Disclaimer : This was posted on a stomach that contained nothing but a cup of tea and a cup of coffee. I am jittering like a guineapig full of red jellybean and so cannot be held accountable for the intellectual property of any characters hereto depicted, except perhaps the three old women and their dietry habits.
Authors Note: I'm not entirely happy with this chapter. A hell of a lot of nothing happens but it kind of has to to get on with the damn thing. This part wasn't even ment to exist until I realised how important yet another story arc was in developing future bits that are already mostly written. At least I am posting again I suppose. i will be editing this chapter further and reuploading with the next chapter - which I think may be a dog of the female persuasion to write. Wish me luck!
~Chapter 35: Tea and a Tale Told of Travel~
Kagome glanced around the tower room at the small square cushion that seemed to have been set out for her. In the middle of the room was now a stone heath and a tray of tea things. Neither of which, she was certain, had been there before Sesshoumaru had made his offer. There was no sense of haste in the room, no rush to escape that she had expected. The serenity seemed to soak in through her grimy ash stained jacket and soften some tight muscle near her heart.
The taiyoukai cleared his throat softly and knelt before the tea tray with a practiced grace. Kagome set aside her fidgeting and questions and knelt herself, bowing and attentive - for Sesshoumaru was about to prepare Tea.
~o0o~
Eyeing Kagome's grubby hands Sesshoumaru had begun the tea-making with an elaborate ritualized cleansing of the hands, a basin and containers of water and towels appearing in a glance-away. An arched eyebrow in Kagome's direction had ensured that she followed his example. As he laid out the tea implements her posture subtly changed and he could hear her breathing slow. When he glanced across at he could almost see her in formal robes. Her initially tentative attempts to copy his own fluid practiced movement in the hand-washing ritual had gradually given way to a different process than his own – but equally meditative and elegant though unfamiliar.
She then, with proper deference and ceremony, though the offering was certainly not a part of any ceremony Sesshoumaru had experienced, silently presented and offered a small handful of ripe berries wrapped in broad leaves taken from her sleeve. The tart smell of the slightly squashed fruit mixing with the fragrance of the brewing tea and Sesshoumaru savoured the moment with additional concentration. This was indeed a one-time meeting*…
From the corner of his eye Sesshoumaru watched as the agitated, energetic young woman centered herself and focused on Tea. Her story was left to wait as the first cups were poured, the implements silently admired, the initial sips of tea were taken.
Elegantly drawing back a sleeve he selected a berry, assessed it and ate it.
Startled by his action but also recognizing that there were many subtle shades of nuance Sesshoumaru was choosing to communicate in that one action Kagome put her cup down and began her tale.
~o0o~
Kagome had been oblivious to Sesshoumaru's approach under the willow and so missed seeing him blink out of existence. She did not miss, however, the buffet of divine power that knocked her onto her backside. When she picked herself up off the ground she was distinctly alone. Again
The silence had been temporarily deafening. She had sworn, with feeling, as much to break the silence as to relieve her feelings and had then threw a stone as hard as she could at the nearby puddle that had once been a horse.
"What am to do now?!" She had demanded of the sky. No answering epiphany ensued. Evidently she was expected to figure that out alone, again. Her gaze fell upon the pile of discarded skirts Sesshoumaru had hacked from his dress and then down at her battered feet. Drawing the small belt knife that had accompanied her Valet outfit she had set to rendering the fabric into strips.
~o0o~
Several hours of walking later, with feet liberally swathed in silk overlaid with flexible bark stripped from a tree and bound with more silk, Kagome found herself in an abandoned orchard. Leafless persimmon* trees heavy with late fruit, all but dried on the bough, grew in abundance and, having nothing better to do, nor any idea of when she might find food again, Kagome filled her pockets and then went on to make bundles of the fruit using the remnant silk rags from her pockets and burdock leaves* from the ground.
When she had all she could manage to carry Kagome turned on the spot still uncertain of where to proceed. Overgrown and crumbling on the edge of the orchard she noticed an old hut. Further investigation showed the roof had fallen in and the dirt floor was littered with building rubble but, more importantly, an overgrown path was visible leading away from the doorway and downhill. One of Miroku's past comments stirred in her memory - that people tended to settle near water and so downhill usually lead to streams and streams to towns. With that thought Kagome realized how long it had been she had thought of her companions. Just how long had she and Sesshoumaru been mired in these trails? Guiltily she hitched her parcels of fruit and hurried down the road, hopeful that it was towards wherever she was expected to be.
