Hi minna! This is Amiboshi-chan, with a new chapter of Loved for the First
Time. At last, ne? Well, before I get into the story, I have a couple
things to say.
First of all, I just wanted to apologize for not getting a chapter out in a matter of months. I'm rather ashamed of myself, for having forgotten this story completely. Gomen ne!
Also, I've gotten a number of reviews, including one here and a few at my other posting sites, pointing out my having portrayed the emotions between Tasuki and Miaka a little too much. Well, don't worry, I do know what I'm doing. Part of the story is that Tasuki still has very strong feelings for Miaka, and how he reacts to the possibility of a romance between his best friend and his former love. If you think about it, it probably is a little difficult for someone as bullheaded as Tasuki(No bashing intended there) to deal with it. Don't think I'm criticizing anyone, though. I congratulate those of you who were able to pick out the underlying emotions.
Also, I don't expect this story to be much more than two or three more chapters. Unlike my other stories, this one has no other ultimate plot, and is simply about Miaka and Kouji. Irena is simply to get Tasuki out of the way (Not meant as harshly as it sounded) and Kourin's main part is o bring them together.
Well, anyway, I'll stop babbling now, and I must congratulate anyone who actually read all of that jibberish. I don't own any FY characters, as always. On with the story!
Chapter three: Kourin's lessons
Miaka yawned contentedly and gazed around. The sun was just rising. Miaka was rather surprised at the fact that she had awoken so early. Birds were singing outside, so she threw open the window and took in a deep breath of mountain air. "I could get used to this, you know." She murmured softly. Slowly, she turned and proceeded to get dressed.
Miaka made her way down to the kitchen. Irena was already up, making onigiris and other things for the day. The bandits had a way of wandering in whenever they were hungry, so Irena kept cooked food well in stock throughout the day. The two women nodded their hellos, and Miaka stepped up beside Irena to help make the onigiris. She wasn't very good of a chef, but at least she wasn't sending people to the hospital on a regular basis.
Kourin bounded in as Miaka and Irena were chatting over a cup of tea. She immediately attached herself to Miaka's neck in a big hug. Miaka chuckled as Kourin dropped to the ground. Grabbing and onigiri, she ran off as her mother yelled "You could have asked politely for one of those!"
Miaka smiled at Irena. "She's so much like her father it's almost scary." Irena nodded.
"She loves you. So does her father."
"I know."
"This probably sounds selfish, but he loves you so much, it almost scares me to think that if you weren't already with Tamahome at the time. . .there might not have been an 'us'." Irena looked up as Miaka placed her long white hand over her's.
"Don't worry, Irena. He's happy with you. As much as he loved me, and as much as I loved him, we wouldn't have been able to make it work. We were both so young then. . . I'm glad we saved our friendship, because that's what I cherish him the most for." Miaka looked deep into Irena's eyes. "And he loves you now. Don't ever doubt that. He wouldn't have married you if he didn't." With that Miaka stood up and left the kitchen. Irena smiled, closed her eyes then went to prepare the smoked fish.
"Kourin, sit up straight." Miaka looked at the young girl from underneath her long lashes as the six year old squirmed up in her chair. Kourin really did want to learn how to be a lady, to make her mom and Miaka happy. But it was just so tedious, and there was so much to remember! Kourin carefully mimicked Miaka's graceful movements day after day, but nothing never seemed to sink in. She still spoke with poor grammar, she still had poor posture and bad manners. And she was getting very frustrated.
Miaka sat down with Irena one day. "Kourin's lesson's aren't exactly working. It's not that she doesn't want to be a lady. I think she truly does. And It's not that she doesn't have the potential. I think we just need to go about it all a different way." Irena nodded. "She only six, and this all must be terribly boring for her. With your permission, I could teach her the more entertaining parts of being a lady as well, like music and art."
"By all means, Miaka, you may teach her whatever you wish." Irena smiled at her friend. She had scarcely known the woman two weeks, yet she felt perfectly at ease with the former miko. And she trusted her with her daughter.
