Destiny

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Kiyoshiwhined as he lifted the heavy buckets of water and brought them into the hut. Yuki smiled and helped him quickly. Kiyoshi sighed and leaned over, rubbing his hips and taking a small sip as Yuki began buzzing around the hut. "Are there any . . . any other villages here?"

Yuki stopped suddenly, dropping the spoon she just picked up on the floor with a clatter. "Have you . . . have you met anyone?"

Kiyoshi blushed and scratched his head. "Not exactly, I was just wondering where I was and were we the only ones in this strange place."

Yuki's form was still stiff when he turned and poured a little bit of water on his head. His hair had grown a little longer---and his body a lot tougher and a little stronger. He wondered if they were using him to do chores or training him. When he first got him it took him half the day to walk to the pond, get the water, and stumble all the way back with less than half the water. Now he can run to the pond, get the water, and walk back without spilling a drop. He was proud of himself. It had been at least three days since he talked to Anda under the stars. He wondered if she went off into town, if there was one . . ."

"There is a town. But if you find it . . . if you talk to the priest there . . ."

Yuki shook her head and a little sob escaped her lips. She dashed a hand across her eyes and whipped around, forcing a small smile for Kiyoshi and giving him a small kiss on the cheek. "So . . . how far is it?"

She shrugged and poured water into the pot in the middle of thehut as he lit the fire. She giggled and dumped in potatoes that she already chopped up. "It would take a week to get there . . . that's if you survive. There's scarce animals if you go through the plain, and it's suicidal to travel through the forest. Too many dangers lurk there. I've never been there myself though."

Kiyoshi frowned and rubbed the perspiration off of his forehead. She was hiding something, wasn't she? "Why are you so frightened to head to the town? I mean . . . if I go to town I'll be bound tomeet someone who knows me, and I can find my way back home. If I had one . . . "

Yuki raised her eyes to meet Kiyoshi. "Kiyoshi, dear . . . this is your home. You have come to your true home, not the one on that dreadful planet."

Kiyoshi raised his eyebrows as she forced another sad smile and began to chop tomatoes. "Yuki? Ms.Yuki . . . what's going on? What aren't you telling me?"

She shook her head and continued chopping tomatoes. She dumped a load into the pot and placed another one on the cutting board."So . . . she has arrived here as well. Impossible . . ."

He reached for her . . . but she cut her finger and drew back with a hiss. Sucking on her finger, he gasped as he took it into his grasp and wrapped a piece of clothe on it. Giving it a soft kiss, he watched as her eyes filled with tears. "You wish to travel to town . . ."

He shrugged and leaned back a little, bracing himself on his elbows. "I mean . . . I just want to know if I have a family. It's not like I'm leaving here forever. I just want to know what's out there, you know? I think . . . staying in a place like this is denying me my chance to live. If it's my destiny not to know who I originally was . . . I have to seek out who I am going to be. What I'm trying to say is . . . don't let the fact that there's something you don't understand stop you from learning something."

She smiled and took his hand. "When you travel to town . . . you won't be able to return. When you get there . . . there will be little people. There aren't many who were blessed to find this place. Eat and drink whenever you can . . . and never rest in the open deeply. You have proven to me that this is not your destiny. Go . . . go and lay your father's soul to rest."

"My father? You knew my father?"

Yuki smiled and pulled Kiyoshi into a deep hug. "I . . . I know you too. I know you more than you'll ever know, okay? Never forget this day . . . never forget me . . . please?"

Kiyoshi pulled back and allowed her to smooth back his hair. He sighed. "I . .. I promise."

Without another word . . . painful goodbyes still swirling within their hearts, he stood up and walked out of the hut, waving over his shoulder briefly and heading towards the pond. She wiped her face . . . though that didn't help much. 'I . . . I was wrong. He truly is the light . . . he will save her . . . and he will make me proud. My . . . my son.'

He walked along the road, humming to himself as the feeling that he was doing the right thing made him feel as if he could cry. Walking to the familiar hut, he knocked on the wall and called out to her, wincing when his voice echoed into the forest. She appeared---half dressed and apparently still half sleep as she wiped her eyes and yawned. "Hey---I haven't seen you in a while . . . " He said nervously.

