"I'm sorry Mrs. Kakogawa but there are just no men who are interested." The village matchmaker said as she flipped through her papers once again.
"I understand, I'm very sorry to have bothered you again." A tall woman with deep purple robes answered. The woman looked to her right at a young girl and sighed as she began to rub her temples.
"I mean if the circumstances were different she would be married right away, but with her past no man is willing to sink to her level. I mean a young girl gets married and her husband dies at the after party? No one is willing to take the bad luck, and then to claim that she is still a virgin is another strike. After all if a man is going to have to marry damaged goods he's going to want her to at least be good in bed." The matchmaker explained. However, this was an explanation that the daughter had heard before. Her face turned red each time the matchmakers had told her that she needed bed experience to find a husband because of her bad luck. The young girl shivered as she thought of her first would-be-husband. He had been three times her age so his death was definitely part of her mother's plan, but before the old man could even write the young girl into his will he had died. Of all the bad luck! At this rate she was never going to get married, but to tell the truth that didn't bother the young girl much.
"Kagome let us take our leave." The woman said as she stood and thanked the matchmaker for her work, although Kagome could tell that her mother's thanks were strained. As they exited the rich house Kagome and her mother boarded their carriage and began the drive back home.
"I thought for sure this time we would find someone!" Kagome's mother grumbled as she looked over her daughter, "Sixteen is just far too old! You should be having children right now not worrying about where you're going to find a husband!" Kagome sighed and turned to look out the window. Was her marital status really so horrible? Kagome had never seen anything wrong with being single, especially if it kept her out of an old man's bed. However, her mother did not think the same and was determined to find her daughter a husband. After all, their family was too well known to have a daughter that wasn't married. Heck she would gladly give Kagome away to a merchant on the street if that would help her reputation, but unfortunately not even the merchants would touch her daughter! Kagome's mother mused all of this around in her head, she was desperate for a solution, any solution! 'So the high class men don't want her because they're afraid that she'll bring them bad luck, not to mention she's technically been married before, the middle class men don't want her because she has no experience, and the lower class men are simply out of the question.' Sure she was desperate but she wouldn't sink so low as to have Kagome marry beneath her status. Kagome's mother thought. She had been trying to marry off her daughter for almost a year now. They had traveled near and far too any and every matchmaking service they could find, but all had given the same answer.
Kagome watched as her mother grew more and more depressed. They had been to the last matchmaker within the kingdom today and Kagome could see that it had taken a toll on her mother.
"Don't worry mother, I could always stay single." Kagome suggested. However, one glaring look from her mother and she knew that was out of the question. "But what else am I supposed to do? I can't rewind time and undo the wedding and it's not like I have any 'experience' anyway." Kagome said as she looked down.
"That's it! We'll just get you some experience! Why didn't I think of this before? It's so obvious! All we need is a man who will teach you about the bed but not tell anyone that you learned from him!" Her mother explained excitedly, "He has to be someone we would have complete control over, someone who would never betray us…" Her mother said as she began to flip through options in her head. Kagome, however, was not excited about this idea. 'How can I just give my virginity to a stranger? And I have to 'learn' from him??' Kagome thought, a scared expression creeping over her face.
"I've got it!" Kagome's mother exclaimed. She then proceeded to open the sliding door to the driver outside. "Please take us downtown, by the docks; we have some more urgent business to attend to." Her mother said to the confused driver. The driver gave her a weary expression that asked what exactly two ladies would be doing in the rough part of town. Kagome's mother slipped him a few pieces of gold and the driver's expression changed back into its blank stare.
Kagome's face grew more and more fearful as the carriage neared its destination. What on earth was her mother thinking going to the docks? Kagome had lived in the kingdom of Harlow all her life and had never been anywhere near the docks before. In the olden times Harlow was just a simple fishing village but it soon grew to become a bustling city once the farms were established. However, the city had never really been separated from its grimy roots. The docks were technically still part of Harlow but no one from the right side of town ever came down here. There was gambling, prostitution, and worst of all the 'trade'.
"Here you are Mrs. Kakogawa. The docks." The driver announced as the carriage pulled to a stop.
"Get your cloak on Kagome, and be sure no one can see your face." Kagome's mother ordered. Kagome slowly pulled on the thick black cloak and tucked her face well inside of its shadows.
"Drive around the docks twice, we should be ready by then." Her mother said to the driver as he pulled away. "That only gives us half an hour." Mrs. Kakogawa mumbled. With a small nod the two cloaked figures headed down a dimly lit street.
"Mother, where exactly are we going?" Kagome whispered after about ten minutes of zigzagging through the crumbling streets. Her mother didn't answer and instead picked up her pace. Kagome dejectedly matched her mother's pace. She was getting more and more nervous as she looked around her. All of a sudden Kagome thought she saw a face in one of the cracked windows. She squeaked in fear and turned her face towards the ground, keeping her mother's feet in her view.
"We're here." Kagome heard her mother sigh. Sure enough they had stopped in front of a large wooden building with peeling red paint. Kagome gulped and took a step closer to her mother.
"Now I don't want you to say a word, understand?" Mrs. Kakogawa asked before she reached for a bronzing door knocker. However, before she could let it drop down and deliver its thump the door was opened by a round woman. The woman looked to be well into her fifties with a thin head of matted brown and grey hair. Her eyes were barely noticeable behind all of the make-up that she had on and her clothing was tight and revealing, showing far more of the round woman than Kagome wanted to see.
"Hello, I am here to see the selection." Kagome's mother said with an unidentified confidence in her voice. The round woman smiled a yellow greasy smile and let them inside.
"You've come to the right place, the best in all of Harlow here." The round woman said as she walked down a dimly lit hallway. The building smelled of rotten food and a sour stink that Kagome couldn't place. All in all it took all of her self control not to go running out of the building screaming. Instead of thinking about what she was smelling, and stepping in, Kagome turned her attention instead to what her mother was actually here for. Was there really a man who would bed her and keep quiet about it here? Kagome was sure that a certain amount of money would keep a person quiet for a little while but she knew better then to turn her back on someone who would do anything for money. Kagome's next thought though made her entire body shiver, was she going to have to do it with someone in here? Her eyes grew wide and she began to pay attention to the twists and turns they were taking in case she needed to get away. There was no way that her mother could be so cruel as to force her to have her first time in a place like this with a man who probably had the same standards as the round woman who was walking in front of them could she? 'She would' Kagome thought with horror and there was no way that she could refuse her mother if it came to that. Kagome could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she walked forward.
"Well then our selection starts here. Just tell me when you see one you're interested in." The round woman said as she opened a bolted door with a grunt. Kagome didn't know what to expect, but she certainly wasn't ready to see a room full of cages and chains. However, it wasn't the cages and chains that made her gasp it was the creatures tethered to them. Demons.