Miaka smiled back. "Well, I must get back to Kourin. I'm sure she's going crazy out there, terrorizing the bandits with. . .manners." She emphasized the last word with a face of mock fear. Irena laughed. Once the two women had calmed down, Miaka left the room with a wink that sent Irena into more peals of laughter.
Kourin heaved another sigh. She was bored. And today, she had no problem with letting everyone know that she held little interest in proper penmanship. She was antsy. She wanted to go run around outside. Miaka caught on pretty quickly. "Kourin. Let's go outside for a moment."
Kourin all but leapt from her seat and walked- even she knew better than to run in her kimoni- a few steps in front of Miaka. Once they were outside, though, Kourin took off at slow jog towards a group of bandits. She turned and saw Miaka walking in the other direction, towards the stables. Kourin stopped. "Where are you going?"
Miaka turned. "I can't teach you to sit a horse, without a horse to sit, no can I?" She continued to walk towards the stables.
Kourin blinked a few times as she took in Miaka's words. Then it hit her. With a squeal she took of towards Miaka at lightening speed. She watched as Miaka fastened the sidesaddles to the horses, and led the two gentle beasts out into the open. After finding an open spot to ride- quite a feat, mind you. It's not easy to find a large flat spot on the top of a mountain - Miaka helped Kourin mount. It confused a her a little at first.
"No, put your other foot in the stirrup."
"But when I swing my leg over, I'll be backwards!"
"Kourin, you don't swing your leg over."
"Why not?" That's how dad rides."
"Yes, but we are women. We ride sidesaddle."
"But won't you fall off?"
Not if you keep your foot in the stirrup."
"What's a stirrup?"
After a while, Kourin was up, and Miaka had mounted her own horse. The two of them were riding around in circles. Kourin took rather well to controling the horse. . .much better than her father ever did. After a while, Kourin spotted her Dad and Kouji off with the bandits. So she rode over. "Oi! Dad! Look at me!" With a wave, she pulled the horse to a stop nearby. Tasuki and Kouji walked over.
"Miaka's teaching you to ride a horse, huh?"
"Yep! Isn't she cool?"
"Yea. . . be careful, though."
"I know, Dad. I've got him under complete control." Kourin brought the reins up, and back down. The horse then took a couple steps forward. "Oh, no you don't!" Kourin pulled back on the reins-hard. The horse reared, dumping it's rider and took off. Miaka, who had been riding over, apprehended the run away beast and rushed over to Kourin.
"I told you to be careful!"
"Gomen ne. . ."
At least you weren't hurt." Miaka checked her over. After making sure she had not broken anything, and was not showing signs of a concussion, she helped Kourin to her feet, and told her to head inside. And to tell her if she got a headache or anything.. As Kourin walked back to the stronghold she turned to Tasuki. "I'm sorry about that. My own horse was acting up, and I didn't notice when she rode away. Otherwise I would have been paying closer attention to her."
Tasuki moved to answer, but Kouji beat him to it. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't a bad fall, and it was bound to happen sometime. Everyone falls off at least once." Kouji put a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, she's tough. And just as ornery as most of those beasts there. She'll be wanting to jump back up within an hour." Miaka nodded and smiled at Kouji. His breath caught in his throat. Slowly she turned.
"Well, I'd better get back to Kourin." Flashing another grin at the two bandits, she made her way back to the stronghold.
Miaka wondered if her cheeks were as red as she thought they were. Why was Kouji always so nice to her now? And why was she reacting like that more and more often, turning red as a cherry every time he so much as smiled at her. Brushing the thoughts from her mind, she continued on to find Kourin.
Well, there's another chapter. Hope ya'll like it! Please read and review!
By the way, a couple of things:
I do know that women did ride sidesaddle in china for years as well, but I have no idea if Chinese sidesaddles looked any different from English ones, and if they did, what they looked like. So, I modeled theirs after the English ones.
Also, I know that the signs of a concussion do not show up immediately. For the sake of the story's progression, though, I ignored that detail. Gomen.
