A Kludge of One Shots by tenchi no mai
An Ink Of A Different Color
This was written in response to Priestess Skye’s weekly challenge.
Theme: Ink
Due: November 22, 2009
Required Word Count: Minimum 1000 Words
Actual Word Count: 3,540
Universe: Alternate Universe – Modern Day
Rating: M
Warnings: Innuendoes, nothing overt.
Disclaimer: The characters of InuYasha are not mine, they are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and Viz Media. Only the plot to this story and my original character, Shun, are my intellectual property. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
‘Italics’ = thoughts
An Ink of a Different Color
Kagome quietly cursed under her breath as the pen ran out of ink. She was writing a note to let her mates know that she was leaving the shiro, but would return this afternoon. It was 5:30AM, and she didn’t want to turn on the lights, which would alert them that she was awake, so she fumbled in the drawer under the answering machine for another pen.
She was in an unusual mood. She was restless and highly agitated, she wanted to take a long drive someplace and todays destination was just the remedy she needed. To go somewhere alone, by herself, unaccompanied. She didn’t think it was too much to ask; that was one of the motives behind this early morning escape from the shiro.
Her mates were in a state of excess for some unknown reason. Overly protective and overly possessive. In one word, overbearing. All she wanted was some space. It wasn’t that she didn’t love them, she was just feeling overwhelmed and somewhat suffocated by their constant attentions and presence. She needed some time to herself to clear her head before she went stark raving mad.
Both Sesshoumaru and Shun had decided, for some unknown reason, to work from home recently. The only time either one of them left the shiro was for appointments, and they were few and far between lately, or to pick up files from the office.
Kagome tiptoed over to tape the note to the coffee machine, wincing at the loud zipping sound the tape made when she pulled it from the dispenser. She knew it would be seen immediately when her mates made it to the kitchen for their first cup of coffee. She then filled the coffee maker, set the timer and put out their favorite mugs, so everything would be ready for them when they got up. Both of them knew how to cook, so they could make their own breakfast today.
She had already taken a shower in the guestroom that Jak used when he stayed at the shiro, it was the farthest from the master bedroom. She had put her clothes in there yesterday, so that once she was done she wouldn’t have to go back into their bedroom and risk waking up her hopefully still sleeping mates.
Kagome quickly packed the softsided cooler with ice, her breakfast and lunch, then picked up her pocketbook as well as her shoes, and headed towards the garages.
~*~
Shun watched from within the slowly lightening shadows as Kagome got ready to leave the shiro. He was curious about what had roused her so early in the morning, she usually liked to sleep until at least 8:30AM or later, so he had followed her to make sure she was alright.
He had to admit that he was impressed by her ingenuity. It appeared that she had thought of everything down to the smallest detail, except for the pen running out of ink. It was all he could do not to snicker while listening to her curse as she rummaged through the drawer for another pen. He could see quite clearly in the shadowy grey before the dawn, but he knew from prior experience that without the lights on she was almost blind in the dark.
Shun raised one eyebrow when she opened the refrigerator door and the light didn’t come on. Had the bulb burned out? Looking closely, he could now see that Kagome had put a piece of duct tape over the pin that activated the light when the door opened. ‘Hm, sneaky little mate. What kind of monkey business is she up to?’
After listening to her quietly, or so she probably thought, head towards the garages, he slowly trailed behind her, keeping his aura folded tightly around himself. She must have moved her car outside at some point yesterday he realized when he didn’t hear the garage door open. Watching her drive away without putting her headlights on, he once again wondered about her desire for so much stealth.
Turning the coffee maker on and grabbing the note off it , he headed back to the family wing to wake up Sesshoumaru. Maybe he could make some sense out of these early morning antics.
~*~
Kagome turned on the headlights when she reached the gate, before exiting onto the road the ran parallel to the shiro. Finally she was free for the day.
Giving an evil chuckle, she pulled the bag of oatmeal raisin cookies into her lap and began eating her favorite breakfast while she headed south towards the first objective on her list.
~*~
Shun frowned as he padded back towards the bedroom to wake up Sesshoumaru. ‘If she wanted to go somewhere, all she had to do was ask. I would have taken her, she didn’t have to sneak out of the shiro before dawn, like a thief in the night.’
Sesshoumaru was already awake and Shun was hit with a wave of jyaki as he unfurled his aura to search the shiro for their missing mate.
