Inu Yasha: Cherry Blossom Pearls
By – Ravyn Knyght
Diasclaimer: Inu Yasha's not mine blah blah blah,. Lyrics were taken from Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends" song.
It was late afternoon when the group stopped for the day and set up camp in a clearing surrounded by cherry blossom trees. Everyone went about their assigned tasks. Kagome and Sango prepared supper for the group. Jakotsu and Miroku gathered firewood while Inu Yasha and Kenjiro scouted the area to make sure it was safe. No one noticed that Shippo and Kirara slipped away until the sun started to set.
"Ki-ra-ra!" Sango Called wondering where her companion got off to. "Don't sweat it! She's probably off with the twerp playing somewhere." Inu Yasha whined as his stomach growled. "Does that kid ever do anything useful?" Jakotsu complained. "Not really. We just keep him around for comic relief. He's fun to torture." Inu Yasha pointed out. "That's not true! Must you be so mean to him?" Kagome defended the fox child. Just then the pair in question came strolling in, Shippo lugging a basket with him. "What's in the basket, runt?" Inu Yasha sniped as he snatched it away from him. "Hey! Give those back! Kirara and I worked hard for those!" Shippo cried as Inu Yasha held him down with his foot as he sniffed the basket. "Hey! Oysters! I love oysters!" Inu Yasha said drooling as he cracked one open and ate it raw much to the disgust of Kagome.
"SIT BOY!"
"What was that for?" Inu Yasha yelped as Shippo took the basket back. "For doing something completely disgusting!" Kagome declared her stomach wretched at the mere thought of eating raw oysters. "Where did you get them Shippo?" Sango asked. "Me and Kirara spent the afternoon helping an old man collect them. As a reward he gave us a basket of them." He explained while Kirara mewed. "I haven't had oysters in a long time!" Kenjiro mentioned as he took one from the basket and ate it raw as well. "I don't care much for these things." Jakotsu said trying one. "Maybe if we cook them?" Sango offered. "They are considered to be an aphrodisiac." Miroku recalled giving a look to Sango. "You can have mine Kirara." Sango said breaking a few open for the demon cat that mewed in delight. "What's an afro-whatever?" Shippo asked. "Something Inu Yasha should have more of!" Jakotsu said as she pushed the basket on Inu Yasha. "If it means help yourself then don't mind if I do!" Inu Yasha said as he started scarfing down one after the other. "Save some for me!" Shippo wailed while the others just groaned at Inu Yasha.
All of a sudden, Inu Yasha started flailing his arms about then grabbed at his throat. "Oh! Are we playing that game Kagome showed us before? Ten words! First word sounds like throat! Goat? Boat? Float?" Jakotsu piped up as she tried to figure it out. "I think he's choking." Miroku pointed out. "No that's only four words." Jakotsu counted. "Oh, good grief!" Kagome exclaimed as she grabbed Inu Yasha from behind and performed the hiemlich maneuver. "Come on! Cough it up!" she encouraged trying to dislodge what ever it was he was choking on. With a few more thrusts, a pearl flew out of Inu Yasha's mouth and struck a laughing Shippo in the forehead, knocking him over. Inu Yasha collapsed to the ground gasping for air. "Oh I almost had it!" Jakotsu whined thinking the game was over. Everyone else just gave her an annoyed look. "What is wrong with you people?" Inu Yasha screamed, jumping back up. "Hey it's a strange colored pearl!" Shippo noted as he held it out to the group. "Wow! I've never seen a pink pearl before?" Kagome stared at the pale pink stone in amazement. "It's called a cherry blossom pearl and they are quite rare." Kenjiro spoke up. "How do they get to be pink? I thought there were only two types black and white?" Kagome thought aloud. "They are formed when an oyster takes in the fallen petals of a cherry blossom bloom. There's only a few places I know of that has them." Kenjiro explained the abruptly stopped as he remembered something. "Excuse me." He quietly stated as he got up and walked away. "Where's he off to?" Inu Yasha wondered.
Following the scent of sea water until he was standing at the edge of a cliff, Kenjiro remembered where they had stopped as he looked out across the ocean. He gazed out into the sunset then down to a strand of the same pearls he pulled out of his haori.
Flashback
It was a warm spring morning as a young priestess sat on the shores of a beach a few miles from her village. She busied herself shucking oysters and removing the pearl inside. She glanced up every now and then towards the water keeping a vigilant watch on the crashing waves. She smiled outwardly while giving a sigh of relief when she saw her son's head pop up amongst the waves as he headed to shore. "Do we have enough now mother?" the boy said as he deposited another bag of oysters onto the beach. "Yes and please don't stay under for so long Kenjiro. You had me worried." she lightly scolded. "I didn't mean to make you worry mother." he apologized. "Well go get dressed while I finish up here." she told him as she got to work searching the last batch.
