Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, the show InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I don't own any of the characters. However, the characters I made up like Tani and Larina belong to me.

Far away, through the forest, outside a village down by the riverside, there was a little girl sitting in front of a lily pond, playing her instrument called an ocarina. She had been playing her ocarina for some time and continued playing her ocarina until, "ah, darn it; I can never get that note right!" She continued. She then sighed to calm herself down and then played her little melody once more. She had continued playing her instrument until she was interrupted by the sound of children approaching her from behind.

"That's where that awfulsound is coming from! It's that freak of nature who's playing that cursed instrument!" A boy called out as him and his group of friends ran up to the ghostly white haired child.

The white haired child felt nervous as she got up from where she sat and inched herself away from the three to the four amount of children who had approached her.

The boy who appeared to be the leader of the group of friends gave the abnormal girl a dirty look, "who do you think you are playing that trashy instrument? This is a no demon zone!" He said.

"It's monsters like you that killed my older brother during the war," one of the boy's friends said.

"It's demons like you that cause havoc upon villages." A village girl added.

"In fact," The leader of the group began as he approached the white haired girl, "I bet you were going to summon your demon friends with this," he finished, after swiping her ocarina and admiring it.

"No, wasn't!" she protested as she tried to get it back "Honest! Give it back!" She continued, struggling to get it back the boy.

Teasing her, the head of the group threw it to his other friend and then his friend threw it back to the head of the boy. She tried to get it back from head. Disgusted, the head boy aggressively pushed her which caused her to fall forward and land with a great thud.

"Ew! Tani don't touch me!" He said still holding onto the ocarina. "Don't you ever touch me again!" He threatened. He then smirked and looked at the ocarina. "Huh you know what? Here, take your stupid thing back. That is… if you can swim!" He then threw the ocarina in the pond.

The white haired girl, who still had dirt on her face from the ground, had watched her precious instrument, her ocarina sink to the bottom of the pond which she sat in front of.

"Heh, let's go guys…" The leader said with a smirk as him and his friends walked away, leaving the white haired girl alone.

Tears began to well up in her eyes. She didn't know what hurt the most the fact that the village children who treated her so badly or the fact that when the head boy pushed her, she hit the ground hard. The little girl blinked causing tears to come out her eyes. This has happened before; the village children bullying her because she was different. She could've fought back to defend herself if she wanted too. But it would convince the villagers that she really was a monster.

The white haired girl wiped her eyes once more before she went into the pond and dove to the bottom of the pond to collect her ocarina. Once she had gotten a hold of her ocarina she then reached to the surface of the pond only to hear her mother's voice calling her name.

"Tani, Tani? Where are you?" The girl heard her mother, Larina call from the over the hill.

Larina was one of the reasons why Tani still lived in the village, in fact; she was the only reason why Tani still lived in the village. Larina was a priestess who protected the village that they lived in. Even though Larina was a priestess, (a human priestess for that matter) she still managed to fall in love a demon which was how Tani was born.

Before Larina found Tani, Tani quickly wiped her face so that her mother couldn't tell that she had been crying, "h-hello, mother…" She said.

"Tani, what were you doing?" Tani's mother asked with concern and confusion. "Why are you drenched?" She continued, approaching her daughter.

Tani looked down at her drenched clothes and squeezed out the water which was still lingering in her hair, "…I'm n-not wet…" she said her voice still shaky from earlier.

"You were in the pond, weren't you?" Larina asked, with a frown on her face as she got down to her daughter's level. Larina placed her hand on Tani's forehead pushing back her bangs that hid her grey eyes, "what made you go into the water in the first place?" As a mother, Larina knew right away that someone was wrong, her frown softened, "have… you been crying?"

Tani quickly shook her head, "n-no, I went into the water because I dropped my ocarina…" she lied.

Larina just stared at her daughter; she could tell that the children from their village were picking on her, again. There was a reason why Tani preferred going out into this private pond instead of in the village; not many people stayed there. Larina continued to stare at her daughter and hugged her tightly as she tried to hold back her own tears. This just wasn't fair for Tani; having her be picked on because she was a half demon.

