Down to the earth I fell, with dripping wings. Heavy things won't fly…okay, I need to stop singing and start writing. Aaaaand…go!
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Gossamer Dreams
Part 4
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Kikyo did not think twice about her decision to chase after the cat until it reached its final destination, a wealthy looking home, where a girl of about her age met the small animal and called out to her. Before, when it was just the cat, Kikyo had been curious. But now she was facing the possibility of meeting another little girl. And for some reason, all she could hear in her head were Miroku's horrid accounts of what was thought to happen to Gifted captured in Fukumaden. Was any of it true? No one lived to tell the tale, so no one could be sure. One thing was sure, though. Kikyo did not want to stick around and find out. So she turned and ran back the same way she had come.
Roughly.
It seemed that she had not been paying very careful attention to landmarks and directions and turns and street names and storefronts on her very first trip out of the house since she was born. Now Kikyo was helplessly lost, and her concentration was going to two main causes. The first was a desperate attempt to recognize something, and the second was her determination to not start crying. Every time she started to cry, Miroku would tell her that it was childish to cry for no reason. The only time he had told her it was alright was when Kaede died, and obviously no one was dead at this point, so there should not be any crying.
The only problem was that no matter how she tried to stay calm and tried to keep moving and all of that, she was just as lost as she had started out being. Then she developed a brilliant plan. Miroku was a healer, and he had already explained to her that lots of people knew him by name just because there were so few healers in Yuurei, and he was definitely a good one, she was sure. So if she acted like she needed a healer, specifically Miroku, she could ask a storekeeper or someone that seemed nice where his house was. The only problem with this was that she was scared of people, having only ever talked with Miroku and Kaede. Of course, there had been the visitors, Gifted who were on the run or needed a place to stay for the night or other such things, but Kikyo always stayed away from them, terrified that she would look foolish and shame Miroku, who tried so hard to help her grow up into a proper lady. Until she was confident in her ability to be that lady, Kikyo had decided not to speak with the visitors no matter what they said to her, and so if she was called shy, at least it did not make her seem horrible. The only other people she knew were people in books. Little boys and girls who had adventures, historical figures, princesses and warriors and wizards and things like that. But they were imaginary.
Everyone around her was talking. Maybe one of the children…there were two boys just about her age leaving a teashop together. They were dressed in very nice clothes, so they were probably rich. She wondered if they were nice, as they seemed at the very least to be friendly with each other, patting one another on the back and laughing rather louder than she had imagined the cultured gentlemen in her books to do it. But then, they were only boys, and she was only a girl. She tried to think very hard how to introduce herself properly, but it seemed so scary, she just stood, staring at them with wide eyes until the shorter one noticed her and said something to his companion. They both laughed and changed course slightly to approach her.
"Hey, you want something?" the shorter one demanded. Only then did she notice something that had previously escaped her notice. Pointed ears. They both had pointed ears. And claws. Youkai. She felt like fainting right in the middle of the street. "You keep staring as though you know us, stupid girl."
"Shinga, leave her alone, she's only a little girl." The taller boy told his companion. If she had not been so terrified she could think of nothing but escape, Kikyo would have been reassured by his friendly smile. "You look like you might be lost. We have our driver waiting right over there." He pointed to a nearby carriage. "My brother's insulted you, so I think that we should take you wherever you want."
"Kouga, you're no youkai. You always act nice to people like that, stupid peasants." Shinga snorted. "Look how dirty she is, if we let her sit in the coach, dad would have a fit."
"That's stupid," Kouga shook his head. "I'm sorry, he's still too young to understand there's a world beyond him."
"Only a year younger than you." Shinga shot back.
"But still completely stupid." Kouga retorted. They were facing each other, and the terrified girl took her chance, running away as quickly as her feet would carry her, the two Youkai boys still arguing far behind her.
She ran straight into two Heisotsu standing at leisure on the corner of the boulevard. They turned to her, Imperial insignia glinting in the sunlight, and Kikyo felt her eyes go incredibly large. Miroku had told her that the Heisotsu were the Imperial guards, and that they were one of the few trained city officials that could easily recognize Gifted signs. She panicked as everything seemed to move incredibly slow. They were turning, one muttering something about annoying girls on the wrong side of the city, and they would see her, and they would know what she was. So she did the first thing that came to mind.
