"Where…where am I?" Sakira wearily asked to no one in particular.
"Hey, Kouga, she's awake!" a voice exclaimed.
Sakira opened her eyes all the way. She was looking up at a stone ceiling. No doubt a cave. She slowly maneuvered herself into a sitting position as she heard hurried footsteps growing nearer and nearer. Then a new figure knelt down beside her. He looked like the man she saw before she was out.
"Are you okay?" he asked in a handsome and gentle voice.
Sakira gazed at him and replied, "I…think so…who are you?"
Cerulean eyes changed their expression from concern to satisfaction. "I am Kouga," he declared. "leader of this wolf tribe. I heard you say something about some sort of a wind tunnel. I also smelled your blood, so I came running. I found you, brought you here, and the rest is history."
The little girl examined the cave with interest. A wolf den, huh? I do remember Naraku mentioning something about a wolf demon to Kagura. This must be him.
"Kouga, right? My name is Sakira. And from where I came from, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." She folded her arms and looked up at the ceiling once more.
Kouga smirked. "Try me," he said.
Sakira looked at him, smiled, and began her story. "All right, but this is a true story."
And she began with her discovery of her true past: how she found out she was separated, to Kouga finding her.
"—so all my life I've lived with Naraku. For as long as I can remember, at least."
She looked back at Kouga. "You do know Naraku, do you?" She didn't know if anyone else knew about her neglectful--for lack of better term—guardian, for she had had no conversations with the outside world. Naraku had forbidden it.
Kouga nodded with a determined look. Now he had even more of a reason to kill him. This little girl was taken from her parents at Naraku's command. She doesn't even know them. He looked back at Sakira and noticed a gold chain around her neck. "What's that?" he asked.
She looked down at herself and saw what he did. "Oh, that. It's a picture of my mom and dad. It's all I have of them."
She opened it up. Inside was a picture of the monk and the other girl that Muttface always traveled with along with Kagome. He didn't realize that Sakira had seen his startled face.
"You know them?" she asked eagerly.
"Well, I recognize them. I've seen them travel with Inuyasha."
"Who's Inuyasha?"
Kouga looked up at her, jaw dropped. Who's Inuyasha? She must have really been cut off if she doesn't know Inuyasha. "He's a dog demon. Well, half-demon to be exact. It's a long story as to how I know him."
The man on Sakira's left piped in, "He's in love with the girl Inuyasha hangs out with."
"Shut up, Ginta!" Kouga shouted. Sakira was now blushing furiously. She was unsure of what to think, so she smiled. She then remembered the topic at hand.
"Kouga-kun, you said you recognized my parents. Do you know where they might be?" Sakira asked in an attempt to get him off of Ginta, or whatever his name was.
"Yes, I did say that, didn't I? I don't know where they are currently, but I do know that they're after Naraku. Along with myself."
"So if I look for a half demon, I can find my parents?" She started to get up, much to the protest of all the wolves and people around her.
"Whoa, slow down there, kid," Kouga put a hand on Sakira, motioning for her to stay put. "You can't even stand up yet."
"But what about finding Inuyasha? You said that if I found him I could be near my mom and dad." Sakira gave Kouga a pouting look.
"Yes," he said. "But you need to be able to walk around. And along your search there will be trouble in the form of demons more often than not. So once you're healthy again I will be happy to teach you some of the fighting ways of the wolf tribe." He sat back and glanced at the mouth of the cave before looking back toward Sakira and smiled at her.
"Oh, wow, Kouga-kun, you would do that?" Sakira asked as though she couldn't believe her ears.
Kouga chuckled. "Sure, kid. But you gotta get better first. Useless to train a bed-ridden person to fight a demon."
Sakira nodded. She eagerly squinted her eyes shut in an attempt to get back to sleep so as to quicken the healing process.
Ginta looked back at Hakkaku then at Kouga with a quizzical expression. Are you really going to train her? He mouthed. Kouga's eyes sparkled as he smiled at them and nodded. "Of course," he added. Ginta and Hakkaku exchanged looks of uncertainty.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Not far from Kaede's village, a group of travelers were sleeping in a clearing in the middle of a rather large forest. All were quiet… except for one: a taijiya warrior who was tossing and turning in her sleep.
Sango was sitting down at the base of a tree holding baby Sakira. Miroku was sitting next to her and talking to their child saying,
"the wolf by the waterfall; the wind he mauls
The uncle's released from the dangerous calls
The heir to the tunnel shall make peace prevail
Should the young one fight, ukaran will fail."
Naraku walked toward them and stood there, smirking down upon them. Miroku stood up, his left hand gripping the beads on his right, ready to fight him. Naraku said something indistinct and pulled a dagger out of nowhere. Miroku whipped open his wind tunnel, but nothing happened. Naraku took the dagger, grinning maliciously, and drove it straight through Miroku's chest.
