I don't feel any pain
A little fall of rain
Can hardly hurt me now.
You're here, that's all I need to know.
And you will keep me safe.
And you will keep me close.
And rain will make the flowers grow.
-Eponine, LesMiserables, Act 2
Chapter 10- Of The Beholder
Two allies facing one enemy. The logical course of action would be to separate and surround, in an attempt to overwhelm the opponent's ability to retaliate a blitz of attacks on both sides, unable to see incoming strikes from one of the two directions. Though Inuyasha moved to one side just to be moving towards Kagura, Sango understood the concept a little better, and split parallel to Inuyasha, Kirara transforming while Sango quickly wished she were only in her taiji-ya outfit, rather than the more restricting kimono.
Kagura also seemed completely aware of the strategy being used against her, raising her fan in preparation and firing off two large blades of wind, one in each direction, turning as she did so to keep Inuyasha in her vision, half crouched in case Sango had been fortunate enough to miss the blast.
She had. Inuyasha rolled forward as the wind blade struck the house behind him, but Sango was forced to pull up short, Kirara rearing backward as the blast impacted the wall of rose vines to her left, the slicing causing them to reform again, coiling and hissing as they reached out to lasso Sango around the wrist. The sudden resistance to movement jerked her backward, the plants spinning up her arm. She twisted to the side, attempting to get hiraikotsu into position to cut herself free, while seeing Kirara caught up in the same problem, a heavy noose of vines around her neck, others joining the first around the firecat's paws as she struggled to back away. The more she struggled, the tighter the vines wound.
Pulling, Sango watched as Inuyasha faced off with Kagura, poised and readying for a blast with the Kaze no Kizu, seeking out the place where their two youki met and clashed. In the air there was static, crackling and making the skin on her neck rise as she fought against the trap, and let her eyes sweep across what had been the courtyard of the donjon's village.
The courtyard of the village where all the people slept...where Inuyasha and Kagura faced off in the center.
"Inuyasha! If you hit her, the Kaze no Kizu will hit the people under the brush! Don't use the Kaze no Kizu! Don't-" her words were cut off with a surprised scream, as another vine snaked its way across her shoulders and over her chest, yanking her back. Flailing, she braced herself against the treacherous ground, locking her legs into place with her knees bent, in case of another pull from the vines. She readjusted her grip on hiraikotsu, and in one burst of energy and movement, pivoted, swinging the weapon around and using all her energy to pull in her left arm, avoiding the sharp sweep that sliced apart the binds. Another twirl, and she had beaten them back. A third sweep and Kirara was freed. The cat shook off the last of the vines, snarling and edging away, clawing any that dared come near.
Turning back to see how Inuyasha was faring, Sango saw him attempting to get in closer, having heard her warning. He was swinging Tetsusaiga at Kagura, who was easily out of the blade's reach. Though as she looked across the fresh layer of grasses, ripples moved. It could have been effects of Kagura's wind, but these moved against the detachment's magic, half unseen by staying low to the ground. Controlled. The attack wasn't just because the Fuujin no Mai had hit the wall of roses. They were being controlled. And they were aiding Kagura.
"Hiraikotsu!"
The word rang out in the air, synonymous with a burst from the ground, thorns rearing back between Kagura and Inuyasha, a cage around the hanyou, crashing downward as he looked up, having been intent on his opponent. Around the boomerang, the wind screamed as it was sliced in half, looping between the two antagonists, hacking the streaming vines off at the top as it returned to Sango, who caught it, sprinting forward to rejoin the battle as Inuyasha burst out of the collapsing botany.
The moment the plants erupted from the ground, Kagura began to back away. She saw Sango's charge, sidestepping quickly as hiraikotsu made a powerful downsweep, taking advantage of her momentary state of being out of balance. Then she leapt back again as Sango tried a combination sideswipe, pressing the advantage while Kirara bounded to the other side, keeping her from getting away in another direction. Inuyasha was landing from his leap from the plants, Tetsusaiga drawn and with a very pissed off expression set on his features. Nearly being trapped was not something that set well with him. With both the hanyou and the taiji-ya in front of her, and the bakeneko behind her, Kagura decided that it was time she got on with her work, rather than just holding them here for awhile. It was about time anyway, if she judged things correctly.
