Kikyou woke up suddenly in the warmth of her own bed, and her wounds taken cared of and bandaged. A single candle was placed in a lamp in her room in the middle providing the only light. She sat up slowly and observed that she was alone except for her little sister who had drifted asleep while changing towels laid on Kikyou's head. She smiled despite the pain she was feeling. Her head was throbbing badly, but it still gave all the information she needed of what had happened in the forest. As she reviewed all the events in her mind, she wondered how she managed to get home. Did that the young man that helped her in the forest helped her get back home as well? She certainly thought that was very possible. But before she could think more on the subject herself, her aunt who was in her 40s came in the door. Her aunt was chubby, and she had a face that was used to laughing and smiling a lot. Her hair was long and tied at the end with a white ribbon. She wore a plain blue kimono, and carried in her hands a basket full of herbs. She looked up and smiled kindly to Kikyou.
"I see you're awake! I'm so glad! For a while the whole village thought you were going to leave us!" Her aunt sat down next to her in the small room and put her hand on her forehead.
"The whole village knows?" Kikyou asked, and wondered again in what fashion she managed to arrive in.
"Of course the whole village! Did you know how worried we all were when you didn't come back from your weekly visit to your mother's grave? We searched for hours until we found you nearly dead beside a tree trunk! I expect it was a demon who dared do such horrible things to cute girls like yourself!"
Kikyou suddenly felt very sad and disappointed. She wasn't sure why the information provoked such emotions, and she remembered the young man. She refused to believe that the young man who so kindly and bravely destroyed the demon would just leave her in such an emergency state.
"Did anyone happen to see or meet a young man in the forest?" A sudden detail brushed Kikyou's mind. "He was wearing a red robe…and he had silver hair!"
Kikyou's aunt thought for a moment, "I'm sorry dear, I don't think any of us saw anything in that forest out of ordinary. That is, beside you getting hurt of course. And oh! That reminds me, everyone's very happy – after we were sure you were going to recover – that you managed to slay your very first demon! It's a very amazing thing to be able to slay a demon at the age of 8! I don't think even your mother managed that!" The aunt gave her a very big smile. "Now I think it's better if you get more sleep. After all, you are still in danger of further damage." With that note, Kikyou's aunt helped her get into her bed again gently, and left with her basket of herbs into the kitchen shutting the sliding door quietly behind her. Kikyou was laying fully awake even minutes later thinking over the whole episode. So the whole village thought she was the one who destroyed the demon. Why wouldn't they? She was their priestess and she possessed great powers. Great powers that are extremely weak when you are only 8. It is impossible that she would ever manage to slay a demon at her age even if she didn't witness the spectacular act by that young man. But she found that she didn't really want to deny that she was able to slay a demon. With her being the priestess, what else was she good for? How else would people notice her? To slay demons is her purpose, and everybody expects her to live up to it. That night however, the young girl's minds were not filled with purposes or duties or slaying demons, but it was filled up with the mystery of that young man that undoubtedly saved her life.