A Little Misunderstanding | By : Ookami13 Category: InuYasha > General Views: 1683 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story. |
Chapter Two:
“I
want you to go down to Tokyo. Keep an eye on her as I cannot. Watch, study, learn her, Sono. Find out why she cannot be allowed to
Dance. Do whatever it takes to stop her
from Dancing.”
He
bowed his head, his ponytail pulled so tight that he thought he could feel his
eyelids moving higher than they already were, “Yes, Father. Whatever it takes to stop her, just short of
killing her.”
“Did
I say not to kill her, Sono?” His father asked with a quirked eyebrow, “By all
means, Son, if you get the chance, do it. No one’s managed to do it yet — rumor says she’s protected or
some such nonsense — but kill her if you can.
If
her death, however, were ever to endanger your own life, then don’t bother. If you both have knives at your throats and
your killing her would result in her killing you, then forget it. I’ll not have my only son — only child and
heir — foolishly put himself in danger.”
“Yes,
Father, I understand. Stop her any way
I can. Should I get the chance to kill,
I will do so, but not at the cost of my own life. Does that sum it up?”
His
father turned away with a curt nod, signaling both his agreement and the
dismissal of his son. Taking the silent
queue, Sono left and went to his room to ready himself for the long journey
ahead of him.
*~*~*~* *~*~*~* *~*~*~*
He lay on his bed of silken sheets and plumped
pillows, the light top sheet tangling his legs and exposing certain parts of
him to the cool morning air that he’d rather not have had showing… his
ears. So, practically diving under the
pillow, he just barely avoided hearing the crisp knock at the door… plus the
three following poundings. Poor door.
“I know you’re in there you lazy ass! Get up and open this door right now!”
Groaning as his paradise shattered and his head
pounded, he moved the pillow off of his head and rolled himself out of bed,
dragging the sheet with him. Holding it
about his waist while going to the door and unlocking it, he let it creak open
as he was faced with his most faithful servant.
“You called, Rosham?” He asked as the poor manservant cleared his throat and fought a
blush at his Lord’s state of undress.
“Your parents have requested your presence.” Rosham explained with nary a stutter as he
turned to leave.
He st5ifled a chuckle, “Aren’t you going to tell me
where I am to find them? The
garden? Their inner or outer
chambers? The bathroom?”
“The garden, Milord,” Rosham nodded before he half
turned, “will you be needing anything else?”
“Well, you could actually do your job and help me
dress.”
Unable to stop the shifting of his eyes, Rosham
reluctantly nodded before stepping into his Lord’s room as said Lord shut the
door behind him. Lord and servant they
may be, but that was on the outside.
Alone, they were the best of friends, just as they’d been as children.
“Any idea why your parents would summon you at a
time when they know you’re sleeping off a hangover? It’s still morning, for Kami’s sake!”
He groaned, “My head would like to remind you that
— as it is still morning — to keep your voice down. My fist would like to add that aforementioned hangover is still
controlling him and that you will receive a fist to the face for every word you
speak above normal hangover volume.”
“Sorry,” Rosham whispered as he stepped over to the
closet, “what would you like to wear today?
I’m guessing it to be pretty import-… hey!”
One swift move was all it had taken for his Lord to
pin him up against the cool closet doors, “You know, I expected a whole
different ‘Good morning,’ from you.”
My L-… er, Kenkichi, there’s no time. Besides, speaking of time, that was the
first — and last — time I ever woke you like that. I was foolish and… and… young!
Young is synonymous with foolish!
You should know that!”
Kenkichi smiled lazily, sheet forgotten at his
feet, “Actually I was thinking about that time in your uncle’s stable. Much more enjoyable and… fulfilling, you
could say.”
A deep blush spread across Roham’s cheeks as he
fumbled for words and was saved by another knock, “My Lord, your presence has
been immediately requested in the garden.”
“Coming, Mokran,” he said as he heard the footsteps
leave from in front of his door, “or rather, I’m not. I’m being deprived… at least, for now. Isn’t that right, Ro-kun?”
“You’re impossible.” Rosham muttered as he was release and allowed to open the closet
while his naked lord stood with his arms crossed over his chest.
Finding a pair of light khaki pants, Rosham knelt
down and was embarrassed by the fact that his friend and lord wore no underwear
whatsoever. Suddenly realizing his
grave error, he hoped nothing would be said about it.
Wishful thinking, he knew…
“Oh Ro-kun,” Kenkichi smiled while his friend
stared at the floor, “while you’re down there…”
“No.”
Pouting as he stepped into his pants, he cursed,
“It was worth a try though, eh? How
about later?”
“Maybe.
Depends what your parents need you for and how long.”
