The Tale of the Princess of the Crescent Moon
Eighteen
Senior year was easily the best year Izayoi ever had in school. The calls and notes sent home about her behavior, which had come less often the longer she studied with Nakamura-sensei, had long since stopped arriving. And for reasons that none of the family ever discovered, and which Kagome for fear of jinxing the change never questioned, Izayoi's grades actually improved—not much, mind you, but enough so that she was no longer at the bottom of her class, and enough that her graduation from high school was no longer in question. She even made a few friends amongst the girls in her class. Her best friend was Hitomi, the girl that Izayoi had helped save from a bully when they were both in third grade. Izayoi and Hitomi spent quite a bit of after-school time together—from time to time, Hitomi even managed to drag Izayoi out to normal teenage activities like clothes shopping, much to Kagome's surprise and pleasure. And, to Kagome's endless mirth at the memory of hours of struggle to get Izayoi into the tub, Hitomi introduced Izayoi to the pleasures of the public baths, and Izayoi would often stay out late with Hitomi at the baths, laughing and chatting and forgetting the time as only young girls can.
But Izayoi never missed a lesson with Nakamura-sensei, after school or on Saturdays, for which she still prepared his lunch, every time, without fail.
The first Saturday after the new year, he shocked her with a quiet announcement: "I am afraid that I shall not be able to take lunch with you every Saturday any more. We can still meet every day after school as always, and I would be pleased to see you one Saturday a month; but unfortunately, from now on, we cannot meet each week."
"Have I done something to offend you, sensei?" Izayoi asked fearfully.
"No, no, my dear. It's just that...circumstances prevent it. In any case, soon the world, not I, will be your teacher; and you should begin preparing yourself for your new instructor." He would say no more about it; but as he bid her farewell after the day's lesson, he said quietly to Izayoi, "Please, spend your weekends with your young friend. Bring me what stories you wish to share. He certainly misses you, and I can tell that you miss him. Besides...as we both know, you can learn a lot from a fox youkai, can you not?" He patted her on the arm and walked away laughing merrily.
Winter turned into spring, and Izayoi's lessons continued. Nakamura-sensei had been teaching her iaido, the art of sword drawing, and she was under a tree near the school's archery range, deep in meditative practice awaiting her teacher's arrival, when Mr. Tanaka, the school's archery instructor, came looking for her. As he was walking towards her, he felt rather than heard a small twig snap under his foot. He saw Izayoi's head kerchief twitch; then, faster than his eyes could follow, she whirled and rolled; and in one smooth motion she came to her feet, drawing her sword and facing him, her dark eyes flashing a promise of certain death.
"Oh God, Higurashi, don't hurt me," whimpered Mr. Tanaka, ducking and covering his face.
Izayoi smoothly sheathed her sword and spoke politely. "Please don't be afraid, Mr. Tanaka," she said smoothly, "I'm just practicing the sword-drawing form. There's certainly nothing to be afraid of. My apologies for causing you concern." She bowed formally, but at the bottom of her bow, she raised her head and her eyes flashed angrily at him. "Never sneak up on a woman who's carrying a sword," she said darkly; but then she rose smoothly and smiled cheerily. Demurely, she crossed her arms and asked, "Now, what may I do for you?"
"Well, Higurashi," Mr. Tanaka said nervously, "I hope you still aren't upset with that little...disagreement we had when we first met a few years ago."
"Nahh," Izayoi said cheerily. "Long forgotten."
"Well...um...uh, Higurashi," Mr. Tanaka said, "You know, I watch your lessons with Nakamura-sensei from time to time, and you show real promise, you know, even if your form is, well," he laughed nervously, "a little unconventional...and well, the prefectural championships are coming up and, well, we could really use you on the team. With you shooting with us, we're sure to take the gold, and from there, who knows? Maybe we might even win the nationals. Can I count on you?"
"Competition is contrary to the spirit of archery," said Izayoi formally, quoting the words her teacher spoke when he retired from competition. "The true archer only contends with her own ignorance. She cares not how well she does compared to others; only how well she overcomes her own limitations. Sorry, but I don't compete." She scratched her head thoughtfully. "Besides," she mused, "It's just no fun, shooting all the time at a stationary paper target. It's just too easy." She smiled, patted Mr. Tanaka jovially on the arm, and walked away chuckling; leaving Mr. Tanaka gaping in wonder at a girl who called the competition for the national championship "too easy."
