A/N: Oh my god I'm so happy with all the reviews I got for this. I realise the prologue might have been a bit vague. It was supposed to. This chapter will be more of an introduction. There will be three chapters to build the story and then the prologue will become a lot clearer.
I hope you'll like the first chapter as well and please leave a comment! I enjoyed them tremendously and as you see they made me work so much faster than I'd expected I would. I'll probably update much faster with such lovely words from you all (they're like cookies for my brain).
I want to make one thing sure though. Sesshomaru is an arse. Especially in the first part of the manga and anime, and I'm not going to change that. Please enjoy this chapter!
o.O.o
Chapter one, In the Well
'In the garden of memory, in the palace of dreams… that is where you and I shall meet.' — Alice Through the Looking Glass
The early morning light strained through the leaves of the large Go-Shin-Boku in front of Chiharu's bedroom, creating a scattered pattern of light on the faded green carpet. She stood in front of her vanity — an item she'd wanted when she was six — and scraped a brush through her long dark hair.
The yellow alarm clock on her nightstand was ticking merrily and the lightbulb above her head was softly buzzing as if it was complaining about its use. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, the young girl glanced at an old photograph of a large sakura tree, taken during spring years ago. She caught the old birthday card the picture was attached to.
She loved spring. When she had been no more than a child she loved to accompany her mother to Hanami parties, viewing the blossoms open to the sun. Her favourite spot was in Sumida Park, at the waterline. She loved the sweet scent of sakura blossoms clouding her senses. Enjoyed catching the petals, especially when she was still a child. But that had changed a long time ago. She stopped visiting the Sumida park during May when her father died.
Chiharu Higurashi massaged the bridge of her nose, before folding her birthday card back up and placed it in the top drawer of her desk. She absentmindedly glanced at the faded scars on her hands. They were a reminder of that day, and although they had faded, they would never truly go away.
"Chiharu?" a voice behind her door yelled. "Are you ready?"
"One more minute!" she yelled back, straightening her green school-skirt and tied her red scarf around her neck.
Today she'd turned fifteen years old.
Chiharu smoothed down the front of her skirt and stepped out of her bedroom. Kagome Higurashi, her older twin-sister by three hours, was leaning against the wall. Her dark hair fell messily around her face and her skirt was at least an inch too short.
"Don't judge, I'm seeing Hojo today," Kagome told her younger sister matter-of-factly when she noticed the disapproval in Chiharu's face.
"Right, and he's seeing your legs, I assume?"
Crossing her arms over her stomach, automatically pushing her breasts up — which Chiharu envied her sister for — Kagome glared. "You're not funny…"
"I didn't try to be."
"Girls, you're going to be late if you don't get going." Their mother's voice retorted when the two girls descended the stairs and passed the kitchen.
"Hai Mama!" Kagome called back.
"Mama, can I take your bike?" Chiharu asked, walking into the kitchen. The tile floor was gleaming brightly in the morning sunlight. Her mother was leaning her elbows on the counter slowly placing the freshly cleaned plates in the drainer and looked up with a small frown.
"My bike?" She asked and Chiharu smiled guiltily at her mother when she pursed her lips. "All right, but if you break this one as well, you'll walk the rest of the year." She told her, yet no real threat in her voice.
"Hai, mama!" Chiharu grinned, before waving at her grandfather. "See you tonight Jii-chan! I do expect a birthday dinner, you know?"
Her grandfather smiled and nodded slowly. Chiharu shook her head before going outside. Kagome was waiting for her. Chiharu and Kagome were identical twins. They had the same shaped face, the same lips, but Kagome's body developed faster. Or at least that was what Chiharu hoped. Kagome's hair was unruly at the best of days, while Chiharu's hair was long and straight. But the clearest difference was their eyes. Kagome's eyes were blue, while her eyes both had a different colour; heterochromia iridium. One was blue and the other was brown, an easy characteristic to keep the girls apart.
"Birthday dinner?"
"That would be nice, wouldn't it?"
"If mama cooks, yes, but if Jiji does, he'll probably just cook the Kappa's hand," Kagome muttered and Chiharu chuckled.
"Nee-chan?"
"What now?" Kagome muttered, before glancing towards their younger brother; Sōta Higurashi. He was standing next to the old family shrine. Kagome's eyes narrowed and she all but stomped towards him hand clasped tightly around her backpack.
"You know you shouldn't play in the shrine, Sōta." She admonished sternly and the boy wrung his hands together.
"I know— But Buyo, he's inside."
