A very happy birthday today to Wiccan! While this chapter was written long before I even knew of a birthday, I can still post it in your honour.
Kagome stood there gawking at the old tree talking to Sesshoumaru as if they were old buddies. It was very rare to see the stoic demon lord so open with anybody, but then she figured everybody had to have a confidant. She stood to the side though and tried to remain oblivious to the both of them until they were completed with their greetings and small talk.
Small talk!
She didn't know that Sesshoumaru even understood the concept. But there he was doing just that with the old Mongolian tree.
"I knew Sesshoumaru's father, Kagome," the tree explained to her suddenly. "I am over 2000 years old and I befriended the Inu no Taisho when he was nothing but a pup. It was only natural that I got to see Sesshoumaru grow up as well."
"You mean you got to see him as a pup too?" she giggled.
"That I did, he was—"
"Bokuseno," Sesshoumaru growled, interrupting his musings.
"My apologies, Sesshoumaru. You've come for information."
"If you can provide it. We seek answers."
Bokuseno glanced at Kagome standing off to the side. "Sit girl, make yourself comfortable while we talk."
Kagome found a soft patch of grass and crossed her legs as she sat. Typically out of a sign of respect she would sit on her knees, but something was telling her she might be sitting there for the long haul and should get comfortable.
"How did you know my name before?" she asked. She had meant to ask him earlier, but the thought of Sesshoumaru running around as little pup had distracted her.
"You will be surprised at what I know, but there are several reasons as to how I know you. First and foremost, the sheaths that contain Tessaiga and Tenseiga are a part of myself. I had created them and imbibed them with protective charms, whether it be protection for the fangs, or for the whoever holds the sheath."
She nodded, following along. "I've seen that, I've been forced to use Inuyasha's sheath for protection a few times. It's remarkable."
"Of that I'm quite aware. As the sheathes are a part of me, I am given a sense of who uses them and for what purpose. Everybody who touches the sheath is ingrained in my memory. While I can't necessarily see what you would look like, sound like, or smell like, there is an underlying marker on you that I can feel. Your aura, for example. I can get an imprint of who you are by your aura. It speaks to me, tells me who you are, and when you approached today, I was greeted by the same aura that had introduced itself to me the first time you touched Tessaiga's sheath."
Kagome sat awestruck. "So you're telling me you can tell who touched the sheaths." She watched him nod again. "So, when Jaken had decided to come and steal Inuyasha's sword, you knew it was he trying to do so?"
"I did, I could also determine his intent with the sword," he sent a glance that could almost be described as sly toward Sesshoumaru.
"The toad acted of his own will," Sesshoumaru sat straight-backed in front of the ancient tree. "I will one day possess the sword, but it will be of my own accord, through my strength and my power."
She nearly rolled her eyes at his statement. Time and time again he had vowed to retrieve Tessaiga and it was always just out of his reach. Either that or he just didn't try hard enough. She narrowed her eyes at him. "I've seen you fight before, I mean truly fight, not like the petty squabbles you've had with Inuyasha. How is it you've never been able to take Tessaiga before? You're certainly strong enough to do so."
His eyes remained blank as he brushed her off. "It was merely not the time yet. The Tessaiga will come into my possession when it is deserving of having one such as me use it. Until then Inuyasha can continue to amuse himself with it."
This time she couldn't resist rolling her eyes, and turned back to Bokuseno. "You meantioned other ways you knew me?"
"Yes," the ancient tree continued. "Being rooted to the ground doesn't allow one such as myself much travel, so we must rely on the news of others to keep us up to date. The trees have been stirring about lately with whispers of Naraku and the hunt of the jewel shards. They also speak of an odd group hunting for the shikon jewel as well, a hanyou, a priestess, a monk, a fox and a youkai exterminator. As I know Inuyasha to be the hanyou, I assume you to be the priestess."
She nodded again, confirming his belief.
"As well, I am paid the odd visit by Myoga or Totosai. They both speak very highly of you."
"Bokuseno," Sesshoumaru growled in warning again. "We are deviating from our purpose here."
"My apologies Sesshoumaru. You are looking for answers. However, I do not know the questions."
Kagome thought it best to continue here. If anything could be said about the demon lord, it was that he only spoke when necessary, and typically in nothing more than short sentences. If Bokuseno needed the story, he needed to hear it from somebody who would explain it all. "Have you heard of the legend of Mokuren and Shion?" she asked. "A demon and a priestess from long ago who had their souls trapped in a mirror."
