1Chapter one: Ripped away and thrown around

The little girl called out in fear for she did not know where she was, and neither did her horse, whom usually took her out for a ride rather than the other way around(meaning that the horse knew the way, not her). "MAMA! MAMA!" she cried hysterically as tears fell like a steady river down her face.

"MAMA!" she called, looking in every direction as far as she could see.

She kicked her horse into a walk, and rode around in circles in confusion. "MAMA! PAPA! Where are you!" she called out once more using what was left of her energy.

Her poor little lungs were tired, leaving her breathless.

She clambered down clumsily off of her horse and hugged her pets close, even her stubborn bay stallion came over to her as she cried herself to sleep just as it began to rain.

Yasha's tears stained Shikoku's fur and her dogs fitted closer around her to keep her warm through the rainy night.

The next morning, she awoke to the gaze of young boy. She was too exhausted to speak, to even say thank you when he handed her breakfast. When she looked around she noticed that she was in a bed chamber. She finished the lovely meal she had been given, then arose to gather her clothes, change, and leave. Then her hands flew up to the top of her head. "Good, it's still there. Thank god I still have my headband." she thought.

"Wait, where are you going?" the boy asked.

"I'm going out for a ride and coming back around lunch."

"But you don't even know your way around."

"Yes I...do?" she said as she opened up the door and looked out among the unfamiliar corridors. She turned around and asked the boy, " Where am I?"

"We're in theKurume district, where I live." he replied.

"I'm not at home then. I was hoping it was all just a horrible dream."

"I found you lying in a field soaking wet with ink running off of your hair."

Tears began to well up in her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. She looked at the silver ring on her finger and her white gold bracelets and thought of father. "My name is Miroku. What's yours?" he inquired.

"My name is Yasha, Yasha Yoshikimura ofthe kingdom, Kyushu." she answered sharply.

"Why are you snapping at me? I only asked your name." Miroku questioned, quite bewildered.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"It's alright. So, do, you wanna, uh, go, some, where?"

"Sure, why not!" Her tone changed and she turned around and smiled warmly at him. "How about, we go for a ride! Sound good to you?" Miroku suddenly looked very embarrassed.

"On a...horse?"

"Uh...huh."

"I...don't...know...how..."

"That's alright. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It just gives you a reason to try."

"But-"

"I'll teach you!"

"You will?"

"Of course!"

He dressed quickly and took her to the stalls. Miroku was having the stable boy get two horses ready when he noticed that Yasha was readying her own horse.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"What's it look like I'm doing genius?"

"All you had to do was bring it to Muso and he would've done it for you."

"He doesn't tolerate anyone but me. That's why I'm doing it."

"Excuse me Master Miroku-"

"I told you to stop calling me that! It makes me feel stuck-up."

"Miroku," Muso corrected, "do you want me to unsaddle the mare?"

"No, keep her done up. I still need her."

"For what? We don't need somebody to hawk over us!" Yasha barked at Miroku.

"It's not that way. You'll see who she's for in a little while."

"Alright then. We better get going if you wanna learn!" she called to him as she walked out of the stables with her wolf-sized dogs following close behind.

"Wait for me!" Miroku called after her. He was leading both his and the riderless horse as he looked up at her and she shook her head at him.

"First you gotta get on the horse, dummy." she took the reins of the extra horse and tied her to a tree. Then she Miroku a leg up.

His voice trembled, "Now what?" as he sat there clinging on to that horse for dear life.

"Sit up straight. You look stupid when you sit like that and you won't get real far if you're choking it to death." Miroku slowly sat up on Tsume (soo-may), his very patient horse who just kinda sat there waiting for him to get over it.

"That's better. Oh and I don't think you'll have to worry about falling off, that horse of yours looks pretty good."

""Whoooooaaa!" THUMP! Miroku fell off right after she said it.

"Oh god! The damn horse didn't even move!" she shouted at him. "Don't just sit there, get back on!"

"Um. He-he-he. Oops..." He got back on only to fall off again. Tsume didn't even twitch and he still fell down.