"The cat?" Chiharu asked. "How did our cat get inside, I thought we always kept the door locked?"
"The door was open." The boy muttered, he was only ten after all and Chiharu shook her head when he slowly— obviously afraid— trekked into the shrine. The old wooden floorboard creaked loudly under his weight and he trembled. "I think Buyo is down there."
"Then why don't you go and get him?" Kagome asked.
Sōta shook his head resolutely, glaring at a cobweb on the railing. "No way, this place feels kinda creepy."
"Are you scared?" Kagome asked, crouching down next to her little brother. Chihara leaned against the doorsill. "Aren't you supposed to be a man?"
"Onee-chan…"
"Yeah, okay," she muttered. A strange sound came from the bottom of the shrine somewhere around the old well which was located in the centre.
"Something is there," he muttered, before hiding behind Chiharu.
"Just go on," she told her younger brother. "We'll get the cat, you should run, else you miss the bus." He didn't have to be told twice. Sōta nodded vigorously before turning the corner and ran out of sight.
Kagome's chin jutted forward. "Unbelievable, he plays the vilest sort of video games and yet, he doesn't dare to go into the shrine alone."
Chiharu shrugged. "You act like that surprises you." She took a couple of steps forward into the shrine. The wood complaining loudly under her feet and Chiharu nervously bit her lip. "Is the cat really down there?"
"Don't you start too," Kagome muttered before moving down the stairs. "What else should be down there?"
"Onee-san?" Chiharu asked tentatively while pushing her dark hair out of her eyes. Her older sister was silently standing next to the well and Chiharu raised an eyebrow. "Have you located Buyo already?"
"No," Kagome muttered, "You could come downstairs and help me."
"Fine," Chiharu muttered, tentatively descending the old creaky stairs as well.
It was sudden. The only warning Chihara got, was a strange feeling followed by a harsh breaking sound before a large female, looking more like a centipede, burst out of the enshrined Bone Eater's well, dragging Kagome into it. Her scream never left her lips and as Kagome disappeared out of sight, a purple hue engulfed her and Chiharu stood rooted to the spot.
She waited a few seconds before moving forward. Her hands firmly gripped onto the well and she screamed: "Kagome!"
As she looked over the ledge and squinted through the darkness Chiharu waited for her older sister to react. Waited for her to groan and mumble. She didn't and she didn't see her at the bottom of the well either.
"Kagome-onee-chan?" Chiharu tried again, but the only sound that greeted her was the faint sounds of cars, buses and people from the street. She was gone and she felt her face pale even more. How was this even possible?
"How?" she whispered still not seeing her older sister, nor the weird centipede-woman. Disappeared in thin air and, it was strange, but it was almost as if the well was beckoning her. Inhaling sharply, she bunched up the sleeves of her blouse and dropped her backpack onto the dusty floorboard. While exhaling, she threw a leg over the ledge and sat nervously onto the wooden ledge.
"This is a bad idea." She murmured. "This is such a bad idea."
She kicked off, dropping down and just as she was about to squeeze her eyes shut, she was developed into a haze of brilliant purple light. Chiharu landed feet first with a small yelp. A tremor ran through her legs and she slumped to her knees. The dirt beneath her felt solid and the walls around her covered in dirt. She waited a moment, breathing in harshly and blinked repeatedly. She had just dissolved in a burst of light in a free fall and she was all right.
Dusting her skirt off she glanced around the dark confines of the well. There was no trace of Kagome, but lumps of flesh and bone surrounded her. She shuddered, slowly getting up to her feet and looked up the dark shaft, and up into the round eye of the sky above her. Her eyebrows furrowed, she wasn't supposed to see the sky. It wasn't supposed to show the sky, and she blinked against the harsh contrast of the stark blue sky to the darkness from the well.
Glancing down at the lumps of flesh onto the soil and she grimaced. That same strange feeling settled into her gut. Swallowing, she felt for leverage and started to climb. Above her, she heard the birds chirp and the wind whispered through the leaves. With some difficulty she heaved herself over the lip of the well and heaved, waiting for her breath to return.
She was in a clearing, surrounded by large trees, instead of the well-house in their backyard, and the only thing that reminded her of her own home was the large Go-Shin-Boku tree, throwing a large shadow over her. Long grass tickled her calves and she had to forcefully keep her breathing even.
"Where am I?" she whispered to herself while glancing around.
There was no trace of Kagome.
Chiharu slowly ventured away from the well, silently moving through the bushes and the trees while trying to find her older sister. Bunching up the sleeves of her blouse, she trekked further into the woods. She had no idea she was only moving further away from the Bone-Eaters-Well and therefore further away from her lost and wandering older sister.
