Ohh, a suprise ending of this particular chapter, a soft spot is touched and an unexpected person ends up in tears. Whoo!
Chapter 6
The next 3 months would be the saddest and most trying times Izayoi had ever known. 5 weeks into the war, Lord Tsukasa suddenly succumbed to an sudden illness of the heart and died. It was a huge blow to everyone in the House of Tenchimaru, and their burden of sorrow had just begun. A weak soul from birth, the grief stricken Michiru joined her husband in the afterlife weeks later and the sweet and caring Lady Izayoi fell victim to a strange illness.
A blanket of emotional distress felt like it would last forever, but time ebbed away the more severe scars, the season changed and slowly but surely they found happiness in the little things again. Things began to change for the better.
The one thing that remained was Lady Izayoi's illness, however it was far from fatal.
"How is the Lady Izayoi today?" a servant asked.
Yukiko shook her head, "Still unable to keep anything down. The physician's say it's the stress of her grief, but it has been 3 months since the death of the Lord and Lady. I see her heart healing more and more each day. Why then does this illness remain?"
The servant motioned for Yukiko to come closer, she lifted up a stack of white cloths, "I went to re-fill the Lady Izayoi's 'female' cabinet and found it still full. I fear the illness is worse that we think. This happened to one of my sisters; when she recovered her body was never able to bear children! This would be a bad omen to the eventual marriage to Lord Takemaru. I beg you, do something before this illness affects her fertility."
Yukiko looked at the cloths in shock, but another fear was forming in her heart.
"Are you sure you require no assistance, Izayoi-sama?"
Izayoi was exasperated, "Yes!" she said for what seemed to be the millionth time. She calmed herself down and smiled at the servant, 'Yes Miki, I'm fine," she said. The servant nodded, leaving Izayoi to bathe herself.
Waiting until the footsteps disappeared, Izayoi exited the bath and wrapped a robe around herself. She was grateful the servant hadn't realized she had already had a bath and was getting ready to finish. She passed a mirror, then stopped and backtracked. Izayoi checked the door once more before pulling apart the folds of the robe and giving the growing bulge of her belly some much needed sunlight, "You're growing strong my little one…" she whispered to her unborn child, Inutaisho's child.
Everyone was wrong, they looked up to Izayoi as a pillar of strength during the loss of her parents. A goddess who took the reighns gracefully and led her people through that horrible time, but it was not inner strength; it was the child inside her. She needed to be strong for it, to carry on for it. Inutaisho wrote her often, depicting the battles he had to go through, unfortunately his task would keep him away from her longer than he had anticipated, a good 4 months longer. The nights were unbearable in the beginning, but when she found out that she had a piece of him growing steadily inside her, a new found strength helped her through each passing day.
The child's legs kicked against its mother, causing her to giggle.
"IZAYOI!" Yukiko screamed, the lady of the house quickly covered her body and turned around to face her friend, but the damage had been done. Yukiko closed the distance between them and ripped the robe open, gawking at the bulge. She glared at Izayoi, "Who did this?" she asked. The servant that had been speaking to Yukiko and Izayoi's nurse maid Miki came rushing in, startled by the scream. Yukiko ran to the door and shut it tightly, "Say nothing," she warned. The women looked at Izayoi and gasped.
"'Twas no illness, but that of an expectant mother!" The servant whispered.
Izayoi covered herself, "Who was it?" Yukiko asked again.
"Could it be the child of Takemaru?" Miki asked. Yukiko shook her head, "Takemaru has been away longer than that child has been in her, she looks no farther than her first season. You will tell me, Izayoi!" she yelled.
"This child was not forced upon me if that is what you are thinking," Izayoi said, seeing though Yukiko's facade.
"Forced or no, do not forget you are the property of another man! That is a crime, he must be brought to justice," Yukiko said.
"I am the property of no man!" Izayoi shouted back at her, "I am loved and love the father of this child. I will belong to no one but him!"
"Who is it, Izayoi!" Yukiko asked for a third time.
The servant gasped, pointing to the scar at the base of Izayoi's neck, "You are not a wife, but a mate!" When Yukiko saw it, her temper shot through the roof, "A YOUKAI! Your child was sired…by a DEMON!" she screamed.