~o0o~
The path did eventually lead to a larger road, just as overgrown and unused as the path. As Kagome followed it she heard a croaking song and found an withered old woman sitting by the side of the road playing inexpertly with a pack of cards*. Something about the sight made Kagome stop and as she realized why she noted another anachronism. For the woman was also sitting by a wooden crate marked "California-type mikan." which had Juicy-juicy-kun, a mascot she remembered from her childhood, stenciled on the side.
"Hullo child, come over, come over. Set down your bundles and have a game with me." A waving hand invited her and a slightly creased furoshiki was shaken out for her to sit on. "So many parcels My Duck – are you a merchant?"
"Not at all – I found some persimmon as I travelled and saved some for later. You are welcome to some if you like them." Kagome offered sunnily, glad of the company.
"Well in that case, shamelessly, I should love some." The old woman answered, clumsily cutting her cards. Kagome opened a pack of fruit and held it out. The old woman surprised her by not taking the expected one or two pieces of fruit but rather the entire thing
The old woman rambled in detail about her relatives and the state of the crops over the past ten years. All the while her bony fingers transferred the dried persimmons to her gap toothed mouth where they disappeared. When one package was empty she would look pointedly at the next until Kagome would avert her gaze and open another one.
"My mother always said if you ate too much fruit it a sitting it wouldn't be pleasant later…" Kagome hesitantly opined when the elderly lady began on the sixth and final package of persimmons Kagome had been visibly carrying.
"Pish!" The old woman said, "Nothing wrong with eating a little bit of fruit. But look- I shall leave one for you as you've been so nice to share." Her bony hands folded the final burdock leaf around the last shriveled piece of fruit carefully and she passed it back to a glum Kagome.
"And I'll give you this. I don't have much use for it anymore." She drew a small fabric bag embroidered with geometric patterns from her sleeve.
"Uh… Thankyou Grandmother," Kagome began politely, beginning to open the bag to put in her last persimmon.
"No no!" The old woman battered Kagome's hand away. "You don't use it for that sort of thing! That would be a waste! No watch carefully." The old woman pointed the opening of the pouch at a large raven that was pecking at the ground some ten meters away.
"Kuru! Kuru! Naka ni ikou!" She cackled and the raven, evidently much to its own surprise, was sucked into the bag which the old woman was then quick to cinched shut. A frightened squawking came from within the small bag and Kagome opened her mouth to protest but the old woman, just as quickly chanted "Iku! Iku! Sota ni koyou!"* and opened the sack again. The bird fluttered out and away with all haste.
"Isn't it a neat trick. I don't use it anymore – after all the Buddha teaches that animals things should not be eaten… and I did promise… Though one does get hungry at times. You can fit a whole cow in this bag without trouble. Or several small people"
Kagome glanced askance at the old woman's rambling, noting a certain sharpness to the snaggled remaining teeth and the long fingernails. Suddenly less than comfortable with the company Kagome excused herself as quickly as she could and, once she was out of sight, set off at a trot to put distance between herself and the old woman.
~o0o~
Some time later, while pausing for a drink at a stream, Kagome put a hand in her pocket and found a few persimmons there. Pulling them out she turned them over on her palm and immediately recoiled. They were all full of fat grubs hungrily munching at the orange flesh. Revolted she emptied her pockets scrubbing her hands on her sides. The thought that the old woman had possibly been so eagerly eating the fruit because she had noticed the insects made Kagome cringe.
~o0o~
Kagome spent the night curled in under a stand of ferns. She'd been fortunate to find a few wild daikon and her new fire-lighting skills provided her with a supper of roasted vegetables. The following morning saw her travelling an area that seemed to be abandoned farmsteads. Untended fruit trees, picked clean by the birds and the wilted remains of self-sown vegetables that had not survived the frost were abundant. The few ruined buildings Kagome had seen indicated it had been years since people had cared for the area. But there had been people in the past and the path continued down hill.
How much of the world she and Sesshoumaru currently travelled was real and how much had Benten set in place, like some toy theatre for her own amusement? As Kagome meditated on this she found herself passing through an abandoned orchard of yuzu* trees still carrying fruit. The small bright yellow citrus would be far too tart to eat but Kagome filled her pockets nonetheless. Though first she inspected every one she picked closely for signs of insects. The citrusy aromatic weight in her pockets lifted her heart and she found herself singing under her breath.
