"Nea-sama! Nea-sama, please come down here! Your father requested for you!" An old woman yelled into the sakura tree.

She was looking up the tree to a girl of about 16 years with dark blue-gray hazel eyes. The girl's hair was of the lightest dark brown that glinted in the sun, reaching down to her knee caps. She was sitting with her back against the bark of the tree, her legs crossed in front of her. Her hands were crossed behind her head and she seemed to be completely relaxed until the old woman came. She turned her head downward to the old lady.

"And what for this time, Ami? I mean, really, I have 20 other brothers and sisters and he wishes to see me more than he sees half of them." The girl stated bluntly. She turned her head back to the sky.

Ami face had an irritated look on it. "Really, Nea-hime, you should be happy that your father adores you so. He buys only the best for you, from kimonos to jewelry. And what do you do,I may add, but insist to secretly buy peasant kimonos! Really, you should be ashamed Nea." Ami said as she glanced at the plain, short brown peasant kimono Nea had on.

Nea glanced down at her attire with a shrug. It felt ok for her to wear these types of clothes. It felt more natural for her to wear these than the annoying kimono layers that royals are supposed to wear.

"What does father want? To tell me that I have to start taking that damned medicine again that that creepy doctor makes?" Nea asked. She had been sick since birth. They say it's because she was her mother's 21st child and that the births before had severely damaged her body. Her mother had sadly passed away 2 hours after. "But," Nea thought "who the hell wouldn't die after giving birth to over 20 children?" The mere thought was absurd.

"No," Ami said with a deadpan expression, "But it would do you some good to take it, Nea-Hime. You've been coughing lately and are having trouble sleeping again girl."

Nea climbed down from the tree and waved her hand dismissively at her old maidservant.

"Same old same old. I'll be sick and stuck in this castle for the rest of my life and everybody knows it. You all might as get used to it."

The old maidservant sighed as she watched the unusual princess walk back into the castle and into her rooms. She slowly trotted after Nea, knowing what was coming.

"Ouch! Careful!"

The old woman sighed as she watched the chambermaids undress Nea from the peasant Kimono and put her in the royal attire. If the princess would only wear the royal kimono like her sisters and brothers did, then she wouldn't have to go through this more than once and could avoid being pricked with the combs and jewelry they were putting on her. The old woman sighed as she noticed Nea glaring at the woman who was tying the yellow obi around her waist.

Nea continued glaring at the chambermaids until they left her and the old woman alone. She sighed defeated and turned around to look at herself in the mirror.

She nodded, happy the maids didn't make her look to princess-y.

She had on the regular white kimono, then a light thin pink one, a thicker yellow one, and finally the top kimono that was more decorative being a pale yellow with pale pink cherry blossoms scattered on the hem of the sleeves and on the bottom. She had asked that there be as little as possible combs and the like in her hair, so she only had two pins in her hair on each side of her head that looked like pink flowers. The make-up artist had done her eye-lids in pale pink & yellow. All in all, she looked like a modest princess, unlike her brothers and sisters that over-did the kimonos, jewelry, and make-up.

"Does it please you, Hime?" The old woman asked with one eyebrow up, afraid of the answer. If Nea-sama didn't like it, then they would have to redo the whole thing, and that's a dreadful experience. She looked at Nea with hopeful eyes.

Nea, not missing the old woman's hopeful gaze, nodded and smiled a little.

"It'll do for now. Come one, my father's waiting for me and I don't want him to send a guard thinking something has happened." Nea said as she sighed, thinking of the last time her father had done such said thing. She moved from the mirror and walked toward the door leading toward the corridor.

Ami sighed in relief and wiped her brow. This seemed to be one of those days where Nea-hime was going to be agreeable. Noticing the her princess had already left the room Ami quickly gathered herself and trotted fast to catch up with the princess as she was already half-way down the corridor.

As Nea arrived at the huge doors that lead to the throne room she could feel herself mentally preparing for what was to come. She figures her father would scold her for not taking the medicine doctor Ikeda made for her. Who could blame her though? It tasted as though it was made from a cow's ass. She'd rather eat white sticky rice than that awful medicine. She mentally shuddered at the thought.

As she was thinking about this the doors to the throne room opened and a guard announce her arrival before she could even step into the room.

"Entering honorable 21st daughter of Lord Hiroto Tanaka, Nea Tanaka!"

NEA sent the bellowing guard and irritated look and proceeded into the throne room with Ami behind her.

She saw her father look up from a discussion with his adviser and smile brightly at her.

"Nea! My child, you finally came! I was about to send a guard for you." He exclaimed as he got up and started walking to where she was, his arms open to embrace her.

Nea smiled as she made her way to her father and hugged him. She mentally sighed as she thought she was right about the guard thing. She pulled back to look at her father. He had kind smiling brown eyes that twinkled and black hair that was cut short to his ears. There was a little gray at his temples, but that was expected of a man of 46 years. He was starting to have little wrinkles around his eyes. His smile was warm and wide, showing how happy he was to see her. Nea thought her father was an example of what every man should at least somewhat be like around this age. He was kind and compassionate and not mention a great swordsmen. His only flaw was that he never took much seriously, sadly.

"I'm sorry father, but you know me. I'm picky with what I wear." She simply stated.

Ami tried not show her irritated expression in front of the two royals, but come on! That was an understatement. Nea-Hime was possibly the most difficult girl to dress in the whole region.

