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Strangled Time

Chapter 28

What was up with that time period and everyone wanting to dress her up?

If Kagome didn't know any better she would have thought she'd been turned into some sort of traditional doll or something the moment she landed in that new past. First she'd been abducted by those batty seamstresses, and now this?

At least this time there weren't any pins involved. Yet.

Sitting patiently on the worn matted floor of the innkeeper's personal suite, the priestess watched as the old woman pulled dusty kimono boxes from where they were stacked behind the sliding doors of a storage closet. One by one the innkeeper peeked inside before setting them around herself in some sort of order that Kagome didn't even try to comprehend. Once the boxes had begun to form a sort of crescent moon about the floor, the elder began to speak as she continued her search.

"Once upon a time," She started in a gentle voice as if she were telling the beginning of a fairytale, "When I was a much younger woman, there was a man who stayed upon my family's inn throughout the days of the worst typhoon I had ever seen. This man had not been an ordinary man, I would soon come to realize, but a man of great strength and renowned. On the third eve, when I peered at him through the night's heavy curtain of darkness, I saw him glow from within with a power both beautiful and dangerous. Gold as the sun, yet silver like the moon."

Eyes wide, Kagome's lips fell slack.

Was she… talking about Togashimaru?

No way.

"I fell in love, even though I knew it to be dreadfully wrong of me to do so. He was a spiritualist, full of promise and dutiful to his spoken vows, and I…" Staring down at one of her boxes with a wistful smile, the deer-eyed granny chuckled as she wiped away the dust. "I suppose I was somewhat of a temptress."

A spiritualist, huh?

Human then and definitely not Toga.

Thank goodness. Things were complicated enough.

Kagome let her panic dissipate and the lump leave her throat.

Drawing herself into the story, Kagome crossed her legs and leaned forward with her hands in her lap. The innkeeper didn't acknowledge her presence; instead she spoke to the room as if it were her audience chamber. Though soft, her voice carried on the cross breeze like a lullaby.

"Month after month he sought out our inn for solace on his travels, and soon I came to realize that it was neither the inn nor the village that drew his frequency. It was me. We spent countless nights in conversation and in silence alike, watching the night stars as they crossed the heavens to the coming dawns, and, despite knowing the vixen I truly was, he asked for my hand."

"Aww." Kagome breathed a dreamy sigh. She really was a sucker for romantic fluff. "And you said yes, right?"

The old lady's lip quirked and she met the teen's rose colored gaze for a moment before turning back to her work. "I said no, of course."

"What?" The priestess gasped and straightened. "Why would you say no? Didn't you both love each other?"

"In fact we did. However the both of us had come from very different worlds and I knew that it could never work out between two such as us. It was a path begging of hardships, and I did not want him to relinquish those vows he held so dear."

"So you just… let him go?"

"Oh yes, I certainly tried. But if that man was nothing less than relentless. Time and time and again he sought me out to ask for my hand. Between the seasons and the shifting moons he wooed without rest. It was only after he proved his worth to my father that I finally accepted our fate, and we were wed by that spring."

Kagome's smile fell. "You say that like it was a bad thing. Weren't you happy to be with him?"

"Perhaps for a time. However, this is a tale without a pleasant ending, young Madame."

Gathering the hem of her yukata to hold in her hand, the priestess remained quiet, signaling that she was ready to hear the rest. She'd try not to interrupt again, but made herself no promises.

"Together my husband and I left my family home and continued upon his journey reconciling the wills of the hungry dead. There was not a village without work, as the wars were abundant and the deaths tolled high in those early years of the uprising, yet more often than not we found our services to be turned away. With me by his side, his power was deemed trickery, and worse still were we regarded when I fell pregnant. Too many believe human spiritual abilities to be tied to celibacy and Buddhist rote, as opposed to inborn ability strengthened by study and skill.

"Refusing to return home to my family in shame, we sought out refuge throughout the lands. Imagine our surprise when we found such a place to the west—small yet diverse and free from the harsher judgments of society. Hesitant, the villagers at first believed that my husband's holy power might disrupt the balance of their political neutrality, but soon we were accepted among them and welcomed with warmth. It was in this village that I had my only child, my most beautiful daughter, and it was in this village that saw our lives together flourish. But, as time forever turns forward, all good things must eventually come to an end for them to remain beautiful in memory."

With the last of the boxes long since laid out, the old innkeeper closed her eyes. "My husband fell ill and passed away in relative comfort at a fair age, leaving my daughter and I alone for quite some time before the peace of our lives there shattered to an unfixable mess. The rebellions that raped the lands around us eventually caught fire in our lordship's stronghold, and his closest retainer committed a treasonous act, inciting war and ultimately the usurpation of command. Under new rule, those of us who sought asylum for our acts of sin had become targets for a new purge and, realizing that our new regent would neither raise his hand to us in brutality nor in defense from his vassals, I had no choice but to flee and return to the arms of my childhood home, alone."

Stunned to silence from the sudden dark turn the story had taken, Kagome felt herself slump forward. Her gaze fell away from the old woman to glance over the boxes scattered about. There were fewer than she originally thought. What had before been a closet full of dusty old clothes and junk suddenly transformed into the meager possessions of a lifetime and memories before her very eyes. The parcels of children's clothes were few and small against the larger boxes designed to hold the wider girth of men's wear. Not a single thing lost or tossed—each item finely catalogued, though they might never be touched again.

She found she had to ask the question.

"What about your daughter?"

Smiling, the old lady opened her eyes.

