The Tale of the Princess of the Crescent Moon
Seventeen
Another Saturday lunch with Nakamura-sensei; another review of the week's work; another new lesson. Last year, flower arranging; this year, it was calligraphy. Single characters, poems (both original and historic), words or phrases suitable to the season specifically for the tea ceremony—there seemed no end. Izayoi at times envied her classmates the simplicity of cram schools: a brutal alternative, to be sure, but at least it was a simple one. All they had to do was sit and memorize, not reach deep into their souls for inspiration while struggling with their penmanship.
Last year's course in ikebana had covered the family home in floral arrangements of all shapes and sizes, spilling out into the temple grounds, onto the steps—anywhere a place could be found. The result, of course, was that the Higurashi temple became quickly known as one of the most beautiful places in the city, and that year they received a record number of visitors. This year promised a repeat of last year's successes, but this time with handwritten scrolls. Kagome's mother, ever the enterprising businesswoman, saw an opportunity: after a few whispered words with Nakamura-sensei, Izayoi's curriculum quickly expanded to temple charms. Izayoi learned both how to create them and how to charge them with spiritual energy, and between the charms she produced and the number of scrolls she created each week, she provided the temple with a tremendous new source of income; and again, her work generated a record number of visitors for the year. Mama Higurashi, Kagome, and Souta (who, after Grandpa's death, had taken over as temple priest) were always most effusive in their praise of Izayoi's contributions to the temple; she merely nodded graciously, asked for more tea and a pot of clean water to wash out her brushes, and reached for more paper.
It was a sparkling autumn day at the end of September. At the end of their regular lesson, Nakamura-sensei sat Izayoi down and spoke very somberly. "You, and your parents, must come to my house for a very special lesson, on October seventeenth, at four o'clock. It is perhaps the most important lesson I that will ever teach you. The lesson can only be delivered on that day: it must be the seventeenth of October." Izayoi promised to be there, wondering why he was so unusually serious.
When she got home that evening, she started to mark her calendar with the date, but then her heart sank: the full moon was the evening of the seventeenth, and the day before the rising of the full moon was the day she turned human. The terror of having to leave the house and the temple grounds and to travel all the way across the city to Nakamura-sensei's house, and the shame of having him see her in her human state, struck her like a physical blow; and she collapsed on the floor in a cold sweat at the choice between facing him as a human or telling him why she did not want to see him that day.
The next day, at the end of the lesson, Nakamura-sensei sat down with Izayoi and asked her if she remembered her promise to come to his house on the appointed day. Izayoi tearfully begged to move the date, but Nakamura-sensei would not listen. "What could be so important that you could not receive the most important lesson that I will ever teach you?"
Izayoi struggled to find her voice; she couldn't bring herself to lie to her teacher, to offer the sort of excuses her mother always phoned into the school to explain her absences on such days. She stammered for a few moments, then hung her head in shame, and said almost inaudibly, "I...I just can't come that day. I just can't. Please, sensei, any other day...but not that day."
Nakamura-sensei rose wordlessly; he looked at her grimly, and said, "I shall not see you again until the seventeenth. If you wish to continue as my pupil, you will come to your lesson on the day that I have set. If I do not see you and your parents at my house at four o'clock on the seventeenth of October...we shall never speak again." He bowed solemnly, and walked away, leaving Izayoi still seated on the ground, weeping.
On the seventeenth of October, precisely at four o'clock, there was a knock on Nakamura-sensei's door. He opened the door, and on his front steps were Inuyasha, Kagome, and Izayoi between them; she wore a heavy cloak, and her head was shrouded in a hood.
"I want you to realize what this means to Izayoi," Kagome said darkly. "On days like today, she has never even left her room, much less the temple compound. She has never stood under the open sun on days like today—until now."
Izayoi slowly removed her hood; cascades of beautiful black hair fell upon her shoulders. She was no longer the tall, courageous hanyou who had countless times faced death and destruction without fear; she was only a frightened little girl, her eyes wet with tears. She spoke in a choked whisper: "Sensei...I came as you asked."
Nakamura-sensei gently took Izayoi's shoulders in his hands, then he embraced her. "My dear daughter," he said, "I am so proud of you. You have shown true courage, and your true heart." He bowed deeply to Inuyasha and Kagome. "I am deeply moved by your trust. Nothing shall harm her while she is here: I give you my most solemn word. Please, come inside."
