AN: Okay, people. On with the story!
Gone With The Wind Demons…
Part Two
Act Five: Scene One
The Wind Demons swept through Japan and made war on every living creature. Though General Naraku had been killed in battle, his Lieutenant, Kohaku continued to drive northward into the heart of the country until at last the Imperialists surrendered and the Emperor was beheaded. Kohaku was coroneted on that same day and peace was made though at a heavy price. His ransom of the country was millions in gold and his laws that were passed soon afterwards were brutal. Everywhere tax collectors and former bandits made the land their private killing fields and raised the old Japan to the ground.
Edo survived though to face the terrible hunger and poverty of defeat. Kagome was now the soul owner of the entire estate and she had transformed it into a plentiful farm. Food soon became abundant again and so they shared what they had with the now destitute soldiers of the former Imperial Army.
"I can't believe this." Kagome said as she handed over another plate full of mashed and stewed roots. "We finally get a good crop in to feed all of us and Songo gives it all away to the freeloaders."
"Oh hush up Kagome." Keade said as she boiled down some old clothes in a large pot. "Songo is only doing her best to see that Hojo is treated well. He's out there somewhere and you know the teachings of the Buddha. If we are to receive good, we must give good. Songo hopes that somewhere there is another farm doing as prosperous as we are and that Hojo is on that farm where he is being fed and clothed like we are feeding and clothing others."
"I suppose that's alright then." Kagome said thinking of Hojo. She could hardly remember the last time that she'd seen him. He was standing in the doorway in Aunt Kagura's looking so dashing in his uniform. She looked at the old tattered, ragged uniforms that these soldiers wore and wondered what had happened to him. Was he alive? Was he on his way home? She didn't know and wouldn't know that for a while she believed. When he did get home he'd be a welcome pair of hands. With no more servants besides Eri and Shippo to work the fields, she'd had to put her own sisters to work planting and picking and making soap and doing all the rest of the chores around the house. Ayumi and Yuka complained terribly and they were always wondering why it was that they were being made to work like field hands.
"I hate farming!" Ayumi had declared once. That day had been particularly hot, and Ayumi, Yuka, and Kagome were all covered in dirt and sweat. Kagome and Yuka hadn't complained, but Ayumi was impossible. "I hate this! Kagome expects us to do all the work-!"
"That's not true," Yuka said, "She does as much work as us."
"But I don't want to work THIS hard!" Ayumi said, starting to cry.
"Don't cry on me," Kagome said, walking over, having heard everything. "You know we keep these crops growing if we want any food or money. Edo is all we have, and I won't let anyone take it from us!"
"I don't care about stupid Edo!" Ayumi yelled at her sister. Kagome, enraged, had slapped her.
"Don't you ever, EVER say that again!" Kagome screamed, before turning away and huffing back into the palace. Now that Kagome looked back on that day, she understood how her sister felt… But she still loved these lands…. This land. Edo. It was home; nothing else could ever be.
Miroku had long since gone off to find work and bring in money for them to live off of. He sent back money on the weekends but it was hard going. Work was scarce even for the experienced.
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"Just waiting around here isn't going to do us any good, we must keep busy." Songo said to herself as she sowed a dress in bed. She had been confined to bed for a while yet since she'd given birth and the only strength she had was used to sow clothes. She sowed dresses for the girls, pants for the soldiers, and little outfits for the baby Souta who was growing ever so fast. He just seemed to cry all the time for something and Kagome was getting tired of hearing the baby crying.
"He's a baby, Kagome, babies cry." Old Keade reminded her. "We must look after little Souta for Hojo when he returns.
"Yeah, for Hojo, he'll love this little guy." Kagome said cradling the baby in her arms. She often watched him while Songo worked. Despite being a handful, Kagome did secretly wish that Souta was her baby and that Hojo was her husband. Then Songo would need something and reality would come crashing down around her again. "Coming Songo." Kagome said, hearing her call from upstairs. She rushed up to find Songo up and about and looking out of the window.
