Nocturne - Chapter Thirty-Four: Resolve
Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language)
o - o - o - o - o : Indicates scene or POV change
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
o - o - o - o - o
The gods of weather smiled down on Kagome the next day. The storm had ushered in a bout of sunny and mild weather. This weather would do well on her journey to find him.
She'd gathered supplies necessary for her trip and set off on foot with the little nekomata riding on her shoulder. The tiny yokai seemed to have taken to her quite well. Honestly, as soon as she'd fed it some dried meat she'd had leftover at her house, it had become smitten with her, continually mewing and rubbing on her leg in the hope of more.
The little scavenger, she'd thought and pondered on a name for him. Kohaku hadn't mentioned a name, so he must not have one. She listed a few aloud while preparing for her journey, all to be snubbed by her tiny new friend. "How about Rei, you feisty little thing?" He mewed happily at the name, and it was settled. Rei, it was.
Days passed as they headed west. Kagome had no idea where she was supposed to go except for a general sense of the direction. She knew that she would begin the day with the sun traveling at their backs and end with the trees pulling the sun back down for the night's rest.
On the third day, Kagome sighed deeply. She seemed to be getting nowhere fast. Rei walked happily beside her, only too happy for the food she would give him. She stopped and kneeled beside him. "So, do you think you can help me out here?" She asked him.
Rei cocked his little head to the side, confused by Kagome's words. Kagome scratched behind his ear, and his red eyes closed with pleasure. "Look, I've seen your mother transform into a larger form. What do you say, buddy? Care to give me a lift for a bit?"
The nekomata seemed to ponder her request and ran a few feet away. He stood there for a moment, looking uncertain. Perhaps he was unable to transform unless he had two tails like his mother, Kirara. That made sense, she thought.
Kagome called him back, "Don't hurt yourself, little one. You'll get there. Sometimes it just takes longer for others."
Rei bobbed his head as if he understood, which was probable. Kirara always exhibited the ability to understand them, so it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that Rei could as well.
They continued onwards, journeying westward. As they walked, Kagome could help but be reminded of a story that somewhat resembled her own.
It was a fairytale about a king who had fallen in love with a princess from another land. However, the king had been cursed by a witch to resemble a giant, white beast during the day only to return to his true form at night. To break the curse, a woman must marry him but never lay eyes upon his real face for three years lest the king is forced to go and marry the witch.
The king had chosen well because his young bride was beautiful and pure, never to betray anyone, and she had fallen in love with him despite his beastly appearance. Never once did she try to see his face when he came to her at night because he had made her promise not to do so. They were both faithful to their word. In his human form, he arrived at night and left in the morning before she awoke.
Life was well and good for the princess and the king, and it was not long before the princess learned of a child in her belly. However, after the baby had been born the king took the child and disappeared with her. This happened twice more, year after year, always on the third day after the baby had been born.
The princess was devastated and lonely, her days spent in a grand castle without her children or her love. When the king would visit her at night, he would soothe her tears and tell her to be patient and that all would be well soon. But after hearing those same words for three years was she was not consoled. Instead, she begged to visit her mother, whom she missed terribly. The king knew his bride was miserable and allowed it.
The princess told her mother of her woes and how she did not even know what her husband looked like. The queen joked that he must be terribly ugly or terribly handsome to hide his face. Her mother advised she wait for the king to fall asleep and look upon his face with the subtle light of a candle so as not to wake him.
After the princess returned home, many months passed until curiosity finally won her over. She smuggled a candle into their bedchamber, which he had forbidden, and waited for her husband to fall asleep. Once the princess heard the gentle snores of sleep, she slipped from the bed and lit the candle to creep over to where her husband lay.
She held the candle over his face, swathing him in the soft glow of light. Her breath caught in her chest. He was beautiful. Breathtakingly so.
The princess felt ashamed for breaking her promise never to look upon his face and made to move away, but the tallow from the candle dripped on his brow, waking him from his slumber.
He grabbed her wrist angrily and shook her in a rage, yelling that had she just waited one more month, his curse would have been broken, and they could have lived happily together. He now had to leave and marry the witch that had cursed him in the first place. After that, he magically disappeared from her sight, leaving her truly alone.
The princess was at first distraught, and then after she had decided not to wallow in self-pity, she picked her self up and resolved to journey out and find her king and take him back, no matter the cost.
Kagome chuckled to herself as she recalled the tale. There were obvious parallels to her situation. Sesshomaru had taken her daughter, and now she was on a self-redeeming quest to get them both back. She only hoped her tale had a happy ending.
o - o - o - o - o
The pain of his injuries was nothing compared to the humiliation he felt. The wounds had healed as well as they could, given the circumstances behind them, but he would be left with a deformity to his face. Such was the nature of spiritual injuries like the one he had taken.
Fan sulked for days on end in one of the undamaged rooms of his sprawling palace, never leaving for any purpose. Food and other amenities were routinely brought to the room but largely ignored by the room's occupant.
He'd underestimated the power of the Nippon miko greatly and was left with a permanent reminder of his arrogance. Fan had taken a full blast of unadulterated spiritual energy that had meant to purify all that he was, an attempt to erase his yoki from existence and snuff him out completely. He'd thought he could take that energy and redirect it, or at the very least absorb it as he had done before with other shrine maidens similar to her. Never in his many years had Fan encountered an individual with spiritual powers so great. Granted, he had never had cause to seek a being with such powers out, nor they him.
Now Fan felt an insurmountable urge to extinguish those who held such power for the threat it would cause to his kind. Should the mortals feel inclined to rise against the yokai, even those as powerful as Fan, they would be a burdensome foe.
