Ok, hello. This is my first fiction. I hope you all like it. Please review and tell me what you think of it. This idea came to me a few days ago and I couldn't get it out of my mind. So I'm writing it.
In the Sands of Time
Souls' Hatred
Chapter One, The Capture of the Women
---------
The sun beat down mercilessly on the traveling group of people making their way across the hot desert. Sweat was beading down their faces as the sand collected in their shoes. A small girl tugged on her mothers robes and looked up to her with large eyes.
"Mama, I'm thirsty." The mother's face slightly fell at her daughters comment. Knowing there was nothing she could do for her poor child she knelt down and embraced her in a warm loving hug.
"I'm sorry honey, but there's nothing I can do about it." She said as she lifted her daughter into her arms and continued walking.
"But those men are carrying water." The little girl pointed over her mother's shoulder at a row of men carrying water sacks. "Couldn't they lend us some water?" The mother sighed and shook her head.
"No, they can't." Her mother said softly.
"But why..." the mother placed a gentle finger over her lips to silence her. A man came walking up to the mother and child.
"Why isn't she walking?" His voice was harsh. "Every person here has to carry their own weight. Those who can no longer stand will be left behind to face their death." The mother held her daughter closer.
"She's thirsty and her legs are tired of walking." The mother explained.
"I don't give a damn how tired she is. She has to walk and if she falls behind she's left behind." He barked. "Have her drink her own sweat if she's that thirsty." He said and began to walk away. The woman set her child back onto the scorching hot earth with tears in her eyes.
"What the hell is your problem?" A young woman yelled at the retreating general. The man spun on his heal and glared at the raven black haired beauty with daggers.
"How the dare you yell at me. I don't care if you 'were' the princes of your former country you are no more then any of these other people here now." He spat at her when his face was merely inches from her own.
"Why shouldn't I? Even if you have taken me from my country I still am royalty in blood." she said defiantly. Her eyes held as intense a gaze as the man before her.
"Kagome, stop." She pretended not to hear the small voice that sounded behind her. She only bore deeper into the man.
"One more word out of you princess and I'll have you chained and left to die right here in this desert." The man's voice held no remorse. Kagome lowered her eyes and backed away from him at him his words. "That's better. Maybe some bandits will come to take you away and use you as their play toy." She only heard a low mumble of words at the last part.
The woman who held her child's hand turned her head back to Kagome. "Why did you do that, your majesty?" She did a slight bow of her head.
Kagome looked at her for a moment. "Please do not address me in that way." Kagome turned her head to the side. "It does not rightfully fit me anymore. As for your question I did it because you needed help and that man was out of his line as a commander." A tear rolled down her milky white skin and onto the sand that burned it up.
"Thank you, Kagome." The woman gingerly spoke the girl's name. Kagome pulled out a small bottle of water from inside of her robes.
"Here, take this. I would rather die then try to live for I have no future now." The woman hesitantly took the small bottle of water that Kagome held for her.
"My dear, please don't ever say that. Everyone has the right to live for the tomorrow of their lives." Her voice held motherly love, as if she were speaking to her own child. "Believe that you will find away to over come the obstacles that are in your way, for the moment will pass and your fears fade away because tomorrow is a new day."
Kagome stood there for a moment not fully understanding what the woman had told her but feeling as if she had heard those words spoken before to her, along time ago. "Where did you learn that?"
"Along time ago, an old man gave me those words when I felt like giving up on everything." She said then bent down to her daughter and handed her the small amount of water. The young girl drank gingerly. When the child was finished, the mother quietly put the bottle into her cream robes.
Kagome walked on, her mind wondering on the things that she always did.
----------
"Bandits! Bandits!" The lookout called to the still wandering group. The sun was beginning to set and the air around the people was more bearable. The outcry made little commotion among the group. Everyone kept walking until the commander signaled them to halt. Some wives leaned up against their husbands for the feeling of security.
A line of men silhouetted by the sun on the west appeared followed slowly by men on the east then south then north. All of who were wearing lengths of cloth wrap around their bodies. "Cooperate and no harm will come to you." The man who appeared to be the leader of the bandits spoke.
No one spoke; all eyes were on the men who surrounded the traveling group. "And if we don't?" The commander spoke.
"Then you shall all be disposed of." The reply was dry and uncaring.
"What is it you want?" At this, the leader waved his hand in signal and ten men came walking over to the group. They held ropes in their hands and had long swords at their belt.
One of the men walked over to a girl that stood behind the princess. Kagome looked behind her to see the young girl's wrists being tied and a scarf wrapped around her mouth. The girl showed no sign of struggle as the man took her away.