She tore the white feather from her hair, floating out of reach within a moment, her voice trailing behind as she soared towards the castle, "I've got other business to take care of. Beat the shit out of them, instead."
"Them?" Sango repeated, spinning around in unison with Inuyasha as they noticed the dark clouds above them again, now swirling with the low level youkai Naraku used as his general minions.
Stepping forward, Inuyasha readied Tetsusaiga. "Feh. This time they're not on the ground!"
As the horde descended, Sango kept herself
and Kirara behind Inuyasha as he swung the sword, easily finding the swirls
of youki the clouds radiated, slicing cleanly through the youkai and disintegrating
them in the single sweep.
Inuyasha lowered Tetsusaiga as any remains from the youkai fell to the ground, landing in splattery clumps as the grass began to shrivel underfoot, and the wall of thorns began to recede, the waves of blackish green flora curling as though dried out, crumpling under their own weight.
"Shit, what the hell is going on now?"
Inuyasha growled as he began leaping towards the falling plants, Sango
grabbing onto Kirara and leaping sideways onto her back in order to keep
up. Kagura had said she had other business....
They ran. Back through the concentric rings
of the castle, leaping and flying over the rooftops and battlements, past
the wooden bridge and the staggered gateways and courtyards full of sleeping
people, now covered by the decaying flora, shadowy figures beneath mossy
blankets. The plants were dying, collapsing, falling in on themselves as
though there had been a great long drought, and they lacked water. All
the scarlet roses had bloomed, closed buds exploding and setting the petals
free to drift. They flickered over their dark stems and the green grass,
as though painted blood splattered against a frame.
The garden itself was an empty thing, the branches of its trees spidery in appearance, having lost their leaves, now cascading to the ground like fallen flames, bright against the dark webbing above. The black fingers of the woods stenciled out abstract shapes against their colorful backdrop, though the evergreens that clustered together at the garden's edges had browned, needles curling below patchy branches.
Leaping high off the top of the donjon, Inuyasha launched himself towards the center of the dying place, using the little lake in its center as a mark. Kigiku was planted at the pond; there he was sure he would find whatever it was he was looking for. In the sky above, the clouds had begun to open again, the youkai vanishing. Still, in the distance, there was a faint swirl of darkness, and the scent of the saimyoushou and Kagura still remaining on the wind.
The branches, sucked dry of sap, snapped easily under his weight as he broke through them, slashing out with his claws to clear more room as he descended to the ground, accompanied by the soft thud of Kirara landing just after him.
Shoving aside the last of the bushes between himself and Kigiku's pond, Inuyasha froze at the sight that greeted him. A moment later, Sango's footsteps stilled and there was a sharp intake of breath from the taiji-ya.
What was once the densest area was now growing stark, the hardy bushes along the rise of a hill the only remaining greenness; all else was white and red, poppies piercing a thick cloak of white sakura petals, which fell upon the two sleepers in the clearing.
The silence snapped.
"Kagome!"
"Houshi-sama!"
The soft petals had fallen onto Kagome's cheeks,
tangled into her hair, and streamed across her clothes. Her bow and arrows
lay discarded at her side haphazardly, one hand lying out towards them,
the other curled up beside her cheek, the paleness of her skin matching
the snowy sakura, rather than the poppy that was slowly losing its petals
by her shoulder.
Asleep. As asleep as any other member of the castle's household, her skin still faintly warm to the touch, though as delicate as bisque, made finer still in contrast to the darkness of her hair, falling in an aureole around her face. A few strands had strayed across her cheek, and he brushed them back awkwardly, uncertainly looking at the sleeping face of Kagome. He felt cold suddenly, wanting to curl in on himself and become very small, to hide somewhere far away.
