~ Children of the Well ~



Thank you, Kikyous Revenge (Angee), that was the absolute sweetest! You literally made us jump up and down with your review - and, let's face it, everyone loves to have their egos stroked now and then. : ) This is for you, girl! Disclaimer: We do not own InuYasha, that priviledge belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. *sigh* Can't always get what you want, can you? Oh well. We'll live. We DO own Midori, Sesshomika, Mishi, Sachi, and Haru, though, so no stealing, or you will face the wrath of the T-chans! Mwuhahahahaha! *cough, cough*

Alright, on with the chapter. : )


Chapter Two

Meetings, Partings, and Reunions


Sesshomika floated around on a cloud through the Forest of Inuyasha, bored to death. Her father had told her to stay away from the forest, but had never explained why, and so she had no qualms with disobeying.

She decided to see if there was anything she could do to amuse herself near the God Tree, another place she had been expressly forbidden to go. Not that she cared one way or the other, it held no interest for her most days, but there was usually something to do around the area, and so today she went.

She hopped off her cloud and into the tree. She smelled something . . . strange.

Gods, she thought, not another hanyou. They are no fun to toy with; they aren't even enjoyable to kill. But whatever it was, it didn't even smell half demon. It had demon blood, but it seemed muted under something else, something stronger. Almost human, but . . . not. This thing stunk. Just plain stunk.

She had reached the Bone Eater's Well, unconsciously walking toward the smell. She looked into the bottom. A pile of green and white lay there motionless. She peered closer. It was a . . . human . . . with the same silver white hair all inu youkai were born with. Sesshomika took a long whiff of the curious, horrible scent. Yes, this . . . creature wasn't even a hanyou, but a half hanyou. It wouldn't even be as strong as a hanyou in battle.

Gods be damned, she thought. This isn't even worth my time. Father will be wondering where I am.

~ * ~

Sesshomika sat down next to her father for their afternoon meal.

"Where have you been all day?" Sesshomaru asked. "You reek of humans."

"I've been around." She wasn't about to admit that she had been in Inuyasha's forest.

"You didn't go to a village and terrorize them again, did you?"

"No, Father. I haven't done so in nearly six years." Sesshomika looked at her plate. "I remember your lesson on never killing a human without reason well." And oddly, she still had the scars from that lesson, too. When he had found her torturing a village he had moved as if to slap her face, but at the last second she had looked up and his claws had left three long, thin scars on her neck. She hadn't even cried out. She had just held her head high and let her father speak on how never to harm humans without just cause.

Sesshomaru watched his daughter; whether she knew it or not, Sesshomika reminded him strongly of her mother when she was quiet, thinking to herself, she wore the same gentle expression. He remembered that day well, and when he had drawn the blood of his only child, he had regretted it deeply. He had raised his hand in anger against her. After six years, he still wasn't accustomed to having to deal with his daughter. Gods, how he wished he could take back that day! He took a deep breath. He smelled Inuyasha. And Kagome.

"Where did you go?" he asked, a seriousness sharpening his usually distant voice. "It is very important that you tell me everything that happened today."

"I grew bored this afternoon and so I flew over . . ." Sesshomika stopped, unsure if she should risk it.

"This could be very important. Tell me. Now."

"I . . . I traveled to Inuyasha's forest, because there is usually something amusing to do around the God Tree. And I smelled someone. At first I . . . I thought it was human, but then I smelled youkai on it as well. I followed and found that it came from the dried up well near the tree. I looked in and found a . . . a human with silver hair. But she smelled less than half-youkai. And she wasn't old, Father. Her hair was like mine, like ours, but it was such a mess. Do you know who she was? Or what she was?"

"Yes. I know exactly who she is. She is a half-hanyou. I know who her parents are, as well." He looked at his daughter. "Sesshomika, I never want to catch you any where near that forest," he said, his voice turning to ice as he growled deep within his throat. He hoped, for her safety, she heeded his warning.


~ * ~


This is going to be difficult, Kaede thought, watching the young girl as she stirred the herb broth with the slow, practiced motions of a true potions mistress. Ye are mistaken, Inuyasha, if ye think ye can hide her heritage from her forever. She will certainly find out one day, and what then? How do ye then plan to hide?

She shook her head with a soft sigh. She had tried to tell him it was pointless to keep up the charade now that the girl had found her way through the well, but it was no use attempting to give the hanyou sound advice of any kind; willful and stubborn, he heard only what he chose, and she couldn't very well tell her herself, either. That was a task for the mother or father, and even had she not felt that way, she had given Kagome her word that she would say nothing. She would just have to trust to fate that Inuyasha and Kagome hadn't made too large an error . . .