Even though she had enjoyed her senior year, the end of the school year came none too soon for Izayoi or her family. When the final report card arrived, and it was clear that Izayoi had really and truly passed her final class and would graduate from high school, Kagome had grabbed her daughter by the hand and dragged her from the family residence out to the temple, where Kagome offered very loud and enthusiastic thanks for Izayoi's final passing grades.
Izayoi's graduation was held in the same auditorium that had hosted Kagome's own graduation. Everything looked very much the same as it had so many years ago, except this time, the flower arrangements on the podium were more than exceptionally beautiful—Izayoi had created them. Hanging immediately behind the lectern, surrounded by the school flags, was another of Izayoi's creations, a large and beautiful scroll that read "vision of things unseen; profound wisdom; hidden strength," which Izayoi had created as a tribute to Nakamura-sensei and for which she had won a distinguished prefectural award (the announcement of which had shocked the entire family, who had never imagined Izayoi winning any sort of school award). Izayoi had of course invited Nakamura-sensei to the graduation ceremony, but she did not see him there. She did, though, see her family standing against the back wall near the door, with Kagome and Mama Higurashi holding Inuyasha warmly (but firmly) between them, and Souta furiously snapping pictures as always.
Inuyasha was always puzzled by human ceremony, and he understood his daughter's graduation no better than he had understood Kagome's. Mama Higurashi explained every moment of the ceremony just as patiently as she had for Kagome's graduation, laughing sweetly as always at Kagome's frustration at Inuyasha's thick-headedness and chiding Kagome just as gently for her lack of patience with him. But when Izayoi's name was announced as the winner of a special award for mastery of traditional Japanese arts, no one clapped louder than Inuyasha, and he surprised himself when he grew misty-eyed during the student's singing of their alma mater.
The family threw a wonderful party in Izayoi's honor back at the temple. During the festivities there was a knock on the door; it was a messenger, with something for Izayoi. It was another beautiful note from Nakamura-sensei, again on hand-made paper, tied with a handsome red and gold cord. "Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on your achievement," it read, "And accept my apologies for my absence; sadly, circumstances would not permit me to attend your ceremony. I could not be more proud of you if you were my own daughter. Please give my best to your lovely mother and your valiant father, and to 'him'—you know who I mean." Izayoi could almost hear him chuckle as he wrote the last line. "Your teacher and your friend, Isao Nakamura." Attached to the note was a small scroll; Izayoi unrolled it to reveal a single exquisitely calligraphed word: "Blessings."
Kagome had wanted to give Izayoi something special as a graduation gift, but she had asked for nothing but permission to go by herself to the feudal era for a month and spend some time with Shippou. "I want to get away from the city, from school, from responsibilities, and just get away from it all," Izayoi said. "Besides, I miss Po-chan, and I want to spend some time with him. I need to ... talk to him."
"That's really sweet, Iza-chan," Kagome said, and she sighed happily, remembering her days alone with Inuyasha after Naraku had been defeated, when all they did was watch the clouds go by, swim, and warm themselves in the summer sun.
Izayoi continued, "And there's this great place I want to go with him, just the two of us: there's hot springs, and a lake for swimming, and plenty of fish to catch, and good water to drink, and soft grass for romantic nights under the stars, and..." She sighed. "It's really beautiful, Mom—you'll have to go there with Dad sometime."
"Now, Iza-chan," she said reprovingly, tapping her fingers together nervously, "I thought you were going to stay with Sango and Miroku, just like always. Are you sure you're ready to be alone with a boy, for such a long time?"
"Oh, come on, Mom," Izayoi laughed, "Don't give me that. Uncle Miroku told me all about you and Dad and those nights you all spent together."
Kagome turned beet red. "That pervert Miroku...don't you dare believe a thing he says about me and your father." She scratched at the back of her head nervously, and continued, "We never did anything until the day we were married. But even if we had, we wouldn't have done it while he was around, anyway. And even if we had, it was none of his business."
