Before There Were Fairy Tales...
by Faehime
Chapter 10:A Seconded Opinion
After arriving back at the shiro, Kagome had been taken immediately to her rooms to lay down while a doctor was summoned. Apparently, she had been so sore from the events of the night that she hadn't noticed the vicious tear in her side from the monster's claw.
Izayoi had told her it was actually an oni, a very nasty type of humanoid demon and said that they shouldn't have made it out of there alive. When Kagome had asked how they had survived, the princess had looked at her funny before telling her that the light she'd given off was in fact the purification energy of a miko. Surprised by the information, the young girl was amazed to learn that she had powers like Midoriko's, and excited.
'Just wait until Grandpa find out that there's a real miko in the family!'
After patching her up with a few stitches and the promise that the wound shouldn't leave a scar, the doctor declared both her and Izayoi healthy, which the Lady of Setsuna took to mean fit for punishment. The two children sat meekly for an hour while Kuenai laid into them, scolding them for sneaking out of the shiro in the dead of the night and scaring her half-to-death. Neither of them complained when the woman informed them that they were going to help in the kitchens as punishment for the next three days, far too grateful to be serving their penalty together.
The next few weeks were filled with much more joy and laughter for Kagome, and she spent most of her days with Izayoi and Mimi in the gardens playing games and telling stories. The princess still had a tendency to order her from time to time, but the young girl bore it in good humor, knowing that her friend didn't mean any harm. Instead she took her snobbery in stride, using it to pick on the girl more often than not, and she soon discovered that Izayoi appreciated her blunt and honest treatment.
"So many people just see me as the princess of Setsuna, or my mother's daughter," she explained one afternoon, idly stroking Mimi's fur as she reclined in the shade of the shiro. "But you treat me the same way I see you treat the servants. You don't talk down to me, but you don't show me the proper respect either."
Laughing at that statement, Kagome answered, "Well, my daddy always told me that you have to give respect to get respect, Izayoi-chan."
The princess thought about it for a moment, before nodding her agreement. "My father used to say something similar. He would say that in order to gain our subject's loyalty, we must be loyal to them."
A comfortable silence fell between them after that, broken only by the sound of Mimi's purrs. After a time, the princess asked softly, "Kagome-chan?"
"Hm?"
"What happened to your dad?"
It was the first time anyone had asked about her father, and Kagome was unprepared for the memories it brought back. Shoulders tense, the young girl looked at her hands, seeing them start to tremble as an onslaught of sensations swamped her, dragging her back to the day her dad had died. Eyes wide, Kagome chewed her lip in an effort to calm herself, breathing through her nose as the throbbing pain began to build in her chest again. Seeming to sense her turmoil, Izayoi quickly backtracked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright, Kagome-chan. You don't have to tell me if it hurts too much."
That small reassurance helped to calm her down, and with a few deep breaths her panic subsided, leaving her feeling shaky and numb. Offering her friend a hollow smile, she sheepishly replied, "I'm sorry, Izayoi-chan. I just- it's too... hard, to talk about."
The princess smiled in understanding, before leaning back and closing her eyes. Mimicking her, Kagome leaned against the sun-warmed surface behind her, allowing herself to drift off into a dreamless nap. Between them, Mimi purred even louder, as though approving of the girl's decision to sleep the day away like a cat would.
~O~
Kuenai rubbed at her tired eyes, staring at the sheaf of parchment in her hands that she had just come across in concern. So far, she'd had no luck in finding any information about the Bone-Eater's well that Higurashi had come through, and was no closer to figuring out any way in which a person could traverse time in either direction. While there had been an ancient legend about a goddess freezing time, she'd quickly dismissed it as having no relevance to her current search.
For days she had scoured through her scrolls, trying to fit the many pieces of the puzzle that was Higurashi together, and she was starting to loose hope. Then, she had stumbled upon this single sheet of parchment, tucked loosely under a stack of scrolls detailing theories about reincarnation and reanimation. While it didn't give her any idea about how to get the child home, it did give her some thought at to the strange reaction Midoriko was having as a result of the child being in this time.
Glancing through the document again, Kuenai recognized her late husband's neat scrawl and felt a bittersweet smile dimple her cheeks.
'How ironic that the one piece of useful information I do come across would be written by him,' she thought to herself, amused at the idea that he was trying to help her from beyond the grave.