She lowered her head and stared straight at her shoes, hoping that the forelocks falling out of her ribbon were enough to hide her eyes from them. Would they see? Would they know? She wanted to scream, but she knew that right now was a time to be sneaky, and screaming was never sneaky in the least.
"Look at dis liddle 'un, will ya?" she didn't know which guard was speaking, since she was so concentrated on not looking up. "Looks like da ting ain't eaten in weeks."
"Naw, jes' a lil' gal's all." The other guard sounded rather jovial, and Kikyo felt hope that they would just let her go on by. "No, my gal's near 'er size. 'Ow old're you, lil'n?" Kikyo took almost a minute to try and decipher their horrible lack of enunciation. Did all city men talk like this? It was ridiculous. She knew that Miroku would never sound so garbled, and the two youkai boys she'd just seen had been clear enough. Perhaps it was just something unique to city officials.
"Ey, ya better say summut when we asks ya sumtin." The first guard seemed to have a slightly different accent than his friend. Miroku had told her about accents, and he had tried to imitate a few for her, but she found that it was really no substitute for the real thing. "Ey!" suddenly, she was kicked down, and she realized the men had been asking her something. What was it again? Her age, that was it. As she tried to brush herself up and stand without looking up, another idea struck Kikyo. If she lied, saying she was seven instead of eight, surely they would believe her. After all, they seemed to find her rather scrawny, and as much as that grated on her nerves, if she could turn it to her advantage by making herself seem utterly helpless…why, if seven was good, surely they would believe a further exaggeration?
"I am only six, sirs." She wondered belatedly if she should sound less proper. What would they think of her since she had no horrible accent? Perhaps that she was just a normal little girl and of no concern. That was what she hoped. "I apologize for running into you, I was not watching the way ahead as I ought to." Of course, an apology for what had happened could not possibly hurt, and it might make them lose interest.
"Aw, 'ear 'er talkin' fancy like?" she thought that was the second guard. He had a horrible habit of dropping his h's right off the front of words as though he forgot they were there. "Wud a purdy princess."
"Ain't it true!" the other guard laughed roughly. "Look at da clothes, she ain't Youkai, dat's fer sure. Whatcha doin' on dis side o' da river, girly?"
"I…am lost." She admitted. Maybe they could actually help her! "Actually, I was looking for a healer named Miroku. Would either of you know the way to his home?"
"Ahahaha! Terr'ble, 'earin' talk like th'kind she does out o' a lil' street urchin like 'er." The happy guard was now laughing at her, and Kikyo was privately fuming. How could those two…brutes have the audacity to make fun of the way she spoke when they sounded as if they were both talking with mouthfuls of bread? It was ridiculous, really.
"Fink maybe she's one o' dose maid girlies wut all da rich Youkai gots?" they were having so much fun at her expense, but she could not possibly scold them. First of all, they were much bigger than her. Secondly, they outnumbered her. Thirdly, she just wanted to escape before they realized what she was and chopped her head off in the middle of the street or some other such horrible fate. She should have never petted that cat in the first place.
Kikyo began crying.
"Ey, lookit ya did!" the second guard was accusing his companion as she tried to stem the flow, but she had just had such a horrible day, and it was all too much for her little mind to handle. "C'mon then, no need ta cry'er nuthin."
"Straight'n up, den, liddle 'un!" the first guard sounded teasing as he reached down and physically forced her to lift her head. "Gimme a rag er sumtin, Cap'n." He turned as he held her head up and Kikyo squeezed her eyes shut, realizing that if he looked back and saw them, her ruse would be spoiled. "Lookit, she's jes' a baybee," he sounded slightly sympathetic as he dabbed roughly at Kikyo's face with a large rag that she personally thought smelled rather foul. "Now, lemme see a smile, girly! We's jes kidden wid ya."
Kikyo was so relieved that they would leave her alone that she actually did smile. However, she opened her eyes when she did so and gave the guards a perfect glimpse of two large, purple eyes. She didn't realize her mistake until they both cursed and the captain pulled out something, fastening her hands behind her back. As soon as she realized what was going on, she screamed out loud and tried desperately to escape, but before she got in much of a struggle, she was hit sharply on the head and fell unconscious immediately.
