So I just wrote the first part, and realized that people are going to wonder how this is Sess/Kag. While I do suppose it could be a stand-alone retelling of Orion's legend, it's more the mannerisms I'm going for. I could just call them Sesshoumaru and Kagome and retype the legend word-for-word. Or I could do what I'm doing, making each character take on the spirit of the Inuyasha characters. For example, in my version, Orion is honorable, though he does nothing without a reason. He doesn't lie, but he doesn't give information without being motivated to do so. Everything he does is done carefully with his own interests in mind, while not hurting others just for the fun of it. Just like Sesshoumaru, no? In the original, any version, Orion is raping somebody. Either he attacks Artemis, her companion, or Merope. I don't think Sesshoumaru would willingly rape someone. I refuse to read those fanfics in which he rapes Kagome for that very reason.
And as you will see with Artemis, she becomes more like Kagome in this story. As a BA goddess of the Hunt, Artemis would most likely not have been sweet and innocent with that Kagome charm we all give her in our writing. She would probably have been a strong, independent, I-dare-you-to-back-sass-me-inferior-human kind of woman. Err, goddess.
Either way, that's my logic. Don't like it, don't read it. If you're enjoying the story then please, by all means, read on! And please review:) Let me know if I should even bother posting the rest of this monstrosity.
Last chapter was "Orion"; this chapter will be Kagome as Artemis. This is when you get to see them interact.:)
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I was born into power. Ever since my birth, the heartbeat of the Earth has been my own. The birds of the woodlands sing for my ears alone and rivers rage through my veins. There is no part of the forests and woodlands that I do not see; no footsteps fall that I do not hear; no tree falls that I do not feel and subsequently ache for the absence of.
I am Lady of the Hunt. My power is pure, my archery flawless. They call me "Khryselakatos" – Of the Golden Shaft. I embody the forests of the wild lands. I always have and I always will.
I am born of Leta, Titan goddess of what cannot be seen, and Zeus, king of Mount Olympus. I am twin sister to Apollo, god of Healing and Plague, Light and Prophecy, leader of the Choir of Muses. We complement each other well, I suppose. He is a burning flame, banishing darkness from the corners of the world, bringing both land and truth to light. I am darker, embracing the depths of night and making it my own, chaste in my heart and in my actions.
And so, imagine my own surprise when I did something so immodest as to appear to a man as a beautiful human woman. Yes, I really did such a thing! But I couldn't resist. This man was nothing like I had ever seen. He was handsome and strong. I had even heard that he was the greatest hunter on all the Earth; this just made him more intriguing to me, the eternal Huntress. What was I to do? With the blood of humans flowing in his veins, he was mortal. His parenting, the blood of my uncle Poseidon, would ensure him a very long life by human standards, but he was still nothing. He would only live for so long and I could never die. Surely it would be best to meet him now, before his short life flashed by and he was nothing but dust in the winds of time?
My decision was made for me one day when I was simply enjoying one of my forests in Crete, feeling completely at home. I sensed a human nearby and paid no attention to it. It wasn't until I heard the baying of hunting dogs and saw the enormous bull deer – reminiscent of the first deer I captured with his shining antlers – that I decided to investigate.
Upon my probing of the memories of the surrounding trees, I was able to get a mental image of the one that pursued my sacred deer. It was him, the one they called the Hunter!
I knew I could leave and he would never know I was even there, but I wasn't going to be so shy. What sort of goddess cowers at the mere thought of meeting a human man? I made myself take the form of a regular woman, albeit a tad more attractive than most. I no longer radiated the power of the gods, but surely he would see that I was special?
Not certain as to why I was second-guessing myself, I lowered myself from my perch in the high branches of my sacred cypress tree and stood in the middle of the path I knew he would take. Sure enough, the deer rushed by, sensing my intent, but the dogs stopped as soon as they saw me. Animals always know me, no matter what form I choose to take. It is humans that ignore their basic instincts and can no longer feel the hum of power, lying dormant within me.
He came crashing through the trees to see me enjoying the company of his supposedly vicious hunting dogs, a confused look on his face. He wanted to berate them for losing their target, I could tell, but something held him back.
"Hello, my lady. May I ask your name?" he inquired, thoroughly bewildered. I supposed I could understand his puzzlement. All the women he knew would likely be disgusted at the thought of touching a slobbering dog.
