Eternity

(Based on the story "Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Anderson)

Retold by

Nana

(An Inu Yasha and Kagome fairy tale, told in seven stories)

Story 2

Part I

Boy and Girl

Author's Note: Arrrggghhh! It's been so long since I've last updated anything that I really do not know what to say. I owe this small comeback to many who have written asking for an update on the stories. I was so inspired by your messages to pull together this brief chapter, and I promise I shall continue the other stories as well, although I cannot say when the next update shall be. I'm very sorry about this, but medical training is medical training and there seems to be no end in sight. Still, thanks to you guys, I am very glad to get away briefly to preserve my sanity and to turn out another fanfic chapter. I hope you will all enjoy this chap!

Miroku, in this chapter, gets to reprise his role as the Prince of the Northern Kingdom. You can look up his adventures with Sango in my other fairy tale fic, The Riddle.

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The Princess stood as if transfixed on her balcony, gazing intently at the clear, blue sky high above her. She paid no attention to the cheers of the small crowd gathered below or the swordfight in progress. Indeed, she paid little heed even to Inu Yasha's triumphant yell as he sent his opponent sprawling on the ground with a particularly skillful blow.

Odd. She was sure she had seen it. A bright flash of light—so grand it had illuminated the skies for at least a minute, followed by countless trails of small, sparkling drizzles spreading to every direction and drifting back down to earth. The trails twinkled and disappeared in the cold brightness of the day.

She turned to her old nurse, who had accompanied her to watch Inu Yasha's mini-tournament. "Is there any fireworks display scheduled today?" she asked curiously.

Lady Kaede seemed surprised. "None, Your Highness," she replied. "The last of the palace's fireworks had been used to mark your engagement day two weeks ago."

"But—"the Princess turned back dubiously to stare at the sky. "Didn't you see the fireworks just now?"

Her nanny blinked. "Fireworks?" repeated Kaede and, like Princess Kagome, turned to scan the heavens for any evidence of such.

She didn't see it, realized Kagome wonderingly as she watched Lady Kaede's blank face. Almost a minute's worth of fireworks spanning almost the entire sky, and she didn't see it. How is this possible?

Who could have set those fireworks off if they had not originated from the palace? She doubted very much if anyone else inside the kingdom had the means to acquire such sophisticated pyrotechnical materials, and her engagement celebrations had been over two weeks ago.

Could it be that she had seen some sort of illusion?

She was brought back to the present by her fiance's voice.

"Hey, Kagome! You're not even watching the match!" Inu Yasha yelled accusingly from below her.

"Sorry!" she called cheerily as she raised a hand to wave at her champion.

Beside her, she could sense Lady Kaede's unspoken disapproval at being addressed in so familiar a nature by her fiance. Yes, they were royal children in their respective kingdoms, and yes, they were engaged to be married soon, but as far as Lady Kaede was concerned, these reasons did not give Prince Inu Yasha license to address Princess Kagome any way he wished to in front of other people.

But this was one of the reasons why she had chosen him among all the others in the first place.

From her balcony, Princess Kagome watched the sunlight reflect from her fiance's long white hair, and found herself thinking how time had flown by so fast. It had been a month since her sixteenth birthday, when she had made his acquaintance, and a brief two weeks since she had accepted his offer of marriage.

Of course, things may not have turned out this way had it not been for Miroku, the Prince of the Northern Kingdom…

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It had all started with her sixteenth birthday. To honor local customs, her parents had planned this year's bash to include her coming of age celebrations as well. Of course, that had meant a long line of invitations to every possible noble family far and near, plus a few weeks' holiday in the kingdom.

The Prince from the Western Kingdom had stood out from day one, partly because of his long mane of white hair, unusual and outstanding if you were to dance in a hall full of regular dark or blond heads.

He had also singled himself out for closer inspection partly because of his manners. He had not hesitated to fill in the unspoken question in her parents' minds why his kingdom had sent the second royal son by announcing that his brother, the Crown Prince Sesshou Maru, had other things to attend to.

Her parents had smilingly let the remark pass, but Kagome had slanted the Prince a look because she had not liked his tone, and was rewarded by an insolent flick of his gaze that seemed to look her up and down and dismiss her as not worth his time in a single second.

After that incident, she had resolved to ignore this annoying entity for the rest of his stay, and had hoped that he would be gone in a few days' time. All throughout her birthday festivities, though, she had wondered how he would pop up seemingly from nowhere and annoy her further with his company. And he was showing no signs of wanting to leave.

