"Kagome! Dinner's ready!" My mom called for me as I sat outside of my house one sunny evening. I smiled, looking over my shoulder once before walking away from the sword I was trying to sharpen.

My parents were masters in the Arts, magic, and sword fighting. They taught me basically everything about magic and fighting with a sword. The sword that I had was my dad's onyx blade with five fluorescent blue diamonds. My father had carved the blade himself and had hinted for a week now that I might be able to have it on my birthday.

My name is Kagome Shikamaru. I am fifteen years old, but I turn sixteen tomorrow. I have shoulder-length, straight black hair and diamond blue eyes; which I get from my father. (I get my devastating good looks from my mother.)

I sat at the kitchen table and thoughtfully chewed my dinner. I was thinking about tomorrow and what I would want for presents when Dad broke my train of thought.

"What're you thinking about, Kagome?" he asked. I shook myself from my thoughts.

"Tomorrow." I said simply, a smile growing on my face. He smiled widely back at me.

"So, you think you know what you want yet?" my mom asked. I giggled like a three-year-old.

"It's so hard to decide! I don't know!" I fake cried, my laughter giving me away. My parents looked at one another with laughter of their own.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to see what we can do," my dad said at last. I nodded in agreement, then went back to eating my dinner as I thought still about tomorrow.

The light of the afternoon slowly drifted away like maple syrup oozing down the sides of pancakes. While it was a bit childish for my nature to be acting this way, it was agonizing trying to push through sword training with my dad and magic lessons with my mom. It was as if I had been eating candy for two days straight rather than trying to meditate with the level of excitement that coursed through my veins. But, to no avail, the evening proceeded like normal, until the sun finally set over the horizon and the stars filled the night sky. That night, I was awake until almost the crack of dawn, slowly awaiting the arrival of my birthday.

The next morning, I awoke in pure excitement - not even caring that I had hardly slept the night before. I jumped out of bed and went soaring into the kitchen. My mom stood in front of the stove cooking my favorite as I came up behind her and hugged her tight around the waist.

"Oh! Well, hello to you, too, sweetie!" She turned and kissed my forehead. "And, happy birthday!" I smiled wide.

"Thanks, Mom." I sat down at the table as she put my breakfast in front of me. As I began to eat, my dad walked into the room with a smile and his hands behind his back. He kissed Mom on the cheek before turning to me. He slowly placed what was behind his back in front of me. And I nearly choked.

I'd just thought Dad was just going to give me the onyx sword and that was going to be it. But, laying in front of me, was the sword in its hilt, the color of the sky, and the belt that he carried it on. To have the sword complete like it was in front of me was such a great honor, I couldn't believe it. After the initial shock went away, I grabbed the sword and belt in my arms and hugged it to my chest.

"Oh my God! Thank you so much, Dad!" I shouted, throwing my arms around my dad and hugging him tight.

"You're welcome, Kagome." He said, hugging me back.

"Don't forget about me, Honey." My mom said. I turned around to find a little wrapped box sitting on the table in front of my plate. My mom stood beside my chair with a small smile.

"I'd never forget about you, Mom." I said as I tore at the paper on the outside of the small box. I opened the small box beneath the paper to discover, on the inside, was the most beautiful necklace I had ever seen in my life. It was a simple necklace with a bright blue diamond set stone that hung deeply from a small black chain.

"Wow! Thank you, Mom!" As fast as I could, I immediately hung the necklace from around my neck and clasped it in the back.

"That necklace was made to actually correspond with the onyx sword your dad gave you. If you bind half of your soul to that sword, like we had been practicing, that necklace will actually make it so that the sword doesn't over power your soul and kill you. I hope it does you well." My mother explained. I remembered the lessons as clear as a cloudless sky what she was talking about. When a magic user, like myself, uses a sword it is common that he or she will use spells to help in battle. I had been taught many of the spells that were common among magic users and my mother had told me many years ago that when I finally get a sword to call my own I will need a talisman for soul binding. Nothing about this was new to me.

"Now," Mom began again, "Finish your breakfast and get dressed." She ordered. I nodded and sat down again to finish my meal. I did all but choke as I forced it all down my throat as fast as possible.

