Chapter 2.

Coming out of the darkness, Kaida finds herself in a room filled with flames. The fire that surrounds her is radiating no heat and an eerie silence hangs in the air. Kaida has the feeling that she has been here before, and that disturbs her. In the time she takes to look around for an exit, the flames had already grown bigger and are now burning closer to her. She's trapped without a way out.

A deep caw echoes behind her and is followed by a large black figure zipping overhead to the flames in front of her.

"It's that raven again," says Kaida. She then realizes that the bird is showing her the way out. She gets into a running stance, preparing to break through the flames. Taking a deep breath, Kaida charges through the fire and is thrown into a world darkness.

Far off in the distance ahead, there is a small, purple light glowing brightly. Kaida, curious about the light, tries to walk to it. After a while of not making any progress with getting closer to the glowing, purple orb, an unsettling laughter begins to fill up the darkness, sending a chill down her back. Kaida looks around nervously as the laughter grows louder.

"Who are you?" She calls out. When the voice doesn't reply, she tries a different question. "What do you want?"

The laughter finally ceases and the sinister voice responds, "YOU."

It suddenly feels like a bucket of ice had been dumped onto her body. What would someone want with her? Just then, a shadow passes in front of the light and the ground begins to shake. When the tremors subside, she is no longer in the world of darkness.

The crackling of a fire gradually grows louder as Kaida begins to regain consciousness. A light breeze blows across her body, cooling the slash wounds that still ache. Water from the river flows gently nearby. Slowly, she opens her eyes and weakly lifts herself up. The cut on her left side burns as crimson liquid trickles out of it. Her kimono is tattered and covered in dried blood resulting from the earlier encounter with bandits. Kaida groans in disgust at the thought that she had almost lost to those sick bastards.

"Oh? You're awake," says a bland, disinterested voice behind her. She looks up quickly and turns around to see a little green imp holding up a two-headed wooden staff in his lap and sitting next to the fire.

A demon?...Well, he looks harmless, Kaida calms her startled heart. "How did I get here?" she asks the demon as she places pressure on her side to stop what is left of the bleeding from the closing wound.

"Lord Sesshomaru saved you!" The little imp replies excitedly.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" she inquires. Flashes of the man in white pops in her mind as she tries to remember what exactly had happened before she passed out.

The imp starts again, "Yes! He saved you from those wretched men who were chasing you. And when you fell off the cliff, he caught you from falling to your doom." He speaks dramatically as he recalls the incident; his voice no longer bland.

"I see." Kaida sighs, gradually pushing her aching body up off the ground. While pressing more firmly on her side, she grunts, "I didn't need any help."

She must have hit a nerve because when the imp speaks to her this time, he shouts, "You ungrateful fool! If Lord Sesshomaru didn't step in when he did, you would have been killed. You are lucky that he even wasted his precious time on a worthless human like you, anyway!"

As he goes on and on, she weakly walks over to the river side, ignoring his annoying yammering. Kneeling down by the water, she submerges both of her hands into it and starts rubbing the blood away. After her hands are clean, she moves on to her arms. Most of the slash marks are already healed by now, but others need to be attended to. With this conclusion, she decides to walk into the water so she can start cleaning that gash on the left side of her abdomen. It is the deepest one that she had received when she was in the forest fighting off bandits. She winces when the cool water touches her wound. Taking a deep breath, she opens up her tattered kimono and begins to flush out the cut, clearing out any dirt and dried up blood that could lead to infection. Once it is cleaned out, she bends over, reaching into the water for the long part of her kimono and rips the bottom off. Doing so leaves her clothing torn short to mid-thigh. She then washes the leftover material thoroughly and rings it out.

After she finishes cleaning off the rest of her body, Kaida covers herself up and gets out of the river. While turning away from the imp, she opens her kimono back up and wraps the cloth around her waist to keep it covered and clean. As soon as it is securely fastened into place, she closes her kimono and starts heading into the forest, back to the village.

The imp hurries after her saying, "Where are you going? You are still seriously injured."

"I'm going to change my clothes," she replies, walking past the trees.

"You don't plan on staying with us, do you," says the imp, horrified.

"Hmph. Whoever said that I wanted to. I don't feel like protecting a little weak thing like you, imp."

"Hey! I'm not weak! Besides, a demon such as me would never accept protection from a lowly human such as you."

Tuning out the little green creature, Kaida mazes through the trees in the direction of the village. The scent of charred rubble is filling the air, growing stronger the closer she approaches. Outside the forest walls, in the middle of a large clearing, most of the homes in the village have been burned down. Blood stains the scorched grass where innocent people and deceased bandits had once fallen. On the east side of what is left of the village, graves are lined up in rows, hoping to give peace to those who have fallen.

The imp looks around curiously; the rising sun exposing the destruction. "What happened here?" He asks in awe.

Kaida sighs, "Why are you still following me?"

"Because Lord Sesshomaru entrusted me with keeping an eye on you."

"I don't need to be watched over. I can take care of myself."

"The fact still remains, Lord Sesshomaru asked me to do it. As much as I do not want to, it shall be done to the best of my ability."

