[IY: Ebony Silks] A Different Arrangement
Apr. 25th, 2009 12:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
runicloreA Different Arrangement
Author: Amber Michelle
Genre: Gen
Word count: 2125
Rating: K
Warnings: n/a
AU/Canon: acanon
Concrit: sure, why not.
Theme: #85 - panic
Notes: lame title because I'm cutting it really close. >_>
.........................................................................
Kagome's basket was almost full by the time she reached the clearing with the old well and the tree. It was a good time of year for hunting herbs and plants; the sky was solid blue above the treetops and the wind was warm, scented by grass and wildflowers, and she'd harvested almost everything on her list - ginger root still smeared with dirt, garlic stalks and bulbs, shiso leaves, bunches of mint and sage tied with linen string, licorice and angelica roots. Her fingers were dirty to the knuckles, mud caked under her nails. The basket weighed more than Buyo, and she carried it propped against her hip with one arm, a knife for cutting branches and leaves sheathed on the other hip, tucked behind her sash.
The well looked just as it had the last time she came by: moldy, about the fall apart. Ivy was creeping into a new crack in the side, and dandelions dotted the grass. She took left the basket by the well and went to pick the flowers and their greens for dinner. The cooking was up to her with Kaede laid up.
It had been a year now since she left home. She'd visited twice to see her mom and help Souta with his history homework, but both times she half-thought her feet would hit the muddy bottom and make that dream true - the gateway wouldn't allow her to exist in both worlds forever.
Life is all about choices, her mom said at the end of her last visit. Making one's own decisions and shouldering the responsibility - that's the sign of an adult.
Leaving home was part of growing up-- but she still cried into Sango's shoulder the first three nights after she decided to stay in the Sengoku era instead of risking another trip home. She cried while digging up herbs with Rin. She cried when Kaede told her in a soft voice she would get used to the idea of never seeing her family again - that girls half her age left home to train under elder priestesses like Kaede, went to work for daimyo families, were pawned off to other clans as hostages or concubines, and there were many like Rin who lost families to bandits, war, epidemics. And though Kagome knew about all of that before, it wasn't real, truly real and part of her experience, until she gave up the modern era.
No more antibiotics, no more school, no more instant ramen, no more ready-made clothes. No law enforcement. No hospitals.
If she got sick - or Sango, or Miroku, or Rin - that could be it. The end. If bandits attacked the town and they weren't fast enough to defend, or not good enough, people would die and nobody in power would care.
At least she'd finally gotten everybody into the habit of washing their hands. They didn't really believe her when she told them about bacteria and disease, but they listened - and they were alive. And so were all of the patients she'd cared for under Kaede's critical eye.
Kagome bunched the dandelions in one hand when she thought she had enough and stood up to brush bits of grass from the knees of her hakama. Her shadow was a small pool of dark green around her feet, the sun high in the sky, and she thought it might be around lunch time. Rin would need her help.
She knelt by the basket and pulled out some string to tie the greens together. The grass bent behind her; she heard it rustle and the dry stalks snap, and thought nothing of it until she picked the basket up again, propped it against her hip, and turned around to head back to town. Kagome took one step, and several seconds passed before her eyes told her what she should have figured out from that sound - someone was there, someone in white that glowed like a fire where it was touched by the sun, and seemed blue, gray, and shadowy where the shade dappled his kimono.
She was used to seeing the silver shine of Sesshomaru's hair, but the glow against the forest backdrop left a faint afterimage blinking across her sight. "Sesshomaru." Kagome blinked again. He didn't make noise when he walked unless he wanted to. She'd been--
"Careless as always, priestess."
Yes. That. She opened her mouth to apologize, squashed the urge. "Rin is in town with Kaede."
He left the shade, and when he stood in full sunlight he looked a little less unearthly, and more like Inu Yasha's brother. "She is always with you. Why not today?"
Kagome shifted the basket to her other hip. The straw poked her through the hakama. "Kaede is out of commission--"
"Sick?"
