Prologue:
It was a beautiful day in the village of Mura. The tranquil weather automatically puts everyone in a good mood. Mura is small, but not insignificant. The village stands right outside the gates of capital city Kira, home to the king and upper class of the country Nazo. Nazo is the heaven of Sengoku Jidai. It lies in the western lands, governed for centuries by a leading Inu-youkai family, but is home to youkai and humans alike, and sometimes even hanyou.
Though Kira is the capital city of Nazo, Mura is actually the focus point. From ancient times, powerful miko were born and raised in this village. And one of them created a jewel; a jewel called the Shikon no Tama. It fuses both good and evil, a combination of soul, love, bravery, and friendship. The descendents of this miko (some say even reincarnations) have been protecting the jewel for as long as anyone can remember. And it was this jewel that kept Mura, Kira, and the entire country safe.
But even such a jewel can’t keep a country in prosperity without a good ruler. For three centuries Nazo has been under the rule of King Taisho. The recent birth of his son, Prince Sesshomaru, is also a sign that the country’s future is under good hands. But tragedy struck the royal family. Prince Sesshomaru’s mother, King Taisho’s queen, died giving birth. Even her youkai healing powers couldn’t revive her.
King Taisho remarried two years later, this time, to a human woman. But since in Nazo, this was common, there was no objection. Another two years past, when prince Sesshomaru was four, King Taisho’s second son was born, a healthy, beautiful, little hanyou, who Taisho proudly named Inuyasha.
Chapter 1:
The Beginning of Everything
*~*~*~* 8 years later… *~*~*~*
“Cousin, come play with us!” A five-year-old little girl squeaked as she ran past her cousin, whom was only a year older. Behind her, a five-year-old boy was chasing her. The girl circled her cousin a few times, trying desperately to pry the bow, quiver, and arrows out of her hands. “Come, cousin, you can train later. Come play with me and Hojo-kun!”
The older girl merely shook her head with a determined look. “Dame desuyo, Kagome-chan, I need to train for tomorrow’s ceremony.”
The little girl named Kagome wouldn’t let go of her cousin’s bow. She tugged harder. “Please, cousin, come play, please.”
“I said I need to train,” The older girl’s voice became more determined, “let go of my bow, Kagome-chan.”
Kagome giggled as her cousin tried desperately to pry her hands off the bow. The boy that was chasing her came to help and grabbed the quiver full of arrows. “Run, Hojo-kun!” Kagome giggled more as Hojo obeyed her and ran away with the quiver. “Now you can’t train, cousin, now you have to play with us.”
Her cousin did nothing more besides giving an angry grunt. The girl rolled her eyes at Kagome and the boy, then turned away without another word.
The boy Hojo ran back to stand next to Kagome. “Kagome-chan, is Kikyo-chan mad at us again?”
Kagome looked up into the boy’s innocent eyes; she blinked a few times before answering with a bright smile, “maybe. But let’s make her a flower wreath, then I bet she won’t be mad at us anymore!”
“Great idea, Kagome-chan…” Hojo’s smile dimmed, “But I don’t know how to make a flower wreath.”
Kagome giggled, “That’s why you got me!”
Hojo smiled once more, “you’re wonderful, Kagome-chan. Will you marry me when we grow up?”
Kagome started to dance around in circles. She answered without thinking: “Sure.”
“Great!”
“Hojo-kun…”
“Nani, Kagome-chan?”
“What’s ‘marry’?”
Hojo scratched his head. “Etto… I’m not really sure. I heard about it from my uncle.”
“Is ‘marry’ nice?”
“I think so.”
Kagome smiled. “Then okay.” She pulled Hojo’s arm. “Come, Hojo-kun, let’s go gather flowers.”
The two children set out to the flowery field for the rest of the afternoon, gathering up the most beautiful flowers they can. Then they sat below the village sacred tree, the Goshinboku, and started to weave a flower wreath for the disgruntled girl who left earlier.