Taking the document back to her desk, she shoved piles of paperwork aside to make room for the short roll of paper. Reading through more carefully, the Lady of Setsuna began to grow worried as the implications of the document became clear.
"According to this, if Higurashi was Midoriko's reincarnation, their souls would each cancel the other by being on the same plane of existence," she reasoned, chewing on a worn nail absently.
'But that would mean they'd both die, not experience a pulling sensation.'
But if the child wasn't Midoriko's reincarnation, why was her soul trying to escape to the girl? Reading further, she didn't find any useful information in the rest of the document. Going back up to the first paragraph, she read it out loud to see if it might reveal a clue to the mystery.
::Each soul is a light in the darkness of the world, a flame which burns with experience and knowledge. When a life ends, it is as a candle's wick which has run it's course, trapped in a puddle of what it once was as the light gutters. However, before a light goes out completely, the flame can be transferred to another candle, another wick, and thus can a soul be passed on to another life. However, should that light ever come to face with the light that gave birth to it, it would be as a candle lit from both ends, quickly consumed by the flames of a soul existing where one already is. Unless the flame is contained, it can never meet with it's origin for fear of mutual destruction, and so a soul can never meet with itself on the same plane of existence without a way to contain it's call to the other...::
"A way to contain it's call..." Kuenai murmured, face paling at the idea.
The only way she could think to 'contain' a soul were spells used to bind and seal a person's spirit to an object, usually imbuing it with power of some kind. However, it seemed impossible, as the only spells she'd heard of were all for sealing demons, not humans. If Midoriko's soul felt such a strong pull toward the Higurashi child, then it could mean that she had an object from the future that had been used at some point to seal the miko; but everything she knew spoke to the impossibility of such.
"I will need to get more information in order to find the truth," she said to herself, reedy voice firm in her decision. Thinking of the rest of the mystery she had yet to sort out, Kuenai couldn't help but feel her resolve solidify even further. Looking around at the disaster of her library, it occurred to her that this choice was inevitable either way.
'I'll need to seek out assistance either way, since I have nothing that could explain how Higurashi came to be in the past in the first place,' she reasoned, frowning petulantly at the mess surrounding her. It was the one downside to not trusting anyone near her precious scrolls, that she always had to clean up after herself in here alone. Rolling up her sleeves, she set about her task with fervor, knowing that the sooner she got it done, the sooner she could consider the matter of where to go next for information.
'Perhaps my brother would have some ideas,' she considered as she deftly re-rolled long sheafs of parchment before stacking them with a practiced grace on the appropriate shelves.
After discussing the matter with Tsukau later that evening, Kuenai decided to pay a visit to the Western Shiro and ask for aide from Lord InuTaisho. While the Northern Mountain Lord was bound to have a more extensive library, Tsukau had informed her of the Lord of the West's connection to a tree demon named Bokuseno, whose wood had been used in the creation of the Bone-Eater's well.
It was the best lead she had so far, and thus she immediately sent a message ahead to inform InuTaisho of her impromptu visit while she set about giving orders to prepare for the journey. Servants were quickly set to the tasks of packing clothes for her, Izayoi and Higurashi, knowing that to leave her daughter behind would only result in a headache when she returned.
The two girls had become as close as her and Midoriko were, and if she ended up finding a way home for Higurashi, her daughter would then be denied the chance to say goodbye to her first real friend. Besides that, Izayoi could keep Higurashi from causing too much destruction while she worked on finding the solution to her problem. Hopefully, by the time they left the West, they'd have an idea of how to get the displaced girl from the future back to the family everyone could see she missed.
~O~
Tsukau smiled down at the two girls currently wrapped around his legs. With great exaggeration he lifted his left leg than his right, slowly trudging towards the main courtyard where his sister was finalizing the traveling arrangements.
Kagome and Izayoi both giggled each time they were lifted into the air, delighted with their current mode of transportation and his half-hearted protests.
"Please, little ones, I am but an old man," he tried, wearing a look of long suffering as he allowed his shoulders to droop in mock exhaustion.
"No you're not, Uncle! Mother says you are hardly a year older than her," Izayoi corrected, her voice full of authority.
