Ok, so it's a Friday night and I got nothing to do but eat some ramen noodles and write. It's taken me awhile to update because finals and final reviews are biting me in the butt. But luckily after testing I have some free time so I wrote this chapter over a course of two or three days. So here it goes.

Disclaimer: Don't own fool.

Changes

Chapter 3: New Things

Kohaku fluttered opened his eyes. Everything was blurry and diffused. With a few more blinks of his eyes Kohaku's vision finally cleared. The sight before him he didn't expect, six beautiful girls were hovering over him with wide eyes.

"See Kaien! I told you he wasn't dead!" A small girl, who popped up, with short black hair exclaimed. To wake up and have women around you would be any mans dream, but for Kohaku this was no picnic. His isolation from the world for so many years made him lack the social skills he needed right now. On his journey he would talk to the occasional inn owner and farmer and he always had manners for the old men, but girls he'd have a problem with. The girl's saucer-like eyes kept staring at him. What was wrong? A late spring breeze blew from outside and open window when he realized that he didn't have a shirt on. The girls were ogling him like a hungry lion about to prance on their new meal. Kohaku could feel a blush begin to tint his cheeks from the uncomfortable stares. Once again the small girl squealed, "Kaien see! He's not dead!"

"Aw shut up Yuzu!" The eldest looking of all with long silky hair said. Within a few moments of realization from the small girls words he realized he wasn't dead. Ironic wasn't it? He had been the one to cause so much death, and yet he escaped it so many times. He snickered to himself about his unfair place in the world.

"What's so funny Mister?" The little girl, who's name was apparently Yuzu, asked. With quick, silent movements she made her way from his feet to by his bandaged right arm before he even knew it. He began to sit up hoping to leave this awkward situation as soon as possible, but his body had other plans when searing pain shot through his abdomen. All of the girls lunged forward to make him lay back down.

"Don't sit up" one said.

"You'll open your wounds" another replied.

"He's cute," someone said in a faint whisper.

The girls were fussing madly over him. It seemed they took a liking to touching his strong arm sand toned stomach.

"GIRLS!" A loud voice bellowed throughout the room. All of them froze and turned their heads to find another looking man in monk's robes. His face had bending crevices probably from years of old age. "Girls this is my temple not a place for you to harass young boys!"

"Yes Master Senoki" the girls said sadly with their eyes downcast. One by one the girls filed out of the room and into the outside world.

"Oh Yuzu" Senoki asked. Yuzu, at the end of the line, stopped and turned around.

"Yes Senoki-sensi?" she asked.

"Yuzu, I would like you to go get some water from the stream so I can clean this boys wounds."

"Yes Master!" Yuzu yelled as she made her way down the steps. The old man made his way from the door to Kohaku and sat down next to the futon.

"My apologies about the young ladies, I shouldn't have left them alone with you." He said with a little laugh in his voice.

"No, its ok I just wasn't expecting to wake up like that" he shrugged with a little pain from the movement."

"Ha ha, surely that would be any mans dream, but I guess for you it's not." He laughed, "I'm Senoki a monk of this village."

"I'm Kohaku." he replied. Senoki helped Kohaku so he could sit up properly, but he winced as the aches and pains returned to his body.

"You are a lucky one" Senoki started, "I was taking my late night walk and I found you lying in a pool of your own blood."

"And I thank you for what you did."

"It was nothing, if I left you there to die I couldn't live with myself, so I took you here." Kohaku couldn't really imagine an old man like Senoki carrying him into the village; surely a young man at his age would be heavy enough to break something in the old mans body. Now that Kohaku was closer to Senoki he could see the strands of white and gray in the mans moustache, the red in his cheeks, and the shiny bald spot on top of his head and sort strands that made a perimeter around half of his head. The man wore simple monks robes that had a mixture of blues, blacks, and violets.

"Senoki-sensi! I have the water!" Yelled an accomplished Yuzu who was wobbling up the steps balancing a bucket of water in her arms. She set the bucket of water down next to the monk and then started for the door.