Sango screamed, but no words came out. Miroku crumpled to the ground and lay motionless. Naraku cackled and removed his dagger from his victim. He then looked at Sango, advanced toward her, and raised the dagger above his head, ready to strike.
Then he changed. Naraku turned into Kohaku. Sango's younger brother suddenly dropped his weapon wearing the same guilty expression as the day Father died. He fell to his knees and took off the face mask he was wearing.
"Sango, what have I done?" he asked pleadingly.
Then a dozen or so arrows came from behind Sango and Sakira and hit Kohaku just as they did the day he died. He too crumpled to the ground. "KOHAKU!!!"
Sango cried to the newly formed fog. She looked over her shoulder and saw Kagome in her archery fighting stance as though she had just flung an arrow.
Sango couldn't believe her eyes. "Kagome, why?" she pleaded.
Then Kagome began to speak. "Sango," she said. "Sango, please wake up. Wake up. Sango. Sango.Sango.Sango.Please wake up now, Sango. I'm begging you."
Her voice faded into the distance.
Sango's eyes snapped open. She found out why her name was repeated. She rolled over and saw Miroku kneeling over her with a look of sleepy concern. "Sango, you must have been having a bad dream," he said.
A tidal wave of relief overwhelmed her. "Miroku! You're okay!" she exclaimed.
She sat up and pulled him into a bear hug. "I had the most horrible dream. You were…" She suddenly remembered the song that her dream husband chanted to her baby. The song. It sounded like a prophecy.
"What's wrong?" he asked as she let go of his neck.
Sango replied, "In my dream…you were sitting next to me while I was holding Sakira. You were chanting something. Something about a wolf, an uncle, and someone who's name began with a 'u'. Oh now I remember what you said."
He gave her a quizzical look, and she began,
"You said something like,
'the wolf by the waterfall; the wind he mauls
The uncle's released from the dangerous calls
The heir to the tunnel shall make peace prevail
Should the young one fight, ukaran will fail.'
"It sounded like a chant. Like a prophecy. What do you think it could mean?" Sango looked at Miroku with a pleading face.
"Hmm. It does sound like the future. We could ask Myoga tomorrow morning. Perhaps he knows something about the matter." He glanced over at the paranoid flea.
"Hey, would you mind keepin' it down over there? Some of us are trying to sleep!" a half-demon's voice startled the couple.
"Inuyasha, you could just go sleep in a tree somewhere," Sango piped up.
"Maybe I don't wanna go. Maybe I want to sleep soundly without having to listen to midnight conversations that come up out of nowhere!" Inuyasha's voice was rising rapidly, as usual.
"Inuyasha, sit!" came a sleepy fourth voice.
"UUGH"
Sango smiled wearily at her best friend. "Kagome, thanks for that."
Kagome Higurashi gradually heaved herself up to a sitting position. "Inuyasha's being ridiculous again. What's up, Sango? I thought I heard you call for Kohaku."
"She did," Miroku said at once. "Woke me up."
Suddenly a huge gust of wind blew in from nowhere. Everyone looked up toward the sky. Kagome woke up Shippo and Kirara, knowing only too well what a sudden gust of wind that hard would bring: Kagura.
Sure enough, a feather drifted down to them. The occupant jumped off and cackled loudly. "Hello again, Inuyasha." She said.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Back at the castle, it was late into the night, but its occupants were far from asleep. Their little hostage had high-tailed it away right under their very noses.
Naraku was furious. He was sitting in the girl's room waiting for the insects to return with the girl. His anger knew no limits when only one buzzed toward him. But he wouldn't let that show. "Only one," he said in his usual monotonous voice. "I'm a little disappointed." He knew that "a little disappointed" was quite an understatement. "I see she got away.
The bug buzzed up to him and hissed something in his ear that only Naraku could understand.
"Rescued, huh? Well, let's give a token of our appreciation."
Naraku walked out into the garden. He stood there and looked up at the sky and watched as a huge feather floated safely to the ground.
"I have just returned from Inuyasha. I have wounded the group, but I barely managed to escape Kagome's arrows. What is it this time?"
"Kagura, remember. I control you. If I feel killing you off is necessary, I can do that. So I would be careful with that mouth if I were you. But that is beside the point I want to be made right now. I need you to summon Kanna and make a little reunion with a certain wolf."
The woman on the feather nodded a reluctant affirmative and flew off. Naraku frowned at Kagura, then smiled to himself. Sakira, you may have left the castle, but you have not left me. You won't escape that easily.
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A/N: i had fun writing sango's dream. i like miroku an' all, but idk i just had to do that in the dream. little difficult getting out of it. oh well, R&R plz and give ideas on how u think sakira should meet back w/ her parents. one lucky winner will see their idea in my fanfic. and i know the beginning was once again kinda boring, but the gal couldn't walk:'(
sango's dream wasnt mentioned in summary at end of last chapter, but it is very important!
next chapter: probably going to include Kouga training her. not sure tho