"Kagome?" he asked a little tentatively as he tried to gently shake her awake. "Oy...oy, Kagome?"
Her lashes fluttered lightly against her cheeks, and for a moment there was a wisp of hope in his heart. But it died away as quickly as a curl of smoke, because she sighed and her head turned as though she drew deeper into a dream, flying from the wakefulness of the day. A feeling that was akin to panic began to rise in him, and more frantically he demanded, "Kagome? Dammit, Kagome! Wake up. Wake up!"
A low voice replied to him, "It's the spell, Inuyasha...it's the same spell...the same as everyone else...." though her words were slightly halting, Sango brushed away the white petals that had found their way onto Miroku's robes as she answered him, not looking up from her task. The same spell, the same endless sleep.
A sad sort of smile played on her lips as she brushed the houshi's bangs away from his forehead. She'd seen him sleep many times in their travels, of course. But to come so close now seemed unfair. Always, always caution. This was a bitter gift, being able to simply sit beside him without fear or nervousness, but also knowing that there was no reason to be afraid or nervous. This time, he would not wake up. This time, he could not try to touch her. "Kigiku-sama is also gone...look."
Slowly, slowly, Inuyasha turned away from Kagome's face to look for the flowerbed Kigiku had rested in. Now, it was black and charred and empty, the chrysanthemums little more than sticks jutting from the ground.
Raw fury warred with an expanding sense of sorrow. Part of him wanted to run after Kigiku by tracing Kagura's scent- that had to be the other business Kagura had in mind. Getting Kigiku away from here. A trick, all of it. Another fucking trick by Naraku. He wanted to chase her down, and rip her apart, shred her pale yellow petals and scatter them to the winds. The other part though, the part held him still, kneeling at the side of a sleeping girl from the future, whose eyes were closed and he did not know how to open them.
Quietly, he cupped her chin in his rough hand.
"Sango..." he began roughly, trying to concentrate on one thing at a time. Kagome was not dead. She was asleep. Just asleep. People wake up after they've been asleep. They always wake up. If the spell worked like a miasma, it could be purified. How to purify Kigiku's? There had to be a way to wake her up, he just had to find it, obviously. Then he'd do it, and everything would be back to normal. "You said earlier something about Kaede-babaa maybe knowing something-"
He was interrupted when the shrubbery across from them began to rustle, part of the last bit of greenery in the clearing. Inuyasha was half on his feet and with a hand on Tetsusaiga when out of the bushes, Shippou tumbled, squeaking as he landed.
His eyes lit up when he saw Inuyasha and Sango there, and then instantly fell as he remembered what had happened, edging closer to Kagome and peering downward.
"I saved the shards?" Shippou offered after a moment, weakly handing them towards Inuyasha, who blinked in surprise to hear that come from the kitsune. Looking down, he realized that the thin chain that Kagome wore the bottle on had snapped, and was lying half hidden in the hair behind her shoulder. "There were a lot of saimyoushou, and there were youkai coming down from the sky, and I couldn't do anything but I got these, and I found that other flower, and she's sleeping too...." he babbled lamely, hoping that talking would help somehow.
"Arigatou, Shippou-chan," Sango called softly from where she sat, Kirara nudging her in the back in an attempt at comfort. The taiji-ya placed a hand on the firecat's muzzle and petted her lightly.
Biting his lip, Shippou looked between them. The expressions looked like it was a funeral, but they weren't dead. They were just asleep, like the princess he found on the other side of the bushes, hidden away where nobody could see her, where she was hard to find, same as like the story Kagome told him and Inuyasha last night. People had woken up in that story...all of them.
"You could always just kiss her," Shippou told Inuyasha, who under more normal circumstances would probably have either whacked the kid in the head or thrown him somewhere far away. This time though, he just blanched and spluttered.
Sango was shaking her head and looking at the kitsune, trying to figure out why he'd suggest such a thing. "Shippou-chan, I don't think that's...appropriate...ah...."
"Why not?" he asked. "It worked in the story."
"The story?"
