Aneue
AN: Arigato for the reviews. I was so happy to see that everyone who read it really liked it and I love reading about people's opinions. Please continue to send in your reviews.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or InuYasha
/Italicize/-flashback
Ch2
A tall girl, who looked to be about eighteen of age, stood in a pale purple kimono as her red eyes stared out of the open window longingly. She had her short black hair pinned up. When she spotted a pair of small brown birds, the longing turned to envy. She listened as the two birds call to each other, to many the soft calling may seem sweet and wondrous, but it only brought a sick nauseous feeling to her.
"Kagura," a soft voice called from the rear.
The young woman turned around to see a much younger girl standing in the shadows but her white kimono and white hair helped distinguish her easily. Her empty black eyes appeared to be directed to some point behind Kagura, but her gaze revealed indifference in her target. She held onto a silver rimmed mirror rightly as if it was her only lifeline.
Kagura nodded her head as a sign of acknowledging her older 'sister'. "Kanna, what does that bastard want me to do this time?" she asked with venom in her tone.
Kanna ignore the hatred in the taller girl's tenor. "Our master wants you to find a way to weaken InuYasha and his friends," Kanna said in a soft tone with almost no emotion in her voice. She then turned around and walked with her mid-back snow white hair trialing behind her.
Kagura's right hand clenched tightly around the base of her fan as it lay by her side. "One day, I'll be free," she silently vowed as she glanced at the birds who didn't even know how lucky they were to have their own will and freedom. She quickly walked out towards to the empty courtyard to find someone who will aid her in her mission.
!-!
Usagi sat down on a big boulder beside a sparkling river and took a deep breath. She had been walking for a few hours when she had finally decided to take a small break. She stared at the bright blue waters of the brook with the soft gentle currents being guided by the soft breeze.
She searched through her bag and was pleased to see her mother think of everything. There was food that would last for a week, fresh change of clothes, along with things that would help keep her occupied and her mind off things. During her search, she happened upon a beautiful white kimono that she wouldn't mind wearing, only problem is, is that the kimono is for a bride to wear on her wedding day. Usagi arched an eyebrow at this discovery. A wedding kimono? She shook her head and sighed in defeat. Just what is her mother planning? Her goal is to find her little brother, not a husband. After getting a headache, she decided to continue on her search for food.
Taking out a small bag filled with onigiri(1), Usagi relaxed her entire body and made herself comfortable. She took out one and was about to take a bite when she heard someone scream, "Ah! Youkai(2)!"
Usagi stood up and looked around. "Youkai? Where?" She searched her surroundings and saw a young boy staring at her with wide eyes. She then noticed him pointing his finger at her. Usagi smiled nervously at him. "Um…I'm not a youkai."
The boy appeared to be nine years old. His light brown eyes studied her with uncertainty as if he was wondering whether or not she was lying. His dark brown hair was pulled upwards into a topknot. He slowly backed away, just in case she had decided to pounce on him. "How do I know that you aren't lying?" he asked.
Usagi lifted her hands to show him. "See, no claws." She brushed her hair back behind her ears. "And my ears are normal." She grinned at him and said, "I'm ningen(3) 100, but a lot of people assumed that I'm a youkai because of my hair and eye color."
The boy's posture relaxed as he sighed in relief. "Thank goodness, I thought I was about to be in trouble," he said. Then he shot up and bowed slightly. "Gomen ne, I was being rude to you."
"It's quite all right," Usagi said, laughing. She patted down on the boulder beside her. "Would you like something to eat?" she asked, holding out an onigiri towards him.
The boy shook his head stubbornly, but failed to hide his hunger when Usagi heard his stomach growl loudly. She giggled softly and motioned him to take the onigiri from her hand. As his face was flushed red, he slowly walked over and sat down beside her on the boulder. "Ne onee-sama, what is your name?"
"Onee-sama?" Usagi repeated. She shook her head with a smile on her face. "My name is Usagi," she said, lifting a rice-ball to her mouth.
"My name is Yusuke," the boy said happily. "I'm nine years old!" He licked his lips after he finished his snack as he eyed the onigiri in the small container in Usagi's hand shyly. Usagi just grinned and motioned him to take another one. A smile lit up on his face as he reached for another one. "Onee-sama, why are you walking by yourself? Okaa-san and otou-san said that it's dangerous because youkai can come and kill you."
Yusuke's statement brought up memories of the old days when children will come and believe the same thing about all the youkais being bad and evil.
/ Usagi was twenty years old, the very age when women were to be already married and bearing children. However, due to the attitude of many suitors' suggestion to abandon or kill the hanyou she looks after, Usagi wanted nothing to do with men, who can't look beyond their own fears and prejudice. She was sitting right outside of her home by the river and was washing some vegetables to cook for dinner.
"Onee-sama!" the children from the village shouted as they ran to her. Often time, kids would show up, but it's only whenever InuYasha wasn't around. After all, their teachers are their parents and they too had adopted their moms and dads' hatred for anything that deals with youkai.
"Konnichiwa, minna-chan," Usagi said. Her blue eyes moved to her house where a toddler-like InuYasha was napping.
"Onee-sama, why do you keep that hanyou around?" a boy asked.
"Ha-ha(4) said that anything that has to do with youkai is bad," another boy said.
Usagi watched as the rest of the group started to agree with them. Her blue eyes studied the new generation with sadness. She had been lucky to grow up with a family who has an open mind and held no prejudice towards anything that was not ningen. But these children had grown up with hatred for anything and anyone who is different, and with each step they take, the odium just grows bigger and bigger. And not only humans think like that, there are youkai all around who hate humans and hanyous for being weak and vulnerable.
