A/N: Right, here's chapter two. I should warn you, this is a tragedy. Meaning it will be a bit more serious then my other stories and the writing style will be different. Thank you all who reviewed!

ILvsimplepln2: lol. Thank you. Here's Inuyasha for you. I hope you like this chapter!

Karou-chaness: Thankies!!! I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but here's chapter two now. I hope you like!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. I'm sure you really needed me to clear that up for you.


"Lady Kagome!" a young woman looked up from where she was picking herbs, smiling gently as she watched three young children make their way towards her.

"Lady Kagome! What are you doing?"

"Do you want to play?"

"Can I help you?"

"No! I want to help her!"

"Hush, hush." She knelt down in front of the two girls and the boy, smiling even wider as they immediately complied. "I can't answer you when you're all clamoring for my attention."

"Sorry lady Kagome." They all cried in unison.

"It's all right. I'm picking some herbs for my medicines. Do you three want to help me?"

"Yes please!"

"Of course!"

"Really?"

She shook her head slightly as she handed them each a basket. Those three, Sari, Yume, and Haro, followed her around whenever she left the house.

She began lecturing them on the medicinal properties of the plants as she picked them, part of their daily routine. They all listened with wide-eyed attentiveness.

"This is Starthorn. When cut and boiled it can be served to the inflicted person as a drink to help bring down a fever. You have to be very careful with how much you use, though, because too much can just worsen the person's condition. You also have to watch out for its thorns while cutting it. They sting if they get into your skin."

Her attention was suddenly caught by one of the village women, watching her while pretending to collect berries.

'Probably making sure I'm not going to suddenly snap and attack the children.' She thought sourly. Looking down she saw that she had more than enough of what she needed, so she packed up and sent the children home, ignoring their moaning and pleading.

"Go home, and you can come back tomorrow. I'm not going to disappear overnight, and I'm sure I will be needing your assistance again. Now shoo!"

After dropping off her baskets, she turned and went down to the river, untying her long black hair as she walked. Settling herself down on the grass, she slipped out of her sandals and dangled her feet in the water, trying not to think. Thoughts wouldn't be kept at bay, though.

For some reason, the whole village was convinced that any day now she would lose it, even though she had been perfectly sane for years. She tried to prove herself, training her powers and becoming their miko, but it didn't matter. They would be afraid of her forever, and training her powers had only strengthened that fear. Apparently, no when she lost it, she could bring the whole village down with her.

With a sigh, she picked up a pebble and threw it as hard as she could, watching it plop into the water. The ripples it would have caused in still water didn't have a chance to form as the water continued raging it's destructive way onward. Like her life... She wanted to help people, to cause ripples in their lives, but their fear and hatred effectively shut her out, and that was a fact as unchangeable as the course of the river. Only on person had accepted her, and that was Kaede, the former village miko, and the woman who had taken her in when she lost her family.

She supposed she was lucky she hadn't been kicked out entirely, but the only reason that hadn't happened yet was probably because the village was afraid the action would send her over the deep end. How nice.

She suddenly surged to her feet, eyes tearing up. She couldn't live like this any longer! She didn't deserve this treatment. She had done nothing to warrant it! It wasn't fair! Even though they hadn't kicked her out, she knew that eventually she was going to have to leave. She didn't know when though. All she knew was that she couldn't survive like this for much longer.

She scrubbed at the tears on her cheeks. She wouldn't be weak.

Something suddenly caught her attention. A feeling of evil and wrongness, swiftly approaching. "Demon..." she muttered, then took off towards the village as swiftly as her feet would take her, sandals lying forgotten by the water.

"A demon is coming! Everybody into your homes, now! Get moving. A demon is coming!" As soon as she was in hearing range, she began crying the alarm, and in an instant the village square was empty, except for a few men who had come to help her. She nodded as one handed her a bow before turning to Kaede who had just walked up.

"Kaede, you stay here with the village just in case. I'm sure a few more men will come out to assist you." When the elderly miko nodded she turned and began lightly jogging in the direction of the evil she had felt, closely followed by the men. They were almost on the edge of the forest when it was spotted.

"There it is!" she looked quickly in the direction that the man was pointing and groaned inwardly. A serpent demon. Possibly one of the peskiest demons alive. This on was alone, but she was sure that somewhere it had a mate that was just waiting to attack. That, after all, was just their luck.

