Part 1 – The Dancer's Getaway
Ai was nothing but a mere dancer, she entertained the Lord with her graceful movements, she was treated better than the villagers, but she was still a low life, nothing special. She was assigned the job of a dancer for her beauty, her face was the key point to her beauty, and each facial feature was perfectly placed on her smooth face. Her hair reached her lower back, very close to her waist. Her body was curved; she was kind of short for her age, but nothing too noticeable.
It was kind of strange though, she had black hair like the common Japanese woman, but instead of the average brown eyes, she was blessed with beautiful jade green eyes. Her skin was very light, almost a white. She had a gift of unnatural beauty; she somehow seemed to stand out. Her nails were naturally sharp, sharp enough to cut skin. She tries to dull them by constantly scratching things; but it never seemed to affect them. Most people try to avoid her, they're afraid that she might be dangerous.
When she was younger, the other children ignored her. They thought she was weird, or creepy. They said things like, "I bet she's a demon! She has claws!" But she wasn't a demon, demon's are different, they have lots of strength and power. Ai was quite weak, easily controlled. She follows every demand that's given to her, even if she doesn't want to. She never seemed to be able to stand up for herself. But she never seems to shed tears, instead she gives sad expressions. Even if she smiles, her eyes always have this sad look in them.
Ai was in her room, a small, dim lit room. She was looking in her mirror, examining her outfit, making sure it was fit for dancing. It was simple, but beautiful. It was a short white kimono with long drooping sleeves; black flowers were printed on certain areas of the white cloth. And a black tie was wrapped around her waist; it had a bow in the back. Her kimono didn't reveal anything but her perfectly proportioned legs. She never wore shoes, she never felt comfortable in them, she thought it was easier to dance without shoes anyway.
There was a knock at her bedroom door, "Lady Ai, the Lord awaits your arrival."
"I'm coming. " Ai replied, she walked out of her room and headed for the main room, where she danced for the Lord. When she arrived, she waited for the music to start. When it did, she started dancing; she had the most graceful movements anyone could ever accomplish. It was a slow song, so she danced slowly.
The Lord watched her with great pleasure; he had always admired Ai. He thought she was so beautiful, and he never looked at any women the way he looked at her. When Ai finished her dance, she bowed and started heading back for her bedroom. "Halt, Lady Ai." The Lord demanded.
Ai froze without a thought of why not to, if she did otherwise, she would be in huge trouble. She turned to face the Lord, her face full of confusion. The Lord spoke once more, "Lady Ai, I have decided to make you my wife, we shall have our wedding at sunset tomorrow."
Ai had no choice, her face changed from confusion to shock. She could not believe the all mighty Lord was saying such things to the likes of her. She nodded and walked very quickly into her room. She was horrified, she did not love the Lord, and she did not wish to marry him. But it was too late now, it's not like she had a choice. He is the Lord, he gets what he wants, and if he wants her. That is just something she would have to deal with.
But she did not want to deal with it; she did not wish to be treated as royalty, she just wanted to be a normal woman. She wanted freedom, freedom to do as she pleases. A dancer was bad enough, being forced to dance for a Lord who desires you when you do not feel the same.
Then she thought of it, she could run away. She could wander the forests and bathe in real hot springs. And eat wild fruit that grew. She loved the sound of it, no more dancing. She would have nothing more than freedom and fresh air.
She decided to get ready; she walked out of her private room and out of the Manor, and into the nearby man-made hot spring created for the village. She stripped off her clothing and gently moved herself into the hot spring. She lay there, relaxed, enjoying the feeling of heat and water. It was late outside, she could see the stars. She always enjoyed bathing late at night, it gave her some privacy, usually people bathe during day, and she wasn't sure why they would want to.
After about twenty minutes or so she removed herself from the hot spring and pulled her clothes on. She headed back towards her room to wait; she was waiting for the perfect moment to leave this place. She went back through the main Manor doors, which were guarded by two men, on either side of the doors.
When she was in her room, she was trying to think of a plan of how to get out of the Manor, she definitely couldn't go through the main doors; she would get caught for sure. Her windows were far too high to jump out of. She decided she would just have to sneak past the guards, she would barely open the doors and squeeze through them, and then she would make a run for it. She didn't know if she could out run the guards, but she might be able to.
An hour later she picked up a small basket made of birch wood and snuck out of her room. When she reached the main doors she felt scared, she wondered what would happen if she got caught. Ai shook her head, she thought to herself, 'This is no time to linger, I have to move quickly.'
She slowly opened one of the two doors to a point where she could barely slip through without the guards noticing the doors were open. She sucked her stomach in as tight as she could and squeezed through the door. Then when she was outside the doors, she ran as fast as she could towards the forests. The guards looked very shocked and turned started shouting and running after her.
Ai ran faster than she ever ran before, she couldn't believe how fast she was running. It was unnatural; she felt a burst of heat swarm through her body. She didn't want to be caged anymore, trapped miserably in her room. It was quite strange that she felt so hot; it was a cold night after all.
She managed to lose them, she was inside the forest. She had a look of confusion on her face, she did not think that she could ever run so fast, to a point were she couldn't even tell where she was going. She thought to herself, 'Was that really me? It's like I couldn't control my self for a moment, I wanted to get away so badly… It's like; my body took over to fulfill my wish… Nonsense! I guess I'm just a fast runner.'
Ai just stopped thinking about it and decided to just be thankful for her talent. She started walking off, deeper into the forest. She saw a tree that seemed comfortable enough to lean against, so she sat in front of it and relaxed. After a while, she fell asleep.