Letters Through Time by Caleesci
Letters 1 - 3
This originally started out as a oneshot, but then it got a little bigger so I am think probably no more than 5 chapters, but still I do hope you enjoy! This is an entry for r0o's Love Letters Challenge :)
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Dear Someone,
I am not sure whom will find this letter, but I hope someone does. I am to be executed soon, though they have no specifically given me my sentence, I know that it is coming. I am not guilty however, and I will very strongly tell anyone who wishes to know my tale. You see, I am a miko, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and now a mother. I need to write this letter so that some part of me will live on, so that at least someone out there will remember I was here at all. I suppose I should begin my tale from days long since passed.
It was spring, early spring where the flowers still hid from the occasional snowfall, courtesy of the conceded winter. My father was a good man, a clothier in our village who was highly sought after. My mother was a miko, as was her twin sister. My sister was older by four minutes, for we were twins. I loved her dearly, she was my other half. Everyone always remarked on how unusual it was to have a mother with a twin sister, and her daughters be twins. But that is what we were, and for that we were always close. We lived in a small country village in the west. It was my paradise.
My father was a wonderful man, and my sister and I followed him everywhere. He had a kind soul that is hard to find in a world so tainted. My mother and my aunt were loved by the whole village, even after my mother lost her sight to a youkai. It was the day that the strongest youkai in all the land came to our village. I wondered for years if he would ever return, but he had not. Father said he watched over the village, but I never saw him again.
Unfortunately, his vigilance was not enough to save us a second time, but in truth could one blame him? They came so swiftly that my mother, my aunt, my sister and I had only just escaped with our lives.
This is where my tale must end, for even now I hear the jingling of the keys from the guard. In case this is the last thing I write, then let me impart some wisdom I have gained. Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. When we speak of tomorrow, the mice within the ceiling laugh. Tomorrow is never guaranteed, no matter how strong, how rich, or how large a man may be, time is always stronger, richer, and larger. A wise young youkai lord had taught my father that, and in so taught me. May the words guide you as they had me.
K.H.
A young youkai looked at the scroll curiously, then back to the spot where it had suddenly appeared. A single brow lifted to his hairline. Curious. He eyed it suddenly suspicious, a small frown appearing on his face. He poked it tentatively, no matter that he had already read it.
"Issues my son?" The feminine voice belonged to his mother. He gazed up at her from his spot upon his pillow.
"The scroll, mother." He stated simply. She knelt down beside him, the rustle of her silken robes drawing the young boy's attention. He wondered briefly who made them, were they the clothier in the scroll?
"Unusual, this material." She said as she handled the scroll. It was a paper unlike anything she had ever felt. She opened the scroll to read it, but frowned when no words greeted her gaze.
"There are no words, my son." She said, gazing down at her son. His golden eyes narrowed and he quickly snatched it from her hands. He saw the inked words plainly.
"Then it belongs to this Sesshomaru, for if I am the only on to see it, it must be so." The youkai female tilted her head to the side, a blank expression upon her face.
"What is it about?" She asked curiously.
"If you cannot read it, then you are not meant to know." Her son answered her. Kimikyo's brow rose prettily and she gave her son an unusual look.
"He is much like you, Kimikyo." The third voice was that of his father, InuTaisho.
"Though an insult it may be, a compliment I shall make it." Kimikyo quipped at her mate. He chuckled as he knelt. As he thought, he too could not read the scroll.
"It would appear, my son, that a destiny has befallen your shoulders. Do well to fulfill it." His father answered. The young boy looked up at his father, his blank expression not hiding the excitement within his eyes.
"Yes, father. And fulfill I shall."
****************~ Twenty years passed and the scroll forgotten ~****************
Sesshomaru's fist tightened. His claws pierced the flesh of his hands. His eyes were clamped shut. Dishonor. That was the only thing he could call it. Complete and utter dishonor. He glanced at his mother out of the corner of his eyes. Her face was impassive. Her features, though beautiful, were as though they were chiseled in stone. Her amber gaze were frozen, filled with no emotion. The only sign that showed her inner turmoil was the soft hardly noticeable quiver of her jaw. His mother was the art of control. She kneeled upon her mat, the layer of beautiful silks about her person, the wind carried her hair beautifully. Before her stood her mate, Inu no Taisho. Beside him stood a woman, swollen heavy with a pup. The human was pretty, but plain next to his mother. They were polar opposites. His mother's hair was as white as fresh fallen snow, this woman's hair was as dark as midnight. His mothers eyes a striking amber, this woman's were a delicate brown. His mother had a demeanor of strength and regality, this woman had a more demure and fragile one.
"Kimikyo." Inu no Taisho started. His mother held up her hand quickly. Inu no Taisho stopped. The woman at his side seemed uneasy, and in his opinion she should.
"You bring dishonor upon this house father with your human filth." Sesshomaru snapped. He felt his mother's cool gaze upon him.
"Sesshomaru that is no way to speak to your father." She warned in that tone. Sesshomaru ignored her. His eyes glared unflinchingly upon his father.
"You know not of what you speak, boy." Inu no Taisho warned. "There was no love between your mother and I. A mating of convenience." Inu no Taisho had his gaze upon his son and missed the hardly noticeable flinch in his mate's expression.
"I provided you an heir. And what with this woman provide you?" Kimikyo said, her amber gaze falling upon the other woman.
"Love." The woman said boldly. "Forgive me, Kimikyo-sama, for I wish no disrespect upon your house..."
"You bed a mated youkai, the disrespect was brought upon my house, and upon you human." Kimikyo interrupted somewhat harshly, her ever strong composure cracking momentarily before it was once again firmly in place. The human woman blushed and averted her gaze.