Usagi closed her eyes and hoped to find a way to actually vanquish the hatred and misunderstandings between the three races and unite them together, just as her family had strived to do. "Youkai," she began, causing the children's talking to cease, "are not that different from us ningen. We all need to eat, sleep, and fight to survive in this world. The only thing that separates us is the fact that they can live longer, look a bit different, and are a lot stronger than us."
The small group of children stared at Usagi, almost as if they had never given it any thought before. "Youkai are born as infants and eventually they grow up and start their own families. They fall in love, feel protective towards their love ones, and mourn if someone close dies. Just as we kill them because they attack us, they kill us because we attack them. And remember when I said that not all ningens are good?" The children nodded their heads in unison. "Well, not all youkai are bad." /
"Onee-sama, daijobu?(5)" Yusuke asked, gripping onto Usagi's sleeve gently and tugging it.
Usagi shook her head and just smiled at the worried boy. "Daijobu(6), Yusuke-kun," Usagi said. She glanced over to the river, as a fish jumped up into the air and back into the water, almost like a dolphin performing in an aquarium she once went to with her parents when she was younger. "Yusuke-kun, you know that there are ningen that are good and that there are those who are bad, right?" she asked. Not understanding where she's going with her argument, Yusuke nodded his head; the miko(7) back in his village had warned them all about the darkness that surrounds the hearts of humans, making them evil. "And just as ningen are good and bad, there are youkai that are good and bad."
!-!
Kagura was standing outside of a cave situated on a cliff that overlooks a deep narrow canyon. At the bottom of the canyon was a fast current river that would most likely drown any youkai or ningen that falls in. "Shinji, I wish for your assistance," she said.
Soft footsteps echoed through the cave as the figure in the shadows took his time to reach the outsides of the cave. He was an elderly looking youkai with a hunched back and almost the same features as a human. He had a black blindfold wrapped over his nonexistent eyes. Long shaggy strands of gray hair reached the middle of his back and a long gray streaked beard hung at the bottom of his chin and reached towards his waist. He wore a white robe that reached to the ground with patches of dirt and soil splattered all over. "Ah, Kagura," Shinji said in a wispy voice, "What service can I do for you?"
"I wish for a potion so I can render a certain hanyou weak," Kagura replied, "Preferably one that would last a long time or forever."
Shinji thought about the request silently. "I might have something," he said after a few minutes of thinking as he turned his head to the cave and headed back to the cavern. When he stood right outside of the opening, he turned his head back to Kagura. "However, there's a cure to reverse the process," he warned. He slowly walked back into the dark cavern. "It requires a kiss from someone from his or her childhood, but if there is no one left, then they will remain in their weakened state for all eternity."
"Perfect," Kagura said with a sneer, "Everyone from InuYasha's childhood is dead and Sesshoumaru would rather die than help, or even kiss, his hanyou brother."
Shinji came back with a small orange-colored clay figure. It kind of resembled a doll that children from villages would play with. "Just throw this at your opponent and watch," he instructed as he handed the doll to her.
Kagura took the doll into her right hand as her left hand held onto her fan. Her red eyes studied it carefully. "So all you have to do is throw it," she said skeptically. She grinned at the old demon. "Arigato(8) for your assistance, Shinji." She turned around and slowly walked away, leaving the demon behind.
!-!
Usagi cupped some water into her hand and brought it to her lips, quenching her thirst. She drained it dry leisurely and sighed softly. "Onee-sama, is there someone you're looking for?" Yusuke asked. Usagi glanced at the young boy, whose face was somewhat flushed from her attention. "It's just that you're out here by yourself and I know you're not from around here because of your hair color."
"You're correct about that, Yusuke-kun," Usagi said as she glanced up into her air to see a mother bird teaching her young ones how to fly. "I'm looking for someone very important to me."
"Honto(9)?" Yusuke asked excitedly. "Are you looking for your husband, onee-sama?"
Usagi's face flushed into a deep cherry red color as she quickly shook her head. "Iie(10)! I'm not even married yet." Yusuke's reaction relaxed a bit as he listened carefully. "He is someone very dear to me, though. I had to go away for a little while and when I came back, he was gone."
Yusuke's brown eyes watched as Usagi's face grew sad, like she was about to cry. His face slowly became depressed, almost as if her emotions trigger the same feelings in him. "Onee-sama," he whispered softly. Jumping to the side, he hugged the young woman tightly, wrapping his arms around her waist. He lifted his face up and smiled brightly. "Onee-sama, what is his name?" he asked, "Maybe I know him and then I'll tell him that you're looking for him."
Usagi stared at the smiling boy and couldn't help but feel her lips curl upwards into a smile at his optimism. "Arigato, Yusuke-kun," she said softly. He hugged him back and kissed him on his forehead. "You're a very sweet child." Her compliment made his chest swell up with pride. "His name is…InuYasha."
"InuYasha?" Yusuke's head tilted to the side as he thought about the name. "There's a hanyou who stays in our village with the same name."
Usagi's blue eyes widened. "A hanyou? Does he have long silver hair with dog ears on top and wears a red haori?" Usagi asked.
Yusuke nodded his head. "Why don't you come with me? He could still be there, unless he went on one of those journeys he takes to gather the Shikon shards," he said, standing up and grabbed her hand. Without even waiting for a reply, he just dragged Usagi up the road to a poor but humble looking village. As he pulled her along, he told her the whole story of why InuYasha had to go on a journey and the purpose of the Shikon no tama.
(1) 'Onigiri' means rice-ball
(2) 'Youkai' means demon
(3) 'Ningen' means human
(4) 'Ha-ha' is another word for mother
(5) 'Daijobu?' means are you okay?
(6) 'Daijobu' means I'm fine
(7) 'Miko' means a virgin priestess
(8) 'Arigato' means thank you
(9) 'Honto' means really
(10) 'Iie' means no