Jeweled Leash

Author's Notes: Hi! This is my first submission to this site ever! This story is based on Greek Mythology, specifically the story of Hades and Persephone. In case you didn't know, Hades the king of the underworld and the richest of the gods took Persephone against her will to be his wife. My favorite myth! :) Now, I'm not perfect, so please forgive any spelling and grammar errors. Oh, and there won't be any sex in this chapter, but there will be eventually. :)

Chapter One

The maiden happily wandered around the field, picking pretty flowers and shaping them into garlands. Laughing nymphs followed, gossiping and jesting in the sunlight.

"Junko," one of the nymphs said as she approached the maiden, her nude form adorned with lowers and leaves from the tree she lived in. "Your dear mother must be concerned." Her plump and pouty mouth was in an untrustworthy grin.

Trying not to pay the nymph too much attention, but not wanting to seem rude, the maiden plucked up a tiny yellow bloom and gave a distracted sounding, "Huh?" She shrugged. "Why? Because her former husband was so courtly to me the last time we met?"

Another nymph blurted out something Junko had been told all her life, yet never believed. "He's your father! He doesn't act like it, though, giving you lecherous looks!"

Junko paused her flower picking quest to sternly stare at that brazen creature of nature. "Mother told me I had no father. She is a goddess; she does not require a man to have a baby."

The first nymph stuck her tongue out at Junko. "Like a child you always argue this point. Everyone knows the king of the sky is your father."

Flipping some of her waist-length pink wavy hair out of her face, Junko decided to throw her hard earned garlands at the nymph and stomp her dainty dirty foot. "You are so rude! Why do I socialize with you?!"

When Junko stalked away the nymphs called out to her with laziness in their tones; none of them really cared where she went. It was assumed a goddess could care for herself, and the island they lived on was amazingly safe.

***

She really didn't understand why her dear mother, Kazue the harvest and fertility goddess, would tell her one important fact, while everyone else had a completely different version. Someone had to be a liar in this case, but Junko knew her mother would never lie.

Still fuming about the bewilderment, Junko tried to gather more flowers. It was her goal to think of more pleasant things, to try to return to her normal cheerful self. That's the reason why people liked her; she was perky. At least, that is what Kazue always said. For a moment, as Junko was crouching over a pretty flower that seemed to glitter in the sunlight, she thought she could sense an odd satisfaction from being angry. It almost . . . Hurt in a way that felt good. She wanted to kick someone, but there was a peculiar adrenaline rushing through her. Did emotional masochism truly exist?

Junko straightened back up to her full height, which was not a very intimidating height. Around five feet tall, most of the gods towered over the girl whom was probably the youngest of the immortals. She stared at her delicately shaped hand and its slender fingers. Her skin was rather pale for a creature that spent almost all of her time outdoors.

Kazue had told her that on the day she was born, the joyful mother laid Junko in an enchanted crib made of ivory and pearls, decorated with many white flowers. On that day Kazue admired the baby's soft and smooth skin and declared that her child shall never gain a dark tan because she had always wanted a pale daughter. Junko still slept in a bed of ivory and pearls, when she did sleep in her mother's greenhouse of a palace. Usually she slept under a tree of the island's forests. Every living thing there seemed to love her. It was her mother's island; the concept made sense to everyone.

A little thought popped into her head. What sort of things would happen in the future? Things have always been the same. Kazue went off to perform her work or do business with other deities, while Junko remained behind. Traveling other places was rare. Recently the mother and daughter went to the palace in the sky to see the king named Shou. He had requested it, claiming to be curious about Kazue's daughter. It had been a brief and awkward visit. The god really did look at Junko like she was a very tasty fruit, ready to be sliced into pieces and devoured slowly. The maiden had no idea what sort of thoughts she should have about him.

They had met the sky queen, and she was not friendly. She looked at Junko like she was a piece of feces stuck to her bare foot. Kazue had tried to keep her daughter as far away as possible. It was the strangest thing in the world to Junko. Nobody had ever been so unkind to her. It was frightening.

Warmth seeped into her bare back. Junko blinked and pulled a red flower up. She looked down at her almost nude body. Perhaps something in her form was displeasing? Junko shrugged, realizing her anger was gone, and the adrenaline was too. She rather missed the feeling.

Her wide blue eyes scanned the grass and flowers, noting some insects and a few small birds. There were so many colors, blue, yellow, pink . . . and black? Quickly she ran to the black thing she had spotted. Never before had she seen a black flower. Junko knelt on the ground to stare at the unconventional thing.

It reminded her of a black rose, but roses typically grew from a bush or something similar, with other buds, and black roses simply did not exist. This flower was held up by little more than a tall single stem rooted to the earth, with no thorns and small pale green leaves. The dark flower was amazingly large, and had a beautiful hint of another color. Junko used a fingertip to trace the thin blood red lines on the edges of the petals. She immediately fell in reasonable admiration with the flower; this particular bloom had delightfully soft petals, like the skin of a baby's foot. Junko had little experience with babies, but she had touched one when she was a child. Her mother had been showing her what these things called mortals were, and the goddesses had been invisible at the time.

