Torn Wings by Kittymui

Prologue

Prologue

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful kingdom on the moon called Celes. The inhabitants of Celes didn't possess any magical powers though. They were just as normal as their counterparts who lived on the planet called Earth.

Naturally, the kingdom had a ruler and his name was Kronos. Together with his beautiful queen Moira, he has ruled over Celes for many many years now. They both resided in a large castle, which was located at the center of a huge, but shallow crater.

Unlike the people they ruled over, the pair was granted special abilities. Kronos and several imperial guards were given the power to fight away intruders of this kingdom and Moira was given the ability to heal. The queen was also given a beautiful pair of wings, which she could use to travel to and from Earth.

The king and queen had seven lovely daughters. Like their mother, they also had wings. Each one of them brought prosperity to Celes as they were born. The last one however brought nothing but headache to the king, as she was the most rebellious and disobedient one.

Because Kronos and Moira were too busy ruling their kingdom, the responsibility for taking care of the youngest princess was given to the eldest one, who was also the wisest of them all.

In this small fairytale, I will tell you about the seventh daughter of Kronos and Moira and how fate changed her whole life.

-.-.-.-.-

"Oh I can't wait!! I can't wait!!" cheered the happy girl as she danced in the courtyard of the white castle.

The courtyard wasn't very pretty to look at since there were only white marble pieces of art and seats. There were only several white flowers blooming near the walls and the rest of it was paved with gray tiles. These flowers, which were called Moonflowers, were the only "nature" that's growing on this planet. It was a simple green and gray stem propping 6 thin white flower petals and almost the whole planet is filled with them. The strangest thing about this tiny little piece of nature is that it doesn't need water to survive, only the warmth of the sun once in a while. But enough about this flower, let's turn our attention back to the dancing girl who appears to be very happy about something.

Her beautiful raven black locks danced along as she jumped up and down, and so did her silver blue dress. The garment was opaque at her upper and lower body but had long sleeves that were slightly transparent. It had a wide U-shaped neckline and was made of the softest fabric you could ever imagine.

The young princess continued to dance bare-feet as her navy-blue eyes were fixed on a certain planet that hung in the dark starry sky.

Unlike any other planets, this one was green and blue at different places and there were also fuzzy white feathery things covering some spots of the planet that disappeared and appeared from hour to hour [AN: in case you don't know...they're clouds hehehe :).]. It was the planet called Earth.

The moon was a totally different place; it was cool and most of the time pretty drafty. Edible things only grew inside the castle walls, under the queen's influence. Since water was a crucial element to grow crops, and since it was also something that was extremely rare on the moon, the queen was given the responsibility to take her daughters with her to the Earth and bring back barrels filled with water several times a year. But the condition, which held for the winged daughters, was that they had to be full-fledged before they were allowed to go to Earth together with their mother.

And today, was the day that the youngest daughter of the king and queen became full-fledged, as it was her 20th birthday. Tonight will be her first time to Earth along with her sisters and mother, and that was why she was so happy and dancing in the castle's courtyard.

"I can't wait!!" she continued with a smile on her face that reached her eyes.

"Kagome, can you please calm down a bit?" a woman's voice spoke from the main entrance of the castle.

Kagome stopped jumping and turned to the voice.

It was her eldest sister that told her to calm down. She was seven years older than Kagome and much wiser than she was. Her long wavy black hair fluctuated a little as she descended the stone steps and walked towards the young princess. She was wearing a long white silvery robe that had a V-shaped neckline and long wide sleeves.

"Kikyou onee-sama!" Kagome cheered as she ran to her dear sister with her navy blue orbs locked on the pair of dark gray ones.

Kikyou smiled. "Now tell me, why is my sweet little sister dancing bare-feet in our courtyard?" she asked.

"It's my 20th birthday today! Today, I'm officially full-fledged, so I can go to Earth together with Kikyou onee-sama and all other sisters," the young princess replied.

The smile on Kikyou's face dropped a little but she forced it up again before her youngest sister could notice it. "I'm sorry Kagome, I'm afraid I won't be able to go with you..." she replied sadly.

The young princess frowned. "Why?"

"That's because I'm getting married soon..." she replied.

"Ehh?!! Hontou???" Kagome reacted surprised but then realized that her eldest sister wasn't smiling at all and quickly dropped her smile as well. "Onee-sama...why do you look so sad...?"

Kikyou averted her gaze. "It's father who had decided the engagement...not me..."

