how she had reached the other side of the river. Nor was she sure she had heard the encouraging promise of help.
Wearily, she picked up her bundle. Everything was wet though. Before moving on she would have to wait for the clothes to dry. She wrung out Inuyasha's jacket and spread it on the ground. When she reached for his shoes, a miracle occurred. Spellbound, she saw the shoes turn into blackbirds. From then on, never ceasing their shrill chatter, the blackbirds led her day after day in a northerly direction. Whenever she tired, they alighted on the ground near her and waited until she regained her strength. At night they roosted in a nearby tree while she slept. One morning, Kagome awoke, trembling with cold. Her fingers and toes were numb and she ached all over. Reaching to pick up her bundle, she was surprised to see Inuyasha's shoes standing neatly, side by side. The blackbirds, her guides and constant companions, were gone. They had fulfilled their mission, for they led Kagome close to her destination.
Kagome dragged her swollen, painful feet along a dusty road. At first the road was flat; then it began to climb steeply. When reached high ground, her eyes took in an incredible scene. The figures she saw moving about resembled a scurrying swarm of ants. She quickened her pace. Now she could see more clearly. Files of men, back bent under the weight of heavy stones, were struggling to the top of the unfinished wall. Others were lugging buckets of mortar to fill the spaces between the rocks. Covered from head to foot by the dry, brown sand, they were indistinguishable, from one another. How could she find Inuyasha along that multitude?
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