Have you ever wondered what happened to the Shikon no Tama?
The mysterious gem was absorbed into Kiki's body during her reincarnation process. This fact was realized only moments after she and Inuyasha had agree to spend the rest of their lives together. They prepared for demons to come after her, seeking the jewel, but only once in a while would a demon appear on their doorstep, seeking to see if the rumors were true. They always met a dead end. Oddly enough, Kiki didn't age like a normal human. 20 years later she had the appearance of an 18-year-old, and Inuyasha looked as young as ever. Their friends Sango and Miroku, now 27 and 28, were happily married and trying for a child. Kiki and Inuyasha decided to continue their legacy as well.
The children were born 3 days apart in the cold month of December. First was Takoyu on the 6th, a healthy, screaming baby boy who belonged to Miroku and Sango. Then there was me, a quiet, gentle baby girl, who belong to Inuyasha and Kiki. They decided to name me Kanzen, seeing as I was a bundle of perfection in their eyes. My balanced, collected nature earned me the nickname Zen.
I aged in the way of a human, which worried, surprised, and pleased my parents. I could enjoy a normal childhood and be excepted by surrounding humans. But if I continued to age as I did I would die well before them, which had then constantly worried. What made me different from humans was my abundant spiritual power and my frightening physical abilities. Untrained, I could be destructive, which was probably how my cautious nature came to be. I would never play games in which my unfair advantages could come into play. I was a child who worked her mind, not her body. Odd things would happen to me now and then; one time I was playing hide and seek with the other children, and I could hear every single one of them with such an intensity it was like I was the wind that blew past them. My powers, until I turned the age of six, were like a curse.
And then, of course, there were the nightmares.
Ever since I could put together an illegible thought I have been plagued by the same nightmare every night I sleep. I can only escape these dreams when I am completely exhausted, which sends my sleeping schedule into a three-day routine. Usually I will bitterly wish my parents sweet dreams as I prepare myself for a lonely night full of puzzles and stretching, to keep myself awake. But when I sleep without exhaustion as my bedmate, these dreams keep me twisting, turning, and screaming for help.
As the darkness of sleep consumes me I can feel my body being absorbed in a cold, viscous gel that just sucks me right in. I open my mouth to scream and it floods my lungs, burning me from the inside out. I cry and struggle as it seeps into my stomach, my eyes, and my nose. Every inch of me burns, and I slowly begin to lose my will to fight. My eyes adjust to the pain, and I open them to see a dark figure some mere distance away from me, suffering the same fate. I get a sinking, regretful feeling in my stomach and I am choked by sorrow. As I reach for the figure, struggling to see their face, I wake up.
When I was young I would awaken to the comforting coo of one of my parents, their face distressed and sorrowing. I would smile bravely and then cling to their warmth, cursing my mind for playing such fouls tricks on me. My mother would ask me if I had suffered from a bad dream again, and I would always begin to sob hysterically at the question. All she knew and still knows about my nightmares is that they are always the same and they come for me every night I am not fatigued beyond consciousness. When my father was the one to comfort me he would hold me in his strong arms and promise that someday I'd be strong enough to fight any demon, and I wouldn't have to worry about my nightmares. Some nights he would cry for me, and those were the nights that I felt like the most worthless and burdening being my parents could have ever brought into this world. My father was not a sensitive man, but he loved his family. That much I knew.
Takoyu and I grew up together, two peas in a pod as one might say. He had been passed on a great spiritual power from his father, and from the time he was able to walk they trained him in the art of demon slaying. I grew accustomed to his having to be trained for power, a power which had so easily been granted me. I grew up with the physical strength he longed for, with a control over my powers he could only dream to achieve. By the time we both turned six, most of our training was passed into the responsibilities of my parents. My father would hone my physical abilities and make Takoyu stronger. My mother would teach us how to create barriers, which herbs helped with certain wounds and sicknesses, and how to prepare complex potions and remedies.
There was a man in the village who taught children to write for a small price, and in the morning Takoyu and I would join other children in this quest to understand literature. An hour or two was dedicated to play, and then we went home around 10 to begin our daily training. We would lunch with my parents around one and dinner with them around 6. Training ended at 7, and then we had until 9 or 10 to go off and do as we pleased. Then, Takoyu, not plagued by nightmares as I was, would head home to sleep. Every weekend and Fridays I would go through this routine alone as Takoyu stayed home to learn the art of demon slaying from his mother, and to learn such things about his powers that my mother could not teach him.
When I turned ten I got the biggest surprise of my young life; a new child would be joining our routine, and he would be missing on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Therefore, I would always have someone to be with, and I wouldn't mope around for Takoyu when he wasn't around. His name was Shippo, the son of some of my mother's good friends. He was a full fledged demon and much stronger than I, with the annoying perk of fox magic that he used to play tricks on all of us. I was immediately entranced by his perky tail, and amused by his appearance of a boy of sixteen. My mother told me that he had aged much faster than he should have, and his parents were stumped by his growth spurt. They decided to broaden his horizons and have him train with us, to make new friends.
Although I was but a mere child I was smitten by him in a matter of weeks. He found me quiet entertaining and fascinating for a girl child of my age, and seemed to find some sort of camaraderie in our shared aging problem. As he grew to recognize certain perks about me that nobody else had ever realized, our friendship became less and less based on that shared trait. He hadn't age much past 16 by the time I turned 16.
My favorite days were Thursdays, for obvious reasons. Thursday was the day I spent time with both of my best friends. Because they only had one day of the week together, their friendship never seemed to blossom as much as it could have. There was also the fact that by 15, Takoyu knew of my hidden love for Shippo and felt a sort of rivalry between them for my affection. Shippo never let on to his true emotions during our childhood.
And so, my life fell into a pattern I grew to both love and despise. The only differences in my schedule came because of holidays and birthdays. The other children in the village slowly began to realize how strange Takoyu and I were, and eventually they didn't speak to us any more. The man who taught us to read and write died when I was 13, and left some of his supplies to my family. So, in the mornings I would continue to read and write using these supplies, slowly teaching myself more and more every day. Takoyu dropped the class all together, wanting to spend more time with his family. Shippo never – not even once – showed up before 10.
Allow me to tell you how I got to this place where I'm telling you, a stranger, about the jewel, about my nightmares, and my childhood. Let's start from the beginning… let's start on the day my nightmares began coming for me…
