DISCLAIMER: As always, I don't own the original story of the Inuyasha series nor do I own the characters and I don't own the Chinese fairytale that I'm basing this story on. But as far as I'm concerned I do own the idea of mixing these two things together :).
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hi everybody! Please enjoy this new installment! But I can't update very frequently anymore since it's getting busier each week. I'll try to update within 10 days but I can't promise anything, I'm really sorry about that.
'...Italic...': thoughts
-- --: locations
"...": spoken words
-.-.-.-.-: time gap
=Capslocked words= : noises
Living Fairytale
A mix of black and a tint of blue painted the skies as the Lord of the Western Lands gazed upon his property from the balcony of his large gray castle.
Two pairs of dark purple stripes graced his cheeks below his gold-amber eyes as silvery white locks framed his stoic face. His pointy ears twitched and a brow rose when an unknown presence caught the periphery area of his eyes.
He raised his gaze to the sky and was surprised to witness seven thin stripes of light falling down from the bright crescent moon.
Normal beings would think those were pieces of the moon falling down to Earth, a phenomenon he remembered to be known as shooting stars. Fragments that could grant any wishes that were made upon them before they had lost all of their illuminating powers, which visible to the eyes of flesh.
Humans were truly foolish indeed. He thought with an invisible amusement.
To him, these strange lights meant more like uninvited visitors of his property than any wish-fulfilling superstition.
"Jaken," he ordered with a stern voice.
The door to the balcony immediately opened, revealing a short skinny green toad-like person. He was wearing a dark-gray cloak and a small black hat. In his small hands he was holding a long wooden staff with two heads propped on it. "H-hai milord?" he asked meekly.
"Guard the castle," was his lord's short command.
Before the servant could ask why, the silver-haired demon already set off to the sky on his misty cloud.
-.-.-.-.-
'It should be around here' he thought as he scanned the surroundings below him.
After he had decided that it would be better to approach on foot to remain undetected, he dismissed the cloud and landed softly on the grass.
Shortly after that, he felt the same strange feeling again like he had when he saw the stripes of light. When he raised his gaze up to the sky, several stripes of light crossed his vision again in a short flash. So short that even the keen eyes of the dogdemon couldn't distinguish the identity of the lights.
Normally, he wouldn't even bother to go on patrol in his own lands when the intruders left this quick and didn't leave any ominous things behind. But he had become alert when he realized there were only six stripes of light leaving this planet for wherever they came from. 'A leftover huh?' he thought annoyed.
He immediately snapped back into reality when a soft noise caught his sensitive ears coming from deeper within the forest.
'There's no way that this Sesshoumaru will allow any unwanted guests to stay in his lands.' he thought determined and started to walk into the direction of the noise.
-.-.-.-.-
The longer he walked, the clearer the sound became.
At a certain point, the silver-haired dogdemon could clearly conclude that it was a girlish giggle that he had heard, mixed with the sound of splashing water in the background.
'A water elf?' he hypothesized.
If it was so, he should be careful. Those cursed creatures of the water were well-known of their ability to create illusions with their voices and lure men into oblivion with their blinding beauty, or so the folklore stated.
'Hmpf...' Sesshoumaru smirked in his mind. 'This Sesshoumaru will never admit the existence of such low creature from a myth...even if they really existed, they would never succeed in fooling me.'
With his body ready to attack, he slowly approached the small clearing. He pushed away a branch and had a perfect view of a small lake that had a pillar-like stone spring at the center and old willow looming silently of the waters.
=giggle=
Sesshoumaru's eyes darted around to search for the water creature and stopped when had found the intruder.
But it wasn't a water elf.
It was a girl with long raven-black hair and navy blue eyes, dressed in some garment he had never seen before. She was sitting on a large rock that stood half above the water-surface near the willow.
By her appearance, he thought she was human, but her scent proved otherwise.
If the girl were indeed a human, she would be having the most unique scent he had ever smelt before. It was as though she was Mother Nature in person, as she smelled like the first leaves of spring and untainted earth.
He held in his breath when the girl suddenly spoke with a feathery like voice.
"You are indeed very beautiful," she said. "And your wings too."
It took Sesshoumaru several seconds to realize that she was in fact talking to a firefly that was resting and glowing at the center of her palm.
"But my wings are much bigger and they aren't transparent like yours. Do you want to see them?" the girl asked.
The firefly flew away from her palm and landed on a nearby branch of the old willow.
The girl stood up on the rock and stretched out her arms in front of her. "All right! Now watch!" she said and closed her eyes. In one swift motion, she bent her elbows and moved her hands to her chest.
At that very moment, the silver-haired dogdemon thought his eyes were deceiving him.
As soon as the girl's hands touched her chest, two large white feathery wings sprouted from her back.
'A winged human...?!!' Sesshoumaru thought disbelievingly. His thoughts were cut off when short pants caught his attention.
The winged girl was panting and several shimmering drops of sweatdrops could be seen on her forehead.
"Unlike you...I'm still just a beginner...it takes a lot of energy to summon these wings and fly..." she explained, broken in pants. "And I've already used up almost all of my strength to get here..."