"Do you see that?" Songo asked her as they looked out together.
"Yeah," Kagome said looking down at the road. "Another group of soldiers come to find a meal." Kagome was getting tired of them all.
"No, that one there with the heavy beard. He looks so familiar." Kagome looked again and as the bearded man came ever closer they both realized who it was. "Oh my goodness. It's Hojo!" Songo exclaimed and then raced down stairs. Kagome followed, scarcely believing it but when she came down to the front yard and saw the soldier up close she knew it immediately. It was Hojo, and he was running towards the house now to meet with Songo who was running from the yard down to the road to meet him. Kagome started to go too but then she realized that she had no business running to him now. Songo was his wife. Songo had born his child. Songo was the one that he would want to see most of all. In that moment, she almost hated Hojo and Songo, and their baby but then she thought better of them. At least now Hojo was home and they could stop worrying about him and they could stop feeding all these strays.
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Songo met Hojo by the road and they embraced. She hugged his neck and kissed his bearded face and he picked her up into his arms and held her as if she were the dearest, most precious thing in the world to him.
"Oh Hojo!" Songo cried. "You're home, you're home, you're finally home."
"Yes my dearest, I'm home." Hojo said to her as he held her. "I'm home and I'm never leaving you again." He was really there and he was really safe and alive. Most of all he was hungry and happy to be there. Hojo's joys were doubled when he held his baby in his arms for the first time and he thanked them all for looking out for his family.
"It was nothing." Eri bragged, "Delivering a baby was nothing at all. I did most of the work and Kagome helped me."
"Well you've done a fine job. You too Kagome. Thank you for this, you are my dearest friend in the whole world and I won't forget how you've all suffered through to keep my wife and baby safe."
"Oh Hojo," Kagome said, wistfully, "It… it was no trouble at all. I'd do anything to help you and your family." And this time, Kagome realized that she meant it. She really would do anything to help Hojo's family… because she cared about Hojo, and Songo was really her best friend. She'd never really had a friend like Songo before, and now, realizing that her best friend had been the object of her scorn and envy made her heart sink a little. She felt truly, honestly guilty for ever hating someone so kind to her. "Hey, what are we all standing around out here for. Let's go in and have some dinner and let Hojo settle in." Hojo was home at last from war and from battling foes and from defending the honor of the country. The war was finally over for this one family and Kagome knew that together they could make it through whatever evil their new Emperor would bring against them.
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Act Five Scene Two.
From his palace in Kyoto Kohaku and his tax collectors pillaged the country. They raised high taxes and demanded blood from the gravestones of the fallen Imperial soldier's and their families. For loosing the war they would pay; and pay dearly. On one occasion the new Emperor was walking through his garden when a visitor came to him from the Northern boundaries He was tall silver haired young man with a sword on his belt and an appetite for confrontation.
"Lord Emperor, I bring tidings, salutations on behalf of my family." The young man said.
"Indeed." Kohaku replied. "What can I do for you?"
"I have come to barter for the life of my brother who was captured in the battle of Fuji." The young man said.
"Oh, you mean Sesshomaru." Kohaku looked down at his flowers and sniffed them like he was not even concerned with the matter. "I have to warn you that you've come to me about bad business. Sesshomaru is my favorite entertainment these days. He is quite a poor gambler and his loosing vast amounts of money to me is the only thing keeping him alive. Otherwise I'd have hung him already." The young Emperor said. "This does not concern you?"
"Not really, other than the fact that if he dies, the secret of my family's wealth will die with him. I have only a few funds readily available to me but they are all yours in exchange for his life. Naturally we'll pay all debts to your majesty." The silver haired young man said. Kohaku laughed and then summoned his footman.
"Go to the jail and see your bother. Tell him to give you the money you need and then bring it here to me. Then perhaps I shall let him go. At the very least it will guarantee he will not be killed." Kohaku said and wrote out a pass for his guest. "And your name?" He asked.
