Author's note- The name "Gaanetto" is all I could find to convey the meaning I wanted to come across. As my knowledge of the Japanese language is minimal, it's very difficult for me to find meaningful names. If anyone could think of a better name, I will gladly change it.

When my consciousness returned to me, I felt numerous things all at once.

The smell of jasmine filled my nostrils, and I realized that this was the scent of a woman. Being only sixteen at the time, my wits were not quite as sharpened as they could have been. My hand soon found its way to what I deemed to be a rather inappropriate place. As inappropriate as it was, however, it nevertheless put a smile on my wounded face. The smile was quickly wiped away when the woman's own hand retaliated with a sound smack across my cheek. The contact aggravated the scrapes and bruises, and one of them opened up. I felt a warm trickle of blood on my cheek.

I heard an apologetic gasp and an "Oh!"

My eyelids slowly fluttered open. I was lying inside a cool, dark room. The sleeves of my robes had been rolled up either in an effort to keep me cool despite the summer heat or because someone was tending to the injuries I had acquired on my arms. I tried to turn my head and, though my neck was stiff, I succeeded in looking to see the face of the woman I had grabbed. I felt the closest I had ever felt to embarrassment when I realized that it was no "woman" at all, but a girl.

Better still, it was the girl I had seen before I had blacked out.

"My apologies," I said quickly, then winced at the rawness of my throat. I felt a hand reach for the back of my head and carefully raise me into a sitting position. A cup of cold water was pressed against my lips, and I downed it hurriedly. My thirst was so extreme that I had not realized until after I drank my fill that this young girl had me leaning against her, her arm around my shoulders. "No, I am the one who should be sorry, houshi-sama." The girl had a very shy voice, much different from the inquisitive one she had when she had questioned whether or not I was alive. "It was quite rude of me to react that way, given your state." I nodded and replied that I had not meant to grab her, and was glad to see that I could lie so easily.

I was slowly coming back to myself.

I brought a hand up to my temple, feeling the clotted blood on my face. "What has happened?" The girl leaned down and, though I could not see her hands, I could hear the sound of water and decided that she had a pitcher and was refilling my cup. Bringing it back up and placing it on my lips again, she quietly explained as I drank. "After you blacked out, my father essentially shamed the villagers for their mistreatment of you, being scarcely older than his own children and a monk as well. We've brought you back to our village, where you will be treated as kindly as possible." Apparently remembering that my first taste of her village was that of a solid hit across my already-wounded cheek, she said, "Again, I offer my apologies."

I was about to tell her that she needn't apologize when I felt another presence in the room.

"Kohaku!" The girl, in her surprise, stood quickly, brashly depriving me of my headrest. If it had not been for the pillow beneath my head, I would have surely lost consciousness once more. I turned to see who had disturbed us, and I saw the boy who had called the taijya elder Father. Even in my semi-conscious state, I was aware enough to realize that this was her brother. To walk in on your sister- whom, in my opinion, seemed to be barely fourteen- with her arms around a man is not something that every male would like to see.

Luckily for me, her brother was a small boy who seemed unwilling to do any harm.

He cleared his throat, a slight flush rising in his freckled cheeks. "Sister," he said meekly. "I'm sorry. I hope that I didn't-." He was immediately interrupted by the girl, who seemed more embarrassed than I would have thought the situation warranted. "No! Please, come in! He has just awoken, and I was giving him some water and telling him what had happened." I noted that she did not mention my "accidental" advance towards her, and concluded that this meant that she either had not minded it as much as she let on, or that she would rather forget it ever happened. Again, I was only sixteen and not quite as quick-witted as I could have been.

I chose to believe the former.

The boy named Kohaku nodded. "Father has sent me to see if he was awake yet. He said that if he is able, to bring him forth." He then looked down at me. "What think you, houshi-sama? Are you well enough to walk?" I blinked at the boy, my legs already moving to try and stand. Realizing my own ineptitude for taking advantage of the situation while I can, I held out my hand for the girl besides me. "Perhaps," I answered, "with some assistance."