Having no idea what to do with the black and red thing, Junko settled for sitting on her bare backside and regarding the plant with a dreamy smile. Idly her fingers played with the cloth of her only garment, a long white cotton sash wrapped around her midsection, from just below her small breasts to her belly button. This flower was too beautiful to be a simple garland. Once the idea came to her, Junko realized she had dropped what few flowers she had been carrying, and didn't care where they were. Then she thought this flower might work well as an adornment in her sash. She could place a special spell to make it everlasting after she plucked it, and then maneuver it so that it was somewhere in her sash. All the nymphs would be so jealous!

Squealing with delight, Junko reached out to take the rose-like thing. The very second after the flower was officially out of the ground something really amazing, terrifying, and totally unexpected happened. The earth seemed to vibrate, Junko could feel the sensation seep upwards from her backside, up her spine, all the way to her head. She jumped up and looked around her, wanting to find out what this strange vibration was. Was it that thing mortals dealt with, what were they, earthquakes? Her mother had told her that many mortals perished in these things. Junko knew she could never die, but she didn't want to get hurt.

The young goddess was about to run off for help, but she halted to gawk at the spot she had pulled the flower from. There was a hole, and it slowly grew large enough for an adult tiger to move around in. If there was a bottom to the hole, Junko couldn't see it. Like a curious idiot, she stepped to the edge and peered into the hole. Nothing but darkness greeted her from it. She scratched her scalp with an index finger, and then she examined the dark flower. It sufficiently distracted her to the point where she stuck the long stem into the front of her garment, right below her bosom.

That girly amusement sealed her fate.

Cold and hard chains of gold flew up from the hole and wrapped themselves around Junko's slender arms and legs, like cruel vines. Screeching and kicking, the goddess fell into the hole, and saw the brightness fade away until there was nothing else but pitch black space. She knew she was falling, and then her eyes protested to sudden light. The light was mild and a strange red, but it was still light she was not ready for. Soon Junko was falling slower, floating down a round tunnel she had to idea existed until that moment. The red light was moving along the walls, looking like some sort of living liquid that defied gravity.

She had stopped screaming, her throat burning. The chains were tight, but not painful, and they were sliding along her flesh lightly, almost like they were caressing her. Junko made small gasping breaths, coughed a few times too. She stretched her limbs and flexed her toes. Hoarsely the girl made an attempt at words and found that she could not speak without pain.

A new light, a brighter version of the former red, came into her vision. Junko pressed her hands into her face, hiding her sensitive eyes, and wept from fear. Then there was darkness again, and she sensed she had stopped floating. Cool firm stone touched her body. She was on some sort of ground. Junko wanted to get up and survey the area, but the unnatural darkness and the silence scared her. Never before had things been so quiet. There were no birds, no squirrels, no buzzing bees, nothing.

She kept crying behind her hands. It was the only proper action she knew of at that point. She would have cried forever if an unfamiliar voice had not reached her ears.

"You do enjoy crying, don't you?"

The voice was calm, deep, and so very alarming. Junko flinched and pushed her hands against her throat as she stared up at a tall form standing over her. There was some light; it looked like firelight, but there were no typical crackling sounds that fires made.

Her skin buzzing, Junko managed to pull herself up to her knees, noticing that the gold chains were missing. The fact puzzled her for a few seconds, but she chose not to fret about it.

"Where am I?" Junko gazed up at the person, glad her voice had returned. She sounded and felt terrible, but at least she could speak.

His face was a strong one with a square jaw, and in the dimness his eyes and short hair appeared dark. Junko didn't like his smile. It reminded her of Shou. "You are in my kingdom," was what he told her.

Junko had met only two immortal kings at that point, Shou the sky god and Umi the ocean god. Naturally she assumed any other kings in the world would be mortals. Uncertain of how to speak with such a creature, Junko gulped down some saliva and made a large fake smile.

Softly the man inquired, "Are you injured, Junko?"

That struck a confused chord in her. Unashamed, she looked into his eyes and tried to see if she could recognize him, which wasn't likely in her opinion. She had never made herself known to a mortal. Kazue was planning on helping her become the official spring goddess so that mortals may worship her, but that was not meant to happen until Junko was a bit older and more experienced with her magic.

"How do you know my name?" She tilted her head at him like a puppy hearing a new sound. Did she hear him chuckle?

"Your father told me."

Automatically Junko argued, a bit of ire in her tone, "I have no father! Why does everyone tell me differently?!" Her eyes narrowed in frustration.

The leather of his gloved hand made creepy stretching noises as the man pulled her by her upper arm. When Junko was standing he released her, but not before he allowed his finger a quick stroke of her flesh. It was so rapid that Junko did not notice it.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." She tried to grin at him again, then looked around. They were in a peculiar room, was it a throne room? There was a large chair on a silver and gold dais in the center, and it was made of adamant and what looked to be bones . . . humanoid bones, skulls at the armrests, skeletal hands of many adult sizes layered on the legs and around the backrest, other types of bones too. She trembled and retreated, her body meeting a corner.