As night loomed over Mura, and the sun sank slowly beyond the horizon, the two children finally finished their task. But their delicate young hands were raw and bleeding from being pricked by thorns. They did a once over and ran back to the village. Kagome had her cousin Kiyko’s bow along with the wreath, while the Hojo boy carried the quiver full of purified miko arrows.
“Cousin!” Kagome yelled happily as the two entered a relatively small hut. Her cousin Kikyo entered through another door connecting with an inner room. “Cousin, look what me and Hojo-kun made for you!”
Kikyo stared at the flower wreath in silence, but her sharp eyes noticed Kagome and Hojo’s bleeding hands. She pointed it out and asked accusingly. “Why are your hands bleeding?” She didn’t wait for an answer; for she saw the flowers they used to make the wreath. “These are roses. They have thorns.”
Hojo started to blow air onto his scorching hands. “We were trying to remove the thorns so they wouldn’t hurt your head, Kikyo-chan.”
Kikyo nodded, still emotionless. She placed the wreath on Kagome’s head. “Since you were the one who made it, you should keep it, after all, you deserve it.”
Kagome grinned really happily. “We wanted to apologize for earlier.”
Hojo nodded along. “Are you still mad at us, Kikyo-chan?”
The six-year-old girl froze in place for a while. Finally she gave in and smiled at her two younger friends. She shook her head and sighed.
Kagome and Hojo jumped up and cheered, happy that their plan worked though Kikyo didn’t take the flower wreath for herself. Their loud cheer brought an older woman into the room.
“Why the commotion, children?” The old woman was in her early fifties, one of her eyes had a black patch on it. Her back was bent; her face carried the look of someone who has seen many terrible and many joyous things. One can tell just by looking at her that she’s experienced in life.
“Kaede-baachan!” Kagome giggled as she ran up to her grandmother, showing the flower wreath on her head. “I made it myself, Hojo-kun helped me. I was going to give it to cousin Kikyo, but she said I deserve it.”
“Is that so?” Kaede looked at Kikyo. The young girl bowed her head slightly. “That’s very nice of you, Kikyo. And it’s very nice of you to help Kagome, Hojo-kun.”
The young boy blushed and bowed deeply. “Kaede-sama, konbanwa. I should go home now.”
“Why don’t you stay for dinner, Hojo-kun?” Kagome ran over and grabbed Hojo’s hand. “Can he stay, baachan, can he?”
Kaede nodded. She was just about to go to the kitchen when she noticed Kagome and Hojo’s injured hands. “You poor children. Pricked by thorns, I see.” The old woman walked toward the herd cabinet and took out some weird looking herbs. She bent down in front of Hojo and squeezed out some juice from the plant. At the same time, she didn’t forget to quiz her two future successors.
“Kagome, what is this herb called?” Kaede quickly chanted a spell, the boy watched in awe as his wounds started to heal in almost no time at all.
Kagome scratched her chin. “Umm… lilies?”
Kaede shook her head. “Kikyo?”
“Chamomile.” Kikyo didn’t even have to think.
“Do you know the spell to use when healing small wounds with chamomile?” Kaede wasn’t surprised by Kikyo’s answer. Kagome can never tell herbs apart, while Kikyo was already a master of the subject at the mere age of six.
“Hai, but I have never applied it.” Kikyo answered while hanging up the bow and quiver that Kagome and Hojo brought back.
Kaede handed Kikyo some chamomile. “Why don’t you try it on Kagome?”
Kikyo looked both surprised and delighted. She gave a rare smile to Kagome and asked politely as always. “May I, Kagome-chan?”
Kagome seemed equally excited. “Of course, cousin!”
Just like what Kaede did earlier, Kikyo squeezed out some juice onto Kagome’s palm, chanted a spell in ancient Japanese, and the wounds closed, leaving no scar to prove that they ever existed. Kagome grinned, happy for her cousin’s success, while Kikyo sighed in relief that all of her studying paid off.
“That was perfect, Kikyo.” Kaede smiled too, complimenting her other granddaughter. “Your parents would’ve been very proud of you.”