"Yeah... it was 'none of his business,' right, Mom?" Izayoi said pointedly. "Besides, you've known Po-chan longer than I have, and you know that he's always been a perfect gentlemen on our trips together, hasn't he? Anyway...we haven't been planning 'that kind of trip,' so quit worrying." ("We haven't been planning 'that kind of trip,'" she muttered to herself, "but we'll see what happens, now, won't we?")
The month went by in a flash, and at its end Izayoi came bounding out of the well house with her knapsack over her shoulder, a smile on her face, and a flower in her hair. Kagome met her at the door of the family home.
"Hi, Mom! I'm home!" she shouted happily, dropping her knapsack and giving her mother a big hug. "Oh, I had such a wonderful time!" she said breathlessly. "Everything was so beautiful, and Po-chan and I had such fun together! He caught the biggest fish—it took both of us to get it to shore, and it tasted incredible! I took all sorts of pictures..."
"Calm down, dear," laughed Kagome. "I'll go get your father and you can tell us all about it."
"I've brought something back for Nakamura-sensei—can I bring it to him first? I'm sure I can be back in time for dinner!"
"Whatever my big girl likes—we can wait to hear about your trip for another hour or so." Kagome hefted Izayoi's knapsack with some difficulty. "Oh my," she gasped, "did I pack this much when I was her age?" She stopped to regrasp the knapsack, then said, "I'll take care of this—you run along to your teacher's house." Izayoi squealed with delight, gave her mother another hug and a kiss, and raced out the door.
Kagome laughed as she lugged Izayoi's knapsack to the laundry room. "Oh, this takes me back," she said to herself, remembering long sessions in the laundry room after her own trips to the feudal era. She unzipped the knapsack and started sorting through the dirty clothes, until she came upon some soft silken material. "This seems so tiny—I wonder if she accidentally packed one of Souta's kids' underwear," she mused. She shook it out, and saw that it was a rather skimpy triangle of maroon silk on a black velvet cord, trimmed with black lace. "This can't belong to one of Souta's kids," she thought—then suddenly, she realized what it was, blushed, and quickly dropped it. "Izayoi's a big enough girl to do her own laundry," she muttered to herself as she hastily shoved the dirty clothes back into the knapsack.
Izayoi bounded happily towards Nakamura-sensei's house, her head awhirl with the events of the past month that she wanted to share with him. Running through fields of beautiful flowers, soaking in the luxurious hot springs, swimming in the clear blue lake, the nights that she and Shippou spent staring at the stars...she had even spent a "human day" during her time in the past, with Shippou as her only companion and protector, and it had proven to be one of the happiest days of the trip. She had awakened at sunrise as she always did on such days, but Shippou had already arisen and was waiting for her, with breakfast already prepared and a garland of sweet-smelling flowers to crown her dark-haired head. She had swum naked in the lake under the noonday sun, unashamed and unafraid; and during the afternoon, they had sat under a majestic spreading oak tree while Shippou braided tiny white flowers into her hair, singing some ridiculous song about a fickle young swain who could not choose between a white-haired and a black-haired lover. And that night, they had laid in each other's arms in the grass, watching the full moon majestically cross the sky, whispering tenderly to one another. She wanted to thank her sensei for all of this, and for giving her the courage to share her heart with her beloved. "I wonder if I should tell him that we were 'hardly alone,'" she giggled.
She knew something was wrong when she approached the house. She did not sense the barrier of benevolent energy that normally radiated from the house; when she opened the gate and walked into the yard, she saw that the potted plants that she had brought him from the feudal era and his collection of bonsai were all sadly in need of water, and the normally pristine courtyard was unswept and neglected. She carefully watered all the plants and tidied the courtyard, and was sweeping the steps when the door to the house opened and a woman stepped out. "Oh, you must be the student I've heard so much about...it's so kind of you to come here to see to the master's yard...so kind of you..." She began to cry, and hastily closed the door to the house and ran from the yard. Izayoi called after her, but she received no answer. She finished sweeping and dutifully replaced the broom in its proper place; and since she was too shy to enter her teacher's home without an invitation, she carefully closed the garden gate and went home.