"What is the meaning of this?" The commander asked in rage, as he did another man came up to Kagome and began to tie her hands.
"Let go of me." She screamed her voice high pitched. Kagome kicked at the man that held her. Her foot met his groin and he let her go.
All eyes turned to the sound of a whip when it cracked. Kagome stood stunned a small gasp escaped from her throat as her hand moved slowly for her left cheek. The pain of the whip felt like the slice of a knife but no blood emitted from the wound. Another crack was heard and Kagome fell to her knees as it hit her leg.
It did not hurt for as much of a shock it was. All her life she had never been hit, and at the surprise of a whip biting her skin, she didn't know how to feel.
Someone came up, tied her hands, and carried her over to where all the other young women were. She gave no resistance instead; she willingly let the hands take her away.
"Do not try to follow us. If you do, you will surely never see the light of day on this earth again." The leader of the bandits said as his group retreated the way they had come, carrying with them the girls they had tied.
The commander stood shocked for a moment at what had happened. When he had finally regained his wits, he looked to his group. They had taken ten young women with them. "Carry on." He barked the order.
The little girl looked up to her mother and tugged on her clothing. "Mommy, where are they taking those girls?" Her face held innocence as her eyes met with her mother's.
"I don't know honey. But I hope they will be alright." The woman whispered. "I hope they will be alright."
----------
The men let the ten young women into a well-lit room that was occupied by three other women. The men left as soon as an elderly lady waved her hand. The door closed behind them.
"Welcome." The elderly woman greeted the ten young women warmly. "This is the home of the Yoklin. You are treated as family as soon as you are marked. Nine of you will not be excepted into this clan and you will be workers on this land." The girls looked at one another wondering who wouldn't make it. "There are a set of trail that set before you. You must complete four out of the five. These tests show your strengths and weaknesses. They will open you up to the world that lies around you."
"And what types of 'tests' are they?" Kagome inquired.
"You will find out in good time. For now eat and bathe." Two younger women opened two sliding doors that sat behind the elder. "This is your home for now. Enjoy it to it's fullest for tomorrow the trials begin." The ten young women were led into the room that lay beyond the open doors.
The room held the fragrance of freshly baked food and of lavender. Kagome looked around to see one large table that sat to her left filled with food. In the middle of the room was a square pool that was the bath. Instead of filled with water, it was filled with milk and petals floated on the surface.
The former princess followed a small group of the women over to the table to eat. The table looked made from copper and the plates from gold. Everything looked so good. "Who do you think will make it?" Kagome heard a girl ask the others that sat around the table.
"Definitely Kikyo. I mean have you seen her?" One of the girls said. A few of them nodded their heads in agreement.
"No way, I think it will be the Princess Kagome." Another one of them said. Kagome smiled faintly at the remark. "She looks like Kikyo but her spirit holds so much more power. Kikyo looks dead if you ask me." The girl who spoke had dark brown hair that hung to the middle of her back and loosely tied at the bottom.
Kagome sat listening in silence not wanting to be noticed by anyone. She looked over to the women who looked so much like her. She had to admit the look in Kikyo's eyes seemed distant and dead.
"What do you think?" the question was directed towards Kagome. Kagome looked up at the girls that now stared at her. It was the girl who had mentioned her name that asked the question. She didn't know what to say.
"I think you will get it." Kagome held her hand out toward the brown haired girl. The girl looked at her for a moment before taking her hand. "Taiyo, Sango." The girl said.
"Higurashi, Kagome." The girls' eyes grew wide with surprise and delight. "You-you're Princess Kagome?" They all asked at different times. Kagome nodded.
"I prefer no title." Kagome said as she got up from the table. "Oh, Sango, thank you for thinking of me." She said before she left the girls to themselves.
"Wait, Princess." Kagome turned around to face the brown haired girl, Sango. "I mean, Kagome." Kagome turned around and kept walking she could hear Sango's feet walking on the tiled floor behind her. After they were out of ear shot Kagome faced Sango again.
"What is it you want to speak to me about?" Kagome asked in her royal manner. She had practiced the voice and grammar many times out of the day. Her teachers had made her.
"I just..."
"Well speak."
"I just wanted to say," Sango quickly spit out, almost afraid to upset the former princess. "I just wanted to say that no matter what happens I'll always remember you." Kagome stood there for a moment not quite sure what to say to the girls sudden out burst of emotion.
Kagome laid her hand on Sango's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "Please do not be saying this because I was once the Princess of our home land. Please be saying this because you want to be friends, for no other reason then because we have a tie." Kagome said. She never truly had a friend that had stayed by her after they had gotten what they wanted. She had always dreamed of a true friend, to be there no matter what happened.