"No, just hurt. She twisted her knee, and it's taking a while to heal." Kagome squinted up at him, watched his golden eyes shift slightly, maybe searching her own gaze. The wind tossed his hair, fluttered past his sleeves, cooled the back of her neck and crept into her sleeves to chill her skin where it was moist under the layers of kimono. She'd thought these old-fashioned costumes would leave her sweltering, but the material wasn't that heavy. "There's nothing for Rin to catch, Sesshomaru-san."
His eyebrow arched sharply. Kagome tried not to smile.
Then they dipped down, his mouth flattened, and she thought at least he was doing her the courtesy of showing his emotions for once. "We've discussed these terms of address before, priestess."
Kagome rolled her eyes up to the sky. A wispy cloud was stroked across the blue, transparent and white. "Rin will be fine, Lord Sesshomaru." When she used that honorific she felt like an actress in a drama, though she could get into real trouble addressing the wrong person the wrong way. The Shikon Priestess wasn't as important as she used to be. "If she ever gets sick, I'll care for her myself."
She didn't know if he reacted or not; he might have nodded, but she looked down at her basket, the bundles of herbs and plants, and wondered why he was still there - why he didn't leap through the trees or do his flying thing, or simply turn and walk away from her insolence. He should be used to it by now, but instead of scorning her conversation as he used to, Sesshomaru spoke to her each time he came to check on his ward, and each time he reminded her of courtesies she should observe.
"...So." She shifted the basket again so the straw would bite into a different part of her hip. "I was just about to go back, and Rin can probably take a--"
"I did not come to see Rin today." He sidestepped, blocked her path, and yet seemed not to have moved at all; same posture, same look down his nose. Instead of cherry blossoms on his collar, his sleeves, it was plum - a slightly darker color, more like blood.
Kagome pulled her bottom lip with her teeth and steeled herself to look directly into his eyes. It wasn't so much that she was afraid - only that he never blinked. If she wasn't scared of his claws, or his sword, why be afraid of a stare? He stared at everyone like that as far as she knew. "Okay." But she had to blink. Several times. The longer he looked at her, the shakier her legs were, until she thought sprinting back to the village would be the only way to expend the energy. Her fingers worked around the straw weaving. "So why are you here?" she asked, and immediately felt stupid. How rude. "I mean, I'm sure you have better things--"
"Rin tells me she is happy here."
She stopped, mouth still partly open, and for once his gaze slid away-- toward the town. Could he hear it, all the way from here? "Um--" And he said he wasn't here about Rin. "Well I'm glad to hear that." He turned back to her, and Kagome swallowed. Why did he have to come talk to her? Why not Inu Yasha? After a dozen or so swipes at each other and maybe a few felled trees, they were usually able to talk civilly for a few minutes. Inu Yasha didn't care about his brother's speech habits, and usually badgered answers out of him. How else did a person speak to someone like Sesshomaru, who seemed determined to lead the conversation - and yet never speak?
When he remained silent, Kagome let herself sigh. "You've decided then?"
"Is this a burden?"
She canted her head to the side, felt herself frown. "Of course not. Rin is welcome to stay here. Everyone loves her, and she's a good student. Kaede thinks she can unlock an impressive well of power if she meditates on it enough, so she'll be a real priestess - maybe even rate her own shrine someday." Did he sense that, she wondered, watching his eyelids flicker - did he already know? Kaede knew. Kagome felt blind when she didn't sense these things. "I guess... in that case she probably shouldn't go with you, huh."
"That is correct." He inclined his head, and a twist of silver hair slithered over his shoulder. "Currently she lives with the elder priestess. I would like to make a different arrangement if you are willing."
If she - Kagome - was willing? "Okay--"
"Take her into your household."
Kagome stared at her reflection in his eyes and felt her heart pound hard enough to jump into her throat. "Come again?"
Sesshomaru lifted his slender eyebrow again. "Was I unclear?"
She frowned again. No, she wasn't an idiot. "It's just, this is really sudden--"
He tossed his hair back. "You said she was welcome to stay."