“Did she leave the grounds of the Fortress?” Sesshoumaru barked as he crossed his arms over his bare chest and glared at Shun. He was pulled from his sleep when Kagome’s aura had suddenly lessened significantly.
Shun nodded, then handed the note to Sesshoumaru. “Yes, and she went to considerable effort to keep us from knowing she had left.” He then proceeded to inform Sesshoumaru of what he had observed.
Sesshoumaru was staring at the note with a puzzled look on his face. The first rays of the sun were starting to come in the windows, and he was turning the note from side to side as the light slowly intensifed.
“Well, at least we have an idea of where she went. It appears that this was the next piece of paper after the list she made.” Sesshoumaru handed the note back to Shun so he could have a look at it.
Staring at the paper, Shun tilted it first one way then the other, finally noticing the indentations made by a pen. “This makes no sense. Wakayama, then musical notes. Nara – Kofukuji. Then Ise with a notation of squid, lobsters and octopus with a question mark. What the hell does that mean?” Shun was more confused now. Sometimes, well honestly, most of the time, the way Kagome’s mind worked was unfathomable to his logical male way of thinking.
“The last one I can understand. Kagome has been talking for the last few days about making steamed squid and lobster in garlic aioli with black squid ink noodles.” Sesshoumaru stretched as he finished shaking his hair into place. “Kofukuji is a temple near Nara, but as to the notation for Wakayama, I have absolutely no idea.”
Shun was quickly getting dressed. “I’ll take my motorcyle and follow her to make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble.” He pulled on his socks. “Kagome hasn’t paid much attention to the bike, she probably won’t recognize it.” His boots, jacket and helmet where in the garage with the bike. He would grab a travel mug of coffee to take with him and should be able to catch up to her fairly quickly. “If I can stay out of her sight and hide my aura, she won’t even know she’s being tailed.”
~*~
Kagome was in a somewhat better mood as she arrived outside Wakayama. When she was a little girl her father used to bring the family this way on the rare occasions they were able to escape the city for a picnic in the countryside.
She slowed her car down to just about 40 km/h as she entered the section known as Melody Road. This stretch of highway was like magic and had fascinated her to no end when she was a small child. There were grooves cut into the concrete at specific intervals, and at the correct speed the vibrations flowed from the tires into the structure of the vehicle and produced the music to the ballad “Miagete goran yoru no hoshi wo”. It was still captivating, and she was in awe of the person who planned this unusual piece of work.
A short while later Kagome pulled off the road into one of the small rest stops, then retreived her notebook and a map. It had been a long time since she had been in this prefecture, and wanted to make sure she didn’t miss the turn off for the road to the Kofukuji Shrine when she got close to Nara.
~*~
Shun had caught up to Kagome not too long after she left the shiro. He kept her within his sight, but with the heavy morning traffic, was some distance back.
He groaned when he managed to get a good look ahead. There was nothing he detested more than riding his bike over a grooved surface, the vibrations put his nerves on edge. Shun noticed a sign about the Melody Road, and suddenly the musical notes on Kagomes list began to make sense.
Pulling off to the side of the highway when he saw Kagome enter the next rest stop, he raised the face shield on his helmet, as he watched his little mate spread a map over the steering wheel and begin making notes.
Taking a big gulp of coffee, he washed down the crumbs from the breakfast bar he had quickly eaten. He had grabbed several of Kagome’s oatmeal honey bars after he filled the travel mug with hot black coffee. Shun was used to eating a much more substantial breakfast than this, but unless Kagome stopped somewhere to get something to eat, these would have to suffice.
~*~
After pulling out onto the highway again, and a quick look in the rearview mirror, Kagome headed towards Nara. She was thinking about her father again. He had dabbled in sumi-e; her mother had several of his ink and wash paintings hanging in the shrine and the house.
Father had always said that the best sumi was produced in Nara and Suzuka, however the highest quality ink came from the Kofukuji Shrine near Nara. She loved to listen to his voice as he told her stories, and now treasured every one she could remember.
Kagome’s memories took her back to one time she was standing next to her father, watching him grind the sumi stick to generate the ink. He was telling her how the ink was created.
‘Kagome, koishi, the craftsmen rely on intuition and experience. They make the ink from autumn to early spring when the temperatue and humidity are in balance. The master ink artisan visits the sacred pine grove and chooses special branches to burn with natural oil. He collects the soot after the pine resin burns to combine and knead with nikawa, the binding agent made from animal bone.