She saw his face lighten in familiarity The legend wasn't as lost as they had thought it would be, she thought with glee. Perhaps they'd be able to expel the souls quickly and return to whatever they were doing before.
She felt a bittersweet pang though at that thought. Over the past few days she had a chance to get to know the demon lord, and the more she saw, the more she liked. He didn't need to speak often to get his point across. He didn't need to be obvious with his emotions to show that he cared. They were there, buried somewhere just below the surface, but there, and he without saying as much, she knew he cared for and was fiercly protective of anything he called his.
But she didn't belong to him so she didn't fall in the category of people he'd be fiercly protective of. Although she was her own woman, if she belonged with anybody in the feudal era, it was with Inuyasha, a stubborn but sweet hanyou with no true place in this world outside of his small group. She couldn't leave him as leaving him meant she'd be dooming him to an existence with nobody around.
The others would leave eventually, Miroku and Sango off to where they're destined to live, and Shippo would travel across the country side, leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him. It was amazing how easily he could charm a girl.
But who knew where she would end up once this was all over as well?
"Tree demons have passed this story down through the years so it wouldn't be forgotten," Bokuseno continue, interrupting her thoughts. "The first ones are long since gone, and so are many of those they passed the legend onto to, but we all make a point of telling somebody and instructing them to pass it on so it won't be forgotten."
"We know the bare minimum regarding that legend," she said. "Their names were Mokuren and Shion, a village priestess and a Taiyoukai, Inu to be exact. They were secret lovers, were killed by men and youkai and their souls trapped for eternity until it could be released."
The tree demon nodded his head. "That is the story in a nutshell, however, there is more to this story, although very few people know it."
"Such as?" she asked as she glanced over at Sesshoumaru. He was the epitome of calm and looked like he didn't have a care in the world. If she were anybody else, she would think he wasn't listening to what they were saying. But whatever connection they shared now, whether it be through their own doing, or that of the spirits', she knew differently. He was hanging onto every word. She was too.
"The time period to begin. It was a time filled with war and strife. Everybody continually moved about and chased the game. This is how the ancient trees knew so much. They saw many people, many youkai grow, live and move on over the years. One year one village would be erected where we are gathered. Two years later it could be another tribe, and another year later, a third tribe. Every tribe moved no, nobody stayed stationary.
"Much like today, there were many tribes, and many tribal leaders. Some tribes worked well together and formed alliances. Others wanted to see certain tribes destroyed, and they would send out some for their most aggressive men to do just that. Search and destroy.
"Was this man or youkai?" she asked, knowing the answer and dreading it.
"Man. Youkai moved around as well, but they mostly kept to themselves. They had their leaders, respected their leaders, and had their own wars, but they stayed away from humans. They found them lacking in many things, far beneath them on any scale, so they didn't pay them any attention. There were some rogue youkai who would hunt humans for sport, as there always will be, and then there were some youkai who wanted complete annihilate the human race so the world would be pure, but then that hasn't changed over the years. It stays much the same."
"That's so sad," she murmured. "All this hate and there's really no reason for it."
"You each have your purpose on this earth," Bokuseno continued with his tale. "However, I don't think either group will learn to live with each for many more years to come."
She thought of her time, the 6 billion people living on Earth,12 million of them in Tokyo, and not once had she felt the presence of another youkai. 'No, we don't learn to live with each other ever,' she thought.
"The first of several human and youkai wars begun about a hundred years before these two, and a lot of the prejudices were carried around. Humans passed the stories to their children, and their grandchildren. Many of the different generations carried the stories of the war with them, many of them knew the prejudices and continued with the hate.
"Youkai didn't need to pass the stories of their hate to their children. They carried the memories inside them, let the hate fester over the years until it was only inevitable that another human-youkai war would emerge. Until such a time though they would prey on lonely humans, devour their flesh if they were so inclined.
"There was such anger and resentment between the two species. Nobody knows what started it, but it was through the loss of their loved ones in the first war that allowed the hatred to grow to unmanageable levels. There was also pride as both races believed they won the first war, and they spent time arguing with each other as to why they won over the other.
"But it was the youkai who exercised control and spent their time ignoring the humans. They didn't like humans, but hunting humans weren't worth their effort."
"There were exceptions to this though," Kagome murmured. "Not all youkai hated humans."