Inuyasha, ever the protective father, went in first, his ears twitching and his nose sniffing furiously. Satisfied, he nodded to Kagome and Izayoi, and they came inside. Nakamura-sensei's home was as traditional as his tea-house. It was amazingly uncluttered for a place that was absolutely crammed full of beautiful objects: scrolls, books, swords, bamboo implements of all kinds, ceramics of all descriptions, all of them clearly extremely old and extremely precious. The rooms were divided by traditional shoji screens, which also covered the windows and doors. Nakamura-sensei had thoughtfully closed every opening of the house, so that no one, even someone standing in the garden or in front of the tea-house, could see inside. He directed them to comfortable cushions on the floor, and poured everyone a cup of tea. Izayoi sipped at hers tentatively, then more eagerly; it had a subtle floral perfume, and its flavor was extremely soothing.
"As I have told you, time and again, Izayoi," Nakamura-sensei began, "In my home, we always honor the truth. You need never fear revealing your true self while you are in my home. Nor should you," he said kindly to Inuyasha, who glowered suspiciously, but still removed the baseball cap that had been hiding his ears. "And while you all are here, you should fear nothing. Nothing can enter this place without my permission." He pointed to something over the door; it was a charm, one of the most complex and powerful Kagome had ever seen. There were two circlets of gold, bound together in a complicated manner with a white silk ribbon, on which powerful incantations had been written in red and gold ink. And before the circlets stood a small white crystal of adamant, atop which like a candle's flame was set a tiny living gem of blue fox-fire. To Kagome's miko's senses, the charm radiated an unbelievable amount of power; she had felt its barrier when she approached the house, but it was such a gentle, benevolent energy that she had felt no fear in passing through it.
"Age does have a few benefits," chuckled Nakamura-sensei. "One of them is that the longer you live, the more interesting artifacts you come across." He walked to a shelf overflowing with ancient manuscripts, and he carefully removed two scrolls and a large book.
He unrolled the first scroll before them on the table; on it was painted a tremendous dog demon, surrounded by regal banners bearing the mark of the crescent moon.
"This is the Inu no Taisho, the leader of the dog youkai clan," he explained. "For hundreds of years he ruled; it says here that he bore three great fangs, wielding the powers of the world below, the world above, and the world between them—or in other words, this world. His reign came to an end about seven or eight hundred years ago; the scroll says he perished in battle while saving his woman and his child. At the time this was written, no other dog youkai had claimed the title of the Inu no Taisho; but according to the scroll, the title still justly belongs to the sons of the Taisho."
"Is that your father?" whispered Kagome to Inuyasha. Inuyasha merely nodded, his eyes wide with wonder; he had never seen his father, or even a painting of his father.
Nakamura-sensei carefully re-rolled the first scroll and then unrolled the second. He pointed to a picture of a beautiful woman, sitting next to a garden stream. "This is Izayoi, the Sun Princess; gentle, wise, kind, and greatly beloved of her people."
"Mom..." whispered Inuyasha. Kagome took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
Nakamura-sensei continued. "Her reign was tragically cut short by illness; she died very young. The scroll says that she had a son, whom she dearly loved, but that this child of her body was unclean, the spawn of a demon. The scroll describes a wise regent, Kaoru Konomatsu, who was named by acclamation to take over the princess's kingdom after her death."
"Konomatsu?" Inuyasha burst out. "That son of a bitch is the one who threw me out of the palace after Mom died!" Inuyasha pounded the floor with fury, shouting, "He even kept me away from her funeral! He never even let me say goodbye to her..." Inuyasha felt himself choking with grief and rage; he slammed his fist into the floor again, shaking the little house. In a few moments, he regained his composure, and snarled, "And I don't know anything about 'acclamation.' Everyone was terrified of him—the only way I can see anyone naming him for anything would be to save their own skins. 'Wise?' Try 'rat bastard' instead." Kagome soothingly stroked his hair; Inuyasha just growled softly, and furiously rubbed the angry tears from his eyes with the sleeve of his kimono.
"The scroll was clearly written by someone in the Konomatsu court, years after the fact," Nakamura-sensei said mildly. "But what is important here is that Kaoru Konomatsu finished what the Sun Princess had started, consolidating power and becoming one of the most powerful overlords in the region. His line held power for years, and some think that even though the names changed many times over the centuries, the current emperor of Japan is, in fact, his descendant."