Not noticing Ami's changing expressions, the two royals moved closer to the throne were Nea's father usually sits. As they got there two maids brought out a cushion on which Nea sat down on. She got comfortable and then looked at her father who was already sitting down and looking at her.

"So, father what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Nea asked.

She was expecting to hear the usual "Daughter dearest, you need to start taking your medicine blah blah blah..." However, what came next she was totally unprepared for.

"Nea, as much as I love you and want to keep you here with me, I think it's time we start looking for you a husband." He father said as he sat back and grabbed the tea that had been placed beside him five minutes ago.

Nea was drinking her tea when her father said this and about nearly choked. People began rushed to her but she waved them off and put her cup down. She took a moment to catch her breath before she looked up and sent her father a questioning gaze.

"Father...I mean no disrespect...but I'm not sure I'm ready for marriage yet." She explained, trying to word it in a way that wouldn't upset him. He looked at her with understanding eyes.

"I know, and I'm sorry that I'm making you do this. But understand that I'm 36 years old, and should I die in battle were would that leave you? You would have to live with one of our relatives, or worse, one of your siblings. I wish to see you happy and in your own home. Plus, I wish to see my only child that looks like their mother happy and well taken care of. Can you please bear this for me, Dearest Daughter?" He father pleaded with her.

Nea sat back for a moment and thought about it. There were many points were he was right. She didn't wanna live with any of their relatives, and definitely not any of her siblings. And she felt guilty for thinking of denying her father the right to see her walk down the aisle. However, what if her husband was worse than her siblings? And what if she knew her husband only wanted the status symbol and not her? She looked back at her father and felt her heart tighten at the sight of his face. She was practically begging her.

Sighing, she decided to give into her father's demand.

"Alright Father. I accept your demand willingly. However, I wish to choose my husband out of the bachelors that you choose." She told him while giving him a look that said she wasn't backing down from this. He clapped his hands and smiled at her.

"Wonderful! I'll make the preparations right away then!" He exclaimed as he started pulling in people to make arrangements. Nea sighed at her father's antics and stood up.

"If you'll excuse me father, but I think I'll go lay down as I'm not feeling well." She bowed before walking away toward the door.

As she was walking with her old maidservant Ami behind her, she felt a sickening feeling in her stomach. Her eyes widen as she realized what was happening. She bent over on the floor clutching her stomach as she tried to suppress the urge to cough. Ami was by her side asking if she was okay. She could see hazily that her father and guards where running towards her. She dismissed all of it as she tried to focus on not coughing. She could hear herself whimpering as she was fighting the urge. Finally the pain became too much and she started coughing loudly. Blood was flowing out of her mouth as she caught a glimpse of her father looking at her with worry before she hit the wood floor and blacked out.

Jaken was pacing frantically around the base of their camp fire as he kept glancing at the little girl that was lying near the dragon. Sweat was running off her head and she looked as if she was having difficulty breathing. Nothing was covering her seeing as they had no blankets or such things. She was shivering slightly. Not a good thing, the imp though at he looked at her.

"Sesshomaru-sama will kill me for sure this time!" The imp shouted as he grabbed the side of his hat, tears in his eyes.

"I'm a goner!"

"Jaken."

"Dead meat!"

"Jaken."

"I should have never let this!"

"Jaken!"

The imp turned around and looked into golden eyes. The man that stood before him was about 6 feet tall with silver hair that reached past his waist. He wore armor and two swords at his side with a purple and yellow sash. His kimono was white with red flowers at the sleeves. He looked at the imp and then the girl, slightly narrowing. Jaken eyes turned teary as he ran over and bowed deeply at the feet of his lord.

"My lord! I'm so terribly sorry! Rin is sick and I fear she may have a fever. I tried giving her herbs that cure these kinds of human problems, but they're not working! I'm sorry Mi' Lord!" Jaken shouted. He tried to continue put the man silenced him.

"Cease your prattle."

"Yes My Lord! I swear, Lord Sesshomaru that I will-!" Jaken stopped mid-sentence as he realized that the man had already walked away and left him alone during the middle of his speech. He looked around with surprised eyes.

"Mi' Lord?"

Nea opened her eyes slowly as she adjusted to the settings around her. It was pitch black around her and she could tell she was lying down on her back. As the moonlight slowly made its way into the room from the open door she could tell now that she was in her room. It would appear that after the severe coughing attack the maids had undressed her and put her into a white sleeping kimono, then into her bed.

As she turned her head to the right she saw something that made her face go green. In a tiny bottle was black liquid with her name on a note tied around the neck of the bottle. She stared at it with distaste, as if looking at the corpse of a dead rabbit. Her father had obliviously called doctor Ikeda to come and make the medicine for her.

Sighing to herself she slowly got up from her bed and sat up-right. She grabbed for the medicine and stared at it in her hand. She was debating with herself on whether or not she should take it. On one hand, she'd be better a little bit for a couple of days. She'd be able to climb trees, wear peasant kimonos, and use it as an excuse not to come out for a couple days. On the other hand, the substance itself could make her throw up.

Her expression was a battling one between wanting to and not wanting to take it as she made the quick choice to swallow only a little bit of it as quickly as possible. Her face turned into a grimace as she swallowed the tiny bit of medicine. It was worse than last time she took it.

After being done with that Nea decided to lie down, now having an awful taste in her mouth. She looked through the doors of her room that lead to her personal garden that her father had built her. Her face turned to that of a confused expression as she could swear she saw a giant dog flying across the moon.

She was still pondering on this as she slowly fell asleep with her face facing toward the garden.