Sango nodded. "I want to get to know you more. The real you, not the royal you. I don't care about the blood you come from." Kagome bit her lip and wrapped her arms around the newly found friend of hers. Sango returned the hug and then pulled back.
Kagome tied up her hair before she got into the milk bath that was built into the ground. Sango followed in as soon as her hair was above her shoulders. "Do you have family?" Kagome asked after a moment of relaxing in the pool.
"My brother, he's the only one. My parents died about 5 years ago, I've had to raise my brother on my own." Sango explained. Kagome sighed.
"I suppose you were very close." Sango nodded.
"What about you. Living in luxury and being the heir to the thrown." Sango asked she put a few hand movements along with her speech.
"Oh yeah, it was great alright." Kagome's voice didn't sound too enthused. "If you don't mind not seeing your father except when he calls you to court and your mother looks down on you as if you were a piece of trash in her way. A half brother, whose too young to know what's going on and you being taxied around by maids and teachers drilling you with every little thing on the face of the earth." She ended with a sigh and sunk deeper into the liquid.
"Guess it's not what it looks like is it?" She looked down into the white water-like liquid.
"Not at all." Kagome got up from the milk and draped a towel in front of her. "What was your life like as a-a..." she couldn't bring herself to say the word. It sounded wrong.
"A peasant?" Sango asked, she didn't seem to be affected by the word at all. Kagome nodded slowly. "It wasn't all that bad, but it was harder when my parents died. I couldn't find work to feed the two of us so we lived off of scraps that people, higher then us, threw out."
"I'm sorry." Kagome said. "I wish my parents would have paid more attention to the people like you. Then maybe you wouldn't have had it so hard."
Sango walked over to Kagome when they were out of the pool and hugged her. "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself, or your family." Sango reassured her. "I'm here, and fine. Am I not? Come, let's get some sleep." Kagome nodded then pulled away from Sango.
"If you so low in rating, how do you speak so well?" Kagome asked, finally realizing the quality of Sango's vocabulary.
"My parents were well educated and where around the court much of their time." Sango laid down on one of the many beds. "I'll tell you more about it tomorrow." She said as she closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep. Kagome soon followed.
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Ok, This chapter was kind of short, I admit it. The next chapters will be longer. I hope. I know they will be. So hold on. Review Review. Tell me what you think Please! Thanks.
Souls' Hatred
In the Sands of Time
Souls' Hatred
Chapter One, The Capture of the Women
---------
The sun beat down mercilessly on the traveling group of people making their way across the hot desert. Sweat was beading down their faces as the sand collected in their shoes. A small girl tugged on her mothers robes and looked up to her with large eyes.
"Mama, I'm thirsty." The mother's face slightly fell at her daughters comment. Knowing there was nothing she could do for her poor child she knelt down and embraced her in a warm loving hug.
"I'm sorry honey, but there's nothing I can do about it." She said as she lifted her daughter into her arms and continued walking.
"But those men are carrying water." The little girl pointed over her mother's shoulder at a row of men carrying water sacks. "Couldn't they lend us some water?" The mother sighed and shook her head.
"No, they can't." Her mother said softly.
"But why..." the mother placed a gentle finger over her lips to silence her. A man came walking up to the mother and child.
"Why isn't she walking?" His voice was harsh. "Every person here has to carry their own weight. Those who can no longer stand will be left behind to face their death." The mother held her daughter closer.
"She's thirsty and her legs are tired of walking." The mother explained.
"I don't give a damn how tired she is. She has to walk and if she falls behind she's left behind." He barked. "Have her drink her own sweat if she's that thirsty." He said and began to walk away. The woman set her child back onto the scorching hot earth with tears in her eyes.
"What the hell is your problem?" A young woman yelled at the retreating general. The man spun on his heal and glared at the raven black haired beauty with daggers.
"How the dare you yell at me. I don't care if you 'were' the princes of your former country you are no more then any of these other people here now." He spat at her when his face was merely inches from her own.
"Why shouldn't I? Even if you have taken me from my country I still am royalty in blood." she said defiantly. Her eyes held as intense a gaze as the man before her.
"Kagome, stop." She pretended not to hear the small voice that sounded behind her. She only bore deeper into the man.
"One more word out of you princess and I'll have you chained and left to die right here in this desert." The man's voice held no remorse. Kagome lowered her eyes and backed away from him at him his words. "That's better. Maybe some bandits will come to take you away and use you as their play toy." She only heard a low mumble of words at the last part.
The woman who held her child's hand turned her head back to Kagome. "Why did you do that, your majesty?" She did a slight bow of her head.
