Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, he belongs to the wonderful, Manga-ka Rumiko Takashi©
Author: first and foremost, I apologize for my delay, heh I had midterms and studying took up all my time... very, VERY sorry about that...
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HERE ARE YOUR RESPONSES:
Keiko Ookami: wow you definitely know how to make an author blush lol. Thanks for your review:smile:
Cassie (again):smiles wide: im very happy you like it! Thanks for your review!
ChibiNeko192: I can relate to the whole homework thing lol :anime sweat-drop: oh wow Chinese school! That sounds awesome! Also, I am very happy with the way everyone responded to Sesshoumaru and InuTaisho, I had more fun with InuTaisho because he really doesn't have drawn layout while Sesshoumaru already does, though I think I got the interaction correct lol. I can't tell ya what Izayoi was going to say :wink: takes out the mystery lol
Orange-InuYasha:GLOMPS LEXY-CHAN AGAIN: yes I know, but hey I have to give him some reason for him...well you know :wink:smiles at the proud-ness:
PrincessRose1: oh don't worry I promise to keep going with this story, I have yet to let one hang lol :anime sweat drop: thanks so much for you review!
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JAPANESE DICTIONARY:
Teeth-Blackening Ceremony: a traditional Japanese ceremony in which the bride has her teeth blackened shortly before her wedding.
Waka's: poems sent through the castles in forms of communication.
Nyogo: concubine
Tabi: split toe socks with make Geta (sandals) easier to wear
Geisha: trained hostess, they are a step up from prostitutes with their hair done up in a 'Split Peach' fashion which exposes the back of the neck as well as gives men suggestive ideas.
Ha Ha-ue: proper way to say 'mother', much like Chi Chi-ue
Changing: the castle lords usually chose a new nyogo in the spring, it would usuallu be one of the single court ladies.
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Three months past have indeed taken its toll upon me, upon my body, upon my heart and upon my soul. During three months, I have see my Lord Takemaru maybe twice every other week, sometimes every other third, and every time he has coddled me and my heart with sweet words and hopes and promises that make me blush furiously and make me hold out...though a thing concerns me...
We haven't talked about our wedding...even about my teeth-blackening ceremony...
For three months, I'm not significant enough to be known as a person as well as the intended for the Lord Takemaru through out the court, just an annoying addition sent in by the east...and it makes me homesick. I have not many a friend besides Takemaru's mother, she sends me polite waka's that I respond with the proper respect...but I must admit I feel like an outcast in my new home...
Home...
Can I even call this place my home? Maybe I suppose my occupation for the while, but not a warm name such as home. The more I think about how much time has passed and I still have no clue what-so-ever pertaining to my wedding hurts me. My father sent me here in hopes that I would be married and live a life of comfort...I know he did this unwillingly out of politics but I feel sick...I need to talk to Takemaru about this...I know its not my place, but if I have to threaten that I will break off this betrothement and spend the rest of my life a spinster...its better than this hell hole.
"My lady?"
I looked at Miaka-obaa san with a kind smile, though she gave me a sad look that signaled that she could easily read my feelings.
"My lady, have you talked to the Lord Takemaru child? You must soon honey child, it's been too long without so much of a utter about ye place in this castle...and ye soul be paying the price that it is..."
"If only it to be so easy Miaka-obaa san...then it would have been already done so...but every waka I have sent to him has been ignored or returned and I-"
"Ye waka's returned child...oh that young child does not know respect no he doesn't my lady, ye be his intended and he be setting you up like a statue he has!" she exclaimed unhappily, huffing heavily under her cotton kimono's.
I couldn't help but crack a smile at her, making my feelings said out loud seemed to comfort me, even if I was attracted to my betrothed...that my infatuation with him was a steady thing...he was indeed infuriating me...and Miaka-obaa san has always been able to express her feelings without much scolding or orders to stop, she's always been there for me to talk too and told me my feelings back, from choosing certain words for a waka to this very predicament.