Kagome tapped her foot, wishing a moment she could throw her basket at him. All that hard work, though. "That isn't the issue!" Her stomach turned and she felt herself go pale, but she couldn't do anything about it with him watching. "I thought you wanted her to have a good influence and a mother--"
"You will do."
Running sounded like a good idea about now. 'She would do?' Her? Kagome was eighteen. She'd just graduated from high school. She wasn't even fully trained, and if they were talking about good influences, he surely wasn't considering that Inu Yasha lived with her. They were lucky Rin hadn't picked up any of his more interesting vocabulary just from living in the same village. "Look, I-- I--" Kagome locked her knees and took a deep breath. She'd never run from Sesshomaru before, and she wasn't going to start now. He wasn't even threatening her. "She's half my age. I'm really more like her sister."
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, but she didn't think he was angry. He was silent, but his gaze was abstracted. "That is an adequate arrangement, priestess." His eyes focused on her again. "It is quite common in this place for women to raise children not their own."
"Yeah--" Kagome bit her lip. I know. People in the modern era did the same thing - just not for the same reasons. "Talk to Inu Yasha. If he says yes..."
His lips thinned.
Kagome wished she could clasp her hands at her back to wring them. "I'd be happy to take care of Rin, as long as it's okay with him."
Sesshomaru sighed sharply through his nose. His claws flexed into his sleeve. "Very well."
She opened her mouth to apologize - or maybe to ask him not to throw Inu Yasha into too many trees, she wasn't sure - but he turned his back on her and strode quickly into the shade of the trees. "Wait!" she called, stumbling on the hem of her hakama - she still wasn't used to it - but when she reached the tree line he was only a white blur between shadows, bits of his sleeves and armor glowing when the dappled sunlight reached through the canopy.
It was Kagome's turn to sigh - again. But she kept walking. Someone would have to run damage control, and it might as well be her.
..............................................................
So... not satisfied with this. I don't think it fits the theme very well, and because I wrote it quickly, I think the pacing is probably off. That's my fault though, so oh well. Yay procrastination.
.
Author: Amber Michelle
Genre: Gen
Word count: 2125
Rating: K
Warnings: n/a
AU/Canon: acanon
Concrit: sure, why not.
Theme: #85 - panic
Notes: lame title because I'm cutting it really close. >_>
.........................................................................
Kagome's basket was almost full by the time she reached the clearing with the old well and the tree. It was a good time of year for hunting herbs and plants; the sky was solid blue above the treetops and the wind was warm, scented by grass and wildflowers, and she'd harvested almost everything on her list - ginger root still smeared with dirt, garlic stalks and bulbs, shiso leaves, bunches of mint and sage tied with linen string, licorice and angelica roots. Her fingers were dirty to the knuckles, mud caked under her nails. The basket weighed more than Buyo, and she carried it propped against her hip with one arm, a knife for cutting branches and leaves sheathed on the other hip, tucked behind her sash.
The well looked just as it had the last time she came by: moldy, about the fall apart. Ivy was creeping into a new crack in the side, and dandelions dotted the grass. She took left the basket by the well and went to pick the flowers and their greens for dinner. The cooking was up to her with Kaede laid up.
It had been a year now since she left home. She'd visited twice to see her mom and help Souta with his history homework, but both times she half-thought her feet would hit the muddy bottom and make that dream true - the gateway wouldn't allow her to exist in both worlds forever.
Life is all about choices, her mom said at the end of her last visit. Making one's own decisions and shouldering the responsibility - that's the sign of an adult.
Leaving home was part of growing up-- but she still cried into Sango's shoulder the first three nights after she decided to stay in the Sengoku era instead of risking another trip home. She cried while digging up herbs with Rin. She cried when Kaede told her in a soft voice she would get used to the idea of never seeing her family again - that girls half her age left home to train under elder priestesses like Kaede, went to work for daimyo families, were pawned off to other clans as hostages or concubines, and there were many like Rin who lost families to bandits, war, epidemics. And though Kagome knew about all of that before, it wasn't real, truly real and part of her experience, until she gave up the modern era.
