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Witch

Mother's Memories

Sango Slayer didn't think of herself as a witch. She didn't ride a broom. She didn't cast spells. She didn't even own a cat. But she had abilities few seventeen year old girls had. She could heal those who were sick. She could also see what was happening in distant places. There was even a time when she saw the future.

It happened at the beginning of her senior year in high school. It was a Friday. The first week of school had just ended, and the first football game was only a couple of hours from starting. Sango was at home, wondering if she should go. The entire summer she had stayed close to home, except when seh hiked alone in the quiet woodss that stretched for miles beyond her back door. The lush forests were interrupted only by sparkling streams and fields. Sango lived just on the outskirts of Tokyo, further from town. The area had been her home her entire life.

Tokyo High was her alma mater. It had a dismal football team. Deciding whether to attend the game, Sango asked herself if she needed to see her school lose once again. She knew they would lose, and not because she was a witch. The yhad lost every game the year before. They weren't a big school and didn't have a large pool of football talent. Ward was that this would be their weakest team ever.

But Sango loved football. She loved all sports. The reason she was hesitation to attend the game, she realized with a start, had nothing to do with the team's win-lose record. She was feeling sorry for herself again. She didn't want to go to the game because her mother couldn't accompany her as she had before. Her mom had did three months earlier, the same day school had let out for summer.

Sango felt terribly lonely. Yet she chose to be alone. She was afraid to see other people, to let the hurt go. She was afraid that if she did, the memories of her mother would also go. The y would fade and become like the ash of her mother's remains, to be lost on the wind.

The phone rang. It rang and rang. Sango waited a full minute before answering it, deciing if she wanted to. It was her best friend, Kagome Higurashi. Sango had seen Kagome at the most twice all summer.

"How are you?" Kagome asked.

"Great," Sango said. "How are you? What's up?"

"Are you going to the game?"

"I don't know."

"Sango!"

"We're just going to lose."

"You said you'd go," Kagome said.

"I didn't say that."

"Liar! Kouga is standing right here. Did Sango say she was going to the game? Kouga says you swore you'd be there. What kind of person are you? You lie to your friends. Kouga is crying now. He says he's going to slit his wrists if you don't come. He's picking up a knife. God, he's sharpening it! You've got to come. We're playing Saddleback tonight. You'll get to meet Miroku."

Kouga Wolfe was a long time buddy of both Sango and Kagome. Miroku Hoshi was Kagome's new boyfriend. Sango had heard only good things about him. He played fullback for Saddleback High. Sango was glad that Kagome had finally met someone she could really care about. Kagome deserved to be happy, Sango thought.

"Where's Miroku now?" Sango asked. "Is he there?"

"No." Kagome laughed. "Is he with you?"

It was an old joke that Sango always stole Kagome's boyfriends. At least Sango thought it was a joke. Several of Kagome's boyfriends had called Sango up and asked her out. It wouldn't have been so bad, except they were still going with Kagome at the time. Sang had told them all no. She didn't understand why so many guys wanted her.

"I'm in the kitchen," Sango said. "He might be in my bedroom."

"Then tell him to get out," Kagome said. "He's half Saddlebacks offense. Seriously, you have to come. Kouga and I insist. He's still sharpening his knife. He misses you. WE'll pick you up. We're on our way. Bye!"

"Wait! The game doesnt start for a couple of hours."

"Then we'll have good seats," Kagome said. "Come on, say yes."

Sango sighed to herself. "Yes."

"Great! We're on our way."

"No," Sango said firmly. "I'll meet you there."

"Why don't you come with us?" Kagome asked.

"I have some things to do first. Don't worry about me."

Kagome lowered her voice. "I do worry about you, Sango. You know that."

Sango was touched. "I know. But don't. Please? I'm OK. I'll see you soon. I promise. Tell Kouga I swear it in blood."

Kagome believed her. They exchanged goodbyes. Sango set down the phone and looked out the back window. There was plenty of daylight left. She decided to go for a walk. She thought she might visit the pond.

There was a chilli n the air, but Sango didn't bring a sweater or coat to cover her bare arms. She always walked briskly, so she knew she'd be warm in a couple of minutes. Besides, she loved to feel the air on her skin. She loved all of nature. As she strode away from her back porch, beneath the tall pines, she immediatly felt more at ease. It was ironic, in a way. Walking in the woods and open countryside brought back the strongest memories of her mother. The two of them had spent hours searching out of doors for medicinal herbs. Her mother had had a wonderful knowledge of healing plants. She'd workds as a nurse in the local hospital, and the hospital paients were often treated to herb teas that Mrs. Slayer brewed for there individual conditions. The doctors at the hospital kenw what her mom did and didn't seem to mind. Several of them swore her teas worked better than any medicine.

