Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Daughter of Shadows ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Daughter of Shadows
Author's Notes: I got this idea watching the "Tenchi Muyo: Daughter of Darkness" DVD. The only characters I own are those of my own creation. Also thanks to PromisingGemini for helping me to get my plot ideas together and to help them make sense.
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It is night and a small group of friends dressed in kimonos make their way out of a crowded street and head toward a hill with some trees. The night was clear allowing the moon and the stars to provide them plenty of light the farther they got from the city and its lights. The group was composed of eight with an equal number of boys and girls; all of them were somewhere in their twenties. They were happy and carefree has they should be on such a night; the air was crisp and cool blowing the sleeves of their kimonos behind them. It was autumn and the leaves were changing colors and dying before falling to the ground. The friends were obviously close and it was apparent that some of the friends were in love: based on the fact that some of them were either holding hands or had their arms wrapped around each other.

The couple leading the group was composed of a tall male with short dark brown hair and dark blue eyes like sapphires hidden behind wire rimed glasses; he was wearing a black kimono that had dark blue dragons embroidered on it with silver lining his obi was the same color blue as his kimono. The woman with him had long white hair that had been fashioned into a stylish bun with chopsticks and ribbon her pale pink eyes shone brightly against the moonlight; her kimono was white like her hair and there were light pink cherry blossoms with silver lining around the skirt of it and along the edges of her sleeves she wore a silver obi around her slim waist. The girl in the couple behind them had black hair that flowed to her shoulder blades and dark brown eyes that glinted with a wicked humor her kimono was a pale shade of blue and had light pink Japanese characters on it her obi was a matching pink; the male with her has long pitch black hair and dark green eyes his kimono is a dark red with orange phoenixes on it his obi matched his dark green eyes.

The others were not dating but laughed and joked with each other as they followed behind the love birds. One of the girls had dark blue hair that was almost black and she had eyes the exact same shade her kimono was a dark red with pink and orange flower petals sprinkled around it and a green obi wrapped around her waist. The other female in the group had her black hair pulled back into a long thing braid and her brown eyes she had a black kimono with red flowers and golden vines connecting them together she had a red obi wrapped around her waist. One of the males had a shaved head and light green-blue eyes and a blue kimono with an orange obi. The final male had black hair and eyes and he was wearing a black kimono with gold dragons outlined on the material and a gray obi.

When they finally reached the hill the moon was at its peak and the wind had picked up causing the temperature to drop and goose bumps to run along their bodies. The woman with white hair had felt uneasy ever since the night had started making the male with her worried and protective.

"So, Kenji when are you and Lilac goin to get married?" asked Yosho.

"Next year hopefully," said Kenji. "Hey, Tatsumi you and Kumori are going to be coming right?"

"Of course," said Tatsumi, staring down at the girl beside him.

"Sounds lovely," said Kumori, smiling happily.

"Good," said Kenji, before going back to the conversation he had been having with some of the others.

A rustling in the trees caught Kumori's attention; glancing up she saw dark figures moving through the tree limbs before she could give out a warning they had descended upon the group. The first one to die was Lilac and since she was close to Kumori some of the dead woman's blood got on her kimono; Lilac had been lucky the sword had sliced through her body quickly before she even knew what was happening, death had been instant. The others weren't so lucky the death of their friend had made them all aware of the situation at hand.

"The Royal Shadow Army," whispered Kumori, taking in the five dark skinned males with chin length hair and eyes ranging from a dark golden brown to black; the males all wore black pants and black tops their chests were protected by black medal armor and the red and silver crest of the Shadow Demon Royal Family was attached to their right breast plate they each were wielding their swords. "No," she whimpered, paling even more if that were possible. "What are they doing here?"

"You bastards," whispered Kenji, staring down at the blood mess that was his lover. "I'll kill you!" he shouted, charging at the five with his left fist drawn back.

"Kenji no!" screamed Kumori. Kenji however, paid her no heed and even if he had it wouldn't have done any good one of the males took the challenge and in the blink of an eye Kenji's headless body dropped to the ground and the head landed at Kumori's feet. "Ah!" screamed Kumori, covering her mouth with her hands as more blood splattered on her kimono.

"Kumori get behind me!" shouted Tatsumi, yanking the female behind him.

The other four members in the group slowly began to back around their minds still numb from the shock of just seeing these strange people murder two of their friends.

"What do you want!" demanded Yosho, swallowing down his fear.

"Retribution for the destroyed pride of the royal family," said the leader of the men.

"What royal family?" asked Yosho, his voice going soft in disbelief.

"Kumori-hime," said the general, his voice mocking the albino female. "You haven't told this pathetic ningens about who you truly are? I must say princess that is the smartest thing you have done since you first snuck into the Ningenkai."