When one attempted to draw him into conversation, one would be confounded with the way he replied. There would be short periods of seemingly resentful silence, followed by gruff, monosyllabic replies to questions. Or worse, he would give one a disdainful toss of his head, as if to say answering questions was a waste of time.

Very few people bothered to get a second helping of this kind of treatment, but because his attitude had inspired quiet fury in Princess Kagome, she had found herself looking forward to more meetings in the hope of provoking him into an argument.

Things changed drastically when the Prince of the Northern Kingdom arrived with his kingdom's gifts and to partake in the festivities.

Prince Miroku had swept in with such self-assurance and grace that Kagome guessed every other male royal must have felt at least a twinge of self-consciousness. The ladies had all been in a stir, as the Northern Prince was known to possess a certain reputation among women, and indeed he had been charming and attentive to the Princess.

It was clear that Inu Yasha did not like this newcomer, and Kagome had been amused at the way Inu Yasha would cast dark, sidelong glances at Miroku's impressive, black dress uniform. Compared to Miroku's suave black silk and velvet and his sweeping black cape with its purple underside, Inu Yasha's bright red robes seemed like a costume borrowed straight from the wardrobes of a circus.

What had puzzled Kagome was Inu Yasha's sudden declaration to the whole court a few days later that he meant to extend his stay.

"What for?" she had asked him scathingly when she was sure she was out of her parents' hearing range.

"Feh! None of your business!" Inu Yasha had shot back.

They had not known that their little squabble had not gone unnoticed.

After that, Prince Miroku seemed resolved to annoy the living daylights out of Inu Yasha by perpetually appearing at Kagome's side, regaling her with stories and holding her hand. The first time this happened in the gardens, Princess Kagome had been startled at his boldness.

"What are you doing?" she had hissed at him.

Miroku had blinked. "I believe I am taking your hand," he said, perfectly straight-faced.

"Yes, I realize that, but what is your intention?!" Kagome tried to pry her hand out from his, but he merely tightened his hold. From the look in his eye, he seemed to be doing it out of sheer amusement.

No wonder he had such an easy reputation!

"Who knows?" He had answered, smiling. "Somebody might see."

And somebody did. Somebody who had been hiding in the bushes.

Afterward, Inu Yasha appeared more sullen than ever, and gave Miroku a long, murderous glance when they next saw each other. On the other hand, he could not seem to look at Kagome straight in the eye, and turned abruptly to walk away when he saw her with Miroku.

"There's a bit of leaf in your hair!" called Miroku, and watched with amusement as Inu Yasha angrily ran a hand over his head.

It was only later that Kagome learned to piece the puzzle together. She had drilled Miroku on it, and he had replied that he had suspected some things for a while.

"You say he's been following me all over and can't seem to look anywhere else when I'm around?" repeated Kagome as she stared at Miroku incredulously. "Why would he do that?"

"Why does a guy do anything when it comes to a girl?" had been Miroku's reply, and he had left her to turn over these words and certain memories first in disgust, then in wonder.

That, Kagome had to admit, had been the turning point.

From then on, she did notice the way Inu Yasha would awkwardly hang around when she was in a room, or the way he would fix Miroku with a hard stare whenever the Northern Prince would linger too long in his conversations with her.

It had been…well, touching.

And then came that terrible day when she was thrown off her horse as she was having her morning ride outside the palace. Something had frightened her horse, for he had galloped away without even pausing to realize if he still had his rider with him or not.

To make matters worse, she had gone off with no permission and no escort, which meant that she was unlikely to be missed by at least several hours in the palace.

Limping along the lonely stretch of country road in the early morning hours with nothing but a sprained ankle and frightening thoughts of highwaymen and wild beasts for company had not exactly been pleasant, so she had not known what to expect when she heard hoof beats coming her way.

But it had been Inu Yasha, materializing out of the mist astride a horse and calling her name in a tone she had never heard him use before.

"Are you alright?" he had asked, the same tone of concern lingering in his words as he leaned down to help her into the saddle. And just when he had swung her up, she saw it: the look that he gave her just then was the one that had been markedly absent in Prince Miroku's eyes, no matter how many times he had taken hold of her hand.

During the ride back home, she had astounded herself by leaning into Inu Yasha and thinking how safe and warm it felt to have his arms around her.