What I didn't understand, however, was my reaction to his words. They were spoken only out of courtesy, though I was suddenly blushing like the most untouched of maidens! The human form was getting to me, I decided. I needed the strength of my true self to aid me.
Allowing my illusion to drop, I stood before the Hunter as the goddess I had always been. My deep black hair tumbled to my slim waist and I grew to my full height, a bit taller than my dainty human height. My tunic was similar to his, reaching only to my knees. My golden bow and quiver reappeared on my shoulder, a comfort to me.
I watched the awe in his eyes as he saw a pretty young woman transform into the goddess he no doubt knew from the likenesses in my temples. The presence of his hunting dogs around me would only have added to the similarities, I realized later.
I allowed him to take in the full effect of my true self before asking, "Do you recognize me now?" I tried to give him a small smile in hopes of reducing the tension. He was a human. Certainly this was strange enough for him without me making it uncomfortable as well.
He only nodded in response and for a moment I thought that I would get no further affirmation from him. Then he surprised me by squaring his shoulders and setting his jaw.
"Yes, my lady. You are Queen of the Forest, the eternal Huntress. It is… it is my honor to be in your presence." His voice became strong as he spoke, his confidence clearly returning. I liked him; he was not weak like most humans and he seemed honorable enough. I smiled once again, only for him, but bigger this time. I wanted him to see that this was a meeting of friends and that I meant him no ill will.
"Very good," I reassured. "Now tell me: will you hunt with me?" I held out my hand to him, not missing the flash of surprise that was visible only for a split second on his beautiful features.
He approached and took my hand, bowing over it. For the first time, in all the time I had watched over this curious one (for yes, it was I who gently guided him through the forests in his blindness to Lemnos), I saw him smile. It was small and fleeting, but it sparked as it reached his eyes and I reveled in it. I became that smile; I lived for that little flame that burned in his eyes when he looked at me.
"Yes, my lady… let us hunt."
And with that one statement of acceptance, full of passion and anticipation, we began our hunt. My golden longbow was strung and in my grasp in but an instant, an arrow nocked and ready to fly. The dogs took off at his signal, trying to pick up the trail of something worth our time.
That was the first of many hunts we had together. These were the best hunts of all my many years, even surpassing the joy of my first hunt, that glorious moment I caught my shining dear, falling in love with the animal's beauty, his grace. It was then that I had declared the deer sacred to me.
In a way, I felt as if I had caught this great Hunter, making him my sacred object as well. He made me feel like the sweet young women that we would sometimes watch from Olympus, blushing and sighing, hanging on every word spilled from a lover's lips.
/|\\
Alas, our hunts could not stay secret for long. The gods are immortal; we have all the time in the world to do anything we want. This leads to the inclination to sit and act like petulant children more often than not. We meddle in each other's affairs, pretending that our power is the best thing in the world. In fact, we are jealous of the mortals, though you will never find a god willing to tell you this. We truly are, simply because nothing we do has meaning to us. We toy with the lives of mortals when we have nothing else to do, simply because we can. To mortals, those that could die at any minute, at any second, the world is precious. Flowers are more beautiful, the running stream sings louder, the smell of a crackling fire stings the nostrils in a more sinfully pleasant way. Such things are fleeting, temporary as well; the gods are the only constant in this world.
As is the way of the immortal beings, my family soon discovered my hunts with the human man. My brother, Apollo, even went so far as to suggest we were lovers. I blushed even as I emphatically denied his claim, giving away either my actions or thoughts, none of the others could quite tell.
My statement was truthful. Though we lingered together longer than necessary at some times, talking and enjoying the warmth of the other's body, the Hunter and I had made no move to take our relationship forward. In the depths of my heart, I knew I wanted to. But I was much too shy for such things! And a relationship with a mortal would only end in heartache.
I knew this, and yet I continued. We went on much in the way we always had, meeting in the forests of Crete, sneaking glances and finding excuses to move nearer one another. And so it should have been no surprise that my feelings also continued to grow. It was now that I wanted nothing more than for him to reach out and touch me, place his lips on mine. I wished to feel his rough hands on my skin and his strong muscles under my own dainty appendages. I wanted him to look down at me with my own feelings reflected in his eyes.
Apollo saw my budding emotions. He was my twin – how could he not notice such open displays of girlish ardor? Now I regret my obvious maneuvers, for this would be the downfall of my relationship with the Hunter.
Apollo was forever a jealous one. We were close, had always been so. We were born together and grew up together, each knowing completely the inner workings of the other's mind. Seeing my love for the Hunter, knowing that this was something I could not share with him, Apollo became crazed with envy.
