Hello all, I've got another project going on, and hopefully with my new outlook of don't aim for the farthest goal, just for the one I'm passionate about, I can keep up with both stories, all my classes, work, other leisure things, and training.

This one is kinda trippy, so you might want to get out a mattress, just in case you need to fall on something ^_~* Only the beginning is a little confusing, but hopefully the rest of if isn't so bad. Not much explanation of what happens here in the first chapter, I have a horrible habit of that. This is a prelude, to set the scene and the tone, and to paint some pretty epic foreshadowing. So watch out for that, too! And exercise in plot device and fun, this is gonna be my release story, so the output flow might be a little ragged. You should expect to see more output when I'm stressed, and less output when things go smoothly. ^_~*

With no further ado, I give you Prelude to Never-Ending Questions: A Waltz Through Dreamland.

-------------------------------------

Kagome woke with a start to find herself on an unfamiliar bedroll on a strange dirt floor. She should have been used to waking in strange places, but this was not her bedroll, nor anyone else she knew or remembered. Feeling panic well up within her, The too-wise-for-her-age young Miko took several calming breaths before rising out of the bedroll entirely. Feeling relieved that she was still clothed, Kagome noted that she was slightly indifferent to her current predicament.

She had last fallen asleep on a dirt floor in an equally warm and un-cushioned bedroll, she was still dressed in her traditional priestess garb which was better than being unclothed and without a blanket or shelter. Kagome also wrinkled her nose and noted with equal certainty that she could have woken on a much comfier bedding surface (almost anything was better than the hard ground), and she could have been clothed in much finer garb.

As such, she was pretty indifferent, except that she had no idea who her host or captor was, or were if it was to be plural. Deciding to fix that which was of highest importance first, Kagome exited the modest chambers and, as she tucked a few locks of hair behind her ear, was greeted with cordiality unexpected of the humble location she'd just left.

She blinked to clear the sleep from her eyes and realized that, while she still wore the priestess garb, she was standing in an unfamiliar palace. Turning back, to assure herself she'd just exited a room with a bedroll on a dirt floor, Kagome was met with nothing more than a very intricate tapestry. As she turned away from the tapestry, Kagome wondered what was happening. About that time, she registered that extra weight rested on her brow. Curiosity demanded her investigation. As her fingers brushed over cold metal, she gasped and also registered the large cheering populace below her. Her populace, she realized.

Kagome was floored and more than a little hesitant and very worried. She stepped backward in the sheer weight of the realization and the shock of the transition she'd made. Her fingers brushed against the tapestry, and as she turned to gain a better look at the image shown there. She was expecting the shift that time, but Kagome never expected the location or nature of the scene she was about to experience.

Standing over a large hole in the ground, and dressed against in her Priestess Garb, she noted yet another crowd that had gathered, though much smaller than the previous one. As she examined the hole closer, she realized that it was a casket. Her caring heart went out to the person left behind by the being now in the ground. Kagome knelt in the dirt, softer than the dirt she'd woken up from, but it was still cold and lifeless.

Unsure of her actions or what was expected of her in that moment, Kagome offered a silent prayer to the departed soul, and retrieved a number of flower petals that were suspiciously there conveniently for her to cast onto the casket's wood. She watched the Sakura petals float down in a ballet on their own time, and was entranced as they came to a rest on the black lacquered wood containing the dead.

As the last petal rested on the wood, Kagome felt the world shift once more, and she found herself in a clearing, staring up at the stars, wearing her ever-faithful white and red priestess garb. For some reason, there were tears streaming down her face, and the sorrow in her heart would not let up. So caught up in her tears was she, that she never noticed the moon-lilies' shows nor the shooting star.

She came to grips with herself, and she wiped her tears after rolling over into a ball. Kagome stood again, and as she stood, the world changed. But the sorrow did not stay entirely under the stars. A little of it followed her to a garden, confusion and loneliness and sorrow permeated her expessions, and as she knelt in the fertile ground, her white and red outfit was stained with dirt.

She pulled the weeds from her garden dutifully, and as she sought to make sense of her jumbled emotions, Kagome discovered that the confusion was her constant mind subject to confusion from the swiftly changing scenery, and the sorrow was left from the previous scene, the cause of which she still didn't know, and the loneliness was rooted in the heart of the woman who knelt and pulled weeds from her garden in a dirt-stained white and red priestess outfit.

