The truth shall set you free.

Chapter thirteen truth

"I must thank you. I don't know what I was thinking to want to stay in a place like that." Kurama was amending. He gave a small smile, the only kind he was really known to give.

"Neither do I. Even though after a few minutes in that place, I had almost lost the will to stay alive too. It was so…bright. Cheerful. Happy. The only time I ever saw a place like that was through the eyes of someone who had gotten into my Datura. Don't ask."

"Datura? I have heard that name before." Kurama asked anyway. Skye resisted an urge to flash him an irritated glare. Anything could be taken as a weakness. Much better to show nothing at all, however much it might unnerve people. Let them be unnerved, it made dealing with them easier.

"Really? It's supposed to be rather rare in Ningenkai. It can act as a narcotic, but it can also be used as a medicinal herb, that's why I have some dried. The longer they age, the stronger they are." she informed him.

"It doesn't seem like you to have something so dangerous in an accessible place." he answered, studying her with an enigmatic look.

"Oh? You are an expert on my personality now. Enlighten me, if you will." She chuckled, amused.

"Well, your name is Skye Wingthorn, you're fourteen, a fully trained Miko, and own this hospital. You've never fallen in love, and have a strong bond with your patients. You have never had an apprentice, since you don't have one now, and aren't likely to have had one far in the past. You work for no one but the ill." He finished reciting the list, and the look she gave him was appraising.

"Very good, I admire your memory and deduction skills. All wrong, but still quite good. Let me fix it. I'm two hundred and fourteen, have never had training, relying on the modified instinct that replaces it, and no one owns the hospital. I simply manage it. I have fallen in love once, a tragic story, and most of my patients mean little to me.

"My name isn't really Skye Wingthorn, not by birth. It is Reyanina, Reya for short, Wolfcrystal. But you may still call me Skye, that's my current name. I have had several apprentices, all minor prodigies, and I work the will of my ancestors. Satisfied?" she finally finished, breathing deeply.

She couldn't believe she had revealed such personal secrets about herself. And it hurt to know that the one she had once loved was still about, and now she had fallen in love, it seemed, with his best friend.

Poor Hiei, if he ever knew.

"I'm not the same as I was before I was turned to stone. The last question asked of the Wolf Stone was mine, and it was one of the first not asking for information. It was Will you return me to WolfSister? And the spirit of the Wolf Stone answered yes. But I have never been the same person, so I adopted a new name for my new personality. Do not tell Hiei who I am by birth."

"Why would it matter to him?" Kurama asked, curious and hurt, that she had been lying to him all along. Skye studied him sorrowfully.

"Has no one told you the story of Reya Moonstone? I am surprised Hiei did not. He… I'll start from the beginning.

"My dam was the first Miko Windstorm. She died in childbirth, forcing me to become Miko at a terribly young age. I knew none of the playing, and toys that most did. My toys were my herbs, my blankets, plans for the future.

"When I was about twenty, very young for the WolfChildren, I met a wandering demon named Hiei. He was…very alone. He fighting a demon, and a strong one at that, possibly stronger than Hiei. But Hiei had an advantage the other demon did not. Live or Die meant nothing to Hiei. All he wanted was one more kill so that he could, by killing, kill his own heart.

"Hiei was mortally injured in the fight, and it was my first time dealing with a fatal wound. He woke up, and thought I was one of those soul reapers, taking him to Reikai. He was wrong, of course. I cared for him for many days, and we became close.

"The winds were carrying his thoughts to me, of course, and I felt terrible about it. He was slowly, but surely, falling in love, and I with him. But it wasn't allowed for a Miko to love. Some did in secret, but when it was found out…it wasn't pretty.

"When it finally came time for Hiei to leave, he found he could not, and we spent six sweet months together. Then came the attack. We woke up one morning, and the Watcher was running for us. Demons were coming, many and strong.

"We evacuated the village for a medium sized cave, so much easier to defend. I set up a barrier in front of the mouth, and the villagers waited in terror. It was a siege. For

a full day I kept the barrier up, knowing that without rests my spirit energy would fail. But stopping would allow the demons, so constantly battering on the shield, to kill my family."

They were both sitting now, as she wove her tale. For the first time since she had been petrified, she was speaking the whole and unveiled truth. It was…disconcerting. She felt naked under Kurama's fascinated gaze.

"Finally my spirit energy failed, and the barrier wavered. I could not let them through, so I drew on life energy as well. I was no longer holding the barrier, I was more the barrier than my own body. It took on a green tint, green as the growing grass, and the scent of a rare flower.

"For three days I kept it up, only stopping when I had nothing left. As a stone, shaped perfectly as my own image, I could do nothing more than watch as the men of my village were tortured, the children beheaded, and the women… I was so enraged, so helpless…there was nothing I could do, I could not move, or even breath. It was terrible, yet the permanence of rock was alluring. I almost wanted to stay that way.

"Finally I thought of the Wolf Stone. It is a stone about the size of a man's fist, yellow, and perfectly shaped like a wolf's paw. Even the hair was there, and as far as I know, it is entirely indestructible. It has a great spirit housed in it, and will answer one question every century.

"I asked it for help, and the century's question was used. I was returned to the form of WolfSister, but my wolf body was not black, but white as snow, with a diffused blue diamond on my brow. My human body was different as well, the same diamond being there. I discovered I was an air adept, and I could draw on any energy strongly, though my forehead would tickle all the while.

"I never again saw Hiei, and my nature was entirely changed. I made a new name for myself, one that suited my personality well. Skye Wingthorn, I truly was from that point.

"I have lived as a recluse all my life, for the most part, helping anyone who sought healing. And that is my story. Guard it well, it has never been told in full before, and likely never will."
"I will treasure it." he replied solemnly.