I-I. ⌡. Γ┐
A week had passed. Days, hours and seconds she couldn't precisely count had passed and Chiharu had no idea where she was. She had never been this lost before. She whimpered, slowly approaching the small stream-fed pond. The rivers were deceptive, lying across the lands in smooth curves, beautiful in the morning light. She tried washing her face, wincing, when the cold water dripped down her cheeks and chin. Even in March — was it March in here — the water was icy.
Holding her balance with one hand on the mossy shallow bank she stared at her reflection. She had been lost before. Years ago, when she had been seven years old, she'd gotten lost in the city. That had been nothing compared to now. She had no idea where to go now, and she couldn't seem to find anything to orientate herself on. She sighed softly, her fingers trailing circles over her slightly swollen ankle. She glanced at the morphed reflection in the water below her. Her cheeks were dirty and her school-uniform was torn at several places. Her knees were capped and altogether, she looked very tired. Chiharu had been on the run for at least a week. She had no idea what this place was. It seemed like a dream, yet she never woke up from it. She felt pain when she fell down a slope and almost drowned when swallowed too much water in the lake that had caught her. She had travelled through a forest and two villages with people who had been hostile at best and had coughed herself hoarse when trying to clean herself in a river at least four times. Nothing of which normally happened in dreams.
"Why am I here?" she whispered. The water surface was livened briefly by the crescents of white from the scales of a fish. She followed it down the stream and dipped her fingers just below the surface.
If she had to guess, she'd estimated they were in the Sengoku period. Which was weird enough, but she had never thought about the possibility of Yōkai existing. Whenever her Grandfather told about them, she'd just smiled, yet she had been attacked by demons. She had been attacked by demons, humans and wild animals more times than she cared to admit. She had nearly been killed more than once. She bit onto her lower lip when she felt the now familiar tingle run up her spine, the feeling that always assaulted her when a Yōkai was close. She scrambled away from the spring and pressed her back against the rough bark of a tree. Thankfully whatever it was, passed by without a hitch.
She'd produced sparks of power she didn't understand two or three days ago, venting off a dangerous attack. They were helpful, yet, she wondered if these came from passing through the well, or if they'd been there since she was small. She hadn't thought about it at first when she thought her surroundings were just forged by her imagination. Her own twisted version of Alice in Wonderland. It was somewhat the same, falling down a hole and stepping out into a whole other world, yet she hadn't found the Cheshire Cat, the Duchess or the Mad Hatter.
Glancing at the marsh plants on the banks, wilted and weak, the leaves yellowed at the edges, she exhaled loudly. She recalled vaguely that she'd seen these powers before when she was little, but then again she did believe she could turn into a cat as well, so perhaps her childhood memories of that time were not all that accurate.
Chiharu was not entirely new to the stories and fables her grandfather always told the tourists and used to tell her and her sister several times before they would go to sleep. He told them about the legends of Yōkai and a special magical jewel. Told them about the Houshi's and Miko's who exhibited supernatural qualities and could protect the humans against the monsters, but till a week ago, she'd always been dismissive about the notion of having spiritual powers or the chance that Yōkai really existed. Thereby, it wasn't the yōkai who'd attacked her the most.
In the distance, she heard the sound of the hustle and bustle of a village and Chiharu exhaled softly. She was in dire need of supplies. Especially of clothes, because these were rather tattered and they were highly inappropriate for this time. Chiharu estimated she was in the Sengoku period. The reason: she was pretty sure she'd heard the name Oda Nobunaga at least once on her travels, and he lived during the Sengoku period. Considering that there was no political structure what so ever and the near constant military conflicts she'd seen, she suspected she was stranded mid or even at the end of the sixteenth century.
Engrossed in her thoughts she followed the sound of people — if they were soldiers again, she would leave immediately — she limped tiredly closer. The road was strangely straight yet without the tarmac asphalt. She hadn't thought she would ever miss the cars speeding over the hard asphalt, headlights reflected off the puddles and the street lamps high in the berm.
It began raining and, even without actual cars and the buses, the traffic was chaotic. All kind of carriages and carts were being pulled by horses and people were carrying heavy loads of rice. Chiharu's brows furrowed together. She'd never seen so many horses all at once. She pressed herself to the rough bark of the tree surveying her surroundings. Her school uniform, ripped and tattered, would stand out to all of them and she exhaled sharply.
Slowly backing away from the main road, she absentmindedly watched the coaches rock wildly, every time the horses turned a corner. She started to move further through the woods, her feet aching.
