Strings by Gavriella

Foreward

Foreward

~*~

AU Note:  I’ll give out a general warning about this story. This is an especially sad story, touching on sensitive topics and mature subject matter. The nature of the ending is still dubious, so read at your own risk. Also, first and final disclaimer, I do not own Inuyasha. That is all.

Names:

-Mi-Ok (oh-k) is Kagome, and it means “beautiful pearl”

-Hee-Young is Kikyo and it means “prosperity”

-Min-Dae  – The father of Mi-Ok and Hee-Young                       

Please note: the Korean names are only temporary and are used for the story line. While the story begins in Korea, its main setting is Japan.

Feudal Japan

            The wintry night was unforgiving, spiteful even, for its biting chill had been hidden for so long during the summer and autumn months. A cold so venomous had pierced through his body, nearly causing his very bones to tremble. Ahead of him, a full, pregnant moon hung low in the sky, its lustrous silver glow illuminating the evening sky. He closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the prominent sound of the grass blades as they moved against each other with the onslaught of gusts of wind.  Immediately, his eyes flickered open with the sound of footsteps making their way in his direction; the blissful and momentary calm dissipating. The footsteps were firm, domineering, and unmistakable. The steps suddenly stopped at the doorway behind him. He did not need to turn around in order to know the face of the creature behind him. The strong aura that had abruptly filled the room already indicated to him that it was no other than the creature he had come to admire and hate in the preceding years.

 “I assume you’re going to go back to Korea Min-Dae” Inu no Taisho said flatly. Min-Dae nodded faintly, the awareness of the final moments of their friendship suddenly becoming heavy upon his shoulders.

“I’ll keep the item safe.” Min-Dae replied before turning around, certain that this time was truly the end.

“Min-Dae” Taisho called.

Min-Dae looked back over his shoulder and once again nodded his head. He already knew what Taisho was going to say. The thought of Sesshomaru crossed his mind, his hand grasping the suitcase handle evermore tightly.

“I will keep my end of the bargain Taisho, I just pray that you will keep yours.”

“Don’t waste your prayers Min-Dae, I have every intention of upholding my end of the bargain.”

“Of course Taisho-san, of course…”

~M~

Present Day South Korea

Hee-Young

            Bitter thoughts raged within me as I helped my mother in the kitchen. The pungent smell of her sweat, the evidence of her continuous toil assaulted my senses as I turned my head to admire her devoted technique. Her hands, strung with protruding veins like the silk strands of a spider’s web beneath her nearly translucent skill ran over the cabbage with expertise. Slice it, spice it, stuff it into massive clay jars and wait for it to ferment. Her long straight hair was tied in a bun atop of head, tiny strands escaping and swaying with an entrancing movement as she worked. The sound of the front door opening and closing shattered what I felt was an intimate moment between my mother and I.

“Oh! Mi-Ok is here!” Mother’s voice rang out, breaking the silence, accompanied by the sound of the great metal bowl she used as it collided to the ground. Mother  moved past me like a breeze, her soft work weary arms latching themselves around my sister. She never hugged me like she hugged Mi-Ok, her eyes never shone like they did for Mi-Ok, and her smile…her smile was always for Mi-Ok.

“Omoni!” Mi-Ok sang, her eyes meeting mine as her chin rested on our mother’s shoulder. She raised her hand and waved. It angered me how much sincerity she gave the gesture.

“Mi-Ok…only if you knew how much I hate you…” I muttered under my breath as I looked away to resume my task. I closed my eyes, waiting for the oncoming ritual. It was her blessing from the heavens and my curse. It made Mi-Ok everything that she was, and all that I wasn’t. The latches of her violin case opened, and as her bow slid across the taught strings, an ethereal sound began to fill the air.

~M~

Min-Dae

The sound of the pebbles and shells on the ocean shore crunched beneath my feet as I jumped off the barren boat. I could feel the saltiness of the ocean as it settled into my skin, unto my tongue, and in my heart. The fishing net hung loosely in my cramped hand, devoid of any catch. The sounds of the waves as they pounded against the shore reminded me of the day’s conditions. It was an angry sea that had prevented me from catching any fish. The ocean, like the sky above it, was dark and clouded, an intense grey mixed with hues of a blue that was so dark that it was nearly black. I thought to myself of the heavens, of their stormy feelings that had poured into our world. There was a reason for the darkness, that very reason causing my blood to dry. I pushed through my thoughts, escaped my inherent pain and began to trudge through the village. Bouts of lightening spread through the sky, briefly fighting away the darkness. I thought of the empty table tonight, I thought of my wife’s disapproving face, I thought of hungry bellies, and I thought of things that were hidden long ago, things that I prayed would stay hidden.

~M~

Mi-Ok

            It wasn’t I who played the violin and I knew if I explained it to anyone, I would not be believed. There was something else within me that moved my bow across those strings. I was merely the vessel for the enchanting sounds. A tingling sensation would be present in my finger tips, my heart would gradually slow down, and my eyes would close, thus transporting me to a different place entirely. I became detached from the world beneath my feet, unsure of where I would end up. Flashes of lush and fruitful gardens, extensive green landscapes, and majestic palaces were the best of what I’ve seen. The worst entailed things that were too frightful to even exist in the darkest of nightmares. I would see blood stained fields, scattered with human and limbs of nameless creatures. Images of uncontrollable fires and the devastation that they had wreaked across anything in their path until the ground would become nothing but ash. Everything that I would see when I played my violin was nothing that I had ever seen before in my lifetime. At times, I felt that it wasn’t only a world apart of my own, thousands of time periods away. The land was not Korea, but perhaps a distant neighbor. I shuttered slightly as I ventured away from the modest hut that was my home and into the only haven that I knew of. It was the most tranquil place to play, a hidden enclave among the ageless trees. I stopped, feeling compelled to play, I glided my bow across the strings of my violin, my eyes closing in a way that mimicked sleep. This time, it was no landscape or dismembered humans and creatures that I saw, but the silhouette of a creature so fearsome that I felt a chill run through me.