A girl with black hair, tied to the side of her head, hummed a song. She was kneeling underneath a large brown tent that had several bookshelves lined up on the sides. A stone table was in front of her and across the table was an old man.

"Old mister...be careful next time. You're lucky that your wrist is merely swollen from too much work. Leave the hard work to the young ones, okay?" She wrapped a bandage around the old man's wrist and wrote something down on a piece of paper. She ripped it off and passed it to him. "If you head out, there should be a waiting area with a purple flag. When one of the foxes come down, they will take the paper from you and give you an ointment. They will tell you how to use it." She smiled and her soft brown eyes sparkled.

"Ah...thank you Guardian of the Mountain." He wobbly stood up but the girl quickly got up to help him.

"Call me Reina...mister." She walked him out of the tent. Seeing the temporary emptiness in the lineup, she stretched. Until she heard shouting.

"Reina! Reina!" A small white fox ran towards her. "An injured man with a missing arm is at the foot of the mountain but he won't come into the barrier. Arrogant, I say!"

"Arrogant you say!" Reina grinned as she scooped him up. She cooed at him as if the fox was merely a child. She then frowned when she realized the point of the white fox's approach. "Which way is the injured man?"

"This way!" The little fox leapt out of her arm and a blue glow enveloped it. The eyes of the fox glistened as he wandered towards north and Reina chuckled slightly. It was a rather adorable sight for a small fox to lead the way with such pride around it. Yes, Reina was a sucker for cute things.

As the small fox gracefully leapt from one mossy stone to another, Reina carefully clung onto the trees around her for support. After two or three trees later, her palms were covered with bark and her fingers are scratched. Her feet slid on the loose soil that was freshly rained on and the girl was seriously considering on training to become more athletic.

Sensing the slow descendent of the girl, the fox sighed and sat on the rock, swishing it's tail. "Are you alright, Reina? Do I need to carry you?"

Reina looked up and stifled her laughter. Despite knowing the fox's true form...it was quite funny to hear that from a small white fox with cute, wide black eyes. Reina coughed as she tried to not look at the soft fluffy tail of the fox and waved her hands, dismissing the offer.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, Nobuo. It's only the north side that is this steep and bumpy. It's also a good workout for me since your grandmother doesn't allow me to move around too much." Reina jumped from the thick tree root that was on higher ground and led to a steep downhill. She slid downwards and yelped as she fell back and slid down on her bum. She came to a halt at the foot of the mountain and the white fox trotted up to her with a sigh. "Remind me to carry you down next time."

Reina immediately stood up and dusted her salmon pink dress and raised her hand. "No, thank you. I need the exercise." She looked around and saw a wide open area with a small lake in the middle, crystal blue. The fox demon reverted to its' true form and a boy with fox ears and tail pulled out a twig from her hair. Reina muttered a "thanks" in embarrassment as she guiltily looked away. The boy was definitely taller than her and of course, older than her by centuries. Yet, this black haired girl was inwardly laughing at how cute he was as a fox cub.

Nobuo pointed in a certain direction, oblivious to Reina's guilt and silent apologies. When he noticed that Reina hadn't replied the fox sighed in exasperation and poked the girl's head, gaining her attention. The ravenette blinked and looked at the direction he was pointing, only to see a figure behind one of the trees beyond the barrier that guarded the mountain Reina and the fox spirits resided in. Silver white hair flew in the wind and Reina inhaled sharply at the beautiful figure in front of her. There was no doubt the mysterious aura around him was that of a high class demon but her eyes fell on the loose sleeve where Nobuo supposedly said there was a missing arm. Her analysis was disrupted as a high pitched screech bursted her ears.

"Sesshomaru-sama! The infection has reached your shoulders! If you don't receive the help of the Guardian, it'll devour your entire body!" A scaly demon appeared in their sight and Reina narrowed her eyes. She walked right up to the barrier and Nobuo sharply turned his head.

"What are you doing Reina? You know you can't go through the barrier."

