Chapter 1
And so it was that after a lot of yelling and a horde of agonizingly painful 'sits' on Kagome's part, InuYasha, along with Miroku, Sango, and Kaede convinced the stubborn miko to stay behind in the village with Shippou, while they went to save some far away village. She didn't like it one bit, but everyone swore multiple times would be back for her in at least 3 weeks.
Now, if Kagome had counted her days correctly (for they had not invented calendars yet) it had been about two weeks and three days, and the miko was as bored as ever. Her wounds had healed almost, and miraculously she only suffered slight discoloration on the wound, turning it a couple shades whiter than her skin.
For most of her time, Kaede had forced her to bed rest, not letting her move to even relieve herself until the old woman herself was there. For the first couple of days, Kagome accommodated this by finish all the high school homework she missed. However, by the third day of doing nonstop studying, Kagome finish all of her homework and was as bored as ever.
Shippou had tried to entertain her by playing games with her and teaching her games that youkai children would play. Though this interested Kagome, it eventually turned her stomach queasy when he described in detail some of their more demonic games. Like a game where they would take the stomach from a recently dead ancestor, stuff it with mouse carcasses and kick it around, and if they tore hole in the stomach and a carcass fell out, the person who kicked it out had to eat it. And Kagome did not know this but apparently even if a demon died, its inner organs would regenerate themselves if it not connected in any way from the heart, so they could keep the game going;sadly, Shippou couldn't explain to her how that worked.
If that wasn't enough to turn her stomach, Shippou excitedly added that the liver with the carcasses could last for days and you would still have to eat the body if even if it was decayed. That had done it. Kagome's face had turned green, and she held her stomach as if about to retch. Thankfully, she didn't, but Kaede forbade Shippou from teaching Kagome anymore games until she was in a healthier state. Not knowing what else to do, Shippou began spending more time with Kaede to learn medical practices. "To make sure this never happens to mama again." He'd reasoned.
Kagome giggled at the thought. Ever since her 16th birthday, Shippou had taken a liking to addressing her more as a mother than as a friend. And Kagome was happy to oblige him, eager to vent off some of her maternal instincts. But even while Shippou had been out of her company, she had been in no way alone. The children of the village that were too young to work had heard of the miko that looked like the legendary Lady Kikyo was wounded and living in Lady Kaede's hut. They would peek their heads in several times a day when Kaede was gone until Kagome had beckoned them in. After a brief period of shyness from the children—and the reassurance that it was okay to be here from Kagome—they would ask her to play games (with her sitting down, of course)and to tell them stories. They were so happy that she couldn't turn down anything they asked her for. Ever since, they would come in every day and demand a fairytale that they'd never heard of —western fairytales, in fact. She'd been happy to act as a surrogate mother while their real ones worked during the day.
But for some reason, Kaede demanded that the kids come with her and Shippou to go pick medicinal herbs today. It annoyed Kagome that she would have no company, and when she asked Kaede if she could go, too, Kaede prodded her wound without warning and, seeing Kagome wince, declared that she was still unfit to go anywhere. Now, an hour later, Kagome's short patience was wore out and she was bored out of her mind.
She looked out the window, admiring the blue of the sky and the green of the tree tops that's peeked over her window. She desperately wanted out, to move her legs, which ached painfully; not from the wound, but from not being able to move her legs for the past two weeks. She stood up slowly, gripping the wall next to her bed for support as her legs creaked and bent in ways she had become unaccustomed to. For a few minutes, she stood and tested her ability to stand, and then to walk. She paced the room in slow, steady steps and when she was confident she would not fall over, she grabbed her bow, quiver, and a leather canteen of water and walked out the door, thinking about going for a walk in the forest. As she walked through the village on her out to InuYasha's forest, she suddenly realized how hard and positively tedious the work that living here entailed. All the men real did was tend the fields, while the women cleaned the house, and cooked. Even the older children had to work. Watching it all made the chores she had to do at home seem meager in comparison.
As she entered the forest, she thought about her future. Even though she had lived in this world for over a year now, she was still a city girl and it appalled her to think that she would be stuck doing nothing but tending to the home and possibly (she blushed) having kids after they were done finding shards. But she loved this time so much as well, and she had no doubt in her mind that after they were done collecting shards, she would stay here, in this time. She would miss her family and all the conveniences that world gave her, but her place was here. Fate had brought her here and showed her everything, eventually convincing her that no matter what she would live and die in this era.
