Leaving home for a new place
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Author's note: Hey people, a new chapter. It's one of my longest chapters… In this chapter, Riyo goes to the castle. There will also be a friendship growing between Riyo and Kobaru. However, they are not supposed to be paired together. This is also not a Rin and Sesshoumaru pairing, they only have a father and daughter relationship. This chapter does not really go anywhere, as I did not want Rin and Riyo to meet in this chapter, it would be too long…Hope you all don't mind. I tried to do a longer Sesshoumaru pov… Hope it's not to out of character… This chapter is also a little long, but future ones may not be this long… No flames please...Review, and hope you like it.
Disclaimers: I don't own anything in here except for those characters that I created on my own, and whatever came out of my own creativity.
………………………………………………………………………………………………Riyo's pov
"Kazemura, I have to leave here, thank you for looking after me all this while, I really appreciated it. If I could, I would repay this debt to you one day, I'm sorry, I have to leave on such short notice," I said, apologising rapidly to Kazemura. Without him, I would never have managed to survive until today. I would still be wandering on the streets.
"Well… If you have to leave, I can't stop you, after all, you did not belong to such places from the beginning, and as I said when you first came, that you could leave whenever you wanted to or felt like it… When will you be leaving? Will you be coming back anytime soon?" Kazemura asked slowly, after a long time, responding to what I had said.
"Now… and I don't think I will be coming back anytime soon… in fact I don't even know whether I will be coming back here at all after all this has ended." I replied back.
"Well, now, a pity for us to lose one of our best dancers just like that, our business will surely go down greatly after you leave. Hope you manage to do well out there, and come back if you can, even if it's just for a visit." Kazemura said, sighing slightly, giving a rather forced tight smile, trying to lighten the atmosphere that was turning rather low between us.
"Your business won't go down just because of one dancer, thank you for being so understanding, if circumstances allowed it, I would come back, my good friend" I said trying to be more cheerful, giving him a small friendly hug and a grateful smile.. I knew that Kazemura would be understand and let me go. After all, he was my only other friend here besides Maki.
I hesitated slightly then said, "Could you help me say my farewells to Maki and ask her to look after herself, and that to remember what I said… forget that, could you just pass this letter to her, and… can you help me look after Silvermoon for me? I won't bring her along…" I said, pointing in the vague direction of my room in which my kitten pet was in.
"Of course, goodbye and take care," Kazemura said as I left the room, to the sight of Kobaru leaning against the door, waiting for me. I waved my hands as we walked off, putting on my cloak in the mean time, keeping my face turned away from Kobaru so that he could not see my eyes watering slightly.
Normal pov
Kobaru and Riyo slowly walked out of the dancing halls to meet up with his two subordinates, the saddened atmosphere, and lowered spirits seeming to have affected everyone, and then they started their slow trek back to Sesshoumaru's castle which was at the over the hills, into the valleys, where there were a lot of flowers and trees and a river as well as one of the biggest waterfalls.
On the way, Kobaru asked, "So, madam, would you mind if we talked on the way to the castle?"
"Anything… whatever that makes you happy, my lord," Riyo replied in a soft and saddened voice, still not really managing to get the conversation with Kazemura out of her head yet.
"Was it really that hard for you to leave that place, madam?" Kobaru asked curiously.
"Well, that was the only place that I could call home, and it accepted me calling it home, my only two friends are from there. Of course it is, but still as I have said my lord, I did that willingly." Riyo said, a little startled that he had noticed how dispirited she was about leaving the dancing halls.
"That guy, back there the one you were talking to, if I may ask, is he your lover?" Kobaru asked.
"Coughs, He's definitely not my cough lover cough cough, he's just one of my best friends, my lord. He was the one that agreed to take me in even though I did not have any qualifications to be a dancer. When I first got in, he was the one who helped to protect me when people despised me. He risked his reputation just by doing all that for me, and I am more than just a little grateful to him. If I could, I wish I could repay him somehow," Riyo said, sighing a little.
"Oh… If that is the case, why are you still helping us madam? I mean you could just reject us and stay here with your friend at a place you call home, and repay them for their kindness. Why help some unknown lord that you have never heard of or met close up before today? Why help someone you have only seen just once in your whole entire life?" Kobaru asked.