"Unless you're saying that Kuenai-sama is old too?" The other girl chimed in, voice filled with innocent curiosity even as she grinned at him mischievously.
Before he could respond to the loaded question, the tall man caught his sister glaring in his direction, and could almost feel the threatening flames of her ire. Swallowing heavily, he quickly backtracked, holding his hands up in defeat.
"Of course not! The Lady of Setsuna is known far and wide to be a flower of everlasting beauty," he called loudly, using his best all-charm-no-harm voice. Only after the woman in question had returned to her tasks, mollified expression allowing him a moment of relief, did he raise an eyebrow at the two grinning imps attached to him like child-sized kittens.
"Well played, girls. I am afraid that I am outmatched!"
Laughing at his theatrics, the two released him at last, running towards the sound of gentle mewls coming from one of the carriages. He watched as they pulled their newest pet from the back of the supply carriage, scolding it for trying to stowaway with them.
"Mimi, I told you, it's not safe for you where we're going!" Kagome cuddled the small nekomata, oblivious to the fact that it was technically one of her natural enemies.
Smiling fondly, Tsukau remembered his reaction to Izayoi telling him about Kagome's surprising abilities. Normally, a girl by her age would have been in training to control her powers, but it seemed that in her time such talents were no longer necessary. The young time-traveler had explained how demons and miko were mere legends in her time. This left them all to wonder what had happened to demons over the next few centuries, and Tsukau to wonder why, if there were no demons, Kagome had been born with spiritual energies.
'Even Kuenai seemed perplexed, although she was adamant that it might have something to do with the reason Kagome had arrived in the past,' he thought, recalling the way his sisters eyes had seemed weary at the news.
Her reaction in itself was odd, as normally his sister was dying to latch on to a good mystery or puzzle. However, after several discussion, the large man had begun to wonder if the challenge this child posed was too much for even Kuenai's astute mind.
'Not much can stump her...'
"Tsukau-sama!"
His musings were interrupted by the problem in question tackling him once more, spindly arms wrapping around his waist as she stared up at him with watery eyes. Chuckling, he felt warmth run through him at her familiar handling of his person. Over the past few weeks, she had become more and more comfortable with initiating contact, whether it be hugging him for no apparent reason or climbing in his lap when she woke up in the middle of the night and felt compelled to wander around the shiro.
'I think I enjoy the comfort as much as she does,' he reflected, placing a large hand on the top of her head as he smiled down at her.
"What is wrong, little one?"
She sniffled, lip trembling as she whined, "Are you sure you can't come with us?"
"I'm afraid so. I must remain here to run things in Kuenai's stead."
"But," Kagome protested, fingers pulling at his yukata in her distress. "If we figure out how to send me back I-I might never s-see you again!"
The tears she'd been holding back broke free on a soft sob, and the young girl buried her face in his clothes. His own heart ached at the thought of not seeing the tiny spitfire again, and Tsukau realized exactly how much he had come to care for her. While he loved Izayoi with all his heart, he would always be only an uncle to her. But with Kagome...
While he had only known her for a short time, the large man could easily imagine having a daughter like her one day. Smiling softly, he knelt down to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
Tweaking her nose lightly, he said, "It will be alright, Kagome-chan. We may yet see each other again, and if we don't, well..."
He leaned in close, his voice dropping into a playful whisper, "...we'll always have the crickets!"
His declaration had the desired effect, and Kagome shook with laughter as she recalled how, even after her room had been put to rights, it had still been several days before all of the crickets in there had been caught or died off. It had been on those nights she would wander the shiro until she found him, normally in his study or on a veranda reading by torchlight.
"I won't forget you, Tsukau-sama!" She giggled, planting a kiss on his cheek before running off at Izayoi's call.
Watching as she help the other girl chasing Mimi out of one carriage after another, he allowed himself a moment to wish that they never found a way to send her back to her time. While he knew she missed her family, he was going to miss her, and part of him wanted to be selfish and be the one she turned to for comfort. To be the father she had lost.
But knowing what was to come in the coming months, he could only pray that she did find a way to return to her time. The idea of Kagome getting caught up in the events that were about to unfold made his stomach churn, and he used this fear to banish any lingering desire he had for her to stay. Moving to go speak with Kuenai, he murmured his own vow to the girl who had stolen her way into his heart.
"I will always remember you, little one."