Brown eyes scanned the field in amusement. Then twinkling sounds of laughter filled the air as she ran through the field. Her bare feet safe under the dirt and grass, her hair was fluttering behind her on the summer breeze. She spun around in circles, giddy with excitement. Then she heard footsteps.
She ran to the edge of the forest and hid behind a tree. Breathing heavily she peered around one side of the tree and giggled finding no one in the field. Then she turned back around her back facing the tree and saw him there. He was an inch away so all she saw were his deep brown eyes. Being spooked by his sudden appearance she rested her hand on her chest over her heart.
"You scared me!" She called before slapping his tanned shoulder softly. He back up slightly then and she caught a glimpse of his smirk. Then before she could analyze his whole face he turned around abruptly and ran off, laughing all the way.
His laughs were like music to her ears, so she ran off after him, deeper into the forest. Before long she was lost but she could still hear his chuckles in her ears. Then all at once it became quiet. She stopped and tried to listen but she could hear only silence. Suddenly a twig snapped and she felt hands on her shoulders. She shivered as his hands ran down the length of her arms and held tightly to her hands.
"Promise me, you'll be my princess." He whispered into her ear. She smiled and turned around setting her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist.
"I will always be your princess, even in death I will be your princess." She spoke with a smile, all the while nuzzling her face into his shoulder. His arms wrapped around her then and he chuckled before saying,
"I hope you mean it…I really hope you mean it Kagome…"
The dream ended abruptly with Kagome sitting up, her hand tightly gripped her kimono where her heart was. She panted as his words echoed in her head. Her eyes shot around in fear, she felt like he was still there.
Once her surveillance told her he wasn't there, her pounding heart started to slow down to a normal rhythm. She ran her hands through midnight black hair in frustration. Why did she keep seeing this man? What did it mean? She was so lost in her thoughts she did not realize that Sango and Spiritual mother had both woken up. Until Sango spoke,
"Was it another dream Kagome? Was it the same one?" Sango asked. Kagome gripped her kimono again and stared straight at Sango before shaking her head in a negative, then she said softly,
"No, for once it was different. We weren't in the cave. This time all I remember is his laughter and his arms around me. I remember feeling at peace with him holding me." Kagome gingerly touched the spots on her arms where she still felt the man's touch.
Sango looked to their Spiritual mother for guidance. The Spiritual mother was solely focused on Kagome. Then she stood and said
"Kagome, you will tell me every morning when one of these dreams happens. You were going to be a priestess. These could be visions or something more, do you understand?" Kagome nodded rapidly before standing up and brushing the dirt off of her Kimono. Sango followed suit. Then Spiritual mother pulled out some more bread out of her sleeve, broke it and handed it to the girls.
"Eat it as we walk, we need to get there today." Spiritual mother said as she already started back toward the road. Kagome happily started to nibble on her bread as she followed behind Spiritual mother. Sango however stared at her bread then at Kagome; she looked to the sky then and frowned deeply before whispering,
"I do not know what is in store for Kagome, but please make sure she is safe." Sango then started to eat her bread and ran to catch up with Kagome. The day was pretty silent after that. They only stopped once at noon to give their prayers. Kagome and Sango were starting to ware out by three, but they did not complain, they continued on.
Soon they heard shouting and cheering as they entered the closest village. There was a swarm of villagers fighting over whose daughter was the prettiest and who was going to be chosen. Spiritual mother then stopped and pulled up her hood of her cloak, Kagome and Sango took the signal and did likewise.
They then passed the villagers with their heads bowed. Spiritual mother led them to a cart filled with beautiful kimonos and hair pieces. Spiritual mother pulled back her hood and started to talk quietly with the merchant. The merchant smiled and nodded before picking up three kimonos. One of them was a beautiful red kimono with a gold sash, the next was a rosy pink with a green sash, and the last was an emerald green with a ruby red sash.
Kagome then down cast her eyes as the woman started to put various hair pieces into a cloth bag, followed by the beautiful kimonos. Spiritual mother than dropped over a dozen gold coins into the merchant's hands, the merchant bowed deeply thanking Spiritual mother over and over. Spiritual mother just smiled and pulled her hood up before taking the cloth bag and walking away. Kagome and Sango followed closely behind as Spiritual mother led them straight to a building that had steam rolling out of it.
"Girls, go in and bathe." Then she pulled out the pink kimono and green sash, she handed it to Sango. Then her hand went into the bag again before pulling out a beautiful hair piece, it was pink like Sango's dress and was in the shape of a flower. Sango then thanked her and bowed deeply before staring at her new possessions. Then Spiritual mother pulled out the Green kimono and red sash and handed them to Kagome. Kagome's fingers barely skimmed the fabric before her face broke out into a smile. Spiritual mother put a hair piece in her hand then; it was green and was in the same flower shape as Sango's.
The girls were so focused on their new possessions that Spiritual mother gave them a push toward the bath house. Kagome nodded and smiled before entering the house, followed by Sango. As the girls entered the bath house the Spiritual mother walked over to another cart filled with beauty supplies.
Kagome set her new possessions down softly before reaching up and pulled the cloth sheath off her braid. Then she ran her hands through it causing her midnight hair to turn wavy and beautiful. She undid the tie on her Kimono, took it off, and then folded it placing it against the more extravagant kimono.