Sesshoumaru frowned. 'To get here? With her wings? From where...?' he mused, recalling the seven stripes of light falling from the sky. He snapped out of it when he heard her speak again.
"Who's there???"
Almost immediately, the girl retracted her wings and turned to a certain direction.
For a second, Sesshoumaru almost thought the girl had discovered his presence, but was soon reassured when he heard the sound of rustling leaves nearby.
He sniffed the air and scowled. 'How careless of me not to realized that some low-life creature was practically standing next to me...' he scolded himself as his eyes narrowed on the girl. 'I must leave here before she bewitches me even more...' he decided, but then uncontrollably let out a soft 'hmpf' as he rejected the thought. 'As if she's capable of bewitching I, Sesshoumaru, the great Lord of the Western Lands...'
Satisfied with that conclusion, the demonlord silently backed away and disappeared into the shadows of the forest.
-.-.-.-.-
"Who's there??" she asked again, this time not sure how many strangers there were, since she swore she had clearly heard a soft 'hmpf' from within the shadows next to where the sound of rustling leaves came from.
Not long after she had fired the question, a figure came out of the bushes into the moonlight.
Kagome took several steps backwards and gave the stranger a puzzled look.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you..." the stranger smiled.
It was a middle-aged man with short brown curls and dark-brown eyes. He was wearing a worn-off brown sleeveless tunic and a pair of shorts that reached just above his knees. The sound of his leather sandals shuffling over the grass could be heard as he took several steps into her direction. "I won't hurt you," he repeated as he reached out a hand to Kagome.
For a moment, Kagome hesitated whether she should believe the stranger or not. 'This is an Earthling...?' she wondered. And once again, her curiosity carried her away. "Y-you...really won't hurt me...?" she asked with a soft and unsure voice.
The man chuckled. "Of course not! Who would be able to hurt such a divine being like you?" he said. "I know you must be an angel sent from the heavens, won't you please help me?"
"Help you?" Kagome asked surprised. She couldn't help but feel flattered by the Earthling's words.
"Yes," he nodded. "My brother is extremely sick. I've prayed many months for someone to save him."
"And after I saw your beautiful wings, I knew my prayers had finally reached the great heavens. I knew you had to be the one who can save my dear brother," he continued as sadness was written all over his face. "So please, oh divine angel of the great heavens. Please save my brother!!"
Kagome hesitated again. 'Should I help him? If I don't, his brother could die...it won't hurt to help right?' she asked herself as she looked at the man, who was on the verge of bursting into tears.
"All right, I'll help you," she agreed with a sincere smile. Although she wasn't quite sure how she was going to be of any help, but she had the feeling that she'll be able to do something once she gets there.
"Oh many thanks!" the man cried relieved. "Please...it's this way! There's no time to lose!"
With that, the man turned around and ran away.
And Kagome, who didn't even doubt the credibility of the stranger's story for one minute, followed the man out of the small clearing.
Uh oh...this doesn't sound very good in combination with the summary of this story huh? Please look forward to the next chapter, which I don't know when I would be able to update. But I'll try to update as soon as possible! And sorry for the short chapter...but lately I can't seem to manage to write long chapters, especially when I'm this busy with school, sorry!!
Lots of greets,
Kittymui
Next chapter: Fateful Meeting
-.-.-.-.-
"We're very sorry to have intruded this place without permission but if you could be kind enough to listen"
"Hmpf," the demonlord but her off nonchalantly and turned to leave.
"Please listen to me. We've only come here to find a royal family member. We believe she is still on this planet and around here somewhere."
'Aid a group of intruders?' he thought to himself as he cracked his knuckles. (...) 'When they place their first step on my property again, I'll be sure to rip each and every single of them apart.'-.-.-.-.-
Vocabulary:
hai: yes
inuyoukai: dogdemon
-.-.-.-.-
REPLIES ON REVIEWS:
osuwariIYK: Thanks! I'm glad you haven't forgotten about me.
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death is only the beginning: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you love so far (although it has only been a prologue hehe)
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waterdragonmaster: Thanks for waiting, hope you liked this one too!
Shadow-Demon14: I'm so happy to know that you liked one of my previous stories. Your compliments are so encouraging :)!
violet: Hahaha, I think you've gotten in more suspense after reading this chapter didn't you. I'll try to update as soon as possible!
burntbanana: Nice long review, thanks!! After I reread my chapter, I find that you are right about Kagome being a bit childish, but then again, she has always been under protection of her nice big sis (Kikyou) and had never seen the true (real and cruel) world before...she's just naive I guess. But don't worry, her character will definitely change...I'm trying to keep Sesshoumaru as original as possible by the way hehe. I think your first question has been answered after reading this chapter. For your second question...I think this story is going to be around 20 (short) chapters, of not shorter. And yeah, I'm still searching for a nice role to put Inuyasha in the story :).
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Kyia: Heyyy, haven't heard of you in a long while now, how is everything going (except for being hectic because of the whole moving stuff). Thanks for reviewing!!
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Posted: 4 June 2004
Last Edited: 4 June 2004
Spelling check: YES