"Shippou, this isn't some goddamed fairy tale!" Inuyasha shouted, then seemed to deflate, sagging backward and sitting down, frustrated. Stupid story.
Then, quietly, Sango repeated, "The story Kagome told you last night?"
Edging back a bit from Inuyasha, Shippou looked at Sango, still clutching the bottle of shards in his hands. "Yeah. The princess got her hand cut by a wheel and she fell asleep in the castle. But a prince came and kissed her and she woke up. It worked in the story."
A small smile formed on Sango's face for a moment, and she looked down at the sleeping figure at her side. That sounded so ridiculously simplistic. A kiss to break a spell? How easy that would be. Close your eyes, lower your head, and press your lips against another's. Simple.
"S...Sango?" Inuyasha managed to stutter as the girl began to lower her head slowly, a very odd expression on her face. "What the...you're not taking that story seriously?"
Sango closed her eyes and chuckled for a moment. "If there's anything that'll wake the sukebe up, it would be that, actually," she replied lightly, a warmth beginning to spread from her heart to her cheeks, turning them a deepening shade of pink. She felt silly, leaning in like this in the broad open, right in front of Inuyasha and Shippou. But it was her business, not theirs. If it worked then it worked, and then houshi-sama, at least, would be back, and that would be one less thing to worry about, wouldn't it? If he still slept, then he wouldn't know anyway...Inuyasha seemed too astounded, and he wasn't the type to say anything. Though Shippou would end up telling Kagome...well, Kagome was asleep as well.
She could feel his breathing. Resting a hand lightly on his chest, she leaned forward and lightly touched his lips with hers, closing her eyes and discovering that Miroku still tasted a bit like the iced tea he had for breakfast, his mouth just slightly sweet.
If a kiss could break a spell, what was it
about a kiss that held such power?
Inuyasha and Shippou were both staring at the display, though after a moment, tried very hard not to stare. Satisfied with his work, Shippou turned on Inuyasha with a determined look. Folding his arms, he declared, very accurately, "Miroku's not a princess."
The fact that Kagome wasn't either didn't really occur to him, because he was debating frantically whether or not he could actually do what Sango was doing at the moment. It wouldn't work. It couldn't work. This was stupid. This was a stupid story Kagome told Shippou.
A stupid story that sounded an awful lot like this one.
It was just a kiss, right?
Didn't really mean anything, it was just to wake her up, maybe. Possibly. Yeah.
Just a kiss.
That was all.
A kiss.
She tasted like plums. Rich and yet light,
sweet and fresh and warm. He could feel her breath against his, mingling
as he found his eyes lowering. For a moment, there was no outside world,
just a tiny little place where he was sitting and kissing Kagome.
A big silly grin was on Shippou's face. It would work, he was sure of it. He may just be a kid, but he believed in the fairy tale, and wanted it to work. The princess wasn't in the tower, she was veiled away in a garden, caught in a precarious balance with another princess, who was jealous and hateful. Though there was no prince to kiss that princess, then maybe whatever fairies spun these tales would accept a substitute or two.
He kept believing that, as a wind began to stir through the bare branches above, snatching at the free petals of sakura, and sending them twirling into the air. In his hands, the shards of the Shikon no Tama began to pulse, though it took him a moment to realize it. They were glowing, as though beating, brightening and then dimming, only to brighten again, gleaming brighter.
"Oh...Inuyasha! Inuyasha look!" Shippou shouted, brandishing the bottle, only to be ignored. Shippou didn't care, and turned to see if Sango was paying attention. She was drawing away, opening her eyes and waiting, half expectantly watching Miroku's face.
He remained still, eyes closed, and she sighed
and leaned back, wishing she could regret it. Baka sukebe. So much for
killing Naraku, so much for ending the curse, so much for...everything.
Inuyasha pressed his forehead against Kagome's for a moment, wanting the contact and knowing that she had not stirred during the kiss, hadn't moved, or returned it. Passively, she slept, and he caressed her cheek again.
Then the most bizarrely familiar sound reached his ears.