"This is gonna take a while." she sighed.

"I'll get it, you'll see."

"Your bruises or your progress?" she mumbled.

"That's not funny."

"Yes it is."

"Is not!"

"Just get on the damn thing!"

10 minutes later

"O.K. what's next?"

"Just do what I do. Do you know how to turn?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Then show."

"Of course."

"Left. Now right. Left again. Turn right and come back to me."

"Did I do good?"

"Uh-huh. Do you know how to back up, stop, and go faster?"

"Um, yes, yes, and no."

"O.K. then. How do you make it go?"

"Squeeze or kick."

"Now how do you make it go faster?"

"I dunno."

"How do you make it go?"

"Squeeze or kick."

"So then how do you make it go faster?"

"I dunno."

"How do you make it go!"

"Squeeze or kick."

"So then how do you make it go faster!"

"Ohhhh. I get it. Squeeze or kick?"

"YES! but we will work on speed another day."

"Alright then, I'll look forward to it." he smiled brightly. "We should start heading over to Sango's, I thought it would be nice if you two met."

"Alright. I'll go get Nayru (the "tag-a-long" horse which is Sango's favorite) and my dogs and we'll be on our way."

The two new friends were nearly there when Miroku turned around from hearing a muffled scream come from behind him. Miroku gasped in horror. They were gone! All four of them were gone in less than a second.

"Yasha!" he cried, "Yasha! Where are you!"

She struggled to get away but was too weak. He did not care about the horse or dogs, he was sent after the girl. Her faithful pets followed silently along without her captor knowing of their presence. Yasha came to a conclusion; she knew her mother hated her, because of her appearance, but father always loved her no matter what. Even though she only had two friends, who were boys, they looked past her strange appearance as well. And they didn't look too normal themselves anyway. Just then she remembered

that she was with her mother the other day, when she got lost. Mother didn't wanna spend time with her so they could get to know each other, Mother's intent was to leave her behind hoping she might die of starvation. But Mother must have heard she was well and sent someone to finish her off. She was only five for gods sake, how could her mother

do this? Some how, she was able to sneak this past father because he would never let her. Her mother always was a snake in the grass, and she was good at it too.

Now there was nothing left but pure hate in her heart towards her mother. This time she'd gone too far. Suddenly, her captor had stopped running. Yasha looked around her, then at her captor. He was a wolf demon, and this, was where he lived.

"Hey Koga!" one called.

"What took ya so long?" said another.

"Yeah you been gone for three days!"

"Oh shut-up would ya! All I did was get me a pretty little puppy-dog. Is that so bad?" Koga snapped.

"A puppy...dog?" Yasha's voice trembled with fear. She easily made sense of that statement. He meant to say a little half dog demon princess slave-girl.

"Yup. Your mommy said that if I could catch you, I could keep you. And being a little dog demon, I guess that makes you my little puppy-dog." Her suspicions were correct, well almost, he wasn't gonna kill her, but it was her mother who sent him. "But don't worry, I'm not that mean. I only did it cause your mom paid me a lot to do it. That's all."

"I take it that means you're still not gonna let me go, I'm still gonna be a little slave-girl, and you're gonna go easy on me?"

"Yes, yes, and don't push it."

"Fine."

"There are a few things you should know. If you do everything I tell you to, I'll go easy on you. Be a rebel, and you'll wish you hadn't. And don't listen to anything anyone tells you unless it's me. Got it?"

"I understand Koga."

Through the years, Yasha had grown quite attached to Koga, as was he to her. They were like a father and daughter, you couldn't separate them. Her pets always lingered near watching over her as time passed on. Koga taught her to fight, to be a good servant, and also to use weapons such as a sword and bow. Then, at the age of ten, she was torn away from the wolf demon tribe by-

WELL DUH! You should all know this one.

The one and only...

TO BE CONTINUED...

I hope you like it. I want to hear it straight. If there is something you don't like about it, just tell me so I can fix it.