"Leave them be Ankoku," said Kumori, getting close to hysterics.

"Sorry princess," drawled General Ankoku slowly. "We have orders from your father to disregard your orders and murder your friends."

"I won't let you!" shouted Kumori, moving forward only to be held back by one of the other men.

"He also gave us orders to prevent you from interfering," said the general snapping his fingers. Kumori gasped and felt power restraining bands placed around her wrists. "If you are a good little girl and promise not to move your friends will die quickly; if you don't we will see to it that they die slowly and painfully."

Yosho, Tatsumi and Ken took the opportunity to try and take some of the intruders down, which was a hard task seeing how the three of them were in kimonos. The guards at first were taken by surprise but they quickly got over it and once they did the hill on which they stood was bathed in blood and Kumori's kimono was splattered with it as well an eternal reminder to her about what had took place this night. For Ken one of the males slammed his sword through his stomach and sliced it upwards cutting him in half first before slicing again through his stomach so that Ken was now in four pieces. Kumori stood there in shock as his blood splattered her kimono and face. Yosho was not so lucky because he had by some sheer twist of luck managed to land a hit the man sliced the arm that had hit him to bits only then did the demon allow death to come for Yosho by slicing his head off and more blood splattered onto Kumori's kimono.

Aya, Chika, and Emi were lucky, they didn't see the deaths of their friends they just saw the bodies; so by the time the bodies hit the floor they were surrounded by three of the demons while the other two dealt with Tatsumi and Kumori. Death for them came quickly and at the same time so they wouldn't have to see the others dead bodies. Their deaths were the same one sword slash from the right shoulder to the left hip; three more people's blood landed on Kumori's kimono. Three more people were dead because of her and her love for the place called Ningenkai and its inhabitants, especially the Shadow Wielder.

As the smell of dead blood in the air grew stronger a beaten and battered Tatsumi was forced onto his knees with a nearly hysterical Kumori beside him; their heads were forced onto the blood stained earth.

"Kumori-hime," said Ankoku slowly, his voice dripping in mockery when he used her title. "You are a disgrace to your people and with you being a princess makes it even worse. Your mother should have tossed you from the palace the moment you were removed from her womb; but she is weak just like you."

"Never insult my mother," whispered Kumori, her pale pink eyes flowing with a dangerous light.

Tatsumi had never before seen the albino shadow demon princess angry before she was normally always gentle with everyone; but evidently this general had said something to piss her off. Kumori rarely spoke of her family but when she did he had learned two things: one her father was an ass and two her mother loved her but feared the girl's father too much to defend her.

Ankoku snorted and spat at the princess his spit sliding down her face. He then turned his attention to Tatsumi. "So," he said, picking Tatsumi up by the roots of his hair. "This is the Mortal Shadow User that you are so infatuated with."

"Leave him alone!" pleaded Kumori.

"I think infatuation isn't the word to use for what you feel for him," said Ankoku, slamming his fist into Tatsumi's stomach making him bend over and cough up blood. "I think you feel more then infatuation for this WEAK," another punch in the stomach, "PATHETIC," a right hook to the face, "MORTAL!" Ankoku finished the last word by slamming his knee into Tatsumi's stomach again causing him to spit up more blood.

"Tatsumi!" shrieked Kumori. "Leave him alone Ankoku."

"Weak!" shouted Ankoku, whirling to stare at the princess still being held down by one of the other warrior. "Shade!" he snapped at the warrior next to her and the one holding her. The warrior holding her down slammed his booted foot into her face, stopping anymore of her pleas from leaving her throat.

"You shouldn't have done that," said Tatsumi, despite the fact that he could taste blood on his tongue and his stomach was in a lot of pain along with his face.

"What do you plan to do about it shadow magic user?" asked Ankoku, his tone mockingly sweet.

Tatsumi didn't reply instead he allowed his power to speak by slamming into Ankoku's side and knocking him through a couple of trees. Tatsumi hissed when the guards holding him slammed their fists into the back of his head enough to cause pain but not enough to knock him out.

Ankoku climbed out of the debris and stormed over to Tatsumi and grabbed his hair again. "Never!" he snapped, back handing the mortal shadow user. "Ever!" he shouted slapping him across the face again. "Do that!" he snapped back handing him again. "Again!" he finished slapping him again. "I was planning on letting you be the only survivor of this night while I sealed your precious little princess away; but you have pissed me off enough to change my mind," said Ankoku, letting go of Tatsumi's hair and nodding at the other males to force the mortal onto his knees.