It was about lunchtime when Kagome, considering if she could find anything in the way of edible food when the smell of rice porridge wafted past from a crumbling little shed tucked in behind a riot of brambles and bare branched fruit trees. Hesitantly she ducked her head into the house. On the central heath was a small iron pot of rice porridge over a fire and dozing by it an elderly lady in a quilted blue jacket.
"Ano…..Ano!?" Kagome called at the woman as the crackling sound and smell of burning rice became evident. As the woman muzzily began slowly to stir Kagome hobbled forward on her hands and knees across house floor, holding her feet in their boots boots up and away from the old tatami matting. Scooping up the dish cloth by the woman's side she removed the rice pot from the coals and put it on the pot holder evidently placed for that purpose.
"Pardon me for intruding – it was going to burn…" Kagome's apologies trailed off as the woman turned milky eyes towards the sound of her voice and began to put out a questing hand. "Uh- I put the rice pot just here." Kagome tapped the side of the vessel to make a noise and the old woman straightened and tidied herself. "Why thank you Missie. I just nodded off a moment – you are welcome to have share this lowly one's lunch… but what is this?! What is this?!" The old woman's hand bumped into one of the yuzu that had tumbled from Kagome's pockets and she scooped it up, snuffling at it enthusiastically. "Why yuzu? I've not had these in years."
"Uh… Please do." Kagome offered weakly even as the old woman bit down eagerly into the sour little fruit. "I've plenty more…"
The old woman scrunched through the citrus as though it were a strawberry and Kagome found herself, one by one, handing over every piece in her pockets and watching with a terrible fascination as they all disappeared down the scrawny woman's throat. To balance this though she got a large bowl of rice porridge and cup after cup of bansha tea*.
Finally the old woman sat back and took a sip of her own tea with a satisfied sigh.
"Well that it's a doubly fortunate day that these old bones met you today I've a full belly and still rice to spare. In thanks I'll give you that the cup to keep missie – it's a good size, for all that it is a little battered but it's more than that – If you look in it's reflections you can see more than is there for the seeing in it."
"Moreover if someone seems deathly sick a glance can tell you if they're for recovery or not. If there's a dark shape at their feet a little tea from this cup will see them well again, but a shadow by their head means you may as well order the straw mat* and monk for sutras."
Kagome began to protest against the value of such an item and the old woman waved away her protests. "Not much use to me now you can surely see. I'm not planning to live much longer – you'd best take it as me leave it for the mice to nest in. Now off with you – I've tasks to finish myself."
Kagome thanked the old woman again and donned her boots, having pulled them off and left them by the door after the offer of lunch, before bowing her way out the door. As she was about to step onto the path another question about the cup struck her and she turned back to ask it, only to find the hut deserted, the floor free of tatami and the heath cold and empty of ash. As she backed out of the building it crumbled inwards and an irrationally cold shiver ran down her spine. Not pausing to question why she should suddenly be so afraid Kagome bolted down the road.
Eventually the sense of dread faded and a stitch in her side convinced Kagome to return to a walk. The landscape had opened up from the semi-wooded mountains. The ground was flattening and the fields looked less abandoned.
As the sun reached a few fingers above the horizon , on the side of the road Kagome found a large kabocha*, the nubbly edges forming a crown around the top edge that made it easy to carry using the remaining silk strips to macramé together a net bag around it. It wasn't light but Kagome rationalized that she could roast it whole in coals. The thought made her stomach growl eagerly. However Kagome had barely rounded a corner in the path when she came across a third old woman.
Hitching the pumpkin on her shoulder Kagome strode forward, now certain she was on the right track back into another tale. Three dogs, three old ladies, three shared meals and three gifts in reply. She felt a little guilty about assuming on the third gift part but the stories had been nothing if not predictable about numbers.
"Good afternoon to you Grandmother. I've just found a fine pumpkin. Would you like to share some?" Kagome asked. The wrinkled face twisted into a smile.
"Blessings be upon you young one. I was just contemplating supper…" Kagome looked down at the small pile of charcoal and the three lizards skewered on sticks over them and quashed a grimance. The old woman however had eyes only for the pumpkin. While Kagome unlaced the pumpkin and set it on the rumpled furoshiki the woman had placed on the ground for it the crone rummaged in a basket clucking for a knife.
