A candidate to Goddess:

By Asuka Tenjou

Chapter one: The silver fawn


Notes: This is a very experimental fic in which I wanted to base the story on the culture and mythology of the ancient Greek civilization, and also I wanted to try out a new writing style that pays more attention to detail. Hopefully it will be a success! I'll let you be the judges!


Glossary:

1- Hera: Wife of Zeus, she is considered the goddess of all women

2- Zeus: He is considered the ruler and father of all gods in the Olympian pantheon. He was the ruler of the sky, men and thunder

3-Aphrodite: Goddess of beauty and love

4-Alpheus: A river situated near the Peloponnese


She ran, her feet merely grazing the green grass, the wind caressing her body causing her raven hair and silk robes to flutter behind her gently.

This was her favorite sensation. The feeling of freedom that seemed to be enveloping her whole self, as she sniffed the fresh air and the smell of pines and listened to her own very faint footsteps.

She paused, her eyes glistening in anticipation while they spotted her quarry. Trying not to make sudden movements she crouched beside a bush, and took out her bow and arrow. Stroking the arrow's feathered tail she placed it in the bow tensing the string aiming it to the prey she was about to shoot.

Her victim was a beautiful white fawn that was raising its head in alarm, as if it had noticed something was out of place. It tilted its head nervously as if it were looking for the origin of this uneasiness.

The woman held her breath ready to let go of the string restraining the arrow. But just when she was about to let go, she noticed the fawn walking towards her bush, in an almost confident pace, its previous nervousness gone. The huntress didn't know what to do, a part of her was commanding her to let go of the arrow, and another was restraining her, mesmerized by this awkward behavior.

A few steps away the fawn stopped in its tracks, remaining completely motionless.

Completely entranced by the fawn, the woman came out slowly from her bush, un tensing and lowering her bow at the same time.

Her emerald eyes were fixed on a pair of red. They stared at each other for a few moments in silence when suddenly without warning the fawn turned around and dashed away.

The woman cursed and she too began running as fast as she could after it. Ending up beside the riverbank of Alpheus and cursing almost out of breath when she realized she had lost sight of her prey.


It was the first time that the great Natsuki had come home without a kill. Feeling frustrated she stormed into her house slamming the door shut.

"Did the hunt not go well?" asked a tall man with blue eyes and untidy black hair who had been sitting on a chair in the far corner of the room.

Natsuki huffed at him "What do you think?" she asked placing her bow and arrows by the door.

"I think that Natsuki-sama didn't get a kill, judging by your foul mood and the fact you didn't bring anything back home."

Natsuki glared at him in annoyance. "Miroku, this is the first time I went and came back unsuccessful, don't say it like I did this more often, because I haven't."

"I apologize… May I ask why did the hunt go wrong?"

At this the woman ran a hand through her hair "I don't know…" She had the kill right in front of her, but for some reason she had decided to stand stupidly gawking at it. Natsuki stared at her hands and clenched them in deep thought. "… it's just…"

"Just?" repeated the man his blue eyes fixed on the younger woman.

"I feel like I seen that fawn before…" she unclenched her hand and looked into the man's eyes.

"A fawn…" he murmured "What did it look like?"

Natsuki paused pensive "It was white, a pure white color that looked like liquid silver in the sun. And its eyes… they were redder than anything I have ever seen. The whole animal itself looked surreal like a dream."

Miroku frowned, a crease forming between his eyebrows "Well it does sound rare indeed. And you say its eyes were red?"

"Yes."

"That is odd…"

"You said that already. Anyways, I'm going to rest a while." She stated heading towards the back of the house

"Do you have any idea on what you plan to eat tonight?" he asked

Natsuki glared at him "I'll hunt something later" she said before slamming the door on his face.

She sat on the side of her bed, which sunk slightly under her weight as her eyes fell upon a little wooden figure of a woman holding a bow. Taking it in between her hands she held it close to her heart.

"I miss you"


Deep in the forest an owl fluttered by the tallest trees, not bothered that it was not night time yet. It soared lower and lower till it reached a clearing, after circling it a few times it landed on a tree's lower branch and waited patiently its head turning on its body as if searching for something.

"Were you looking for me?" asked a female voice below the bird.

The bird gave out a soft hoot before it landed on its master's shoulder.

"So what do you think?" she asked with a smile playing on her face.

The owl tilted its scrawny head before it opened its beak. "She's very young…" it said while her master merely chuckled not surprised that the bird could talk.

"She is… but I think she might be what we are looking for"

The bird clucked its small beak a few times before speaking again "What if she is not…?"

The woman raised a slender eyebrow amused at the bird's retort "Are you doubting my judgment?"

