InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Foreign Tastes ❯ Found ( Prologue )

Foreign Tastes

Prologue

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He had no idea how long it had been. He knew that, technically, it had not been forever, but it seemed an appropriate answer, should anyone ever ask. No one would, of course, because no one had come after Rin died, but every now and then he liked to imagine. How long have you been here? Forever.

He didn't think he'd be able to speak more than that. If he'd been here forever, then it had been forever but sixty or so years since he'd spoken. Maybe his voice was gone from disuse?

No. He was youkai. His nature meant that as long as he did not neglect himself, he would remain healthy.

But wasn't that what he had done? Neglect himself. Sealed away underground for forever, there was little point to maintaining exercises that required food. He had none, so he did what he could to avoid being hungry. He'd perfected the art of meditation, slipping away from reality for what felt like moments, but were probably more like years. It must have been years. There were growths of rock that hadn't been there before, and the stream that ran through his `chamber' had subtly changed its shape. The pool that had been created by his first attempts at escape was now smooth at the bottom, instead of jagged.

He wondered vaguely how long it had been since he last moved.

"Ah, shit." The voice was distant, and distorted, but there.

He sat up and looked in the direction of that voice so fast his entire torso, from nape to tail, seemed to explode in pain. His skin burned, his bones felt achey and empty, his muscles seemed knotted beyond repair. He recognized the feelings as extremes of regeneration and growing pains. Had he begun to waste away, then?

No matter. He knew that any position would be painful, so he kept his current one. Someone was near, and by the sound of the footsteps, coming nearer.

"Are you sure this is the way out?" A different voice, higher, definitely female. The words were hard to understand, but it made sense that language would change with the passage of time and formation of rock.

"No." It was the first voice. Closer now, he recognized it as also female, but deeper and thicker. It was like the difference between honey and water. He'd known males with higher voices than hers, before forever began.

"Maybe we should turn back."

No!

"You're the one who wanted to head in this direction. Now I'm curious: it's been a long time, but it looks like there used to be a path here. "

"If you say so… Ow!"

"Are you alright?"

"I scraped myself."

"Here." They stopped moving. Silence a moment, then a soft sort of sucking sound.

"You shouldn't do that," water-voice said. She sounded embarrassed.

"I couldn't just let it drip, could I? Come on."

They walked on in silence, and he kept expecting to see them the next moment, but it seemed both too long and too short a time before they turned the final corner, and saw him. Or rather, he saw them.

They were humans, one in the typical manner and wearing some sort of abbreviated kimono, and the other looking like a youkai and wearing something like what his half-brother's priestess had worn, only dark and sleeker. As his eyes adjusted to the bright light coming from the thing she held in her hand, he saw that her skin was very pale, her eyes as well, but with a gradiation, and her hair - a quick glance toward the source of the blood-smell confirmed it - much the same color as blood. The markings around her eyes and down her cheeks made him reconsider his conclusion of her humanity, though. But why would a youkai, one powerful enough to disguise itself as human, wish to do so? More than the language must have changed.

He thought they must have seen him, but after a moment of staring blankly, the red-haired one (the honey-voiced one) said, "Dead end," and turned away.

Though he felt he should despise himself for giving into weakness, he found himself working his mouth until he managed to speak. "Wait."

It sounded pitiful, but the - girl? woman? youkai? - honey-voiced one looked back over her shoulder in his direction. Slowly, she moved the bright-light-source, and the pool of light that had been resting at her feet moved around. Once it found him, the other one watched it as it traveled up him. Briefly, he was blinded, and then it flashed away, to outline the walls of his containment area, and then it disappeared, and the entire area became dimly lit, the bright-light-source now being held like a torch.

"Who are you?" the honeyed one asked. "And how did you get here?"

He ignored the first question. "I was sealed in here by monks for a variety of incomprehensible reasons."

"Such as?"

"I do not need to answer to you." It felt strange not using his own name, and mildly degrading, but he continued to withhold it.

One eyebrow jumped, but she smiled.

The other one moved to stand partially behind her companion. "Ne, let's go," she said.

"Not yet."

"But-"

"People are, by nature, social creatures. Solitary confinement is one of the worst forms of punishment possible."

"He said there were reasons," water reminded honey quietly.

"It's kurueru ando anyushueru panishimento. [1] I can never condone torture." She never looked away from him. "Especially when it attacks the psyche rather than the body."

Voice-like-water was silent.

"So," honey said, after a pause. "Talk."

"What?"

"Not you, him."

"I think he's one of the ones I told you about."

"He is present," he said, irritated.

"Exactly," honey said. "So talk."

"I am imprisoned; there is a barrier. What more is there to say?"

"Why?"

He scowled. "That is not for you to know."

She shrugged and turned away. "Fine. Let's go, Kagome."

"You said you cannot `condone' my situation," he grated, "and yet you leave?"

"The punishment is not mine to inflict or repeal." She started walking.

He struggled, but after having company, the panic won. "Wait!"

She paused.

"Please don't leave me alone."

Water looked at him with something like sympathy. He couldn't tell for sure. It had never been directed at him before. "How long have you been here?"

"Forever."

Honey turned to face him again. "Was there," she asked quietly, "a little girl?"

