In Silk and Moonlight
Yumeko's tale

Hokkaido, 1502

Inside the castle of Tokimaru, Yumeko's engagement party waged on. Yumeko had excused herself as soon as it was polite, and had run outside to the front steps of her father's stronghold. She sat there, her chin in her hands, neat blue hair cascading onto her shoulders, her enormous green eyes quivering with unshed tears.

Yumeko was the only daughter of Tokimaru and Tsukiko, the current leaders of the Dream clan in Hokkaido. Never mind that they were the most powerful youkai on the island; they were also one of the most powerful youkai clans in this whole part of the world. Such an enormous kingdom had to be carefully managed, and would be passed on to a worthy successor.

Unfortunately, that successor would have to be found through Yumeko, since her mother and father had never been able to have a male child. Tokimaru had often complained that she should have been born a son. Yumeko had tried to show that she was as good as a boy; she was a fast runner, she could handle her own in a fight with any of her father's men, and she climbed trees just like all the human boys in the town in the valley below the castle, but nothing she could do showed her father that she was anything more than an alliance waiting to be married off. Her father had chosen a strong, able bat warrior that was over a hundred years her senior. He was polite to her mother, and on good terms with her father's warriors, but he looked at Yumeko with a gleam in his eyes that frightened her.

The little girl sat glumly, the moonlight reflecting off the shiny green silk of the new kimono her father had ordered for her. What sort of pervert youkai would want a ten year old girl as a bride, anyway? The baron was from Okinawa, far to the south. Yumeko would have to move there after she married him. She didn't think she'd like it that far away. She'd miss the cool, crisp mountains of her home, where the brief autumn season meant beautiful gold leaves soon covered in snow.

A noise startled her sad meditation, and she looked over at the path where another youkai was approaching. Father had invited all the taiyoukai in Japan to this feast, and it looked like this particular well-wisher had arrived from far away. He smelled like a humid forest, and as he stepped from the shadows onto the moonlit path, she recognized him as the ancient taiyoukai Inutaisho, the reclusive leader of the Dog clan.

Yumeko stifled a sigh of admiration. Inutaisho was the most handsome youkai she had ever seen. His long silvery hair fell to his knees, and he wore a crisp white court outfit. She'd heard her mother talking about how he had traveled all over the world in his youth, and that after he returned to Japan, he had considered taking a wife finally.

"Greetings, Yumeko-chan," Inutaisho said, and paused on the steps to ruffle her hair in a friendly, familiar manner. Yumeko giggled, a brilliant smile wreathing her face for the first time in days. Inutaisho had visited her father often, since the Dog clan was almost as powerful as the Dream clan. She often secretly wished that her father would choose him as her husband. She'd do everything she could to please Inutaisho, who had always treated her with kindness.

"Greetings, Inutaisho-sama," she answered, and straightened from her slumped position to appear more ladylike.

"Has the party already ended?" His highly sensitive ears twitched from the sounds of the revelry within. "Or has the newly betrothed couple already experience a marital spat?"

At the mention of her engagement, Yumeko's spirits plummeted again. Inutaisho didn't miss the crestfallen expression on her face.

"I only needed some air," she lied.

Inutaisho looked at her carefully, and chose his reply with care. "The air around the castle is a bit stifling, wouldn't you think?"

Yumeko looked at him and sniffled a little.

Inutaisho continued. "You may want to go a little farther away than this. If the sounds of revelry bother you, then go where they cannot be heard, such as the fields or the mountains. You'll feel better in the morning, I'm sure."

Yumeko nodded dumbly. Was Inutaisho telling her to run away? No, he would never do that. He was too honorable. But a lot of the guests at the party had expressed concerns over engaging Yumeko when was so little still. Most youkai couldn't even bear children until they were in their thirties, although her mother's family, the Moon clan, was an exception. Yumeko had been born when her mother was only fourteen, resulting in a complicated birthing that left her mother barren. But Yumeko was a lot sturdier than Tsukiko. Her mother had been born under a crescent moon, giving her the unusual marking of her Moon clan on her forehead. Yumeko, as only half Moon, also kept that marking, but she had actually been born underneath a full moon. She'd probably give birth to a dozen healthy sons starting at age twelve; at least that's what her father seemed to be banking on.

"Now then, smile for me again, Yumeko-chan." Inutaisho bowed gallantly, and went inside the castle, where he was immediately greeted by her father and her betrothed.

Yumeko returned to her pensive slump on the steps, staring out at the wooded copse in front of her father's castle. Overhead, the moon winked out for a moment as fat snow clouds drifted in the sky. A few flakes twinkled down, promising an early snowstorm this season.

I mustn't run away forever, Yumeko told herself as she stood up, straitening her soft green silk kimono. But maybe it's okay to run away for a little while.

The ten year old dream demon carefully picked her way down the large front steps, her new sandals making a crunching sound as they hit the thin layer of fresh snow on the ground.

"Thank you, Inutaisho," she whispered, and quickly fled for the healing mountains.