"Yuzu, you can stay if you'd like." She turned around with cheerfulness pouring from her eyes. Yuzu sprinted over to Kohaku's side being parallel from her teacher. Kohaku looked at her, the bright orange and green kimono accented her soft brown eyes. For a moment he could see a young girl with long brown hair and a side ponytail with a piece of melon in her hands flash before his eyes. He was locked in a trance of remembrance, but all she did was stare right back in the same trance. Their contest ended when the sliding of the door broke their attention. They looked at the door simultaneously and saw Senoki with a few cloths and a bottle. "This should help heal your wounds quickly with the least amount of pain." He said as he took his spot by Kohaku's side.

"Yay" Yuzu screeched, "Senoki-sensi is the best a fixing boo boos!" She looked at Senoki who nodded, and before he knew it Yuzu's small hands crept over to Kohaku's bandages were fastened. Delicately, she undid the bloodstained cloth strips. He winced when he felt the pressure concealing his pain loosened. "Whoops, I'm sorry" she apologized.

"It's okay" Kohaku said through clenched teeth. After the seemingly long minutes of unraveling Yuzu undid the last strip of material from his stomach. Senoki gently guided Kohaku down onto the futon. Kohaku got a look at his painful wound. It looked as bad as if felt. Three wide lings were carved into his upper stomach. And there was still a bit of blood oozing from it.

"I removed the poison when I found you. You better be thankful that the right herbs were around to make the right remedy, or you'd be dead." Senoki said.

"Don't' worry I am" Kohaku exhaled.

"Ok Kohaku this may sting but I will fight infection and make the wound heal quicker." Kohaku nodded. He's dealt with pain that was really bad considering his past what could a liquid do to him? Senoki grabbed the bottle and pulled out the cork, a heavy aroma filled the room. This scent was strong enough to burn Kohaku's nose almost making him want to pass out. He looked over at Yuzu who covered her nose in discomfort. Senoki held a cloth to the opening of the bottle and tilted it upside down letting the disinfectant soak into it. Kohaku squinted his eyes preparing himself for the pain to come when he felt a small hand grip his. He opened his eyes to find that Yuzu had slipped her hand into his. She gave him an assuring smile and he nodded signifying he was ready.

Senoki dabbed the substance on the first deep cut and Kohaku hissed in pain but he got an assuring grip from Yuzu. First Senoki would dab the cut with the disinfectant liquid then dab it over with water. Surprisingly Yuzu was somewhat of a nurse she put a cold cloth on Kohaku's head when beads of sweat began to roll down his head. Over and over about six times on each cut Senoki repeated his actions as if a ritual. And each time Kohaku would exhale in sharp breaths. And finally Senoki finished the over and over steps. Yuzu entered the room with clean bandages. And just as carefully as she undid them she put them back on. Senoki helped Kohaku to stand and let Kohaku outside to a porch.

The temple was on top of a hill overlooking a small village with a stream that ran right through it. You could see many miles of vast forest area. The sun was turning into a gold color and slowly receding towards the horizon. Kohaku could hear Senoki suggesting that Yuzu go and wash herself up because of a small amount of blood on her hands. She happily obliged and ran down the road to the village to wash up. But what made Kohaku wonder was 'where were Yuzu's parents?'

"Her parents were killed when she was only an infant." Senoki said as if reading his mind. "Yes, remember that day so clearly, I was going to a distant village to try and cure an old man and I passed a village that was invaded by bandits. Her mother's body was covering her in protection, and I assumed that her father was next to them. She was wailing uncontrollably and I couldn't just leave a small child so I took her with me to the village. And she's been with me ever since. But she says she had a brother, but I don't know if she could remember something from such a young age. Some survivors of the village said that he died." Just the story made him think of a cheerful young girl from his past who had lost people she loved but still remained happy because she gained new people to love. Even though Yuzu only looked to be nine she knew how to take care of herself and help her teacher.

"So young Kohaku what is your story?'" Senoki asked as he sat next to Kohaku on the wood. "I couldn't help but notice that you are a demon slayer. I thought that they were all gone."