"Yes," he said, and swallowed. "Rin." With some difficulty, he stood and stumbled to the stream, where he knelt and drank. His entire body was in pain now, but the water was such a relief he didn't' mind.

"Then I think I know why." Her gaze transferred to water-voice, Kagome. "It's like Beauty and the Beast."

"I don't know that story," Kagome said after a moment.

"Once there was a prince. He had everything he could want, and he was handsome beyond description, but he was cold, and his heart was dead. One night, during a storm, an old woman came desiring shelter. Repulsed by her ugliness, he turned her away, but she warned him that appearances were not everything. Again she asked shelter, offering a rose in return, and was again rebuffed. Angered, she revealed herself to be not an old woman after all, but a priestess, equal to him in both power and in beauty. She discarded his apology and, as punishment for his selfishness, transformed his exterior to match his interior, which made him truly hideous. The rose she enchanted as well, and if, by the time it died, he had not learned to love another better than himself, he would be locked in that form forever."

"I am not hideous," he said, affronted.

"No, that part is more like Sleeping Beauty, who can be woken only by true love's kiss. There is no time limit either."

"Hmph." He looked away, but winced when a tendon in his neck became misplaced. Feeling her eyes on him, he looked down, and studied the patterns dust and grime had made on his clothing.

After another wait that was both too long and too short, he heard her exhale. "Fine. I'll see what I can do."

He looked up.

"What?" Kagome said. "But he's-"

"Sesshoumaru. I know." Another sigh, and her shoulders relaxed into a less intimidating pose, as she turned to face the girl completely and gave her the bright-light-source. "It's been nearly four hundred and fifty years, Kagome. That's long enough."

"That long? How do you know?"

"Judging by what Kagome has told me of her time with Inuyasha, I would say that you were imprisoned sometime between 1547 and 1560 eidi [2], by the Roman calendar. According to the same calendar, we are in the first century of our third millenium." [3]

"I see." That also explained in part how she knew who he was. But how did a human girl survive that long? This bore investigation. He put it aside, however, as honey-voice walked back towards him, straight for the barrier. "Stop. The barrier will harm you if you touch it."

She smiled mysteriously, and walked through the barrier.

"Ofuda, right?" she asked, studying one. After a moment, she reached out and placed her hand over it, obscuring the writing. When she lifted her hand, the writing was gone, and the now blank paper fell to the ground before disintegrating.

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. "That's all it took?"

"You're not the right religion," she returned, and moved on to the next one.

The barrier remained in place until the last ofuda. Pausing before it, she of the red hair studied it as though she understood what it did. Eventually, instead of destroying it as she had the others, she pulled it off the wall. The barrier shuddered, and rushed inward, stopping just before touching him, as she moved around to face him.

"I cannot break it completely, I can only alter it," she said, holding eye contact until he dropped his head in a nod. Then she reached out with her free hand and gingerly moved aside his once-fine clothing, exposing his chest, and placed the final ofuda on it, over the bottom of his sternum. It was not painful. A few muttered words and a flash of sparkles, and the paper fell apart, leaving behind the writing, which settled into his skin like his markings. As she traced it with a finger, he felt it seem to come alive, and the barrier sank into him and seemed to disappear.

"What…?"

"You can touch only with gentleness, and you can harm only to protect. You must belong."

"Like Tessaiga," [4] Kagome said.

"Yes. Like Tessaiga." She stepped back.

Sesshoumaru pulled his clothing back into order, and wished he had something less dirty to wear. He was still bound, he could feel it, but it was… more acceptable. The girl Kagome knew the mechanics of his father's fang-sword better than he did, so if she said that the two enchantments were similar, he preferred it to being caged and alone. Forgotten.

Forever.

It seemed like forever was over now, though, which reminded him: "To whom am I indebted?"

"I'm Fuji."

"Fuji-no-kami?" He still didn't understand her comment about religion, but naturally a god would be able to do things youkai could not.

She laughed, a husky sound that reminded him of the condensed milk-and-honey treats he used to love, of his father's fur, and of distant thunder. "I haven't been called a goddess in ages! But I'll respond to Fujinigami if you like."

He bowed.

"By the way," Kagome said, "how do we get out?

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[1] Cruel and unusual punishment. Since this takes place in Japan, I'm writing all foreign words in romanized katakana.

[2] Oda Nobunaga's first military experience and the start of his first major campaign, respectively. Inuyasha's Nobunaga (the guy with the tiny monkey who falls off cliffs - he's near the beginning) mentions Oda as a fool, which means that he was of an age to do things, but not yet successful. Eidi = AD.

[3] Yes we are. 1AD-1000AD = first mill. 1001-2000 = second mill. 2001-3000 = third mill.

[4] The little `tsu' in Te[tsu]saiga simply denotes a doubled consonant, as in Sesshoumaru and words like `yatta'. Thus: Tessaiga.

AN

Yes, I know, I really should finish "All But One", but it's stalled on me, and I felt the need to write. So this is what we get. Credit for inspiration (and I think I made it different enough, but let me know if you want it to go poof) goes to Mel & Christy. Yayness.

I'm welcoming ideas on just what Fuji should be. ^^