After running back to my room and throwing on my favorite outfit - a black top, jeans, jacket, and boots (I dislike color) - I happily tied my new sword around my waist. It fit me perfectly and the way the longsword clung to my leg when I moved made it feel like it was meant for me and me alone. Although I was ready to go out and start my day, I decided to wait a while because I wanted bind half my soul now - I was much too impatient to wait for my mother and father to watch me.

I knew how to do it; Mom had taught me a few years ago the secret to binding half you soul to objects. All it took was concentration and a simple spell - the only key was the the user had to be of magic blood. Mom and Dad had done this to their personal swords long ago, both of them having bracelets to use the spell on. Now, it was my turn.

Controlling my thoughts, I unsheathed my sword and sat down on my bedroom floor. Then, I placed the long sword in my hands and on my lap as I closed my eyes. I slowly, and clearly, said the incantation that my mother had taught me then concentrated all of my energy onto the sword in my hands and the piece of jewelry around my neck. When I began to feel the power welling up inside my body and into my sword, I said the final words of the spell to complete the ritual. As the last word left my lips, I felt a heat from inside me burst and I gasped. Not in pain, but in shock at the feeling. I opened my eyes to find my sword faintly glowing in my hands as the necklace on my neck felt very hot. I didn't know how, but right in that moment I knew that it was complete.

When I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror, I gasped. Under my left and right eye was a mark. I could not really tell what it looked like, but as I touched it, it felt as if nothing was there. It was nothing like makeup or a tattoo, but the lines were solid black as if drawn on. I simply stood in shock as my fingers glided over my skin and the markings.

As I stroked the marks, I began to wonder if I had done the whole thing correctly or not. This made me very anxious, so I quickly put my sword back into the hilt and ran out of my room back into the kitchen in search of my parents.

When I got there, I stopped. They weren't anywhere in sight. Confused, I ran to their room as a sickening feeling arose in my stomach. I ignored it as I searched the rest of the house. Almost in panic now, for some reason, I quickly ran to the back door.

Where could they be? I thought. I wonder if…

My thoughts trailed off as I heard a shrill scream escape from somewhere outside. I ran in fright towards the noise.

Blasting open the back door, my head whipped around. Near my dad's work shed, my eyes grew wide at the scene that suddenly appeared before me.

My dad was standing with his sword in both of his hands in front of Mom who was on the ground clutching her left arm and bleeding profusely. Dad was also bleeding from his lip and head, but didn't seem to notice. My gaze then traveled to the things in which my parents were trying to fight against, yet failing. A swarm of Forsaken were gathering in front of my injured parents and taking advantage of every weakness they had. Finally seeing what was going on, I snapped out of my earlier shock and screamed.

"Mom! Dad!" My body was beginning to tremble. My dad didn't move from his position, but tensed. My mom looked up to me in fear as she yelled out back to me, but I couldn't hear her over all of the Forsaken. In a burst of light, she was thrown back, causing a scream from her again that was louder than before. My dad jumped back with a shriek of his own, still trying to defend my mother, then grasped his sword with a strength I had never seen in him before.

Dumbly, I didn't move from where I stood as I watched, in horror, as my father threw himself at the beasts that were trying to kill the woman he loved and the family he had worked so hard for. I screamed again at my dad and at my mom, who was now looking to be unconscious. My eyes filled with tears and I began to step forward out of fear and hope. My dad hit the ground hard next to Mom as he reached out his arm towards her lifeless body covered in blood.

I ached to touch them, to hold them and tell them that it was all right, to tell them that I will protect them. That I loved them… But my thoughts were in vain as the Forsaken inched closer and closer to my parents and their bloody bodies. Bursting out of my shock, I ran to block the attack; quickly taking my sword out of its sheath like I had been taught many, many times. My body was running on adrenaline now as my fighting and combat training kicked into full gear.

I swung my sword in the air before the first of the Forsaken hit; cutting the bastard in half and making him sort of dissolve into goo. It was disgusting. I cut a second and third one as I positioned myself in front of Mom and Dad in the stance that I knew by heart. The rest of them were coming again, faster now than before. I tensed as Dad had and readied myself for the first real battle of my life.

"Kagome! What are you doing? Stop, you're going to get yourself killed!" my dad shouted at me. I shook my head and my eyes began to fill with tears once more.

"No! I have to do this! For both of you! I won't let them kill you!" I shouted back.