The demon had spotted them and was heading in their direction, ignoring the little pinpricks of the arrows her men fired. Sighting aloud, she quickly purified an arrow, aimed, and fired, taking the Youkai in the eye. With an angry cry of pain, the serpent opened it's mouth to strike, but was stopped by another arrow in the throat. With one last pained cry, it fell to the ground and died.


She ignored the men's congratulations. This was all they got these days. Simple demons that Kaede could easily handle. She was not needed here. That much was obvious. She made up her mind, then. She was going to leave the next chance she got and no one was going to stop her.


"Lady Kagome! Come quick!" she'd just stepped out of her door and all ready Yume had spotted and accosted her. She frowned a bit when she saw her young friends agitation.

"What is it?" she asked, grabbing her medicine kit, which was right beside the door.

"There's a man! In the forest. He's hurt real bad. Haro says that me might be dead."

"What?" she demanded, hurrying after the girl who was trotting ahead of her. "What were you doing in the forest? Was there and adult with you?" Why did she bother asking when she all ready knew the answer?

"No." the young girl hung her head in shame for a moment before pressing onward. "Sorry Lady Kagome. We were looking for mushrooms though! The best one are the deepest in the forest you know." Yes she did know. In fact, she was the one who had told the children that.

"Never mind. That doesn't matter right now. Take me to this man." The girl led her past the first layer of trees and farther into the forest than she had been expecting to go. She decided to save her lecture for a later day though, the possible dead man foremost in her mind.

Stepping around a bush, she saw the man immediately. There was so much blood and so many wounds... She wondered vaguely what had happened to him. That's when her eyes fell on Haro, who was in the process of poking him with a stick.

"Haro!" she snapped and the boy jumped away guiltily. "You and Yume go back to the village. Tell the men to bring a stretcher. Then you two go home and stay there until I return. Do you understand?" they nodded mutely, shocked at the harsh tone of her voice. She didn't' care. At the moment, this man was the most important thing.

As she stepped closer she saw two, triangular ears sticking out of the top of his head, almost hidden in his thick white hair.

"A demon..." the village would never let her bring a demon back with her, no matter how badly injured he was. She had to help him though. It would be wrong not to.

She couldn't help but notice how handsome he was, even covered in blood. If you ignored it then he looked like he was sleeping peacefully, long black lashes lying on his cheeks. What had happened to him?

Hesitantly she stretched a hand out and laid two fingers against his neck, noting the strong pulse. That was good. Chances were he would survive. If he had been human though, he would be dead.

With a sigh, she opened the bag she had brought, pulling out rolls of cotton for bandages, and a few herbs that needed to be boiled. When the village men returned she would have them bring water. In the mean time, she started a fire and pulled open the mans haori so she could get a look at the worst of his wounds.

There was so much blood that she couldn't see what was underneath, but at a quick glance, she would say that it was already closing. That was good, but even he would need help healing that.

Biting her lip in concentration, she eased the red cloth off of his right arm, wincing when she saw its angle. Great. A fractured arm. That she could deal with easily though. She was reaching for his side to check for broken ribs when a hand grabbed her wrist. She looked up in shock to see a pair of golden eyes glaring at her angrily.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" he demanded, squeezing her wrist painfully.

"I- I'm trying to help you. You're badly injured." He snorted derisively, wincing only slightly at the sudden movement.

"Right. Trying to help me. More likely you're trying to kill me. After all, why would a human help a hanyou?" Hanyou? So he was only half demon. Interesting...

"Please. I really don't want to hurt you." She made her voice comforting, and tried in vain to pull her hand out of his grip. "You need to rest though, if you want to get out of here anytime soon. Here, let me-"

"Wench, I don't need your help! I'll be fine. Just leave me alone." He tossed her hand aside in disgust and tried to get up, eyes closed in concentration.

"Stop that." With two hands on his shoulders he thrust him back down, and matched his glare, getting ready to lecture him. "You can't move just yet. Are you an idiot? You do need my help, and I'll be damned if I just leave you here. Now sit still and let me do my job."

"But your human." She could hear his resolve weakening, and hid a small smile of triumph.

"So what? You're injured. I'm not the kind of person to turn and leave a man when he's down. Now rest. I will help you get better." With one last suspicious glare, his eyes closed and she sighed in relief. It looked like this was going to be harder than she though...


A/N: Okay, so I'm going to end it there. I had to rewrite the end of that because I lost the original, so it didn't turn out quite how I wanted it to. Oh, well. I guess it's okay. Now, if you want me to continue, then review!