"My name is Inu-yasha, remember it well, for it shall be a name that you will hear again my Lord."
"We shall see." Kohaku said. "We shall see." As Inu-yasha was leaving he noticed two other well-dressed young men just arriving. They got out of their carriage and headed back towards the garden where he'd just come from. One was a handsome, very dashing young gentleman with long black hair and the other a grotesque, very hideous looking bald hunchback. They could only have been Hiten and Manten, the Emperor's senior tax collectors. They were well known all over Japan for the ruthless way that they hounded the people night and day to pay the outlandishly high taxes imposed upon them. If you could or wouldn't pay then they would burn you out or worse. They carried with them a heavy steamer trunk, obviously full of their hoarded treasure. More wealth for the Emperor to finance his future wars with.
"My Lord Emperor," Hiten said. "We have brought you this week's revenues from Southern provinces and are set to go forth and collect from the Northern provinces."
"Excellent." Kohaku said as he opened the trunk. It was filled with money. Coins, jewels, and fine silver too. The collected wealth of the entire south. "Is there anything else?" He asked the brother.
"As a matter of fact, there is." Manten said "There is a favor that I would ask of your greatness."
"What?" Kohaku demanded. Manten shrank away and hid behind his brother.
"My brother has his eye on a certain piece of land, north of Fuji. The Estate of Edo. It is owned by a vivacious young beauty named Kagome Higurashi-O'Hara." Hiten said.
"Yes, she is a beauty beyond compare and it would please me very greatly if she were to marry me and bare me many fine sons." Manten said.
"It is not within my domain to wed you women." The Emperor said. "Why should I care either way?"
"Well, you see my Lord, Edo is a very prosperous farm now that the war is over. It's currently feeding most of the surrounding province and Ms. Higurashi-O'Hara is attracting many former soldiers to her. You would have a vested interest in shutting down what could very well be a bare of operations for a rebellion. Also, if she were to become my wife, I would promise you my first born sons for your Imperial Army my Lord. Fine Captains they would make for you, I come from good stock, fine warriors all as my brother has proven to you during the past war." Manten went on. The Emperor was intrigued by this offer. The first born sons of an entire family well bred for war.
"Very well." Kohaku said. "I will pass a law that will enable you to make an offer of marriage to this Kagome and if she accepts then I will hold you to your word. If she denies you, you will still have to pay me, but in another fashion." He summoned his footman again and with a pen he wrote out a law that spelled death for Edo's Mistress and her family. "I here by decree that no single woman may own property or engage in profitable business of any kind unless widowed." He signed it and had it sent along to be posted throughout the entire country by the week's end. Hiten and Manten bowed to their Emperor and then left to go and inform Young Kagome of her fate.
"This Kagome had better be worth all the trouble I'm going to for you." Hiten told his brother.
"She is dear brother, she is, and she has two very young, very fine, beautiful sisters who are also single. Perhaps one of them might be a fitting bride for you." Manten said as they climbed back into their carriage.
"Perhaps but I am not looking for a bride. My only desire is for power and this deal you've made with the Emperor will bring us a great deal of power in the end. If it works that is." Hiten said.
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Act Five: Scene Three.
Kagome stood stirring a kettle of soap and thought about how hard things were on them all now. Then she looked over at where Hojo was working to split rails for a fence. His shirt was hanging over one rail and his strong, muscular chest glistened with sweat. Looking at this, Kagome thought it wasn't so bad after all. They made quite the happy little family, she thought, Songo as wife and mother, Kagome as House Mistress, and Hojo as the Lord of the Manner. For once in her life Kagome felt that she might really be happy.
"What are you smiling about?" Hojo asked her suddenly.
"Nothing, just thinking of how great things are between us now that we're all back together again." Hojo smiled too and decided it was time to take a break. "So how is that soap coming, I want to be able to have a good bath tonight." He walked over and looked into the kettle.
