Chapter 2: Flight, Fights, Feathers
Kiyomi wakes to find herself at the bottom of the well. Rubbing her head, she stares upward. A puzzling look crosses her face. The bright sun shines down in the deep well. She can feel the warm breeze, and hear birds and the rustling of the leaves. She grabs a vine and makes her assent towards the unknown. Reaching the top, she pears over the side to see a clearing surrounded by trees.
Where is the well house? How did she get here?
A feeling of panic floods her mind. As she sits on the side of the well, she thinks hard about how this could have happened. She did not notice the rustle in the trees was more than just a warm breeze. A low growl interupts her thoughts. She turns quickly, popping up from her perch on the well. Another deep growl.
"Who's there?" she yells out.
"Who's there? I'm here……you smell appetizing" the deep voice says
"Who are you?... What do u want?" Kiyomi demands.
A large owl demon flies out from the trees, landing in front of her. The wind from his wings push her back, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Well here I am, my little snack" the demon chuckles.
Kiyomi pulls herself up, and starts to run. She didn't know where she was going. She just began running. She feels the demon at her back; the wind blows her around. Nonetheless, she just keeps running. The owl demon gets closer and closer. "Is this how I'm going to die?" she thinks. She runs so fast her legs feels as if they were going to fall off. Her heart rate rises, pounding harder within her chest.
"I will devour you whole, and take your power for myself priestess!" the demon owl screeches.
She turns into the woods, hoping to lose the giant bird through the trees. The sounds of snapping branches and limbs hitting the forest floor come from behind her. The demon was closing in. It's sharp claws reaches out to grab her as it flies overhead. She falls to the ground; her legs gave out she couldn't run anymore. "This is it" she thought.
"I've got you now!" it screeched……..
"Iron reaper, soul stealer!" she hears a voice yell out. She looks back and sees parts and feathers of the demon bird scattered across the ground. She looks in front of her to see a pair of bare feet. Slowly trailing her eyes up, she realizes this is the man that saved her. He was wearing a dark blue suikan. Her eyes continue upward to look at the face of her rescuer.
He's a young man, no older than she. Short silver hair with a wisp of bangs that cover his forehead and the sides of his face. His eyes were golden in color with a hint of brown, and on top of his head were furry silver dog like ears. This made her cock her head, raise one eyebrow with a questioning look on her face. "Why do I want to touch those?" she chuckled to herself.
The man takes a deep sigh and says "Who are you? What are you doing out here alone? It's dangerous." His voice was gruff and raspy. She takes comfort in it.
"I….." she starts to say.
"Well?" he demanded of her.
"I…I don't know." She rises from her place on the ground to stand in front of him.
"What do you mean you don't know?" he asks with annoyance in his voice.
"Look no need to get testy here" she scoffs. "I was home minding my business, I went into the old well house to check on something and next thing I know I'm at the bottom of the old well. I don't know what happened, or how I got here."
"You need to go back to wherever you came from. Demons would love to have you for lunch" the man states as he walks away.
"You're just gonna leave me here?" she yells.
"You're lucky I was in the area. I just love killing demons like that weak owl. He just happened to be hunting you. I don't have time for this." he says as he continues his walk away from her.
"How rude was he?" she says with a frown. "Ok so, if I fell down the old well at my home and came up the one here... the well here should get me home" she looks around realizing the chase with the owl demon got her lost in the deep thick woods.
"Oh no….which way is it?" she frantically looks around to try and spot something familiar. "Hey!" she yells into the direction of the man that saved her. "Oh…he's gone."
Looking around she sees a familiar site. "The sacred tree!" she says as she darts off into the direction of the only thing familiar. "That means the well isn't too far."
She finally reaches the tree, and looks up at its branches swaying in the wind ever so delicately. A feeling of safety and comfort rush over her. She takes a look around. "The scar on the bark is there… so If I go this way I should run into the well." She points into the thick woods.
"You don't want to go that way" a voice calls out. She turns frantically trying to find the source of the voice. She looks up and sees the young man lying on a branch above her on the old sacred tree.
"What? Why not? That's the way to the well. If I go that way I can go home" she says placing her hands on her hips.
"Well…." He scoffs "You will die if you go that way" the young man states keeping his eyes closed.
"You were the one who told me to go home. I'm trying to do just that, and the way to the well is this way."
