Fallen Princess
Kagome rolled the second she hit the ground. She was on her feet in moments, reaching back to pull Ayumi away from the still burning demon fires. Once her friend was on her feet as well, Kagome pushed her towards the door.
"Get out of here Ayumi!" Kagome cried before she turned to see Yuka backing away from the dark flames licking up the wall they had just been standing by. "Yuka! You too! We need to find a better place to face this thing!"
Yuka nodded her approval to Kagome's plan, and took off for the door. Kagome made to follow, but paused when she saw that Ayumi wasn't moving.
"Come on, Ayumi!" Kagome urged, but still she would not move. She remained a statue, staring upon the dancing fires as though she were waiting for something to emerge. "Ayumi," Kagome's voice broke softly as she tried to force out the difficult truth. "There's nothing we can do for Eri right now. But there's still something that we can do for ourselves."
Ayumi lifted her eyes to Kagome's, in them displaying the torment laying siege to her soul. Terror was no longer a word to describe what Ayumi felt in that moment when she realized her friend was not coming back, and there was no word to describe what she knew was coming. She allowed Kagome to pull her out of the room, hardly hearing the encouraging words spilling from her friend's lips.
They met up with Yuka just outside the door of the room, Kagome pulling Ayumi behind her. Once together, the three girls made a dash back down the hall to escape the burning flames and avoid being trapped by the demon controlling them. They reached the grand staircase quickly, and Yuka stopped at the railing to catch her breath and to work out a new plan. By the time Kagome caught up with Ayumi, Yuka had an idea.
"Alright, Kagome," she started. "You've got your bow and I have my dagger. I say, that we rip that portrait up there from its hangings, use it as a shield, and wait here for that demon to come to us."
- THUD….scccrrrape…THUD…scccrrrape… -
The sound of the demon's footsteps from down the dark hallway they had just emerged from gave Kagome all the more encouragement she needed. Apparently, they would not be waiting long for the demon to come to them. Kagome and Yuka moved quickly to the large portrait. On the hasty count of 'three' they yanked the picture from the wall, shattering the rusted brackets that had held it in place. They moved the painting to angle out from the wall, pushing a heavy standing vase behind it to keep it upright.
- THUD….scccrrrape…THUD…scccrrrape… -
The demon was moving closer, the sounds of its footsteps echoing loudly as it pounded against the aged wood of the floor. Yuka ducked down behind the painting, and motioned Kagome to the opposite side of the hall to use the sculpted stone of the staircase railing to conceal herself. Kagome grabbed Ayumi by the hand and led her to the stairs, and once sure she was out of harm's way, turned back to stand watch with Yuka for the approaching demon.
- THUD….scccrrrape…THUD…scccrrrape… -
A vague outline began to appear in the dark shadows of the corridor as the demon approached. Kagome drew her bow from her shoulder and notched an arrow to point into the darkness as she waited for the demon to reveal itself.
- THUD -
The beams from the flashlights trained down the hallway caught against a polished surface, giving the girls their first look at what had been creating the hideous noise.
- scccrrrape -
What had only been a shadowy outline began to take on more shape, and as it pulled away from the shadows, it took with it none of their size.
- THUD -
A crooked old staff, its length twisted of both light and dark wood was slowly revealed.
- scccrrrape -
The scaly hands gripping the staff tightened against it, dragging the rest of the demon into the light, revealing the short, hunched being whose gray-green skin hung from its skeletal limbs as a wrinkled mass. The creature stood shakily on one bent and crooked leg; but as it brought the staff down again to thud against the old floorboards and leaned its weight against it, that leg would not or could not bend in compliance, leaving it to drag behind the demon and its talons to scrape across the floor.
The demon stopped suddenly, his sight going straight to where Kagome crouched, her arrow pointed steadily at him.
Kagome's breath hitched and her grip on her bow faltered. Those eyes, those large, protruding eyes; they looked at her and they saw. They didn't see a young school girl in a miko's costume, they saw a miko. And what was more; they saw a miko that they knew, a miko that they had seen before.
A wild cry filled the corridor, and Kagome turned quickly to it, only to find that Yuka had dashed out from behind her concealment and was charging towards demon.
"YUKA! NO!"
But Yuka would not listen to Kagome's warnings. Her heart had been set on revenge, and her prey was within her sight. She closed the distance between herself and the youkai quickly, but came to a skidding stop when the demon lifted its staff to crash down against the wooden floor. She dived to the side, narrowly missing the wave of demonic fires spreading out from the wizard's staff. But she was on her feet again in seconds, he left arm raised to guard her face from the heat and her right hand clutching tightly to her dagger.
She spun on her feet to doge another blast of the staff's fire, escaping just barely and with singed hair and smoking garments. But she was so close. She took one last lunging step towards the demon, her right hand lashing out in a swift cutting motion and slicing through the flesh of her enemy.
The demon shrieked in anguish, its shrill, croaking voice stinging the ears of all who heard it. Its blood splashed down to the floor at its feet in a terrible rush, and with it fell the staff of fire, the scaly green hands still griping to the polished surface. The demon fell back, landing hard in the pool of its own blood, but with only one legs and it hands having been stolen from it, it had no more defenses.
Yuka reached down with her left hand and grabbed the little demon by the throat, swinging it around to crash into the wall behind it.
