Kagome Hurt: Chapter 18
It was...
It was...
"What the hell is a computer doing in Sengoku Jidai!"
An aged head jerked up from the ancient scrolls he so loved. Furred kitsune ears with lengthened sidelocks of hair very much characteristic of the old flicked back in shock and irritation as the demonic sentry scrolls on his wall activated, alerting the old kitsune of an intruder in his most sacred of rooms.
Grumbling in his haste to chase off the pest and possibly mind-wipe him into forgetting about the room and its artifacts, Kooranai never once gave thought to the possibility that it was the one person who he had wanted to enter the room in the first place.
Kagome was thinking perhaps she had been dropped into that gaijin author's rabbit hole... Heh, more than she already was...
After all, where else but in some type of lucid dream could she claim to be the hostess and captive of a deadly statuesque demon lord, a miko of some powers, an ex-shard hunter for that idiot inu-jerk, a supposed reincarna-... un... maybe she should just forget about reciting the litany of catastrophes that was her life. She was already in a constant state of turmoil, no need to get further depressed.
With a hand clamped over her mouth to stifle the one small burble of hysterical laughter that escaped, Kagome took a few steps further into the room.
"'Come into my parlor' said the spider to the fly," she murmured.
Feeling as though her hand would pass without restriction through the image her mind had conjured, Kagome was only half surprised when her nails clicked against cold plastic and glass.
She blinked, and when nothing happened, she blinked again.
Her other hand lowered to grip the table while the other that was in contact with the monitor trembled. It too descended, pausing on its graceful way to stroke the regularly placed tiles known only to those of her century as the keys on a keyboard.
Kagome gave her head a hard shake and stiffened her knees.
She walked around the table, taking in every angle of the desktop computer trying to verify its authenticity. Up until she realized it possessed no power cord, she was beginning to believe that despite appearances it existed in that time.
Eyes narrowed in perceived victory. This had to be a very advanced illusion or trap. There was no way it could be real. Only someone of that era would not know of the machine's need for electricity, and there was no way to conceivably provide it.
"Okay, Kagome... Now we back away very slowly and hope you didn't set anything off."
Her bones almost leapt out of her skin as a merrily decrepit voice sounded from behind her.
"My lady HAS triggered something, but fret not, it was merely a personal alert that someone was in these sacred chambers."
After her initial fright, the miko had whirled to face the speaker. A lined face, brittle greyed hair, tipped ears and a creepy eager 'kind-old-man' smile were somehow familiar to her.
Kagome blinked as a name surfaced like a leviathan from the deep, slowly and ponderously.
"Marisa's grandfather? Ko... Koora...?"
She trailed off hoping he would fill in the blank without her sounding too rude.
A wry smile cross his crinkled features.
"Kooranai, mistress. And as you can see," he went on, waving a gnarled hand in the 'artifact's' direction, "I have been tasked with the maintenance of these curious items and the ancient scroll from Lord Sesshoumaru's distant ancestor."
This last was also punctuated with a gesture to a smaller side table where a yellowed rolled parchment had almost escaped the miko's attention.
As her fingers went to trail over the well-kept record, Kooranai explained further, in hopes that finally he would be able to solve this generation spanning mystery.
"This lowly keeper has poured over the manuscript time and again, but it still escapes my comprehension, my lady. It appears to be sectionalized into three separate accounts, each in a different tongue."
Kagome turned a scrutinizing eye on the aging Kitsune.
"I - may open this?" she queried.
A quick and eager nod saw to it that his overgrown ears flopped most childishly back and forth with the demon's assent.
"Please do, lady. It has been in my family's keeping for so long... And we still know not its significance. It is only said that a 'distinguished miko with uncanny habits' could open it. It has been very difficult indeed to get a miko without having to kill her for her efforts to purify us, let alone a miko of 'distinguished and uncanny habits'. Please, lady Kagome, you've got to help me! I'm old and I don't want to expire without the knowledge!"
"..."
