Torn
Prologue: Whisper in the Wind
"Concentrate Kyoko...hard. "
Tranquility, peace, cunning, swiftness, wisdom.....
"Without peace of mind, you will never achieve your goal. Keep your breathing even and deep, and your thoughts clear."
Qi, soul, serenity, strength, power...
The figure of a young woman hovered motionless over a pool of water lapping beneath her, legs crossed, hands outstretched in a ceremonial pose as her closed eyelids fluttered.
Through the clear water, fish swarmed in circles beneath her resting point, sending lily pads and water plants floating across the surface.
Around the girl, all was calm. The dojo walls creaky shifting paused behind her, the only sound the occasional whisper of a breeze over the stone walkway and through the trees surrounding the clearing.
Soundlessly, another woman sat on the edge of the pond, icy blue eyes trained on her pupil. She was clad in customary priestess garb, her long sleeves falling over slender fingers, long ebony locks drawn back from her face to drape down her back.
As she watched the girl before her, her heart swelled. She'd admit that she'd been a bit taken aback when the foreigner had shown up worn and ragged at her doorstep, demanding to learn the tools of her trade.
After explaining that the power could not be used so lightly and commenting on the young girls lack of manners, she'd learned the reason for her haste.
Demons.
Her eyes narrowed in hate.
Demons had slain this poor girls kin ruthlessly; had her searching for answers and weeping herself to sleep every moon-rise. She'd barely had time to ask about how the girl had found her sacred shrine before the pitiful creature had implored to start training
For revenge, she'd stated firmly, nothing deterring her.
Kyoko harbored a strong hate for the demons she'd slowly come to know and fear.
Slowly, she'd started smiling and laughing again. But still, beneath the exterior was a strong, proud girl who's heart was blackened from loss, bitter from hardship.
Hai, she was a strange girl.
And now her training was almost complete.
Three years of isolation without complaint were to come to an end. Kyoko had matured physically and mentally.
At the tender age of fifteen, she was no longer a girl, but a woman. A woman with an awesome power; and an even greater, she feared, lust for revenge.
All at once, her pupils's eyes snapped open, a blinding white, and water flew upwards from the small pond as bright rings of light encircled her wrists. Kyoko curled fingers inward as the elements swirled around her.
On the path, her sensei stared.
Incredible.
After a moment, Kyoko's head fell back, two bright beacons of light from her eyes shooting into the clear, blue sky; the circles of light around her wrists breaking apart to form lines of their own and zip in the way the beacon's had exited.
Water and fish rained back into the pond and a shuddering sigh followed..
Then, all was calm once more.
The older woman had to blink a moment.
She'd seen many priestesses reach enlightenment, but never as violently as this.
The foreigner was destined for great things.
Shaking herself from the daze, the elder priestess waded into the water to float Kyoko's prostrate form back to the path, taking note of her shallow breathing.
Hazel orbs fluttered open from under dark lashes.
Lips parted.
"S-sensei... I saw it...I...I saw my soul..."
Her mentor only nodded, kneeling next to her with bowed head.
Slowly, her student sat up on shaky arms.
"Sensei...does this mean...does this mean I'm finished?"
Slow, the older woman nodded, a finger held vertically centered before her face.
"You are the youngest I have seen to reach enlightenment Kyoko. You are very fortunate the experience didn't kill you." She murmured in her quiet, private way. "Now your power surpasses even mine."
Kyoko's eyes widened, then her face hardened as she scrabbled to her knees to bow to the hem of her sensei's robes; Greater or not, this woman had spent the last three years intensively training her. To not give thanks was rude, even more so in Japan than in her home country.
"Arigato sensei...sensei...." Kyoko looked up at her teacher, expressions serious. "Now I can find them, can't I? I can find and kill the demons that slaughtered my family, with my power. Can't I ?" Her voice rose furiously as she clutched the fabric of the older woman's hakama frantically.
Still, the mentor priestess's expression didn't waver.
Quietly, she replied.
"Kyoko, it is not guranteed that you will find them. There are many demons in the world. Some more powerful than even we can battle."
"Iie !" Kyoko exploded, pounding the ground with a fist. Before her voice softened, shaking lightly as she ground out her next words. "Then I will kill every demon I find until I discover them. I WILL avenge my parents' death..." She whispered. "I swear it."
Her sensei merely sighed, standing.
"As you wish Kyoko. I am no longer your master."
The young woman had nothing to say to that, only pressing her lips together as her hands fisted.
She WOULD avenge her parents...she had to.
"Kyoko..." Halfway to the dojo, her sensei turned and her young former student looked up quickly.
"Hai, sen-" She quickly corrected herself. "-Karika-sama."
At the, the slightly older woman gave a ghost of a smile.
"It is high time I sent you away, dear onee-chan. Three years here is enough." Turning, Karika began up the steps, heart heavy. "You will stay with a friend of mine at her shrine with her family. You should enjoy yourself. "She murmured. "She has a daughter about your age, and being a shrine family, they know of our history."
To think...her greatest student...returning to the world of hustle and bustle.
Still kneeling on the ground, Kyoko could only blink.
She had a...place to live? She hadn't ever imagined that Karika would go out of her way to do such a thing!
"A-Arigato Karika-sama."
Karika smiled wryly, starting inside. "It's only until you start your journey Kyoko; Don't look so awed."
She only hoped Kyoko would settle a while. With all of her training, her grief had turned quickly to rage and hatred, burning within her, scratching to get out.
Kyoko, she freared, had her own demons to stay, before setting out to attack the world.
"Karika-sama?"
The priestess halted her progress in acknoledgement, looking over her shoulder to her newly freed student.
Kyoko's brow was furrowed and she had stood in her wet robes, shivering.
The young woman wound slender arms around herself.
"Th-this girl....who you say is my age...what is her name?"
Karika gestured for her to come inside, finally getting to do the same.
"It's Kagome... Kagome Higurashi."
Hey all! I've been waiting FOREVER for fanfiction-net to accept word perfect! Thankies for reading my story by the way! I love to experiment with fanfiction. Hopefully I'll be posting the first chapter soon! ;) See that purple button? You know what it does! PLEEEEEEEASE click it for meh!