The Right Choice

DISCLAIMER/AN: sadly i do not own the works of Inuyasha. This is my first go round at writing a fan fiction so please be a little kind lol. Please enjoy and i will happily accept constructive criticism.

Special thank you to gamersweetheart! She had been a valuable asset to me writing this. Much love!

Chapter 1

She sat on the mountain ledge, wind blowing her long black hair. She watched the lands she fought to protect with serious eyes. So much had changed, so much time had passed. She had many answers and many questions. She set her eyes southwest, trouble was brewing. She could feel the winds bring her tales of unrest. She would have to leave her home soon, and she had no idea when she would be back to her beloved fortress. She had spent countless hours here reading, practicing, and learning new ways to help the lands she loved so much.

The mountain was holy, a sacred place of learning and healing. Apparently, it was long forgotten and abandoned. When she first entered the fortress, she wept for the loss of such an asset to the shrines. There were rooms large and small, filled with books and artifacts. Some things were so old she dared not touch them. So, at first, she just looked, and searched for whatever it was that had called her here. She spent the better part of 75 years here, wondering why she had never aged beyond that of 22-year-old woman. Many had asked her that question, in the beginning she didn't understand. It was through meditation in the fortress, many years later, that she found an answer to that question.

The forgotten shrine was huge, spanned for countless rooms and floors weaved beautifully through the mountain. Exploring took her many weeks, having to leave consistently to hunt for food made the task very tedious and slow. She used various blank scrolls she found to map the fortress. All the while steadily pointing herself towards where this compulsion pulled, constantly wondering what could have such power.

Many rooms held bookcases, over flowing with books. Some tomes held vast power, to the likes of which she could feel it brush against her skin. Almost as if they were trying to draw her attention. Other books, made noises, as though someone where trapped within them, howling and screaming for release. Though their pleas where highly muffled, for most of those books where thick.

Other rooms had neatly displayed artifacts, the only thing off about those rooms where the layers of dust that clung to everything. Some artifacts she understood why they were there. Like the great staff of Fujin, or the broad sword of Hachiman. Others, she had no clue as to what they were. Giant crystal balls of smoke and light. Other things looked to be weapons, or tools of some sort.

Her favorite rooms, where the ones dedicated to the kamis. They were beautiful and masterfully done. All of them where filled with statues of the deities, their familiars, and great murals on the walls of their stories. She would stop and pray at each shrine. Offering her thanks and asking for guidance as she found each one. When she stumbled upon Amaterasu-O-Mi-Kami's shrine, she stopped and prayed the longest there, eventually choosing that room to sleep in. Her logic behind this was she felt the safest there.

Finally, the compulsion won over, she stopped all extra exploring and went straight for the item. What she found, made her drop to her knees with emotions, power, and the flooding of long lost knowledge. 2 items laid on a table, a bow and a sword. The bow was beautiful and rather large. It was a beautiful white oak with moons and suns engraved down the entire length. The bow string was made from what looked like silver hair.

The sword, it seemed to glow and pulse. It seemed to be platinum in color with some sort of red metal etched into the broad side of the blade. A brilliant, almost alive sun was proudly placed with a moon as its counterpart on the other side. The cross guard was the same red metal, as it weaved to a point on each side. The grip was a silver leather, as it looked and felt, that seem to come alive and mold itself to her hand. The pommel was a raging sun, its flares where sharp and spiked, leaving no doubts on what that came in handy for.

As soon as both objects where in her hands, the flood gates open. Her mind was ripped wide open as the weapons dumped their vast knowledge into her brain. Hundreds of years of knowledge long lost, was put back into a lone Miko. Her body strained against the force of the onslaught. She tried in vain to keep it together. The Miko's body crashed into the floor, alone and in a place where no could find her.

The bow and sword where in a side room at the back. Sandwiched between Amaterasu's and Tsukuyomi_No_Mikoto's shrines. When the Miko activated the powers of the artifacts, the shrine seemed to come alive. Apparitions rose from the dust and started to put the fortress back in working order. They moved the sleeping Miko to her spot in the shrine, as ordered by their masters.

Many years had passed since that fateful day. Many days of pouring over books and exploring new parts of the fortress. Luckily the apparitions where of much assistance. Many of them being able to talk, and when they couldn't, they were happy to point or play follow the leader.

Looking out she watched the sun rise over the horizon, peacefully waiting for the time to come to head out. She heard the winds carry her a message, news of her young coming to find her. She knew he would be here today, she'd spent most of 75 years here, not all. During her stay at the forgotten shrine, she'd travel with her son, the only one left of her group. She would roam far and wide and help those in need, but always returning to her sanctuary, as she called it.