KAWAAKARI
"The river that glows amidst the darkness."
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Part I
Chapter III
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Early in the morning, the streets of the old Edo were bustling with people.
The men pulling the jinrikisha seemed to barely be able to cope with their work, taking their clients up or down the main street as the shops showcased their products on eye-catching blackboards. Venturing forth through that turmoil, Kagome and Sango were bound to the shop where their dresses were being tailored; they still had one last measurement, and were glad there were still a few days to the event to adjust any detail or issue that may come up.
"Do you think our shoes will be ready, at least?" Sango asked, her mood soaring because of everything; the street, the crowd, and the upcoming party.
Kagome could understand her friend's excitement; since her mother's death, Sango's life had become much like an adult woman's, raising her little brother, Kohaku, and having her decisions matter more and more in the house. A party was something that made her happy, for it could take her away from her usual life.
"Most probably, I think." Kagome concorded.
They were looked after as soon as they were in the shop. Sango tried on her vivid pink dress, which came together with a pair of shoes that laid finely covered by its cloth.
"I love them." She voiced, lifting the skirt slightly for Kagome to see.
"They are gorgeous." She agreed, her gaze stopping briefly on the perfect folds of the cloth that went from one external side of the shoes, to the heels.
"I'm sure yours are just as pretty." Sango seemed to want to share her happiness.
"I'm sure." She accepted, feeling her friend's joy in her heart; another one of the many things she simply experienced, and to which she needed no explanation.
"Now it's your turn." Sango encouraged her, stepping down from the platform one had to stand on to make the tailor's job easier.
Tailor, Kagome repeated in her mind, that was the name given to women, and men, who made western-style clothes nowadays.
There, she watched her friend walking into a third section of the shop, to later come back in her previous vestments; the first room was the reception, and where sales were made, then there was the one they were now in, where measurements were taken as the clients tried on their clothes. She heard the small toll of the small bell at the entrance, and her first thought was that another customer had come in. However, that immediately changed as she had a feeling it was something else.
"Miss Kagome." Kasumi, one of the servants working at Sango's home, and seemingly the one who had come in, called her as soon as she caught her peeking. "Is Miss Sango with you?"
"Yes, she is. Something the matter?" She inquired, noting worry in the woman's demeanor.
"Well… yes. But nothing serious." The servant hurriedly clarified. "The lord has a guest for dinner, and I must have everything prepared by then."
"Oh, I understand." The woman's haste came from the decisions only her friend could make, since she was the woman in charge of the house. "I will tell Sango to go as soon as possible." She assured her.
The woman nodded a couple of times, quickly, before stepping out of the shop.
Once Kagome found her friend on the second room, she mentioned Kasumi's appearance and the message she needed to relay.
"Very well." Sango accepted, with that starkness she would usually adopt when she needed to leave the young woman she was aside, as she recalled her responsibilities. Kagome thought it was a shame that her friend had such a burden on her shoulders at her age, yet she also could see how it would also prepare her quite well for her future. "I will have to leave you alone with Ayumi, Eri and Hojō." She told her.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Kagome smiled, trying to appease he friend.
"Are you sure?" Was her reply, with a certain maternal tone that widened Kagome's smile.
"Absolutely." She assured her.
Sango nodded, then tried to cheer herself up.
"Alright, now it's your turn. I'll leave after." She stated, resolutive as always.
Kagome agreed, and it wasn't until both of them were satisfied with the small adjustments that the dress was in need of, and until they were impressed with how gorgeous her shoes were, that Sango said her goodbyes and left as Kagome was taking off her dress to wear again the clothes she had come in from home; a pale violet vestment, with gray, silvery decorations that leaned towards a darker tone. Kagome liked western clothes. For her, the style seemed like a breeze of fresh air in a country that could turn tradition into something oppressive.
As she adjusted her jacket, a moment away from exiting the third room, she managed to hear the small bell of the main door, a sound that sent a warning to all her senses. It was a strange sensation, a tension on her back as if foretelling an event; something similar to danger. Curiosity filled her like a tide, as if everything in her had been made to answer to that next event; she couldn't fit into words the feeling she was going through… and so she ceased looking for them.
She stepped outside the third room, and crossed the second one while barely registering the saleswoman talking to her. Finally, with a hand on the curtain separating the second room from the first one, barely opening it, she managed to hear the voice of a man on the other side. Her first reaction felt indecent; a sudden, intense heat ran through her body from the very center of her bones, a heat that came from inside, as if it was surging from the very core of her emotions. She felt surprised when she managed to think how improper such a feeling had been, yet she came to the conclusion that, as the educated and polite woman she was, she could face anyone who may be on the other side of that curtain without embarrassing herself.
