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The people are all long gone.
The castle of Naraku stands alone, overlooking the empty village. Everyone is afraid of the mysterious woman who lives in the castle, who is never to be seen in daylight, and so they have fled, leaving the village empty as a warning sign to any traveller not to stay. They have brought the stories of the woman and the castle with them, and those stories have become legends, warning everybody not to approach the village, lest they might be tempted to drink of the well overlooking the castle. Those who do never come back.
They do not know her, though. She, who is made of soil and magic, lives a cursed existence, damned to feast on the souls of men. She is an ethereal beauty who cannot see the sun anymore. Her half-blind governess makes sure that she is protected and has everything she needs. Kaede even brings the men foolish enough to approach the well back to the castle. They think that they will be feasting with her, but it’s their souls that get devoured – those men should have seen it coming.
Never underestimate the power of legend.
She sits in a dark room full of spiderwebs, in a white gown that makes her vellum-like skin glow with an otherworldly aura, contrasted with the cascade of her long, dark-as-the-night hair and ice-cold black eyes. On the windowsill she keeps her pet, a snake-like creature that garners the souls of her unassuming guests.
She wishes to be an ordinary girl.
She is tired of devouring the souls of young men and often dreams about a life somewhere else. She yearns for love, to be cherished and kissed, to be human, and to be living the life of a wife. She is dreaming of soft dark hair, blazing dark eyes, strong, muscular arms that can hold her and about and embrace where she can forget her past, where she can be an ordinary girl. She only has her jewel to keep her entertained, a magical sphere that shows her fortune if she wishes. Every night, she sits in her room after awakening, and wishes on her jewel to show her the future. She sees figures that always mean the same: death. When a fool approaches her well, Kaede invites him into the castle; they feast, then she offers the man tea in her bedroom, and then, she devours his soul, instead of making love, like she really wants to do.
Every night is the same: she aches for love, for freedom, and to be alive, but she doesn’t know if these things are possible for her. She is hauntingly beautiful, a queen of the night, surrounded with red spider lilies, reminders of her position. She twirls her jewel in her long and delicate fingers, and dreams about her imaginary lover: how those soft lips would kiss hers, those warm hands would caress her, the protective embrace making her forget that she is cursed to take the souls of men. She asks the jewel to show her fortune, and in the glistening orb, she sees the eight-pointed star. The symbol of the caged bird.
The jewel is mocking her. She throws in on the desk where it shatters into little pieces, then cries herself to sleep.
She loves the thrill of going to new places. She is never held back by going alone. The more deserted the place, the better. She needs the adrenaline, the tingling of her skin, the quickening of her heartbeat that rushes through her veins when she approaches haunted houses and abandoned places. She pedals her trusty old bike through the vacant village and stops for a rest next to the well. The water is cool; it quenches her thirst and soothes her skin, heated from the afternoon sun. An elderly woman with a kind face appears next to her; she didn’t hear the woman coming.
“Welcome, child. You must be tired and hungry. The Countess of the village, Lady Kikyou would like to invite you to dinner at the castle.”
She accepts the invitation of the strange old woman with the eyepatch over her right eye. She feels her blood humming with excitement; the castle looks haunted and otherworldly, appeasing her appetite for adventure. She ignores the sense of foreboding that has nestled itself in the back of her mind – as a taijiya she knows how to protect herself, after all. When she left her village to explore on her own, she fastened her bow and quiver to her body, capable of slaying any creature. Surely there would not be anything in the castle that she could not handle.
She makes her way through the cobwebs and the heavy drapes that cover every door, every window. Young, eager, and virgin pure, she shines in the dark room like the sun, radiating an incandescent warmth among the castle walls that hasn’t entered them in a long time. The old woman leads her to a small table full of cheese, bread, and wine. When she is full, the elderly woman then leads her to a different room, with the promise of tea served by the countess herself.
Her breath hitches in her throat as she locks eyes with the lady of the castle. The countess looks eerily similar to her, but while the taija is warm and affectionate, like the sun, the other is cold and mysterious, like the moon. Kikyou has a longing in her eyes that makes the young girl’s heart clench. She feels an undeniable pull to the noble woman: she cannot take her eyes off of her skin, glowing in the moonlight; her eyes, glistening like black diamonds; or her hair, softly curling around her like silk. The lady is so pale, so fragile, that she wonders if she is captured by a malady; the thought wrenches her heart and she is already planning how to cure her tomorrow. She wonders who would be the best healer to help the lady; she cannot leave her here in this lifeless castle that is…
“I shall make you tea.” The countess’ voice brings her back to reality.