"It's almost ready for me to pour into bricks so don't worry. Songo is probably boiling your water as we speak. Oh it'll be good to get clean again." Kagome said smelling of herself. She'd been working out in the hot sun all day long and now he smelled of body odor. "Remember before the war, when things were different?" She asked Hojo.
"How could I forget? Things were so much more simple then and I was a braver man. I'm a coward now compared to those days when all a young man thought about was honor and gentlemanly sports like war. I found out on the battlefield though, that war is not a sport. It's something that I would not wish on my worst enemies now that I've lived it myself." He said to her.
"You mustn't say that you are a coward, Hojo. You're braver than any man I've ever known." Kagome told him.
"I wish that were true. This last war has changed me though. It will never be same again, Kagome, never. Our way of life before the war has gone away. Not matter how good we have it now, we'll always be marked by the changes this world has made to us."
"Oh, Hojo." Kagome put her arms around him and he held her. Something inside said it was wrong but it felt so right to Kagome that Hojo should be holding her. "Hojo, I lov…" But her words were drowned out by shouts from the house.
"Now what?" Hojo grabbed his shirt from the fence rail and both he and Kagome ran back to the house. When they arrived, a grizzly sight awaited them in their parlor.
"Oh, how disgusting!" Kagome exclaimed when she saw the hideous Manten sitting there.
"Lady Kagome, I'm glad to see you're well." The gruesome looking tax collector said as he got up from the bench. "My this place is shaping up quite nicely. I'd say the restoration of your beloved Edo is proceeding as well as can be expected."
"Uh, thank you sir. Please won't you sit while Eri brings us some tea?" Kagome said, trying to be a good hostess. She knew who this was. Manten was well known all over for being a vicious taxman. Kagome took a seat next to him but kept her distance. He was truly sickening to look at, to her. "So what can I do for you, if it's about our Taxes, we've paid them already." She told him.
"Oh, I've not come to you about your taxes, those are in good order, according to my records. What I've come to see you about is a business proposition that I'm sure we'll both find mutually beneficial. You see the Emperor had passed a new law decreeing that no woman may be allowed to own property unless she is married or widowed."
"That's terrible!" Kagome exclaimed. "What will happen to us, to Edo, to my family?" She asked Manten.
"Ah, that's what I came to see you about. Nothing will happen to them if I have anything to say about it. My dear Kagome, I've come to offer you marriage to save your family and your beloved Edo. Naturally, under this law, all your property would pass into my possession but I have considerable funds available and would do all that I could to restore you and this fine house to it's former state."
"Marriage?" Kagome asked him. "It's kind of sudden. I mean there isn't any way that I could… I mean it simply wouldn't do for me to…Oh there is just no polite way for me to say this. You're ugly." Manten heard this and was crushed. Kagome had just told him the same words that he'd heard from every woman he'd ever courted. "You do understand that I could never marry someone like you, no matter what was at stake. I mean, you're as grotesque as humanly possible."
"That doesn't change the fact that if you don't marry me, you'll loose everything. Edo will go up for sale, I'll buy it out from underneath you, and then I'll have your entire family turned out. Your servants, your land, your home will all be mine one way, or another. At least this way, when I die, it will all be yours again." Manten told her. Kagome had to think about this for a moment. She couldn't possibly let this man bully her into marriage, not when things were going so well for her as a single woman, and yet, if she did not marry him then all that he said would no doubt come to pass. What could she do?
"Can I have some time to think about this?" She asked him. Manten looked at her for a moment then agreed to give her two weeks to think his proposal over. Then he would return and force the issue. Eri brought the tea just then. Kagome sat and had tea with Manten so as not to be any ruder then she saw him out to his carriage.
"Remember, two weeks, then I shall return for you." He told her. Kagome watched him drive away and her heart sank.
"Oh what will I do?" She shrieked. "I can't marry that brute but if I don't then I'll loose everything!" She dropped down to her knees and grabbed up handfuls of earth in her palms. "Whatever shall I do?"