Tatsumi glared up at Ankoku has the Shadow General raised his sword and used Shadow powers to force Tatsumi to bow his head; however, before he could swing the sword to remove Tatsumi's head they all felt a sudden rise in power.

"What the hell?!" demanded Ankoku, turning to look at the Shadow Princess whose eyes were not the only things glowing her body was glowing with a bright white light.

"I told you to leave him alone!" she shouted, the power restraining bands on her arms exploding and white shadows surging from her body knocking the five army males from their feet and onto their backs. She ran forward and grabbed Tatsumi's hand pulling him to his feet. "Come on Tatsumi-san," she whispered. "We have to go, now!"

Tatsumi got to his feet and together the two of them ran into the woods in the opposite direction of the crowded city. The branches of trees and bushes tore at their kimonos leaving a trail behind for the demons to follow not that they needed the trail to follow the scent of blood and power. It didn't take long for the demons to catch up with them; especially when Ankoku sent a shadow ball after them.

"Kumori down!" shouted Tatsumi grabbing her and throwing the two of them onto the ground.

They waited until the ball of shadow power had destroyed a few trees before getting back up to their feet but by then they had already been surrounded. Tatsumi and Kumori were separated and Kumori was thrown onto the ground her back slamming into a tree and causing a gash to form in her back. She whimpered in pain while Ankoku stared down at her his golden honey eyes staring down at her coldly while the other four wrestled with Tatsumi in an attempt to keep him pinned to the ground. Ankoku stared down at her and nudged the wounded princess with his boot; the small jolts elected small cries of pain from the young princess.

"Pathetic," he snorted. "To imagine that in a few short decades I would had to call you queen."

Ankoku stood back and his eyes began to glow and slowly the shadows of the trees shifted and moved forward slithering their way to the princess who was struggling to regain her breath and get to her feet. Within seconds the shadows had reached her and were starting to climb up her body and wrapped around her slowly. When it started wrapping around her chest her breathing became irregular has she struggled to breathe while it wrapped around her neck and finally encased the whole of her before dragging her back into the Shadows encasing her in her Shadowy Prison.

Tatsumi was left alone in the forest with only the trees to offer him comfort to the night's events. He lay on his back staring up at the sky and watching has it began to cloud over blocking the moon and stars from view. His ears only vaguely heard the thunder and his eyes only vaguely saw the lighting; all he was aware of was the chilling numbness of the rain and his own despair.

Several Years Later_____________________________________________

She awoke surrounded by darkness and blanketed by the cold that got beneath the skin and into the very bones. Her pale pink eyes were useless for all practical purposes being away from the dark for so long. She had forgotten how many years she had spent in this darkened prison with no light or any other life form to keep her company save her thoughts and memories. The memories had been slowly driving her to near madness; for they seemed to be taunting her with the happy memories of what used to be. She sighed and she smiled slightly when she saw her breath come from her mouth in a small puff of smoke.

A shiver ran up her spine and she curled into a small ball trying to fit off the coldness that was seeping through her thinning blood stained kimono material and the holes and tears of the kimono. She buried her face into her arms and legs and closed her eyes against the chilling numbness. Her eyes were slowly starting to loose what focus they had to begin with and she was slowly becoming aware of the familiar feeling of the trance like state that would come upon her without warning. For this brief time she felt warm and relaxed has her mind calmed down and she closed her eyes and within her minds eyes she could clearly see Tatsumi-san but he was not alone there were four other males with him.

The oldest of the males had short dark brown hair and dark eyes in a light blue suit with a light yellow shirt and a red tie. There was another male that was around the same age has Tatsumi-san and had pitch black hair with and remarkable purple eyes that reminded her of the amethyst stones that were embedded within the silver locket; the male wore a black suit with a white button up shirt his tie was also black. There was a younger male beside him that seemed to be working on some sort of contraption his calcite eyes were behind wire rimmed glasses and his blonde hair fell in long waves down his face; she couldn't see his pants but he seemed to be wearing an orange sweater that matched his eyes and a white lab coat. The youngest male with the group had short brown hair and the tips of his bangs were hanging in his serpentine eyes; he was wearing a dark purple shirt and some sort of jacket from what she could see. Tatsumi hadn't changed a bit and he still looked the way he always did with his Lapis eyes hidden behind his glasses and his dark brown hair curtained his face while he pushed his glasses back up his nose; his dark brown suit and blue shirt bringing out the colors of his eyes and hair while his black tie brought the whole thing together nicely and neat.

Now that she thought about it all of these men's eyes reminded her of the stones that were encased within the silver locket. She did not dwell long upon that little bit of an observation and instead focused on what they were saying wondering what they looked so serious about. The voices at first were fuzzy and ran together and slowly they became more and more clear.