With such thoughts, she mustered her courage to cross into that first room, not knowing if such an action could be considered rebellious, or a complete incoherence.
Her first idea was to walk straight to the entrance, without looking at him, yet the first thing she did was to examine his presence, even if she could only see his back. The silvery strands of his hair caught her eye almost immediately, a brilliance that slowed down her steps, she discovered, as to not lose any detail of how the sun, slipping through the window, shone on them. But more than anything, she felt cold, a cold around him that made him almost untouchable.
Who was he?
Her mind began to look for answers, as she approached the door.
"Miss Higurashi." She heard her name, from inside the shop.
"Yes?" She turned to answer whoever called her.
"Your purse." The assistant extended her a small purse of satin cloth.
"Oh, thank you." She stepped near her to receive it, and albeit she couldn't see him, she felt on her the gaze of that man of unsettling presence.
She turned around, towards the entrance, and despite trying not to pay him any heed, her gaze was naturally drawn toward his figure… and in the instant she found his golden eyes, whose heat was a ferocious contrast to the cold surrounding him, she had the feeling that something else opened inside her; like a sort of seal that just shattered.
She crossed the door, and started towards the teahouse where she would meet her acquaintances, using the place as a sort of useful goal where to aim her chaotic mind. Every step forward, was a constant struggle against her will, the one urging her to turn around and check if she was being followed. She could feel it, there, on her back, tense because of the strength that man seemed able to wield with the finesse of a bird, as it settles on a branch. She added haste to her pace, hoping to reach her appointment as soon as possible, and so be able to clear her mind. In her hurry, she crossed a street with less caution than usual, and found herself but a few meters away from a modern carriage, pulled by horses; one of the few that were in the city at the moment.
They are going to run me over. She thought, then closed her eyes, thinking it inevitable.
Not even a scream found shape in her throat.
She felt her feet leaving the ground, her body turning in the air… before she stood firmly once again. When the movement stopped, Kagome had to stay there, with her eyes closed for an instant, for her mind and body to become reacquainted with each other. Her heart was pounding inside her chest, a perception mixed with another… the sheer force of someone still holding her with one arm, around her waist and through her back. She knew herself lost even before opening her eyes again, to find the finely sewed brocade of who was holding her. Her breathing, as her heart, grew agitated as a certainty settled in; she knew that, if she were to lift her gaze, she would meet the golden eyes of the man she had left behind.
She stepped back, gently, not daring to look up. Not yet.
"Thank you." She muttered, her voice thin.
However, and contrary to what she could believe, it was him the most perturbed and restless. He was trembling, she noted, almost unperceptively, but it was there. He let go of her then, as if touching her could burn his hands, before taking half-a-step away.
"Be more careful." Was the warning the man gave her as an answer.
In that moment, Kagome mustered her courage to look him in the eye, and what she found surprised her far more than all of the previous events; the man seemed confused, uneasy, and she could even say… fearful.
"I will." She began to feel more confident, noticing a sort of power over that imposing man. "I would like to know to whom should I feel grateful." She expressed.
He appeared to have become stiff, she thought, as a person would do upon receiving an insult. It was hard for her to think herself capable of provoking such a reaction on someone, which was why, in the end, she considered it may be possible her presence was not pleasant to him. She lowered her gaze, noting the weight of her mixed feelings in her stomach, then took a hand to that physical place, as if she needed to protect herself.
"Taisho InuYasha." She heard then. His voice sounded as stiff as the expression on his features, yet Kagome managed to hear a genteel tremble in that sound. It was an emotion, she was sure of it, yet she couldn't define what kind.
She looked him in the eyes for a second, to then look at the brocade on his jacket, where something resembling fangs were embroidered.
"Please, accept my deepest thanks, Mr. Taisho." She felt the desire of calling him by name, yet she also knew how improper that would have been.
She gave her thanks with a small bow, one that she made last a bit more than it should, as she tried to decide if she should part ways with him right there or not. It felt contradictory, to sense so much warmth from that man who not long ago was but a cage of ice.
Finally, she thought that introducing herself would be adequate.
"My name is…"
However, he interrupted her.
"Miss Higurashi." He mentioned, his voice now calmer, albeit still wrapped in that stiffness that he didn't seem able to completely shake off. Kagome wondered if that was common for him.
"Yes." She nodded, and waited an instant to see if Mr. Taisho, InuYasha, would add something else; however, it didn't happen. "I must go." She gestured to her left, in the direction she had to take.
"I heard it back at the shop. Your name," he interrupted once again. Kagome had the feeling he was trying to keep her from leaving.