AN: Oh no! What will become of poor Kagome?!? If you want to now, then please review
Gone With The Wind Demons…
Part Two
Act Five: Scene One
The Wind Demons swept through Japan and made war on every living creature. Though General Naraku had been killed in battle, his Lieutenant, Kohaku continued to drive northward into the heart of the country until at last the Imperialists surrendered and the Emperor was beheaded. Kohaku was coroneted on that same day and peace was made though at a heavy price. His ransom of the country was millions in gold and his laws that were passed soon afterwards were brutal. Everywhere tax collectors and former bandits made the land their private killing fields and raised the old Japan to the ground.
Edo survived though to face the terrible hunger and poverty of defeat. Kagome was now the soul owner of the entire estate and she had transformed it into a plentiful farm. Food soon became abundant again and so they shared what they had with the now destitute soldiers of the former Imperial Army.
"I can't believe this." Kagome said as she handed over another plate full of mashed and stewed roots. "We finally get a good crop in to feed all of us and Songo gives it all away to the freeloaders."
"Oh hush up Kagome." Keade said as she boiled down some old clothes in a large pot. "Songo is only doing her best to see that Hojo is treated well. He's out there somewhere and you know the teachings of the Buddha. If we are to receive good, we must give good. Songo hopes that somewhere there is another farm doing as prosperous as we are and that Hojo is on that farm where he is being fed and clothed like we are feeding and clothing others."
"I suppose that's alright then." Kagome said thinking of Hojo. She could hardly remember the last time that she'd seen him. He was standing in the doorway in Aunt Kagura's looking so dashing in his uniform. She looked at the old tattered, ragged uniforms that these soldiers wore and wondered what had happened to him. Was he alive? Was he on his way home? She didn't know and wouldn't know that for a while she believed. When he did get home he'd be a welcome pair of hands. With no more servants besides Eri and Shippo to work the fields, she'd had to put her own sisters to work planting and picking and making soap and doing all the rest of the chores around the house. Ayumi and Yuka complained terribly and they were always wondering why it was that they were being made to work like field hands.
"I hate farming!" Ayumi had declared once. That day had been particularly hot, and Ayumi, Yuka, and Kagome were all covered in dirt and sweat. Kagome and Yuka hadn't complained, but Ayumi was impossible. "I hate this! Kagome expects us to do all the work-!"
"That's not true," Yuka said, "She does as much work as us."
"But I don't want to work THIS hard!" Ayumi said, starting to cry.
"Don't cry on me," Kagome said, walking over, having heard everything. "You know we keep these crops growing if we want any food or money. Edo is all we have, and I won't let anyone take it from us!"
"I don't care about stupid Edo!" Ayumi yelled at her sister. Kagome, enraged, had slapped her.
"Don't you ever, EVER say that again!" Kagome screamed, before turning away and huffing back into the palace. Now that Kagome looked back on that day, she understood how her sister felt… But she still loved these lands…. This land. Edo. It was home; nothing else could ever be.
Miroku had long since gone off to find work and bring in money for them to live off of. He sent back money on the weekends but it was hard going. Work was scarce even for the experienced.
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"Just waiting around here isn't going to do us any good, we must keep busy." Songo said to herself as she sowed a dress in bed. She had been confined to bed for a while yet since she'd given birth and the only strength she had was used to sow clothes. She sowed dresses for the girls, pants for the soldiers, and little outfits for the baby Souta who was growing ever so fast. He just seemed to cry all the time for something and Kagome was getting tired of hearing the baby crying.
"He's a baby, Kagome, babies cry." Old Keade reminded her. "We must look after little Souta for Hojo when he returns.
"Yeah, for Hojo, he'll love this little guy." Kagome said cradling the baby in her arms. She often watched him while Songo worked. Despite being a handful, Kagome did secretly wish that Souta was her baby and that Hojo was her husband. Then Songo would need something and reality would come crashing down around her again. "Coming Songo." Kagome said, hearing her call from upstairs. She rushed up to find Songo up and about and looking out of the window.