A knock at his door was left ignored, as he had any time someone came to call upon him. The door slid open, and his sister, Tsering, approached carefully. He'd never once struck out at his dear sister, yet she always tiptoed around him like a mortal walking on the frozen layer of a lake, cautious not to step on the thin parts that would send them plummeting to their doom. Like the lake of ice, Fan's mood was just as unpredictable. He currently felt a wave of sullen anger that had not bubbled over into his actions just yet. It would not be long, though, until the anger would begin to fester.
"Brother?" Tsering called out tentatively.
She'd visited multiple times since the incident and had been the one to find him in the wreckage, always sitting with him in silence until she inevitably left. Today was the first day that she had broken the silence, and the sound of her voice made him cringe inwardly. The thought of placing his hands around her throat and squeezing until the senses had been suffocated from his loving sister passed through him. He now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that their life forces were not as inexorably linked as he had initially assumed. There has always been a doubt in his mind that his frail twin could not be spiritually joined in that sense. No, that had been but a tale his unfortunate parents had likely fed to him when he was susceptible to such fantasies. Their ploy had worked for his sister, but not for them. Now he knew that it, too, was a lie.
His eyes burned with a fury that stopped Tsering dead in her tracks. The look he gave her caused her words to dry up in her mouth. Good, he thought. She seemed to reconsider and leave, but something urged her forward with tentative steps.
"Th-the elders have called on you," she stammered. Her eyes flitted around the room like a nervous animal, gauging any route of escape should escape become necessary.
Fan stood and smiled at his sister. "Beloved sister, of course, they have. They want to know what brought the strongest of them low."
Tsering could be seen visibly swallowing her nerves, attempting to smooth her hair to seem composed. "There's no way you could have known, brother," she whispered.
"You're right," he said with a wistful sigh. He looked at her sweetly, "Because you did not tell me."
Her face was usually pale, as was a common sign of beauty, but now the blood drained from her face giving her the look of a corpse that had not realized its death. "I-I-I," she stuttered.
Fan walked over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Lovely sister, you tremble? Why?"
The words seemed to be caught in her throat, and she blinked several times. "She was a mortal and beneath my notice. How was I to know she held such power? I'd only ever seen her briefly once," she attempted to say with haughtiness.
"Hnn," he grunted and released his grip, strolling to a window. He looked out to see the ruins of the castle beyond. This was the first time he had moved to look outside since the incident several days ago. Now seemed an opportune time to plan. Now was the time to let go of his humiliation and plot out revenge on the human woman and her lover.
He would make them suffer, yes, that he would do, and he would relish in their misery. And he would undoubtedly enjoy it for a long, long time. Rarely had he taken such an intimate involvement in any plots, but this grievous act of aggression could not be ignored or treated in an offhand manner. He would need to oversee the details personally and expediently. Time was not on his side, and Fan could not allow his usual method of patient and tactful maneuvering that usually required centuries for the pieces to fall into place to assuage him into inaction.
Fan smiled to himself as the gears spun in his head, and he noticed that his sister was still in the room, waiting for a reply to her earlier comment. "You're still here?" he voiced aloud.
In a brazen moment, Tsering responded, "You never answered the elder's summons."
Fan gritted his teeth. Those withered old bastards would demand a reply, and he knew that Tsering had an internal debate on who she was more afraid of. It would seem she held more trust in her brother than the elders. He did not know why he had tolerated their rule for so long anyway. It was likely because they had given him free rein and never once questioned his actions. Now they called him like a pup to heel. Perhaps the elders could use some reminding of who was truly in charge.
"Of course, I shall come. I must answer for this mess, shouldn't I?" he said with a smile.
Tsering's mouth fell slightly agape as she stared at her brother. Fan's smile had become even more sinister. Now, after the miko's attack, he was left with a permanent smirk that scarred the left side of his face. The skin had been burned away, leaving muscle and fangs permanently exposed. Even his eye, which he had regained some sight out of, was mangled and mottled, looking to be glazed over. He knew how frightening his countenance now appeared. The spiritual blast had rendered his healing yoki inert where the concentrated power had hit. His face would now always appear scarred.
Had the elders learned of this? Is that why they would call on Fan? Were they upset that one of their infamous members had been dealt a devastating blow that showcased their mortality? The elders, unlike Fan, preferred to hide in obscurity and leave their younger clan members to do all of the dirty work.
Fan could see his reflection shining in one of the rare mirrors hanging in his room. No one had thought to remove it before bringing him here, and he had not taken the opportunity to explore his new deformity.
When Tsering noticed the mirror, she sighed. "I can have it removed if you wish, brother," she offered.
He stepped closer and touched his scarred face. "Hmph." He considered his reflection. It was quite jarring to behold. He rather liked it. "That will not be necessary."
Tsering's brows wavered with uncertainty. "I will advise the elders," she replied and left without another word.
"Tsering…" his words stopped her in her tracks, but she did not turn around. "It seems prudent to ready my brood." She gave a quick duck of her head to signal her assent and quickly left.
With his sister gone, Fan continued to stare into the mirror. It was not the same as the mirror he had used for the miko, where only one side showed a reflection. This mirror was not hiding anything beyond. Fan reached up to his reflection and took a finger, pressing his claw to the glass and drug it down to create an ear-splitting sound. He did this for several seconds, curving up and down until he was satisfied with the outcome.
Fan chuckled at the image. "Oh, what fun I shall have."
A/N: Fan is going to seem somewhat rational in this rare POV snippet. However, I want to assure you that he is anything but. He still has a lot of tricks up his sleeves and is ready to unleash his hidden power. Yikes! I hope our group is ready for whatever madness he brings to the table.