"And what of when she grows older dear mate? What then? She will die in but a blink of an eye. The pup will hardly be grown when her bones become brittle. Her flesh will be long since gone from her body when he reaches adulthood." The words were cruel and she heard the soft gasp from the human. Kimikyo's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, her lips turning up into a cruel smirk. "Ah, so you have not told her that even hanyou age much slower human. He will be an adult on the hundredth year from his birth. When do humans expire? Sixty, seventy at best?"
"Stop, Kimikyo." Inu no Taisho snarled, stepping in front of the woman as if to shield her from the icy words. He bared his fangs at her, assuming the role of Alpha. Kimikyo's composure cracked and she stood, her hair flying about her. Even Sesshomaru, who was still young, was surprised at his mother's actions.
"You dare bare you fangs to me, Inu no Taisho, your mate?" Kimikyo snarled, a harsh growl coming from her throat. Inu no Taisho stiffened, her defiance bringing his beast to the surface. His growls grew louder, his eyes beginning to glow a faint red. His youki pulsed about the area, flaring in warning. It only served to enrage Kimikyo more. Sesshomaru watched with wide eyes, the fury in his mother was undeniable. Her control had shattered, a sight he had never seen. He saw it then, after her cold wall had crumbled to the ground. The love, the hate, the pain, the heartache. All these years she had never let him see it. She had shown him only a cool indifference, a witty yet sarcastic temperament, but never the love that glimmered beneath the pain. Sesshomaru watched in silent awe as his father back down.
"Remember, you pitiful human. You have him only on loan. I have him for eternity. Should we die, our souls will still be bound. You can never obtain this. The mating mark," She reached up and pulled the top of her kimono down to show the mark upon her neck, "will never fade. Even in death, he is mine. When your looks fade, he will leave your bed. And you will die alone. Pathetic whore." Inu no Taish growled once more, Kimikyo having crossed the line. Kimikyo did not back down, the scent of the woman's tears only angering her more.
"As long as this human filth lives within this domain, I shall not have part in it. I will await your death in the house of my kin within the clouds." Sesshomaru eyed his mother. She cast him a guarded look. Her control was slipping back into place.
"Sesshomaru, my son, let us hope you are not filled with the same trait of dishonor as your father." Sesshomaru said nothing as his mother floated upwards, her form bursting into that of a beautiful giant white dog and taking to the skies. For many long moments, father and son watched the sky even long after she was gone from sight. Sesshomaru turned his gaze upon the human woman. His face was an unreadable mask. Turning his gaze away, he began walking down the steps.
"Sesshomaru." His father said sternly. Sesshomaru looked at his father, then at the woman beside him.
"Make no mistake, father, I will kill them both." The woman shrunk back hind her lover and lay her head upon his arm. Inu no Taisho watched his son walked away, a tight pang in his heart. His family was destroyed.
"My love," The soft whisper drew his attention and he gazed into the beautiful face of the woman he loved so much.
"Izayoi." He whispered as he pulled her into a warm embrace.
Dear Someone,
Whether you are the same someone, or a different it matters not. This tale is to be short and brief for the foul guard will be coming for me soon. He is large and horrid and smells of sour sake. Have you ever had a moment that changes your world quicker than you can blink? When everything you know and love changes abruptly? I have. It began when I was eleven, and the person responsible? Sokuri the vile. I can say no more for my time is short. Once again, in case this letter is the last I am able to write, I leave you with this. It is something my father always quoted, and it always made my mother laugh. It is a bout loving your wife, though I am sure it applies to both, with all your heart. Never betray or mistreat her. Akusai wa hyaku-nen no fusaku, a bad wife spells a hundred years of bad harvest. Keep your loved ones close, they could be gone before you know it.
K.H.
Sesshomaru read the short scroll, his eyes narrowed. He pulled out the first scroll and compared them. He had nearly forgotten it when it had appeared upon the floor in the very same spot the first one had. Sesshomaru leaned back against the wall beside the open door and gazed out over the lands of the west.
It had been three weeks since the scroll had arrived and his mother had left, and Sesshomaru stood on a hill beside a lake. In front of him was his father, whom was injured. He watched his father leave to fight the threat to the borders of the North. A dragon youkai had declared war when news had been heard of the great Inu no Taisho taking a human lover. A part of him wished to follow his father for with wounds he had the battle would not end favorably. Yet the sour taste of dishonor and betrayal still burned upon his tongue. His mother had been replaced with a human whore who bore him a hanyou son the night before. His father's words echoed back to him.
"Have you anything to protect, Sesshomaru?" The answer to that was no, he did not. He had no family now, no pack. His mother had returned to her ancestral home, dishonored and shamed, and his father had broken the sanctity of youkai and betrayed his mate. Sesshomaru had nothing, and it left him bitter. That night, there was another letter.
Dear Someone,
Hello again, or hello for the first time. In my last letter I spoke of family, and how quickly they could be taken from you. I know it is sad, but I remember the day I lost my father. He had sacrificed his life to protect my mother, my aunt, my sister and I. The pang of losing someone you love is crushing and deep, and it is hard not to pull into a shell. It is what I had done. An impenatrable shell. Now I look back upon this, and I regret it. I regret closing myself off from the pain because it made me wish for death. Now as I stand to be executed, I cannot help but wish I had made a difference, even a small one, in someone else's life. I know I have my son, but it is his status as my kin that has him within this cell as well. So to love someone, I condemn them, yet to not love someone I condemn myself. It is cruel, and it is vicious. For this letter I have no words of wisdom for I know it will not be my last letter. They have need of me for at least one more day. Until then, I bid you farewell.
K.H.
Sesshomaru had no time to ponder this letter, for a feeling washed over him. A feeling that left him gasping as he clutched his heart. His father was dying. Without so much as a second though, Sesshomaru left, the scroll falling forgotten to the floor.
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Love,
Caleesci