When Izayoi opened the door to the house, she found the entire family waiting for her: Kagome, Inuyasha, Mama Higurashi, even Souta and his family. "What's going on, Mom?" she asked angrily. "Sensei's house is empty, nobody's been taking care of his plants, and nobody will tell me what happened."
Kagome handed Izayoi a large envelope, bound with elaborate white and black cords. "This arrived for you a little while after you left for his house, Iza-chan, by messenger," she said gently. "Please forgive me for opening it, but it seemed so important."
Izayoi opened the envelope and read its contents. "...we regret to inform you...our living national treasure, Isao Nakamura...services to be held...our most sincere condolences..." she dropped the letter and fell to her knees, weeping bitterly. Kagome and Inuyasha went to her side and gently helped her to the couch, where for a long time she lay in her mother's arms, sobbing inconsolably.
Protocol demanded certain rites for a person of Nakamura-sensei's station, but he had prepared for his death with the same deliberation and thought with which he had lived every moment of his life, and he had left strict and detailed instructions about his funeral. The entire family including Inuyasha had been invited, but Kagome and Izayoi were to be especially honored guests, and both Izayoi and Souta had been asked to participate in the ceremony. Kagome had insisted on taking Izayoi shopping for something suitable to wear to a ceremony of such dignity and magnitude, but Izayoi had firmly (truth be told, rather snappishly) refused her mother's aid and had insisted that she would take care of it all herself.
The day of the ceremony dawned, and the time to depart had nearly come, and Kagome was downstairs tapping her foot impatiently. "Where is that girl," she muttered over and over to herself, looking nervously at the clock. "Izayoi! We're going to be late!" she shouted up the stairs.
Izayoi came padding softly down the stairs, and she quietly entered the living room. She was wearing a beautiful, midnight-black silk hakama, and a kimono of the same color. A black silk kerchief covered her ears, and it extended in a long "V" down the back of her head and nearly to the end of her long white hair, and a short black mourner's half-veil shaded her eyes.
"Mommy...do you think I look OK? Would Sensei approve?" she asked quietly, choking back a sob.
"My sweet Iza-chan," said Kagome, wiping a tear from her own eyes, "It's absolutely perfect. Shall we go?"
The ceremony was held in the civic stadium, the only place in the city large enough for the enormous crowd that was expected to attend. Souta had already gone ahead to join the other priests in preparation for the ceremony, and a limousine took Izayoi and Kagome to a special entrance reserved for honored guests. When Kagome presented their invitation to the priestess at the gate, the young woman's eyes grew very large and she bowed quite humbly to them. She motioned to one of her colleagues for assistance, then said most formally, "Mrs. Higurashi, please wait a moment and we will see you to your seat. Ms. Higurashi, will you please come with me?" Izayoi looked a little frightened, and looked with concern towards her mother; but Kagome smiled and motioned "Go on, go on," as Izayoi was very respectfully led away.
Kagome was taken to a seat of great honor, immediately behind Nakamura-sensei's sons and their wives, all of whom greeted her most warmly. Kagome felt rather uncomfortable, being seated next to Nakamura-sensei's immediate family; although they were all genuinely welcoming, she felt rather out of place. Fortunately, she was soon spared her discomfort by the tolling of a great bell, marking the start of the ceremony.
At one end of the stadium had been erected a short platform, carpeted in white, which was surrounded by ropes and white paper flags, marking the platform as sacred space. On the platform was an altar, on which a large photo of Nakamura-sensei had been placed, and on either side of the altar were large and beautiful sprays of white flowers. In front of the altar was a low table, covered with a white cloth; and the white carpet that covered the platform extended along the full length of the field, and it was on either side of this carpet that those in attendance were seated.
The great bell tolled again, and the procession began. Two priests walked before the procession, shaking white paper whisks over the audience, blessing and purifying them (Kagome was proud to see that one of the two priests was Souta). Next came a dozen priests carrying white ceremonial banners and staves, followed by the officiating priests; and then came Nakamura-sensei's coffin, carried by six men in kimonos that bore the crest of the emperor.