Kagome could only raise an eyebrow before stifling a snort.
"Lets have a look see, jii-san, but I think you'll outlive us all."
Under the youkai's approving eye, the raven-tressed miko picked up the scroll and unrolled it to reveal the first line:
'Habia una vez, una muchacha era muy triste...'
Shocked as can be, Kagome's eyes traveled further to the next paragraph where she found:
'INSERT GERMAN PHRASE HERE: TO GET THE ELECTRICITY TO RUN THE COMPUTER, ONE MUST HARNESS HER MIKO ENERGIES...'
And the last paragraph, which was the only one Kagome could efficiently translate started with modern English:
'And now, dear priestess, that you can produce usable electricity, power the computer as I've written and access whichever files you wish. I entrust unto you my diaries I've kept on file and an explanation for this tool that I hope my successor will use wisely. Good luck young miko, and good life, Rukio Tai.
The miko was dazed to say the least.
"Ano, Kooranai-san? Can I take this with me for a bit? I wish to study it further."
The kitsune blinked twice at this request, then in a disheartened voice, "So you can't read it then?" His entire demeanor had crumpled a few degrees.
Kagome quickly looked him in the eye to portray her sincerity.
"Oh no, I can read some of it no problem. Its just that the first two paragraphs need some simple translation."
The ancient guardian's eyes grew so big that the wrinkles on his face grew wrinkles of their own.
"Truly, Miko-sama! Many of my line have already attempted translations and have never seen nor heard of any of the languages from those that inhabit the lands of the Nihon-jin."
One of the miko's increasingly rare smiles broke through her face like a bright ray of incandescent light on a cloudy day.
"Have you looked to over the seas then? You know there are other lands than just that of our beloved Japan."
At this the aged youkai looked scandalized.
"THOSE barbarians!" he cried in a rising tone of voice. "B-but, it was written by Sesshoumaru-sama's honored ancestor, one of the Tai's! Why would one such as he know ought of a primitive tongue?"
Kagome looked amused at Kooranai's reaction.
"By the looks of it, jii-san, not only did 'SHE' know a barbarian's language, she knew three. And by her hand, her name was Rukio."
The kitsune grumbled under his breath about knowing none of the Taiyoukai's lineage by that name, so it must have been a lowborn cousin or bastard or something.
Kagome just crushed the oncoming giggle with ruthless precision and tapped the scroll again.
"So do I have your permission to remove this from the room, good sir?"
And after further grumblings and a pointed desire to look up the ancestor lineage scrolls again, permission was granted. Before she could leave though, a gnarled hand gently caught the sleeve of her outfit.
"Miko-sama? If-no, when you discover the meanings of the words written within, would you consent to sharing them with this humble kitsune...without a month's time in between?"
That last part was asked on the sly, in a faintly teasing yet chastising tone of voice, calling on the miko for forgetting her promise to the elder on the night of the first banquet.
The expression in her eyes warred between amused abashedness and a returning sad light.
"Un," she said with a nod before gifting the old youkai with a hesitant half smile and slipping out the door. The one she left behind massaged the area over his heart.
"This old demon wishes the miko Kagome some happiness to be found her in this court of youkai. It is a sad thing when a creature with such light falls into shadowed coolness. Or indeed, that her looks retain the beauty but whose source changes from vibrant fire to dazzling ice... Yes, this Kooranai hopes for luck."
A.N. Heh, I've no excuses for the long silence, but at least I haven't forgotten this entire writing thing, ne? Anyways, I hope I haven't shocked some people with how my ficcie is going, or the fact that I've introduced an OC, even if she's long dead by now.
Next chapter gets into further intrigues with Sessy-chan, reincorporates Shippo, and lets Kago do something she's been wanting to do since the beginning of the story.
And for any of those who might wish to help, could someone send in a teaser I could put for my story summary. I've looked at it again, and feel that it doesn't do Kagome Hurt any justice as it is, and despair of summing it up in three lines or less. Help please?