"Did you kill Eri?" She asked the demon in a dark voice. "Did you kill the girl?!" She screamed as she bashed the demon hard against the wall again.
"YUKA!"
Yuka didn't even acknowledge Kagome voice. She lifted her dagger and pressed it lengthwise against the demon's throat.
"Did you kill the girl?"
The demon's large eyes narrowed in hatred as he looked at Yuka. "I will never let the curse come to pass. If the girl is dead there is only one left to betray. The dark one will not win!"
"BASTARD!!!!"
"YUKA!! NO!!"
But Kagome was too late to stop her. Yuka pressed her blade deep into the demon's throat, cutting a grave path and spilling out the demon's life in its blood.
"YUKA!"
Kagome finally reached her friend, pulling her away from the wall where she had pinned the demon. Yuka allowed it to happen, and released the demon from her grasp as she turned away, letting it fall heavily to the floor. The little body landed in a heap, its blood spilling out all around it. Though she knew that he had voiced his own guilt over killing Eri, Kagome took pity on the creature. She knelt down and turned him on to his back, closed his dead eyes, and reached for his staff to set it gently by his side.
"Find peace…" Kagome whispered gently. "…Jaken."
"Kagome?"
Yuka's voice pulled Kagome away from the dead toad. She stood and started walking back to Yuka, but as she drew nearer, she saw the problem.
"Where's Ayumi," she asked anxiously.
"Shhhh…" Yuka lifted her finger to her lips and turned out her flashlight. "Listen…"
Kagome moved to stand next to Yuka, retrieving her flashlight from the banister where she had left it and snapping off the beam. A faint, echoing voice was being carried down the hallway to the left, bringing the haunting melody of the child's voice to their ears once more. But mingled in with the soft tones of the song, was a faint shuffling of feet against the wooden floors.
Kagome moved to turn on her flashlight again and start down the hallway, but Yuka placed her hand tightly on the light, shaking her head to tell Kagome to keep it off.
"It's the shadow," Yuka whispered quietly. "It hides from the light."
Kagome nodded slightly in understanding. She took a deep breath as she allowed her vision to adjust to only the soft light being cast off by her glowing pendant; then started forward into the dark corridor with Yuka by her side.
They made their way quickly and quietly down the hallway. No obstacles barred their passage, and they were left with a clear way ahead. Steadily they came closer to the slow, shuffling footsteps, and they hurried their pace to catch up with them. But as they neared the end of the corridor, and the double-doors of the room at the end came into view, the footsteps suddenly stopped.
Kagome and Yuka exchanged an uncertain glance at each other, and then moved quickly through the doors which stood ajar in invitation for their coming. When they entered the room, they saw Ayumi standing on the far side next to the window. The night air blew in through the opening, brushing against the billowy layers of Ayumi's gown and causing it to rustle quietly.
"Ayumi!" Kagome called out to her friend as she took a step towards her, but Yuka's hand grabbing tightly on her arm made her look back.
Yuka gestured towards the shadows just to the side of the window. There, shying away from the faint light of the moon and stars, a small figure could bee seen. The shadows shifted, and the figured moved to face them. In the darkness of the shadows, a faint glimmer could be seen: dark eyes flashing. Then it lifted its voice, filling the room with the soft tones of its song in a chilling hum.
So close to the melody's source and with a new understanding dawning upon her; Kagome called out the child hidden in the darkness.
"Rin," she called the child's name softly. "Come out. I want to help you. Let me help you find your rest."
The soft melody came to its end, and slowly the figure in the shadows pulled into the light. She was dressed as Kagome had last seen her, in a simple but elegant child's kimono, and her shoulder-length hair was tied lightly at the side of her head. But as the light spilled down upon her, her form began to fade; her little body becoming nearly transparent. She lifted her dark, haunted eyes to meet with Kagome's, and for a brief moment there was a glimmer of hope. But soon the hope died away and the darkness consumed her once more. She turned just before she faded away completely and floated silently towards Ayumi who still stood facing out the open window.
"Ayumi!" Kagome cried out to her friend. "Get away from there!"
But when Ayumi didn't move, and the apparition of Rin steadily drew closer to her, Kagome ran forward to try and reach her friend before the ghost. Kagome was nearly within reach of her friend when the spectral form of the little girl merged into Ayumi's body. Kagome made one last, desperate reach for Ayumi, and her hand caught on the thick folds of the elaborate dress. Kagome tried to hold on, she tried to move closer; but her efforts would be in vain.
Driven forward by the curse set upon the haunted mansion, Rin's restless spirit led Ayumi to follow in the foolish footsteps she had once taken. She took Ayumi out of the window towards the courtyard beyond. But with no control of her body and with nothing to stop her decent, Ayumi fell from the high window of the second floor and plummeted towards the ground below.
"AYUMI!!!!!!" Kagome cried in horror as she tried frantically to take hold of more layers of cloth. "NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"
But the cloth was fragile and it ripped in her hands, leaving Kagome to look on helplessly as her friend fell from her sight.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Kukukukukukuku! Oh, how I love tales of horror.
Only two chapters left in this haunting tale. What more terrors await in the darkness?
Fear not the dark Shadows that can be seen, but those that pass by without notice.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately my imagination only goes so far as to create plotlines not characters. I don't own any of them.