As I stood there, sword at my neck, I knew I was gonna die. Hell, maybe I'd known I was gonna die all along! Ever since I fell into this twisted make believe world. But hay, i had to try right? Try to change the future from which i came. Still, i had one hell of a run. I mean, who else can say they'd traveled back centuries in the past? Fought the demons of old, met the years past departed, seen a world the exact opposite of the one we all knew from birth.
As the sword was hefted up above me, i let go and fell back into the memory of my life a mere three months ago. The familiar sounds of the morning id awoken to. The familiar voice of the man who'd protected me my whole life. I fell into the past for the last time, and the screams of my friends and family as the sword fell, they drifted away with the wind as i traveled back to where my end had begun.
Id awoke to the same old same old. Bright western sun shining on the eastern horizon, annoying birds chirping in the trees above me, the river we'd camped next to rushing along undisturbed as always. The smell of burnt wood still lingered on the ashy remnants of the fire inya'd built to cook our fish in. God, for all the fish I've eaten in my life, im starting to wonder if there is anything else edible in the world. Probably not.
I pushed myself up, my ragged blue blanket bunching at my waist. Using one hand to rub my heavy eyes, i waited till my sight adjusted to the brightness of early morning to look around. As i'd figured, inya was nowhere to be seen. Most likely out catching food a few miles away. Heh, you'd think having a half demon as your body guard would be an awesome thing, but honestly, even miles away he'd still know if i did something "inappropriate."
Like for instance, what i was doing now. As i slipped my kimono off my shoulders and wadded into the river for a well beyond needed bath, i knew inya was probably growling and turning back this way. Depending on how far he went, i probably had a good five minutes at best before he showed up demanding i get out before he came in and dragged me out. Then he'd complain about how he can't leave me alone for a second and how dangerous the water is and blah blah blah!
I swam to a large flat rock in the middle of the river and pulled myself up. The water was so warm through here, but i'd heard stories about water that was so cold ice floated in it! "Someday I'll see those waters." I thought. "Someday I'll see a lot of things!" I liked to believe i would. My name is kagome Higurashi. I am a princess of the east and the priestess of my country. Someday i will take up my arms and fight for my country like i should have been doing for years now. I'll be able to save my people like a good priestess should. I'll be free to see my eastern kingdom, the home I've never known.
I was so lost in thought that i didn't even notice inya until he'd pulled me up to sit in his lap, arms around me and chin atop my head. Any girl would be embarrassed to be unmarried and naked in a man's arms. But inya was different. He never made me feel like i should be embarrassed around him. And since I've never cut it, my long black hair, when unbound, was long enough to pretty much cover my body from view anyway. He never saw anything and even then, he'd taken care of me my whole life! So it was fine. The man was inya, so it would always be fine.
"You were thinking about the east again huh kug's? You need to quit worryin 'bout it. It's not your problem right now." I clenched my fists and shook my head as much as i could in this position. "Im the princess of the east, the only royal from that land left alive and even more so im the priestess of this country! The suffering of the people here and the countrys turmoil, it's all my responsibility! Inya im not a little kid anymore, im almost sixteen! I have to take a stand sooner or later!" inya sighed, his usual answer and stood, pulling me up with him. A slight jump and we were fifty feet across the river on the shore where i'd awoke only a few minutes earlier.
Inya set me on my feet and went to my large yellow backpack. He crouched down and pulled the zipper back, stuck a hand in, and pulled out my short pink belly button shirt and a pair of blue jeans. The shirt had long kimono sleeves and the jeans were boot cut. i never wore any shoes. He tossed them to me and then went back in to pull out a hair tie and silver butterfly clip. I pulled on the shirt, grimacing at how it clung to my wet skin.
Once dressed, i walked forward to inya and stood with my back to him. While id been changing he'd managed to find my usual accessories. Inya snapped a lacy white and blue silk choker around my throat. The little bell in the center would ring if i were to move to fast and tell him where i was if we were separated, as if THAT could ever happen. I had gathered my hair and held it up so inya could put my necklace on but now that he had i released it. The long black tresses fell to brush the back of my knees as he began running my crystal brush through it.