A strong hand reached out for mine, but it was not hers.

Blinking in surprise, I realized that the young Kohaku had entered the room and had taken it upon himself to help me to my feet. As he pulled me up, I expected to see the protective glare of a brother looking out for his sister's interests, but saw nothing of the sort. His face was kind, and there was even a small smile on his lips. "There, houshi-sama," he said, draping my arm around his shoulders. "Lean on me, if you need to." He walked me out of the room, and I did not hear his sister's footsteps following.

Alone with the small boy, I quietly marveled at his surprising strength.

"Kohaku," I murmured. He looked up at me questioningly. "I did not know that they allowed women and children to become taijya." It seemed that my comment almost earned me a laugh. "We don't become taijya," he responded. "We are born taijya. Karma deals us the life that we are best suited for. But then, you should know more about such things than I, right houshi-sama?"

Then why was I given the life of a monk if I was going to break every vow I was forced to make, I wanted to ask.

I was led into a bright room. Squinting, I saw that windows lined an entire wall. I looked about and noticed that the room was not too unlike a temple. It was bare save for some incense and a statue of a deity. I saw, ironically enough, that it was the deity that shared my name. Apparently, this was an extremely spiritual family, and so any treacherous ideas that may have crossed my mind were best thrown away lest I incur the wrath of the gods.

Seeing that I had not been using him as a cane, Kohaku slipped out from under my arm and bowed low.

I looked up and realized that his father was standing by the window, his back to us. Deciding that this man must be very important if his own son was bowing down, I mimicked Kohaku's actions. "No need." I peered up and saw that the man had turned around, and was looking at both of us kindly. I could see his very image in the face of his son. "Please, stand up. Or sit down. Whichever you feel most comfortable doing."

As I righted myself, I saw that Kohaku was still bowing.

"Kohaku," his father told him gently. "Please, go tend to your sister." With a nod, the boy said, "Yes, Father." His face suddenly serious, Kohaku turned on his heels and left. I looked up at the boy's father who looked back at me amiably. Studying my face, he asked, "Does it hurt?" I replied that it was more sore than it was actually painful. He nodded and sighed. "Please, houshi-sama, I plead for forgiveness on the behalf of those foolhardy villagers."

"And I accept your request, so long as you will consent to call me by my name."

The man looked at me quizzically for a moment as I explained. "I am hardly a monk, as my soul is impure as that of any other man. And you need not give me a title, for in this land you are obviously much more important than me by far." I bowed again for emphasis. "My name is Miroku, and I am forever indebted to you for saving my life."

My name seemed to amuse the taijya.

"Miroku? As in the Bosatsu?" I rose and looked at him good-naturedly. "I do not know if there was any underlying intent in my father's choice of names, but yes." The man walked over to the statue of the deity with the same name and sat by it, beckoning for me to follow. I did, and joined him on the ground. "The future Buddha," he mused. "The one who will spread the word of His Holiness when all the world has forgotten it. Though the scriptures say he is not due for quite a few lifetimes, perhaps he was sent out early, in the midst of this warring age where people forget their roots."

Gazing up at the depiction of Miroku Bosatsu, I let out a small chuckle.

"I highly doubt that I- or anyone in my line, for that matter- has had, has, or will have any connection whatsoever to this savior of Buddhism." I tried not to let my voice express that I thought this "Messiah" did not even exist; that he was simply the creation of a rather esoteric branch of Buddhism that wanted to instill hope in its followers when hoping seemed futile.

In short, I thought this Miroku was a fraud, just like the Miroku that narrates this tale.

"Ah, but one can never tell," the man responded. Seeming to remember something, he said, "Forgive me. I have not given you my name." Bowing his head slightly, he introduced himself. "I am Gaanetto, head of this village of demon exterminators." I bowed my head in return. "I am honored, Gaanetto-sama." In the back of my mind, I could not help but smile. There were few adornments in this house; everything was quite plain despite the obvious wealth of the family who dwelt there. And yet the son was named amber, and the father's name was garnet. Was the daughter's name pearl? Diamond?