"I've imagined," she accepted, recalling the moment when the assistant returned her purse.
He nodded in one quick gesture, and lowered his gaze slightly.
"I must go, I'm expected," Kagome insisted, turning slowly as a way to show her intention.
"I'll escort you," InuYasha decided then. Kagome had the sensation of being unable to oppose it… yet she did.
"I don't believe it would be proper for me to be seen being escorted by a stranger," she clarified.
"But we already know each other's names," he replied, this time seeking her gaze.
Kagome became enthralled by the light the sun placed on the gold of his eyes, eyes that in that moment, even if strange, seemed to possess a slitted pupil.
"Your eyes…" She muttered, almost unable to retain the thought.
Then, his pupils became round before her own scrutiny, which made her blink a few times in search of clarity.
Had she imagined it?
"What's wrong with my eyes?" He inquired, and Kagome was sure he had leaned a few centimeters towards her, as if that could allow her to see him better.
"Oh… nothing. Just my imagination." She hesitated, albeit the doubt did not fade.
"Where were you bound?" The question sounded polite, even kind, yet Kagome couldn't shake off the idea that she was being manipulated; moved by invisible strings trying to dominate her will.
"To the teahouse." It was an honest answer, one she gave as a sort of salvation she wasn't sure she needed.
She had been so many times in that place already, it felt like a safe place, like an acquaintance's house where she would be sheltered from the evil of the world.
"I'm going in that direction as well; I'll leave you at the door," InuYasha decided then, leaving little room for rejection in his proposal.
Kagome nodded, once, gently, out of courtesy and to show how intrusive that felt to her.
"Very well," she accepted, then began to walk. Mr. Taisho did so too, a step behind.
"I could remain silent, if that appeases you," he offered, using a different tone of voice that Kagome immediately recognized as feigned, or learnt; something not natural.
She knew that what she perceived in life wasn't necessary what most people considered important. Sometimes even, she would wonder if she had ever met someone similar to her. Maybe that was the reason why she would often keep her sensations to herself; in a world that material, that physical, nobody seemed to like to have anything to do with that which was not evident.
"I do not mind if you speak," Kagome accepted, "In fact, I'd love to know who you are, and what you do."
She felt genuine curiosity.
The streets were still bustling with people going about their morning tasks, yet despite the noise, for them they seemed to be irrelevant. The space the were in, the small room between each other, was understood as the only one worthy of attention, almost like a bubble isolating them from the rest.
"I come from an old family, maybe old enough so that no written record of its origin remains," he began to explain, "My job, right now, is to escort a certain beautiful woman, and make sure she reaches her destination safely."
Kagome looked at him through the corner of her eyes. He had a way to serpentine his way through a stranger's curiosity, she had to admit; even so, she knew that behind his polite words there wasn't only deception, but also many omitted details she could probably not even begin to elucidate.
"Have you lived long here, in Edo? I'm sorry, Tokyo?" She wondered, then corrected herself, as she looked for a way to discern details that may speak to her about that man, walking by her side.
"Yes, I've lived in Edo my whole life," he seemed to accept that first name better, for a city that was starting to change at a pace its own inhabitants seemed unable to cope with.
There was a silence between them next, much longer than one would desire. Kagome thought about what else she could ask, and he seemed to be comfortable amidst that silence. Even so, they both spoke at the same time.
"I'm sorry." She smiled before that verbal stumble.
"No, I'm the one who is sorry," he hurriedly voiced, "Please, continue."
Kagome had the feeling that last courtesy was genuine.
"I was wondering if you had been invited to the Hagiwara family's party," she asked so, casually, which would probably not incite further interest, at least nothing beyond what one would place in a trivial conversation.
"Would you like me to be?" The answer, however, wasn't like that. Kagome turned sideways to look at her escort, in the polite way that one would use to answer someone's words, attracted by the sudden turn of events.
"Maybe. But that wasn't my question," she chose her words as best she could, noting her heart beating restless, as if what InuYasha were about to answer could take, or give her a bit of life.
There was an instant of silence between the question and its answer, an instant during which Kagome realized they were already at the street where the teahouse was; Kagome feared that their small conversation would be cut short.
However, he spoke, "I will be there, as long as you promise me the last dance."
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To be continued.
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A/N
I hope you are liking this story as much as me. The Victorian tenor is there, by the hand of the traditional Japanese culture that should not be forgotten. I guess I imagine that changes never happen drastically, that there is always some tints of what once was, and in Japan, obviously, tradition kept on existing.
A kiss, and thank you for reading and leaving a comment,
Anyara.
This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart