Sacrifices
I won't start my story with "Long, long ago..." because I don't think it's a legend. Nor will I start it with "Once upon a time..." for it certainly is not a fairytale. Maybe I shouldn't worry so much on how to start my story, but on how I tell it.
My story starts with my birth. When I was born, my father had been praying for a son, but I was born instead. My mother, a devout woman, had promised her first daughter to the nearby shrine.
No, I wasn't to be sacrificed. I would spend the rest of my years unspoiled, unmarried, and as a priestess.
For me, this meant never bearing a child, but to bear the sorrows of so many distressed people who came to the shrine. It meant never devoting my work to caring for a household, but to the gods. It meant instead of a life of laughter and of being a mother, I would get a life of sombreness and dedication.
Of course, I wasn`t happy with the decision. But what my father said was law, for he was the Emperor. He only wanted to be rid of me, I know that for certain. For I was a nuisance, because who wanted a wife who dreams of anything besides a loving husband and happy, healthy children?
They never welcomed me at the palace. It was either, "What if someone was to be at the shrine, looking for me, and I was not there?" or, "A priestess such as yourself should not be exposed to such things!" But their excuses were irrational, for no one sought me out, and what could be worse than seeing people weep at the feet of your peer, when you were all but 16? They didn`t love me, and they let it show.
I was miserable at the shrine. No one cared for my opinion. I was shunned by the others because of my bloodline and the fact that I had bad blood between me and my family. They envied me for the relatives I would give up for one person who truly cared about me. They thought that, since I had it all, why would I want to become a priestess, while some of them were given to our Master because their families could not care for them?
But, that life could not compare to what would happen next.
While I was out fetching water (for I was given the most strenuous of jobs) from the nearby well, I heard a rustle in the bushes nearby. Right then, after taking a peek over my shoulder, I wished that it were daytime, or that I had someone with me. Another rustle, this time closer. I called out, "Libou? Is that you? You know I don't like it when you sneak up on me." Libou was my best friend, the stray cat.
Suddenly, the bushes exploded with movement, crashing and twig-breaking loud. Hands pulled at my arms, letting the earthenware pot I was carrying fall to ground with a loud crash.
I stared at the pieces, dismayed, for I knew a beating would come from one of my peers for dropping their water vessel. Then there was a sudden pull at my wrists and my arms were bound with rope, and my mouth covered with a gag.
I pulled, struggling to get free, but my captor was strong. I let out a hoarse scream, muffled from the clothe gag, but he just shoved me and told me to shut up. I screamed again for help and I got a slap to the face in return.
Another piece of clothe was tied around my eyes, blinding me, catching a few strands of hair in the knot. He pulled the knot tight, so tight that I feared no one would be able to undo it, and I whimpered with pain from my hair being pulled.
He pushed me along, prodding me like cattle to make me move faster, until we came upon something I could barely make out through my blindfold to be a sort of wagon. A pair of hands pulled me up on my stomach, my legs hanging out, and I saw the chance to fight.
I kicked out with my legs, finding the chest of a man, and kicked with all my might. I heard a loud `oomph` and a heavy thud as the man collapsed to the ground, possibly winded. Another pull on me and then I was slapped so hard my ears rung.
"Looks like we got a fighter here." The man said, patting my throbbing head. He kicked my side.
"I think I knew that already." Was that the man I kicked? I felt hands push my legs up into the wagon.
A few more muttered conversations that I couldn't make out and I pushed up against another human. I heard faint sobs, like it was from behind a wall. A girl, then.
I yelled through my gag, remembering what a roommate had told us at the shrine, minus Master, of course. Earlier today, as I was leaving the kitchen, I heard someone, a girl, speak up.
"So, did you hear what today is?" she asked.
"No." A long-haired girl nudged the one who just spoke, jerking her head in my direction, and they burst out into laughter.
"Today is the anniversary of Orochi's death!" The first girl announced, once they stopped laughing. "But, it's not really a happy day, at least not for women."
"But isn't Mother Amaterasu a female deity?" another interrupted.
"Well, of course. It's just that there are stories of girls going missing. Then, one this day, every year, one of them is found at the Moon Cave, dead and sacrificed. Most think the girls are sacrificed by a cult that worships Orochi. So, these days, no girl is a loud to venture outside by herself." She paused. "So, who wants to fetch the water for tomorrow?" Everyone laughed at the "joke". I didn't laugh, because I well knew that she was half-serious.
"Why not let princess go? Who cares if she gets kidnapped? She could just call her family, if she needed help." And everyone voiced their agreements.
And so, I was sent out by my peers, possibly to my death or torture. Why death? Because I had the sneaking suspicion ...
That one of the girls was to be sacrificed.
