Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha-Gumi, they belong to the talented Rumiko-sama. But I do own Hikari and if anyone takes her without my permission they shall suffer a horrible demise... mua ha ha...

This story is dedicated to Shelly-chan, for playing the RPG on her forum with me that formed the basis of this story.

This is an Inu/OC fic, but there is also a bit of Kag/Sess. Please do not flame me for writing this.

Okay! shakes head. No more babbling, on with the story!

Chapter I: Our First Meeting

"Take this... your father... would have wanted you to have it..." The dying woman pressed a golden ring the size of a choker into the tiny child's hands. "Listen to me. Tap the ring three times to expand it to regular size and defend yourself with it. You must always survive... for me... for your father... I love you..." The woman smiled slightly and stroked the child's face with a callused finger. "Find someone who will love you more than anyone else and smile for them. Don't cry." She closed her eyes for the last time.

"NOO! Mama!" The little girl's rain-soaked dark red hair hung even more limp than it had been moments before. The pair of brown cat ears that sat atop her head drooped to an all time low. Respecting her mother's dying wish, she held in her tears until she was far away from the woman's body and in a tree. There, she sat on a branch and sobbed her heart out. She was only three years old and on her own, with nobody in the world left. "I will survive, Mama," she whispered to the howling wind and rain. "I will do as you told me. And I'll be careful to hide from the demons on the second night of the half-moon, and..." She listed all the things her mother had constantly reminded her about, falling asleep in the process.

When she re-awakened, it was nighttime. The storm had blown away, down to the south. From her position in the tree, the girl could see the millions of stars scattered across the heavens. "How pretty," she murmured. Her delicate child mind had blocked out the painful memory of the massacre of her village and her mother, and, being only three years old, she couldn't recall anything except vague happy memories of her mother and village before the murders.

She hopped down from the tree and started to roam deeper into the forest, following the trail of light that blazed from the brightest star in the sky. Turning a corner into a clearing, the child found herself face-to-face with... a boy.

He had long, thick silver hair and was wearing a red haori and hakama. But the thing most intriguing to the girl was that there were two small white ears perched atop his head. She brought her small hands to her own brown ears. Up till now, she had thought she was the only one...

But he seemed to be sleeping, pinned to the tree by an arrow.

"Are you okay, sir?" asked the child shyly.

No answer.

"Sir?"

A voice seemed to ring out in the little hanyou's mind. Do you think I look okay to you, kid?"

"You look like you're sleeping, but... your mouth isn't moving," she finished.

You... you can hear me?

"Yes, very clearly inside my mind."

Nobody could, or would, listen to me when they got close to the Goshinboku where I am now.

"Goshinboku?" Being only a small child, she didn't question why only she could hear the boy and not anyone else, like he'd said.

The sacred tree I'm pinned on.

"Are you all alone?"

No, I'm not, he said sarcastically.

"You're not?"

It's called sarcasm, kid.

"Oh."

What's your name?

"I don't remember..." She looked up at the starlight-illuminated sky. "But what's yours?"

You don't even know your own name?! He ignored her question.

"No, is that a bad thing?"

If you don't have a name, people will call you what they please and the things they come up with for a hanyou aren't exactly nice.

"Should I chose a name?"

You ask too many questions, he grumbled. But go ahead, chose any name, I don't really care.

"The light is so nice!" she squealed, looking once more at the stars. "I know! My name from now on will be... Hikari!" she said, as a memory hit her from somewhere that "Hikari" meant "Light." "So what is your name?" she asked again, looking innocently at the boy.

Inuyasha.

A rustling in the bushes ended their conversation. "Inuyasha?" asked Hikari of the boy, but he made no more telepathic responses. She hid behind the tree as a hunter stumbled out, chasing a deer, and trotted away on her small feet into the night. "Inuyasha. I hope you wake up sometime for real, Inuyasha."

End Chapter

So whaddya think? Like it, love it, hate it? Please review and tell me what you think. Five reviews and I'll update.

See you next time!

-Wendy-chan

P.S. "Shikon Shards and Kitty Tails" is going to be discontinued and taken off, due to lack of inspiration. But the character of Taiki is a lot like Hikari, heck, they even have the same weapon. I'm sorry to disappoint you readers. If I get more inspiration in the future perhaps I will re-post, but for now it's being taken off.