"Your funeral" he states as he turns on his side facing the opposite direction from her.
"Well then you tell me how to get back to the well safely" she says. The man jumps down from his perch effortlessly, and walks toward her. "How did you do that so smoothly?" under her breath.
"Com' on" he says as he walks past her in the direction he told her not to go.
"I thought you said not to go that way? It's dangerous" she states sarcastically.
"With me you will be fine." He says as he continues to walk. She stands there confused. He stops looks back at her and says "You comin' or not" she nods her head and walks toward him.
Walking through the thick woods Kiyomi wasn't sure what to think. She curiously watches as the dog ears on top of his head twitch at every sound nearby.
"You said you came out of the well?" he asks
"Uhh, yea."
"How did you do that? The well hasn't worked in decades"
"I don't know. I just fell in and I was here"
"Hmmm" he wonders
"Oh, thank you" she blurts out
"For what?"
"For helping me earlier, I just realized I didn't thank you" she says with a smile.
"Yea whatever, it was a weak demon no match for me" he says puffing his chest.
"Well still, thanks." He waves her off and continues to walk through the woods. "You mentioned that the well hasn't worked for decades, does that mean I'm not the first to travel through it?" she questions
"No you're not" he says, short.
"That thing back there, it called me a miko. What did it mean? I'm definitely no miko."
"I can sense some sort of spiritual energy coming from you. Maybe that's why the well worked for you." He stops walking, turns to her and asks "Do you live at the Higurashi shrine?"
"Yes I do"
"So you're related to them? The family that runs the shrine?" he asks
"No. After my parents died my sisters and I lived there with an old friend of my dad. His family ran the shrine. He took care of us, raised us really. He was like a grandfather."
"So really, no relation to the Higurashi's?" he asks
"No, not biologically."
"Oh" he turns back around and continues to walk.
"Did you know them? The Higurashi family?" she asks catching up to him so she was walking beside him.
"No, not the ones that lived there. I never met them." He says
"Then how do you know who they are?" she asks
"My…my mother was related to them, I guess you can say they were a distant family" he says looking up at the sky.
"Oh I see, what was your mother's name? Maybe I have heard or her?"
"Kagome" with a crackle in his voice.
"Oh Kagome…I know that name…Oh I know! The old man who raised me and my sisters name was Sota. Kagome was his sister. He use to tell us stories about how she would jump down the well and come to Feudal Japan and fight demons and other villains..." she stops walking to think about what just came out of her mouth. The young man turns to look upon her, her face was so serious with a confused look.
"Took you that long to figure it out?" he says with a chuckle
"It's all real." She falls to the ground. "All the stories that gramps told us about his sister, they are all true," she says placing her hands over her face. The young man stands there staring at her wondering if she was gonna freak out or not.
"Hey you ok?" he says as he reaches for her.
"No I'm not ok!" she yells smacking his hand away. "How can this be? Everything was true? I don't understand" she says in a panic
"I think you should calm down"
"Calm down? How can I possibly calm down?! I'm in Feudal Japan! This isn't good. This isn't good at all"
"Well don't get upset. We are almost at the well. We will get you home, and you won't have to worry about this place again" he says crouching in front of her. She looks up at him with concern in her eyes. "It'll be ok" he reassures her. She nods while rising from her place on the forest floor. They continue their walk towards the well. They come to a clearing where the well sat. "See there it is" he says. She runs over to the well looking down in its dark depths. She turns to look at the young man.
"Thank you again" she says with a bow. He waves her off.
"No problem, just get going" as he motions her to go in the well.
"So, do I just jump in?" she asks
"I guess. I have never been to the other side" he says
"Ok" she climbs up on the well sitting on the side. "Oh, I never got your name?" she asks looking back at him.
"Minoru" he says
"My name is Kiyomi" she says with a smile. She jumps into the well.
"Well that's that" he says as he walks away.
"Ummm, hello?" Kiyomi calls out. He walks back toward the well and looks in.
"What happened?" he asks
"I don't know. It's not working" she yells from the bottom of the well.
"It should. Maybe you're not doin' it right!" Minoru says.
Kiyomi begins to panic. Her face becomes flush. Her breathing is rapid. She begins to look around furiously. Falling to her knees she frantically tries to dig at the dirt. She falls back, leaning against the wall. Her breathing becomes harder to do, and her chest is tight. Her vision blurs, and everything goes black.