"My, my, aren't you changing to rapidly, or did you want me to reject you that badly in the first place?" Riyo asked jokingly, trying to lighten their moods before they all became depressed.
Before Kobaru could continue, Riyo said, muttering a few words at the end that were impossible to hear, "Well, as I have said before, Rin is innocent, besides, there are people like you and her adopted father and her lover, you all care for her, if she dies, so many would be heartbroken and mourning for her, for the lose of a lover, or a daughter… I won't want any of you all to be miserable. If I were to die, no one would mourn for me…"
"I beg your pardon? What were your last few words?" Kobaru asked
"Never mind, nothing much, that was my reason anyway, I don't want anyone to be mourning for the lose of their dear ones…" Riyo said.
"Well, madam, you do have a very big heart if that is your real reason," Kobaru said.
"Why did you leave your pet behind?" Kobaru asked.
"My, aren't you a curious one… Well, won't Lord Sesshoumaru be rather disturbed if I brought my cat anywhere near his territory? Besides, I do not know how my life would go from here, bringing her along with me would just risk her life more." Riyo replied.
"Just a curious question, madam, just now back in your room you were so guarded and closed mouth about what you were saying, hardly giving away anything… Why are you now so relaxed, and answering every of my questions so directly?" Kobaru asked.
"…… It's just that…… Now I have made up my mind to help you, I might as well get used to talking to you, since I most probably have to see you for the next few months. Besides, your intentions are good, so no use being so guarded." Riyo answered, pondering the question deeply.
"Aren't you a bit too trusting? I mean I have only seen you once, what if I were lying to you?" Kobaru asked.
"By asking that proves you are not lying, my lord, besides what good would it do you to lie to me, I'm only a young girl that dances in the dancing halls, how can that help you?" Riyo replied.
"You could say it like this, I have an instinct or feeling which is rather accurate, and it is telling me now that you are not a bad person," Riyo said, seeing Kobaru's searching look.
"Oh… anyway, madam, I heard you lost your memory a few hundred years back, ever managed to remembered anything from your past? Or anyone from your past?" Kobaru asked.
"Nothing… Even what I know of my past today has been what people told me. Like that I was the descendant of the people from the Western undergrounds, I heard all that from Kazemura, as well as a few audience." Riyo replied starting to sound a little guarded again.
"Oh…" Kobaru said, sounding a little disappointed, he had hoped to get some leads on the lady of the Western undergrounds. However, this looked like a dead end to him.
"How did you hear about me?" Riyo asked suddenly, curious as to how the lords even heard her name.
"Actually, madam, Sesshoumaru's follower Jaken told us about you, apparently you have met him before." Kobaru said.
"Jaken? Who's that? I can't recall having seen any powerful demons who could be his lord's follower" Riyo asked puzzled.
"He's not very powerful, just a toad like demon, rather short, and ugly quite green and has a really big mouth you haven't seen him before madam?" Kobaru asked, his turn to get surprised
"Toad like figure… Oh! The one who was going on about how good his master was… He was quite scary, are you sure he is straight?" Riyo asked smiling slightly to Kobaru.
"Well… That is a very questionable point madam…" Kobaru replied looking almost serious, then they both started laughing.
"hahaha… That's scary, however, my lord, could you please stop calling me madam every time you say a sentence to me? Just call me Riyo that will do. I'm not really used to this madam thing, after all, you are so much older than me, and calling me madam makes me feel like I am at the same age as your aunt or even older." Riyo said smiling.
"Well, even though I'm not that old, if it pleases you, Riyo, then could you just call me Kobaru? Friends?" Kobaru asked putting his hand out, Riyo hesitantly shook it, as though not familiar with human contact, than shock it more confidently and looked Kobaru in the eyes.
"Friends."
It was a silent walk after the small declaration of friendship, until Riyo started asking, "So, what exactly is wrong with this Lady Rin? You said she was poisoned, but by what?"
"Well from what the healers told us, it is a poison whose main component is made up of the Siriturnus plant that has long been extinct when the western undergrounds collapsed. If it had hit other parts, Rin might be alright, however, it hit the main vein of Rin at the neck, and that is supposed to be fatal and without cure. The antidote has also been lost." Kobaru replied, remembering what he and Lord Sesshoumaru had researched on with the healer.