"Um...hello there...sir…do you need help?" Reina tapped on the barrier, as if she was knocking on a door. Realizing she probably looked idiotic, which she did, the girl dropped her hand and smiled nervously as the demon turned his hand, examining her. The little demon next to him waved his staff, scowling: "Go away human! We don't need help from a useless human girl. We're here for the Guardian!"

Nobuo immediately became agitated and snarled but Reina brushed him off. She chuckled and responded: "I am the Guardian."

Jaken blinked and looked at Reina up and down. Nope. Nothing great or powerful coming from her. He scoffed in disbelief as he shooed them away. Reina sighed but immediately stiffened when she realized the dog demon had not averted his cold stare on her. Brimming with new resolve, Reina inhaled deeply and replied to the imp demon: "Well...it's certainly not up to you to believe it or not. It's up to your injured master. If you truly are a loyal retainer of his...you should put his health in first priority rather than worrying if I'm a fraud or not."

"Why you! Of course I'm his loyal retainer I-" The imp was interrupted by the white haired demon who spoke out in a calm and collected yet cautious tone. The demon's golden eyes met Reina's brown ones with a calculating and testing look. "What if my condition becomes worse after you have treated me?"

"You can have my head." Reina spoke out with an immediate answer that surprised all three of them.

"Insane woman." Muttered Jaken.

Sesshomaru smirked with amusement as he analysized the ravenette. He stood up and loomed over her with an intimidating aura. Yet the girl's soft brown eyes that seemed to look at everyone the same, didn't sway. He pulled up his sleeve to reveal the infected left arm that was starting to eat away at her shoulders.

Reina leaned forward and peered up at him. "Would you mind telling me the story behind this? It's certainly not a normal infection and I doubt a great demon such as you would put some random foreign object offered by a random stranger who says there was a magical power to it to your already detached arm."

Sesshomaru blinked slowly. "...That's what happened."

While Nobuo sputtered but held in his laughter, Reina shot her head up in surprise then smiled in a way that Sesshomaru hoped wasn't pity. She chuckled as she motioned the dog demon to sit down on a rock nearby as she kneeled down next to his arm.

"What's your name?" She gently raise the shoulder to check the core of the infection.

"Sesshomaru."

"Well Sesshomaru...I don't know why you did it and how it was even possible…but please don't do something so irrational. It can cost you a life." Reina closed her eyes and stuck her hand out at Nobuo. "Tweezers"

"Hmph." Sesshomaru grunted. Reina placed her left hand in the air but not too far from Sesshomaru's injury as a soft, pale blue glow glistened from her hand and reached out to his injury. She used the tweezer to gently pluck out the core of the infection and Nobuo produced a glass plate with his little pocket. Reina put the tweezers down as she proceeded to hover her left hand over his injury. Sesshomaru's eyes widened as he could now see the small glow from her hand produce thin fibers that began to fix, sew and create new cells while killing the infection. She healed him halfway before she stopped and took out a bandage with from her own pocket and began wrapping it around.

"It's a good idea to let your own cells heal most of the time rather than relying on outside reinforcements. I eliminated the majority of the bacteria that was eating away at your arm, therefore your wound should heal slowly by itself." Reina informed Sesshomaru with a reassuring smile. Sesshomaru slightly winced at the overly bright smile as the girl stood up and tucked the bandages back into her pocket.

"Though I suggest you shouldn't do much with that injury and perhaps come with me to the clinic where I can record and investigate into the situation. I'd like to find a cure for the infection other than…" Reina trailed off as she looked at her hands. Sesshomaru also stared at it before Jaken ruined the silence with his screeching.

"Absolutely not! Lord Sesshomaru has other things to attend to and-"

"Jaken." Sesshomaru said, coldly. "I will go."

Nobuo and Jaken deadpanned one word at the same time: "What" as Reina blinked in surprise then smiled. "That would be wonderful."

As Sesshomaru watched Nobuo force the ravenette to go onto his back and earn herself a piggyback ride, he narrowed his golden eyes as questions began to surround him about the girl. She looks human, so why does she have a strange power? What was that power? What exactly is the guardian? And why does she seem so naive and trusting in such a corrupted world like this? Sesshomaru followed the two strangers up the mountain. For all he knows...Reina may serve to be a useful pawn.