Stolen Seasons XIV
The Unfurling of Leaves
Lm. Samiko

-

The green of spring had barely begun to show itself from beneath the dead browns and greys of the preceding year. A knife-like chill remained after sundown, even now as a snow-white youkai sought his prey.

She was to be found alongside an old, seemingly abandoned well, her effects on the ground beside her as she merely waited. For him? He was doubtful; there was nothing that would alert her to his intentions, not even that odd, unworldly call that bound them both. Still, she did not seemed surprised to see him.

"Sesshoumaru," she greeted him, a smile covering her face.

"You have much to tell me, woman," he said bluntly, standing a mere foot away from her.

"I do?" she blinked owlishly at him. "What do you want to know? If there's a lot, we could go down to the hot spring; it's a lot more comfortable down there. It's also a good idea if you don't want Inu Yasha poking his nose into things. He's due to be here in a bit."

He nodded curtly; the last thing he wished to deal with now was his half-witted sibling. The woman looked slightly startled when he wound his fur around her and leapt into the trees, but she was accustomed to him now and made no fuss. He set her down with precision and stood before her.

"You are not of this world," he stated. He would not demean himself by asking questions; she should know what he meant.

She blinked at him for a brief moment before comprehension entered her expression. "Oh. Um. Yes and no." She glanced at him and hastened to explain. "I am of this world; I live near here, actually. But I come from five hundred years in the future, when all of this land has become a great city. It'll be called Tokyo and it's the capital of Japan.

"Many things will have changed by then," she continued, her voice becoming dreamy, her eyes focusing on things far distant, unknowable even to his eyes. "Humans will have become dominant; youkai are not to be found and are considered obsolete myths. We have learned to build towers that reach to the heavens and ships that sail the skies and beyond. But there are things that never seem to change, Sesshoumaru. We can do so much and have so much. And still there is poverty, hunger. Men perfect ways of killing, inflicting pain not on hundreds or thousands but tens, hundreds of thousands. They grab power like a toy and hold on to it like spoiled children, willing to risk not only millions of human lives, but the every living thing on the planet to keep it in their hands. I sometimes wonder why I try. Why I fight Naraku when there are human monsters so much worse in my own time. Monsters I can't do anything about. Sometimes I think I could just hand him the damned jewel and nothing would really change."

She turned to him, her smile slightly bitter. "Sorry," she told him. "You wanted the simple answer, not just me blathering on like an idiot. So I'm from the future, nowhere terribly special, and all I am is a simple human girl who's not good for much."

"You face your destiny with dignity," he replied quietly. "You accept the burdens that have been placed upon your shoulders. You seek to better yourself. You act with giri. That is more than most of your kind ever even think to achieve."

He watched her eyes fill with warmth and her smile lose the bitter edge that tainted it. She placed a hand on his arm. "Thank you."

"It can be..." he began, then hesitated. It was still a difficult thing to say; a winter's meditation did not change that. "...galling," he continued, "to realize there are things that one cannot do. I cannot imagine what that feeling must be like for a human, who must contend with such a limited life span and has such a small hope of achievement."

"I suppose that's why we have children," she mused. "To pass on our hopes to the next generation, that they may do what we could not, make better what we have tried to improve."

"Is this something you wish for?" he asked, suddenly curious. What sort of offspring would this woman have? Would they have her fire? Or would they lapse into the customary dross of humanity?

He found her expression amusing, the gaping mouth combined with wide eyes and reddened face. The mouth opened and closed a few times before she regained a modicum of her composure. "I--" she stuttered, and a slight smile, almost invisible, came to his face. "I ought to go," she finished hurriedly. "Inu Yasha is probably tearing the forest apart looking for me." With that, she turned and ran.

She was an amusing creature, he thought. It was true--he could hear the family idiot a mile or two distant--but he was no gullible pup to believe such an excuse. Well, she had answered one of his questions and given him much to consider. The rest of his questions could wait until their next encounter. He would, however, make it soon.

-
-

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- - --- - - - --- -- --- - -
Author's Notes

.
giri - another hard word to translate adequately. Giri means something along the lines of samurai honour, which is acting righteously and with utmost obedience and duty to one's lord/obligations. It's one of those words you just have to keep running into to really understand.

Another note: It will be at least a week before I can post again. AX is this weekend and then I have to move house. And then I have to set up new ISP, etc. Just to warn you.

And yet another note: Some reviewers have been asking for longer chapters. The short answer is: no. The longer answer is that these short, two-page scenes (give or take) were a deliberate stylistic choice. Call it a writing exercise if you like. But it was a choice made to give the story its tone/feel. For that matter, I was annoyed at myself that 'Heat Stroke' was two directly connected scenes. Anyway, the story itself is already written; it just needs formatting. So please understand that there will not be longer chapters. That said, I'd like to thank all reviewers for their input and am pleased at your enjoyment.