And at the end of the procession, immediately behind the coffin, came Izayoi. The lower half of her face was concealed by a ceremonial white paper mask; in her left hand she carried a great black bow, and in her right, a long black ceremonial arrow, fletched with large, pure white feathers. Her long white hair and flowing black robes were so regal, and she carried the bow and arrow with such power and nobility, that by contrast the procession of priests in all their beautiful vestments seemed humble and poor indeed.
The procession ascended the platform; the coffin was placed on the low table in front of the altar. Izayoi ascended the platform last; she stopped before the altar, and knelt in a beautiful archer's bow, her arrow hand before her and her bow hand on her upraised knee. She rose, and solemnly placed the bow and the arrow in their stand to the left of the altar; then she returned to the front of the altar, knelt, and prostrated herself in a formal bow before the coffin, her long white hair and flowing hakama billowing regally about her. And her every move was so graceful, and so beautiful, and yet so tragic, that even the officiating priests, who had seen dozens of funerals and were used to maintaining their composure in the face of grief, were moved to tears.
Izayoi solemnly took her seat near the priests on the platform, immediately next to the stand that held the bow and the arrow, as a guard of honor; she sat impeccably straight, but her gaze was fixed on the floor, and she could not bear to raise her eyes, even to the picture of her teacher. Kagome could see Izayoi's shoulders shivering as she fought to contain her tears.
The ceremony was long, but beautiful; the prayers were moving and eloquent, and all the words that were spoken were noble, kind, and heartfelt. At the end of the ceremony, Izayoi rose, and again she bowed fully before the coffin of her teacher; and she retrieved the bow and the arrow from their stand, and took her place before the altar, and drew the bow. The order of the ceremony called for Izayoi to shoot an arrow into the distance, away from the assembled mourners, over the coffin and over the wall of the stadium, to symbolize the flight of Nakamura-sensei's spirit into the next world. But instead, she turned to face the audience, and aimed the arrow directly over their heads. As she drew the bow, the tip of the arrow incandesced, blazing with a mystical purifying fire, so bright that no one could bear to look upon it; and when she loosed the arrow, the light of its rising was like a second sun, soaring directly over the stadium. And when the arrow's flight reached its zenith, it exploded with an almost musical sound, transforming into a shower of thousands of tiny sparkling pink lights, which gently floated down to earth like cherry blossoms blown in a spring wind. And each person who was touched by one of those softly twinkling lights felt their spirits purified, the bitterness of their grief gently transformed into sweet remembrance.
Izayoi was not part of the procession that took the coffin from the stadium; she took the seat prepared for her next to Kagome, grabbed Kagome's hand, and just stared at the ground. Nakamura-sensei's family thanked her very warmly as they departed for the private family cremation, as did many of the dignitaries who were in attendance that day, complementing her on her beautiful archery, saying that nothing could have provided a more fitting benediction, and that her gesture was a most fitting memorial; she was unable to meet their eyes, simply bowing and choking out as best she could, "You're very kind. It was the least I could do." Kagome handled the necessary conversation, graciously acknowledging and returning their thanks, all the while holding Izayoi's hand and stroking Izayoi's hair. Izayoi remained in her seat until everyone but the clean-up staff had left the stadium; Inuyasha and Mama Higurashi, who had also been in attendance, came up to join them.
"Iza-chan," asked Kagome kindly, "are you alright?"
"Mommy," whispered Izayoi, "Did I do OK? Would Sensei have been happy?"
"Yes, Iza-chan," Kagome said lovingly, smoothing her daughter's hair, "It was perfect. No one could have done it better. He would have been...he is...very proud of you."
Izayoi buried her head in her mother's chest and began sobbing bitterly, the tension and grief of the day at last released in wracking, soul-sick moans. She lay weeping in her mother's arms for a long time; and then Inuyasha took her gently in his own arms and carried her home himself, leaving Kagome, Mama, and Souta to be driven home in the car that had been waiting for them.
About two weeks after the funeral, Nakamura-sensei's oldest son appeared at the temple, bringing two very large packages and what looked like a pole wrapped in black cloth. Kagome greeted him warmly at the door, but apologized that Izayoi was not home to receive him; a few days after the funeral, she had left to be with Shippou in the feudal era, and had yet to return.