"Why did you kill all those people?!" That shrill question was the first thing that popped into her head, and unfortunately it came out her mouth before she could reconsider.

With a mild shrug, the man retorted, "They're the idiots that tried to change nature." He walked over to the throne, his steps soft, like he was barefoot. Junko didn't really know if he was barefoot. A long dark garment was clasped onto one of his broad shoulders with a golden pin encrusted with rubies, and it fell low enough to hide his toes. Whoever this king was, he was rich, and physically strong. His exposed chest and abdomen was sculpted well.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" he asked her, sitting down on the black cushion on the seat of the chair. Junko really hated how he asked the question. He spoke to her like she was a silly little child that had said something amazingly stupid.

"No I don't, but I think you do." Junko folded her arms. "I'm the daughter of Kazue, and she will be amazingly concerned once she discovers I'm missing. The last time my mother was upset, the mortals could not harvest their crops for a full month."

"I really don't care." The king leaned back in his throne, his eyes idly wandering around her body. "If she allows her emotions to control her domain, then is a fool."

Junko stomped her foot at that, flipping her hair. "My mother is not a fool!"

He laughed again. "It doesn't matter." He looked at a drop of wax that trickled down from one of the two candelabras that sat on two round tables on either side of his throne. "My name is Nori. Do you recognize me now?"

Clueless, Junko just blinked at him and made a pensive hum.

"Little girl? Nobody has told you of me?" There was disbelief in his words. "Well . . . I imagine your mother only told you what she assumed you needed to know. You are immortal, and if I had not brought you here, we would have never met."

"You brought me here?" Junko glanced down at the flower in her sash. "Why?"

Nori's answer was to snap his fingers. On the far wall facing the throne, a large circular flat thing appeared. Junko moved to stand beside one of the candelabras and look at it. The object reminded her of a large mirror, only instead of a reflection she saw silver swirling light. Then the image altered itself until Junko saw herself, only a few years ago, when she was only fifteen years old. The younger Junko was climbing a tree, completely nude except for the pale pink fabric wrapped around her legs and thighs.

Junko stared at the image, shocked that a mortal would have such a device. Kazue had something similar, a magic wooden bowl that when filled with water could show the viewer nearly anything from the present or the past.

Suddenly the image changed again. A sixteen year old Junko played catch with a blue river sprite, tossing an apple back and forth. Then a seventeen year old Junko ate breakfast with her mother, enjoying beans, wheat, pears, and pomegranate seeds. Pomegranate seeds were her favorite food. Finally the mirror-like thing reverted back to its silvery state.

The device shimmered as it disappeared into the wall, as if it was being absorbed. Junko gave Nori a politely interested expression, naiveté obvious in her eyes. "Why do you have something like that? I was told only immortals have such things."

"I am immortal."

Junko's lips parted a bit, but then her mind quickly digested the information, and she nodded her head. "I didn't know that. That's interesting. You're a king too? King of what, where are we?"

He didn't even have the courtesy to look at her, just stared at the wall. "The underworld."

Leaning in and putting her hand on the backrest of the throne, Junko said to him, "Where's that?"

"A plane of existence with entrances and exits that lie underground. This is the place the souls of mortals go to when their bodies die."

This was new information. Junko didn't know mortals went anywhere when they died, never really thought about it. "That's just lovely. I like that mortals have a place to go. Soooo . . . Um?" She tried to think of something persuasive to say. "So just take me back home."

Nori stood then. He twisted his torso to reach for her wrist and without speech he yanked her to him. The nearby candelabra fell off the table and landed on the dais, but the flames somehow snuffed themselves out as soon as the candelabra landed.

Reasonably afraid, Junko yelped as the action took place, and tried to pull herself away in a fruitless attempt. Nori spoke to her in a victorious voice, like he had won a rare prize. "I asked your father for the right to take you as my wife, and he agreed. Actually, I don't think he really cared about what happened to you, but that doesn't matter anymore. You're mine now."

For a complete minute she just looked at him, mouth agape. She blinked multiple times. She wasn't exactly sure when she started talking, but she knew to her own ears her words seemed pinched. "I have no father and my mother would never let me be a wife to anyone. She tells me I'm not mature enough."

He rolled his eyes. "You are little more than a child. That's true. I still have many purposes for you." Nori gave her wrist a territorial squeeze. "You will be shown to your new bedchamber."

Right after he said that two young looking women with stark white skin and lower lips as red as blood entered via a tall doorway; their glossy black hair was arranged into whimsical lobes with hairpins of silver and onyx stone. Humbly they both bowed to Nori and then to Junko's irritation they bowed to her. She didn't like how their narrow eyes shone like little balls of flame. She did mentally admit their demure black robes were elegant.

"We will dress you Your Majesty," one of the women said.

"There are many garments and jewels for your pleasure, Your Majesty," said the other.

Junko backed up a little; it was a pretty useless action. The two women glided over to her like ghosts, one on each side of the goddess, and took her arms in their tight and manicured fingers. Their hands were so frigid and so strong Junko was forced to walk where they walked. In earnest she protested, kicking and screaming like a child in a tantrum. She was still taken down a hallway she really wanted to avoid.