Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, or Spirited Away. I do wish I formally owned this story.
Author's Note:
This, people, is the story that came out of Spirited Away. I'm sure you'll find many similarities, and complain to me, sooner or later. I don't care; I just have to say that any plot similarities you find will soon evolve into something very different from what actually happened. In truth, I only intentionally took, the idea of Haku being bad, but acting good towards Chihiro. Not saying any more on that subject, or else all my mystery will go to waste.
This is the last story for a while; since my mom's been getting on my case about fanfiction, I'm going to be cutting down a little on it. The next long story I'm doing is being written on paper, and will take a while before publishing. Probably in June.
This was put in italics intentionally. Since this is only the first chapter, it may seem weird, but starting with the second chapter, you'll see why. I think this'll be about 5 chapters, hopefully.
And finally, don't complain.
A Finely Woven Story
The First Weaving
I was dressed in black still. All who worked here for Master Naraku did. We all had long black hair that we were supposed to wear as buns. I was one of the few that didn't, preferring to let my hair stay in a relatively natural manner. He had a reason for the buns though, more than just for uniform looks. We had these long black 'curtains' to wear that were to be wrapped around our hair and secured. It was the easiest way. It went down to our feet, and was spelled to give us some moving room.
In this way, our entire bodies were cloaked. None of our physical features could be determined, only the barest hints were given when the sheer fabric got pulled back on our limbs. Despite how thick it's beginning to sound to you, I have exaggerated a little. In the strongest light, you could clearly see our shapes. In weaker light, all you could tell was that where our body was would be a darker black, and where only the veil stood was a lighter color, a dark gray.
It was supposed to protect us from the customers. It didn't explain why they wanted only the prettiest to work for them, but it worked, most of the time. We all lived to a pretty ripe old age, but Naraku, at the age of sixty, had still seen more of us go then we had seen customers. He had, through spells or witchcraft, kept himself young. Maybe he even changed bodies, none of us knew.
But back to the reason why I was still in black. I had been working here for almost as long as the older girls. Just the other day Naraku himself had asked me if I wanted a promotion. It is in your best interest to accept if an opportunity like that ever comes up. I accepted, of course. He said that I could now, instead of waiting directly to the customers, manage the new girls that came in.
Of course, that position was high and sought after by many of my ambitious peers. He hastily assured me that I would only be an assistant for a while, at least until he opened another house.
It goes without saying that Tsubaki, who had been formerly flying solo, wasn't so pleased about the latest addition to her household. I was reduced to the menial tasks of teaching new girls what to do. And since the best way to learn is to be shown, I had to redo all my jobs that I had thought were behind me. Life is never as it seems.
They all learned so slowly, so sluggish. It took me weeks, sometimes even months to train one. Some even had the impudence to ask why I never smiled, when we were alone in the so called 'privacy' of our chambers. That always made me clam up. For some reason, Tsubaki respected me, and would always reassign the wenches.
That is, I always shut up until this one girl came.
I didn't get to see her face, because she had been suited up before I got there. That may be partially my fault, as I was not in the best of moods after one of my favorite baths was rudely interrupted for her.
Although she was veiled, the curtain couldn't hide her discomfort. The slightest bulge of an elbow here and there told me that she hadn't gotten used to our rather practical clothing. Which I will not describe here. You'll learn soon enough.
"Hello. I'm-"
"No. Don't tell me your name. It'll only go the worse for you later, if I am accused of playing favorites." I replied shortly. It was just great, this one was already looking to be a talkative one. I'm not the nicest person in the world. That didn't mean that I liked to put people down, and tell them to shut up.
"Well then, I-"
"Just stay quiet." I said harshly, and stuck my arm out to wave. We had black armguards, so no part of our delicate white skin was exposed. She got my hints, and followed me.
"Got any things?"
"Yeah, I've got like a-"
"Alright then. We'll go to the sleeping chambers first then." We stepped onto one of the floating platforms and began to slowly go up. Our house was shaped like a spider, in a way. The platforms reminded me more of honeycombs, though.
I slapped the useless carrier, frustrated at the slow rate that we were taking. It responded by rocking our platform, enough so that I had to grab the sides. I bent over the side and glared. It glared back.
Perhaps I should explain what they look like.
"Girl, we are being carried by a platform carrier. That should be obvious. If you would lean over the side carefully, you can see that it's a kind of insect. It resembles a spider though, so that term isn't anatomically correct. It, like everything else here, is black."
"Hey, erm, well, what should I call you, first of all?" she asked, a bit uncertainly.
"Call me nothing. Don't get attached, although I'm sure you'll barely be able to pick me out of a crowd soon enough. Besides, don't you know anything?"
She bowed her head, submissive now that I had 'put her down', per say. I didn't feel a speck of remorse.
When we walked into the room, I frowned. Of course, no one noticed, being as we were all still in our work clothes.
"You sure you're supposed to be here? We're awfully crowded already." I mumbled, then pushed aside the door to the next room, which was thankfully empty.
"This is supposed to be my room only, but since I'm a nice person, I'll let you stay in the same room." I sighed, pulling out a bed and showing her where she could keep her things.
