P r o l o g u e

"Is she…dead?"

" How can I see if she's dead.. Keade, when she's lying face down like that? Here, take her arm and move her."

Kikyo heard voices, very faint ones. She could not move really, and she tried to at least open her eyes, but it seemed like they were sealed shut. Her head throbbed intensely, so couldn't try to move it and see how much it hurt if she tried. She managed to open her palm, and felt grainy sand against her fingers. The same feeling on her hand was on her lips and cheek.

Slowly, feeling how dry her throat was, she touched the tip of her tongue to her teeth. She tasted blood. Her own blood.

Why in the world was there blood in her mouth? Where was she? What happened to her?

Her mind tried as hard as it could to recall memories of the past events, she struggled painfully to remember. Faint pictures in her mind came about, but when she tried to focus them, the images faded away. She did, however, remember a party. A boat, people, laughter. Grey eyes staring down at her, in admiration….

How in the world did she go from that to this?

Suddenly, she felt hands grab at her, turning her onto her back.

Another pain boomed through her head. The memories she had recalled just now faded away at the sharp pain. Kikyo gasped, trying not to give into the darkness that reached to consume her.

"She's alive, Miroku!" a feminine voice cried. "She's breathing!"

"Just barely… there's a lump on the back of her head, and the cut on her cheek looks deep."

A rough finger poked lightly at her cheek, and she jerked her head away from the stinging, only to feel more pain in her head.

"She must be a fine lady…" the man whispered, "look at her silk gown and jewels…"

"Not the time to think about it, Miroku," the woman said sharply, "get her to the Inutaisho household."

"You wait here while I get help, we can't carry her to the Inutaisho's ourselves."

Kikyo only faintly heard their conversation, 'Inu..taisho's..? Demons..?' she thought, and soon, a quiet moment passed. Kikyo felt a cool touch smooth her wet, sticky hair from her face. She smelled the scents of fish and lemon, as well as the salty tang of the sea, and calmed a little.

"Can you hear me?"

Kikyo spat out a mouthful of sand. Painfully, she forced to speak through her raw throat.

"Yes, I hear you.."

"Wonderful! You're awake. You don't have to worry about a thing, we'll take you to Lady Izayoi.. she's the finest doctor in this village."

Using as much strength as she could muster, Kikyo opened her weary eyes and stared up at the woman. It was a gray, cold day, and yet the faint light hurt her eyes and head. The woman, an elderly peasant apparently, had a patch over her right eye.

Kikyo closed her eyes again, "thank you.. for your help."

"Poor girl... do you remember what happened?"

"No." Nothing that seemed reportable at least. Music, and the tall man that held her closely as they danced to the echo of the sound. "My celestial being" he whispered. "You are far more lovely than any woman ever hoped to be."

She shivered at the memory.

"Nothing? Not even your name?"

She did remember that. "Kikyo."

"What a pretty name, Kikyo. I am Keade." Kikyo felt the woman shift around. "Here's Miroku and the boys, you will soon be at the doctors."

Kikyo heard the shuffle of feet padding on the sand, and the rustle of wool cloth. "I see she's awake now, Keade."

"Yes, she can't remember much though. We have to get her to Lady Izayoi quickly."

"Yes, yes, Here boys, help me lift her onto the stretcher."

Hands reached for her again, lifting her high into the salty air it seemed. Kikyo screamed out in pure agony. Just when she could take no more and thought she would die from it all, she was consumed by the darkness again.

She awoke from the blank darkness, and realized in moments she wasn't on the cold sand anymore. She was in a soft bed, linens surrounding her. The pain had dulled, no longer sharp and booming.

She sat up very slowly on a pile of fluffy, comfortable pillows, feeling dizzy even from the small movement. Though her memory wasn't completely there, and she hoped it would return to her, she knew this wasn't her own room. It was too small, she wasn't used to the space.

Beside the bed she lay on, was a bedside table with a water pitcher and a glass. There was also a chair, and a water-stained gown of bright blue silk was folded neatly. Beside the gown, was a bundle of some sort.

Kikyo glanced down at herself, and saw thats he wore a loose nightdress made of cheap material. The tiny movement set her cheek throbbing, and she remembered that there was a cut on her cheek. She reached up gingerly to find a thick bandage stuck onto her skin, where the cut supposedly was.

Where in the world was she? What had happened to her? Why couldn't she remember? She tried thinking back on what happened, but still, only the wisps of memories of the party she had attended came to her. She frowned with frustration.

After she took a few breaths, she knew she could remember some fragments of memories. Her name was Kikyo. She didn't live here, but lived elsewhere, somewhere far from the ocean. She had been on a boat, where she was attending a party.

But what had brought her here? Maybe she fell of the boat perhaps?

She pulled the cotton blankets from her body, and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She knew she could not stand, and didn't try either. She just sat there, wondering what to do. She also knew she was at this Inutaisho household, and the doctor was a woman named Izayoi. That's what she had heard Keade say.