I crossed my arms and looked into the trees. I knew that other girls my age picked their own clothes, own accessories, brushed their own hair. But inya'd done it my whole life. Yet another thing he's always done that i don't understand. As inya braided my hair and wound it up into a bun on my head i sighed. My hair was so nice, i loved it! It was longer than any of the other girls i'd seen, so why did i have to keep it up? None of the other girls did…
As inya slipped the butterfly clip into my hair i dropped down on to my knees and shook my head. "When will you tell me why things are like this? Why i have to live so differently than everyone else. I know that the others are gone and that were in danger but…" "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT KAGOME!" He cut me off. "I'VE TOLD YOU BEFORE! YOU'RE A PRINCESS OF THIS LAND, WERE THE LAST ROYALS HERE! WE WERE NEVER MENT TO HAVE NORMAL LIVES LIKE THE VILLAGERS TO BEGIN WITH! NOW DROP IT!"
I flinched away from him; those words were worse than a slap in the face but stung just as bad. When this happened and i was younger i'd get up and try to run away from him, but inya would just jump up and land in front of me, even madder for me having tried to get away from him. However, this was taking it too far. I stood, turned, and walked up to him. Inya had the same sad glint as always in his amber eyes and his obvious anger was written all over his face. I stopped right in front of him. My arm raised and then snapped left.
Inya's eyes were wide and a red handprint was forming on his right cheek. I turned and walked into the woods near the camp. It was only a few feet in, but i knew inya'd be too shocked to come after me for a while. I'd only slapped him once and that had been in desperation. But now it was out of pure furry. What right did he have to treat me like a child and get so upset that i was curious about why we had to be so different?
It wasn't fair! Call me a whiner if you want but i mean really? He didn't have to be such a jerk about it. It's my life just as much as it is his…i thought by now we'd be equals in this. I guess i guessed wrong…
I was so mad that when i heard a branch snap behind me i shot up and stomped forward without looking back. "I don't want to talk to you! Go away!" i yelled. Of course i didn't expect inya to just say ok and walk away but when an arrow whizzed a centimeter away from my cheek and bedded into the tree i was facing, i didnt even spare a glance at my attacker as i ran toward the river, my anger aside and forgotten. I knew what was happening. They caught up again. I burst out of the woods and right into a battle. Inya had his tessaiga out and was slashing at the demon army that bastard naraku had sent after us. "KAGOME, RUN! GO SOUTH!" he yelled. I nodded but as i turned, a new line of soldiers came up to surround us. We were trapped. inya slashed through the two soldiers separating us and grabbed me with his right arm, pulling me agenst him. His long silver hair whipped in the wind that blew through the trees around us. His red hakama was ripped in places and blood ran down his cheek where a soldier must have cut him.
"What are we gonna do?" I half yelled. I was clinging to him for my life. We'd been in some sticky situations before but this was nothing like those times. Inya looked around desperately at the hords of demon soldiers, then closed his eyes. "Kagome listen to me carefully. The necklace i always have you wear, it'll be enough to ensure that no matter when you land you'll be safe. Don't lose it ok, promise me."
I shook my head, tears coming to burn in my brown eyes. "I don't understand. What are you talking about?" Inya, eyes open, turned toward the river and lifted tessaiga up in the air. "Promise me!" he yelled. I nodded. "I won't lose it!" He smiled and brought tessaiga down in one swift swing. "Protect her." I heard him whisper before a large black rift surged to life in front of us. I didn't have a clue what was going on.. And then inya grabbed my left arm and flung me forward into the darkness. I looked back and saw his face for a split second before the rip closed and i was falling.
The air around me was pitch black and looked filled with stars. Then suddenly everything brightened and went from black to the pinks and purples of twilight. I fell faster and closed my eyes as my body came into contact with the ground. My world was spinning and i could have sworn i heard screaming. My head was lifted and i was met with a pair of warm brown eyes. Eyes i hadn't seen since i was a child. "Aunty Izzy?" i whispered.
The woman's eyes went wide. "Only Serena and Nick's children have ever called me that. Child who are you, where did you come from?" My vision was full of black spots. I tried to shake my head, failing miserably. "What are you talking about; it's me, kag...kago..me." I could feel my consciousness slipping away. "Oh dear your bleeding all over. Someone help me get her inside, someone call for kiade!" A man's voice answered her. "But your highness, we have no idea who or what she is, she just fell out of the sky! And look at the strange clothes she's wearing!"
I felt Izzy's body shake a bit. "She's got the necklace of the east, only someone of royal blood could so much as TOUCH it let alone wair it. She's hurt so badly.. Get her to kiade NOW!" The man gave a curt "Yes ma'am." And i felt the world fall out from under me once again before the darkness consumed me whole, and i fell away from the world.