Opaline by Aviel

Run, Run As Fast As You Can

Disclaimer: Though it saddens me to say it, I don’t own anything relating to Takahashi-sensei’s Inuyasha. However, the plot of this drabble series does belong to me as well as any OCs that may show up along the way.

A/N: I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t like this story. It’s practically writing itself. :)

Chapter 3: Run, Run As Fast As You Can

A girl panted as she ran, cerulean eyes wide with panic.

Unadulterated fear fueled her adrenaline, boosting the energy contained within her little body. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as she willed her legs to go faster. Her black locks whipped about her face as she went deeper into the forest surrounding her village.

She was almost there…

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Her heart beat erratically against her ribcage, and she wheezed painfully, her lungs tightening with each passing second. But she wouldn’t dare to open her mouth to drag in the oxygen she so desperately needed. She wouldn’t risk it. She wouldn’t make a sound.

She couldn’t, not while they were after her.

They – the ones she had once considered her friends – were hunting her down. They would kill her, she was sure of it. She would be murdered like a poor, defenseless creature.

And she was afraid.

She had no family to protect her. She was an orphan – a stray that no one had wanted, save for a kind old woman named Kaede. The elderly priestess had taken pity on her when she had found her abandoned in the very forest she was running to seek shelter in. Kaede had raised her as her own, even going so far as to educate her in the ways of the miko, and renamed her with the simple reason of giving her a new beginning – a fresh start.

No longer did she go by the name “Rin,” because, according to Kaede, her sunny disposition did not match such a cold name.

As it was now, she was called “Kagome.”

And despite believing that it wasn’t really an improvement, since the name meant “caged bird,” Kagome hadn’t complained, not wanting to upset the woman she held dear to her heart. It was only ironic that it actually suited her character very well, for it described her life accurately.

After Kaede had taken Kagome in as her ward, the village refused to let her leave once they discovered that she had latent spiritual powers. Because Kaede was getting older in age, the people had feared that they would soon lose their sole protector against the things that went bump in the night – namely the wild beasts that lurked outside their village. They were afraid of the evil monsters that existed in the tales they told to their children at night. They were scared of the very beings they used in order to frighten the naive into obedience.

They feared the youkai.

They feared the unknown and the things their minds couldn’t – wouldn’t – understand.

And they feared Kagome.

The young girl was an anomaly. While the villagers knew that Kaede trusted her, deep down, they didn’t – none of them did. To them, it was not an everyday occurrence that a child’s eye color changed from a normal, muddy brown to a pair of startlingly bright, sapphire hues.

It just wasn’t…human.

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Original Posting Date: August 21, 2012

Prompt: For Phae’s Word Prompts, Betrayal

Words: 500