Amiboshi-chan
First of all, I just wanted to apologize for not getting a chapter out in a matter of months. I'm rather ashamed of myself, for having forgotten this story completely. Gomen ne!
Also, I've gotten a number of reviews, including one here and a few at my other posting sites, pointing out my having portrayed the emotions between Tasuki and Miaka a little too much. Well, don't worry, I do know what I'm doing. Part of the story is that Tasuki still has very strong feelings for Miaka, and how he reacts to the possibility of a romance between his best friend and his former love. If you think about it, it probably is a little difficult for someone as bullheaded as Tasuki(No bashing intended there) to deal with it. Don't think I'm criticizing anyone, though. I congratulate those of you who were able to pick out the underlying emotions.
Also, I don't expect this story to be much more than two or three more chapters. Unlike my other stories, this one has no other ultimate plot, and is simply about Miaka and Kouji. Irena is simply to get Tasuki out of the way (Not meant as harshly as it sounded) and Kourin's main part is o bring them together.
Well, anyway, I'll stop babbling now, and I must congratulate anyone who actually read all of that jibberish. I don't own any FY characters, as always. On with the story!
Chapter three: Kourin's lessons
Miaka yawned contentedly and gazed around. The sun was just rising. Miaka was rather surprised at the fact that she had awoken so early. Birds were singing outside, so she threw open the window and took in a deep breath of mountain air. "I could get used to this, you know." She murmured softly. Slowly, she turned and proceeded to get dressed.
Miaka made her way down to the kitchen. Irena was already up, making onigiris and other things for the day. The bandits had a way of wandering in whenever they were hungry, so Irena kept cooked food well in stock throughout the day. The two women nodded their hellos, and Miaka stepped up beside Irena to help make the onigiris. She wasn't very good of a chef, but at least she wasn't sending people to the hospital on a regular basis.
Kourin bounded in as Miaka and Irena were chatting over a cup of tea. She immediately attached herself to Miaka's neck in a big hug. Miaka chuckled as Kourin dropped to the ground. Grabbing and onigiri, she ran off as her mother yelled "You could have asked politely for one of those!"
Miaka smiled at Irena. "She's so much like her father it's almost scary." Irena nodded.
"She loves you. So does her father."
"I know."
"This probably sounds selfish, but he loves you so much, it almost scares me to think that if you weren't already with Tamahome at the time. . .there might not have been an 'us'." Irena looked up as Miaka placed her long white hand over her's.
"Don't worry, Irena. He's happy with you. As much as he loved me, and as much as I loved him, we wouldn't have been able to make it work. We were both so young then. . . I'm glad we saved our friendship, because that's what I cherish him the most for." Miaka looked deep into Irena's eyes. "And he loves you now. Don't ever doubt that. He wouldn't have married you if he didn't." With that Miaka stood up and left the kitchen. Irena smiled, closed her eyes then went to prepare the smoked fish.
"Kourin, sit up straight." Miaka looked at the young girl from underneath her long lashes as the six year old squirmed up in her chair. Kourin really did want to learn how to be a lady, to make her mom and Miaka happy. But it was just so tedious, and there was so much to remember! Kourin carefully mimicked Miaka's graceful movements day after day, but nothing never seemed to sink in. She still spoke with poor grammar, she still had poor posture and bad manners. And she was getting very frustrated.
Miaka sat down with Irena one day. "Kourin's lesson's aren't exactly working. It's not that she doesn't want to be a lady. I think she truly does. And It's not that she doesn't have the potential. I think we just need to go about it all a different way." Irena nodded. "She only six, and this all must be terribly boring for her. With your permission, I could teach her the more entertaining parts of being a lady as well, like music and art."
"By all means, Miaka, you may teach her whatever you wish." Irena smiled at her friend. She had scarcely known the woman two weeks, yet she felt perfectly at ease with the former miko. And she trusted her with her daughter.
