It
was a sunny day, Daichia could tell from the glaring sun peeking
through the brambles of her temporary bramble hut. She slowly stood
up, stretching then pulling her green kimono over her under kimono
she slept in. Yawning, Daichia put some water over a homemade fire to
boil. Getting the herbs she needed just by pulling her
hand up from the ground, the plants shooting up in healthy coils,
Daichia then picked a couple of leaves. She pushed her hand towards
the ground, making the plants crawl back inside the dirt, ready to
spring up another day.
The demoness put her herbs into a clay pot
of water. Daichia grabbed a cold, smooth rock and molded it like wet
clay,creating a deformed bowl which she put some rice noodles in.
Daichia looked over at the bowl over the fire, and noticed it was
boiling. She took it off the fire and poured the herb flavoured water
into a stone cup she had also made earlier. Drinking her tea, Daichia
meditated while waiting for her noodles to cook. When they finally
did, the earth demoness quickly ate the noodles.
After
her breakfast, Daichia quickly got up and walked over to a
wall in her bramble hut. By waving her hand, she made a few of the
brambles in the middle sink back to the ground, showing a doorway
wide enough for her to walk through. The earth demoness picked up the
grass mat she used as a blanket and hung it up over the doorway, then
walked out. Daichia breathed in, relishing the feel of the fresh air
on her face.
"I can probably go check my traps now," she
thought. Daichia jumped up into the trees and landed gracefully on
one slender branch. She practically flew through the forest like a
bird with invisible wings, landing on branches then leaping into the
air again. Finally, she found the location of her rabbit trap.
Landing on the ground, Daichia saw a homemade box made of brambles.
She smelled the box. From the scent, inside was a freshly
dead rabbit. Using her powers, she made the brambles fall and
disintegrate. Daichia scooped the animal up and placed it in her
shoulder bag.
Daichia checked the rest of her traps.
"My bag
is pretty full now," she thought. She arrived at the
last trap, her squirrel trap, and looked at the trap. Shreds of
bramble were all over the place.
My poisoned bait was definitely
eaten, but where is the squirrel? thought Daichia. I put a ring
around this area that had a smell that would ward off any other
animal.
"Must have been a human" she muttered. A rustle was
heard in the bushes. "I'm too tired to see what that is" she
moaned. Daichia ran like the wind back to her hut. When she arrived,
Daichia noticed that her outside garden was completely and utterly
damaged. Leafs were cut and torn off, and her pots and cups were
scattered all over the place. A couple of them were chipped and
broken.
"Oh my god! What happened here?" she
wondered. Daichia sniffed the air.
"Ugh, my nose is
plugged!" she complained. All she could make out was demon scent.
The earth demoness walked into her hut. She rubbed two sticks
together, so fast that the friction made fire. Daichia filled her pot
with water and placed it over the fire. While the water boiled, she
added a few certain herbs to the pot. When the tea was made, Daichia
didn't drink any of it. Instead, she waited for the tea to fully
cool then poured it all over her face, especially her nose. Then
Daichia added two herbal leaves over her nostrils. The demoness just
lay on the ground, relaxing for a couple minutes. Daichia sat up and
sniffed the air. Finally, she could smell again. After pouring the
tea over her face, Daichia wrinkled her nose, noticing she smelled
disgusting. Some of the water had trickled down her neck and into her
kimono. So Daichia's kimono now smelled too. She walked out of her
hut while munching on her lunch, a pear. The demoness walked in the
forest, half walking, half wandering, not really sure where she was
going. But Daichia finally met her destination, a spring. Daichia
gazed around the clearing, making sure she was alone. She pulled off
first her kimono, than her under kimono. Slipping into the cool,
crystal clear water, Daichia was glad to get the grimy dirt and
sticky leaves off of her body. She pulled her kimono in too and
washed off the stains and tea leaves. After that, Daichia picked up
her kimono and placed it on a nearby branch to dry.
Daichia had to
wait for her kimono to dry, but when it finally did she immediately
got out and dressed. As she wandered back from the spring she was a
bit less observant, so it was very strange when she noticed an almost
perfectly dried honey fern. This was one herb that was hard to come
by, even for an earth demoness. Daichia carefully picked up the fern
in a mottled brown leaf. She then ran back to her hut.
This is amazing, she thought, such a rare herb. Suddenly, a thought
came rushing back to Daichia. Ferns covered in honey were poisonous
unless completely dried. It would definitely kill an animal, but
would probably just make a human very sick. Daichia hung her honey
fern up in a shadowed corner of her hut so it would dry properly. The
earth demoness was very tired from her day, so she didn't bother
with fancy foods, just quickly making some soup. After that, she
grabbed her grass blanket from it's place hanging over the door and
made a wall of brambles for privacy. Daichia took off her kimono and
lay on her moss bed in her blue under kimono, pulling her blanket up.
She then drifted off to sleep. In the middle of the night, a fern
seed encased in honey lightly splashed into the water bowl.
Light
peeked through the holes of Daichia's bramble hut. The demoness
awoke hungry, and she got up, grabbed her clay water bowl and poured
the water in it into her pot. She cooked some rice noodles and ate
them. Daichia then decided to work on her cooking skills today. She
was in the middle of weaving a new blanket when she suddenly felt
queasy. The world started swaying around her. She tried to go get
some herbs but she suddenly felt like the energy had been drained out
of her. Daichia heard footsteps coming closer and closer to the hut,
which set her heart pounding. Finally a figure's shadow appeared in
the doorway. But she could not turn around to see who or what it was,
for the world had gone black and the earth demoness had
fainted.
Daichia woke up beside a fire. She still felt pretty
sick. She turned her head to see a demon sitting beside the fire,
deep in thought. She gazed at his features, even more pronounced by
the glow of the fire. Long silvery hair, deep golden eyes, and wait-
are those dog ears? The demon looked at Daichia. His face showed he
was surprised to see her awake. Daichia stared wondering what to say.
She thought maybe she should thank her mysterious visitor. But she
had so many questions. And maybe he wasn't to be she
started out with something quite questionative and a maybe just a bit
rude. "Who are you?" she asked.
The man looked at her for a
while. Possibly thinking of what to say.
Finally he replied "Your
rescuer."
His voice was so rigid and cold. Daichia sensed the
tiniest bit of light in it.
"From what?" she asked.
"Your
sickness," he replied matter-of-factly. Daichia thought for a
moment. Then she remembered her symptoms. Must have swallowed some of
the non-dried honey fern. No other ingredient takes away so much of
your energy.
Daichia looked at the demon, noticing that he was
looking elsewhere. She quickly gazed at his appearance again, her
mind going blank . After awhile she remembered what was happening.
Blushing, she tentively asked "Excuse me?"
"Yes " he
grunted.
"Can you please hand me those berries?" she said,
pointing to a jar of black berries. He bent down and picked them up
then threw them at her. Daichia caught the jar, glad of her demonic
speed, and quickly opened it. She pulled out three ripe berries and
swallowed them. There was silence for awhile. Daichia asked one more
question before letting sleep claim her once again.
"What is
your name?"
He paused, then said "Inuyasha".