No more antibiotics, no more school, no more instant ramen, no more ready-made clothes. No law enforcement. No hospitals.
If she got sick - or Sango, or Miroku, or Rin - that could be it. The end. If bandits attacked the town and they weren't fast enough to defend, or not good enough, people would die and nobody in power would care.
At least she'd finally gotten everybody into the habit of washing their hands. They didn't really believe her when she told them about bacteria and disease, but they listened - and they were alive. And so were all of the patients she'd cared for under Kaede's critical eye.
Kagome bunched the dandelions in one hand when she thought she had enough and stood up to brush bits of grass from the knees of her hakama. Her shadow was a small pool of dark green around her feet, the sun high in the sky, and she thought it might be around lunch time. Rin would need her help.
She knelt by the basket and pulled out some string to tie the greens together. The grass bent behind her; she heard it rustle and the dry stalks snap, and thought nothing of it until she picked the basket up again, propped it against her hip, and turned around to head back to town. Kagome took one step, and several seconds passed before her eyes told her what she should have figured out from that sound - someone was there, someone in white that glowed like a fire where it was touched by the sun, and seemed blue, gray, and shadowy where the shade dappled his kimono.
She was used to seeing the silver shine of Sesshomaru's hair, but the glow against the forest backdrop left a faint afterimage blinking across her sight. "Sesshomaru." Kagome blinked again. He didn't make noise when he walked unless he wanted to. She'd been--
"Careless as always, priestess."
Yes. That. She opened her mouth to apologize, squashed the urge. "Rin is in town with Kaede."
He left the shade, and when he stood in full sunlight he looked a little less unearthly, and more like Inu Yasha's brother. "She is always with you. Why not today?"
Kagome shifted the basket to her other hip. The straw poked her through the hakama. "Kaede is out of commission--"
"Sick?"
"No, just hurt. She twisted her knee, and it's taking a while to heal." Kagome squinted up at him, watched his golden eyes shift slightly, maybe searching her own gaze. The wind tossed his hair, fluttered past his sleeves, cooled the back of her neck and crept into her sleeves to chill her skin where it was moist under the layers of kimono. She'd thought these old-fashioned costumes would leave her sweltering, but the material wasn't that heavy. "There's nothing for Rin to catch, Sesshomaru-san."
His eyebrow arched sharply. Kagome tried not to smile.
Then they dipped down, his mouth flattened, and she thought at least he was doing her the courtesy of showing his emotions for once. "We've discussed these terms of address before, priestess."
Kagome rolled her eyes up to the sky. A wispy cloud was stroked across the blue, transparent and white. "Rin will be fine, Lord Sesshomaru." When she used that honorific she felt like an actress in a drama, though she could get into real trouble addressing the wrong person the wrong way. The Shikon Priestess wasn't as important as she used to be. "If she ever gets sick, I'll care for her myself."
She didn't know if he reacted or not; he might have nodded, but she looked down at her basket, the bundles of herbs and plants, and wondered why he was still there - why he didn't leap through the trees or do his flying thing, or simply turn and walk away from her insolence. He should be used to it by now, but instead of scorning her conversation as he used to, Sesshomaru spoke to her each time he came to check on his ward, and each time he reminded her of courtesies she should observe.
"...So." She shifted the basket again so the straw would bite into a different part of her hip. "I was just about to go back, and Rin can probably take a--"
"I did not come to see Rin today." He sidestepped, blocked her path, and yet seemed not to have moved at all; same posture, same look down his nose. Instead of cherry blossoms on his collar, his sleeves, it was plum - a slightly darker color, more like blood.
Kagome pulled her bottom lip with her teeth and steeled herself to look directly into his eyes. It wasn't so much that she was afraid - only that he never blinked. If she wasn't scared of his claws, or his sword, why be afraid of a stare? He stared at everyone like that as far as she knew. "Okay." But she had to blink. Several times. The longer he looked at her, the shakier her legs were, until she thought sprinting back to the village would be the only way to expend the energy. Her fingers worked around the straw weaving. "So why are you here?" she asked, and immediately felt stupid. How rude. "I mean, I'm sure you have better things--"
"Rin tells me she is happy here."