"Um…um…" It might have been amusing to hear her go on and on, not sure of if it would be rude to just say 'you' to get my attention, but I had more things to do.
"What is it?"
"Do you know where I can find um…"
"Get on with it. We have tons of things to do. And quit with the ums, they make you sound retarded."
"Never mind. I'll ask you later then." She responded meekly. I growled, and finished what I was doing.
"Fine, come on. First thing's observation." We marched down the polished stairs as I observed the subtle clocks everywhere.
"It's pretty early, so we might not have much people here yet." I told her. She nodded.
Reaching the bottom, I asked the shift worker who was in. She rifled through the papers, and said,
"You guys can take the mysterious youkai in room ten. He's a bit cold, and not nice at all. But he's loaded!" She shivered, remembering how he had acted. Her eyes lit up when she recalled his riches, though.
"And you're giving him to us – why?" I asked knowingly.
"Well, I thought that it might give the new girl some second thoughts." She then leaned over and continued in my ear, "And maybe clear out some space for us. You know how crowded it's been, and the renovations on that new place are taking forever, according to my sister."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. And details before we go?"
"Just that he said not to touch him in any way." The receptionists replied after looking back down at her notes.
"Interesting." I mused, as I led the new girl away.
Room ten was a normal one, with no specific themes. It was just clean, and pleasant to look at. All of our rooms were like this, of course.
Once I entered the room, I gasped and immediately went out. A faint blush covered my face, unfortunately. I hadn't been this out of control of my body since that first day – no, thoughts will not go back that far. Not anymore.
But this youkai resembled him so much! Cascading white hair, amber eyes, and a haughty expression. Except I knew that this one was a full demon, not a hanyou.
The new girl looked at me curiously, and I regained my composure. I waved her ahead.
"Your numbers." He said flatly.
"Why do you want them?" She said, before I could signal to her to be quiet.
"In case you do not deliver quality entertainment." He replied optimistically.
I sighed. There was no helping it now. I nodded to her, telling her to go first.
"I was given the number 731." She said meekly, moving to the side of the room. I grimaced. She was close enough to the paper walls to interfere with the job of another girl.
She didn't get the hint, but he was staring expectantly at me.
"Working number's 628." I really hoped that he wasn't the sort to want our names as well. I wasn't too sure what Naraku would think of that, it was an unwritten policy. He guarded every last speck of our pasts like gems.
"Good." We sat in silence for a time. I wasn't sure what to think. Usually they offered more about themselves to go on, and then I could delve into my repertoire to figure out what would be the best for them. The only thing I could get out of what had already happened was that he was cautious, calculating, and rich. He was probably spoiled too, and not too young.
"If this continues I will have to report you." He said calmly, not making a move. Somehow, I figured out that he wanted his tea.
"Here, sir." I said, hiding my irritation skillfully.
"Humans are so clumsy." He remarked casually with a look straight at me, even though it had been 731 who had just tripped over the chair. I kept my frown on the inside, suspecting something more.
"And I will be sure to ask why I have two mikos serving me. I could perceive this as a threat to my existence, considering that both of you are powerful enough to purify me into nothing."
He didn't give us enough time to think this over before continuing,
"If I was sitting still and waiting for you to, of course." He took another sip of his tea. It came as no surprise to me now that he had mentioned it. I had always known that I was a miko, and apparently the other girl did too. She didn't feign the look of boredom.
"May I ask your name?" I asked politely, making a mental note to report him.
"Sesshomaru," was the curt reply.
"And last name?"
"Taiyouki. Any reason why you're asking?" He asked pleasantly. I nodded sweetly back at him.
"None at all."
"Are you related to Inuyasha?" blurted out 731, who had moved closer. I eyed her quickly, and waited for the demon lord's answer.
"The half-breed? Sadly, through the foolishness of my father." He responded carelessly, and irate look building up in his eyes.
I nodded wisely, at a loss for what else to do. The other miko also smiled sympathetically, not seeming to understand that he'd just insulted his father and Inuyasha in the same breath. That wasn't polite.
Okay, that was a bit understated. It was extremely disrespectful. And I hated to lose easy money, but I had to.
"Listen, um, Lord Sesshomaru, I think you should go." I said awkwardly. The way he looked made it all the more harder, just look at his clothes and – eyeliner?!
Oh well, even the best have their little…irregularities.
He looked coolly at me, up and down. It wasn't the look that a man gives a woman, but rather the look of a master looking at its slave. I didn't like it.
"Why would I do that?" He asked, his smile broadening, but never warming.
"Because…Naraku's coming." I responded cheerily when I heard him walking outside.
731 looked at me worriedly when Sesshomaru showed no signs of moving. I let a smile of my own grow when I heard our door slide back.
Problem solved, I decided to retire. I hastily made a bad apology to my companion, before sliding into my bed and pulling the light out.
It was apparent that she had something to say, and she tossed and turned for a while before finally coming out with it.
"Um…628, do you know how I can get to Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha?! The girl wanted to see him?!
Author's Note:
Okay, I'm finished. It took forever for this to finish. It flowed nicely in the beginning, but when I started thinking about how it should be ready on New Year's, I got all choked up (not in the tears sense).
Anyway, it IS ready.
Review please. Or don't, I find that I don't care anymore.