"No," agreed Bokuseno. "Not all demons hated humans, and not all humans hated demons. There were several youkai who had found many things they liked in humans and ended up with human mates. Unfortunately their lives were riddled in tragedy. Any hanyou that were sired were destroyed unless the family went into exile and remained hidden. Any pair that did not have children found it very difficult to exist among either group. Any societal ranking they may have achieved was stripped from them. They were mocked, used as examples of what not to do and given the grunt work all the time.
"A human male mated to a female youkai would find himself constantly fighting with other human males as they ganged up on him. Human females mated to male youkai were considered to be disgraced, ridiculed, often called the most vile of names, and quite often spat upon."
Monster.
Whore.
Demon.
Filth.
Tainted.
Dirty.
"What about society in general?" Kagome asked. "Nevermind mating outside if your species, what was life like?"
The tree demon looked upon her gravely. "Life was not easy even if you stayed within your race. There were no permanent settlements. Youkai moved within their territories, as did humans, both separate from each other. They each worked for their food, hunted what game they could, and picked whatever edible vegetation they could find. They would spend maybe four months maximum in one spot before moving on.
"The difference was in how society was ruled. By experience, youkai were stronger and wiser than most humans, far more advance in terms of skill and knowledge. Today's aristocratic system is the same was it was several millennia ago. There were taiyoukai who traveled the lands, ensuring the safety of his people, settling disputes and making decisions based on the welfare of the youkai under his care. There were several groups of youkai who lived in small packs, much like your human tribes. They each had an alpha male and alpha female who were responsible for continuing the line. Any major decision made by anybody was deferred to them. They chose whether to accept new pack members, or send any current ones into exile.
"While some carried weapons, most did not. They were able to rely on their own natural strengths. Youkai weapons only came along when humans started to invent better weapons to fight them off. The taiyoukai of each of the lands had carried a weapon, a spear made from their fang that could lend them power. It was an easy weapon to use for defense, offense, and easy to transport. Other than that, weapons were rare.
"Humans on the other hand constantly worked to better themselves. One would invent a weapon, within months, somebody else would have something stronger. They were made of base materials, no steel or anything of the likes, but wood, sharpened rock, and the bones of their kill. They created poisons and learned how to dip their weapons into poison to make it more effective. But their fighting did not come naturally to them.
"For the most part they were hunter-gatherers. They lived in their own tribe and their tribe elder ruled as supreme. The elder was chosen based on strength, experience and wisdom, and he was well-respected by all tribes people. Some believed in higher beings, others did not. The consensus though was somebody had created the world, and created everything in it. They provided the food they eat, and the materials they needed to live, and therefore they should pay respect to some higher being. The elder would base his laws around this respect."
"What about priests and priestesses?" Kagome asked.
"They had those too," he replied. "They were few and far between as they, like you, need to be born with a holy power. It's not so much a power to purify, but to heal, to act as a go between for the gods and man. They were probably the only being in the tribe who the people respected more than the village elder. While the role of the priest and priestess has changed a bit in the past several millennia, the respect they held by the people hasn't. That still remains very much the same."
She glanced toward Sesshoumaru and saw his own eyes narrow in understanding. He was thinking along the same things as she was. "I have had some insight over the past few days into the character of Mokuren, the priestess of one of the tribes. The one thing I think both Sesshoumaru and I agree on is Priestess Mokuren did not receive any respect from her tribe."
Bokuseno's eyes leveled with her own. "No, she did not."
AN
Okay, so we have a very dialogue driven chapter here, and same with the next as we start to hear some explanations. What was funny though was as I was writing these next few history/explanation chapters, madmiko on brought up a point about the treatment of Mokuren, and why she was being treated the way she was when priestesses and holy men were revered and treated well. There's a method behind my madness and I was impressed that somebody would pick that up. It was even more coincidental that she mentioned it as I was writing it. Bravo!
JayFicLover, you had mentioned the Clan of the Cave Bear books…I can honestly say that even though we own one of every book in that series in my house, I've never touched them. There's a spectacular series of books about Natives though that I have read, and if you liked Clan of the Cave Bear, you'll probably enjoy these. The People books by Michael and Kathleen Gear. It starts with People of the Wolf, then People of the Fire, People of the Earth, and more. I believe there's about 15 books in the series and they're absolutely fantastic. My love of history was renewed while reading those books, after it was destroyed by a horrible history professor while at school.
I hope everybody has a very good week. Keep your eyes open for a continuation of my one shot series, The Magpie Superstition. I am more than halfway written on the third story, so it should be up one of these days.
Disclaimer: see chapter one