Kagome looked at her for a moment. "Please do not address me in that way." Kagome turned her head to the side. "It does not rightfully fit me anymore. As for your question I did it because you needed help and that man was out of his line as a commander." A tear rolled down her milky white skin and onto the sand that burned it up.
"Thank you, Kagome." The woman gingerly spoke the girl's name. Kagome pulled out a small bottle of water from inside of her robes.
"Here, take this. I would rather die then try to live for I have no future now." The woman hesitantly took the small bottle of water that Kagome held for her.
"My dear, please don't ever say that. Everyone has the right to live for the tomorrow of their lives." Her voice held motherly love, as if she were speaking to her own child. "Believe that you will find away to over come the obstacles that are in your way, for the moment will pass and your fears fade away because tomorrow is a new day."
Kagome stood there for a moment not fully understanding what the woman had told her but feeling as if she had heard those words spoken before to her, along time ago. "Where did you learn that?"
"Along time ago, an old man gave me those words when I felt like giving up on everything." She said then bent down to her daughter and handed her the small amount of water. The young girl drank gingerly. When the child was finished, the mother quietly put the bottle into her cream robes.
Kagome walked on, her mind wondering on the things that she always did.
----------
"Bandits! Bandits!" The lookout called to the still wandering group. The sun was beginning to set and the air around the people was more bearable. The outcry made little commotion among the group. Everyone kept walking until the commander signaled them to halt. Some wives leaned up against their husbands for the feeling of security.
A line of men silhouetted by the sun on the west appeared followed slowly by men on the east then south then north. All of who were wearing lengths of cloth wrap around their bodies. "Cooperate and no harm will come to you." The man who appeared to be the leader of the bandits spoke.
No one spoke; all eyes were on the men who surrounded the traveling group. "And if we don't?" The commander spoke.
"Then you shall all be disposed of." The reply was dry and uncaring.
"What is it you want?" At this, the leader waved his hand in signal and ten men came walking over to the group. They held ropes in their hands and had long swords at their belt.
One of the men walked over to a girl that stood behind the princess. Kagome looked behind her to see the young girl's wrists being tied and a scarf wrapped around her mouth. The girl showed no sign of struggle as the man took her away.
"What is the meaning of this?" The commander asked in rage, as he did another man came up to Kagome and began to tie her hands.
"Let go of me." She screamed her voice high pitched. Kagome kicked at the man that held her. Her foot met his groin and he let her go.
All eyes turned to the sound of a whip when it cracked. Kagome stood stunned a small gasp escaped from her throat as her hand moved slowly for her left cheek. The pain of the whip felt like the slice of a knife but no blood emitted from the wound. Another crack was heard and Kagome fell to her knees as it hit her leg.
It did not hurt for as much of a shock it was. All her life she had never been hit, and at the surprise of a whip biting her skin, she didn't know how to feel.
Someone came up, tied her hands, and carried her over to where all the other young women were. She gave no resistance instead; she willingly let the hands take her away.
"Do not try to follow us. If you do, you will surely never see the light of day on this earth again." The leader of the bandits said as his group retreated the way they had come, carrying with them the girls they had tied.
The commander stood shocked for a moment at what had happened. When he had finally regained his wits, he looked to his group. They had taken ten young women with them. "Carry on." He barked the order.
The little girl looked up to her mother and tugged on her clothing. "Mommy, where are they taking those girls?" Her face held innocence as her eyes met with her mother's.
"I don't know honey. But I hope they will be alright." The woman whispered. "I hope they will be alright."
----------
The men let the ten young women into a well-lit room that was occupied by three other women. The men left as soon as an elderly lady waved her hand. The door closed behind them.
"Welcome." The elderly woman greeted the ten young women warmly. "This is the home of the Yoklin. You are treated as family as soon as you are marked. Nine of you will not be excepted into this clan and you will be workers on this land." The girls looked at one another wondering who wouldn't make it. "There are a set of trail that set before you. You must complete four out of the five. These tests show your strengths and weaknesses. They will open you up to the world that lies around you."
"And what types of 'tests' are they?" Kagome inquired.
"You will find out in good time. For now eat and bathe." Two younger women opened two sliding doors that sat behind the elder. "This is your home for now. Enjoy it to it's fullest for tomorrow the trials begin." The ten young women were led into the room that lay beyond the open doors.
The room held the fragrance of freshly baked food and of lavender. Kagome looked around to see one large table that sat to her left filled with food. In the middle of the room was a square pool that was the bath. Instead of filled with water, it was filled with milk and petals floated on the surface.