Sango was already in the bath before Kagome. Kagome ducked her head under the water and smiled to herself, she started to feel like a princess. The word then struck her heart and she resurfaced. She knew that word held some meaning but she could not for the life of her, remember. Kagome fell forward then and rubbed the back of her scalp that had just been hit. She turned around, ready to give Sango a piece of her mind but she found a bottle of scent floating in the water.
Sango was already lathering herself in the sweet smelling liquid. Kagome stared at her bottle as the smell of roses wafted towards her from Sango's side of the bath. She opened it then and poured some of the liquid into her hand. It smelled sweet like a flower but also provided a comfort to her nerves. Kagome smiled and nodded as she rubbed the concoction all over her body.
"I got rose, what did you get?" Sango called over as started to wash the liquid off. Kagome smiled as she let the water wash off the liquid.
"I got Lavender." Kagome said softly as she started to get out of the bath and dry herself off. Sango followed her and started to ring her hair out. Once she was dry Kagome started to put the kimono on. Once she tied the Obi in place she whispered
"We were banned from such frivolities. The greed could eat you alive. I can believe it now, I feel like pure royalty in this." Kagome then was about to braid her hair but Spiritual mother entered the bath house then,
"No, do not braid your hair. Long hair shows status." Kagome stopped what she was doing and Sango took out her braid. Spiritual mother then picked up both hair pieces and put them into the girl's hair.
The girls felt like different people entirely but then Spiritual started to put stuff onto their faces. It smelled like chalk. Once Spiritual mother was done she stepped back and nodded in approval.
"Now you girls look like royalty." Spiritual mother said proudly before scooping up the girl's old clothes.
"These will be thrown out." Spiritual mother said, but Kagome and Sango were about to protest, they wanted to save their old life. Spiritual mother cut them off coldly then
"No. Remember you are not Priestesses; you are in a competition to win over a prince. You will not tell anyone of this, understood?" Kagome and Sango just nodded as they watched their clothes disappear. That was when Kagome noticed that Spiritual mother's own clothes had vanished; they were replaced with the Red kimono from earlier.
Kagome and Sango left the bath house then. Their hands were folded softly under the kimono sleeves. Spiritual mother was there waiting for them. When she acknowledged them with a nod she started to walk back towards where the earlier commotion had happened. As the girls walked through the village they started to feel uncomfortable as villagers stopped to gawk at them.
In all their years they had been taught to not draw attention to themselves, to stay modest, and to stay beneath everyone else. Now they were going against all of their teachings, and it frightened them. They felt their stomachs twist and lurch in protest, but soon they stopped abruptly and noticed Spiritual mother was standing in front of a table.
Behind the table men sat with papers and they had mean looking eyes. Spiritual mother smiled warmly at them before beckoning us forward to stand at her right and left sides.
"These girls are to be entered." Spiritual mother said sweetly. The men nodded once and then said gruffly,
"Names, family, type." Spiritual mother held up her hand to tell us to be silent and she took over the show.
"To my right in the pink kimono is Sango, her family is Taijiya. She is a slayer." Spiritual mother gestured to Sango as Sango bowed deeply. Then Spiritual mother's attention was all on Kagome.
"To my left in the green kimono is Kagome, her family is Higurashi. She is human." Kagome felt her nails bite into her skin, why was Spiritual mother lying? What would be the point? The men at the table on the other hand wrote it all up and then gestured to a man at an adjacent table. The man took one look at the girls and started to paint their portraits.
By the time he was done, the portraits looked almost life like. Then the men from earlier said "The list will be up tomorrow morning. Until then stay in the village so we know where the girls are located."
Sango and Kagome shivered in fear while Spiritual mother just smiled and nodded before walking away towards an inn.
"Spiritual Mother, why does he need to know where we are?" Sango asked quietly. The spiritual mother replied quietly,
"So they know what to do with the girls who are not chosen. Now do not call me Spiritual mother any longer. Call me Kaede." The girls pulled their arms tighter to their stomachs because if this was at the academy they would be whipped for even knowing Spiritual Mothers name.
They walked up to an Inn and Kaede talked with the Inn Keeper before getting us a room. Kaede talked with the man about the choosing, she pretended like she did not know anything and the man willingly spilled every secret he knew. When he finished talking Kaede took them to their room and said sternly
"Get to sleep girls, Tomorrow will be eventful, either you will fight for your lives or you will be sent to the middle kingdom." With that she pulled her hair out and lay down on the cot. Sango followed soon after without saying a word. She pulled out the clip and then took off her silky kimono, leaving her in just her plain linen under kimono. Then she lay down, ready for sleep to take her away.
It was harder for Kagome to listen; she pulled out her hair clip and was sitting in her linen kimono. Though she sat near the window, staring out into the darkened town, she feared to sleep. Not only because tomorrow was the choosing, but also she was afraid of what dreams would come. She looked to the moon and saw the bright blue eyes she saw in her dreams. Never in her life would she expect this to be happening to her, but here she was. In an inn with a silk kimono, emerald hair piece, and the knowledge of Spiritual mother's name, it all felt like a dream.
No it was not a dream, it was a nightmare. She felt scared because she felt like at any minute she would wake up, or she would die. That's what it felt like, and that is why she sat up at night staring a moon, imagining the man from her dream and trying to figure out why her life had switched so abruptly.