"Oh, Siriturnus plant… I've heard of that before. What is the main component of the antidote? Where was it last seen? How long has Lady Rin been poisoned?" Riyo asked.
"She was poisoned in the late mornings, yesterday, I guess it's about a day and a half ago, as for the main component of the antidote, we are still researching on it, should be able to tell you soon…" Kobaru replied.
"Oh…" Riyo said, then there was silence all the way until there reached the gates of the castle. Kobaru spoke to the guards and then they went in. Kobaru's two subordinates left.
Riyo's pov
The castle was huge, enormous. It was old and ancient, yet still very strong and rather homely. The walls were made out of marble. The entrance to the castle was about thrice my height and thrice my size. It was big. The walls around all had torches of light, however, the castle was not very bright, it was rather dim, yet you could still see in front of you, and there were guards in armours in almost every part of the castle. The tension in the castle was also very strong.
The moment I entered the castle, we were met with guards, supposedly to escort us to his lord's presence. We first passed through the great halls that were usually used only for entertaining visitors. There were the flags of the Western, Southern, Eastern, Northern lands as well as the united flags of all four parts made when there were untited, all hanging from the ceilings in the great halls. Standing in the halls would make one feel rather small.
After that, we went up a series of winding stairs, there were a few doors along the stairs. However, none looked important enough. There were also small windows along the stairs, which did not let much light in.
After walking up the stairs for a long time, one of the guards opened the door which leads to a large corridor, the corridor had a long red carpet on it, with ornaments at the side. Walking to the end of the corridor was a door which led to a hallway that led to the lord's study. The guards stayed with me as a formality while Kobaru went to report to his lord.
Normal pov
Kobaru walked into the hallways leading to the study room of Lord Sesshoumaru, where he always spent his evenings looking at reports and researching on things that came to his attention. He reached the room and knocked on the door softly and clearly so as not to irritate Sesshoumaru.
"Come in." was Sesshoumaru's short reply. Apparently, he was already rather irritated.
Kobaru kneeled to his lord, placing his right arm over his chest, after receiving the gesture to stand, he then reported his whole conversation with Riyo in her room, excluding the later conversations which would be rather useless to Sesshoumaru, as well as alerting him of the presence of someone outside his hallways to his study. Then there was a moment of silence.
"So… My lord, what is your plan?" Kobaru inquired curiously as Sesshoumaru still had not said anything.
"Ask her to come in," Sesshoumaru said.
"Yes my lord… How is lady Rin's condition by the way?" Kobaru asked hesitantly, rather concerned for Rin's health, after all, she was as good as his daughter in law already.
"She just remains the same, no improvement no deterioration. However, if someone does not do something soon, I'm afraid……" Sesshoumaru replied his voice saddening a bit, so little that it would have been unnoticed to the untrained who knew nothing of Sesshoumaru.
"Nothing would happen to her my lord," Kobaru said comfortingly to Sesshoumaru.
"Hopefully…" Sesshoumaru said wistfully.
Kobaru then left the study room quickly to go out and summon Riyo to see Sesshoumaru.
Riyo's pov
I waited at the door where Kobaru told me to wait. The castle was rather impressive… I wonder whether the owner would manage to live up to the expectations of his own castle. I stared at the walls of the castle, almost zoning out when Kobaru came back. He asked me to follow him to the study of the Lord of this castle, escorted by the two guards.
We walked along a long passageway, as we walked, I stared at the interior of the castle. On both sides of the wall, I could see different portraits with the name of the person below it and the dates it were painted. There were some that were dated to tens of thousands of years ago. However, all were of the royal family of the Inu family and the Western Lords.
There was a portrait of some half demon called Inuyasha, a human called Izayoi, there were also those of the Inu family's taiyoukais, like a picture of Inu no Taisho that was next to Izayoi. They were smiling happily, like they were feeling very blessed and fortunate to be together.
At the end of the corridor just before the lord's room, there was of course a portrait of Lord Sesshoumaru. It looked rather life like, from what I could tell, after all, I have never seen him before. He was rather pale, almost white, however, not the sickly kind of pale. He was rather tall, around 1.9 metre.