Kaede turned away from the broth to study this girl, Midori, as she slept under Inuyasha's rad haori. Her short hair fell in soft, snowy wisps around her face, which was peaceful at the moment in sleep, the long, dark eyelashes contrasting with her pale skin. It was almost eerie how much she resembled her father, but, looking closer, she could pick out small traces of Kagome as well. The shape of the eyes and face were that of Kagome . . . as was the strong inner power the old priestess could sense radiating like white fire from the girl. There was no disguising the fact that she, like her mother, was a miko - and an amazingly strong one if she was correct in her assumptions. Never before had she sensed such strength in a person. She was far stronger than Kagome, and stronger even than Kikyo. She supposed it to be, in part, because of the demon blood that came from Inuyasha, which might heighten any powers she had, but whatever it was, she was stronger than any priestess that had come before her.

She will be a formidable opponent if anyone should cross her, she thought.

Slowly, Midori stirred and sat up, rubbing her head groggily. Kaede ladled out some of the herbal broth into a wooden cup, and handed it to the girl before sitting down beside her. She accepted it willingly, almost as if only half aware of what she was doing. She took a drink, grimacing at the bitter taste.

"Where am I?" she asked.

Kaede thought about how to answer, and decided that only part of the truth would do. It was better not to shock her too much at once. "In our village, child," she answered simply.

"And that would be where?"

The old woman sighed, saying, "It is difficult to explain."

"Try me, lady," Midori said flatly. "I got pulled down a well today, and ended up . . . wherever this is. I'll believe almost anything you say."

"Ye are in Japan."

Midori raised her fine, dark eyebrows. "I hate to tell you this," she said, "but that's where I was before this happened, and this definitely doesn't feel the same as that."

She has taken on Inuyasha's attitude as well, I see, Kaede thought wryly. "Understandable," she said, "for ye are no longer in the Japan ye knew."

"Well, now, that makes everything so much clearer, doesn't it?" Midori snapped.

"I once heard it called by the name 'Feudal Japan.' That is all I can say."

The girl's eyebrows shot up in surprise and disbelief, and she looked around the hut, taking in everything at a glance, as if that would solve anything; she then shrugged and turned her gaze back to Kaede, oddly accepting of her strange, new situation, although, lurking in the depths of her amber eyes, Kaede could see the dawning shock and awe that would no doubt over-take her soon.

"If you say so," she said. "So, who are you, anyway?"

"Kaede. Priestess of this village," she answered.

Midori nodded, accepting this, too. She took another sip from the cup she still held in her hands, her face screwing up. "You know, Kaede, this stuff is horrible," she commented.

Kaede chuckled. She was even more like Inuyasha than her appearance warned.


~ * ~


Sesshomika woke to the sun. Gods, she thought, why can't I ever sleep past dawn? She stood up and put on her kimono. What was she going to do today? She took a deep breath and got a whiff of her human half. That was it! She would go to Kaede's village and get the Shikon no Tama. Then she would be able to become a full youkai. She hated that she was half human, only a hanyou. She was positive it was the main focus of all her father's disappointment. It be so embarrassing for him to have to see his daughter everyday and to have to introduce a half youkai, half human creature as his daughter, as the Lady of the Western Lands.

Her father hated humans, and always had. He had, in a moment of weakness, mated with her mother. He hadn't even wanted her around until after her mother had died, and even then she had a feeling that he didn't truly desire her company. But today she was going to make him proud to call her daughter. Today she was going to hold the Shikon no Tama in her hands. Today she was going to become a full youkai.

She walked outside and summoned a cloud, a simple trick her father had taught her when she was eight. She headed toward the Forest of Inuyasha. I am sorry, Father, she thought. You'll have to understand later.

It wasn't long before she was within an easy distance of Kaede's hut. She dropped down off of her cloud and made her way there through the forest. She stopped just inside the stand of trees, to observe the place. It was just as she remembered it, a small, homely place, comforting . . . but barring her way to the door was a hanyou. Gods be damned. She hadn't wanted blood to be smelt by her father, but she had to do this.

She walked out into the open and took a deep breath, readying herself to fight. The hanyou smelled dimly like her father . . . interesting . . . I had better do this now.

She looked the hanyou over, assessing him. He looked very much like she did: silver hair, only his was untamed and much thicker, but the same golden eyes peered out at her. And he, too, like all other inu hanyou, was cursed with the pointed, furry ears, just as she was, and their skin was the same pale cream color. They were related. How, she didn't know, and at the moment, it didn't matter.

Sesshomika bared her claws and looked directly at him. "I am Sesshomika." She had always believed in letting her kills know her name. "I am here for the Shikon no Tama, and you are in my way."