Kagome raised a brow, as she didn't quite understood what her sister meant, but she was quickly answered with a gentle pat on her head.

"You will understand it someday..." she smiled. "You better get ready or mother and your sisters will depart without you." With that said, she turned and walked back into the castle.

With a confused expression on her face, Kagome watched how her sister disappeared behind the main entrance, but suddenly snapped back into reality as she recalled her words before she left. "Shimatta!!" she gasped and immediately hurried back into the castle on her bare feet.

-.-.-.-.- later -.-.-.-.-

Kagome dashed out of her chamber and quickly made her way towards the courtyard again.

The young princess was now dressed in a thin and very skin-revealing azure-colored garment that resembled the clothing of the Ancients Greeks. It looked like two loose cloths that were attached to each other by iron rings at her shoulders and at both sides of her waist. The garment had a wide neck-opening and two long wide sleeves. At her back, the garment created a space for her wings by dividing the cloth into an upper part right below her neck and lower part. And the lower-body part looked like a loose skirt that reached her knees. Throughout the entire clothe, there were graceful folds made in the fabric, creating a lovely cascading surface. At her feet, Kagome wore a pair of brown sandals that reached halfway up to her knees.

Without second though, she flung open the doors of the main entrance and descended the stone steps with one high leap. Kagome curled her knees a bit as she made contact with the tiles again and spread out her arms just as though she had finished a somersault in an acrobatic contest.

"Kagome! You're late!!"

Kagome raised her head as she straightened herself up. It was the second to eldest sister who spoke. She and the rest of her siblings were standing perfectly in line next to each other from the eldest on the far left to the youngest on the far right.

From left to right, their names were Kururo, Lily, Heela, Tammy and Fiore, respectively dressed in brown, green, yellow, red and black. All of them were wearing the same kind of outfit like Kagome herself. Behind her five siblings stood her mother, queen Moira. Beautiful long brown curls framed her long face as her blue eyes were fixed on Kagome. She was dressed in a long-sleeved robe made of golden fabric that was long enough to cover her feet.

"Are you ready my dear?" she asked with a feathery light voice.

Despite Kagome's rebellious and disobedient behavior, the queen still thought of her as her favorite daughter. Probably because she's the youngest but mostly because she possessed a very unique power.

Unlike her other daughters, who either possessed the ability to fight (from their father) or the power to heal (from herself), Kagome possessed them both. Or better said, a combination of it, which was the ability to purify.

Although she hadn't told Kagome about her unusual ability yet, she's pretty sure that it will develop in its natural way. Although the king only had negative expectations from the youngest princess because of her immature and naive character, the queen had high hopes for her to become the most powerful of the seven daughters.

"Hai!!" Kagome replied cheerfully, earning another smile from her mother.

"All right, let's begin sprouting our wings first," Moira decided as she clasped her hands together at her chest and closer her eyes.

The young princess quickly stood in line with the other princesses and followed her mother's example.

In a flash, seven beautiful pairs of white feathery wings appeared on the queen's and the six princesses' backs. Naturally, the pair on Moira's back was slightly bigger and sturdier than those of her daughters.

"Everybody set?" she asked, scanning her daughters' wings one by one.

"Haaaai!!" the six girls replied in harmony.

Moira smiled and spread out her wings. "Then let's go!"

With that, she flapped her wings once and defied gravity within seconds.

The princesses followed their mother's example one by one to avoid collisions and soon, all of them were floating in the air above the courtyard.

Queen Moira flew to Kagome's side. "This will be your first time to Earth so you should follow right behind me and not wander off on your own, okay?"

Kagome nodded in reply.

"Good, here we go then!" her mother smiled and sped up to the sky together with her five sisters at her tail. And she followed right behind them, just as she was told.

-- Earth --

It was past midnight when the group arrived on the planet they called Earth. As most organisms were asleep at this time of the day, they didn't have to worry about being discovered by the ones they called 'humans'. But they still had to be alert for another living being that inhabited this Earth, the ones they refer to as 'youkai'.

The queen told them that youkai were vicious monsters that wouldn't hesitate to dig their sharp claws into their flesh. Although humans were much more innocent compared with youkai, there were still bad ones that could cause them harm.

All with all, the golden law of the winged ones stated to avoid any contact with the ones on Earth and all went well up till now since most of the seven daughters were obedient.

But who would have thought that this golden law, which had worked for more than 100 years now, would be overthrown by a tiny innocent trait called 'curiosity'?