Kaida rolls her eyes, Great, this stubborn little demon doesn't seem like he's going to be leaving anytime soon. I wish he would have stayed by the river where I met him. As she continues walking toward the village, she says to him, "Don't expect anything from me, then."

"Hmph," the little imp replies, crossing his arms.

As Kaida enters the village, very few homes are left standing and ash blankets the surroundings. There are some survivors cleaning up the damage with straw brooms that are left unscathed by the fire. Looking around, she notices that the house she had been staying at is still erect. She makes her way through the rubble and enters the home.

"Hello?" she calls out.

No answer.

She takes a look around the house to find that it is empty. "Where could they be?" She furrows her brows in concern, then notices a straw broom standing up against the wooden wall. The floor had been swept clean, a sign showing that the residents of the home are alive and well. She sighs in relief, "I better hurry out of here before anything else happens..."

Going straight to her room, she walks to a small wooden dresser that has two drawers and opens the bottom one, grabbing a kimono. She unfolds the clothing and holds it out in front of her, examining it thoughtfully; the top half of the elegant robe is blue and the bottom darkens into black with pink azalea flowers printed all along the bottom up to the hips and from the bottom of the long bell sleeves up to the elbows. It is remarkably beautiful and unfortunately the only one she has left.

She sighs, "I guess I'm going to have to wear this one." As she is getting ready to change her clothes, she remembers that the imp demon had followed her into the room. He stands there impatiently, obviously dreading being her little watch dog, as well. "Hey, imp. Do you mind?" She asks.

"Oh, right," he replies, as if just realizing that she was about to change. He leaves the room and sits on the floor behind the wall. "Hurry up! I haven't got all day!" He ushers.

Kaida ignores him and starts removing her damp, torn up kimono, folds it up, and lays it on the dresser. From the same drawer, she takes a clean, dry cloth to replace the slightly damp one that she is wearing and begins changing the fabrics. The bleeding is almost completely stopped. Next, she puts on the new kimono and an obi. The obi is thick and black with gray trim. Once it is securely fastened, she makes her way to the far corner of the room and kneels down to the floor. She begins to feel along the wooden panels for a loose board. As soon as she finds it, she pushes down on one end, making the other end of the panel lift out of the floor, and removes it.

Within the open space is a long, slender object bundled up in a light, cream colored silk. Picking up the object, one end of the fabric slips off and reveals the black hilt of a sword. Kaida sighs, "Looks like you and I are moving on again. So much for getting a break." She pulls off the rest of the silk and carries the sword over to the small dresser and lays it down.

Unwinding the dark blue sash that was wrapped around the sheath, she ties it around her waist and slips the sword into place over her left hip. She, then, opens the top drawer of her dresser, grabs a beaded hair ribbon and then ties her hair up into a ponytail to keep it out of the way.

"Kaida, you're alright," says an old woman standing in the doorway. She was covered in soot from the fire and had a few scrapes on her face.

Kaida gives a half smile to the woman and says, "Yeah. Glad to see you are too. What about the old man?"

An older man comes up behind the woman, smiling, "Oh, you know you can't get rid of an old fart like me."

"Hmm. That's good," she smiles slightly.

The man looks down at Kaida's sword and the smile he wore fades away. "Are you leaving?"

She glances down at the hilt, hand placed down on it, "I'm sorry, but I can't stay here. It's best that I stay away because I'll only put you and the village in danger."

"Nonsense!" says the old woman. "You saved us! It's not your fault that evil men attacked our village."

"Lady Hina, I'm sorry. I cannot stay." Kaida bows respectfully to the old man and woman.

Lady Hina looks over to the old man, pleading with her eyes for him to say something.

The old man takes a deep breath, "I wish you well, young lass. Promise me you won't be getting yourself killed, now, will ya?"

Kaida bows in thanks to the old man. "Thank you, Sir Yasu. Although I can't make such a promise, I will make the best of it." Yasu nods and steps aside to allow Kaida out of the room.

In the small hallway, the little imp was still sitting against the wall with an annoyed look on his face. "We're leaving," she says to him.

He jumps up to his feet saying, "Thank goodness!"

As they walk out of the house, Lady Hina calls out, "Wait!"

Kaida stops, turning around to see what the old woman wants.

Lady Hina continues, "I know it's not much, but please take this." Handing Kaida a small purse of money, she says, "This is to thank you for saving us last night. If it wasn't for you, the entire village would have been wiped out and none of us would be alive today."

"Thank you, but I—"

Lady Hina cuts Kaida off, stopping her from giving back the purse, "I will not take no for an answer. Now go. And be careful." Changing her attention to the little green imp beside the girl, "You demon, I don't know who you are or what you are doing here but you better keep her safe. You don't look like much, but I know your kind are usually in groups."

Jaken flips out, "How dare a lowly human such as you, order me around! I only do as Lord Sesshomaru wishes me to do!"

The old woman only smiles in amusement to him and looks up at Kaida as she is walking away. "Until we meet again," she whispers.

Following Kaida out of the village towards the forest again, the imp asks, "What was that all about?"