"It won't be long now," he whispered. Through our tears, I wondered what he meant. "We're both going to be gone soon and I need you to do something for me… Kagome…" he coughed loudly and I wanted so badly to turn and hug both of them tight but the Forsaken were coming one after the other with no let up. My sword clanged against the hard skins of their bodies before I found the soft spot and sliced them all into pieces and goo.

"Don't talk like-!"

"Meet your siblings. Your brother and sister. I know you've never known about them, but your mother and I were going to tell you when you turned eighteen. I'm so sorry, Kagome…" he coughed and spit so loudly it was hard not to flinch in pain myself. I sliced another, and another...

"Kag.. Live your life to the fullest... for us... Have kids... Marry... We-" my father's voice faded into the screeches of the monsters around me as goo slid off my sword and my body was becoming drenched in blood and sweat. As the last of the blobs fell to the once green grass around my house, my bones and muscles ached with the pain of someone's first battle won. But I wasn't the least bit happy about it. And I know that I never will be.

I let the now heavy sword in my hand fall to the earth as I fell to my knees. I turned my body and used the last of my strength to pull my body to the lifeless forms that I knew once as my parents. As I took my father's cold hand into my grasp, I couldn't hold it back. Sobs coursed through my body hard one after the other into my father's lifeless chest and again into the body of my mother; so beautiful to everyone she met. Now, she was laying in blood and goo, as lifeless as the love of her life that clutched her arm next to her. It was as if I was in a nightmare.

My parents were dead. My birthday was ruined. I had lost the most important people in my life.

How could this have happened? What did I ever do to deserve such cruelty. On my birthday, of all days? My eyes stung with the breeze in the air, blowing the stench of blood and goop into my already aching throat. I rested my sword on my shoulder and I walked around the house, making sure the coast was finally clear. Making sure everything was dead, I went to my parents, their bodies causing another sob to get stuck in my chest.

"Mom... Dad... Why? I still had so much to learn. You... You can't be gone."

They lay there, my mother and father; unmoving, cold, and dead. I could feel the sting of tears again as I positioned their bodies and placed their swords on their chests. I covered my mouth, so as not to let out the sharp cry I held in. Moving my mother's cold hands, I saw that one of her hands was balled into a fist.

I undid it to find a piece of paper crumbled tight and unfolded it to read what my mom's beautiful script had scrawled.

Dear Kagome, it read. Happy birthday to a young woman who is as smart as she is talented and beautiful. We love you so much and wish you the happiest birthday from today and many days in the future. Hope your birthday is the best ever. We love you, Mom and Dad.

The cry got away from me then as I began to weep hard once more. The familiar message that they had always put on their own home-made birthday cards for me had me shaking. This had to be my fault...

Wiping my eyes with the back of my hand, I sniffed as I held the sob in and stood. I knew what had to be done.

I ran inside to my room. Looking around, I found a few bags and filled them with almost everything that I could carry. Then, I went back outside with my things and set them down before getting a shovel from my dad's shed and digging a large hole in the backyard. Very carefully, I placed my parents into the hole and didn't look as I buried them. After that, I stood in front of my house again, bags at my feet and eyes red from many, many tears. I tried to think of another way, but decided that this was for the best. It had to be.

Taking a lighter I had found in the kitchen drawer, I opened the lid and flipped the switch.

"This is it," I whispered to myself, a sob getting caught in my chest once again. I threw the lit lighter, watching my childhood home become nothing but flames as it exploded into red and orange.

"No turning back. It's only forward from this day on." I turned away from my burning home to walk into my father's shed.

I paused outside of it to look at it and remember. What fond memories those were. I walked inside and began clearing it out; putting what I thought necessary for leaving into sacks and placing them with my things. I found a cart, too, which I placed the last of my belongings in. With a sigh and even more tears, I took a matchbook from inside the sheed and lit what was left of the fond memories of my father up into flames. This took even quicker because the shed was mostly dry wood and hay.

I solemnly gazed at both burning buildings, perplexed. I knew leaving was going to be the hardest part, and getting over the memories was going to be even worse.

I touched my necklace with one hand and turned away from all the good memories and the bad. All of my happiness was gone, only pain was left on my shoulders. I knew I couldn't stay no matter how bad my heart wanted to. I knew that if I didn't leave there would never be a light in my life again.

I picked up my cart and began to walk away from the ashes of my past. While there was no light in sight, I knew that what lied ahead of me could only be a better future.