"Sukebe houshi!"
Smack.
He turned in time to see a very puzzled looking Miroku get slapped hard enough to turn him over, wide eyed and dizzy looking. This was made worse when Sango grabbed him, turned him back, and continuously kept checking his very much open set of eyes. None of this made much sense to Miroku at the moment, because his face hurt the way it did when Sango slapped him, but she was looking very happy at the moment. Bewildered, he wondered what he did now and how long she be mad at him for it.
"Inu...yasha?"
That was a more familiar sound, and one much more welcome. "Kagome?"
She flinched, trying to pry her eyes open, working at it as though forcing herself through something thick and heavy. A shadowy outline greeted her, and slowly focused into a face, looking both relieved and embarrassed, but generally happy. "You're awake!"
"Awake?" she repeated dully. How early was it? Ugh, more shard hunting...or was it school? "Can I sleep more?"
"Hell no! Kagome, wake up!"
"Okay, okay, you don't need to...." she trailed off, looking around her as Inuyasha took her hands and pulled her into a sitting position. At first a little vague, she looked at him, then around her. Memory flooded back at the sight that met her eyes, though it was not the barren, desolate place that she remembered as Kigiku last spoke. Now, it was fresh and poignant and wonderful, the blossoms on the cherry trees unfurling their petals before her eyes, renewed as though it were spring. The spindly branches that seemed so withered and old were filling with sweet blossoms, and the air was becoming laden with their fragrance.
"Inuyasha...what's going on?"
Looking around himself, he began to see what Kagome saw, springtime replacing the dead of winter in the garden.
"Everything's waking up! The kissing worked!" Shippou announced cheerily, and perfectly loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Kissing?" echoed Kagome, looking at Inuyasha, who sniffed, scowled and folded his arms, a vain attempt to conceal some redness in his face. Kagome touched her lips with her fingertips, then looked at him again.
"Well...it...it worked in that stupid story!"
he finally sputtered, which only made Kagome smile in response.
Sango, also, was looking away, fixated on the ground, trying very hard not to fidget or look anywhere else, because she could feel Miroku's eyes pressing on her. After a moment, she heard him say, "Sango, arigatou."
"Ah...you're...welcome?"
She finally managed to glance up to see him with a small smile on his face, and she struggled to keep away a blush. "At...at least it worked," she managed, trying to change the topic before she got any more embarrassed. "I don't understand why something like that would break a sleeping spell though, especially one as powerful as this."
"That is because a kiss is a simple display of hate's opposition," came a small, sad voice, soft enough that it was barely heard.
Four sets of eyes swiveled around seeking the speaker, whose voice seemed to come from all directions. Shippou, though, looked delighted, and ran back to the bushes, very glad that this was working the way he'd hoped. If not, he'd never live it down. Pushing back the hedge, he was able to see a vague white figure through the remaining branches, no longer bent. As he pushed them aside, the brambles began to curtain away, shrinking in upon themselves and spreading greenly across the ground at his feet.
Unfolding within was a bright, sixteen petaled white chrysanthemum, her petals short and not so curled as Kigiku's, her bloom simple and unadorned. White also was her hair, veiled by a dew laced spider's web, her arms folded across her chest as though hugging herself, her face downcast.
"This place is filled with hate and jealousy, which can sometimes come from twisted affection, but pure were your means, and so they chased away the corruption."
She sighed softly, and the group of five began to come in closer, to see this new person who made such an eerie appearance.
"The rest of the castle shall slowly begin to wake. On their behalf, I thank you."
"Are you the princess?" Shippou asked quickly, sensing a bit of finality in her tone, a sound of dismissal. "Of the castle?"
A bit startled, she looked up at the kitsune. Though the rest of her was washed in white, her eyes were a deep, vibrant ocean blue, turned down at the corners as though she had worn sorrow for too long upon her face. "I am named Shiragiku, and this place is my home. You will wish to speak to the daimyo."