Shaking her head to free her eyes of tears, she also shook the physical projection of the world around her, and it shimmered and faded away, leaving Kagome in a large void, an abyss of nonexistence. It was a cold and dead, lifeless place.

Then, a voice.

As ominous as it was chilling, in a quiet voice, Kagome was forced to strain to hear clearly the warning it issued, "Beware immortality and eternal promises, for they lead to the things which you have seen here. Know that everything offered to you presents more than just one facet, more than just one interpretation, more than just one outcome. You can be happy or miserable, but it is you who will make yourself that way..."

Fading away, Kagome felt the Abyss also fading away. As she scrambled to hold onto something constant, She held onto that idea, and as she came to terms with what she had seen, the cold, dark, unchanging abyss seemed more friendly than the outcomes she'd witnessed herself taking part in.

She would experience wealth, and the life of a poor-woman, she would be both the center of large society with large responsibilities, and at the center of small societies with painful responsibilities. She would become too concerned with sorrow and dismay to enjoy the simple pleasures of the world, and she would always be tasked with removing the weeds from the desired lot. Kagome noted a similarity in all the occassions: The Garb of the Miko.

Kagome didn't understand why or how a Miko would come to experience things like eternity or immortality or eternal promises, but she knew, at least, to be wary of them. Kagome frowned at her hands and saw that they were only partially tangible. Shock gripped her, and she realized that if she were to seek solace in the empty sanctuary of emptiness, if she ever found it again, her existence would be short and unimportant in the vastness of nothing. Kagome would be unable to fill it with her presence, and it would slowly disintegrate her until nothing was left.

Letting the concept of stability and stagnation slip away from her, Kagome felt herself return to the realm where things existed and didn't just 'exist' before becoming undone.

The soft light of dawn pressed against her eyes, but with her heavy heart, Kagome was even less motivated to wake than before. She wanted to think, to understand, to know. She knew that unless or until she experienced why, Kagome, the Miko with red and white garb, would have no answers.

As she rolled out of bed in her pure white under-clothing, she pulled her hair back, and donned the white and red over-clothes that stained her past, present, future, and her dreams. Frowning at the red material, she tied her Hakama at her waist and then her ankles over the laces for her sandals. Reaching for her bow and quiver, she looked at the dirt floor she'd woken up on. Smiling grimly, she affixed the leather straps over her torso to hold her archery equipment. Kagome sighed, she'd have to find Inuyasha soon.

It had been a week since she was separated from their group, and she could only imagine how worried they must be for her. Steeling herself with positive thoughts, Kagome left the shelter of the villager's home, and rolled up her bedding. Stuffing her bedding in a cloth sack she slung over her shoulder, Kagome thanked the woman for her hospitality of food and shelter, and said her goodbyes.

There were important places and things she had to do, and if her dream told her anything, it was that she had to remain in high spirits, and avoid becoming bogged down in the depression and sadness that threatened to take over her heart.

Plastering a fake smile over her face and heart, Kagome set out to the forest. Sitting down, she expanded her field of psychic sensation, and searched for a sign of anything for clues or anyone that had news of her group. Not wanting to raise suspisions or panic anyone, Kagome hadn't asked where she was or when it was, but by her reckoning, it was a week since she'd left them, judging by the passage of the moon, and she was currently somewhere in the eastern lands, by the stars and the layout of the land.

Sensing a glimmer of power to the south, she retracted her 'radar field' and headed off to see if she could glean any information for the powerful presence. With any luck, she'd be there by midday if she ran. So Kagome set out at a light trot, enjoying the way the wind felt against her skin as she ran through the forest to her future.

------------------------------------------

See? Pretty trippy, wasn't it? Alright, let me have it all!! Your questions, complaints, requests, the color of the flames thrown hereto, etc. I want it all! (I'm so greedy ^_~*)

I'd love to answer questions, and if it's a good one, I'll post it and my response in the subsequent chapter. I'll also send you a review reply so that you know what's going on without having to chase down the answer to your own question. ^_^

Sincerely I give to you, the First chapter and Prelude to Never-Ending Questions: A Waltz Through Dreamland.

Thanks for reading!

~Elisavan Yaslana