Great physical strength is required to knead the pine soot and nikawa. Fragrance is also blended in. This knowledge passed down from generation to generation is a closely guarded secret.
The kneaded ink is pressed into wooden molds and ash dried. Later the ink is wrapped in straw and hung to age. The ink continues to age, sometimes for ten years or more.’
Shun was an accomplished sumi-e artist, definitely in a class well above her father. Sesshoumaru also liked to use sumi, but preferred it for important documents or calligraphy. She was going to pick up sumi for both of them.
Her jiji had called the other day and told her that Tomoyama-san, a friend of his from the Kofukuji Shrine, had called and told him that they were unpacking a crate of ink they had found in the back of one of the storage rooms. It was very old, and inside they had discovered several suzuri stones for grinding the ink. Knowing that Sesshoumaru was a collector of sumi and rare suzuri, he had called jiji at the Sunset Shrine. Tomoyama-san told him he was going to put the Shezhou ink stones and a quantity of ink sticks aside for Kagome to look at and decide if she wanted to purchase any of them.
Kagome was hoping to surprise both Sesshoumaru and Shun with the suzuri stones and ink. Quickly checking the road signs, she turned off onto the side road to the Kofukuji Shrine.
~*~
Shun blinked again and did a double take. Kagome had disappeared. One minute she was ahead of him, and now she was nowhere in sight. Slowing down, he considered doing a u-turn and backtracking until he found her or searching with his jyaki, but then she would realize he was following her. Deciding to continue on at a slower speed, he would give her a few more minutes before he began searching or called Sesshoumaru to have him check her whereabouts on the gps in her cell phone.
A few kilometers later, Shun pulled over to the side of the road. He was going to have to call Sesshoumaru. Hopping off the bike, he stretched his muscles. It had been quite a while since he had ridden for any great distance, and his body was beginning to complain.
Just as Shun unfolded the phone, he heard a vehicle traveling in his direction at a high rate of speed. Looking back over his shoulder, he recognized Kagome’s car. With a sigh of relief, he knelt down and pretended that something was wrong with the bike until she had passed him.
~*~
Kagome pulled into the parking lot for the Kofukuji Shrine and shut off her car. That wrong turn had cost her quite a bit of time. Once she got back to the main road, she had stepped on the gas and literally tore past some poor motorcyclist parked on the side of the road. She felt bad not stopping to see if he needed help, but she didn’t want to be late for her appointment with Tomoyama-san.
Getting out her lunch, she decided to eat in the car rather than waste more time hiking over to the picnic grove. If she remembered correctly, it was quite a long walk on a path through the dense pine trees that surrounded the shrine. Plus the picnic area was always overrun with the deer that occupied the grounds, and they could be quite aggressive if you didn’t have any shika sembei (deer biscuits) to feed them.
Kagome quickly finished her lunch, then picking up her pocketbook and tote bag, headed across the parking lot towards the path to the shrine.
~*~
Shun had followed Kagome into the parking lot and slowly guided his bike across the busy lot to park near some of the tour buses that were there.
He kept a close eye on her as she hurried across the parking lot to meet with an old man in priest robes. His eyebrows raised as she bowed repectfully to him, then he reached out and hugged her, kissing her on the forehead.
Shun started across the lot towards them, when the old priest folded his ink stained hands into the sleeves of his robes and they turned to begin following the path up past the torii.
Questions rolling around in his mind as to the relationship between Kagome and the old priest, Shun quickened his step to close the gap between them. He was abruptly stopped in his tracks when he reached the torii; there were wards embedded in the torii. He was a demon and unable to pass into the shrine or the immediate area surrounding it.
~*~
Tomoyama-san had walked down from the shrine to meet Kagome outside the torii. The deer were especially aggressive this year and he didn’t want to see the girl he thought of as the granddaughter he would probably never have get mobbed by the deer.
He and Kagome’s jiji had grown up together in what was then the poorer section of Tokyo that enveloped the Sunset Shrine. Best friends, they had gone to school together and had stayed close.
Tomoyama-san had watched the son of his best friend grow up and get married, then have children of his own. He had known Kagome since the day she was born, and had been saddened to hear of her many illnesses and missed schooling in the not too distant past.
Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, he noticed she looked healthy and happy. Perhaps marrying Taisho, Sesshoumaru had been good for her.
They made small talk as they approached the building towards the back of the shrine grounds, and the deer were kept at bay by the jingling rings of his shakujo.
~*~
Shun had become highly agitated when he found he couldn’t go past the torii arch. Wandering around the lower level of the grounds and parking lots, he finally arrived at the food stands that lined the street across from the main entrance. Picking a spot from which he could keep an eye on both Kagome’s car and the path she had taken, he settled down to feed his now raging appetite.
Almost two hours later he spied Kagome and the old priest ambling down the path from the shrine. When they got to her car, the old man stowed what appeared to be a rather heavy tote bag in the trunk for Kagome. ‘Could she be picking up something for her jiji?’ Shun suddenly heard the light tinkling sound of Kagome’s laughter as she hugged the old priest goodbye and got ready to leave.
He was quickly striding over to get his bike while watching her turn out of the parking lot and head in the direction of Ise. Cursing as he almost walked into the side of a bus, Shun hurriedly started his bike and was once again playing catch up with Kagome.
~*~
Kagome was in a great mood by the time she got back to the shiro. She had a wonderful day visiting with Tomoyama-san, and had bought four of the Shezhou ink stones and a large supply of sumi sticks. The stones were positively gorgeous and were the most unusual ones she had ever seen. They were exquisitely carved antiques with their provenance attached. If Sesshoumaru didn’t want to keep the three she had purchased for his collection, she was sure he could sell them to Kyu Kyo Do in Tokyo for a handsome profit. After all, they were the finest source for sumi-e supplies since 1663 and often accepted suzuri to sell on a commission basis.
She was sure Shun would absolutely love the one she got for him. It was carved with leopards and bamboo surrounding the round grinding surface, which made it appear as though the carvings were circling a lake. Then there was the sumi itself, in black as well as an unusual and hard to find Chinese red.
Backing her car into the garage, she snickered as she picked up the cooler with the squid, lobsters, and the squid ink sacks. They would probably be eating dinner late tonight, it was going to take a little while to make the black squid ink noodles.
Walking into the kitchen Kagome sat the cooler on the counter and turned to hug Sesshoumaru as he strode through the door.
“Did you have a nice day, koi?” Sesshoumaru wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. He buried his nose in the crook of her neck, before giving her a light lick. She smelled absolutely divine, a combination of pine, delicately scented sumi, and a salty fresh ocean aroma.
“Yes, I did. It was very productive.” Kagome giggled as she felt him gently lick the side of her neck. “If you want your dessert before dinner, you’ll have to let me put the seafood in the refrigerator.”
~*~
Shun rode his bike into the garage, then dropped his jacket and helmet on the bench before kicking off the boots and shoving them underneath. He was stiff and sore, and wanted nothing more than to go soak in their private hotspring. It had been a long day and an even longer ride, something he didn’t want to repeat too soon. He hoped his muscles would stop screaming at him after he soaked for a while in the hot bubbling water.
Cutting through the kitchen on his way to the family wing, he leaned down to give Kagome a quick kiss.
Kagome giggled again as she watched Shun gingerly walking towards her. He looked like he had suffered through a tough kendo workout. “Why don’t you go soak for a while in the hot spring, Shun? If you’re really hurting I’ll give you a back rub later.”
Watching his eyes light up, she snickered as she swatted him on his butt when he turned to head towards the family wing. “Shun, remember a couple days ago when I told you that curiosity could kill the cat? You really shouldn’t have ridden that motorcycle all over the southern prefectures. It’s been what? Over a year now since you’ve done any extensive amount of riding?”
Shun grunted in reply as he continued limping towards the family wing. He could hear Kagome’s laughter before she began to regale Sesshoumaru with her days adventure.
~*~
Fin.
~*~
Authors Notes:
Kofukuji – A temple in the Nara prefecture. The name means “Temple of Growing Bliss”. I have tweaked the information I found to fit this story.
Sumi – ink, can be either a stick which need to be ground with water, or a liquid ink.
Sumi-e – ink and wash painting, only black ink is used in various concentrations to create the nuances of the art. Sumi-e was introduced to Japan in the mid-14h century.
Suzuri – an ink stone used for grinding the sumi stick with water to create the useable ink.
~*~