:: Sapphire / Shikon no Tama :: part 1 -- "Cheating the Wind"
written by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales
the charachter Sapphire was created by Shelley Dream
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Summary: In the wake of Naraku's death, a girl from another world crashes into the feudal era of ancient Japan carrying with her the fully assembled Shikon jewel, the soul of Kikyo trapped inside. Takes place after the ending of the anime.
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The weather was cool and windy that day in the Tormuru province of western Earth. The sun was shining down upon the land however, and warming whoever it touched. You would think then, that were one only to reach out and get closer to that sun, one could be warmer still. After all, when you bring your hands closer to the fire, isn't it a warmer spot to be in?
Such simple logic doesn't always apply though. As young woman named Sapphire, who's glowing wings carried her on the winds in the sky, had learned all too well in her short life here on Earth. For she was now much closer to the sun than those on the ground, but she was not nearly so warmed by it. Wind you see. A loophole as it were. The farther you got from land and the higher up you went into the sky, the closer to the sun you where, the more wind there was to cool you down. It was like that in life too: loopholes, trade-offs, technicalities, and harsh realities that made what should be simple and good, confusing and windy and cold. If you didn't look out.
Fortunately though, in this case, she knew how to cheat the wind from ruining the sky for her. Magic was such a wonderful thing, she thought to herself. At least it was today. But then, when she was flying like this, a lot of things seemed a lot more wonderful than they did on the ground. Magic was like that. It gave her wings, which were wonderful in the sky, but brought her more pain and misery than anything else when she was on the ground. If for the way other people looked at her when she brought them out if nothing else.
Like today for instance.
Today, she and her father and two of her siblings had been visiting the province on diplomatic matters. Tormuru city was located by the sea, and she and her brother, Onyx, had gone walking along the docks. They'd met a group of local kids their own age who had offered to show them the sights.
The group had ended up on the docks, watching the ships come in while talking about nothing in particular. It had been fun, really fun, and she had felt so happy and at peace there. More so than she'd felt in a long time in fact, apart from times when it was just her family and her that is. But this was different, she was actually out with other kids, and she felt… normal. She smiled at remembering it even know.
Of course it hadn't lasted.
A small boat had capsized, a young girl was going to drown, rescue services were no where to be seen. She had to act, or have that girl's death on her conscious. So she did. Stepping forward towards the edge of the dock, she let her wings grow from her back and take shape and then she stretched them out, took a few steps forward and left the solid footing of the dock to glide out on the wind, swoop up the helpless girl into her arms, and fly back to the dock.
It only took her about a couple minutes really. And the girl was totally in awe of her; asking her if she was part bird and if she would take her flying with her sometime. She'd promised that she would if time and her father's schedule would allow for it. And then she handed the girl off to the approaching medics who were just arriving on the scene so that the girl could be checked over properly to make sure she hadn't been injured, didn't have a concussion or the like. Of course, when she'd turned back to see the looks on her new 'friends'' faces, well, they weren't as friendly anymore.
They looked at her like she was a freak. She'd put her wings away again, and tried to brush off the slightly suspicious looks that she was getting. But as her brother began to glower at them more and more, she could tell there would be a fight if things went on that way. So she made their excuses, thanked them politely for the tour and dragged her brother off away from them and back towards their hotel.
On the way back, her brother had not stopped grumbling about how petty and spiteful and ungrateful those kids were How he'd like to bloody them up a bit, maybe pound some sense into their 'thick' heads. This only added to her growing unease and she felt like just getting away for a while. So that's what she told him, that she just needed some air, some time by herself, and would he mind going on without her for a while. He grumbled at this and made some token protests, assuring her that he would try to be better company; but he understood her mood, and let her go without much of an argument. Which she did, after securing his promise that he wouldn't go back and try to start something with those kids they had met. That having been done, she'd taken to the sky, uncharacteristically not giving thought to the startled reactions of those around her as her wings took shape and she left into the skies.
And so here she was, flying in the sky, a forest having replaced the buildings below her long minutes before, and her thoughts were wondering again back to the expression on that little girl's face as she looked up at her. She'd never had anyone look at her like that before, and the more she thought about it, the more it made her happy. She'd definitely have to see about keeping her pledge to the girl and taking her flying soon. If only to thank her for lifting her spirits so much, if nothing else.
And so, not very many moments later, just as a mountain came into view on the horizon, Sapphire's thoughts having turned to an amusing imaginary scenario about her brother getting into a fight with the birds at the docks. The birds having been scoundrels enough to steal his pastry, and Onyx, his honor having been insulted, having taken up the banner and pledged that the birds would not enjoy their ill-gotten gains. No, he would get his pastry back and give it to some more deserving creature. Perhaps a dog who would be polite enough to ask with a kindly bark, or a cat who gave a friendly meow as his or her request? Either way, those thieving birds and the honor besmirched Onyx were still battling one another fiercely in her mind, small amused bouts of laughter bubbling up from inside her as she flew along, when her wondering gaze caught a flash of light out of the corner of her eye. She looked on and the blinking light seemed to be moving towards her at an alarming speed.
As she stared at the light, the world seemed to go off kilter. The sky all of the sudden looked like a warm reddish pink and the air seemed to warm around her and come at her in gusts. She maneuvered the wind currents with practiced skill though, keeping herself aloft and avoiding being tossed about overmuch.
Once or twice though, she lost sight of the blinking light, but as she turned again and her eyes caught sight of the light once more, the light seemed to turn red too and begin to fall out of the sky. All at once, the excessive winds stopped and the world slowly began to right itself again in her eyes. She looked after the light, and as she did, her eyes seemed to zoom forward a little, like as if she suddenly had a zoom-in function like on a camera but actually inside her eyes. She could almost make out what the light was…
It seemed lost to her somehow, like it didn't belong here and it knew that. As her vision of the light grew clearer, she almost imagined she heard a small voice in her ears, asking for help. And just like that, she knew she had to help. Somehow. So down she went, chasing after the falling light with a single-minded determination to save it from it's fate. Time slowed down, and her eyes remained locked with the falling light. But, it was falling too quickly, almost like something was trying to keep it away from her, to make sure it fell. So she dove, arching her wings and setting her weight into the dive. Faster, faster she fell until the light seemed but a few meters out of reach, and then she could see it clearly. It wasn't a light, but a jewel. A red jewel, and as recognition hit her, her outreached hand closed around the jewel and there was a loud crack of translucent energy that came from her hand, sounding like a sonic boom had just gone off over her shoulder.
The world was topsy-turvy again, but oh so much worse than before. Light and noise and wind dazzled and shook the air around her, she couldn't tell how long, but soon everything just seemed to go blank and she hit the ground, hard.
She groaned in protest to the treatment her body had been given. Her senses crashing back to her. Her whole body ached, especially her right shoulder. And there was the world around her, it didn't seem quite right somehow. She did know grass when she fell on it though. She was laying in grass, and her right hand felt warm. The jewel. That was in her right hand, she should take a look.
She tried to move, but that just hurt more. She opened her eyes and everything seemed too bright, so she closed them again and then squinted a little to let herself adjust to the light better. As she did she felt the warmth from her hand start to spread, and soon her whole body felt warm. She felt like sleeping. As she dosed off, she thought she heard voices. One was a woman's voice. It said "Are thee all right child? Can ye here me? Child?" she felt her shoulder being shaken. And then there was another voice, much harder to hear, faint, distant, yet somehow also very close. This voice simply said to her "Thank you."
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to be continued