He warned me, in his own way. He gave hints about his worries for my chastity, the way I gave my heart away to a human in a relationship that could end with nothing but tragedy.
But still, I saw none of this. Perhaps I was too blinded by my first true love to see it. Or perhaps I did not wish to see it, instead choosing to go on as I was, in my own little fantasy where I could be with the Hunter forever. Either way, I made a grievous mistake and ignored what any fool would have seen.
Imagine the spiral I was thrown into the day the Hunter dared to kiss me.
It was the most glorious day for me. But for Apollo, it was the final straw.
He did not make his intentions known. I, like the good, sweet twin sister, played into his every move, like I was the puppet and he the joyful puppeteer.
/|\\
I still remember the day my whole world changed. I never even saw it coming, so secure in my naïve beliefs that the world was sunshine and rainbows.
"Sister!" Apollo called out to me. I turned to see him pointing, down into the crashing waves. "Sister! Bring your bow! I've a challenge for you."
Seeing no problem in a bit of a challenge, I gathered my golden bow and gilded arrows before joining my twin.
"You see that small dot down there, Sister? You see? I challenge you to hit that mark. Surely you can't hit it from all the way up here on Mount Olympus," he scoffed at me, his light taunting a familiar thing.
He knew me. He knew that I had worked many long hours to become the bowmistress I was, perfecting my craft and honing my aim.
"I accept your challenge!" I declared with a light laugh, believing that this was just a silly game, the sort Apollo and I had once played. In my mind, the speck was a bit of driftwood, bobbing up and down in the waves.
I nocked my arrow and pulled my bowstring taut. Taking aim, I inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. At the very bottom of my breath out, I let fly.
My arrow struck true, hitting the target dead center.
The joy I felt at rising to the challenge was cut short when I felt a sharp pain, just where I assumed my secret heart of hearts would be.
He was gone. My Hunter was dead.
And suddenly, I realized… I had killed him.
/|\\
I denied it to myself, even as I stared down at the undeniable proof. There, with a sparkling arrow sprouting from a crater in his skull, was my Hunter.
My heart twisted painfully at the thought of him, just out for a swim in the ocean when all of a sudden the life was stolen from his precious body.
It was then that I set my resolve.
One so strong did not deserve such a death. It was honor to die in battle, but this? There was no honor in the death I dealt him.
I collected my love, my Hunter, and brought him to lie at the feet of my nephew, Asclepius. Asclepius is the son of Apollo and the woman Coronis, raised by Chiron, and acts as the god of medicine and healing. If anyone could return the life to my Hunter, it was him.
Asclepius agreed to help me, though it was his own father that encouraged me to take the Hunter's life in the first place.
It was Zeus, my honored father, who came upon us before Asclepius could complete the task.
"What is it that you do here?" he inquired. He knew the story of my love for the Hunter and Apollo's scheme.
Asclepius, ever helpful, replied for me.
"I will use my power of healing to raise this man from the dead," he said. Suddenly I saw the irony of the situation: he was going to use powers of healing inherited from his father to heal the man said father worked to destroy.
Zeus sighed and shook his head. He had always had a soft spot for his daughters and hated disappointing us in any way.
"Daughter, you know that he is mortal. He will die soon enough anyway. Is it not better to let go now before you become even more attached?" His voice was soft and gentle, as if he wanted to tell me something I didn't already know. Oh, but I knew it. All too well.
I also knew that my father saw my Hunter as nothing more than a little human pet that I had taken a liking to. This was the way that all affairs between the Olympians and mortals went. But ours went deeper, and no one could understand without experiencing it first.
"No, Father. He died without the honor he deserved. I would give him a second chance."
Another chance for me as well. If he was alive, I had no guilt.
My father took a long moment before replying.
"I will allow this. But before you are allowed to see this man once again, he must prove himself. He must do a great deed to earn this second chance and your love."
Of course I agreed. How could I not? My Hunter was special, he could do anything if he tried.
I suppose it wasn't my right to make such an agreement. I effectively sealed the Hunter's fate that day, bringing him back to life my only goal.
By any means necessary.
With my acceptance of the terms, all seemed to become right with the world again. Asclepius brought back my Hunter and he was just as strong, vibrant, beautiful as ever.
But there was still the matter of a deal to discuss.
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Third part soon! Please review… it means so much to my poor-starving-college-student self!