Title: Dreamweaver
Author: landofthekwt
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Dream (Inuyasha et al
Genre: Irony
Word count: 1648
Pairing: Sesshoumaru/Izayoi
Warning: None
Summary: Izayoi's prayer cures the Lady's nightmares
The visit to the Western Shiro did nothing to assuage her fears. They fed on her dreams which now came nightly. She became fearful of sleeping because she knew that if she did she would dream of the war. Sleep came to her now only when she became so exhausted that her youki could no longer sustain her.
The dreams had become so vivid that she could think of nothing else. Sleeping or waking now she saw the same battles. The same death. The same destruction. Whatever kami was sending her these visions all she could do was curse them. All she wanted was to be left alone. The dogs were not worth the pain that the dreams were causing her.
She tried sleeping while transformed. Changing rooms. Drinking sake before she slept. Nothing helped. The sake left here with a hangover. When she changed forms and rooms she awoke dazed and confused, but the dreams still came. Finally, desperate and at the edge of her wits, she contemplated her own death.
She even prepared for it by dressing in all white and placing herself into a trance while gazing out over her rock garden. Sleep overtook instead and in the morning she found herself still alive. Her servants took to hiding all her knives. She was watched even as she slept to prevent her from such an act. In desperation, they finally sent a missive to Sesshoumaru.
Sesshoumaru seemed quite surprised by the letter. He had assumed that the review of the troops would set her mind at ease. Instead, things had become much worse. He should be relieved. With his mother crippled by her dreams the threat to Izayoi abated. If she died, his worries would be over.
Instead, he found himself racked by guilt. The idea that his mother might take her own life gnawed at him. He found himself at Izayoi's quarters in good conscience save the woman who threatened the one loved. How would she react to such a mission? Sesshoumaru was hesitant to even broach the subject.
"Izayoi, I must go to my mother. She is troubled by dreams of death and destruction. They come to her whether asleep or awake. She is in despair. Her trusted advisors fear for her life. I must leave you for a time in order to attend to her"
Izayoi wondered whether Benten had finally heard her prayers and delivered her from her enemy, the Lady of the West. She quickly banished those thoughts. The woman was still the mate of her beloved. She would go and pray in the Temple for her. She hugged Sesshoumaru and looked up at him.
"Go to your mother. She needs you now more than ever. Return when the dreams are gone."
Sesshoumaru nodded and departed for the Castle in the Air. Izayoi went up to To-sho-ji, the temple of the Houjou to pray for the Lady of the West. She prayed that the kami might relieve the Lady from the dreams which haunted her and drove her to madness. Clapping her hands twice she finished her prayer and left the temple.
A bored Amaterasu sat among the kami at their annual convocation at Izumo. It was bad enough that she had to come to Soosanoo's temple to cast the fate of humanity, but to listen to each of the kami tell her tales that she already knew was too much. Some viewed the convention as a vacation. She needed a vacation from the vacation. Somewhere the sun did not shine.
She gazed into her mirror. The usual prayers scrolled by. Thousands upon thousands every day. She really needed to get someone to listen to these prayers. They were always the same. "Make me rich"." Bless our marriage with children"." Don't let grandma die" The die was already cast. Their fate already determined A waste of money and prayer. Both better spent on other more pressing needs.
A single prayer caught her attention. The whore of the Dog whispered a plea to the heavens to save her most hated enemy from the madness which was overcoming her. All this was news to Amaterasu. She knew the fate of Dog's mate since it was tied to her kin. Somehow visions of the future were leaking into her dreams and disrupting her actions. Unacceptable.
She was sure whether the dreams of the future were being accidentally thrust upon the Lady of the West or if there was a plot to change the fate which had already been determined by the kami. Whatever it was she was going to put a stop to it. She needed the Lady to restore the Emperor to his rightful place even if only for a moment so that he would not be consigned to the trash bin of history.
