Summary: What was Kaede's life like after Kikyo died, and before she met Kagome? Disclaimer: You know I am, one of these days… But for now, I don't own InuYasha or these beautiful characters.
A/N: I was really bored and had no other idea for my first fanfic. So anything's welcome! But you should review… Anything you put in said review is welcome. :D

P.S. I am rewriting a fanfic I began around... meh... years ago. I didn't want to change much at first, but I really had to. Many of the original sentences can still be found, but I had to add a ton of detail in to flesh it out. Current A/N's will be in P.S.'s like this. Enjoy!

The Lost Years of Kaede

Kaede was in mourning; grief-stricken and half crazed with the endless machinations of her mind. What if? What if she wasn't so young, and could have come to her sister's aid? Sure, she had been there, but she hadn't the power or the experience to really make a difference. But whose fault was that? Kikyo had always tried her best to teach her younger sister. She was just weak, and silly. She had known that being a miko was an important job, as many people placed their faith and lives in their powers over demons, but the time for her to become a fully-fledged miko had always seemed so far away, and her sister was so awe-inspiring. Her sister was there to protect her, always. Kaede had known that for as long as she could remember. So she was never as serious with her training as she should've been. If she had, could she have saved her sister? Those questions didn't matter; they weren't fair. She knew that, but it didn't stop her from continuing to ask. Her sister had died, and though she had done everything the miko had asked before she died, Kaede wasn't sure if she was able to become a Shrine Priestess quite yet. The village was safe for now, due to her sister's long-fought battle with demons intent on securing the Sacred Jewel for their own nefarious ends, but Kaede had to train if she wanted to be sure in her abilities to protect her village for the long term. How… How could he have done that? InuYasha… Though the dog had ultimately betrayed them, the combined power of the demon and her sister during their truce was enough that no foul creature dared come near the village. The closest thing with demonic blood, the aforementioned backstabber, was sealed in the forest, anchored to a tree in seemingly eternal slumber. Everything was safe, for now, since word had been sent out to all the lands that the Shikon had been taken into the underworld, though Kikyo's death had been kept secret. Kaede, determined to learn like she never had with her sister, knew she was physically too young to travel far enough away where rumors of the jewel hadn't spread very far. Kaede called out for help in protecting the village, and a nearby priestess took care of the most major disasters on a monthly basis. Three years had passed before most of the dangers surrounding Kaede and the Shikon jewel died down, and for Kaede to be strong enough for arduous travel. Leaving most of what she had always known behind, she allowed herself to travel to the sister of this priestess in order to train in the ways of being a miko.

Three More Years Later

Blood!

That's all Kaede could see after the dream so abruptly ended. Her sister's blood, pouring out... Even in a dream, even after so much time had passed, that was so real… Her heavy breathing choked her as she fought to get air into her lungs. Her heart was thumping, echoing in her ears…

And her sister's heart was beating as it had before! Erratically, without pattern, a dying heart frantic to survive and continue functioning, as no cog in the machine considers the possibility of failure until it happens. The blood was so real, she could feel, taste, smell, and hear it pumping out as realistically as she could see it splattered around the walls of the small cottage she was lying in.

'That's right, think of the here and now, not blood. Not the owner of that bloo—' No, she mustn't think of Kikyo. It would cloud her mind for days, and that would affect her training.

Kaede couldn't even think of herself as such! It was complicated, but many demons heard thought instead of words in this region, and thinking of her true name would be like shouting Ki… her sister's name across a valley and not expecting to find herself a target for every predator in said valley. Many demons would still be after the jewel, even now, not knowing or perhaps not caring that the jewel was safe in the afterlife. Well, maybe "not caring" wasn't the right term.

Demons often had odd thought processes and could either think that the truth was a rumor concocted in order to alleviate would-be thefts, or that if a miko possessed one such object of power then it followed that she may have another. There was also taking into consideration the fact that, as the sister of such a powerful priestess, taking her out would substantially raise a demon's prestige. She may not have come into her powers yet, but any such elimination would be considered a presumptive strike, and one well warranted.

It was for these thought-reading demons that such care had to be taken. Kaede had to temporarily think of herself as Sayuri. She had to think of her name and identity as this young "Sayuri" at all times, no matter how safe or remote their location may be. All this care with names was taken mainly for Sakura, the miko who was continuing Sayuri's training.

A demon had attacked Sakura many years before, leaving her blind in both eyes. She had recovered most of her sight, unlike Sayuri's lost eye, but it left her very vulnerable due to her loss in depth perception. She didn't want harm to come to Sakura, especially if it were the byproduct of some demon's plan to gain power with the nonexistent Shikon. She would kill herself if anyone else got hurt because of her, or even what she thought was because of her.

"Wahhhh…." moaned Sakura, just waking up. "Sayuri, go gather firewood while I prepare our morning meal."

"Yes, Sakura-sensei," Sayuri agreed. She wanted to get active, get free of this suffocating nightmare. For that's what the dream was: a nightmare that didn't end when Sayuri woke. Shaking her head of the mess, she stood and folded her bedroll as Sakura did the same next to her.

They both piled them in a corner of the room, underneath a chair meant for the rare guest that occasionally made their way to the cottage, looking for the help and healing only a trained miko could give. As Sakura stoked the embers burning dully in the center of the cottage's fire pit, Sayuri braced herself for the slight chill the morning was sure to carry outside of the cozy, one-roomed home.

Sliding open the paneling, she found her suspicions to be correct. She quickly shut the door to spare Sakura the same fate, and reveled in the smarting, waking glory the brisk air smacked across her face.

Following a thin trail away from the cottage, Sayuri looked for the pile of wood she had stacked underneath a small tree, in order to spare it from any rains that may have come overnight. She had been tired after yesterday's training, and Sakura had allowed her student to take the small shortcut, though warning her that if the dew had soaked into the wood too much, their hunger would be on her head.

How was she to know that she was being watched by none other than Naraku, wanting to get his hands on the Shikon jewel? The amazing jewel which he had once worked so hard to try tainting with malice.

"Go and destroy the young miko-in-training," Naraku demanded, speaking to the serpentine demons he had taken control of. "Do not dare return without the Shikon jewel." The serpents, bound to his orders until death or destruction, quickly dissipated from view and traveled; in the way snakes do, nearly instantly to their target.

The pair slowly slithered towards their prey, tasting the air with their delicate tongues. They blended into the forest and had long since cloaked their presence, and so they wove a trap around the teenaged girl with their long, undulating bodies.

Unaware of the danger, Sayuri bent over and inspected the wood. "This firewood is just dry enough to use without putting out sparks," Tenten said aloud, sighing out an audible breath of relief. At some unseen cue, one of the snake demons raised it long, lithe body behind her, and bit deeply into her, injecting all of its venom.

A/N: I know I shouldn't leave it right here, but I don't know where else to go with it. Don't forget to R and R (read and review!). Yes, I know it's really weird. I just like it when people are out of character (OOC). I'm sorry that this chapter is so short. I can't help it.