“I could order you.” Kenkichi said as he dismissed the offered belt. He liked pants that hung low on his hips.
“Could,” Rosham nodded as he stood, “but you
won’t. You always regret it afterward.”
“Good point.
I’ll see you later. Hopefully I
won’t be too long.”
Bloody hell… he’d been here for hours!
“We want you to understand that this is best for
all of us. Now please, Son, sign your
name onto the first line of the poor girl’s registry.”
He looked up at his parents, doubtful of the
intentions behind all of this, “You’re sure she knows about this? She’ll see this as soon as I sign it?”
“Absolutely.
This is her future as well as yours, Kenkichi. Her Family is respectable and trustworthy.”
“As well as wealthy and the eldest Family on
this side of the Wall.” He thought
bitterly as he looked down at the piece of parchment in front of him, sighing
as he picked up the fountain pen provided.
A registry was a sheet of parchment given to young
girls with ten lines. Each line was a
place for a man to sign his name… in essence, a marriage agreement. If, by a certain age set by the parents, the
girl had not married a man of her own choosing, then those who had signed the
registry would be placed into a tournament whereupon the winner would go
against he who had signed first.
Being first on a registry was always an honor, for
it meant you were automatically in the ‘semi-finals’ of the tournament. Once a man was signed as first to a
registry, his name must then be removed from any other registry he had
signed. No man was allowed to be the
first on more than one registry. The
only other way to be removed from a registry was rejection or death.
Of the five he’d already signed, this was the only
one on which he’d been first, hence all the formality… well, everyone else was
formal while he wore his khakis and no shirt.
Some girls’ registries were full by the age of twelve, or some before
they were even born, which always led to difficulties. Arranged marriages always had that effect
here. If not full by twelve, then they
were at least half filled. No more than
ten men could sign, which had caused several problems and the law was in debate
even now. Until the matter was solved,
however, ten was the limit.
Still, of all the registries he’d ever heard of or
signed, this was the first to be blank.
Not even a name in pencil that had been erased. It looked brand new, still crisp and
fresh. The girl must be nothing short
of absolutely horrid.
He felt his soul quiver as he signed his name on
the first line.
*~*~*~* *~*~*~* *~*~*~*
He sighed for the millionth time as he drove
through the crowded streets. He hated
market day… at least, hated driving on market day. What he hated most of all, however, were the things he’d said
about a girl he’d never met. To this
day his name was still the only one on that registry. No one even bothered asking after it, for
everyone tried avoiding her at all costs, and he couldn’t understand why. He didn’t care what anyone said:
She was beautiful.
No doubt about it, and if anyone said otherwise,
he’d kill the son of a bitch. End of
story.
“Weren’t you supposed to turn there?”
“Goddammit!” He exclaimed as he forewent his
turning signal and turned the steering wheel sharply to the right as his
passenger nearly slammed into the window, “You live to piss me off, don’t
you?”
“Of course, because everything just revolves around
you.”
“See? You’re
doing it again,” he grumbled, driving slowly and trying to find the friend he
was supposed to be picking up, “where did she say she’d wait?”
“By the fruit stand.”
“And where is
the enigmatic fruit stand?”
“By the vegetable cart.”
He growled, “Which is where, Raven?”
“Three blocks in the other direction,” Raven said
coolly as he pointed towards the rear window, “honestly, Tora, do you ever listen to a word Aya-sama says?”
Not about to dignify Raven’s rhetorical question
with a retort, Tora decided to dump him out of the car and get someone who
would actually read the map to him rather than wait to the last
minute to notify him of a missed turn.
Already they were fifteen minutes late and would get nothing short of hell if they ever reached their destination.
Twenty minutes later…
Soaked and sitting on a towel, Tora was nothing
short of bristling by the time they pulled up to the fruit stand, seeing their
friend waiting while munching on some piece of fruit and holding an umbrella in
her right hand. That was the other
thing he needed to stock in his trunk: an umbrella.
Finishing her fruit and walking to the car, she
opened the back door, closed and shook out her umbrella, and shut the door with
a ‘click’, allowing the silence to eat away at the men’s souls before speaking
calmly, if only in clipped sentences.
“Where have you been for the past thirty-five
minutes?”
It was amazing how she could make a question seem
like an accusation. Like those the
angry cops used on those TV shows when interrogating the suspect in the good
cop/bad cop scenarios.
“Took a couple of wrong turns.”
“Did you not have directions?”
“I would have,” Tora said as he pulled away and
began the long drive up to Tokyo,
“if Raven had given them to me.”
She turned her cold gray gaze to the passenger seat
in front of her, “And why didn’t you give him the directions? Do you not realize how important this is?”
