There was darkness. A young girl was laying motionless. Her faint heart beat was drown by the silence. Emptiness was surrounded by walls of black. The darkness enveloped everything. Suddenly a painfully bright light flashed fiercely, engulfing the young girl.
As the light slowly faded away, a small sound started to appear. It sounded like static. The noise quickly started to grow louder. Cold water stared to trickle down the girl's face and into her ear's. She opened her eyes, at first seeing nothing but gray. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the scenery, as water tried to pool into her eyes. Thunder crashed in her ears, awakening her completely into reality.
Rain was pouring down, flooding around were she lay. She sat up and the rain water quickly showered the mud off her back. Squinting, she looked around. She couldn't recognize were she was. She was surrounded by tall trees and shrub and was sitting in grass and mud. She struggled to gain composure. She couldn't remember why she was there or were she came from. Her memory was a blank slate. She looked down at her self. Her pale skin was completely bare, and extremely cold.
Wobbly, she tried to stand up, almost falling back to the cold ground. When she got to her feet, she tried viciously to keep her ground. As she was looking around, she heard an odd noise. As it became clearer though the harsh sounds of heavy rain, she began to recognize it. It was foot steps. She turned around to see five ragged looking men walking towards her.
"Look boss, a woman!" a man with and eye patch spoke out. He was staring her down, head to feet, with a sickening amount of lust in his eye.
" She's already naked for us too!" said a different man. He had quite a few missing teeth and was licking his bottom lip with his tongue, as if she were a fine slice of chocolate cake. Another deferent man sat down on a fallen log that looked as if it had been rotting away for months. He had a hard face and had the eyes of a cold killer. Black stubble traced the outline of his chin, and his eyebrows were big and scruffy.
"Bring me the woman." the man said in a frightening deep voice. the four other men smiled maliciously as they started to walk closer to the girl. Her heart started to pound in her chest and she could only think of one thing to do. Swiftly, she turned in the opposite direction and sprinted away as fast as her legs could take her. The men stood there staring as she ran, a bit shocked by her sudden bolt away from them. "Idiots! don't let that whore get away!" the man yelled, enraged by his men's idiocy.
The girl kept running. she quickly glanced behind to see if they were following. She couldn't see them. She was far enough away that they wouldn't be able to spot her through the heavy rain and fog. Still, she kept running. Her legs were growing tired and sore, as she was stopped by the wall of a cliff. Panicked, she was at a dead end. she regained her composure after a few seconds, and began to look around. Quickly she spotted an opening to a cave a short distance away. She charged towards it, a bit slower than she had been running before. Her legs were on fire, and yet they were almost numb from the cold water pouring from the sky. Her breath was sharp and painful, and her heart felt as if it was stuck in her throat.
She slowed to a walk as she entered the small cave, and then froze in her tracks. To her surprise, the was a small fire heating up the cave. She stared at the fire for a few seconds, dumbfounded, until she realized it wasn't the only thing already in the cave. She looked slightly to the left, to see a strangle looking man, sitting solely by the fire. He looked different from the men from earlier. He looked well groomed with expensive looking clothing. His hair was long and gleamed from the fire. It was a rather strange hair color, a brilliant shade of silver. It matched his pale white skin beautifully. On his face were odd looking markings, one being a purple crescent moon on his fore head and the others were two red stripes on each cheek. His eyes were a dashing shade of amber and held no emotion as he stared back at her face.
The girl snapped back into reality. She looked away, remembering her bare flesh as she tried to cover her self with her arms. Looking back towards him with embarrassment, she noticed he wasn't giving any attention to her body at all and was just staring at her face, as if he didn't care in the least bit.
She tried to gather words to say in her mind. She felt like she hadn't' spoken to another person in years. "um.." She stared, a bit shyly. It was pleasantly warm in the cave, and she didn't want to leave. She wouldn't even know where to go. She tried speaking again. "um.. uh.. is it all right if I share this cave with you?" she asked, scared that the answer may not be what she hoped. However, the answer never came. He just kept staring at her face, no change at all in his expression. 'Why is he so quiet?' she wondered to herself.
As she began to take another step deeper into the cave, something wrapped around her neck, stopping her in her tracks. She looked down, it was a hand, full of little black hairs. it pulled her back out into the rain and tossed her face first onto the muddy ground. She lifted up her head as the mud ran off her face, looked toward what had grabbed her. It was the man with the eye patch from earlier, and the other men had her surrounded. Suddenly, four of the men grabbed her and held her down on her back, each holding onto a limp. She squirmed as much as she could, but it was completely infective.
"You wont get away this time, whore." she looked towards the voice. The big man from earlier, whom appeared to be the boss, walked up in front of her. He stared to take of his pants, and she instantly knew what he was planing.
"Stop!" she screamed as tears started pouring down from her eyes. Her heart started beating so hard she thought she would vomit. Her body started to tremble as he began to crawl over top of her. She was panicking, and she couldn't do anything. She clenched her eyes shut, as she prepared for her innocence to be stolen, but nothing happened. Something wet splashed onto her body. She slowly peaked her eyes open, only to be shocked at the sight. All of the five men were laying lifeless on the ground, each completely decapitated. Their blood that covered her body was being washed away by the rain. She noticed movement coming from the cave opening she lay next to. Standing there was the silver haired man. He turned and started to walk back into the cave.
The girl, still shocked from the event, didn't know what to do, so she quickly got up and ran into the cave. The man was standing, facing the fire. The girl collapsed to her knees, behind the mans legs. she was still pouring out tears, trembling as she grabbed at the earth beneath her. She looked up, noticing he was taking off his armor. She looked away, nervous and unsure of his actions, she scooted back a little. She couldn't handle it again. She stared getting dizzy from a combination of panic and coldness. She looked up towards him again, he was standing in front of her, with his white silk shirt in his hand. he tossed it at her, along with a long piece of yellow and blue cloth to use as a belt.