"Do you see that?" Songo asked her as they looked out together.
"Yeah," Kagome said looking down at the road. "Another group of soldiers come to find a meal." Kagome was getting tired of them all.
"No, that one there with the heavy beard. He looks so familiar." Kagome looked again and as the bearded man came ever closer they both realized who it was. "Oh my goodness. It's Hojo!" Songo exclaimed and then raced down stairs. Kagome followed, scarcely believing it but when she came down to the front yard and saw the soldier up close she knew it immediately. It was Hojo, and he was running towards the house now to meet with Songo who was running from the yard down to the road to meet him. Kagome started to go too but then she realized that she had no business running to him now. Songo was his wife. Songo had born his child. Songo was the one that he would want to see most of all. In that moment, she almost hated Hojo and Songo, and their baby but then she thought better of them. At least now Hojo was home and they could stop worrying about him and they could stop feeding all these strays.
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Songo met Hojo by the road and they embraced. She hugged his neck and kissed his bearded face and he picked her up into his arms and held her as if she were the dearest, most precious thing in the world to him.
"Oh Hojo!" Songo cried. "You're home, you're home, you're finally home."
"Yes my dearest, I'm home." Hojo said to her as he held her. "I'm home and I'm never leaving you again." He was really there and he was really safe and alive. Most of all he was hungry and happy to be there. Hojo's joys were doubled when he held his baby in his arms for the first time and he thanked them all for looking out for his family.
"It was nothing." Eri bragged, "Delivering a baby was nothing at all. I did most of the work and Kagome helped me."
"Well you've done a fine job. You too Kagome. Thank you for this, you are my dearest friend in the whole world and I won't forget how you've all suffered through to keep my wife and baby safe."
"Oh Hojo," Kagome said, wistfully, "It… it was no trouble at all. I'd do anything to help you and your family." And this time, Kagome realized that she meant it. She really would do anything to help Hojo's family… because she cared about Hojo, and Songo was really her best friend. She'd never really had a friend like Songo before, and now, realizing that her best friend had been the object of her scorn and envy made her heart sink a little. She felt truly, honestly guilty for ever hating someone so kind to her. "Hey, what are we all standing around out here for. Let's go in and have some dinner and let Hojo settle in." Hojo was home at last from war and from battling foes and from defending the honor of the country. The war was finally over for this one family and Kagome knew that together they could make it through whatever evil their new Emperor would bring against them.
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Act Five Scene Two.
From his palace in Kyoto Kohaku and his tax collectors pillaged the country. They raised high taxes and demanded blood from the gravestones of the fallen Imperial soldier's and their families. For loosing the war they would pay; and pay dearly. On one occasion the new Emperor was walking through his garden when a visitor came to him from the Northern boundaries He was tall silver haired young man with a sword on his belt and an appetite for confrontation.
"Lord Emperor, I bring tidings, salutations on behalf of my family." The young man said.
"Indeed." Kohaku replied. "What can I do for you?"
"I have come to barter for the life of my brother who was captured in the battle of Fuji." The young man said.
"Oh, you mean Sesshomaru." Kohaku looked down at his flowers and sniffed them like he was not even concerned with the matter. "I have to warn you that you've come to me about bad business. Sesshomaru is my favorite entertainment these days. He is quite a poor gambler and his loosing vast amounts of money to me is the only thing keeping him alive. Otherwise I'd have hung him already." The young Emperor said. "This does not concern you?"
"Not really, other than the fact that if he dies, the secret of my family's wealth will die with him. I have only a few funds readily available to me but they are all yours in exchange for his life. Naturally we'll pay all debts to your majesty." The silver haired young man said. Kohaku laughed and then summoned his footman.
"Go to the jail and see your bother. Tell him to give you the money you need and then bring it here to me. Then perhaps I shall let him go. At the very least it will guarantee he will not be killed." Kohaku said and wrote out a pass for his guest. "And your name?" He asked.
