I believe I have only left the village twice in my life: once when I was little and the second time was when I lost my sight.

But what I do recall from when I was little and what I heard every morning even in my own village was one word:

"Fish!"

A seller bellowed that one word above all in the town's market, followed closely behind by a rotund baker, then wheat seller, rice, livestock and ending in a symphony of other sales. I gripped Rin's hand and looked up at the warm light emitting from the large torch light lamps that glowed brightly despite the approaching darkness.

Rin eagerly tried to pull away and view all of the sights being sold and talked about. Almost lost her when the rotund baker mentioned sweets but we were on a mission and, I reminded Rin, we had no money yet.

"There's a spot." She said, steering me toward the empty area. We set up the blanket with a flourish and set our improvised sign up for show. 'Akimekura: Psychic and fortuneteller.'

A rough, leather bag containing stones I had picked up on the way and feed power to and a small jewel necklace we had "borrowed" from Sesshomaru's personally treasure trove. The stones would work as runes and the jewelry a pendulum.

I situated myself in the middle of the cloth and arranged my skirt around me in a graceful way. Rin bounced around, anxiously watching for our first customer of the evening. When her pacing finally became too much, I harshly but quietly whispered, "Rin, sit down. Think of people as fish; too much movement will scare them away."

With a huff, she sat down next to me and tried to appear calm. With minor fidgeting, she somewhat accomplished it.

"Excuse me?" Rin's excitement peaked.

I placed a gently but firm hand on her knee to keep her still. "Yes?"

"You're a fortuneteller? You can tell me my future?"

"That is what I trained to do, yes. Please, take a seat." I gestured to the expanse of blanket that lay in front of me.

Slowly, nervously, she lowered herself down onto the blanket, setting her load to the side.

"How much?" She asked warily.

"Only twenty coin."

"Twenty? Don't you think that's a little much for just a reading?"

"I do much more then read, I tell." I said, meaning it as a joke. Unfortunately, with the mood that surrounded her, the joke failed to loosen her nerves. "Well," I said, clearing my throat uselessly, "We can either use runes to tell your future, contact someone who you have lost in this life or I can let your body tell its own tale."

"My body?" She squeaked, surprised by the idea.

I held up my hand for her to see. "I can tell what has and will happen to you using life lines, love lines and other small indents in the hands that those who are trained can find meaning to."

"Umm, runes would be nice, if I could."

I nodded slowly, respectfully. "It is your choice, of course." I slide the little leather bag toward her. "I need you to pick as many stones as feel comfortable and place them in a right to left in front of me."

She did, and soon six stone lay in a line in front of me. "Now what?"

"Now, I read." I took the left most stone in my hand and connected with the energy that I had placed in it and what had transferred through her touch. "There's a sequence of sorts, going from left to right in a past to present to future sort of thing. Due to the number of stoned you withdrew, two for past, two present and two for future. The stones combined will tell the story of your life."

"Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly. "They look like normal rocks to me."

"Ever heard the phrase, looks can be deceiving?" I whispered a word in an ancient language that I had learned from my teacher, one of the first, and the magic that I bestowed in the rocks lit up in a ray of colors and hues that the customer gasped in surprise.

I smiled kindly. "Shall we begin?"

----------------------------------------

For such a small town, word traveled fast. Surprisingly, it had been a long time since a Psychic had visited the town. Unsurprisingly, these people were seriously superstitious, so the idea of being forewarned of coming disastrous was a huge deal.

My rate stayed the same twenty coins, but as each person in the town came for a quick reading our little purse soon was overflowing. Night had long come but these people acted as if it was the middle of the day. Some even seemed to just be emerging from their beds.

Taking a quick break, when the line had finally shortened, I brought it up with a one of the locals.

"Well, it's always been like that." He said at first, easily answering my question as if I was asking the time of day.

"Yes, but why? Isn't more of the human nature to wake with the sun, not the moon?"

He just laughed at my serious question. "You make it sound like you're not human, dear."

I ignored his joke at my expense and continued on. "But why would such a nice little town become nocturnal?"

"Well because of the Sun Demon."

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You heard right. There's a Sun Demon that lives in this here forest, and as you could guess, he's the strongest when the sun's up." Tobacco filled the air as he lit up a pipe.

"And what does this Sun Demon do?"

"What all demons do; kill, hunt, attack the innocent." He shrugged.

"But why do you sleep if he fights during the day?"

"Well, we have come to know that he senses life and movement. So by being asleep, we somehow throw a cloak of invisibility over ourselves."

"Well, if that isn't quaint." I mumbled more to myself. I thanked him and returned to the blanket, starting to tell fortunes without consciously being aware of it.

It didn't matter; my body knew all of the motions, the things to say without the help of my mind. And thank goodness it was like that, because my mind was off in another dimension all together.

These people were all but deprived of life. It was a miracle in itself that they were able to survive. I had to do something, anything to help. A charm? No, this thing sounds too big for that. A spell? Same problem. My mind raced through the ideas of how to get rid of a demon.

Why not use a demon to get rid of a demon?

The idea strayed through my mind, followed by a picture of Sesshomaru. Would he? No, his pride wouldn't let him. But if they offered something . . . or Rin and I just pestered the thing on him and won't shut up until he fulfills our request.

The idea was tempting, but taking that route could hurt more than help.

Ideas ran through my head even as we finished. We took up the three purses filled with coins and went shopping. Starting with the dresses, Rin was like a princess just returning to her castle. The seamstress helped pick out designs for three dresses; one red with yellow flowers, the next blue with purple butterflies, and the last green with orange leaves. Two were tough and durable, able to withstand several days of travel. The third would be put in a safe box and used for special occasions.

I personally only got two, one for travel and another for dress. The one for travel was in style among travelers this year: the top was loose, hanging off the shoulders, while the skirt was a new design. The seamstress was quite delighted by the design, saying she had originally started it here in the village. I believed her.

The skirt was a loose fabric that felt like feathers as it swayed at my feet. With a quick turn, the skirt billowed out like an upside-down lily.

I wasn't allowed to see the one for special occasions; Rin wanted it to be a surprise for when I did wear it. I was worried at first, but the seamstress assured me that it was very nice, 'one of her best ever made' she said with a wink.

About to leave, I hesitated at the door.

"Umm, if it's not too much to ask, can I have a second outfit? Same design but the different colors?"

We talked for a while and came up with a color scheme: a light sky blue instead of white top and a second skirt with an intricate design in a dark purple, unlike the simple midnight blue of the first.

After grabbing a packed dinner, we said our farewells and promises of return.

I had things to discuss, and most likely it would not be fun.