He had white silvery hair that was very long, covering his whole back, and he wore a royal looking white colour haori with an armour on one side of his shoulder, as well as a furry boa around the other side of his shoulder. He had two swords on the table beside him, one looked rather old, however, both were from the fangs of different powerful demons.
He had amber eyes, and looked like he just reached his twenties, about twenty one or so. He was rather lean, but not without muscles. He seemed to feel very confident, almost to the point of arrogance, and he looked like a man who knew where he stood in the society, and knew how to behave to his status.
He looked rather cold from my point of view. He had a smile on his face, but the smile did not seem to reach his eyes. This kind of smile seemed vaguely familiar to me, like I had seen it from afar at a very long time ago, in fact he looked rather familiar, like I had seen him… in the dancing halls!
"Knock, knock," Kobaru knocked on the door of the study which I presumed was his lord's study.
"Come in," came a deep voice from inside. Smiling an encouraging smile at me, Kobaru opened the door and let me into the room.
I walked into the room nervously and stared at the figure at the table, he was busily scribbling words onto a piece of paper. The room was rather big, with a table and a few cupboards. There were a lot of important looking documents around. There was also a way that leads to another part of the study. Without coming in, Kobaru closed the door, leaving me alone with Sesshoumaru. I waited for him to start speaking, but still he did not say anything.
Sesshoumaru's pov
So Kobaru did manage to find that girl… I wonder who she is… I after all do go to that dancing hall quite often, might be I have seen that girl before. She must be rather old, to learn the art healing when she was so old. Might be she's that senior dancer who has been in the dancing halls for a relatively long time. This is interesting, hope she is not too irritating or Jaken like in anyway.
Kobaru knocked on the door and let the girl into the room. I hurriedly finished my document on the table looking as calm as ever on the outside, as I wrote what I had to write at a very fast pace. Twinkle, twinkle, I heard metal bells sounds as the girl walked into the room.
I used my senses to try and sense what powers the being beside me had, still not looking up. Now, she did have a faint smell of poison and a cat demon's smell on her. That is rather interesting… However, her aura is quite weak or rather, you would say, it has been dormant for such a long time that it almost seemed impossible for her powers to be used.
I finished my document calmly, and curiously looked up to see how the being in front of me looked like. I was shocked! She was quite young, looking about Rin's age, which actually wasn't that far from the age that I looked of. Her face was covered up with a cloth, all her things were black, and she did not seem to have any weapons, except maybe the two intricately designed metal fans in her hand. She was rather well covered, in the sense that her hands and legs could not be seen as her hands wore gloves, legs boots.
She was Riyo, the famous dancer of the dancing halls! The twinkling sound had come from the bells that were on her silver string which she used to tie her hair. I kept my normal expressionless facade as I went through a very short stage of shock, not letting her know what I was thinking.
The girl stared at me uncomfortably, like she was in a very embarrassing position, then I realised why, I was staring at her too obviously. Well, as her lord, I have the right to stare at her, after all, this concerned Rin.
"You are Riyo?" I asked coolly looking at her. There was an obvious answer to that question, however, I learnt a long time ago that it was a good way to start a conversation.
"Yes, my lord," She said respectfully, bowing slightly, her eyes trying to avoid looking at my direction. At least she knew some respect when she saw someone of a higher status, unlike the usual commoners who do not know their place when with people of a higher status and class, this one at least knew a thing or two, enough not to get into trouble while in the castle.
"Why do you hide your face from me?" I asked abruptly, curious to know why she blindfolded her eyes, after all, from the way she was walking on unfamiliar grounds, one knew that she was not blind.
Her face went shocked for a moment like she did not know at all what I was talking about, then she smiled slightly and said, "Oh… that, well, my eyesight is exceptionally sharp, and taking this off would only make it harder for me to see. I only take it off when I am healing someone." After explaining, she shuddered slightly like she had remembered a horrible incident from her past to prove her point as to how horrendous it would be to take of her blindfolds at times other than those times in which she was healing someone.
"Hn… Women, are your healing skills good?" I asked, after all, the main reason why she was here is because she is going to help heal Rin, I would not let some low class witch doctor who did not know what she was doing come anywhere near my adopted daughter.