Since then, it was easy to see Princess Kagome's partiality to this person, although he was still capable of making her furious by denying hotly that the reason why he came along that morning was because he had been following her.

All the while, Prince Miroku had sat back and smiled at the turn of events even as he declined to comment.

When the day came that he must be returning to his kingdom, Princess Kagome had seen him off.

At the last moment, she had blurted out, "I…I don't know why you did it. This whole charade you went through with me to get to Inu Yasha, I mean. But…I'm grateful."

Miroku had merely smiled and, reaching for her hand one last time to plant a kiss on her knuckles, said, "I do what I can to help anyone. Ladies, especially."

With that, he had gone on with his own life and his own adventures.

Inu Yasha must have seen the kiss, though, for he proposed a week later.

And so that was how she managed to get engaged to Inu Yasha, and engaged to him she remained till the day our story was unfolding.

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She met him as he came up to the balcony, still in his fencing clothes.

"What were you doing, looking at the sky?" asked Inu Yasha as he leaned on the balcony's railings.

Kagome shrugged. "I thought I saw fireworks," she said, smiling.

"Fireworks? This late into the year?" asked Inu Yasha as he turned to look at the clear sky.

She described the white drizzles she had seen as they shot down from the sky to melt in the morning light.

"Maybe you saw the first snow," he suggested.

"There aren't any clouds just now," answered Kagome dryly.

"Still, it's getting pretty cold. Winter's coming," he said, changing the subject.

Kagome suddenly smiled. "I used to remember what my nanny used to say about snow. They were like white bees swarming."

"White bees," repeated Inu Yasha with an arch in his voice. "I suppose they've got a queen among them too?"

"Why, yes!" said Kagome. She turned to Lady Kaede excitedly. "Do you remember telling me your story about the Snow Queen when I was very little?"

Kaede smiled and said she did. She related the story to the Prince.

"The Queen always flies at the very center of the swarm of snowflakes, and she's the biggest of them all. Unlike her subjects, though, she doesn't lie down to rest on the ground or melt under the sun. Instead she flies back to the black clouds from whence she came when the winds die down," narrated Lady Kaede. "You will wonder why we wake up to find our window panes frosted. On winter nights, she flies through the towns and villages, looking into each of the windows; when she's done they become covered with ice flowers."

"I used to be scared that the story might be real, that if I look out from my window during winter nights I just might come face to face with a woman in the snow," said Kagome with a shiver. Then she laughed, adding, "that's why I always keep the curtains down during winter nights. I really don't know what I'd do if I see her outside the windows, or worse yet, if she manages to get inside the room."

"Let her come in," said Inu Yasha carelessly, "I'll personally see to it that she be put right above stove so that she'll melt."

Laughing, they moved away from the balcony. All thoughts of fireworks and snow slowly faded as they went to get some breakfast.

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Despite his bravado at a seemingly harmless fairy tale told earlier that morning, Inu Yasha cast a surreptitious glance at his windows as he prepared to retire that night.

He was not a superstitious man by nature, so he surprised himself as he moved to look outside the closed window.

Even more to his surprise, it had begun to snow.

He frowned, staring at the small, white flakes as they fell gently on his window ledge.

What happened next seemed so much like a dream that, although he remembered it the next day, he did not bother telling anyone else about it.

It would seem so ridiculous!

What he noticed at first was the way the flakes invariably fell on the same places on his window ledge, until they grew into a distinctive shape, crystallizing into a new form.

Before he knew it, he was looking straight at a woman clothed in white gauze who was hovering just outside his window. She was so close he could see her dress was actually made of a million, glittering snowflakes.

The lines of her white face told him she was beautiful, but she was made entirely of cold, glittering ice. She reminded him of someone, although he could not say just now who it might be.

He could not understand how she could be alive, but alive she was. The grey of her hooded eyes reminded him of the ocean in winter, but she looked back at him with an intelligence and restlessness that indicated a soul not at peace.

It was her eyes that beseeched. Staring into those grey orbs, he felt that he could easily lose himself in them. As he looked on, she raised a white hand and beckoned to him wordlessly to open the window.

For one brief, terrifying moment, Inu Yasha remembered the ghosts from innumerable stories of his childhood, and he pulled back sharply from the window. Just then the figure disappeared, leaving him to stare at the frosted panes before him and to wonder if what he had seen was real.

Outside, the first flakes continued to fall, giving off the impression that the snow—and only the snow—had been at his window a moment before.

First posted 01/04/05