Chapter 6

The temple

Mai yawned and sat up. The sun had already risen. She washed herself in the bathing room and wrapped a towel around her body. She smiled as she found a breakfast on the table. Aiko must have sneaked into her room and brought it over when Mai was asleep. “That woman must be ninja,” she thought, amused. Humming some song, the girl walked to the room where the clothes were. Mai took one thin white kimono, which served as underwear, and wondered what to wear. She decided that putting a pile of thick silk kimonos was definitely a no. Besides, they were heavy and limited movement. She settled for a plain-looking green kimono. It went rather nicely with her eyes and didn’t draw too much attention. She put the clothes on and tied them with a dark-green obi. She looked at her reflection in the large mirror. Nice. The clothes were beautiful. The long hair she now had was also pretty, but very bothersome. She was nearly strangled in the night by it. After she confirmed that she was looking quite presentable, she hurried to the castle gates. She was surprised today because she didn’t get lost even once.

Mai spotted a young man looking around nervously. Rather a boy than a man. He looked like he was her age, dressed in samurai attire, and armed with a sword. His face was round, rather boyish, but quite handsome. He had honest brown eyes and black hair gathered in a ponytail. Mai waved to him and came closer.

“Hello. Are you my bodyguard?” Mai asked him casually.

The boy blushed and got even more nervous.

“Amayami-hime?” he asked unsurely. Mai nodded.

“Yes. It’s me. And you are…”

“Hiroyoshi Shinji.” he answered immediately.

“I can call you Shinji, right? Come on, don’t fall behind!” Mai called to him as she already set off for temple. Shinji trailed behind her.

As they walked across the village, Mai thought that it would be a good idea to ask the young samurai about this world. She knew something from the history textbooks, but Shinji would surely tell her something from another point of view.

“Shinji, are there a lot of dangers outside the castle?” She asked and observed as the boy’s face was getting red.

“Umm, yes. The families are warring with each other, so there are the enemy’s armies, robbers in the forests and youkai waiting to devour unlucky travelers.”

“Youkai?” laughed Mai. God, the boy is superstitious. “Have you seen one?”

“No, but I’ve heard stories about them!” he exclaimed, ready to defend himself. “And their favorite foods are little children and princesses.”

“I don’t believe you.” stated Mai. “Youkai exist only in people’s imagination.”

“Don’t say such things because you will be spirited away by one, hime.” warned Shinji in his most serious tone. “Those matters are not ones to be joked with.”

“I can’t imagine a youkai who would want to kidnap me.” said Mai rolling her eyes.

Shinji turned out to be a good companion, but he was unbearable at times and insisted that he would protect her anytime. They got to the temple at last. It was a thirty minute walk from castle. The temple was small and unkempt. Mai entered inside and Shinji followed her.

“Hello?” called Mai, looking around the large empty room, with the exception of the large wooden statue of Buddha with golden paint.

The floor was dusty and rather dirty. The temple needed some cleaning. Then Mai noticed a fat man lying in the corner. She went to him cautiously, Shinji right behind her. She leaned over the priest and poked him gently. He snored. Mai grabbed his shoulders and shook him violently. The priest’s eyes snapped open and he yelled.

“What the hell are you doing, stupid girl?” he yelled. Mai opened the mouth to talk back, but Shinji was faster. He drew his sword and pointed it at the monk’s throat.

“Be respectful while talking to the princess. This honorable woman is Amayami-hime, the daughter of the great lord… “

“Enough!” shouted Mai, and she gave Shinji her most threatening look. “Put down the sword, Shinji, now! And skip the introduction.”

“So you are the princess?” asked the priest, glancing nervously at the young samurai. “You are different from what I’ve heard about you. I didn’t expect a princess to have such a temper.”

“Don’t flatter me. I need your help.” stated Mai. She looked at her companion and smiled. “Shinji, could you clean the temple in the meantime?”

Mai explained to the priest what she was looking for while Shinji was sweeping floors. At least the young samurai was being kept busy. The priest seemed to be surprised by Mai’s request, but he agreed to search the books together with Mai. The two of them were roaming through the contents of the temple’s small library.

“A mirror, you say?” asked the priest. Mai nodded while taking another scroll from the shelf.

“Yes, in a pentagonal shape, plain, wooden frame. I got it from my fiancé and heard it was made to look like a mythical soul swapping mirror, so I was curious.”

“Curious creature you are.” muttered the priest. “I’m afraid, that my knowledge won’t suffice, but in two weeks my friend will come. He used to study the trees of ages, so he could help you with satisfying your curiosity about time-travelling.”

“Trees of ages?” asked Mai, wondering if she had heard that expression before.

“For those trees, the time flows differently, but ask me no more. You will have to wait two weeks.”

Mai nodded, disappointed. Two weeks? Two weeks seemed like an eternity. Besides, she didn’t want to stay in the castle and avoid Aiko all the time.

“Hime-sama?” asked the fat man. “You’re welcome to come anyway. I would love to have my temple cleaned by your bodyguard and you could use a little freedom, couldn’t you?”

Meanwhile, in another part of Japan

“Kagome!” exclaimed Shippo happily as Inuyasha helped Kagome get out of the Bone Eaters’ Well. Demon slayer Sango and monk Miroku also hurried to greet the schoolgirl. Kagome opened her large yellow backpack and started distributing the usual presents: Sango got a bottle of strawberry shampoo, Miroku a soda, Shippo a bag of sweets, and Inuyasha fished for the bag of chips himself, ripped it open and started stuffing them in his mouth.

“Guys,” Kagome started, “While I was in my time, something happened. My friend probably got sent to the feudal era and we need to find her.”

Her words caused quite a commotion. Shippo and Sango were asking numerous questions; Miroku was curious too, and Inuyasha concentrated on devouring food while Kagome’s attention was set on something else. Kagome raised her hand and gave everyone her scary look. The little group fell silent.

“I’ll explain now.” She said with her hands on her hips, “Her soul apparently got switched with a mystic soul-switching mirror. In her body is now a princess from the feudal era and Mai must be here somewhere. The mirror isn’t working anymore; we tried that many times already. I also don’t know the identity of the princess, so…”

“Wait,” Sango interrupted. “Can’t you just ask the princess who she is?”

“Feh!” Inuyasha spoke up as he finished eating. “We tried, but the wench keeps screaming: ‘I will not tell you my name, mononoke; if I do, you will devour my soul!’”

“Actually, you are a mononoke, Inuyasha.” Shippo reminded the hanyou, folding his little arms. Inuyasha snatched him by his fluffy tail and started bullying him. Kagome sighed.

“As Inuyasha said, we tried, but it may take some time to gain her trust. In the meantime, we could just search for her and the jewel shards. I’ve brought her photo; we can ask people along the way if they saw her. Mai is the princess’s incarnation, so they should look alike.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Agreed Miroku, examining the photo Kagome handed him.

“Feh! Sounds like a waste of time!” shouted Inuyasha. Kagome looked at him with her death-glare. The rest of the group sighed, knowing what was coming.

“Osuwari!” shouted Kagome. “Inuyasha, you idiot!”