“Don’t even try pulling that ‘new guy’ crap,
either. You’ve been with us for the
past couple of months, so that’s no excuse.”
“It’s not like everyone’s a fountain of
information, either,” Raven grumbled, pushing his bangs out of his eyes, “I
have to wring water from a dry sponge just to find anything out from either of
you.”
“Tora, you take this one. I didn’t sleep well last night and you’re much better at
embellishing a story than I am. Wake me
when we get within two miles of Tokyo.”
Sighing as he watched Aya unfasten her seatbelt and
lie down in the back of the car, Tora turned a glare to Raven before putting
his eyes back on the road and telling the story with as many clipped off
portions as possible, “Back in a time where there was no annoying Raven,
Aya-sama had come to Tokyo on… business, of sorts. Anyway, while she was here, she met a girl who really changed
something in her. They became best
friends, inseparable.
Aya-sama delayed going back where she’d come from
as long as she could. Finally, she
couldn’t delay it anymore. Her father
sent me to come get her, and — lemme tell ’ya — Aya-sama didn’t wanna go. When she doesn’t want to go somewhere, she
lets you know it upfront. So anyway,
when the girl found out why Aya had
to leave, she wasn’t very happy. The
two of them started fighting, both of them on the same side of the argument:
not wanting Aya to go, but Aya-sama knew she had to go so…”
Raven blinked, hating when Tora left stories on a
cliffhanger, “So? What happened? They argued and then what?”
“Aya-sama ended up leaving anyway, only not the way
either she or I had planned. She left
in an ambulance, more dead than alive.
Both the hospital staff and I swear she died—or was at least clinically
dead—but came back all of a sudden, her vitals resuming their normal levels and
nothing out of the ordinary. Then she
escaped from the hospital and has been on the run from her father ever since.”
“Now what does any of this have to do with us going
to Tokyo for
our show in two weeks?” Raven asked,
thinking he knew the connection yet wanting to make sure. Things about Aya-sama’s past were always
mysteries… hell, Aya herself was a mystery.
Her name was known across the world, mostly for her
success as a unifier of multiple genres of music. She’d been known to mix elements of classical and rock music,
appealing to a widely-varied audience that included teenagers all the way up to
grandparents as well as everyone in between.
They’d been touring for a little while now, with
Raven just having joined their group a few months ago, bringing with him
talents as a pianist and intermediate dancer.
Tora himself was merely there for extra things, things like sound as
well as making sure the equipment worked.
He went on stage just as Aya or Raven did, but contributed only
background effects and accompanying the choreography to the music Aya herself
had written.
Looking back at their lead vocalist, violinist,
flutist, and semi-pianist, Raven had to wonder just what sort of life she’d led
before turning to music for help… and who was this friend who had nearly killed
such a headstrong woman?
“It has everything to do with it,” Tora said
as-a-matter-of-factly, “Aya’s once-friend’s mom got in touch with Aya not too
long ago, and they started talkin’ about stuff, and about the upcoming
show. Apparently, we’ve been invited to
stay there until we’re finished in Tokyo… unfortunately, I don’t think the
friend knows 1) she’s gonna have the one and only Aya in her house and 2) said
singer was once her best friend that she nearly killed.”
“At least she won’t be alone this time. She’ll have us.”
“And a lot of help we do. You know Aya-sama
loves our help as much as she loves snakes.”
It was well-known that Aya hated and killed every
snake she saw.
“So we’re staying with the once-friend and her mom…
but where is that? Still in Tokyo,
right?”
“Oh sure it is, and it’s one of Aya-sama’s favorite
places in the world. Of course, she
hasn’t set foot in Tokyo
since the incident ten years ago. I’m
sure you’ve never heard of it, being an outsider and all that…”
“I know enough about Japan
and it’s customs, thank you.” Raven
half growled as Aya mumbled in her sleep.
Tora rolled his eyes and turned off the nearest
exit, “It’s the Higurashi Shrine, home of Aya-sama’s favorite tree and people:
the Higurashi family, and the Goshinboku tree.”
*~*~*~* *~*~*~*
((March 26, 2007)) A/N: I
hope you don’t mind the long chapter about… nothing… had to tie it in somehow
or else I was sure someone would accuse me of not writing a fanfic. Chap 3 deals more on Inu’s problems with
things, I promise. ^^;;;;
Kookookitty – I’m glad you
like this one, & yes, this is a rewrite. It’s actually like this: I wrote “Friendly
Persuasion”, finished it, & suddenly had an idea to redo it, making Kouga
sort of evil with the excuse of being cursed by Naraku or something of the
sort. Well, I tried that & grew
tired of it after 11 chapters & have now started this little project, which
I’m liking very much, actually. I hope
you enjoy it as much as I do.
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