"My name is Inu-yasha, remember it well, for it shall be a name that you will hear again my Lord."
"We shall see." Kohaku said. "We shall see." As Inu-yasha was leaving he noticed two other well-dressed young men just arriving. They got out of their carriage and headed back towards the garden where he'd just come from. One was a handsome, very dashing young gentleman with long black hair and the other a grotesque, very hideous looking bald hunchback. They could only have been Hiten and Manten, the Emperor's senior tax collectors. They were well known all over Japan for the ruthless way that they hounded the people night and day to pay the outlandishly high taxes imposed upon them. If you could or wouldn't pay then they would burn you out or worse. They carried with them a heavy steamer trunk, obviously full of their hoarded treasure. More wealth for the Emperor to finance his future wars with.
"My Lord Emperor," Hiten said. "We have brought you this week's revenues from Southern provinces and are set to go forth and collect from the Northern provinces."
"Excellent." Kohaku said as he opened the trunk. It was filled with money. Coins, jewels, and fine silver too. The collected wealth of the entire south. "Is there anything else?" He asked the brother.
"As a matter of fact, there is." Manten said "There is a favor that I would ask of your greatness."
"What?" Kohaku demanded. Manten shrank away and hid behind his brother.
"My brother has his eye on a certain piece of land, north of Fuji. The Estate of Edo. It is owned by a vivacious young beauty named Kagome Higurashi-O'Hara." Hiten said.
"Yes, she is a beauty beyond compare and it would please me very greatly if she were to marry me and bare me many fine sons." Manten said.
"It is not within my domain to wed you women." The Emperor said. "Why should I care either way?"
"Well, you see my Lord, Edo is a very prosperous farm now that the war is over. It's currently feeding most of the surrounding province and Ms. Higurashi-O'Hara is attracting many former soldiers to her. You would have a vested interest in shutting down what could very well be a bare of operations for a rebellion. Also, if she were to become my wife, I would promise you my first born sons for your Imperial Army my Lord. Fine Captains they would make for you, I come from good stock, fine warriors all as my brother has proven to you during the past war." Manten went on. The Emperor was intrigued by this offer. The first born sons of an entire family well bred for war.
"Very well." Kohaku said. "I will pass a law that will enable you to make an offer of marriage to this Kagome and if she accepts then I will hold you to your word. If she denies you, you will still have to pay me, but in another fashion." He summoned his footman again and with a pen he wrote out a law that spelled death for Edo's Mistress and her family. "I here by decree that no single woman may own property or engage in profitable business of any kind unless widowed." He signed it and had it sent along to be posted throughout the entire country by the week's end. Hiten and Manten bowed to their Emperor and then left to go and inform Young Kagome of her fate.
"This Kagome had better be worth all the trouble I'm going to for you." Hiten told his brother.
"She is dear brother, she is, and she has two very young, very fine, beautiful sisters who are also single. Perhaps one of them might be a fitting bride for you." Manten said as they climbed back into their carriage.
"Perhaps but I am not looking for a bride. My only desire is for power and this deal you've made with the Emperor will bring us a great deal of power in the end. If it works that is." Hiten said.
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Act Five: Scene Three.
Kagome stood stirring a kettle of soap and thought about how hard things were on them all now. Then she looked over at where Hojo was working to split rails for a fence. His shirt was hanging over one rail and his strong, muscular chest glistened with sweat. Looking at this, Kagome thought it wasn't so bad after all. They made quite the happy little family, she thought, Songo as wife and mother, Kagome as House Mistress, and Hojo as the Lord of the Manner. For once in her life Kagome felt that she might really be happy.
"What are you smiling about?" Hojo asked her suddenly.
"Nothing, just thinking of how great things are between us now that we're all back together again." Hojo smiled too and decided it was time to take a break. "So how is that soap coming, I want to be able to have a good bath tonight." He walked over and looked into the kettle.
"It's almost ready for me to pour into bricks so don't worry. Songo is probably boiling your water as we speak. Oh it'll be good to get clean again." Kagome said smelling of herself. She'd been working out in the hot sun all day long and now he smelled of body odor. "Remember before the war, when things were different?" She asked Hojo.
"How could I forget? Things were so much more simple then and I was a braver man. I'm a coward now compared to those days when all a young man thought about was honor and gentlemanly sports like war. I found out on the battlefield though, that war is not a sport. It's something that I would not wish on my worst enemies now that I've lived it myself." He said to her.
"You mustn't say that you are a coward, Hojo. You're braver than any man I've ever known." Kagome told him.
"I wish that were true. This last war has changed me though. It will never be same again, Kagome, never. Our way of life before the war has gone away. Not matter how good we have it now, we'll always be marked by the changes this world has made to us."
"Oh, Hojo." Kagome put her arms around him and he held her. Something inside said it was wrong but it felt so right to Kagome that Hojo should be holding her. "Hojo, I lov…" But her words were drowned out by shouts from the house.
"Now what?" Hojo grabbed his shirt from the fence rail and both he and Kagome ran back to the house. When they arrived, a grizzly sight awaited them in their parlor.
"Oh, how disgusting!" Kagome exclaimed when she saw the hideous Manten sitting there.
"Lady Kagome, I'm glad to see you're well." The gruesome looking tax collector said as he got up from the bench. "My this place is shaping up quite nicely. I'd say the restoration of your beloved Edo is proceeding as well as can be expected."
"Uh, thank you sir. Please won't you sit while Eri brings us some tea?" Kagome said, trying to be a good hostess. She knew who this was. Manten was well known all over for being a vicious taxman. Kagome took a seat next to him but kept her distance. He was truly sickening to look at, to her. "So what can I do for you, if it's about our Taxes, we've paid them already." She told him.
"Oh, I've not come to you about your taxes, those are in good order, according to my records. What I've come to see you about is a business proposition that I'm sure we'll both find mutually beneficial. You see the Emperor had passed a new law decreeing that no woman may be allowed to own property unless she is married or widowed."
"That's terrible!" Kagome exclaimed. "What will happen to us, to Edo, to my family?" She asked Manten.
"Ah, that's what I came to see you about. Nothing will happen to them if I have anything to say about it. My dear Kagome, I've come to offer you marriage to save your family and your beloved Edo. Naturally, under this law, all your property would pass into my possession but I have considerable funds available and would do all that I could to restore you and this fine house to it's former state."
"Marriage?" Kagome asked him. "It's kind of sudden. I mean there isn't any way that I could… I mean it simply wouldn't do for me to…Oh there is just no polite way for me to say this. You're ugly." Manten heard this and was crushed. Kagome had just told him the same words that he'd heard from every woman he'd ever courted. "You do understand that I could never marry someone like you, no matter what was at stake. I mean, you're as grotesque as humanly possible."
"That doesn't change the fact that if you don't marry me, you'll loose everything. Edo will go up for sale, I'll buy it out from underneath you, and then I'll have your entire family turned out. Your servants, your land, your home will all be mine one way, or another. At least this way, when I die, it will all be yours again." Manten told her. Kagome had to think about this for a moment. She couldn't possibly let this man bully her into marriage, not when things were going so well for her as a single woman, and yet, if she did not marry him then all that he said would no doubt come to pass. What could she do?
"Can I have some time to think about this?" She asked him. Manten looked at her for a moment then agreed to give her two weeks to think his proposal over. Then he would return and force the issue. Eri brought the tea just then. Kagome sat and had tea with Manten so as not to be any ruder then she saw him out to his carriage.
"Remember, two weeks, then I shall return for you." He told her. Kagome watched him drive away and her heart sank.
"Oh what will I do?" She shrieked. "I can't marry that brute but if I don't then I'll loose everything!" She dropped down to her knees and grabbed up handfuls of earth in her palms. "Whatever shall I do?"
AN: Oh no! What will become of poor Kagome?!? If you want to now, then please review