"Tell me, Miroku-san, what exactly happened in that neighboring village?"

I sighed, touching a hand to my cheek. Though it seemed that I was assessing my wounds, I was actually making sure that I was not still bleeding from the sharp hit his daughter had administered. Apparently, both of his children were much stronger than their appearances let on, so one could only imagine what Gaanetto-sama himself was capable of doing. If he learned that his girl had struck me, he would want to know why.

If he discovered why, I was mostly likely a dead man.

"I had arrived at the village that morning and asked if I may stay in the house of the village elder for the night, having felt a strange disturbance in the winds. They had not believed that I was a monk at first, for a number of reasons." I decided that it was best to leave these "reasons" unsaid. "They finally decided to let me stay and I saw one of the young boys about to be attacked by demons. A large number of them had appeared from seemingly nowhere, and so I could not use my normal holy powers, having been caught unawares. And so I pushed the boy behind me and used my kazaana."

At that point, I looked down at my covered hand thoughtfully.

Gaanetto-sama let a moment of silence pass before he said, "I have heard that Naraku has cursed many people over the past 45 years of his existence, but I had never heard of him placing an air void in the hand of a young monk." Trying not to sound impudent, I replied, "It has been 47 years, and the air void was not placed upon me. It was placed upon my grandfather nearly 50 years ago, back when Naraku was standing on his first legs."

Another moment passed before I realized something.

"How is it that you and the other village seem to know about Naraku?" Gaanetto-sama looked down, as though weary. "Miroku-san, my village may be the very reason he exists." Confused, I said, "But how? You are a village of taijya. Did one of your exterminations go awry?" He shook his head and looked back up at me. "No. Have you ever heard of the Shikon no Tama?" I nodded. The Jewel of Four Souls had been Naraku's goal… his reason for his sorry state of living. He had even killed a priestess that he had loved who was barely older than I presently was in his attempt to get the jewel for himself. The jewel was burned with the young woman's body, however, and no longer exists in this world.

"The jewel was created in this village, you see."

I blinked at him in surprise. Could that have been the reason he and his son were named after jewels? In acknowledgement to the sacred jewel that countless people have died over in its history? Seeing that I did not know how I was expected to respond, Gaanetto-sama continued. "As of late, Naraku has continued to prowl the lands between this land and the area where the priestess Kikyou had lived, in hopes that the jewel will return."

"An impossibility."

He looked at me, seeming amused. "How is it impossible, Miroku-san?" I shook my head. "This Kikyou-sama had the jewel burned with her corpse when she died. There is no way the jewel could simply reshape itself from ashes." With a small wry smile, Gaanetto-sama queried, "And what would happen if the priestess' soul is reincarnated?" I shook my head again. "The jewel cannot be reincarnated. As a stone, it had no soul."

"On the contrary, Miroku-san; it had four souls."

I stopped my protests, suddenly realizing what he was saying. At that time, I only knew a dim outline of the creation of the jewel, but I knew that it was not named the Jewel of Four Souls in vain. Surely, it had contained four souls, but… the souls were not that of the living, and therefore could not return in the body of a living person. "So then… what you are trying to say is that, the priestess' soul being reincarnated notwithstanding,… there are four additional people in the world whose souls are a part of the Shikon no Tama, and Naraku is in search of them?"

A thin smile spread across Gaanetto's lips.

"That is for you to tell me, Miroku-san. As a monk, you should as be well-versed in the lore of the Shikon no Tama as I." I looked down. The truth was, I had barely skimmed over most of the studies that my adoptive father Mushin had forced me through. Though I am thankful for all that the Buddha has given me, most of his rules were quite boring at that time. "Truth be told," I told him instead, "the history of the Shikon no Tama is more of a Shinto ideal than it is a Buddhist one." I cringed a bit at the truth behind his next words.

"Truth be told, Miroku-san, perhaps there is a deeper reason for you being uncomfortable with being called 'houshi.'"