She looks down at him with an eyebrow raised. "Hm?"

"What did you mean back there?" he asks curiously.

Kaida didn't quite hear Jaken's question, her mind, elsewhere. "I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know. I'm talking about what you said to the humans about you putting everyone in danger!" He shouted impatiently.

"Now that's no reason to throw a tantrum, little imp. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Stop calling me IMP! My name is Jaken! And I'm not throwing a tantrum!"

Kaida smirks at Jaken, "Sure. You're not throwing a tantrum…Imp"

"Stop calling me that!"

Kaida chuckles, "Okay, okay. Fine."

Jaken crosses his arms with an "hmph". Continuing on from earlier, he asks again, "So what did you mean?"

Kaida sighs, entering the forest. "Why do you want to know so bad, anyway?"

"You're hopeless!" Jaken replies, annoyed that Kaida kept trying to beat around the bush. "What are you trying to hide?"

Kaida is taken aback. "Hide? Who says I have anything to hide?" she says defensively. "You are so annoying!"

"And you are a lowly human," Jaken crosses his arms and turns his head away as if she is beneath him.

"Grrr," Kaida growls, lifting her sleeve and punching him on top of the head.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" Jaken gripes.

Kaida simply ignores his complaint, stalking away as if nothing happened. After a few moments of silence between the demon and the woman, Kaida finally says, "Anywhere I try to stay and live life like a normal human being, a catastrophe happens. It's like bad things follow me, whether it be humans or demons."

"What makes a human like you so special?" Jaken replies in disgust.

"If I would have known that, I probably wouldn't be in this predicament or be stuck with a little watch dog like you. Besides, where is this so-called Sesshomaru and what's his interest in me?" Kaida says, rather frustrated.

"Lord Sesshomaru is in search of powerful foes worthy of defeating in battle. His interest in you, however, I do not know." Jaken replies.

"Hmm. So, what does he do? Look for demons or humans that might put up a little fight? Doesn't sound very powerful to me," she shrugs, thinking of him standing by the river from last night.

Jaken gets defensive with her comment, "Lord Sesshomaru is an all-powerful demon. He wishes to battle only the most powerful demons around to build his superior strength. No foe is a match for my Lord."

"Oh, yeah?" Kaida mocks. She tries to picture the man fighting strong demons and realizes that Jaken would just about tell her anything she wants to know about Sesshomaru. "Give me an example of a powerful demon your Lord has fought and defeated," she says mischievously.

"A little over two years ago, Lord Sesshomaru had fought against a powerful demon named Naraku and defeated him. Ever since then, he hasn't found a foe worth much of a fight."

"Naraku?" Kaida asked. The name sounds familiar, but she doesn't really know anything about him.

The imp seems surprise with her response, "He was a very evil demon who collected jewel shards to make himself stronger. But he was still no match for my Lord."

"I've heard of the jewel shards. Aren't they the shards of the Shikon no Tama?"

"Yes. But the jewel is gone now."

"So I've heard."

Kaida and Jaken approach the river side where she had last seen Sesshomaru. The bodies of the men who attacked her were separated with a clean cut through their abdomen; their corpses smell of rotting flesh. Oddly disfigured expressions distort their faces, clearly showing pure agony. Kaida examines the bodies a little closer. A line of dried blood had drained from each man's ear and the ear canal slightly is damaged, as if something had dug its way out.

"There was something wrong with these men," she whispers to herself.

"Ugh. They didn't look like this last night when we left them," Jaken cringes.

Kaida stands up and looks back into the forest. "Something was feeding off of these men from the inside. Most likely controlling them."

"Like a parasite?" asks Jaken.

"Yes." Kaida scans over her surroundings to make sure that nothing is watching them. "Let's get moving before it finds another body."

Kaida and Jaken continue to travel northwest in silence. Every so often, rustling occurs in the trees and the feeling of eyes watching leaves them feeling slightly uneasy.

"Why did I have to be stuck with this human?" Jaken mumbles to himself.

"What's the matter, imp? Are you afraid of what you have gotten yourself into?" Kaida mocks, although she felt a little on edge, herself.

Jaken lies, "O-of course not! Don't be ridiculous, you fo—"

Kaida raises her left hand out to him, silencing him, and scans the forest around them; her other hand grips the hilt of her sword. A familiar dark feeling hangs in the air and chills run down their spine as they watch the trees around them, waiting for the enemy reveal itself. Dark clouds begin to form above as the demonic aura grows more intense. The wind picks up around them. A low, sinister laughter echoes through the trees.

"That laugh," Kaida says under her breath, her heart beginning to race.

.

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. Author Notes:

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are as excited as I am to go on this adventure with Kaida. I know Sesshomaru wasn't really in this chapter, but you know how he is. He just goes and comes when he pleases. But just bear with me. Anyway, where is that laughter coming from? It's giving me the chills. O.O

Also, I'd like to thank Eclipse89 for helping me correct any errors and reviewing this chapter before I posted it. You're a great help! Check out her story, Through the Looking Glass. A fun story with a lot of laughs and crazy adventure!