"Also honey-child, ye have another tea ceremony today, with the Lady Takemaru and the Lady Megumi it seems..."
"Lady Megumi...?" I asked, my eyes narrowing and my brow daintily furrowing in confusion
"Ah, she is thy Lord's nyogo it seems she is..." Miaka obaa-san told me with a thin frown on her face.
Memories came rushing back to me, back to the night when I came to this castle, the woman sending me bitter looks and hiding behind her kimono sleeve...her?
"So she was his nyogo then..." I murmured out loud to no one in particular
This didn't enrage me as much though, my father himself kept nyogo's after my mother's death...but he didn't even touch one like some other lord's did while married to my mother. I was used to it, and plus I was expecting Takemaru to drop this nyogo after we were married, having a nyogo during marriage is like a slap to the face to me...but right now I could care the less his relationship with this woman until we were married...after all he was still a bachelor, betrothed or not, and I would not disgrace myself for him at this point.
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"Izayoi-san! Oh how are you faring my child?" came the soft, sweet tone of Takemaru's mother as Miaka obaa-san pulled back the shoji screen to settle outside the door.
I turned my mouth-muscles into a kind smile before bowing low to my soon to-be mother-in-law and responding with a hushed tone out of respect.
"I am healthy my lady, as well as thankful to join you with tea this afternoon" I responded with a friendly, low tone that I had been trained to use while speaking to my elders.
I rose and walked a short three steps to a comfy silk mat and sank to my knees with a trained, slow grace.
"That is wonderful child, I've been worried sick! You have rarely been attending tea ceremonies with the other ladies" she told me as servants wrapped in matching white yukata's- their uniform- filed in and poured us the tea and set out trays with sakura sweets, hand-picked by the Lady Takemaru for this occasion.
"Yes, I would have to agree with my Lord's mother and say that you have been unpopular amongst the other ladies Izayoi?" came the low, sickening tone from the woman to my left.
I kept my face calm as I turned my head and saw the lady Megumi, her rice-powder make-up a little over done and her bottom lip painted a ruby red as of high fashion now-a-days. Though it wasn't her make-up that sickened me, she wasn't sitting back on her heels like me and the Lady Takemaru, but was sitting on one drawn leg while her other was stretching out form her overly layered kimonos, her tabi socks tight to her foot and almost touching my fanned out trains of my own kimonos, also her hair was done in a Geisha fashion, split peach with red silk sitting in the split.
"I would guess...I just have a lot to practice to keep my skills sharp" I replied with forced politeness while I wanted to say 'hell, at least im not a walking prostitute in a lord's castle'.
"Such a pity" she took a dainty, almost mocking bite of her sweet "having the...intended...of my lord to keep her skills sharp like a young teen? They did not teach you well in the east?" her voice getting a girlish shrill at the end.
"I am taught well, but I believe all can be perfected...Megumi" I told in a low yet polite tone my mother trained me with.
She harrumphed and finished her treat before sipping her tea.
I took a sweet and drank the scalding tea down in dainty sips, my blood rivaling the heat of the tea dripping down my throat. This woman was the most infuriating one I have ever met, she was almost begging me to slap her with her antics and not showing her proper respect...oh how I wish I could just throttle her...
Lady Takemaru passed the uncomfortable moments of tea sipping by talking to me about the kinds of kimono's I was planning for the winter which I happily joined in even if the silks weren't the most important thing in my life.
We were talking about the kind of brocades when the shoji screen behind me snapped open yet again and caused me to jump and spin around, their in the doorway stood Takemaru wearing a lazy deep red kimono and a black obi walking in and stooping next to his mother to give her a kiss-which I found to be the sweetest thing- before sitting down in his rightful place, right across from me.
"And what are you ladies talking about?" he asked out loud in a boyish tone, I saw Megumi turn to Takemaru with an overly plastered smile on her face and her leg sticking out just a little bit more from under her kimonos.
"Just the types of kimono's for the winter" she said in a sickeningly sweet tone that could have made me shoot the tea through my nose.