She stared at the clothing for a minute, as he walked back and sat down in his spot from earlier. It was white with red on the bottom of the sleeves and the right shoulder. The girl quickly got up and pulled the shirt over her body. It was huge on her. She could barely get her arms through the sleeves enough for her to be able use her hands to tie the cloth around her stomach. She looked towards him, guilt pouring over her for thinking such things of him. She slowly walked over to him and sat down next to him and the fire.
She stared at him for a for a few seconds, while he stared blankly into the fire. She decided to speak up again. "..Did you save me?" she stared at him gratefully as she waited to a reply, but it didn't come. She was a bit confused as of why he wasn't saying anything to her. "um.. Thank you. If it weren't for you -"
"It wasn't for you, they were creating to much ruckus" he interrupted, surprising her quite a bit. He didn't so much as glance at her, his face still not changing.
'So he was the one that killed them' she concluded to herself. "So I guess you don't mind if we share this cave then.." she trailed off. She was still going over the whole event in her mind.
"Do what you want" he said coldly and blankly. They both sat in silence by the fire for what seemed like a long time. The girl was propped up against the wall slowly starting to pass out. The man finally glanced over at, examining her. He wasn't really sure him self why exactly he saved her. He could have killed her along with the other disgusting vermin, but instead she was sleeping next him, wearing his shirt, burning her human stench into its fine material.
He kept staring at her. She was finally dry from all the rain water she was once drenched in. She seemed about 15 years old. She looked rather unusual, like she was from a foreign land, far away. Her hair was and odd, pale, golden yellow. It was smooth and curled inward as it swept down her back. Her bangs parted somewhat in the middle and curled slightly inwards towards the center. Her skin was creamy with a very delicate pale color. Her eyes were soft and round, and were a deep emerald. She was very unusual indeed.
Her eyes jolted open as the sound of a small girl's voice entered the cave. "Hurry up Jakken-sama!" The girl said happily. She stopped running, confusedly as she spotted the girl.
"Rin, you stupid girl.." trailed another voice. It was coming from a strange looking green creature, whom must have been the one called Jakken. He had ran into the back of Rin, from her sudden stop. Jakken walked from behind Rin and also stopped in his tracks.
"Sesshomaru-sama?" the scene was to much for Jakken. It was his lord with a half naked mortal girl sitting next to him. Tears squirted from Jakken's eyes. 'Why? Sesshomaru-sama? Why? And with a pathetic mortal girl!' Jakken yelled in his head, freaking out more than necessary.
"Jakken-sama, that woman is wearing Sesshomaru-sama's shirt" Rin pointed out, confusedly.
Jakken started stomping his foot on the ground as he scolded Rin. "Stupid girl, how dare you think Sesshomaru-sama would do such inappropriate acts with a mortal!" he was still tearing up as he yelled.
"What do you mean, Jakken-sama?' Rin asked confusedly, to innocent to see the same thing as Jakken.
Jakken fell to his knees in an attempt of apology. "Please forgive me my lord! I'll take Rin out for a wile longer, immediately!" Suddenly a rock came flying from Sesshomaru's direction and hit Jakken right on the head. "ugg!..." Jakken cried out in pain.
"Don't be ridiculous" Sesshomaru said coldly, with his expression still not changing.
"Who are you?" Rin asked the girl, curiously. All eyes focused on her.
"I'm.. umm.." who was she? She herself didn't even know. She could only remember the past few hours. "I'm.." she tried again. Something deep in her brain started to squirm into her memory. Was it her name? It seemed so odd and foreign to her, yet, familiar. She didn't know what else it could be. "...my name is Aono" The words felt odd as they escaped her lips.
"That's a nice name, Aono-chan" Rin replied. She sat down next to the fire, trying to warm up. Jakken grumpily sat down as well. She continued asking more questions. "Were are you from? Why are you here? Do you like fish? Why are you wearing Sesshomaru-sama's shirt?"
The last question struck Jakken's nerves. "Stop asking so many questions Rin. Your being noisy." Aono was thankful for the interruption. She had no way of answering any of those questions.
"Aren't you curious Jakken-sama?' Rin asked, cocking her head a little to the side.
"No! Hopefully she wont be hanging around us long enough for it to matter." Jakken grumbled. His statement hurt. Aono knew it was true, but, she just felt so lonely. She was lost. Lost in her own mind. She had no place to go. She didn't know who she was, and she didn't know if any one knew. She felt so helpless and alone. Tears started to form in her eyes and one slid down her face and onto Sesshomaru's silky shirt. Rin and Jakken noticed her tears and got quiet. Aono looked away, trying to hide the sadness on her face. She glanced back over to were they had been sitting, but Rin had gotten up and sat right next to her.
"Here." Rin smiled holding out her hand. "I picked these a little while ago." Aono looked into the girl's small hand. In it were small red berries.
"Thank you" Aono said, picking a few of the berries out of the child's hand. She placed one of the berries in her mouth. It was sweet, and the juiciness of the berry wrapped around her tongue. It was delicious. Aono hadn't realized how hungry she was. Her stomach lightly grumbled as she finished off the berries. It wasn't enough to fill her up, but it would have to do. Once she was done, a sudden wave of sleepiness swept over her. She laid down, and stared at the fire. She watched it eat away at pieces of wood with an occasional pop. Pieces of the flame would sometimes flicker out of the fire and disintegrate one it hit the ground. Aono watched the fire until she fell into a deep sleep.