"I can't thank you and your daughter enough for what you meant to Pop," he said. "I wanted to deliver this all to you personally—Pop left it in his will for you. Pop was more than generous with us, don't get me wrong, we're all very grateful," he said blushing, holding one hand nervously behind his head, "but there's some really great stuff here."
"Oh, it was nothing," said Kagome. "Your father was a great man, and it was an honor to know him, and we will be forever grateful for what he did for my daughter."
The man reluctantly handed the long cloth-wrapped package to Kagome. "This," he said, "this has been an heirloom in Pop's family for generations. It's a thousand years old if it's a day. I'm ashamed to admit that we had begun fighting over who was going to get it, until we saw in his will that he had left it to your daughter."
"Oh, then we can't possibly accept it," said Kagome, trying to hand it back.
"Oh, no," he said, "it's for her. I don't even want to think about what would happen to me in the next world...or maybe even this world...if Pop ever heard that I had refused his last request. Besides...if he said she deserves it, she deserves it, and that's that." He smiled, bowed, and waved goodbye as he departed.
A few days later, Izayoi emerged from the well-house, looking slightly better than she had when she departed, but she was still clearly grieving the loss of her beloved teacher. When Kagome thought the time was right, she sat Izayoi down with the packages from Nakamura-sensei and watched as she opened them.
There were the scrolls with the pictures of Inuyasha's mother and father, and the book with the history of the Higurashi clan (plus several more that he had not shown them that day). There were tea-ceremony implements, and the bowls that Izayoi had especially liked to use when she was learning the ceremony, and several scrolls and flower vases for the formal alcove display; there were cakes of fragrant ink and brushes, several of which Nakamura-sensei had made out of the bamboo that Izayoi had brought him from the feudal era, including one that he had made out of Izayoi's own hair ("I was wondering why he asked for it," she laughed as she opened that package) and one that he had made out of his own hair—which Izayoi gently drew to her heart and kissed before she put it down. And there were ceramics and vases of all kinds for flower arranging, and his favorite pruning tools; and there was a collection of mysterious charms and other holy objects, and some short swords, all of which looked so old and had such powerful auras, that nobody really wanted to handle them; they were carefully put aside for later. Nakamura-sensei had even remembered Inuyasha—there was a sharpening stone for Tessaiga, plus a new black baseball cap with "Iza-chan's Dad" written in gold across its front, in Nakamura-sensei's graceful hand.
And then there were arrows of every description: elegant ceremonial arrows, well-worn practice arrows, arrows that Nakamura-sensei had made from the bamboo that Izayoi had brought him, and quite a large number of miko's arrows, with beautiful and deadly heads and strong, sleek feathers. There was also a quiver of arrows that had been sealed with an elaborate charm; none of the family except Izayoi could even handle the quiver or the arrows, and Kagome described their aura in hushed, respectful tones.
Finally, Izayoi unwrapped the long, cylindrical object that Nakamura-sensei's son had said was so old. It was the black bow that Izayoi had carried in the funeral ceremony. At the ceremony, she had been in such shock that she had paid no real attention to it; but now that she was able to truly see it, she was struck speechless by its beauty. It was made of rare black bamboo, and Izayoi vaguely remembered Nakamura-sensei telling her some stories about it—how his family had owned it for generations, and although over the years various members of the family had tried to use it time after time, no one had ever done so, because it was too big and too hard for any of them to pull. She strung the bow and pulled it—and the bow fit her like it had been made for her. She noticed some marking right above the handgrip, but it had been discolored by age and disuse and was very hard to see, even with her youkai vision. She buffed it carefully, and saw that a single character had been inlaid in gold into the wood, so masterfully that it looked as though it had been simply written with a brush. Right at the spot on which the archer's vision would fall when he was aiming the bow was written a single word: "Truth."
"My, Iza-chan, what a treasure Nakamura-sensei has left us—and you," Kagome said. "What will we do with all of it?"
"Obviously, the scrolls belong to dad, and the books and a lot of the other stuff are for you and the temple," Izayoi said. "The tea-ware, the ceramics, and most of the brushes will all have to stay here, of course, but as for the bow and the arrows: I have an idea."