"I think we'd rather talk to you, Shiragiku-sama," Miroku said, speaking before anyone else in the group as they again peered down towards a youkai chrysanthemum, so different in manner than the previous one.
Wearily, she turned her eyes to him and frowned slightly, shaking her head and pulling at the sides of her spidery shawl, bringing it closer to her thumb sized self. "He can reward you for your removal of the curse, as I cannot. If he does not believe you, tell him to come to me, and I will vouch for your words, houshi-sama."
Sango felt the flush of heat set off by Kirara when she detransformed behind her. A moment later, the bakeneko was winding her way through sets of legs and mewing politely at the new chrysanthemum, earning a tired smile and another sigh. Looking up again, she appraised the group peering in at her, either wide eyed or suspicious. The cat youkai, a kitsune child, a...she paused, carefully judging Inuyasha. A halfling of some sort. Another priest, well enough. Two women, one dressed oddly. All staring.
"Shall I give you a sparkling smile?" she asked them then, the softness in her tone giving way to bitterness. "Will that be satisfaction, or shall you stare further?"
"Gomen...." Kagome trailed as Shippou edged back towards her, and she pulled him closer. Looking down momentarily at his face, she could see disappointment. Whatever he had been hoping for, this was not it. "You're just different from Kigiku-sama...."
"Different...no different."
"Shiragiku-sama," Sango began, thinking a new tactic would be needed. "We don't mean any harm, but I think we're at least owed some sort of explanation. What happened, and who are you?"
She edged away slightly, white petals curling up slightly, though not enough to hide her at all from their vision. Instead she tightened her grip on her shawl. Her audience was waiting for her to speak again, and she hesitated, a bit of curiosity growing. No acclaims on her beauty, no paper for painting or poetry. Instead, curious faces, some, such as the hanyou's openly suspicious. The child seemed worried, clutching the arms of the oddly dressed girl. He had run to greet her as she opened her eyes and began to breathe life into the garden again.
"You expected someone far more romantic, did you not, little one?" she addressed him, an amused smile finally forming on her lips. "Gomen nasai, I'm not so elegant as Kigiku."
"Kigiku was a bitch," Inuyasha stated matter of factly. Shiragiku stared at him, open mouthed for a moment, then looked away. "What?"
"Kigiku is accustomed to being the fairest, and jealousy often turns into hatred. It was that which she used to cast you into sleep, and all the people within these castle walls."
"So Kigiku was the bad fairy?" Shippou queried, looking up between Kagome's arms and asking her.
"Er..." Kagome stuttered, realizing how much Shippou had apparently decided to apply the story to this situation.
"Kigiku was not bad," Shiragiku told him, this time leaning forward in her cup of petals with an earnest look, almost pleading. "Do not call her such things. I was glad when she came here."
"But she-" Shippou began to argue.
"The Kigiku you met was far from the one I knew long ago. Do not call her such things, for the sake of memory, at least."
Would they listen to a tale? Shiragiku wondered. Was there time for a tale? Already her strength flowed back to her through her roots, and something nearby was feeding it, singing sweetly to her. What delicious power one of them held. The expectant looks on their faces demanded some story, some telling of what had happened. They did not look for her aesthetic beauty, such as it was. It was because of that she decided to warm to them.
"Kigiku and I were born in a meadow, far, far from here," she said, quietly at first, then gaining strength. She closed her eyes and envisioned one who did not stare, but rather saw some other beauty in her, a kind man who she had not seen in so many seasons now.
"By day we spoke and laughed, living side by side as sisters would. One day, though, an old gardener came into our valley, and decided he wished to have Kigiku as his own, for his garden. Telling her how pretty she was, she was charmed by his words and left with him to live in his garden.
"I lived alone for many seasons. One day though, a village chief came looking in our meadow, and told me he wished to take me to see his lord, to be the crest of his house." Then a smile filled her face, slowly but completely. "It was kind of him, and he spoke to me while he carried me here. He said he had met Kigiku, and found me to be the more lovely..." the smile grew strained. "But he spoke to me while we traveled here, and gave me to the daimyo, who accepted me and summoned many artists to draw my face. For many weeks further it was so, and my dear friend had left me here alone, to return to his duties and family. I was so happy to see Kigiku when she came...but she was so angry when that courier with her left her here.