The former princess followed a small group of the women over to the table to eat. The table looked made from copper and the plates from gold. Everything looked so good. "Who do you think will make it?" Kagome heard a girl ask the others that sat around the table.
"Definitely Kikyo. I mean have you seen her?" One of the girls said. A few of them nodded their heads in agreement.
"No way, I think it will be the Princess Kagome." Another one of them said. Kagome smiled faintly at the remark. "She looks like Kikyo but her spirit holds so much more power. Kikyo looks dead if you ask me." The girl who spoke had dark brown hair that hung to the middle of her back and loosely tied at the bottom.
Kagome sat listening in silence not wanting to be noticed by anyone. She looked over to the women who looked so much like her. She had to admit the look in Kikyo's eyes seemed distant and dead.
"What do you think?" the question was directed towards Kagome. Kagome looked up at the girls that now stared at her. It was the girl who had mentioned her name that asked the question. She didn't know what to say.
"I think you will get it." Kagome held her hand out toward the brown haired girl. The girl looked at her for a moment before taking her hand. "Taiyo, Sango." The girl said.
"Higurashi, Kagome." The girls' eyes grew wide with surprise and delight. "You-you're Princess Kagome?" They all asked at different times. Kagome nodded.
"I prefer no title." Kagome said as she got up from the table. "Oh, Sango, thank you for thinking of me." She said before she left the girls to themselves.
"Wait, Princess." Kagome turned around to face the brown haired girl, Sango. "I mean, Kagome." Kagome turned around and kept walking she could hear Sango's feet walking on the tiled floor behind her. After they were out of ear shot Kagome faced Sango again.
"What is it you want to speak to me about?" Kagome asked in her royal manner. She had practiced the voice and grammar many times out of the day. Her teachers had made her.
"I just..."
"Well speak."
"I just wanted to say," Sango quickly spit out, almost afraid to upset the former princess. "I just wanted to say that no matter what happens I'll always remember you." Kagome stood there for a moment not quite sure what to say to the girls sudden out burst of emotion.
Kagome laid her hand on Sango's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "Please do not be saying this because I was once the Princess of our home land. Please be saying this because you want to be friends, for no other reason then because we have a tie." Kagome said. She never truly had a friend that had stayed by her after they had gotten what they wanted. She had always dreamed of a true friend, to be there no matter what happened.
Sango nodded. "I want to get to know you more. The real you, not the royal you. I don't care about the blood you come from." Kagome bit her lip and wrapped her arms around the newly found friend of hers. Sango returned the hug and then pulled back.
Kagome tied up her hair before she got into the milk bath that was built into the ground. Sango followed in as soon as her hair was above her shoulders. "Do you have family?" Kagome asked after a moment of relaxing in the pool.
"My brother, he's the only one. My parents died about 5 years ago, I've had to raise my brother on my own." Sango explained. Kagome sighed.
"I suppose you were very close." Sango nodded.
"What about you. Living in luxury and being the heir to the thrown." Sango asked she put a few hand movements along with her speech.
"Oh yeah, it was great alright." Kagome's voice didn't sound too enthused. "If you don't mind not seeing your father except when he calls you to court and your mother looks down on you as if you were a piece of trash in her way. A half brother, whose too young to know what's going on and you being taxied around by maids and teachers drilling you with every little thing on the face of the earth." She ended with a sigh and sunk deeper into the liquid.
"Guess it's not what it looks like is it?" She looked down into the white water-like liquid.
"Not at all." Kagome got up from the milk and draped a towel in front of her. "What was your life like as a-a..." she couldn't bring herself to say the word. It sounded wrong.
"A peasant?" Sango asked, she didn't seem to be affected by the word at all. Kagome nodded slowly. "It wasn't all that bad, but it was harder when my parents died. I couldn't find work to feed the two of us so we lived off of scraps that people, higher then us, threw out."
"I'm sorry." Kagome said. "I wish my parents would have paid more attention to the people like you. Then maybe you wouldn't have had it so hard."
Sango walked over to Kagome when they were out of the pool and hugged her. "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself, or your family." Sango reassured her. "I'm here, and fine. Am I not? Come, let's get some sleep." Kagome nodded then pulled away from Sango.
"If you so low in rating, how do you speak so well?" Kagome asked, finally realizing the quality of Sango's vocabulary.
"My parents were well educated and where around the court much of their time." Sango laid down on one of the many beds. "I'll tell you more about it tomorrow." She said as she closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep. Kagome soon followed.
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Ok, This chapter was kind of short, I admit it. The next chapters will be longer. I hope. I know they will be. So hold on. Review Review. Tell me what you think Please! Thanks.
Souls' Hatred