Melancholy crossed the somberly up-turned lips, ebon strands tracing sharp contours. Unconcerned mahogany oculars dared fly off in oblique direction, compelled not in the least to gaze upon the reflective surface of the lagoon some distance beneath her.
Drips of fresh dew echoed within the confines of cochleae, though faint in comparison with the aggravated roar of numerous falls sputtering frothy mouthfuls into the murky depths below. Dainty appendages jockeyed for gripping on the dampened yet scalding rock.
Spindly digits uncurled at a lackadaisical pace, palming the slender trunk of an over-hanging tree. Pallid complexion lay untarnished, invitingly soft and admittedly smooth.
Voluptuous curves were exhibited, though engulfed completely within the billowing sleeves and torso of a white haori and pleated legs of a hakama, red in color.
Glacial winds pushed past in stride, bony frame wantonly swaying to the cadence of nature's rhythmic flow. Uncommon was the chill in the air, when season was taken into consideration, though such thoughts did not linger long before being replaced by new ones.
Within the sanctuary of the plush green underbrush crouched a man clad in a baboon integument. Unknown at the time to the object of his observations, he exerted a great effort to remain unnoticed. From beneath the pelage spilled long locks of raven, and his lips could be seen pulling upward into a vicious sneer.
His gaze was irate, and all together unpleasant, but as that was his nature, it was not a remarkable thing. His lips parted, as if he were about to speak, but tendrils of a rather wispy substance escaped instead, drifting upwards to the highest meridian.
Clandestinely oscillating to the movements of the verdure, yielding no sign of his presence, he awaited the results of his actions. The circumfluous aura seemed to take shape, and with lavish expenditure, an anomalous creature was formed from the zephyr.
Steely hisses escaped the bizarre form, and in one fluid motion it propelled itself downwards, now on the same level with the reminiscing miko. "Kikyou..."
The young maiden did not even bother to interrupt her own thoughtful reverie. "That would be me," her response was immediate, and brusque at that. Such a far cry from the immaculately elegant tone the miko usually spoke in.
Rearing the hulk of its gargantuan physique, twin pinnacles vellicated, thick pillars crashing towards the young vixen. Her movements were sylphlike, and as her sable locks rippled away from her face, her normally phlegmatic expression was filled with anger, not adulation.
Sidestepping the crude attack with ease, Kikyou had abundant time to draw her bow and notch an arrow. She wasted no time in firing it, noting with satisfaction as the tip glowed an unearthly white. The miko was more than confident in her abilities, so she was more than a bit surprised as she watched the beast lumber sideways, barely avoiding her attack, but avoiding it nonetheless. After all, she rarely missed her mark.
Her orbs narrowed in stormy turbulence. The foul creature seemed to be relying on luck. For while it had avoided her first attack, it had left itself open in mid-stumble. However, before she could reach into her quiver to extract another arrow, a hidden limb darted out and hit her squarely across the stomach. What it lacked in over-all strength it made up for in disguised speed.
Powerful as the miko was, she had not been anticipating such a swift counter-attack. Therefore, she hadn't the time to remove herself from harm's way. She was hit squarely across the chest, and pushed back til she was struggling to remain on the cliff.
As the beast kept up it's assault, she felt herself losing her grip. She stumbled backwards and, to her great dismay, was sent flying off the edge, hurtling towards the jagged rocks below. The man in hiding still did not make his presence known. He did, however, find himself chuckling as he called the detachment back, hastily fleeing the scene.
It was not long before Kikyou's body broke the surface of the water. Though it was freezing and sent her body into shivering convulses, her mind did not have time to register the temperature before it spiraled into a dark abyss, for her skull had sharply connected with the boulders at the bottom of the lagoon, causing her to drift down to meet the bodies of other unfortunate souls.
Not too far away, in a small clearing within a spacious forest glade, a trio of very strange companions made their way towards the sound of water.
The tallest was slender-bodied and aristocratic. Flaxen strands of snowy white cascaded past his shoulders, coming to rest near his lower back. His cheekbones were high and decorated with two magenta stripes. Situated just above and to the middle of emotionless globes of gold was a navy crescent moon marking. His clothes were oddly fashioned and a fluffy cream boa was tossed carelessly over his right shoulder.
The second member of the group was a little girl. Unkempt tresses of charcoal spilled to her mid-back, and nothing but sheer contentment and happiness shined in her warm optics. She was garbed in a checkered yukata, light orange and faint peach hues, securely fastened with a faded kiwi obi.
The shortest party member was a rather ugly toad-like creature. His attire consisted of simple beige robes and an odd-shaped nigrescent cap. He clutched a strange two-headed staff in his tiny right hand, and his bulging florescent yellow eyes glared scathingly at the child.
"Jaken," the man's voice was quiet yet deadly, addressing the toad as his hand darted out to snag the girl as she attempted to dart by. "Take care of Rin for me..."
"Y-yes me Lord Sesshoumaru!" Jaken nearly groveled while rasping in his ever-annoying voice.
Sesshoumaru smirked, glad that his order had sunk into the toad-youkai's compact-sized brain in record time. Violence seemed to have that effect on such inferior creatures, he noted. He felt a tugging at his pant leg, however, and was obliged to glance down, albeit reproachfully.
However, his expression softened remarkably as he laid his eyes on Rin, the little girl who was the only human he would ever even think about keeping the company of. And as to why her in particular, even he himself did not know.
In any case, he pried her off, placing her beside Jaken. "Take care of the fool for me," this time he addressed Rin in his monotone, resulting in a giggle from the girl and a hurt look from the said youkai.
Sesshoumaru left his two companions behind, emerging from the damp foliage beside a somewhat turbulent lagoon. He delicately sniffed at the air, nose immediately recoiling. "It smells of death..." he frowned.
A/N: My second Inu-Yasha fic, my first posted. The main pairing will be Kikyou/Sesshoumaru, the supporting couples being Miroku/Sango and Inu-Yasha/Kagome. I'll state quite plainly right here: I don't really give a crap if you don't like the parings. Don't bother flaming me; it will change nothing, including my opinion on those pairings or this story, it'll just be huge waste of your time.
In fact, the only thing it will do is succeed in proving your total ignorance. If you don't like it, then just leave. No one is forcing you to read this story. And for those of you who favor these pairings or are at least mature enough to tolerate them, I give you my sincerest thanks. It's people like you who fuel my hope for the fanfiction community.
On all together different and much lighter notes, I apologize if the initial description was, well...too descriptive. I wanted to try something out. I'm sorry if you didn't understand some of the more 'fancy' words, but I made sure to make everything plain enough to at least give you an over all clue of what was going on. Heck, if you learned some new vocabulary words then good for you. Have no fear, the rest of the chapters are normal.
When the time comes, I may just up the rating. I don't know. I'm quite sure I could pull one off, but I'm not really used to writing fruit-scented scenes, if you get my drift. Also, it depends on you, the readers, opinions on such matters and also if such content would even fit. If I do decide to write a citrus scene, it won't go higher than a lime, I assure you. But at the moment, I'm pretty sure I won't be writing one. Just wanting to inform the curious.
Disclaimer: InuYasha is copyrighted to Rumiko Takahashi. A Mid-Summer Night's Dream is property of William Shakespeare. This fanfiction is based off my website of the same name and pairing. I own the plot of this story, so no touchy.
Please Review!