"She was killed." She said in a tone that was casual and sedate from many years of acceptance. The sound of it struck Kagome right in the chest. "Ever her father's child, my daughter was stubborn and strong, and she refused to give up her home and happiness without a fight. Asking my permission to take up arms and retaliate alongside the warriors of our village, I could not deny her that right. It was not uncommon for women to cut their hair and join the ranks of samurai then, which remains especially true in these latest years, so I was not surprised that my daughter was one to do the same. A fighting spirit was strong within her soul… I was not told how long it took for her to fall or by whose hand, but a year beyond our parting farewells saw her spear returned to my hand."

The woman's final words tapered away until the space felt hollow in the silence that followed. Saddened and unsettled, Kagome shifted. She rubbed at her sleeves for warmth, only to find goose bumps along her arms. Sneaking in from beneath the hallway door, the early winter's breeze didn't help.

Finally, when the quiet was too much for her to bear, Kagome filled it.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." She said, not able to bring herself up to look the old woman in the eye. There would be acceptance there, gentle and kind, but Kagome didn't want to see just how calmly the innkeeper was able to accept her pains and move on—she wanted to mourn the loss of two strangers she'd never met. They weren't just characters in a story, they were real people who lived and loved and died, leaving their wife and mother behind to tell their tale. She didn't want it to be meaningless.

But still, she had to ask.

"But… but what does this have to do with me?" Kagome asked. Her cheeks reddened when she realized that she was being egocentric. "I mean, why are you telling me all this? I don't even know you."

The innkeeper smiled and leaned forward to tilt up the younger girl's chin before reaching out to touch Kagome's hair, still slightly damp from her bath and waving from the moisture. She ran her finger along a strand, pulling it free from behind her shoulder, and when she got to the end of it the lock fell back to Kagome's chest. Her gaze was fogged by the thoughts of a distant past.

"You remind me of the both of them." She said. "Your heart sings with the same fighting spirit and that spark of power is unmistakable. More than that, the company you hold—I find myself drawn to aid you in your cause."

"The co-company?" The priestess sputtered. A forced chuckle failed to cover up her surprise. "What company? Who do you mean?"

At that the old innkeeper laughed, the sound like the tinkling of a small bell. "Why, your father dear. What is nobler than a child helping their parent through such a dangerous countryside? He is quite lucky to have one such as you."

"Right!" Kagome jumped and clung to the woman's explanation, relieved that she hadn't seen through their disguise. Toga's secret was still safe and sound. "We do what we can, you know? It's the duty of us younger generations to make sure that our elders are taken care of! I'm here to make sure he gets through this trip safely because he's important to me and I don't want to see him hurting anymore."

That last part shocked her when she said it, because it wasn't a lie. Not in the slightest.

When had she grown so attached to the dog demon? No, no, no. She couldn't do that. Why? Because she knew that he had to die for the timeline to remain unaltered—he was destined to die—and she could not afford to go screwing things up. She needed to remain a neutral party until the very end.

But it was way too late for that, wasn't it?

Not good. Not good at all.

"Of course." The lady innkeeper nodded sagely, and then she reached back around to the bottom of the closet to where one final box remained. It was caked grey with dust, which she didn't even bother sweeping off to join the bunnies on the floor. Instead of adding it to her piles, she extended it forward to the priestess. "Which is why I would like for you to have this. Better it be put to good use than to have it sitting without purpose at the bottom of an old woman's junk pile."

Gently, Kagome took the garment box. While the others were painted in a simple black lacquer, that one remained a raw and unfinished wood. It was heavier than she'd expected with how easily the old lady had lifted it, but not totally unmanageable. Setting it beside her she lifted off the lid to peer at the paper wrapped fabrics inside and was greeted with a shock of black, green, and orange. Earthy yet sleek.

To Kagome's untrained eye it was just a pile of cut cloth.

"I will need to restitch the seams; an easy task for these old hands. It will be finished before you leave." The elder informed her. "Brocade is lovely to the eye and inviting of attention, but you may find that it burns easily against the strain of electric forces—be them of an opponent or of your own making. This material here is of a demonic weave, and will have no such weakness. I do hope it can be beneficial to you."

Demonic weave?

Kagome perked. It was like the robe of the fire rat!

"I—wow. Thank you." She scrambled to find her voice. The material was soft and thick beneath her touch, no doubt warm like Inuyasha's red robes. "I don't know what to say. How do I thank you?" Then she deflated, suddenly wondering if she was about to get stiffed again. "What do I owe you?"

Placing a delicate hand over Kagome's, the innkeeper hummed and shook her head. "No money." She declared. "As payment you must promise me that you will follow through with the wishes of your father and keep him safe. Is that something that you would be able to do?"

Keep him safe, Kagome repeated in her mind. Keep Toga safe.

That was sort of the opposite of what needed to happen, wasn't it?

No. Get that disgusting thought out of there.

She might have to accept that Toga was destined to die, and that it was probably going to happen before she left that time period, but that did not mean that she had to let it happen without putting up a fight.

She was not about to give up on a teammate.

Shaking her head with a firm nod, Kagome closed her eyes tight. Then she nodded again, her fingers gripping the demon silk of her gift.

"I promise." She replied, her voice quivering. "I'll do everything in my power to keep him safe."

Upon hearing the priestess' resolve, the old innkeeper grinned.

"Thank you."

End Chapter

(Tsarashi – I'm just going to say I update on Tuesdays. It seems to work out that way anyway. Its a random day to update, but hey, who else updates on Tuesdays?)