Larina looked into Tani's eyes one last time, Tani looked back, "come on," Larina said as she got up from Tani's level and gently took Tani's hand, "it's getting late, let's head home."

"…okay…" Tani replied quietly.

The sun was slowly begging to set as Tani and her mother were heading their way back to their hut. Once they had gotten home, Tani got out of her wet clothes and went into her night gown while her mother was preparing dinner.

While Tani was waiting for her dinner to be cooked, she just sat there in front of the fire place and stared at her ocarina. Tani tried to blow into her ocarina but only screechy sounds came out of the instrument. Suspecting that there was water that was still in the instrument, Tani tried shaking the instrument in hopes to remove any more water that could've still been in the instrument. Once she was certain that all the water was out, Tani blew into her ocarina only to hear the same screechy result; Tani sighed irritably.

Larina stopped what she was doing and watched her daughter as she continued to stare at her ocarina; it was amazing how she resembled her father she thought to herself. Larina poured soup into the bowls for her and her daughter to eat out of. A piece of her memory entered into her mind…

"No Houkasi! I cannot leave without you!" Larina remembers yelling to the love of her life, "please, Houkasi… please don't allow your only child to grow up without a father…"

"Larina," the love of her life called to her, gently caressing her cheek, "if anything were to happen to you or the child, I could never forgive myself…"

Larina didn't say anything to the humanized demon as she stared deep into his eyes as a tear stood still in it, "Houkasi…"

"Take this," Houkasi began placing an ocarina on her hand. "Do you remember what this is Larina?"

Larina shook her head, "Yes… it is the ocarina that we made that keeps our daughter's demonic powers dormant so no one will ever discover her hidden powers."

"And you remember the melody?"

A tear which stood still in Larina's eyes rolled off her cheek. Houkasi, the demon sprite wiped the tear from Larina's cheek. Larina nodded, "yes, Houkasi."

"You will play her that melody to her every night. You must play it every night to keep her demonic powers dormant and to keep my memory alive."

"But… Houkasi-,"

"You must go now! You and the child must leave this place before the monks find you and kill you!"

It has been nine years since that day… Larina remembered.

The young priestess got up from where she sat and brought the two bowls with her and sat next to Tani. Tani didn't seem to notice as she continued to look into her ocarina, still frowning. Her mother simply smiled at Tani before she remembered something. Larina brought out something from her kimono and polished it with a cloth.

"Your necklace," Larina said, presenting it to her daughter. The necklace was a golden chain that had half a sun and the other half of a moon as its pendant. Tani looked at her mother and then put it around her neck; the pendent shimmered.

Once Tani finished putting on her necklace, she resumed back to her original problem, "it's ruined." Tani said shaking out the remainder of water from her ocarina.

Larina smiled, "here, let me take a look at it." She said taking her ocarina away from Tani. Larina looked at the ocarina and wiped it with a cloth in hopes to remove most of the water. Once she was certain that all the water was our, she began to play Tani's lullaby.

Tani's sulky face grew bright with delight. "You fixed it! How did you do that?" Tani asked getting her ocarina back and looking at it.

"I have my ways," Larina responded with a playful shrug. "That ocarina is very special, it can never be broken. It's like there is a spirit inside the ocarina that keeps it strong." Larina explained. "At least, that's what your father told me before his passing. But he still lives within you; as long as you never forget." She said playfully tickling her daughter.

Tani giggled from her mother's tickles looking at her ocarina in awe "Wow…" Tani whispered with the remainder of her giggles, "can you play that song for me?" she asked, "please?"

Larina smiled as she gently took the ocarina from Tani's small hands and then soon started to play. Tani's eyes grew timid slowly as she fell under the ocarina's spell and fell asleep. Larina had then stopped playing and realized that their food hadn't been touched; she then chuckled to herself quietly.

I guess we're not going to have dinner tonight, Larina thought watching her daughter sleep so peacefully. She then leaned over and kissed Tani softly on the cheek and stroked her soft white hair gently. "Stay strong, my Tani," Larina whispered, "stay strong."

End Chapter