"I do not know why she hated me so. But she began to fill the air with poison, and I attempted to stop it." Shiragiku hugged herself more tightly again, withdrawing into her gleaming shawl and softening her voice further. "Kigiku and I ever were a match for each other. I could not stop it, but slowed it as I could. I did not want to face her, and so I slept as well."
She closed her eyes and then opened them again, and the heavy depth of blue seemed somewhat lighter. "That is my tale, from what I have seen of it. The people stir outside. I feel them on the grasses, moving. They will come here soon, if you wait."
As Shiragiku concluded her story, voices were being raised outside, shouts heard faintly through the growing garden. Though the story was single sided, it seemed familiar to Kagome, a myth she had heard before, a story of a Lady Yellow and a Lady White, two flowers with two different fates. And so it was- Kigiku, yellow chrysanthemum. Shiragiku, white chrysanthemum. If this was so, then she could also recall what would happen to Kigiku, or had happened with this old gardener. Kagome closed her eyes a moment, releasing Shippou and standing. It seemed they had stumbled into a fairy tale after all, though Sleeping Beauty it was not...quite.
"There will be much confusion as they wake up," Miroku commented quietly to the group, though offering a hand to Sango, who had knelt down to hear Shiragiku speak. She accepted it and stood, starting slightly when he did not release it. "Perhaps we should see if we can find them?"
"As you say, there will be confusion," Shiragiku told them carefully, choosing her words. "And unfamiliar faces may lead to alarm. If you so wish, stay within the garden's bounds. My voice will be listened to. Until then..." she closed her eyes and folded her arms, her short white petals curling around her as small white flowers began to rise around her and create a new flowerbed, cloaking her from view as she sank into invisibility.
"Feh. What is it with them always disappearing?"
Kagome elbowed Inuyasha, though rather than looking annoyed, he seemed almost thoughtful, the frown on his face altogether typical. With a sigh, Kagome smiled wanly, lightly tugging on his sleeve and making him turn and follow Sango and Miroku, who had begun to edge their way towards the side of the clearing, where new blossoms bloomed. Her grin spread even wider as she noticed that Miroku still had yet to release Sango's hand.
"Mou, Inuyasha," she teased lightly, "if you look that grumpy when we meet up with the others in the castle, they'll think you're some terrible youkai."
"Feh."
From where he sat on the ground, Shippou sighed
and looked at Kirara, who was watching the other four members of the group
through wide scarlet eyes. "Ever feel like we get left out sometimes?"
Kirara mewed in agreement, and Shippou petted
her on the head, scratching behind her ears, causing her to purr. He glanced
at the new, lacy white flowers unfolding alongside the place Shiragiku
disappeared, then again at the others. Well, it wasn't quite happily
ever after, as the story goes- after all, this was hardly the end
of the story- but it was an ending, at least. Maybe this ending should
run more along the lines, "...and they lived...."
~o~O~o~o~O~o~o~O~o~o~O~o~
Shiragiku- 'white chrysanthemum'
Shiragiku's telling of the story is somewhat
more impartial, and much more accurate, to the story of Lady Yellow
and Lady White, though still her perspective. As always, the truth
lies somewhere between. Read on to the Epilogue, ne?
Now, don't you agree that if Miroku fell under
a sleeping spell, getting kissed would wake him up? And has anyone else
noticed he seems to have an automatic-wake-up-groping-reflex? Houshi-sama
gets knocked out, he has to grab something on the way back to consciousness.
x.x
And Shippou saves the day! Whoot! I had fun
with that.
Please do read the Epilogue. Shiragiku's telling
is only her side...there is a touch more to the story of Lady Yellow.
The version I read was from 'Myths and Legends of Japan' by F. Hadland
Davis. ::hugs her book::
~Queen