But what the doctors didn't know what that is was her mom's touch that was the real healer. Sango's gift in this area was nothing compared to her mom's. Her mom could take away a fever simply by putting her hand on someone's forehead. Yet it wasn't all that simple. There was a price to be paid. Sango knew her mom "took on" part of the sickness from those she cured. Usually it was only a small portion. Once when her mom helped a baby with a life-threatening lung infection, she immediatly developed a mild cough, whish lasted a couple of days. A cough was a small price to pay for a life, Sango realized, but she always worried that her mom was taking on too much. That all the small prices would one day add up to something serious.

It was that girl who killed her. The one from the motorcycle accident.

Sango's mother had died of a sudden cerebral hemorhage. It said so on her death certificate. She died on friday, June fourteenth, at six thirty-five in the evening. But Sango knew her mom had filled out her own death certificate a week earlier when she'd tried to heal a severely inured teenage girl. The girl had just been brought to the hospital with massive head injures. A five hour operation with the best neurosurgeon in the county had failed to stop the buildup of innercranial pressure. Her mother had sat with the girl for three days, and when she'd finally gone home, Sango remembered, she had been white as a bedsheet and drained of all energy. She'd gone straight to bed for two days and han't even been awake when the hospital called to say the girl was dead. And then, two days after that, her mother had joined the girl.

It had all been for nothing, Sango thought.

It had also been a mistake. Hadn't her mother warned her against such extraordinary intervention? Why had she gone against her own advice?

"We're not gods, Sango. We're helpers. That's all. People have called us terrible things in the past. But that was only because they didn't understand us. That understanding is for the future, a time not long from now. You may live to see it. Then perhaps you can work openly, but for now, keep your gifts to yourself. Serve in what way you can, without attracting attention to yourself. Never flaunt your abilities. Never think you hold the power of life and death. Only God has that power. When it's a person's time, nothing can save them."

Yet her mom had tried to save a girl whom the doctors said had no chance. Why? Sango didn't know. She considered calling her aunt to ask her opinion, but Sango didn't really trust the woman. When her mom had died, Sango's aunt had shown no sign of grief, and Mrs. Slayer was her own sister. Sango wondered if her aunt had foreseen her mom's death. Her mother had hinted that the woman could see the future.

Now there was a witch.

The last words her aunt had said to Sango three months earlier were "You watch yourself, girl." Her aunt hadn't been concerned about Sango's welfare. She was telling Sango not to abuse her powers, or else se would come after her to stop her. That was how Sango had taken the remark, at least.

Sango didn't know how old the tradition of Helpers was. Her mother said it probably went back to the beginning of mankind. The gifts followed certain bloodlines and were only passed on to female. Often the gifts didn't follow unbroken from one generation to the next. Her mother said that the gifts could disappear for centuries and resurface depending on the needs of a given time. It made Sango wonder about the needs of this time and how she would help.

The only other Helpers Sango knew were friends of her aunts. They were a severe lot, and she and her mother had kept away from them.

"They are so buys, Sango, trying to help the world that they've forgotten how to help themselves. Tey've forgotten how to be happy, and it is a happy man or woman who helps the worlds most."

Sango took a deep breath. She could taste the approaching autumn and was glad. The change of seasons always inspired her. She would shake off her gloom, she promised herself. She promised it to her mother as well. She knew her mom was near. When Sango walked in the woods, she could feel her mother stirring inside her.

The pond she was moving toward was located a mile from her house, at the base of a granite hill that thrust so precipitously out of the earth it could have been a pillar raised by ancient gods. Sango had climbed up the hill once, and only once. The sides were steep, and it had taken her the better part of a day to creep back down-and she was no coward when it came to risks. The climb had been wirth it though. She had reached the top just when the sun was directly overhead. Looking straight down on the sun reflecting in the perfectly circular pond, she had found it easy to imagine that down was up, and vice versa-the reflection was that clear. For some reason the perception had filled her with extraordinary joy. For a few seconds seh felt as if she could step off the granite tower and not fall. She would only be stepping into the sky, she thought. Into the sun.

Fortunatley for her mortal bones, she remembered that her gifts did not include the ability to fly.

It was when she sat beside the pond and stared into the water that she saw things that were happening far off. The water had to be perfectly still, and there had to be sunlight shining on it. Sango had no idea how her gift worked. It was just there, a part of her, like her long black hair. She remembered the first time she had seen. She was ten. She had been hiking with her mother, looking for plants and flowers, and had gotten tired, so she sat down to rest beside the pond. Her mother continued to explore around the base of the granite pillar. She thought she had dozed off and was dreaming, because suddenly she could see her mother pulling roots from the ground, but she knew that her mother was not in sight. She looked up and scanned the area. Yes, she thought, it was definitely a dream. She was alone.

Ok, So this is going to be a long one, writing this chapter alone took me beyond forever. Ill will try and update whenever i can. Going to finish the Island ASAP, before i get to into this. I do have the second chapter almost done, So you shouldnt be too long.

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