-.-.-.-.-

Kagome widened her eyes and dropped her jaw when they landed in an open area of a forest near a large lake.

"S-sugoi..." she gasped while looking around her. For the first time in her life, she saw what nature was like with her own eyes.

Distant noises made by animals of the night echoed in her ears like an orchestra. Gentle breezed graced past her soft cheeks, carrying the scent of water and grass with it. Kagome felt like a blind and deaf child who's eyes and ears had just opened for the very first time.

As her older siblings ran pass her into the pond to do what they came here for, she just stood there at the bank and inhaled a deep breath. 'This is Earth...' she thought dreamily. She snapped out of it when she heard Moira's voice calling her.

"Kagome? Why aren't you helping your sisters?"

She turned to the queen. "Oh...right..." And retracted her wings before slowly stepping into the water.

'Cold...' she winced inside and waited until she got used to the temperature before walking deeper into the lake. Kagome took an empty barrel and started to scoop water into it. But it didn't take long before her attention was drawn again by something else.

"I'm going to scout and secure our environment, you girls just continue to fill the barrels and wait for my return, understand?" queen Moira stated as she remained at the dry ground.

"Hai!" the princesses acknowledged before turning to their barrels again.

After hearing that, the queen turned and disappeared into the trees. Little did she notice that all except one of her daughters had given her an answer of acknowledgment.

-.-.-.-.-

As the winged ones continue to gather water from the lake, they didn't realized that one of them had started to drift away from the group.

Kagome had stopped scooping up water the moment she noticed some strange light on the water-surface. When she lifted up her gaze, she realized it was the reflection of a tiny light that floated above the water. 'What could it be...?' she thought puzzled and began to follow the light as it floated away from the water and deeper into the forest.

Completely forgetting what she had come to Earth for in the first place, Kagome continued to pursue the floating light. Eventually, she caught up with it and without second thought; she encaged it between her hands. "Gotcha!" she giggled.

Slowly, she created a small opening to peek at the mysterious object she captured. But as soon as the opening was big enough for her to look inside, the strange floating light almost immediately escaped its prison.

Kagome quickly tried to capture it again but stopped when her eyes fell on something more intriguing than the floating light.

-.-.-.-.-

Meanwhile, queen Moira had returned to the lake from her safety patrol. "Are you all finished with filling the barrels?" she inquired as she approached the lake.

All of the winged princesses nodded in reply as they sprouted their wings at the same time.

"Good, let's leave," the queen nodded approvingly and sprouted her wings too.

The princesses put both their hands on each side of the barrels and flapped their white wings several times. Within seconds, the group had broken contact with the earth and disappeared into the sky.

-.-.-.-.- later -.-.-.-.-

A smile appeared on Moira's face when she saw the king standing in the middle of the courtyard, apparently waiting for their safe return.

The king was wearing a grand dark-red robe with shimmering crystals here and there on its surface. Short black curls framed his face as his navy blue eyes were locked on the blue ones of his queen.

"Okaeri," he smiled as he watched his family silently land on the paved floor in front of him. "You've done a great job."

"Tadaima!!" the princesses cried happily and exhausted at the same time as they retracted their wings.

"My dear, why are you out here? Weren't you busy with the wedding?" the queen asked surprised.

Kronos raised his hand and stroked her cheek. "It's our sweet daughter's first time to Earth, surely I would want to hear how she had behaved and what she thought of it," he replied with a smile.

The queen smiled back. "Don't worry, she's done a great job!' she replied, turning to her daughters. "Didn't you, Kagome?"

"Kagome?" she called out again when she received no reply.

The smile on the queen's face dropped as she scanned her daughters one by one. "One...two...three...four...five..." she counted aloud.

"Oh no..." she gasped wide-eyed.

I hope you all liked this prologue. It's been a while again, so it took me some time to type it in my computer :). Please tell me what you think of it by a review and do look forward to the next chapter ne?

Lots of greets

~Kittymui~

Next chapter: Living fairytale

-.-.-.-.-

He raised his gaze to the sky and was surprised to witness seven thin stripes of light falling down from the bright crescent moon.

To him, these strange lights meant more like uninvited visitors of his property than any wish-fulfilling superstition.

"Jaken," he ordered with a stern voice. "Guard the castle."

-.-.-.-.-

Vocabulary:

onee-sama: big sister

hontou??: really??

shimatta: oh shit/oops

hai: yes

sugoi: amazing

okaeri: welcome back

tadaima: I'm home