She stopped, mouth still partly open, and for once his gaze slid away-- toward the town. Could he hear it, all the way from here? "Um--" And he said he wasn't here about Rin. "Well I'm glad to hear that." He turned back to her, and Kagome swallowed. Why did he have to come talk to her? Why not Inu Yasha? After a dozen or so swipes at each other and maybe a few felled trees, they were usually able to talk civilly for a few minutes. Inu Yasha didn't care about his brother's speech habits, and usually badgered answers out of him. How else did a person speak to someone like Sesshomaru, who seemed determined to lead the conversation - and yet never speak?
When he remained silent, Kagome let herself sigh. "You've decided then?"
"Is this a burden?"
She canted her head to the side, felt herself frown. "Of course not. Rin is welcome to stay here. Everyone loves her, and she's a good student. Kaede thinks she can unlock an impressive well of power if she meditates on it enough, so she'll be a real priestess - maybe even rate her own shrine someday." Did he sense that, she wondered, watching his eyelids flicker - did he already know? Kaede knew. Kagome felt blind when she didn't sense these things. "I guess... in that case she probably shouldn't go with you, huh."
"That is correct." He inclined his head, and a twist of silver hair slithered over his shoulder. "Currently she lives with the elder priestess. I would like to make a different arrangement if you are willing."
If she - Kagome - was willing? "Okay--"
"Take her into your household."
Kagome stared at her reflection in his eyes and felt her heart pound hard enough to jump into her throat. "Come again?"
Sesshomaru lifted his slender eyebrow again. "Was I unclear?"
She frowned again. No, she wasn't an idiot. "It's just, this is really sudden--"
He tossed his hair back. "You said she was welcome to stay."
Kagome tapped her foot, wishing a moment she could throw her basket at him. All that hard work, though. "That isn't the issue!" Her stomach turned and she felt herself go pale, but she couldn't do anything about it with him watching. "I thought you wanted her to have a good influence and a mother--"
"You will do."
Running sounded like a good idea about now. 'She would do?' Her? Kagome was eighteen. She'd just graduated from high school. She wasn't even fully trained, and if they were talking about good influences, he surely wasn't considering that Inu Yasha lived with her. They were lucky Rin hadn't picked up any of his more interesting vocabulary just from living in the same village. "Look, I-- I--" Kagome locked her knees and took a deep breath. She'd never run from Sesshomaru before, and she wasn't going to start now. He wasn't even threatening her. "She's half my age. I'm really more like her sister."
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, but she didn't think he was angry. He was silent, but his gaze was abstracted. "That is an adequate arrangement, priestess." His eyes focused on her again. "It is quite common in this place for women to raise children not their own."
"Yeah--" Kagome bit her lip. I know. People in the modern era did the same thing - just not for the same reasons. "Talk to Inu Yasha. If he says yes..."
His lips thinned.
Kagome wished she could clasp her hands at her back to wring them. "I'd be happy to take care of Rin, as long as it's okay with him."
Sesshomaru sighed sharply through his nose. His claws flexed into his sleeve. "Very well."
She opened her mouth to apologize - or maybe to ask him not to throw Inu Yasha into too many trees, she wasn't sure - but he turned his back on her and strode quickly into the shade of the trees. "Wait!" she called, stumbling on the hem of her hakama - she still wasn't used to it - but when she reached the tree line he was only a white blur between shadows, bits of his sleeves and armor glowing when the dappled sunlight reached through the canopy.
It was Kagome's turn to sigh - again. But she kept walking. Someone would have to run damage control, and it might as well be her.
..............................................................
So... not satisfied with this. I don't think it fits the theme very well, and because I wrote it quickly, I think the pacing is probably off. That's my fault though, so oh well. Yay procrastination.
.