InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Something More ❯ An Elusive Shadow ( Chapter 1 )

“Elbows off the table!” an irritated voice commanded. “Stomach in, shoulders back. Goodness Kagome, sometimes I wonder how you will ever survive in Court. Ladies who act even remotely like you do hardly ever find a suitable husband. You were lucky enough to be picked out of the general populace for your good looks. However since you have almost no dowry to offer, the only choice you have for a happy, luxurious life with a good husband is to act demurely, be polite…”

 

Kagome sat up and smoothed out her skirts, putting on an alert face, yet successfully tuning out her instructor's words. She knew that everything being said was true though.

 

Her mother had died suddenly about 9 years ago, leaving her husband completely devastated and her daughter completely bewildered. After all, she was only 8 years old when it happened. In time, she learned to cook and clean, and take care of her father, since he was totally unreceptive for almost a year after her mother's death. After that initial period though, she could get him to smile more and more often, so that he finally made a total recovery. He sang as he worked in the fields, and occasionally took her the 6 miles over to the small town to catch up with her friends. It was hard for her to have friends when she and her father lived acres away from anyone, on their small farm.

 

It was on one of those trips that a herald had come looking for a beautiful young woman, aged 14-16, to live at a castle, far away, and -once she was older and educated enough- go to court and, in due course, find a husband. She was 15 at the time, and her father had seized on it as her chance to live a better life than his had been. He walked her forward to the herald, who declared that she would do quite nicely, and (without even enough time to go home and collect her belongings) she had been whisked into a bleak-looking carriage with only one tiny window to peer out of. It was through this grimy window that she got her last glimpse at the town she had never really known, and her beloved father, whom she adored with all her heart.

 

She couldn't help but feel that she was being kidnapped, and her vivid imagination (having few friends and copious amounts of chores had developed her imagination to an extent that was probably unhealthy) helped her weave a tale in which she conked the herald on the head and tied him to a tree, then grabbed the reins of the carriage horse and galloped off into the horizon. Of course, she knew deep down that it was just a wistful fancy.

 

After several hours and numerous daydreams, she arrived at a majestic castle that glittered (rather menacingly) and towered over her. Her hopeful wishes were soon crushed when she realized what her life would be like in the upcoming years. She was fated to learn history and etiquette until the day she died. Or got married. She wasn't sure which one would be worse.

 

 

 

 

It was now a couple years and countless shouting matches later. She had difficulty settling into this new lifestyle, though she tried to be grateful for this chance given to her. Going from baggy shirts and breeches to corsets and huge skirts was not very pleasant. She couldn't climb trees anymore either. And now she was sitting impatiently, listening to another lecture and wishing that her Prince Charming would burst through the incredibly ugly stained glass window to her left and carry her to a distant land…..

 

“Well,” her instructor snapped suddenly, “at least you look proper now.” (Kagome had straightened her posture as much as humanely possible). “Now if you could only behave properly, then we would be getting somewhere.”

 

Kagome rolled her eyes ever so slightly, but it didn't go unnoticed. That dreaded voice barked out again, saying, “Believe it or not, I happened to witness that eye roll. You'll never be thought of well in Court if you roll your- there you go again! Very well, we will continue lessons tomorrow, when you will have a better attitude!”

 

Kagome thankfully rose from her stiff-backed chair and walked slowly and primly out of the lavishly decorated room. Once out of sight in the hall, however, she picked up her voluminous skirts and dashed to her rooms.

 

When she reached her bedroom, she slid the bolt to her door shut and sank wearily down on her expensive bed. She contentedly picked up her latest novel- about a dragon that was plaguing the lands and a girl named Aerin who set out to kill it-, but before she could escape into that alternate world, she saw a human sized shadow flit across her bathroom doorway.

 

She lit a nearby lamp, hand shaking only slightly, and paced bravely over to the bathroom. She thrust the lamp in front of her, peering inside the doorway, and saw…nothing. She sighed and came to the conclusion that the shadow was just a figment over her overactive imagination. `I've been reading too many novels!' she scolded herself mentally.

 

She did indeed read a great many books in whatever spare time she had, for they were basically her only friends on the castle. All of the other girls she had met were prissy, snobby things, and well advanced in their classes, unlike her. Kagome had a personal tutor because she was so far behind everyone else. It wasn't that she was unintelligent, but she was a farmer's daughter, after all.

 

Kagome walked to her wardrobe and selected a more sensible, but still flattering dress (pants were completely out of the question, of course). Walking back to her bed, she heard a knock on the door. She doubled back and crossed the room yet again, planting herself directly in front of the door.

 

“Who is it?” she called out impatiently, thinking it was probable a servant calling her to a meeting for the young ladies in the medium drawer room or something. What she actually heard surprised her.

 

My first story!!! Like it? Don't like it? Suggestions?

If you review, I'll post the next chapter either today or tomorrow…I already have it written on the computer.

 

Love you all!!!

HKF