The bird ruffled its feathers indignantly "Of course not! You asked for my opinion."

"… That's true…" she sighed as she raised a finger to stroke the owl's neck with care eliciting a small hoot from the animal. "We shall see then?"

The owl closed its eyes and then with another hoot it jumped off her master's shoulder and opened its wings out wide rising itself to the sky again.

"We shall see…" the woman repeated watching her bird fly away "… tonight."


Natsuki got up from her bed, still grouchy, giving out a groan when she noticed a golden light illuminating the room, she had over slept. Coming out from her room she looked for her companion "Miroku?" she called out without getting any reply in return.

He must be out. She concluded in her mind.

Miroku was her guardian. He had always been there for as her as far as she could remember; raising her, not in a fatherly way, but like a mentor and treated her like a disciple. Although it didn't seem that way as he tended to call her 'sama' as if he were a servant to her instead. And after many failed attempts to knock the habit out of him she just let it pass.

Also another thing that struck Natsuki as strange back when she was growing up under his care was how he tended to disappear every now and then, which in the beginning made her worry, but she later grown accustomed to it and never bothered to ask where or why he would just vanish for indefinite periods of time.

The blunette picked up her bow and arrows and headed out towards the forest. With or without Miroku, she still needed to get dinner considering that she had skipped lunch due to that one blunder.

She ran swiftly between the trees, her ears ready to listen the scuttling of any animal. Her eyes constantly darting towards the setting sun, she didn't have much time. Moving around the forest at night was dangerous. Especially because of the wolves that roamed it.

She saw something glitter from the corner of her eye.

White.

Galloping.

Innocent.

A fawn.

Natsuki stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes now completely focused on the animal that was bobbing in and out of the vegetation playfully as if it were coaxing her… no, daring her to chase it.

A voice in the back of the huntress mind reminded her that she should be hunting her dinner, but her pride wanted her to make up for that humiliating defeat.

Making up her mind she chased after the fawn, her bow in her hand.

The fawn ran in a zig-zag like pattern but the blunette kept her eyes fixed and locked upon the animal. Almost not daring to blink because of the fear of losing sight of it again.

She lost track of time as the chase continued, until the faun stopped suddenly, which allowed Natsuki to catch up and raise her bow.

"I have you now." She said a smirk forming in her face.

The sun had set, and the moon was shyly poking out form the other horizon, but Natsuki could still see the shining figure of the fawn that was patting the ground with its hooves as if it were stroking it.

Once again their eyes met.

Red and Green.

Do it. Do it now. Said a voice in the back of her head.

Natsuki tried to obey the voice, but she just couldn't. She couldn't kill that fawn. Her smirk faded to be replaced with an expression of frustration and anger.

What are you waiting for?

Just then she heard a low growl behind her.

She spun around.

"Oh great Hera (1)…" she cursed as she saw three wolves closing in on her. She turned around to see the fawn was no longer there. Dammit!

She backed out slowly as the wolves advanced their growls getting louder as they approached her.

Natsuki had to think fast, she shot her first arrow before the wolves could do anything. Successfully bring one of them down. She smiled at her minor victory but the smug was wiped quickly from her face when she realized that this act had angered the remaining two.

They pounced. She dodged the first and then slammed her bow into the second's ribs. Knowing that this wouldn't stall them for long she started running feeling the two wolves chasing not far behind her.

She didn't know where she was going; it was too dark for her to get any orientation.

This can only happen to me! I should have just concentrated on getting dinner! She scolded herself mentally as she felt something brush her ankle.

The wolves were gaining on her. Ok Natsuki, I can blame my stupidness later, now focus on staying alive!

She heard a howl, and instinctively she grabbed an arrow from her bag and turning her body to the side she stabbed the arrow head into the lunging wolf's ribs that whimpered and fell to the ground.

Now, only one wolf remained on her tail, she tried running through bushes to disorientate the wolf, but it seemed it was following her scent.

Oh for the love of Zeus (2)

This was one of the main reasons Natsuki loved wolves; they were strong intelligent creatures, with terrifying claws and fangs, with a great sense of hearing and smell. But right now there was no animal she loathed more.

"Don't you have anything better to do!" she yelled at the wolf as she kept running.

She reached the side of the river and continued downwards following its course when the idea struck her. Her emerald eyes darted in search of the wolf unable to find it.

She had managed to get the wolf off her, but if it were really chasing her scent, it wouldn't take long for it to find her.

Without a moment to lose, she analyzed the calm looking river that glistened in the moonlight; she looked at her bow and arrows and sadly left them on the ground.

