INUYASHA

This isn't so bad. I wrote this one when I was walking home with my brother. We walked along a set of railroad tracks, and he would always find something...interesting to take home and play with. It got me thinking about stories, as a lot of things do. In this, supposedly Naraku destroyed everything. Humans moved underground, and priests kept them safe with shielding spells. Sometimes some adventurous soul would go out and scavenge around the above ground, looking for something the humans could use. Of course, Kagome had to be an adventurous soul...

Among the Ruins

Kagome yawned. It was so boring to sit here and listen to Grandfather tell all these old tales of ancients and myths and whatnot, but she had to. There was nothing else to do. Might as well get it over with now, instead of worrying about it later...

"...And then there's the story of the Shikon Jewel."

"Grandfather, I just remembered. I have to go. I...Naru wants to meet me by the school. And you have to go on the rounds. And Sota needed me to pick him up today." Kagome said very quickly as each new excuse came to her attention. "I'll come by later, after...I'm busy now."

Before he could protest, she walked out of their home and hastily down the hall. She ran smack into another person coming from the other direction. She paused, backed up, and looked up at her victim.

"Oh, sorry Hojo. I was..." She trailed off.

"Running away from Grandfather's stories again?" Hojo hazarded, laughing at her look. "Like always? What're you doing this time?"

"Actually, I really do have to go see Naru, and Sota wants me to pick him up today." she replied, indignantly puffing herself up. "And anyway, I wanted to go see the Ruins. It is my birthday, and it's...the old tradition to see them on your birthday, you know? I don't want to wait another year."

Hojo laughed again. "It has never been someone in your family to violate tradition." he joked. "I wish you safe passage." he added, the old term for a good-bye.

"Safe passage." she said, and turned back down the hall. She knew that Hojo liked her...at least a little. Unfortunately, she didn't care for him anymore then a friend. She only hoped he knew.

Soon she came to the hall of the comunity where things got darker. It had to be this way closer to the surface or the youkai would find them, and kill them. Grandfather's wards usually kept them out...but it was an extra precaution.

Naraku, the sick sadist that wanted all humans killed, had let us build great cities a long time ago, lying in wait to attack. Once we had grand buildings built, and were just beginning to bask in the glow of peace and prosperity...that's when he attacked. It made it that much worse to fail, having acheived such a high goal. That's why he'd done it.

No one knew, of course. No one could remember. No one could read the ancient scripts that had been written against Naraku's knowledge. In fact, they had been written as a way to keep their secrets written and not worry about Naraky getting a hold of them and destorying the plans. So no one had any clue as to what they read. It wasn't like regular old Japanese, or even like the Speech, the combined language of the world after Naraku took over, that everyone could speak. It was its own language; it was known as the Runes.

Just as the tunnel got dark, Kagome took a side tunnel to the old school. The kids had to walk this way every day to learn. They needed to speak their own language to remind us that we were a free people, to keep our heritage, while also learning the Speech, to comunicate with the others.

Sota, her younger brother, went to school here. She would pick him up. Naru, a friend, wanted to meet her here.

"Kagome!" Sota cried as he ran up. "I was wondering when you would come!"

"Grandfather got me caught up again." she apologized. Then she looked around. "Is Naru still here? I hope she isn't mad at me for being late."

"No, of course not. Grandfather gets on my nerves sometimes, too." she said, smiling. Then her grin turned a little evil. "It's your birthday...Do you intend to go to the Ruins like you said?"

There were ruins of one of the ancient, advanced cities near their little comunity.

"Of course. I'm going with Sota now to look across the tracks. Like I promised." she added, glancing at the young boy at her side.

"But it's above. You'll have to tell Grandfather if you want to go. He'll give you an ofuda to keep you hidden." Naru said as they walked back through the tunnel to the main hall.

"I'll make my own. I know how they work. And Sota still has one from when Grandfather last let him go, and he didn't, remember?" Kagome added. "I wouldn't let him go out with one of my make-shift little flaps of paper."

They reached the break in the tunnel. To the right was the surface; the left, the comunity. Kagome sat down and pulled some paper spells out of a side pocket in her satchel; they had Grandfather's writing on them.

She mumbled over them, trying to focus 'energy' through them like Grandfather had said when he'd been training her miko powers for priestesshood. She didn't think it was working, but it felt more right then when she'd tried at home.

Through her squinted eyes she saw that the words on the ofuda were glowing blue, and she smiled. "Well, that went better then I thought." she said aloud.