"No, I survived." He didn't truly survive because he died, but he was here and alive so what else could he say 'I died before, but I was kept alive by this Shikon shard in my back that was given to me by a demon.' No way, even though this was a monk and he never thought about lying to one. In the beginning he had told a monk of his past and all he did was say that the gods forgave him. But no matter how many monks said that blood would still taint his hands, weapons, and mind forever. "I had lost my memories, and an elderly couple had taken me in for awhile. Then I was led down a road of lies by many people, now I'm making amends to my mistakes." Well that wasn't completely a lie he just left out a few major details. Senoki could see that Kohaku was partially pained by talking about his past so he decided to drop the subject.

"So I see you have many scars" Senoki noticed small and big ones that varied from scratches and demon gashes 'Yes I do have many scars inside and out' Kohaku thought, "You must be a skilled fighter." Senoki continued.

"Yes my sister and I were taught by our father, he was the village's headman."

"You better be careful Kohaku, if girls see those scars they may think that you've rutted with women and demonesses alike." He laughted. By the mention of that topic Kohaku blushed. Senoki was truly and interesting man. He wasn't quiet like all the other monks he met and he didn't really follow the code of monks either. But the weird thing about it was he liked it. Senoki was a man who could sense people's feelings and tell if they do or don't want to talk about something.

The men could see Yuzu rushing up the stream holding two pink wildflowers. She rushed into the temple happily and ran to the porch.

"Senoki-sensi Kohaku! Look at these pretty flowers I found." She held them up so they both could see.

"Why Yuzu those are truly a gift we should take care of them." Senoki got up and went into the temple and soon emerged with a vase and water inside. He held it down in front of Yuzu who put them in and began to marvel at their beauty. A few minutes later it was quiet, not an awkward quiet but a comforting one. Yuzu was still looking at her flowers as she was on her stomach as Kohaku and Senoki watched the sunset. But the silence was penetrated with Yuzu's voice.

"Senoki-sensi Kohaku! Look what's in the sky!" Yuzu pointed her finger into the violet, crimson, and gold sky to follow a black dot. It was coming closer and closer. Yuzu went behind Kohaku scared that what was coming was going to be scary. Finally, the trio could see the creature had four legs and had yellow fur with black stripes. It came closer and closer. It was a cat demon. With a wave of fire it transformed from a fierce state to a cute kitten and landed in Kohaku's lap.

"Why hello Koro." Kohaku said petting the kitten's striped head. The red eyes looked up and smiled and added a little mew.

"Ohhhh IT'S SO CUTE!" Yuzu yelled. She ran to Kohaku's side and held her hand out to pet the kitten but pulled her hand back as if reconsidering.

"Don't worry he won't bite." Kohaku assured. Unexpectedly, Koro jumped right into the arms of Yuzu. She began to cuddle him with all her might. She rubbed the soft fur against her cheek.

"He's so soft." She beamed. Senoki was laughing at how happy Yuzu was. Kohaku began to tell the story of how he found Koro in the bushes when he was a newborn about a year ago. Koro was settled in Yuzu's lap as she listened to Kohaku's story.

"Well you are a special kitty aren't you Mr. Koro" she said scratching his head. Before everyone knew it was getting dark. Senoki ushered them into the temple and led Kohaku to a room with a futon on it.

"Well you can stay here until you are well enough" Senoki said.

"Oh no I couldn't stay" Kohaku said.

"Nonsense you are healing and have nowhere to go." Kohaku had gratefully said yes everyone shared a quiet dinner with Yuzu always looking at Koro drinking milk beside her. Then everyone went to bed, Senoki said he needed much more rest to recover. And so he fell asleep with Koro at his side thinking about this new place.

'Maybe new things aren't as bad.' He thought before drifting off to sleep.

End Chapter!

Wahoo!!! Finished with this. This took me longer than expected. And yes I used two names from Bleach. I listened to like 3 different cds while I was writing this and what's rest of the noodles are sill in front of me cold...lol. So I hope you guys dug this chapter! Rin will hopefully come in next chapter and the situation may come together within the next two so keep reading. And review a whole bunch! I may need some ideas cause I have bits and pieces of this story in my head.

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