Kikyou takes the girl’s hand in hers, and a shiver runs down the girl’s spine. She is led into a room that seems to belong to the countess herself. The room is just as disheveled as the rest of the castle; darkness rules, courtesy of the heavy drapes that cover every surface, every window. On the desk, in the middle of the room, there are pink jewel shards scattered, left there without thought. The only source of light is a pet in a gilded cage on the windowsill that emits a soft otherworldly light. A shinidamachu, she recognizes. A creature that devours souls.
They sit down next to the table while Kikyou prepares the tea. She is enraptured by the beauty in front of her: by the shining, wild mane of black hair; by the round and kind brown eyes that glint with mischief; and by the smooth skin and the strong, yet soft, form. She has never met anyone like her before. She feels an ache in her heart, knowing what is to come: she will devour the girl’s soul, leave her hollow and lifeless, only to be buried in the yard by Kaede in the morning, fertilizing the soil for her red spider lilies. Reluctant to satisfy her wicked curse – a soul for her life – she instead imagines those arms circled around her, holding the girl closely, while those hands stroke her hair; she imagines herself as an ordinary woman, caressed and loved, not as a lifeless creature brought to life by forces higher than her designed to consummate her cruel bidding. The girl is just like how she imagined her lover to be. Kikyou is afraid of hoping: she does not want to break her non-beating heart, but yearns for a kiss, hoping it might free her from the curse, just like in her dreams.
Pouring the tea signals the ritual: the shinidamachu floats between them, but instead of taking the girl’s soul, it nuzzles itself to her face. The girl giggles and pets the otherworldly creature; Kikyou watches intently as the fingers she just imagined on herself caress the unearthly youkai that is supposed to take her life. She finds that the girl’s eyes are focused on her face.
“What is your name?” Kikyou asks her, each holding the other’s gaze, the air electric with unspoken desires.
“Kagome. My mother gave me my name; I know it’s strange, but I like it. It means eight-pointed star.”
Kikyou lets out a faint cry in realization and grabs the edge of the table. A jewel shard cuts her finger, and she is surprised when blood drips from her fingertip. Kagome grabs her hand, her gaze never faltering, and brings the dripping finger to those lips Kikyou imagined kissing, licking the blood off in a gentle attempt to remedy the cut.
Artwork by Clementinesgulag
The room is full of magic. Long gone the looming aura of the castle. Kagome’s presence is an exorcism in the haunted house that is Kikyou. They are the sun and the moon, luminous and vibrating with unspoken possibilities, the one shining with life and love, the other with sorrow and loneliness. Kikyou’s face shines with tears when Kagome leans closer and softly puts her lips on those belonging to the sublime girl in front of her. Kikyou gasps and returns the kiss, her cold lips dancing with Kagome’s warm ones. Kagome’s touch is full of affection and worry as she hugs Kikyou closer to her, caressing her hair gently as they kiss. Kagome’s lips are soft and warm, and Kikyou feels that warmth seep into her own body, heating her up from the inside, nerve endings tingling, blood coursing in her veins, a sensation she thought she would never experience. Her chest tightens, almost aching, and her eyes open wide when she feels something drumming in it a foreing pattern: her heart beats. She is alive.
She feels loved by the strange, beautiful girl who was shown to her by the jewel, who finally gave her what she yearned for all those long years while devouring men’s souls.
“You made me an ordinary girl,” Kikyou whispers in her ears while they curl up in each other’s arms on the floor, sleep at last taking over.
The scent of red spider lilies overpowers her senses. As Kagome wakes up, she is already planning how to take the countess to the healer to cure her unusual malady. She looks down at the delicate face of the sleeping girl, only to realize that her sleep is now eternal. The room is no longer dark; the curtains are pulled back, sunshine illuminating the lilies that now fill Kikyou’s room, an uncanny grave of an unearthly soul.
As she takes in the dead countess covered in flowers, she remembers how she felt in her hands, how soft, how desperate, how affectionate their kisses were. She prays for her soul, and after her tears cease falling, Kagome reluctantly stands to leave the room and to continue her journey. From the corner of the eye, she sees the jewel shards glistening in the sunshine, calling for her. With a sudden urge coming from her soul to collect them and make the jewel complete again, she bends down to pick a shard up from the floor.