Her Destiny

She sighed as she opened her Chemistry book for the last bit of her homework that night. Going to college had cost her nothing but loss of sleep. Being valedictorian and having the highest G.P.A. made sure that she was accepted into the highest school of Japan. The only problem was the never ending homework and the hours of study.
All to become a doctor…she thought. A long drawn out sigh escaped from her mouth, a little over exaggerated but with full meaning behind it. Deciding to go for a walk, she shut the huge volume and slid away from her desk. Her room mate was at another one of her crazy parties, and will probably be too hung over to go to her early class in the morning.

She did not understand how someone could live that way, partying and skipping class when she was paying so much to go to the school. I should be the one doing that, not her…she giggled at her out of character thought and left the dorm residence and into the crisp air. Spring was not yet upon them, but it was uncharacteristically warm for winter. She had forgotten her jacket and silently cursed herself. Not bothering to climb the three flights of stairs back to her room she opted to continue walking. The moon was hidden behind pale gray clouds and a few stars dotted the velvet that was night sky. Inhaling deeply, she smiled softly and remembered her family. A slight sadness overcame her, a sense of homesickness. Without her, it was only her grandfather, father, and little brothers. Their mother had died after giving birth to the twins, complications and too much bleeding in the womb.

Being the oldest, she was the only one of the children to remember her at all. A small tear ran down her cheek as she thought of the wonderful memories that her mother had left her with. The days when they would go to the shore and play in the cold waves, the wind ripping through their long hair came flooding into her conscious. Her father would always take time off from work to go with them and laugh at the mess that was their hair. She remembered getting ice creams and finding tiny starfish and hermit crabs along the shore. Her mother would smile down at her and pick her up to kiss her nose tenderly.

The memory was so real that she could smell the salt in the air and her mother’s subtle scent of jasmine and lavender. She even felt the kiss upon her nose once again, as if she were back in time and there with her mother.

Coming back from her memories, she realized she was outside of the campus and had gone quite far. She didn’t know where she was at all. Looking around, she noticed she was near a temple and started to walk towards the entrance. There was a forest around, and it was eerily silent. There were no insect sounds whatsoever or any other noises for that matter. Her pace quickened without her realizing it and her heart skipped a beat when she heard a twig snap in the distance. Her eyes widened in the darkness and her steps quickened a little more. The arches welcomed her into sanctuary and she let out a loud huffed breath. Nothing unholy would dare enter a temple and anger the gods. Or so she hoped.

Walking down the stone path, she began to feel uneasy, even in the protective walls of the temple and decided to try and find a place to sit down, inside preferably. There were many buildings in this rather large establishment and she ran quickly to the nearest door. Jiggling the handle, she found it locked. No surprise. Most temples closed there doors after sunset in order for the ones who reside inside to have quiet prayer and chant. Feeling more uneasy, like something was stalking her, she ran to some of the other doors and found to her utter dismay that they too were locked.

Her heart raced more and more and she was starting to sweat slightly. She knew she was just being silly; being alone in the darkness in an unknown place, but something in the back of her mind was trying to tell her otherwise. She was not one to believe in ghosts or anything along those lines, but there was something unnatural out there, and it was waiting for her.

On a last attempt, she went to a rather old looking building and tried the door. It opened with a loud creaking that startled her, making her jump. Laughing a little to herself she stepped into the building and shut the door. Her heart slowed it erratic pace to a regular beat. She took the time to survey her new surroundings, and inhaled to help further calm her nerves. The old musty smell told her this place had not been used for much of anything in a long time. Dust covered the floor, about an inch or so deep. She noticed off in the distance there was a set of double doors with intricate carvings.

Walking forward, a slight breeze met her, making her shiver slightly. Smiling and shaking her head, she stepped forward again and went to the doors. She noticed that the carvings were of demons fighting. It was beautifully carved, and depicted a scene of two warring armies slaying each other mercilessly, using claws, teeth, swords and other sorts of weapons. Looking closer, she noticed that one demon was standing away from the battle, overlooking the entire scene. He was a handsome demon, with what looked like a boa of some sort over his shoulder and hair that went to the small of his back. What stroke her as odd was that there a human next to him, her hands outstretched, also watching the battle.

That looks like….me…Another breeze, this one a little more violent then the last, swept through the room, cooling the sweat that she had not noticed collecting on her forehead. Shivering again, she looked away from the scene reluctantly to look for a hole anywhere that could be causing the draft. Seeing none, she decided to look and see what was behind the doors. That caused a slight problem.

“No door handle? Not even a place to hold onto to slide it open…how odd…” she whispered aloud to no on in particular. Her hand went to the door and she felt a slight rumbling. Thinking it was o of the many quakes that shook Tokyo she pressed herself against the doors and closed her eyes. A bright light could be seen through her eye lids but she was too shaken up by the violent quake that she ignored it. The shakes grew with intensity and all of a sudden they stopped.

Opening one eye, she gasped.

“Maybe I hit my head or something…” She was no longer in the building, pressed against the door. She now found herself in a beautiful garden, surrounded by the most exotic and fragrant flowers she had ever seen. Butterflies and dragon flies hopped from petal to petal, enjoying the sweet nectars the flowers gave off. She could hear a small brook not too far off, to her right maybe. A little girl was humming not 30 feet from where she was sitting in the grass. Her short brown hair was in disarray, some of it pulled into a small ponytail on the side of her head. Her kimono was pretty ordinary, a light brown, and was covered in dirt and bits of grass.

Her brown eyes lit up at the sight of the young woman and she smiled, showing off white teeth, a small gap in the front from where she had lost a tooth. She came skipping over to her and offered the flowers that she had been picking.

“Who are you? How did you get into Sesshoumaru-sama’s gardens? Rin is glad though! Will you help Rin pick flowers for Sesshoumaru-sama?”

“What are you doing here, human?” came a velvet, stone-hard voice from behind her. Turning around, she found herself looking into cold golden eyes.

“You…” and then she fainted. It was the demon from the carving.

She must have hit her head. Hard.

Please, please, PLEASE review! I would greatly appreciate it. It's my first story and I want feedback, whether it be good or bad. Thank you! I promise chapter 2 will be up soon. I'm almost done it.