Sky Dweller 1
Hi Minna-san!!
This is my first RK ficcy so be nice please! You don't have to of course but politeness is always appreciated. Reviews, comments and constructive criticism is always wanted!
~Lady Shiin
~~~
It was well past midnight when Kaoru awoke.
She rose silently from her pallet and padded across the one room hut that was her home; all the while careful not to wake her parents and younger sister Tsubame.
Quietly, she opened the door and stepped outside closing it silently behind her.
The moon hung in the sky above her. It was bright and full tonight; in the sky it shone with an almost pearlescent gleam to it. The stars that were scattered across the velvet black sky too shone unusually bright tonight. They twinkled like gems of purest diamond against the dark black sky that served as their background.
The night was crystalline clear with not even the barest wisp of a cloud to be seen.
Walking in a smooth yet quick pace Kaoru left her village behind her and followed the flat even path that lead from the village and deep into the woods.
The woods seemed to welcome her with open arms and Kaoru felt a sigh of contentment escape her as she strode beneath the tall towering trees.
As she walked she passed a zicaria bush. The zicaria flowers were in full bloom at this time of the year. Their petals looked as if they had been dipped in silver in the strong light of the moon, with only the barest blush of pink around the edges.
Breaking one of the flowers off the bush, Kaoru sniffed deeply inhaling the light tangy fragrance of the flower. She tucked it just behind her and continued on with her moonlight walk.
It wasn't very long before Kaoru reached her special place: a small pool nestled deep in the woods. The moonlight turned the pool's surface into molten silver. Gentle waves lapped at the grass and rock strewn shore, which from the moon's light was also silver only a darker and deeper shade than that of the pool's.
To Kaoru it looked like a mystical, enchanted place the kind of place that you would hear about in stories and legends. She settled herself down near the pools edge and tucked her feet neatly underneath her. In the still silvery surface she could see her reflection gazing back at her.
Kaoru knew she looked different. Her every feature was almost the exact opposite of that of any other persons in the village. She was tall and long limbed where the majority of the people in her village were shorter of stature and of sturdier built.
She had long fine black hair the color of the night with streaks of aquamarine and indigo sometimes seen, depending on the light. Kaoru had pale almost porcelain like complexion that never tanned and instead always burned at the slightest hint of sun. Her skin stayed constantly the same shade year round. Pale.
But the thing that was most uncommon about her were her eyes. They were a deep cyan blue tinting to almost midnight blue in color around the edges of her iris. Her eyes reflected light back like a prism or crystal would. Various shades of blue and violet were often seen in her eyes. Darker and more opaque with her stronger emotions to lighter almost translucent shades when content or happy.
Kaoru didn't consider herself beautiful; her features were too starkly unique and unusual to ever be called so. At least in her mind.
Kaoru reached into the pool and gathered some water in her hands held it above the pool gazing into it before she let it dribble through her fingers. The water fell back into the pool obscuring her reflection for a moment before it wavered back into clarity once more.
She sighed softly looking down at her reflection staring back at her, her eyes sad.
Why am I so different? She asked herself.
She had never been accepted in the village and probably never would be. Several years ago when she was just a child some of the village men had come across her unconscious in the woods and upon waking up she had realized that she had no prior memory whatsoever of her life before being found.
Kaoru had been taken in by a middle aged couple and who had no other children and had been raised by them. She loved them deeply and had been ecstatic when a bit less than two years after her arrival at the village, the couple; who she had come to regard as her parents by then, had a baby girl which they named Tsubame.
When she was younger she had, had to struggle to get respect a shade short of being accepted by the village children. The children of the village often would taunt her by calling her 'Kaoru-kari' as a slurring name for Icari a race of winged people who lived in the sky and who were often called Sky Dwellers.
Icari lived in their Cloud cities high in the sky. Frequently though they would come down from their cities and make excursions to the land beneath the sky in the form of raids and kidnappings. The raids had been growing more and more numerous as of late, causing the citizens of Sarlia (the land the Icari called 'The Land Beneath the Sky'), to grow worried.
Kaoru was startled out of her thoughts as she heard the faint sound of leaves rustling not too far from the left of her and she caught a glimpse of something moving among the shadows.
She rose to her feet and took a step in the direction of which she had seen the movement. "Is anyone there?" She called out.
Only silence met her call.
Suddenly she whirled around as she heard the sound of footsteps drawing near her from the opposite direction she had seen the movement.
