Learning to Love

A beautiful woman was pacing back and forth in a room full of books. Her hair, which was such a dark brown that it appeared black to most, was done up in a simple bun. Her kimono was a pale yellow, and she had a full chest and hips that showed she had had children. Her eyes were a dark honey brown, but they were filled with worry at the moment. Her daughter had left to visit her grandmother and had not returned. They had received word that she had left from the village and, by all accounts, she should have been home long ago. She was almost two days late; any mother would be worried at this point. She stopped her pacing when a knock on the door brought her attentions away from her worried musings.



“Come in.” she said in a slightly scratchy voice, she quickly coughed to clear her throat, and then turned her attention to the servant that had entered.



“Milady I deeply apologize but there is no sign of your daughter anywhere on the road from here to your honorable mother’s village. Our best trackers followed her trail from the village to a clearing about forty five minutes away from it, but the trail went cold after that milady. There was, what appeared to be, signs of a struggle, but there was nothing conclusive to prove that it was your daughter.” He bowed deeply, knowing of his Lady’s troubled mind he added, “I am sure she is fine Milady, she is a very resourceful young woman, and is probably helping some villager she found in the vicinity, we are currently exploring that option, and as soon as we find out something you’ll be the first to know.” He bowed again and quietly slipped out while his mistress thought over the new information she had been given.



‘It makes no sense; she would have sent word home if that were the case. I can normally sense my children, but it is as if her life force has completely disappeared, almost as if…no I’ll not even consider that option, she is alive. I have to believe that, I won’t give up on my daughter.’ She thought, but even with her attempt to think it through positively, a tear escaped and slipped down her lightly tanned cheek. The not knowing was killing her, her maternal instincts were pushing her to find her daughter, but with her husband out at another peace negotiation, she had to remain at the castle in order to run things in his absence.



She started to paced around once again when suddenly a bright shimmering that blinded her and caused her to fall into an ungraceful heap on the floor. When her vision finally cleared, she noticed a beautiful woman with long flowing blond hair.



“Oh my, my apologies, I didn’t mean to knock you over.” She said helping her up.



“Who…who…who are you?” she stammered.



“Oh my, how rude of me, first knocking you over then forgetting to introduce myself, my, my.” The blond woman shook her head to rearrange her thoughts back onto the right track.



“My name is Ericka, and I have news of your daughter…”Ericka started but was interrupted by the hysterics of the woman standing before her.



“You know where Kagome is; please…please I beg of you, tell me where she is. I can’t stand the thought of not knowing.” She said in hysterics grasping the front of Ericka’s robes tightly.



“Calm yourself Himeno; your daughter lives…she is fine, I assure you.” Ericka said in a firm voice, holding the other woman by the shoulders to shake her out of her hysterics, after few moments it was apparent that Himeno had gained some control over herself.



“Your daughter lives Himeno, she is safe and being watched over by the gods. She is serving a purpose in their divine will, but it will be some time before she is returned to you. I promise that when she is, she will be completely unharmed, and no worse for the ware. You have my word as a tennyo, Himeno she will come home.” By this point Ericka was holding Himeno on the floor while she sobbed her joy at the knowledge of her daughter’s safety. Finally, her tears ran out and she stood with the help of the tennyo on slightly wobbly legs.



“I can stay no longer I’m afraid, it is time for me to take my leave, cease your search for your daughter, she is beyond your reach and your guards will much better serve you her at your castle, heed my warning Himeno. You daughter is in a place only the gods can reach, far beyond your mortal reach, call your search party back, and be prepared to defend yourself in the near future, with the homecoming of your husband will also come an enemy that will attack your home and family in more ways than one.” With that, another bright shimmering light engulfed Ericka, and then she was gone.



Himeno slowly sank back onto the floor holding herself around her middle as she began to cry again, but this time tears of joy fell from her eyes and she kept repeating “She’s alive…she’s ok…” over and over again. Forty-five minutes later she finally had it engraved far enough into herself that she believed it, she knew tennyo’s never lied, but they didn’t always tell whole truths either. For now she contented herself with her daughters safety, that much she knew she could believe, now to call back the search parties, if what Ericka said was true, then they would be needing all of their forces at full strength soon.



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Well here is another chapter, my deepest apologies for it being so short but I haven’t had time to write lately, I did write a little one shot at the beginning of the month but that is only because it had been bugging me for weeks to write it down, so I did. I am really sorry to make you all wait this long for the chapters to come out, I didn’t anticipate being bogged down so suddenly by a pile of schoolwork. I am really sorry, again that this chapter is so short, but I felt that I owed it to all of you to update so you all wouldn’t think that I died or something, several people have review and that makes me really happy that people are enjoying my work, major self esteem booster there, and I thank you all for that.



Muse: Hey let me outta this damned cage!!!! Did you hear me I said LET ME OUT!!!!



Lil muse: No Muse you tried to get rid of author lady again, you’re going to stay in there until you can behave (crosses little arms and shakes head in a affirmative fashion)



Muse: why you little git, when I get out of here…



Author: you mean if you get out of there, I can use you just the way you are and you’ll never see the light of day again (looks at Muse with evil intent)



Muse: You…you…you wouldn’t really leave me in here. Would you?(muse starts shaking like a leaf)



Author: I can and I will if you don’t behave, behave and we’ll see.



Muse:….