"Good enough, of course, if not you won't even be looking for me. However I am not a professional and I have explained to Lord Kobaru that if you think that my bloodline would help in the healing process, it can't, as I don't even know how to use my powers if I even had any." She replied. So she did not know how to use her powers, that might be a problem, but never mind, from what Kobaru told me, she is a very good healer even without the use of her powers.
"Hn…" I replied.
"So, My Lord, when do you want me to start healing Lady Rin?" She asked, suddenly looking very curious and interested, and also a bit resigned to this task, the look she gave was those that said since your at it, might as well do it to your very best, if not there was no point.
"I'll take you to see Rin now." I said, suddenly getting up from my chair. Might as well, it's either now or later anyway.
"Could you let me put my things down somewhere first? I mean, I shouldn't bring my stuff into Lady Rin's room, it will just get in the way." She asked explaining in the process before I could say anything.
"Hn… You will be staying in the room next to Rin. On the other side of your room is where I stay. Do not wander around too much." I said shortly to her, why not, might as well let her put her things down first, after all, her room was just next to Rin's room, might as well before, they might just start to get in the way when she tries to heal Rin.
"And while you are living in this castle, do not wear your normal dresses, wear more traditional clothes, if you don't want to wear kimonos, at least a yukata. I don't suppose you have that many, I will ask the servants to put some in your room." I said, suddenly noticing her that her dresses were way too exposed. She certainly could not wear her dresses in the castle, it would be such a bad influence on Rin, and it would disgrace me if any visitors came to visit.
"If that is what you want my lord, that will be no problem, thank you for providing me with more clothing, for I do not have any yukatas, and only have one kimono which is not suitable to be worn." Riyo said politely, the thank you more of for the sake of courtesy than actually really feeling grateful to me for providing her closet with more things collections.
We walked down another stretch of corridor. I then opened one of doors and leaned on it. She stared at me rather confused, and then a look of enlightenment dawned on her for she started to walk slowly into the room, seeming startled by the huge size of the room.
The room has been empty for quite some time, it was big, yet plain, with a queen sized bed, a table and two chairs with rugs on the floor, there was a big window that had a small balcony. The room was rather purple, with the bed purple, the rugs purple. There was nothing particularly special about it, except that it had connecting doors, one to my room, the other one to Rin's.
"Put your stuff down," I ordered. She gulped slightly. Well, might be she had not been enlightened yet…She put her stuff on the bed, then walked and stood beside me, waiting for further instructions.
"You are not to open the black connecting door unless it's of grave matters. The one that is black in colour leads to my room, the white one leads to Rin's. If you open it when it is not of grave matters, you die. The white one you may use it," I said. That was the reason why this room had been empty for so long. It had connecting doors to my room. If not for the fact that this girl was here for Rin, I would not have given her this room.
I then walked to the white door connected to Rin's room and reluctantly pushed the door open softly so as not to disturb Rin. The smell of sickness and medicine immediately rushed into my demon nose that was very sensitive. I saw Rin lying on the bed, with Kiso sitting beside her, the bed drapes let down, almost covering them from sight.
Rin looked so sickly even from where I was looking from, and she still had not woken up, my heart felt for my adopted daughter who was lying there looking so helpless.
If others came in to this room and saw Rin, people would think she was dead, so pale, a deadly white, just lying there, motionless, not even twitching, not moving one single bit, she could well be dead if not for the fact that I could still hear her faint breathing sounds from where I was.
Poor Rin, having to go through all this pain. I would definitely get her healed thoroughly, and find the person who tried to poison her. I would make sure that that person will go through hell, that person and the person who instigated him to do this deed will suffer my wrath.
They would suffer. They would suffer ten times what Rin is suffering now! After I finish with them, no one would dare to infuriate the Western Lord again. No one would be able to do that and get away with it.
No one would dare question me after I finish with those people. The might of the Western Lord could come alive if I wanted it to, no one would dare stand in my pathway, not in the past, not now not ever.
No one would ever hurt you again, Rin, I promise that to you Rin, as your father, as the Western Lord, as one of the greatest demon, I would fulfil this promise, no matter what it takes.
"I promise"
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