It was a moment before her sister Tsubame appeared.
"Kaoru!" Tsubame's eyes were flashing as she approached her. "What do you think your doing!" It was more a statement than a question. "You know how dangerous it is to go out at night. Especially alone. What if something happened to you?"
Kaoru shook her head and smiled wryly. Tsubame often acted more like the older sister than she herself did. Where Kaoru was spontaneous and often didn't think things through before doing them and as a result got into trouble often; Tsubame always thought through and was very cautious about everything.
She was like a watchdog when it came to her older sister. Tsubame followed her around reprimanding her when she did things wrong and wouldn't let her out of her sight if she could help it.
"Let's get back to the village." Tsubame said her voice impatient.
"All right." Kaoru said reluctantly. She got up from the ground and followed her sister out of the pool clearing and back to the village trying her best to ignore Tsubame's reproving glares and loud tsking.
~~~
Kaoru yawned as she awoke. Sunlight streamed through the single window in the hut turning the light brown plaster of the hut wall into a burnished golden color.
Both her parents as well as her sister were all ready up and working judging by their empty pallets. With another yawn Kaoru threw back her sleeping furs and rose stretching from her pallet.
Picking up her wooden, thickly bristled hairbrush she set to work on freeing her waist length black hair of tangles. Kaoru deftly braided her hair tightly and secured the bottom of it with a strip of thin leather. That done she grabbed a piece of yellow fruit from the basket and stepped outside the hut.
Though it was still early in the morning the village bustled with activity. The sounds of the villagers talking and laughing rang through the air. The herd animals too added their voices to the morning symphony in a ballad of grunts and squeals.
All of these sounds mingled in the air and Kaoru couldn't get enough of them. These were the sounds of the village and the sounds of her home.
She walked over to where a group of girls about her age sat in a semicircle pounding pure white flakra sees into flour to be used for baking. Hikari seated herself between two of the girls with a soft murmured hello.
No one responded to her greeting or even looked up to acknowledge her presence. Kaoru felt tears burn the edges of her eyes and bit her lip refusing to cry. She had lived in the village for years and was still treated as an outsider.
It's always the same. She thought in annoyance.
She in return ignored the other girls and used her anger to help her grind the hard and brittle flakra seeds into white flour.
Night time came as a blessing for Kaoru and once she was sure her parents and sister were asleep she got up from her pallet and stole silently out of the house and into the woods.
Night was Kaoru's favorite time of the day.
The moons and stars didn't give her brush-offs and unwelcoming glares when she appeared. They didn't give her hostile looks or sullen stares in response to her attempts at conversation. They were as they were and accepted her for what she was.
A soft breeze lifted an unruly tendril of hair that had come free from her braid off her cheek where it lay. She tucked it absentmindedly behind one ear and took a deep breath of the cool fresh night air laced delicately with the scents of just blooming flowers.
It didn't take her long to reach the pool. It's smooth silver surface shone brightly as if welcoming her and Kaoru felt a smile spread across her face at the sight.
She sat down near the edge of the lake her feet tucked underneath her as was her habit. Feeling content; almost happy she trailed her fingers in through the pool water. In the moonlight her skin looked like mother of pearl studded her and there with diamonds that were drops of water.
Kaoru sensed more than anything else a person approaching her. She turned her head to see who it was expecting it to be Tsubame coming once more to tell her to get back to the village before something happened to her.
She was startled to see that it wasn't Tsubame at all.
A humanoid figure stood several feet away from her cloaked in the shadows of the trees that fringed the pool. Even though the moonlight didn't penetrate the shadows the appearance of wings on the persons back was unmistakable.
Hikari felt her throat close up and for a moment all she could do was stare, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly.
"Icari," she managed to whisper as her voice came back to her.
In an instant she was on her feet and running as fast she could away from the Icari.
From behind her she heard a faint whispery rushing sound just before the Icari grabbed her arms, pinning them to her body and hauled her off her feet.
Kaoru twisted furiously in his grasp shrieking at the top of her lungs. She kicked at the Icari with her bare feet and somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered if she had been wearing her shoes or had she lost them while running.
All these thoughts were banished from her head as the Icari grabbed her more firmly evicting a cry of pain from Kaoru. Bright, almost glowing golden eyes caught her own.
Unconsciousness swept over her like a wave and she fell forward her head flopping slightly as she fainted.
~~~
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~ Lady Shiin