A soft whimper came from her left, interrupting Kagome's thoughts and her head whipped around to the direction of the sound. Her priestess instincts ablaze, she notched an arrow in her bow and walked slowly over to the sound, making sure she didn't step on and twigs or animals. She heard the sound again, this time louder—loud enough to let Kagome know that whoever it was female, anyway. Unsure of whether the female was a demon or a human, or even if she was in any real trouble, she approached the bushes with wary steps. Using her bow, Kagome separated two bushes, only to ease up her arm and drop the arrow.
It was an indeed woman—human from what Kagome could tell. She looked around Kagome's age, but thats not what had shocked Kagome. Instead of wearing some form of Japanese attire, she was wearing Arabic clothes: an ivory belly-top and similarly colored pants with and ivory, floor-length skirt, with dark green vines twisting all around it. She was tan, had beautiful midnight hair, honey brown eyes, and those thick eye brows that only Arabic women could pull off looking attractive with. Kagome shook her head in disdain with herself; she shouldn't be thinking about how this woman looked, she was hurt, her leg trapped in a hole, twisted in the most painful way.
"Miss, do you need any help?" she asked softly.
The women's head jolted in Kagome's direction, "Leave me be, wanita, you would just be endangering yourself by being near me."
I could never leave her by herself, she's hurt Kagome thought, so she ignored the woman's words and bent down to her leg. It was stuck in a hole, and had sharp sticks, or something, digging into it. "Alright," she said, "I'm going to pull your leg out of the hole, but it's probably going to hurt."
The woman barely nodded before Kagome yanked the leg out of the hole. She let out an earsplitting shriek, which, in spite of herself, Kagome had to clasp her hands over her ear.
"Sorry," Kagome said guiltily.
The woman gave no further signs the pain as she begged, "Please leave, kecil pembantu, if you stay here, you could die."
"I'm not leaving you hurt, its just not happening" Kagome said obstinately.
The onna's eyes flashed with something close to gratitude, but it was gone as quick as it came. Kagome brought out her water canteen out of her belt and poured some onto the gash-wound in the leg to get rid of the dirt and dried blood. Kagome stood up to find some herb to help the injured Arabic. Eureka! Kagome found some Yarrow, an herb that cleans the blood of infection, hence allowing the wound to heal properly I'm so glad I listened to Kaede. She found a slightly curved stone that makes a nice makeshift mortar, crushed some Yarrow in the stone with a stick, and poured what was left of the water into the mortar to make a paste. She scooped a little bit of the mixture onto her three fingers, and smeared it onto the leg.
"How's your leg feeling?" Kagome asked.
"It stings, but it doesn't hurt. Oh, thank you, kecil pembantu,"
Kagome didn't know what kecil pembantu meant, so she ignored it and ripped the sleeve of her priestess kimono and wrapped it around her leg. Finally finished, Kagome reached for her canteen to offer it to the woman. From all the health classes in her own time, Kagome remembered enough to know that if a person lost a significant amount of blood, then you should make sure they get lots of water. However, when she picked it up, she felt how light it was and when she shook it, barely any sound was made.
"I need to get some water. I'll be right back, miss…?" Kagome had never asked her name so she didn't finish.
"Jasmine Paradise," she filled in.
"Oh, what a beautiful name," Kagome complimented. "I'm bringing you some food and water"
"I don't eat mortal food," Jasmine Paradise interrupted.
"Ok, then, water," Kagome grabbed up her canteen and walked to the stream and filled it. As she walked back, she wondered what Jasmine Paradise meant by not eating normal food. Obviously, she wasn't human, but she didn't act like any demon Kagome had ever met. It was a mystery and Kagome was determined to find out. She went back to the spot to where Jasmine Paradise was and handed her the canteen and the Arabic woman took a long gulp.
"Oh, thank you, Kawan, but why did you help this Jinn?" she asked, a kind of sisterly adoration in her eyes.
"I would never leave someone hurt, 'jinn' or not," Kagome said, although she wasn't very sure she new what a jinn was.
"My friend, in gratitude for saving me, I wish to give you the most prized gift ever." Jasmine Paradise said.
Kagome wave her hands in front of her, flushing a bright red, "You don't have to give me anything."
"Oh, but I do! A jinni never lets a kindness toward them go unappreciated," she said enthusiastically, "but we are going to have to wait until tonight. What is your name, Kawan?"
"Uh, it's Kagome," she said, "What is Kawan? I noticed you called me it earlier along with some other things"
"It means friend in the language of my People," Jasmine Paradise educated.
"Wow. Can you walk?" Kagome asked. Jasmine Paradise didn't respond, but tried to stand up, with the aid of Kagome. She stood for all of 3 seconds before collapsing with a gasp of pain. Oh, yea Kagome thought this is going to be a long day.