Nakamura-sensei closed the scroll, then opened a large book; it too was clearly very old, but not nearly as ancient as the scrolls. It was covered thickly with text, and there were beautifully painted pictures of a great palace that Kagome thought looked very familiar. "In its earliest days, the Higurashi clan were warlords: brave but brutal," he said quietly, "but they forsook worldly conquest to seek spiritual paths, and the palace that had belonged to their god of war became a holy temple dedicated to peace and enlightenment. In time, they discovered that they could hone their spiritual powers the same way they had honed their bodies; but even as they opened the doors within themselves to spiritual power, they found that only the women could truly wield this power to its fullest. As they turned away from the world to look within themselves, the Higurashi's brutality turned to compassion, and in time they became more beloved for their kindness than they had been feared for their cruelty. But one thing never changed, and that was their courage; which to this day," he said, looking significantly at both Izayoi and Kagome, "runs deep within the women of the Higurashi clan. And so, as far back as these records go—and I think these go back even further than the ones that I have seen at your temple—the Higurashi women have wielded truly awesome spiritual might." He turned the page, and there they saw a painting of a priestess with long black hair, her bow drawn, ready to launch a glowing arrow.
He turned the page again to reveal another painting, this one showing two vast armies in violent conflict: on one side, horse-mounted samurai with swords uplifted, and on the other, legion upon legion of bow-wielding priestesses, their arrows burning with magical flame.
"When the Tokugawa Shogun unified Japan," Nakamura-sensei continued, "He sent his armies across the land to 'unite'—really, to subjugate—all the wide-ranging provinces and warlords. But they met their match with the women of the Higurashi clan. The samurai army laughed when they saw that 'mere women' had been sent to oppose them—but there was no laughter when the first volley of the priestess' arrows vaporized half of the shogun's best samurai in a single flash."
Nakamura-sensei carefully closed the book. "But you both know very well the power to which you are heir," Nakamura-sensei said gravely. "What you do not know is that although the Higurashi agreed to follow the rule of the shogun, they never signed the treaty. I suppose that the shogun," he chuckled, "after losing such a great portion of his army in the first engagement, was content with a verbal agreement, realizing that there was no way he could force the Higurashi to do anything they didn't want to do—a trait that I believe may still run strong in your family?" Kagome laughed, but Inuyasha laughed louder, and when Kagome noticed, she elbowed him roughly in the side.
"The point is," said Nakamura-sensei, serious again, "that by strictest interpretation of the ancient laws...this city, and most of this prefecture, was never formally made part of Japan. It still belongs to the Higurashi clan...which means," he said, looking gravely at Kagome, "that your mother is, in fact, the ruler of this whole land, and you are its princess—and you, Izayoi, in time, will inherit the leadership of the clan and the right to claim the throne."
Kagome gasped. No one in her family had ever told her about any of this. She had always wondered why the temple, a place of peace for so many lifetimes, had such a large collection of weaponry; she had always written it off to her grandfather's obsession with antiquities.
Nakamura-sensei carefully set the book and the scrolls aside; he let his glasses slide down his nose, and he peered intensely at Izayoi.
"And now, my child," he said quietly, "I shall tell you why I asked you here today, of all days. I have known about this day for a long time. No matter what happened, you always came to see me whenever I asked—except on the day before the night of the full moon. I knew that it was 'your day,' and that today, if only for a short while, you would be human."
He leaned forward now, and spoke very intently. "Izayoi, I have looked into your soul; it is a deep well indeed. You have power and compassion in equal abundance, and your courage is so great that you fear nothing. Nothing, that is," he said tapping the table, "except these few hours of humanity; and this one fear has become a terrible, crippling, lonely prison."
Nakamura-sensei reached across the table and took Izayoi's hand, holding it gently between his. "And yet, this humanity, whose limitations you so fear, is a hanyou's greatest gift. It teaches you humility, reminding you that despite your great power, you are as vulnerable as any creature that walks the earth. And from humility comes compassion, because you understand how fragile life truly is. So many things on this world are mightier than humans; and therefore, humans draw their strength from each other, protecting and supporting each other. This connection, which flows between you, and your parents, and me, and the whole human family... it runs through our very spirits, joining us to every human that ever lived, to everyone that is alive now, and to all who will ever live in the years to come. This is why human love is so deep, so profound, and so powerful—because it is not simply one being that feels this love, but the whole human race, channeling its love through each of us. It is a connection so deep that most of us have become blind to it: but as a human, if you listen to the beating of your heart and the voice of your soul, you can hear this song of love in your very blood. Oh, what youkai powers, vast and terrifying as they might be, can equal the strength and depth of the love that flows through the collective soul of the entire human race? A love that flows through you, my dear, dear child... simply because you are human."