"Well den, best dake diss'n back at da Palace, huh, Cap'n?"
"Yup, purdy lil' monster all th'same. Best show this'n to 'er 'ighness."
"Ya tink she'll wann'er?"
"Def'nitely."
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"Thanks for carrying all my things." Rin was trying very hard to be on her best behavior, so she thanked the polite boy that had escorted her all the way to the capital of Fukumaden when he scooped up both of her tightly packed suitcases.
"What kind of gentleman would I be if I made a lady such as yourself carry all of this when you have only just arrived in Yuurei moments ago as my honored guest?" Miroku's flowery language reminded Rin of her mother, and at the same time, it was just a little over the top, making her laugh and forget her worries. "Besides all that, you graciously carried my book, I had to return the favor." He nodded to the leather bound volume that Rin had offered to carry when she saw that Miroku intended to heft her bags all the way to his house. Her home, now. It all seemed so strange, but it was like an adventure in a fairy tale, and Rin had always loved fairy tales.
"It's not heavy at all." She smiled, trying very hard to act like a proper little lady would and not start skipping ahead of Miroku. It was very difficult, but she managed to only walk with a slight bounce in her step. "So, will your sister be home when we get there?"
"Kikyo will surely be waiting, as she is always in the house." Miroku told Rin, not wanting to say too much when they were still in the streets. "She is too young to go out on her own quite yet."
"I guess not…this is such a big place. How do you keep from getting lost?" she wanted to know.
"Ah, that has always been a problem. In fact, I know a man who had a street map tattooed onto the inside of his eyelids to rectify the situation." Miroku's voice was serious, but he winked at her, letting her know that he was only joking, so she burst into laughter.
"No you don't!" she had decided after about eight hours of knowing him that Miroku was a very nice person and that he would definitely make a good friend and a fun teacher. She still wasn't sure what he was going to teach her, as he hadn't wanted to talk about it on the coach back. He had, however, told her lengthy stories about his sister and Rin felt as though she already knew the girl. It would be fun to live with another girl her age, almost as though she had a sister.
"Too smart for me, Rin." Miroku heaved a sigh before he brightened and quickened the pace slightly. "It's just up ahead here. I know that you will feel…" and then he stopped short, and Rin looked up at him, her little face pinching in confusion.
"What?" she blinked up at him as he stared straight ahead, his mouth slightly open, his eyes wide and shocked.
"The gate…never mind." He moved forward again, chuckling nervously as he pulled the gate open from where it had been hanging ajar. "It's just odd. The gate is always closed, you see. I was surprised for a moment."
"You're silly, Miroku." Rin was pleased that nothing was really wrong. She followed Miroku, looking around at the home, the lawn, the neatly kept property. "It's kind of small, but it looks really cute." She finally decided.
"I am so pleased that you approve, dear Rin." Miroku chuckled as he set down her bags at the door. "Now just one moment, and I will pretend to look for my key. However, I expect that I will not be able to get it to the lock before Kikyo beats me to it. She gets very lonely when I leave for longer than usual, you see. That is why she will be so much better off making friends with a girl like you, Rin. I am sure you two will get along wonderfully." He produced the key, frowning slightly as he put it in the door and turned.
"Maybe she's sleeping." Rin suggested helpfully, and Miroku laughed nervously again.
"Indeed, quite true. I left her with a whole house to take care of, after all. Poor dear must be nearly exhausted from her chores." Miroku eased the door open, picking up the bags and gesturing for Rin to enter ahead of him. "Ladies first."
"Thanks." She smiled again, stepping into the little home and looking around. It was small, yes, but she could already see there was a large garden in the back, and it looked simply lovely. "I think I'll be happy here." She surmised as Miroku closed the door.
"I am sure you will be, dear Rin. I want you to feel that this is your home as well, and that Kikyo and I are your family. Always feel free to talk to either…" he stepped into the other room as he spoke, and when he reappeared, he looked rather nervous. "Odd, she is not in our room. She must be in the garden." He gestured for Rin to follow him as he walked toward the back of the little house, and when she caught up to him at the back door, he looked like he had suddenly swallowed his tongue, the panic on his face was so thick.
"Miroku?" Rin did not want to add to the problem, but it was a worry. "Where is she?"
"I…do not know."
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The End (Of Part 4, That Is)