Already a week into her journey, Kagome seemed to be doing pretty well, considering she was alone in a place she still wasn't totally accustomed to. She had decided to go to a nearby village and ask the local priestess, who was known to have a high rank close to Kikyo's, if she could give her a start on her journey. It was just now that she approached this village, and started to search for the priestess in question. As would be expected with a well known person, it was not hard to find her, a surprisingly short black-haired, almost violet eyed woman. Kagome at first could hardly say anything, finding it shocking that she had to look down to see this noble woman, who barely came up to her chin. She made no mention of this, however, since she didn't want to be rude. "Lady Kiyonomi?" she finally managed to say. "That would be me, Miss Kagome, I would presume you are?" Kiyonomi replied, in a soft, young voice that spoke of the leaves of autumn and the snow of winter at the same time. Kagome blinked. This person was nowhere near what she had thought she would be like. "That's my name, yes," she said, trying as hard as she could to not ask how Kiyonomi knew this. "A truly powerful priestess can see the unseen, read the unread, and known the unknown," Kiyonomi said, as though she knew what Kagome was thinking. "Um, Miss Kiyonomi...I mean, Lady Kiyonomi, I'm here to ask for your help with something," she started. "Come inside, we can discuss things there." Kiyonomi said, inviting her towards a small hut, actually smaller than the rest of the village huts. Inside, Kagome spread out the scroll, which Kiyonomi proceeded to scrutinize. "So, you are the next one..." she said quietly. The next few minutes proceeded like this, silence save Kiyonomi's aloud thoughts. Finally, Kagome couldn't take it anymore, she had to ask. "How old are you?" she blurted. Kiyonomi looked up. "Thirteen. Seriously, I am." she said, reading Kagome like an open book. "It's a long story, if we have the time I'll explain it better. But right now we have to deal with the ritual of the Miko no Tama, I'm sure you'll agree that's more important than ages?"
"Dammit! Where is she?" InuYasha exclaimed, storming back into Kaede's hut. "She said she went off to do something that only she could do, InuYasha, and it looked like she really meant it. She could be anywhere in Japan!" Sango said, looking over the note that had been wrinkled from tears. Miroku and Shippo came in. "No sign of her anywhere," they both reported. "Dammit!" InuYasha said again, punching the ground with his fist, making a six inch deep depression. "Ye need not to worry, InuYasha." Kaede said quietly from the kettle, where she was brewing dinner. "Kagome can take care of herself, you just have to believe in her." Sango sighed. "We know that, but that doesn't stop us from being worried." Kaede nodded knowingly. "I know, I admit I am a bit worried as well, but I believe in her, I believe she will complete the journey she set out on and return safely." InuYasha punched the ground again. "That's not the point!" Shippo blinked. "Then what is?" he asked. InuYasha growled in frustration. "She shouldn't go out alone there!" This obvious act of extreme worry got a look from everyone else. "WHAT?" InuYasha yelled, getting more and more annoyed by the second.
Kiyonomi lead Kagome up the many steps to a large temple at the top of a nearby mountain. "This," she said, "is the o-tera Genjutsu no Chikara, or the Power of Magic temple. As its name suggests, this is no ordinary temple. This is a temple run by miko with exceptional chi. No offense to your present skills, Miss Kagome, but I think you should train here for a while." Kagome bowed humbly. "Thank you, Miss Kiyonomi," she said.
A few days went by, and some more, and finally a month had flown past. It was now mid-April, and the cherry blossoms were beginning to fall. Kagome was dressed in a kimono, which was a beautiful deep navy, dark but still glowing as though the twilight sky, with a cherry blossom pink obi. She had been before wearing her hakama, which were sparkling white like flowing light, as she did her prayers that morning for this event. This was her graduation ceremony, and as she stood before the sacred tree of the temple, Kiyonomi came to her, carrying several objects. "Lady Kagome, I bestow on you the sacred gifts of the gods upon your becoming an official Priestess, a bringer of peace, a warrior of justice." She held out the first item, a thick rice paper covered and string bound package, and said "We took the liberty of washing the robes you were wearing when you arrived, however I would say along your journey it would not be wise to wear them, so we also give you these," another package was on top of the first in a flash, "to help you stay inconspicuous along your journey." Kagome accepted these gratefully, then placed them on the ground before the tree like she was told to do. A quiver that never emptied and a bow that could never break, paper and ink for sutras that never ran out, a package of several weapons, most of them common to ninjutsu, and a sword, which, instead of being made for being warn on the hip shrank, so that it could be warn as a necklace when not needed. It was therefore named twice, the full size Kokoro to Tama, and the miniature size named Chibi Ken. Once she received these, Kagome purified them before the great tree of the temple.
Two days later, Kagome finished saying her good-byes and preparing for her departure. She was back in her school clothes, and was packing everything in her bag; Kiyonomi must have enchanted the bag, since even her bow fit inside with plenty of room to spare. As she walked to the edge of town, there was a crowd of all of the townspeople bidding farewell to her. People handed her some food for her journey: a few onigiri, a small packet of rice, whatever they had that they could spare. Now fully loaded down, Kagome followed Kiyonomi's directions to a mountain called Tatsuryu-san, Mount Tatsuryu. It was circled on the map Kiyonomi had given her the night before, and it was filled with spiritual power, so it was more like an ancient GPS system since it could show both the destination and your current location. "Kiyonomi-san is very wise," she said gratefully as she walked along the path.
Culture Notes/Definitions:
Chibi Ken - chibi for a person means shrimp, dwarf, or runt, but instead of using chiisai, the adjective for small, I used chibi.
Kokoro to Tama - heart and soul
Hakama - the pants worn over a kimono. Example: Kikyo's outfit is the red kimono and the red hakama
Kimono - a traditional Japanese dress, worn by both men and women, but men usually wore simple kimonos and hakama, while women mostly wore more elaborate kimonos with an obi
Obi - the sash of a kimono
Tatsuryuu-san - Mt.Tatsuryu. As far as I know it doesn't really exist, the name comes from the two words for dragon since I have no clue what's right. My textbook says tatsu but I was always told ryu.
GPS - Global Positioning System
Author's Note:
I'm sorry if this chapter is relatively short, I'm still getting started with the story and it usually takes me a while to get things into full swing. Hopefully this chapter wasn't so confusing as the last! (And hopefully I can write another chapter without another author's note xD)