"We still have yet to find the damn prophecy," said Tatsumi-san. "Are you sure it is in this area?"

"It has to be in the Reikai," stated the old man. "Seeing how it is the Reikai Prophecy."

"What I want to know," said the male with long blonde hair. "Is how come Lord Enma or his son Koenma didn't know about this before?"

"Well," said the older male. "That is something they are having a hard time adjusting to, not knowing what was going on."

"Do they at least have some idea has to where it is?" asked the youngest male in the room.

"All they know is that it is somewhere near a source of great spiritual power," said the older male.

"That narrows down the field," muttered the male with purple eyes. "It could be anywhere up here!"

"I know Tsuzuki-san," said Tatsumi-san, his blue eyes narrowing. "What I want to know is why haven't the Makai Warlords managed to reinterpret their prophecy yet? For that matter why are we even trusting them?!"

"Because dimwit," said a short woman with pink hair and faded golden eyes. "The Hellions will declare war on this world, Makai and Earth! Our duty is to try and find the Reikai Prophecy along with the other inhabitants of the land and when the time comes meet with the council to discuss further action!"

The one that had been given the name Tsuzuki sulked in his chair and the rest of the conversation went on talking about something called the Great War; it was at this moment that Kumori came back to herself and blinked while uncurling from the tight little ball she had curled herself into. She stretched and allowed herself to dwell more on the men mainly Tatsumi. She was still amazed at the fact that all of the males eyes looked so much like the stones that were encrusted onto the top of her locket. She reached into her kimono and pulled the silver locket out and examined it. It was oval in shape with circular calcite, amethyst, and serpentine stones surrounding an oval lapis stone in the middle; the rest of the locket had engraved intricate designs on it that spiraled around and from the stones. She opened it slowly and saw a picture of her and Tatsumi together; a soft smile spread across her lips before being replaced by a sad frown and she curled up into a ball again.

"Tatsumi-san," she whispered, breathlessly knowing that he had forgotten all about her and the knowledge broke her heart.

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`Tatsumi-san.'

Tatsumi froze in the deserted office and a shiver ran down his spine at the sound of his name; spoken by a woman whom he hadn't heard for years. Kumori, he had forgotten all about her. It had been so many years since he had last seen the Shadow Demon Princess who was now trapped within a Shadowy Void, alone. He sighed and continued down to the hall and headed towards his office to be alone and to think about the moment he first meet her.

Flashback**************************************************** *

Tatsumi Seiichirou and his friends were walking home from their class when the downpour that had been threatening to let loose finally did; luckily for them they had thought before hand to bring umbrellas with them. Tatsumi allowed the chatter of his friends to carry on around him making an occasional comment here and there when he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes within the groove of trees. He turned his head for a better look and saw a white ball off in the distance.

"Tatsumi?" asked Yosho, curious has to what his friend was looking at. "What is it?"

"I see something," said Tatsumi promptly walking off in the direction that the small ball of light was.

Yosho cursed and hurried after his friend with the rest of the group following closely behind. When they caught up with Tatsumi he was staring at a young woman in a white kimono with silver designs on it; her back was pressed against the trunk of the tree and her legs were against her body while her head was leaning to the side slightly against the tree her arms limp by her sides. Her skin was paler then alabaster stone making the small bruise on her left cheek stand out along with the pink tint on her cheeks and her breathing seemed slightly irregular.

Yosho watched while Tatsumi knelt down slightly before the girl and pressed his hand against her forehead. "She has a fever," he stated pulling back and handing Lilac his books and placing his umbrella against his shoulder he gathered the young female into his arms and stood up. "Come on," he said. "We have to get her out of the rain and someplace dry and warm."

The group nodded and followed Tatsumi to his place where Lilac and the other females removed the unconscious female's garments and got her warm before letting the other males in. When she awakened the first thing they saw was that her eyes were a light pink.

"Where am I?" she asked, seating up and holding the sheet to her body.

"At my house," said Tatsumi. "Me and my friends found you out in the rain and we brought you here to get your fever down. What is your name?"

"Kumori," said the girl softly, turning her head away from Tatsumi. "My name is Kumori."

End of Flashback**********************************************

"Kumori," he whispered into the silence of his office. A name he hadn't heard or thought of in years. He wondered what made him think of her now.
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Author's Notes: Thanks to Celtic for helping me design Tatsumi's kimono

If u are wondering about some of the colors Kumori uses when she describes the Shinigami eyes here are the links

Calcite - http://www.abaxion.com/gmcal22.htm
Serpentine - http://www.abaxion.com/gmserp.htm
Lapis - http://store1.yimg.com/I/perusinas-jewelry-store_1805_6024975