He gently set down her hand, then straightened and folded his arms formally. "Now I have a question to ask you. It is the most important question that I shall ever ask you. The answer that you give me is the most important answer that you shall ever give anyone."
He paused a moment, then began: "You have seen what I have shown you today. Your lineage, through both your youkai and human blood, is royalty. Through your father, you are the heir both of the Inu no Taisho and your namesake, the Sun Princess; and through your mother, the heir of the Higurashi clan. Using the power within you, you could easily claim your birthright by force and take your rightful place as ruler of both youkai and men. Even the armies of the modern world would fall before you; you could even, if you wished, lay claim to the throne of Japan itself. One day, your father's sword will be yours; if it is as powerful as I sense it is, once its might is joined to yours, there would be few powers in heaven or earth who could stop you. Is this what you wish? To claim the seats of worldly power that are rightfully yours, according to the laws of both youkai and men?"
Izayoi had said not a single word since she entered her master's house. She looked at him for a long time; then she unrolled one of the scrolls and looked at the picture of Inuyasha's mother for a few moments. Then she looked through the book of the Higurashi clan; and then, she gently set both the scroll and the book aside.
Finally she spoke. "I...I don't want any of this," she said quietly. "I'm not a ruler, I'm not a lady, or a queen, or a princess... and I don't want to be. I... I just want to have Shippou, my parents, and you. I... I just want to be me."
"That," said Nakamura-sensei simply, "was the correct answer."
He rose and walked to the door that opened onto the courtyard. He slid the door open, and the rays of the setting sun poured into the room. "You are a child of light, Izayoi," he said. "Now walk unafraid into that light, and claim it. Purify yourself of the fear that holds you in bondage."
Izayoi slowly stood, and hesitatingly walked to the door. She looked back at her parents; her mother smiled, and said quietly, "Go on, Iza-chan." Izayoi took a deep breath, then she stepped out of the house and walked into the courtyard. When she reached its center, she stood in silence for a long moment; then she let fall her heavy cloak, and she reached her arms towards the sun.
The long crimson rays of the setting sun crowned Izayoi's dark head with a circlet of living fire, and the whole courtyard glowed red with a warm twilight glory. From between Izayoi's outstretched hands there was kindled a sweet, soft, rose-colored light, which gradually grew to surround and suffuse her whole body. Twinkling sparks of purifying energy hovered about her like fireflies, and she looked for all the world like a heavenly princess, arrayed in all the beauty and splendor of a faraway, magical world.
The sun finally sank below the horizon, and Izayoi turned around, a radiant and beautiful smile shining from her face; and now she stretched her arms towards the rising moon. As the full moon's gentle blue light gradually illumined the courtyard, Izayoi's hair slowly changed from midnight black to snowy white; and even as she let fade the purifying energy that surrounded her, in the moon's glow her gentle face and silken hair seemed to glow softly with a light all their own.
Kagome and Inuyasha ran out to the courtyard. "Iza-chan," said Kagome worriedly, "are you OK?"
Izayoi looked at her mother, and said, "Yes, Mom, I'm fine." She smiled at both her parents, and said with tears in her eyes, "I'm proud to be who I am... hanyou, like my father—and human, like my mother." She took her parent's hands, and placed them over her heart. "And, finally—finally," she said, smiling blissfully, "I can hear the song of my human heart... and yours, Mom...and yours, Dad."
Izayoi hugged her father tightly, and said "Daddy, I promise that I'll always be careful when I'm a human...but I'm not afraid any more."
Inuyasha warmly embraced his daughter, and Kagome put her arms around them both; and Inuyasha whispered tenderly to Izayoi, "You made the right choice...but you'll always be my little princess."
Nakamura-sensei emerged from the house smiling broadly, bearing a tray with a bottle of sake and several small cups. "I believe this occasion warrants a small celebration...with your permission, of course," he said merrily, bowing to Kagome, who nodded eagerly. He poured for everyone (even for Izayoi, and he winked mischievously at her when he poured a small mouthful into her cup), and they drank and laughed as they watched the full moon suspended majestically within the boughs of the red-leaved maples in the courtyard.
The evening drew to its close, and Izayoi bowed deeply as she said goodbye. "I can never thank you enough for what you have done for me today, and every day," she said politely.
"I merely showed you the path; it was you who was strong enough to walk it," he said, bowing solemnly.
Suddenly, she rushed to him, and hugged him tight. She whispered in his ear, "Thank you, thank you so very much...grandfather."
"My dear daughter," he said quietly, "I'm so proud of you."