And after taking a deep breath then plunged herself inside the cold water and began swimming upstream.

The current wasn't particularly strong so it turned to be quite easy to reach a decent distance from where she had been.

Once she thought that she would be safe, she swam to the side and exhausted let herself fall upon the solid ground, her legs still within the river.

"Ara… are you ok?" asked a voice above her.

Natsuki's eyes snapped open and looked at the owner of the voice.

The blunette held her breath as she saw a beautiful woman, pale creamy skin, with honey colored hair, and eyes… of an intense wine color staring back at her. Aphrodite? (3)

The woman stretched out her hand offering aid to the younger woman, and Natsuki responded numbly taking it and letting herself to be incorporated on her feet.

"Who… are you?" she asked her eyes unable to tear away from hers

"My name is Shizuru…" she paused "…Fujino"

"Uh…" Natsuki said dumbly at a loss for words till something in her mind clicked "Are you alone?"

Shizuru nodded faintly

"What are you doing here at night? It's dangerous!" the blunette managed to say slightly angry

"Ara… I believe I should ask you the very same question."

"I was- never mind."

Shizuru watched amused as a soft tinge of pink surfaced upon the woman's cheeks. A soft breeze passed by and Natsuki shivered involuntarily, not that she could do much about it, after all she was wet from her little dip in the water.

"Are you cold?" she asked tilting her head questioningly

Natsuki wondered what to reply, but her pride did that for her "No."

"But you are all wet." The woman stated "I believe this isn't the right time to swim in the Alpheus (4)"

A pang of annoyance grew in her chest, but the blunette knew better than to let it surface. "Anyways. Where do you live? You need to get out of this forest as soon as possible, I'll take you if you need assistance" she offered feeling uneasy of letting the woman wander the forest alone.

Shizuru however still looked amused. "Ara… you would do that for me? Ookini."

The blunette stared at the woman in disbelief, unsure if this woman was serious or making fun of her. She preferred thinking the first thing though.

"Then where do you live?"

The woman pondered for a moment before she pointed south "That way"

Natsuki nodded and headed that direction motioning Shizuru to do the same. She once more became focused on her surroundings, searching signs of threat, no longer paying attention to the woman behind her.

Shizuru however watched the younger woman intently, taking in her athletic figure, her midnight blue hair, and they way her body tensed when she thought she had seen something in the vegetation move.

"You seem anxious" she stated calmly

"And you seem awfully calm." Natsuki replied a nerve in her face twitching

"Is that a problem?" she asked confused.

"Never mind forget I said anything."

The blunette clenched and unclenched her fists. Oh how she wished she had her bow at least! That way she wouldn't feel so vulnerable.

Then she heard something and halted without warning. Shizuru mimicked her without crashing into her.

"Is there anything wrong?" she asked

"Be silent for a moment." She hushed at the woman.

Something was out of place. She could feel it. Amber eyes, on her glaring from within the darkness.

Where are you? Her eyes moved around with the hope catching the location of the predator.

A swoosh of air and Natsuki barely dodged the wolf which she recognized as her old acquaintance from before.

It must have picked up my scent again! She groaned mentally.

Her hands itched for her nonexistent bow as her mind tried to devise a plan. But was interrupted when the wolf this time lunged after Shizuru. And without thinking it twice Natsuki pushed the woman aside and the wolf managed to tear her side with its claw.

The wolf landed on the ground growling from the back of its throat as Natsuki hissed in pain clutching her side that was being covered in a crimson substance.

Trying to ignore the pain she focused on the wolf, as it jumped towards her again now aiming at her throat.

Her eyes widened as all they saw was blood stained fangs.

It was at that moment… everything that Natsuki had known till that point… changed forever.


Note: I just noticed… I barely remember all those classes of ancient Greek I had last year! NOOOOO! Anyways I was always fascinated by mythology (especially the roman and Greek ones) and always wanted to use them on a story!

As I said before I tried something new, I don't know if it's any good, so please review and tell me how you are finding this story. (there's not much of a story just yet since the first chapter is always like a bridge you need to cross to get you into the story line)


OMAKE:

Asuka: I said I'm sorry!

Natsuki: WHY? *cries*

Asuka: Oh please stop crying…!
Shizuru: Why is Natsuki crying? *Hugs Natsuki and glares at Asuka*

Asuka: because I made her favorite animal attack her… *sweat drop*

Shizuru: *Shizuru hands Asuka a pen* Change the animal or else…

(later on)

She cursed as she saw three hippopotamus closing in on her. She turned around to see the fawn was no longer there. She backed out slowly as the hippopotamus advanced their growls getting louder as they approached her.