She slowly crept closer to the edge of the forest. A few houses were located around a large campfire and clean, or at least relatively clean, laundry was hung up on clotheslines. Glancing down at her tattered clothing she inched closer. Just something to wrap around herself. That way she would be able to stay warm at night. She had stolen before, little things, like a cup of rice or a sack of vegetables to cook. To have dinner. One piece of clothing to protect her modesty wasn't that bad was it?
A large scarf hung on one of the poles and she slowly unwound it from the pole and wrapped it around her.
"Stop, stay where you are!"
Chiharu looked back over her shoulder before she ran for it. A young man in a haori emerged from the bushes trying to catch her. She glanced around when she crossed the clearing, barely swooping past a woman carrying a child close to her chest.
"Stop her!" the man cried out, "Stop the thief!"
She jumped over a sack of rice and quickened her pace when she realised she was nearing the tree line. With a last burst of speed, she squealed when she almost collided with another woman, carrying a big jug. Water splashed onto the soil beneath their feet, along with a mug, scattering china with a hollow crash.
Chiharu hoped her pursuers would slip and fall on it as they did on television, but just as she was about to reach the forest, someone's hand clasped around her ankle, sending her crashing onto the floor.
"I've got her!" a new person cried, and Chiharu turned her head around and looked in the face of an old man.
"Who is she?" another voice asked and Chiharu flinched, when the cool metal of steel pressed against her throat. Inhaling sharply her fingers fisted into the small strands of grass and she looked up at an armour-clad soldier.
"She must be a thief! I never saw her here before. And those clothes!" her first pursuer snarled. "Perhaps a Yūjo? Shinmachi is close by…"
Did they just think she was a courtesan? Chiharu felt her cheeks heat up. Admittedly her clothes were deemed as a provocation, but wasn't she a bit young? Then again, she could have been a mother at this time. Chiharu slowly got to her feet, while the soldier pressed the blunt side of his spear under her chin.
"Pretty little thing." He murmured. "Wouldn't mind visiting you…"
"I'm not a courtesan." She bit out, wrapping her arms around her chest.
"Than what are you, my child?" a new voice asked.
He eyed her clothes with a lecherous smirk and she felt her cheeks heat up even more. The soldier stepped closer and Chiharu squinted her eyes at his bad sweaty smell. He fingered the hem of her school blouse and pushed it up enough to let his fingers trail over her abdomen.
"Don't touch me!" she cried loudly, pink energy fizzling at her fingertips. She had no idea, how to control it, but she noticed the surprised looks on their faces.
"Reiki," the monk whispered. "A Miko?"
'…Reiki…?'
"You're a Miko?" the second man asked, wearing a similar costume her grandfather always wore. Her grandfather was a kind man. She knew it was a bit of a leap to say every monk was kind, but she thought she had a better chance with someone who was supposed to be kind and fair.
Miko, it was as good as any explanation and she nodded vigorously. "Yes, I was cleaning my clothes," — upon seeing the same lecherous stare on the soldier's face she glared —"Not these, these I found, I had to wear something."
"You were robbed?" her first pursuer asked and she nodded slowly.
"And you tried to rob us?" a female asked, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Yes, well, your friend isn't the first one who thought I traded pleasure for— anything actually, so I didn't really see any other choice." She told them, which wasn't really all that much of a lie. "Thereby, I was just going to take a scarf so I could bath and wash my clothes. You'd get it back."
"I'm Daiki," the monk told her, "Your reiki is obviously untrained."
"Yeah," she muttered, wracking her brain for what she knew about Reiki and Mikos. Her Grandfather never shut up about it, so she should know something useful. "My Grandfather is a Priest," she admitted softly, fidgeting slightly while plucking at her uniform shirt. "He was the only one who could teach me in my village, but he died when I was young."
"And now—"
"I teach myself," Chiharu explained. "It goes well enough, I suppose, but it's still difficult if you don't even know the basics."
"Stand back, soldier." The monk said drawing himself up to his full height. "We don't harm those from holy blood. Especially not when they're still so young."
The soldier grumbled, but he did lower his weapon. Chiharu yanked her arm back with a grunt and heaved a huge sigh.
"Miko or no Miko, she still has to answer for her crimes." The soldier snapped.
"She'll have to answer to our Lord Nagashino."
"Doesn't our Lord have better things to do, with Takeda Katsuyori's army launching an attack on the castle than to deal with a young Miko who is in urgent need of training?"