The servant and Miki had to restrain the girl from killing Izayoi, "I knew your obsession with youkai was toxic! I should have burned your scrolls, locked you in the palace. What a fool I was! You succumbed to one and will bear his child!"
The entire house had congregated outside the wash room. Yukiko had screamed to the world Izayoi's betrayal.
"I have disgraced the House of Tenchimaru? Is that what you are saying to me?" she asked.
"Yes!" Yukiko screamed, "You have broken Takemaru's heart, the scandal will spread far and wide, we will be cast from the eyes of our peers. The house will fall because of you!"
"Then I leave you as the heir to the House of Tenchimaru." She said calmly.
Yukiko relaxed, almost instantly.
"You Yukiko, will assume my position. Tell anyone that asks that Izayoi of Tenchimaru died of illness. Marry Takemaru, produce heirs, keep my-no your people employed. I regret nothing, I love the father of this child, but I will not let this house fall because of my actions."
"Where will you go?" Yukiko asked. Izayoi started for the door, "To create a life for me and my child."
The door burst open and people from all around the house flooded in.
"No Izayoi-sama!"
"Do not leave us!"
"Don't leave your decision to save us on our heads!"
"I can't stay," she said with a sad smile, "This way everyone gets what they want."
"Who said I want to rule?" Yukiko asked, "I am no ruler Izayoi. You are not permitted to run away from your duties."
"Then what do you propose we do?" Izayoi asked.
Yukiko thought for a moment, then turned to all the servants, "Do you love Lady Izayoi?" she asked.
"Yes!" they replied in unison.
"Are you all willing to go along with anything I say to keep her here?" she asked again.
"Yes!"
"If there is a man opposed to this, let him speak now!" she warned. Silence followed her proclamation, there were no objections. Everyone loved the Lady Izayoi far too much to betray her now, she was kind and sweet, she treated them like human beings.
"Within these walls, the Lady Izayoi rules. She is your lady and governs over all of you as she always has, but from this day forward outside these walls the lady is dead, the victim of a sudden illness and I am your ruler. Do you understand and agree to these conditions?"
"We do."
"She was loved by so many, huh?" Kagome asked.
"Aye, that she was," Myoga answered, "Even after the Great Dog Demon passed we demons kept close connections with Lady Izayoi, her warm disposition was certainly hard to go without."
Inuyasha stood up, rather abruptly and started into the forest. A moment of confusion passed between them before Kagome rose and went after him.
"Inuyasha?" she called, lookin around. She found him by a waterfall, his back was to her.
"Inuyasha?" she called.
"What?" he said, not turning.
"Are you o.k?"
"I'm fine, I just wanted to take a walk."
"In the middle of the story?"
"I told you it doesn't interest me all that much."
But Kagome wasn't buying it, "Didn't I tell you that you could tell me whenever something was bothering you?" she asked.
Inuyasha turned, showing her his tear-stained face, "It's not easy...remembering her. The people loved her, they cared for her and looked to her with respect, but those feelings were limited to only her. Izayoi's half-demon son had no place in their hearts, and while I became accustomed to it, it killed her."
Inuyasha gasped as arms wrapped around his torso, he placed his hands on Kagome's, then turned and took her into a tight hug. From against his chest she could hear the sobs, even before Myoga told them what happened, Kagome knew his mother was a touchy subject.
She took his face into her hands, wiping at the tears with her thumbs, "No child has ever been born in a fair and just world, not even me. Izayoi-sama put up with a lot to take as much of the pain away from you as possible. Honor her, Inuyasha, honor her sarcrifice by living your life to the fullest. I promise you help you do that, if you want me to."
Inuyasha nodded. Kagome smiled, pulling out a hankerchief from her pocket and wiping his nose, "Now look at you. Big, tough Inuyasha has a runny nose."
The hanyou laughed, "I'll kill you," he said.
"We have a story to finish, are you ready?"
"Yeah..." he said. The two made their way back to camp, unaware that they weren't alone.
Sesshomaru stared at the place where his brother stood. His face a pensive one.
That's the way it played out in my mind. In the beginning, the people were well aware of Izayoi's condition, but I remember their cruelty towards Inuyasha. More on that in the upcoming chapters!