For My Honor by Chante

Prologue

As Kagome passed through the barren, snow covered land, following behind the older woman and man, clad in furs and thick clothing to stave off the cold, she shivered slightly, trying to regulate her breathing. How long had they been traveling? Three days? Five days? A week, or had it been more? She attempted to stave off the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes unbidden, but managed to keep her wits about her. She was scared. Blindingly, ferociously scared and she could do nothing to keep the feeling at bay. She let out a long suffering sigh as she remembered her final day at home.

-;-

"Mother, Mother where are you!" She called, searching for her mother, excited to show the woman who had given her life her progress with the bow and arrow. She could now hit many a moving target in rapid succession. She ran up the stairs, bursting into her mother's quarters in a show of jubilance she didn't often have the energy for, but stopped short when she saw that there were a couple of people talking with her mother.

"Oh, I'm sorry for intruding, mother dearest. I will wait until after –"She said lightly, turning on her heel.

"No, Kagome. We were discussing you. You may want to stay for a bit."

"Oh, Okay then, mother. It is a pleasure to meet both of you." She said, pausing to turn to the newcomers and she offered them a bow, showing respect as she had been taught. "What about me are you discussing, exactly?" She asked with a small smile upon her face.

"Kagome, dearest, these people have come to collect a person from our hold. They have heard of you from your teachers, and the nice Ken boy that you often played with when you were younger. They need someone who knows how to wield a weapon" She looked pointedly at the bow in Kagome's hand, "and who is not yet mature. They have requested that they be able to take you with them, although if you refuse, then we must send another from our house."

A fleeting look of panic swept across her face, as she turned to look at these strangers, so prepared to tear her family apart.

"Why exactly must I leave? What would you require of me if I chose to leave with you?"

"Every year or so, it is necessary that we gather a group of young people to train to defend all the holds. Who do you think takes care of the rogue demons and the crazies and all of the other undesirables that lurk around?"

She hesitated, "If I go with you?"

"The rest of your siblings will reach maturity before it is necessary that we collect another from your household. It rests upon your shoulders, Kagome." All eyes turned to hers, her mother looking pleadingly at her for reasons that she couldn't decipher. Did she want her to stay, or to go?

"If you are not chosen by the younglings, then you are free to come back home. We will not force you to stay where you do not feel welcome."

Kagome drew in a deep breath, considering her options. She could be selfish, and remain where she was and have a brother or a sister taken from her instead, or she could do what was right at go, and allow her younger sister to become heir. Theoretically, she had a good chance of not even needing to remain.

"I will… I will go with you, if you solemnly swear to leave the rest of my family alone, and allow me to return should I not be 'chosen', as you say."

The smile that the man gave her was swift in rising, and it left her feeling as though he was a merchant who had just sold her a rotten piece of fruit for double the price.

"Delightful. We leave on the morrow. I expect you to say your goodbyes tonight, because we shall leave before the sun." The man and woman left, but not before the small woman cast a pitying glance over her shoulder at the young heiress, and Kagome felt her stomach fall to her feet.

-;-

It was a long night, with her mother and her siblings fretting over her, doing her chores, and rubbing her back, giving her treats that she was not normally allowed, and other things. And all through this, Kagome maintained her melancholy mood, not crying but not bursting in cheer either. It was a difficult night.

She remembered best that she was given a pint of ale, the strong stuff not normally allowed to those who were not yet considered to be grown. She had pretty much always had ale, sweetened with honey and piping hot to keep her warm through the cool days, and she was certain that she could not remember a day when there had not been at least a light dusting of snow on the ground, at least most of the year. But it was the summer months now, and the air was crisp with the smell of snow-melt and the water was clear. There was no need for this, and knowing that her mother never did anything that she didn't feel was owed set a rock in the very pit of Kagome's stomach.

What could be so bad to warrant a steaming pint of ale, burning and delicious as it rolled down her throat and warmed her insides?

She sat in the firelight for a long time, staring at the flickering flames, which caught in her eyes and made them shine in the moonlight. She sighed softly, cradling the now long empty cup, her mind swirling with uncertainty.

After a long time, and the moon started to sink, she went to her room. After a few hours of fretful sleep, she opted to instead gather all of significance to her: her journal, which she had kept since she was old enough to write, the dagger that her father had gifted her on her deathbed, her lucky arrow, her pendant that Ken had given her 3 summers ago, a carving that her younger sister had gifted to her, and the amulet that she used to pray to the gods, and all of this she pushed into a small bag that she slung over her shoulder haphazardly. After she did this, she gathered all of her training clothing and gear, knowing that the flowing gowns that made up the vast majority of her attire would be both inappropriate and cumbersome, but she couldn't help but take one, a simple blood red dress that neither stained, nor caught in the prickly grass of their terrain.

She smiled as she folded it carefully, noticing that the dress had a gold necklace in the pocket, and a note that went along with it.

Dearest Kagome, I know that you will choose this dress to take along with you. I give you this necklace, which your father had given to me whilst we were courting. I want you to enjoy whatever life may give you. Your mother.

A small smile tilted her face, but just before she was to pack everything up she noticed a dress that she had never seen before in the very back of her closet. It was absolutely gorgeous: A dress made of furs the purest white, and the patterns that flitted across the front and back were the darkest red she had ever seen. She was at a loss for choosing, and so, she agreed to the added burden and brought both of the beautiful dresses. After she had packed all of the belongings that she deemed necessary into her bag, she paced her room for a while, and having exhausted everything that she had to do, her good-bye's said and done, her time spent with her family, her heart heavy with sorrow, she gathered her stuff, and headed to the practice grounds, her bow and arrows clenched tight in her hands, her mind set.

Her breath rolling out of her mouth in streams of white, she had emptied her quiver of arrows on all the targets, her arm burning with the strain of pulling the string taut, her heart racing as she let the arrow fly, most often true, towards the targets. It was like this that they found her, the sun not yet risen, and they collected her weary body, her mind set on honoring her family.

-;-