"A crime is a crime…"
He grabbed her upper arm and dragged her away. She struggled, trying to dig her nails into his hand
"Girl," the soldier snapped, tightening his hold on her upper arm as he forced her along.
He pushed her into a coach and just as another man stepped in next to her, the monk came to pushing a bundle of clothes into her hands. Chiharu smiled gratefully:
"Thank you!"
The soldier climbed into the coach-box and goaded the horses to move. The coach swayed and Chiharu clasped at her seat. She started to feel slightly nauseated. Obviously, you needed a strong stomach to ride one of these. She looked through the gap in the thick curtains and exhaled slowly. She couldn't see much of her surroundings, and every time the coach swayed she tried to prevent her from falling against the large men sitting next to her, eyeing her legs hungrily.
Chiharu was very much aware that going to a castle 'to pay for her crimes' was just a fraud. The way this man, who didn't seem to be a guard if his embroiled clothing was any indication, eyed her legs left little to the imagination as to what he wanted to do.
Slowly she started to panic. Whenever she looked out of the coach windows, nothing seemed all that familiar. And the closer they came to the castle the closer they came to whatever this man next to her had planned for her. Her fingers curled into the clothing the Monk had given her, she glanced out of the coach windows again. If she got the chance she left the coach and make a beeline for the forest edge. She closed her eyes and tried to remember what she knew about the castle of Nagashino, or more accurately the battle of Nagashino. She was rather sure it wouldn't be the safest place to be around.
"We are nearing the castle." The man informed her, his left hand nearing her exposed knee and Chiharu pressed herself against the door and felt her toes curl.
"Great," she mumbled.
He smiled his fingers ghosting over her upper-leg and Chiharu slapped his hand away. "I am not a prostitute," she hissed and his smile fell away.
"Not an aruki Miko then?"
She felt her reiki surge. "My parents' temples have never been troubled by bankruptcy, so no, I'm not to be associated with a prostitute. When I meet my father, and he finds out someone tried and succeeded to rob me, hell will break loose."
She had no idea where all the lies came from, but just as the man pulled his hand back, she slammed the door open and jumped out of the couch. She ran hard and fast, thundering through the narrow paths in the forest. Thankfully the sun was going down, so she expected following her might be a lot harder now. In the distance, she heard several men yell and she quickened her pace. She fled almost blindly, branches scratching at her face, her legs and her arms, but at least—
'Men are pigs, no matter which time we are!'
She glanced over her shoulder. At least, she wasn't followed and she grinned when no one was following her. She might not have had any endurance when she'd been at home, but she'd built up a fortitude that lasted long. Thereby she had grown used to run through the woods and found it much easier to evade her enemies into under the covers of the leaves of the trees, than into a clearing. She veered off the narrow path and winced when thin branches welted her skin. Little twigs snapped under the thumping of her pounding feet and leaves got caught on her hair.
She disappeared into the quickly dying light of the day and only when her calves started to burn and her knees started to jar, she slowed down. She had neared the edge of the forest and peered out over a large meadow. Breathing loudly, she peered down at the meadow. The soft light of the rising moon illuminated the billows of mist and the silhouetting of the canopy of trees below.
"Thank God," she whispered, slowly slumping down onto her knees. She carefully brushed her hands over her once-green skirt, which was now splattered thickly with mud and curled her legs under her. Biting down onto her lower lip, she peered at the clothes the Monk had given her and she shrugged out of her blouse and skirt. The Miko garb was very alike her grandfather's clothes and she smiled.
At least this way she wouldn't stand out as much. She breathed out softly, collecting dry twigs and broken branches to build a fire. This day had brought her at least one good thing; a cover story. And she would use that cover story to her benefit.
To be continued…
A/N: Sometimes bluff is the best defence. Chiharu isn't some Mary Sue character. She will do whatever she has to, to survive (not sleeping with people for money, she's very much like a prudish child, so that wouldn't work). She will, however, steal if she has to and lie if she can get away with it. Fear and survival go hand in hand and I like the complexity of stealing, which is generally not accepted, yet I still understand when you feel the need to.
Japanese terms:
- Yūjo: a woman of pleasure/courtesan.
- Shinmashi: 'pleasure quarter', or Yūkaku, in Osaka.
- Miko: priestess
- Daiki: 'great glory', 'great noble' and 'great tree'
- Houshi: monk
- Yoshitoshi launches his troops to attack the castle of Nagashino 1575 (that's approximately the timeline I'll use).
Please leave a comment. I'd love to know what you all think^^
Inuyasha doesn't belong to me, but to Rumiko Takahashi