Kagome was barely surprised when the old woman pulled a sheathed Tenseiga, from the wicker box and, in vain, attempted to unsheathe the sword to cut the pumpkin.
"If I may suggest it… I think this might suit a bit better…" Kagome said, warily proffering her small hunting knife hilt first. "Swords aren't really designed for vegetable cutting… If you like we could even swap…"
The old woman's face lit up as she took the knife and, checking the edge with her thumb, she thrust Tensaiga out towards Kagome with her other hand. Cautiously and politely Kagome accepted the swords with two hands. The pulse of recognition that jarred through Tensaiga's hilt at her touch was so sharp that Kagome almost dropped the blade. Her fingers tingled at the silent buzz that vibrated through the sword like the happy whine dog finding a friend in an unfamiliar crowd.
By the time Kagome had used her silk scraps to make a strap to secured Tensaiga to her belt the pumpkin had been raggedly hacked into slices like a watermelon and, despite appearing to have few remaining teeth the old woman was enthusiastically eating it raw. Piece after piece of marrow disappeared into the rapidly working mouth until one last small piece of pumpkin remained. The old woman looked at it longingly and then began to fold it up into the grubby cloth.
"No. It's quite alright." Kagome hastened to say, eyeing what appeared to be old snail tracks running across the fabric. "You keep that bit too. I'm not all that hungry. "
The old woman's fingers closed around the pumpkin and it disappeared into her sleeve swiftly
"Good fortune to you then child. An' if I were you I'd get off this path quick as you can." The old woman said, scooping up her three lizards and her basket.
"Why would you say that?" Kagome asked and followed the old woman's gaze further along the track. Ahead came the rumble of hooves intermingled with cries of fear and pain. When Kagome looked back the elderly woman was gone. The sound of horses drew nearer and, deciding on caution over curiosity for a change, Kagome threw herself into the underbrush.
~o0o~
Notes:
A cultural note on tea: The Japanese tea ceremony as we know it today developed in the [mid?late?]Tokugawa period by Rikku [more info].
The Sengoku Jidai, the warring states period where Inuyasha and co live,occurs before this, Sesshoumaru's time. As much of the origins of Japanese is highly influenced by Chinese innovations I decided Sesshoumaru would be well versed in their tea practices rather than the Tea Ceremony with assocate with Japan today. Being a daughter of a temple I imagine Kagome would have been expected to be well versed in all forms of the elegant arts for a lady – hence her own ritual behavior while taking tea.
*I don't practice it (yet), however I've read enough culture based texts (and manga on the subject) to know one of the fundamental aspects of the Japanese Tea Ceremony is the understanding that every meeting is a once in a life-time occurrence and so should be recognised as such by all involved.
*Persimmon (Diospyros kaki), in Japanese Kaki (柿). There are two forms of persimmon – astringent and sweet. The sweet ones can be eaten from the tree like an apple when they are a deep orange. The astringent ones have to be either left on the tree or picked and allowed to ripen until they are very soft or else dried to be palatable.
* Burdock (Arctium lappa) in Japanese Gobou (牛蒡) – the roots and leaves are used in cooking but it also grows wild/feral. There are varieties of edible burdock in England and Australia too. Probably all over the world.
* Playing cards were introduced by the Portuguese in and around the late Edo-Meiji time and so didn't, to my small bit of research, exist in Japan in the Sengoku period ^_^ Juicy-Juicy-kun is my invention but I am sure there exists one somewhere in the Japanese mascot world.
* furoshiki (風呂敷) are squares of fabric of a variety of sizes and often used as a wrapping cloth . The kanji is basically a Bath cloth – indicating the use of the item to wrapping one's clean clothing and toiletries in when going to public baths.
*早く! 早く! 内の中に来る。 Hyaky Hayaku! Uchi no naka ni kuru.
Quick ! Quick! Come inside.
My attempt at "Snicker Snack! Get in my Sack!"
来る! 来る! 外に行く。Kuru! Kuru! Sota ni iku.
Come! Come! go outside.
* Yuzu (柚子) A yellow citrus fruit and about as palatable as a kaffir lime for eating raw. This is used in a lot of deserts and as a flavoring for alcohol – if you've ever tried ume-shuu (plum wine) yuzu-shuu is equally delicious
*Bansha- a variety of roasted tea often drunk with meals
*Kabocha (かぼちゃ) – Japanese pumpkin. The seeds of this variety of pumpkin are also known as Pepita's