The Weaver would know. Her job was to weave the fabric of reality. If fated events were truly unraveling, it was her job to patch the holes and restore the threads which bound it all together. Amaterasu had allowed her charge of the Weavers. It took her mind off the fact that she was only allowed to see her beloved cowherd once a year.
Something must be done about the bad visions which the Lady of the West was having. Surely there was some way to rid her of her dreams of the future which were driving her mad. A little tapir like creature wondered by. Baku. That was it. The Baku could eat the nightmares which destroying the fabric of reality.
Amaterasu summoned the Princess and placed the baku in her arms. Although it was not something the Princess ordinarily, die she was not busy at the moment. The Sun Goddess had promised her an extra day with her cowherd if she performed the task. In any event she needed to see the damage for herself. While the Baku did their job, she would restore the tapestry of fate to its correct form.
The Sun Goddess pointed the way to the Castle in Air to the Princess. It was up to her to restore the fabric of reality which was being ripped apart by the nightmares which were being forced upon the unsuspecting Lady of the West. Hopefully, it was just random dreams of the future which had found their way into the Lady's dreams.
Upon her arrival at the Castle in the Air, the Weaver found her way to the sleeping Lady. It was not hard. She simply set the baku down and it eagerly followed the nightmare trail to her bed. The Weaver set up her treadle and began to reweave the fabric of fate surrounding the sleeping woman. Amaterasu implied that significant damage had been done
Her examination showed that no long term damage had been done. It was the Lady of the West who had been injured. Until she was right again, reality would not follow its fated course. She began to weave as baku began their task. They really were funny little beings with their tapir like snouts which sucked up the nightmares. Nothing like the chimera like being she had grown up within her era.
As she ruminated about the present form of the baku., a light flashed in the sleeping chamber. Emerging from the energy bubble was the most breathtakingly beautiful being the Weaver had ever seen. Just then she remembered that she and the Baku were visible to the eyes of the immortals. Sesshoumaru was staring right at her.
"Who are you and what are you doing to my mother?"
"I am Am-No-Tanabata-Hime. I am not doing anything to your mother. The Baku are eating the bad dreams which have been plaguing her lately. I am restoring the fabric of reality around her which has been damaged by the nightmares she had been having."
" Why are you here?"
"I am here because Amaterasu asked me to come."
The answer seemed to satisfy Sesshoumaru. He settled down to watch as the creatures consumed vast quantifies of bad dreams from around his mother. The Weaver returned to her treadle. Sesshoumaru watched her and the Baku. It bothered him that he could not see the bad dreams that the Baku were eating or the reality that the Princess was weaving. He had to take their word that what they were doing was for the good of his mother.
Eventually, the Baku returned to the Princess who was satisfied that they had consumed all the nightmares which had driven the Lady mad. As she was folding her treadle the Lady awoke and stared at Weaver and Baku in her arms. Looking up the Lady saw Sesshoumaru who sat down beside her.
"How are you feeling?"
"Much better. Whatever had been making me feel so horribly lately is gone now."
Sesshoumaru turned to the Weaver. " Will you need to return every night to stop the nightmares?"
" I think that we have stopped the damage to her and fixed the fabric of reality surrounding her."
Sesshoumaru watched the Weaver and her companions slowly disappear. He turned to his mother. She really seemed to be in better spirits than he had seen her in some time. Izayoi's prayers really were answered. For once the kami had actually done something useful. He had always been skeptical that they were of any use at all.
The Weaver unfolding her night's weaving for Amaterasu's viewing. The burning of the Western Shiro and Kamakura were especially well down. Amaterasu nodded her head. The Weaver bowed. The Sun Goddess was pleased. She would receive her extra day with her cowherd.
It was amazing the way that one thread tied the Lady, Sesshoumaru, the Emperor, Izayoi and the Dowager together. The nightmares had nearly unraveled it all. Those whom the kami had joined together let not man put asunder
. .