Chapter 1
Encountering the Daiyoukai.
A clear day, it was, over at the 21st century era, as pale white clouds scattered across the blue skies, providing shades from the painful summer rays. Kagome sighed in relief after finishing her ice pop, satisfied with the temperature of her tongue that continuously came into contact with the frozen snack. She licked the corners of her mouth, savouring the remaining taste left from the flavoured ice. Not too long later, she heard a knock from the door, as her mother entered the room with a jar full of iced lemonade and a glass. Droplets of water appeared on the surface of the glass jar, contrasting the coolness of the liquid with the heat in the room.
"Thanks, mom," she responded.
As soon as night fell, the heat during the day left as the sun gradually set, whilst warm humid air settled in its place. Kagome took a long stretch, finally completing her homework that was due in the next day. She yawned, and glanced down at her clock as it read "12 o'clock", which had passed her usual bedtime. In spite of her sleepiness, she changed into her patterned yellow pyjama and snuggled into the warmth of her blankets.
Tick, tick, tick...
Hours passed after she drifted into rest, until a noise that came from the sacred well woke the girl up. At first she thought that it was merely her imagining things from her drowsiness, however, the same sound was heard. This time, with her fully awake. Kagome wrapped a jacket over her shoulders and walked towards the sacred well, the weary look never leaving her face. The door was slid open, revealing the dark interior of the small building, the well located within the centre. It was pitch dark, but nothing out of the ordinary. But just as she turned to her back and exit the room, a strong gust of wind blew from within the sacred well, an inhuman croak escaped.
Suddenly, a huge centipede-like creature gushed out of the previously soulless well, its long body nearly as wide as the mouth. It glared at Kagome, seemingly with ill intention as one of its hand reached out to grab the horrified girl, subsequently dragging her forcefully into the sacred well.
Kagome wanted to scream, but no voice came out of her throat. All she could do was struggle under the monster's grasp, hoping that she would somehow be released from the grip, to no avail.
Thereafter, a sharp yet bright light of white hit her eyes, forcing her to shield them with her forearms. The rays were somewhat warm, and the sound of rustling leaves from the winds were calming yet uncomfortable. Before she knew it, she had arrived a small clearing with tall trees and bushes surrounding it. Growling, the centipede demon tossed her in the air, and cut open her abdomen, causing a round purple jewel fell out of the wound. Kagome stared wide-eyed, unable to believe the object came out from her core. She winced at the pain, however, clutching on her stomach and grabbed the jewel.
She was falling, but just as she thought of the impact there would be as her body crash with the ground, it never happened, instead, she was caught by a pair of strong arms that pulled her close to its figure. His long silver hair danced as the winds brushed by, his face emotionless, as though it were frozen with ice. Golden orbs gazed into hers filled with curiosity, which soon focused their attention towards the large demon facing them. He set her on her feet and disappeared from her side, the next second reappearing mid-air right in front of the huge demon, a bright yellow whip formed at the end of his fingertip. Mercilessly, he swung the deadly whip, deep wounds forming one after the other on the body of the demon. It howled in pain as it struggled and attempted in attacking the man, to no prevail.
In a matter of seconds, the giant centipede dropped dead, just before the man's palm glowed green, melting the huge form with acid until it became nothing upon touch.
"T-thank you..." The young man turned his head to meet Kagome, who had plopped down on the ground with a sigh of relief. The smile of her lips with gratitude, yet her scent was full of fear and curiosity.
"S-seshoumaru-sama...!" a somewhat hoarse voice called out followed by heavy pants as a green imp demon ran towards their direction, followed by a twin headed dragon and a human girl. Riding on the dragon the girl waved full of enthusiasm, shouting out to the man next to Kagome. They came to a stop before long, asking about Sesshoumaru's well-being from the battle whilst examining the teenager he just saved.
"Hello, who are you? Are you hurt?" Rin reached out her hand towards her, a welcoming smile on her lips as Kagome grasped the smaller hand and got up with slight embarrassment in her apparel - her pyjamas with a jacket. Surprisingly, the wound on her abdomen was already healed.
"Rin."
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?" she replied in her cheerful tone, her hand holding Kagome's. Kagome glanced up at Sesshoumaru, who was staring into space as his train of thoughts ran through his head, Jaken grumbling in disgust at the sight of yet another mortal.
After a short pause, he continued, "Take her to the nearest village and return. This Sesshoumaru shall not be an escort."
"Sesshoumaru-sama, why can't she join us?" Rin queried with a pout, obviously unhappy with the decision her lord had made. After all, it wasn't every day that she got to meet a girl who wasn't running away at first sight of the daiyoukai. He didn't reply, but shot a slightly stern look at her, his golden orbs telling otherwise.
Getting the hint, Rin smirked and dragged Kagome off into the forest towards the nearest village they come across. Jaken stared at the taller figure, unable to grasp the complex mind of his lord.
"Lord Sesshoumaru, why aren't we going with her? It would of course be much safe- GAH!" the imp demon cried out in pain as his back was heavily stepped on by the daiyoukai, receiving a glare from the lord. Sesshoumaru walked over his servant and disappeared off, leaving Jaken lying there for a while before jumping up and ran to catch up with him.
Over at Rin and Kagome's walk, the little girl kept asking questions, regarding her appearance and how she ended up at the place where she did, just in case she was boring her senior during the short trip. The gentle smile on Kagome's lips never left, as she answered the little girl's questions one after the other.
"So that means, Kagome-san, that you were dragged through the well from 500 years in the future?" queried Rin as she glanced up at Kagome. She smiled and nodded in reply, but frowned as she caught sight of ahead. Full of curiosity, Rin turned to match Kagome's gaze, only to furrow her brows in dismal.
It was a small settlement, made up of several pale orange wooden huts and shacks, along with lands of crops and grass, secured by only wooden fences. The two girls asked around for the leader of the village, only to be guided to an elderly priestess. She had long greyish hair lowly tied into a ponytail with a ribbon, and wore the traditional dress of a miko, mainly coloured in white and red, whilst a black eye patch rested on her right eye.
Privately in the old miko's hut, they explained their situation starting from Kagome's arrival due to the centipede demon's attack, and that she might need a place to stay. Kaede, so was the miko called, found out that Kagome was her sister's reincarnation, and that she might have some spiritual powers in her. Dumbfounded, Kagome's eyes turned to Rin's, hoping that she could tell her that it wasn't true, but she never got the reply.
Out of the blue, sounds from crashing of buildings and screaming of villages got the females' attention. Rushing out, Kagome caught a glimpse of a figure with knee-length silver hair similar to Sesshoumaru's, dressed in red garments. He also had golden eyes like Sesshoumaru, however, the white dog-like ears on his head stuck out.
"Oi, you, hand over the Shikon no Tama!" he barked, eyes glancing at Kagome. "I can smell it, now give it to me!"
As he ran towards Kagome's direction with a raised clawed hand, intending to kill if she were to fight back, she gripped tighter onto the jewel, paralysed by the sheer fear that the intruder had sent down her spine. She shut her eyes, giving into her fate of being killed in an unknown land. However, the pain never reached her, just a thud on the ground followed by a grunt from the enemy. Kagome peeked through her slightly opened eyelids, only to find the familiar figure locking the intruder into a joint lock.
Word from Author:
Good evening, fellow readers, I've just finished the the first chapter of A Kiss In The Dark, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Personally, I don't think it's my best, but you know, it's always hard to start a story. It'll get more interesting though, I have some scenes planned out. Forgive me for this chapter! I'll do better next time!
Arigatouありがとう
- Kiyoshi 李淳 -