Miaka smiled back. "Well, I must get back to Kourin. I'm sure she's going crazy out there, terrorizing the bandits with. . .manners." She emphasized the last word with a face of mock fear. Irena laughed. Once the two women had calmed down, Miaka left the room with a wink that sent Irena into more peals of laughter.
Kourin heaved another sigh. She was bored. And today, she had no problem with letting everyone know that she held little interest in proper penmanship. She was antsy. She wanted to go run around outside. Miaka caught on pretty quickly. "Kourin. Let's go outside for a moment."
Kourin all but leapt from her seat and walked- even she knew better than to run in her kimoni- a few steps in front of Miaka. Once they were outside, though, Kourin took off at slow jog towards a group of bandits. She turned and saw Miaka walking in the other direction, towards the stables. Kourin stopped. "Where are you going?"
Miaka turned. "I can't teach you to sit a horse, without a horse to sit, no can I?" She continued to walk towards the stables.
Kourin blinked a few times as she took in Miaka's words. Then it hit her. With a squeal she took of towards Miaka at lightening speed. She watched as Miaka fastened the sidesaddles to the horses, and led the two gentle beasts out into the open. After finding an open spot to ride- quite a feat, mind you. It's not easy to find a large flat spot on the top of a mountain - Miaka helped Kourin mount. It confused a her a little at first.
"No, put your other foot in the stirrup."
"But when I swing my leg over, I'll be backwards!"
"Kourin, you don't swing your leg over."
"Why not?" That's how dad rides."
"Yes, but we are women. We ride sidesaddle."
"But won't you fall off?"
Not if you keep your foot in the stirrup."
"What's a stirrup?"
After a while, Kourin was up, and Miaka had mounted her own horse. The two of them were riding around in circles. Kourin took rather well to controling the horse. . .much better than her father ever did. After a while, Kourin spotted her Dad and Kouji off with the bandits. So she rode over. "Oi! Dad! Look at me!" With a wave, she pulled the horse to a stop nearby. Tasuki and Kouji walked over.
"Miaka's teaching you to ride a horse, huh?"
"Yep! Isn't she cool?"
"Yea. . . be careful, though."
"I know, Dad. I've got him under complete control." Kourin brought the reins up, and back down. The horse then took a couple steps forward. "Oh, no you don't!" Kourin pulled back on the reins-hard. The horse reared, dumping it's rider and took off. Miaka, who had been riding over, apprehended the run away beast and rushed over to Kourin.
"I told you to be careful!"
"Gomen ne. . ."
At least you weren't hurt." Miaka checked her over. After making sure she had not broken anything, and was not showing signs of a concussion, she helped Kourin to her feet, and told her to head inside. And to tell her if she got a headache or anything.. As Kourin walked back to the stronghold she turned to Tasuki. "I'm sorry about that. My own horse was acting up, and I didn't notice when she rode away. Otherwise I would have been paying closer attention to her."
Tasuki moved to answer, but Kouji beat him to it. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't a bad fall, and it was bound to happen sometime. Everyone falls off at least once." Kouji put a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, she's tough. And just as ornery as most of those beasts there. She'll be wanting to jump back up within an hour." Miaka nodded and smiled at Kouji. His breath caught in his throat. Slowly she turned.
"Well, I'd better get back to Kourin." Flashing another grin at the two bandits, she made her way back to the stronghold.
Miaka wondered if her cheeks were as red as she thought they were. Why was Kouji always so nice to her now? And why was she reacting like that more and more often, turning red as a cherry every time he so much as smiled at her. Brushing the thoughts from her mind, she continued on to find Kourin.
Well, there's another chapter. Hope ya'll like it! Please read and review!
By the way, a couple of things:
I do know that women did ride sidesaddle in china for years as well, but I have no idea if Chinese sidesaddles looked any different from English ones, and if they did, what they looked like. So, I modeled theirs after the English ones.
Also, I know that the signs of a concussion do not show up immediately. For the sake of the story's progression, though, I ignored that detail. Gomen.
Amiboshi-chan