The morning was crisp, light and delicate to the senses as a cat demon high upon a rise drew in the air. It was the time of morning when all was still, it seemed that the air itself had gained mass, and the neko girl couldn't help but let a flicker of a smile pass her lips. Yes, she thought, a great day to begin. She made a quick run to the base of the hill she stood on and sniffed the air once more, letting it rub slowly across her scent glands as she guessed what direction the morning wind would shift to. She escaped into the nearby forest and cast a doubted glance behind her, unsure whether to leave her home behind like she had been planning to do for months. Just keep going, she encouraged herself as she turned away reluctantly. No one's here to stop you. All except the other cat demon who had been following her since she had left earlier that night. "Sarano, where do you think you're heading off to?" The frightened neko gave a hiss of alarm that soon faded into annoyance as she recognized the soft yet stern voice of her sister. "What does it look like," she growled as she shouldered past her older sibling. "I have to find him, I won't rest until I do." A spark of uneasiness flared up in her sister, that much was easily identifiable by her younger sister, and Sarano let out another annoyed hiss. "You can't possibly hope to find him," she whispered apprehensively as she stared ruefully at her. "And why not? Do you doubt me?"
The younger neko fingered her sword at her side and shifted into a battle pose, unafraid to fight one that shared her blood. "Mother and father would worry for you, and brother wouldn't appreciate it." Sarano's hiss of annoyance fell into a snarl of fury as her sister denied her the chance to fight. "What did you know about our brother?" she demanded as she took a threatening step forward but the other neko did not flinch.
"Everything would have been perfectly fine if he hadn't sacrificed himself to save me. I owe it to him to find…"
She cut off, afraid to say the name of the demon that had taken her world away from her. "You owe nothing to him but to stay here with us. Brother's death will have been in vain if you go out on this suicide mission, do you want that?" Sarano began a battle deep within herself, unprepared to back down to her sister but unwilling to leave the memory of her departed brother behind. "And what would you have me do, Rikara?" she stood before her elder, her hand falling from her sword handle, challenging the neko to say something to defy her. "I would have you stay here and mourn properly for him, not go on a fight that you cannot win."
"And why can't I? Are you afraid that I won't ever return?" Rika, the elder sister to the stubborn little neko before her, was, for the first time in her life, at a loss for words. "Then let me take your place. I would do the job just as efficiently, and you'll be able to stay here with mother and father while they grieve."
"I would have no one but myself go slay this demon." Sarano spat as she whirled away and began to stalk through the forest. "Tell mother and father that I'll be back before summer." And those were the last words the sisters would exchange for nearly fifty long years.
"I never expected it to be this cold," the girl murmured to herself as she huddled closer to the crackling fire to warm her icy hands. Her long cream colored hair that had once been beautiful and shiny was now a dull memory of its once proud appearance, now windswept and not cared for, but she hardly had the time, seeing as she had been traveling for most of the day and well into the night for a few good years now.
The girl yawned cavernously and relaxed on the damp ground, ignoring the instant cold that seeped into her bones. Back in her home, the long left village, some would describe her as arrogant all the time, snappish when things didn't go her way, as brilliant as the morning sun and respectfully charming if she really tried. But ever since the death of her brother she had been abnormally quiet, sinking into subdued silence and very rarely speaking to anyone. Some say she blamed herself for his tragic death but those who knew her knew all too well that the girl had secretly harbored a passion to hunt out the one who had been responsible for killing him. And they had feared that she would go in search of him, which eventually she had, but none had expected that it would be so soon after the accident. Others would say that her eyes, that were lighter blue than normal, would reflect the scene of her brother's last stand, if you looked at them long enough.
But Sarano had never given anyone such a chance, for she had departed from her village only a few weeks afterward. She now traveled by herself, only resting to gather information about a demon that many people knew all too well. Only just this morning she had stopped in a human village to request information about him and they had been surprisingly helpful with his whereabouts. He was apparently heading east from the river Sarano was currently camped at, and the cat demon couldn't wait to continue her journey the next morning. But her restless mind finally fell into the release of sleep, but not before a painful memory was resurrected in her thoughts; the screaming of villagers, the heat of raging fires all around her, and the powerful presence of her brother standing over her to defend her from Naraku.