Kikyo nodded, releasing a sad smile as she thought about her parents’ death from a few months ago. Ever since her parents were drowned along with Kagome’s father in a fishing accident, nothing has ever been the same. Her aunt, Kagome’s mother, was still pregnant at the time. Kagome’s father’s death caused the woman to give birth early. After that, the queen of Nazo, an old friend of the family, insisted that Kagome’s mother and her two children to go stay in the palace. But since Kagome is one of the future miko candidates, she had to stay with her grandmother.
“Let’s all go eat in the kitchen.” Kaede said to Kagome. “Your mother brought back some wonderful food for us from the palace.”
“Mama came today?” Kagome smiled for the millionth time that day. “Did she bring Souta too?”
“No, Souta is still just a baby.” Kaede took out an extra cushion for Hojo. “Besides, she was only here to make preparations for tomorrow’s ceremony.”
Kagome and Hojo sat down while Kikyo helped Kaede bring out dishes and bowls of rice.
“Will Uncle Taisho bring us presents tomorrow?” Kagome asked eagerly. Every year the royal family paid a visit to Mura, paying respect to the village miko and the Shikon no Tama. Tomorrow is the day. Every year King Taisho had brought presents for the two little girls. Last year he brought them each a set of bow and quiver. He told them that a year later he’ll come back and the two girls will have to show him how much they improved. That’s the reason why Kikyo had been training so hard, including that afternoon.
“He always does.” Kaede smiled. “And don’t forget to thank him.” She said this to Kagome, for there was no need to tell Kikyo. The young girl was surprisingly polite. “Have you been practicing your archery, Kagome? Your mother says that King Taisho plans on inspecting your archery skills tomorrow.”
“Ummm…” Kagome blushed. She knew she hasn’t touched the bow once since the day she got it. “I’ve been meaning to.”
Kaede said nothing in response. In truth, ever since the two girls learned how to walk, the old miko had been silently observing them, deciding who should succeed her once her time was up. So far, the entire village thinks Kikyo should definitely be the future miko.
The rest of the night went on in mostly silence. Kagome wondered for the whole night if Kaede was disappointed at her. When sleep finally caught on, the girl drifted asleep and a dream came…
:: It was cold, and really wet. The sky was so dark. She can hear people yelling and screaming. Her right hand touched something and she grabbed hold. Her body was floating, weightless, but wet… everything was wet…::
:: A woman was crying, a boy was screaming something, something incoherent. A white flash appeared in the corner of her eyes. It never stayed in one place. The white image was moving at an incredible speed. So fast… ::
:: More men yelling, there was a whole bunch of them. Yelling something that she couldn’t hear, and almost every one of the images was flashing, moving from place to place at an impressive speed. They were all screaming something, they sounded desperate, in panic. Behind all their screams, Kagome can hear the woman, the woman that was crying and yelling at the same time. ::
:: But all of the people’s voices couldn’t hide this other sound. A sound so terrible that it made Kagome want to cover her ears and cry. So loud…::
Kagome gasped for air as she woke up from that terrible dream. She shut her eyes and wiped away the tears that flooded out of her eyes. She grabbed her covers tightly and bit it with all her might so her sobbing wouldn’t wake up her cousin and grandmother. It was a terrible dream. Even if she couldn’t make out what it was, it was still a nightmare.
The young girl took several more gasps before calming herself and going back to sleep. She prayed that the dream wouldn’t come back. Tomorrow she will see her mother and her little brother, and everything will be fine.
Little did she know, that night was when her destiny began to unfold. That dream was the beginning of everything, the beginning of her life. Up on the hill, in the village shrine, the Shikon no Tama began to glow. And it glowed for the rest of the night. When morning came, its light finally dimmed as the souls inside went to rest.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sorry that it doesn’t make much sense now. It’s all a big mystery. ~_^ I’m starting off with when all the main characters are very young. And it’ll take a few more chapters for them to get older. #_# The background is very important. But don’t worry; it’ll make much more sense later on. I promise!
Date started: May 26, 2003
Date finished: May 31, 2003
Word count: 1910
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