"Ah, kimono's, mother's favorite subject" he winked at her.
"Now, now Setsuna, your making this old woman blush" she gently swatted his shoulder in a motherly fashion while openly showing her blush. I couldn't help but smile at the mother-son fondness.
He shot her a boyish grin that made my own fare skin flush as he turned to me.
"I was hoping to find you and my mother conversing, I feel responsible in delaying the plans for the wedding" he told me in an apologetic tone that made my heart swoon and inflaming my infatuation for him.
"Ah, yes that wedding" Lady Takemaru giggled softly like a teenage girl "of course maybe in a month or two you will have your teeth-blackening ceremony and your stuff moved into the chamber next to Takemaru's as soon as possible, though when would you like the wedding children?"
"Maybe in spring?" I questioned my cheeks flaring with a blush. I admit that ever since I was a little girl I had that cliché dream of being wedded with the sakura blossoms falling behind me and my future husband...such girlish antics.
"I agree with Izayoi Haha-ue around the sakura blossom blooming ceremony"
"It's a lovely idea Setsuna..." she trailed off picking up her tea and taking a sip.
"The blossoms? Isn't it a little too cliché Setsuna" came the bitter tone of Megumi, I actually did snort my tea as she regarded him with a disrespect only held for family members, even I, his intended, didn't call him that.
"Now, now Megumi don't let your jealousy rear, if Izayoi wants it she's to have it, it's her wedding to me after all" he regarded, flashing her a flirting smile.
"Well..." she said in a sickeningly slow tone shrugging her shoulder from out under her many kimono's and resting her cheek against the pale flush before batting her eyelashes "if its what you want that I must agree Setsuna... Now if you excuse me..."
'Gladly' I thought bitterly casting her a hidden disgusted look.
She seemed to smirk at me and she paused by Takemaru and leaned down slowly and resting her small hands on Takemaru's shoulders and slipping a little lower before whispering something in his ear before leaving the room.
I let out a sigh as I heard the clack of the shoji screen door close.
"Izayoi? Oh child you look downright distraught, you must ignore Megumi, she's only baiting Setsuna, am I right?"
"Yea, don't worry about it Izayoi", he told me in a deep voice giving me something close to the puppy eye look and flashing me a kind smile...though his words only seemed to snap something in me.
"Aren't you bothered by the way she disrespects you and hangs out of her kimonos?" I asked with a low, dangerous tone that I myself rarely heard.
"Just ignore her, she's only my Nyogo, while you are my intended-"
"and soon to be your wife Takemaru...who is not used to having nyogo's included in marriages" I sniped at him.
"What?" he asked me, his eyebrow raised.
"Forgive my input my lord, but I hope that you do not have a nyogo during our marriage" I told him in a calmer voice, yet still being sharp.
"Well, Megumi is going to be my nyogo until the changing..." he responded, obviously dumbfounded, "surely your own father had a nyogo himself an-"
"And he didn't have one while he was married to my mother Takemaru" I bit out. Lady Takemaru kept her lips firmly attached to her teacup to keep herself out of the conversation.
"Well, that's his tradition but having a nyogo is mine" he said firmly, yet his tone still holding confusion.
I didn't respond, I only stood abruptly and swept out of the room, my hand resting on the door as he called out to me.
"Izayoi, please! You're my...my love...she's just my ...partner..." he called stuttering a little, his mother still having her eyes glued to the table.
"And I thought that was a wife's job" I told him bitterly, as I slapped the shoji screen door open and strode down the hall his words coming back to me...
'Izayoi, please! You're my...my love...she's just my ...partner'
Love... he called me his... Love? I mean...I have and infatuation with him and I'm attracted to him... but love...?
Somehow...my strong attraction to him that I thought was turning into something more...died...
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Authors note: so Izayoi doesn't like Megumi hmm?... and yet another plot twist and im sorry, InuTaisho wasn't in this chapter but he's coming up in the next along with sesshy-kun!
InuPhoenix