Soon the pair was back at the village, the twelve year old Kenjiro played with his younger sister while his mother went about fashioning the harvested pearls into a necklace. "Do you think she will like it mother?" Kenjiro asked, taking a break while Jaken was chased about by Kodachi. "Of course she will!" she affirmed as she put the strand down. "Here, let me check your shoulder now." she instructed as Kenjiro dropped his navy blue Haori off his right shoulder so she could inspect his wound. "It's almost gone now mother!" Kenjiro noted proudly as she ran her fingers over the barely visible scar. "I can see that." She smiled as she finished up the gift Kenjiro would give to Noriko for her birthday.
Noriko just sat and watched the other children play while her mother changed the dressing on her arm. She winced a little as her mother cleaned out the vicious wound. Sakura tried not to look at her daughter with sadness or anger at what she had done to herself, but it was hard for her to deal with. "Look who's here!" she cheerfully pointed out as she put a new dressing on her arm. Noriko raised her head to see Kenjiro and his mother arriving. While they're parents talked the two headed off by themselves. "Stupid prayer beads." Noriko muttered as she tried to get a grip on the tree branch. "I'll help you." Kenjiro offered reaching down and taking a hold of her hand. The young girl blushed slightly as he pulled her up onto the branch. The two sat for a while not saying anything, Noriko still a little angry at Kenjiro for stopping her before. She stared at her right hand that was wrapped in a strand of old wooden beads that sealed the void in her hand. If it wasn't for Kenjiro she would have succeeded in her attempt to rid herself of the curse that Naraku plagued her family with for generations.
"Are you still mad at me?" Kenjiro fretfully asked, remembering the events that occurred the week before. "A little." She sighed not looking at him. "How is your arm healing?" he asked looking at the bandaged area where Noriko cut herself. "It still hurts." She muttered but felt worse over stabbing Kenjiro for trying to stop her. The two just sat in the tree saying nothing else for a short while. Kenjiro then took Noriko's right hand in his and started unraveling the prayer beads. "NO! Don't!" she yelled trying to stop him. As quick as he removed the beads he replaced them with another set, wrapping it the way his mother showed him. Noriko stared in shock at the beautiful pale pink pearls that now confined her hand. "They're beautiful." she exclaimed in a whisper. "I'm glad you like them." Kenjiro said looking back to the ground. "But I don't deserve such a beautiful gift after what I did to you. I'm sorry, it's just that I hate this cursed hand of mine so much." she tearfully apologized. "That's why I wanted you to have them. I thought if you had something pretty to look at then you wouldn't hate it so much." he shyly admitted, looking up to her. Noriko smiled, "You're so sweet!" she said as she leaned in and kissed him.
Summer has come and past
The innocent can never last
Wake me up…
When September ends.
Four years later…
Naraku stood before the two exhausted fighters laughing at their attempts to kill him. "Foolish children! What ever made you think you could succeed where all others failed!" he laughed as Kenjiro and Noriko regrouped. "They are all waiting for you, within me!" he laughed as he charged at them. Kenjiro pushed Noriko out of the way as he was tackled to the ground. "Where's your precious Tetsusaiga now?" Naraku tormented as he plunged his hand deep into Kenjiro's abdomen. Kenjiro screamed in agony as he quickly lost all feeling from the waist down. "DAMN YOU!" Noriko yelled as she flew at Naraku, severing his arm with her katana then slashed at his eyes, blinding him. While Naraku backed off to recover, Noriko called for Ah-un. "Take him far away from here!" she ordered as she loaded her wounded friend onto the demon's back. "You…can't…do this…alone!" Kenjiro weakly muttered. "I shall put a quick end to this so don't worry." she assured giving him a soft kiss while slipping something into his hand. "Go Ah-un!" she commanded as she turned her attention and her wind tunnel to a still blinded Naraku. "How dare you!" Naraku howled, fighting the strong pull. "You won't get away!" she shouted as she slashed her hand, widening the void. "NO!" Naraku screamed as he started to get dragged back but Noriko made too wide a cut as she began to lose control. "We go together!" she cried as she struggled to hold on.
Glancing back in horror when he realized what it was Noriko gave him, Kenjiro pushed himself off of the dragon demon's back and crawled back towards Noriko only to have Ah-un grab hold of him and toss him onto its back and continue to flee the area. "NORIKO!" Kenjiro yelled as he watched the ground around her begin to collapse under the strain.
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are.
End Flashback
Hearing someone coming, Kenjiro slipped the strand of pearls back into his jacket. "So this is where you went off to." Kagome noted. "Told ya he was fine!" Inu Yasha griped, angry that Kagome dragged him along for nothing. "You were gone for so long WE got worried something might have happened to you." she explained, glaring at Inu Yasha. "What a view!" Kagome exclaimed looking out at the scene. "It is rather late and I do apologize for causing you all worry. Shall we head back?" Kenjiro said, the pair agreeing with him and made their way back to the camp.
While the others slept, Kenjiro lay awake, staring into the night time sky as a gentle breeze carried a cloud of cherry blossoms across it. "Noriko…"
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I've lost
Wake me up
When September ends.