A loud patter of footsteps echoed outside the room, and the door opened, revealing two people. One was the woman at the beach, Keade. Only now had she realized that the woman was plump and short. Kikyo lifted her head as she stared up at the two. The other was a beautiful woman with long, black hair that poured over her shoulders and back like soft silk. She wore a gown that was usually worn by female doctors.

"Oh dear! Why are you out of bed!" the woman cried. No sooner had the cry sounded from her lips, was Kikyo tucked back into bed. "If you needed something, you should have called for assistance."

Kikyo sank back into the pillows, "I wasn't sure if anybody was around."

"I was just upstairs, with this woman who had taken you in, do you remember her?"

Kikyo looked from the young doctor to the old woman that had found her on the beach, "you are Keade."

Keade beamed as though she was remembered by a princess or a queen, "your memory is returning, yes?" She smoothed out the rumpled blankets, tucking them around Kikyo comfortably. The young woman stepped towards the bed, "now what was it you needed? A glass of water perhaps?"

Kikyo suddenly realized that her throat felt like sand paper, and her mouth and lips were completely dry. "Oh, yes. Thank you."

The woman poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the table next to the bed, and watched as Kikyo drank deeply. "You look much better than when Keade brought you in, not as pale. Oh! That's right, my name is Izayoi, I'm the doctor of the village."

Kikyo set the glass on the table, "are you the owner of this Inutaisho household?"

Izayoi nodded, smiling, "yes. I know it sounds more like a demon name, but that is from my husband, who has died last year. I am pure human."

She nodded, "I see... how long have I been here?" Her throat felt better, but her cheek still throbbed painfully as she talked.

"Three days."

"Three days!" Kikyo cried. "So long?"

"We weren't even sure you would live from what it looked like at first. You would call for your mother and you were feverish. Only today has your fever broken." The woman reached for Kikyo's forehead, gently placing her fingers against it. "Nope, no more fever."

"It's kind of you to take care of all the village's injured and sick," she murmured.

Izayoi smiled, "well, I like to heal and help. I learned my nursing skills as a young child. Though the high class people look down at me for helping people of any social standard."

Kikyo looked at her, "so you are also one of the rich ones?"

The woman nodded, "I grew up like that, and my husband was also. He was the commander of the villages army. The best squad was his. But I guess that also led to his death.." she said, the conversation suddenly becoming wistful. "But none of that! Do you remember anything of how you came to be on the beach? Anything at all?" she said, lightening the conversation a bit.

Kikyo frowned, trying to think back, her confusion coming back to her as she tried to think as hard as she could. "I don't know... I was on a boat, at this party, but I'm not sure what had happened."

Izayoi looked at her in pity, "you must have been caught up in the storm."

"Storm?"

"Oh, yes. It was very unexpected, you wouldn't know if it coming or not because there was not even a single cloud in the sky. Who was with you? Do you know what happened to them?"

Them. There was a woman, she remembered, a woman she recongized as her mother. She wore a ruby necklace, and a very rich, silk gown much like the one she remembered wearing, but in red. A handsome man held her as the two danced.

Then, just as quickly as the memory came to her, it disappeared.

"Yes," she whispered. "Did anyone else wash ashore? Another woman? A man with pale hair?"

Izayoi and Keade shook there heads, "no, you were the only one. There was beaches all around our island, but where you are now is very isolated in a way. The other side of this island is very far, but I doubt they would wash ashore that far from you. But they might have already been found and are looking for you this moment!"

Maybe. But Kikyo knew that it was not true. Those people, her mother and the two men she remembered were gone forever. A name came to her, Renee. Renee was her mothers name. Another came to her with her mothers name, Bankotsu. Bankotsu was the man that had danced with her, the one she remembered holding her close and whispering, "you're far more beautiful than any celestial being that are in those fairy tales... my Kikyo."

"Mother!" Kikyo heard, and a young boy stood at the door. He had short. dark hair, but long enough to tie into a pony tail at the back. He looked like he was only about ten or eleven years old.

"What is it, Kohaku?" Izayoi questioned, looking to the boy.

"Inuyasha is complaining about getting dinner, and Sango is getting harassed by Miroku again!" the boy cried as if it were the end of the world.

Izayoi sighed, "I'll be up in a moment, tell the maid to cook up something for dinner, okay?"

The young boy nodded, then glanced at Kikyo for a second, before giving a toothy smile and running off.

"Sorry about that," Izayoi said, "that was my son."

Kikyo looked to the woman, then smiled softly, "he seems like a fine young boy."

Keade went to the door, "well, I'd better get my son away from your daughter right now, Lady Izayoi," she said, then turned to Kikyo, "you'd better get some rest, you're still a touch feverish."

Kikyo nodded, then turned to Izayoi, who was also taking her leave, "rest up, when you awake I have something to talk to you about."

The dark haired nodded, then sunk into the covers, feeling sleep coming to her. She heard the door close as the two women left her alone, and fell into a peaceful slumber.