She blinked and smiled. "I know. I haven't left the cave in a couple of days. Sorry if I worried you, Kiyoshi."

Kiyoshi blushed and ran his fingers through his hair, toying with the dirt under his feet as her chuckled nervously. She raised her eyebrows at him and placed her hand on her hips. "I was wondering---"

"What are you up to?" She asked, leaning her weight to one side and pushing her hip to the other while she leaned forward, giving him a suspicious look. "You look mighty nervous."

Kiyoshi waved his hands in a defensive manner as his temperature increased rapidly and he felt extremely uncomfortable. Face burning in a embarrassed manner, his blush darkened and he stepped back respectfully. "Nothing! Really . . . I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to travel to town with me. It'll take at least a week or a week and a half to get there."

Anda's face exploded in a blush and she stepped back, grasping her chest when something began to constrict painfully. With each beat of her heart, the grip on it grew tighter, more painful . . . seemed to be laughing at her. She masked her discomfort quickly enough and smiled."Sure, I wouldn't mind. What do you plan to get?"

He frowned and sat down against the mouth of the cave. "Ms.Yuki said once we go to the town . . . we won't be able to return. I was thinking about traveling the open hills---but she said that's just as bad as traveling through the Forbidden Forest. It's going to take a lot to get there."

She frowned. "Why do you want to go then? If you can't come back---why leave the only place we know as home?"

He shrugged and sighed. "I don't know . . . it's just like a burning desire in me. Just because we've lost our memories doesn't mean we have to settle at wherever we turn it. I just know my destiny is awaiting me at the town---and maybe I'll get my memory restored!"

She smiled sadly. The excitement on his face . . . the burning desire in his eyes. He was truly something special. Weird, goofy, clumsy yet extremely wise all packed in a handsome package and delivered right to her heart. She felt her blush deepen when he looked at her and his eyes darkened. They sparkled under his blonde hair and her breath caught in her throat when she sun rested on his creamy skin. 'He's . . . he's an angel . . .'

For a minute she thought she could see wings. For a minute she thought she saw what he truly was . . . and gift to her from a god up above. He smiled at her and grasped her hand. "Please . . . I'm sure we'll find out who we really are---together. Will you . . . will you come with me?"

She looked a little worried. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. She smiled. "Fine, Kiyoshi. I'll go. Tell me, what do we have to do?"

He shrugged." She said to leave immediately. She said we can't get lost---just walk straight for approxiamately seven days and we'll get there. But she said . . . she said we'll never return."

Taking Kiyoshi's hand and placing it on her face, she brought him up off of the ground and smiled. "Does it matter? We'll be finding peace---right? We'll be together, so it doesn't matter."

He stared down at her. 'This woman . . . has my heart. Yet I know not who she is."

"You," He whispered into her ear. "and I share a destiny."

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Taura rolled her eyes as Taji grunted and a light erupted from behind her. Tugging at the same bracelet that prevented her blood from coming under control despite her bleeding fingers, she growled when Taura hit her on the head with her boomerang. Taji growled and gave her friend a dark look.

"Calm down. I know you want to help him---but your mother thought it best to send you over my house. Don't worry---you'll be fine."

Taji flattened her ears and lashed her tail about. "I belong at his side! I belong there with him---"Gasping when a painful constricting erupted in her chest, she doubled over as Taura gasped and cradled her head in her lap. Once the pain stop, Taji remained still, her eyes closed as a purple sphere hovered above her chest. A gust of air knocked Taura back.

Taji was lowered to the ground---the orb hovering above her limp form asan odd presence began to slip into the quiet house. Reaching for the orb---it seemed to laugh . . .seemed to be proud of itself as it took hold of the orb and reached for Taji. Taura threw the boomerang and beheaded the beast onto to watch as the skin of it's gaseous body form a new head. "Foolish girl . . . she must become what she is . . . it is her destiny . . . give me the jewel. Give it to me . . . "

Taura flipped out of the way as the beast picked up objects of her home and began throwing them at her. Stopping a stray table from hitting Taji's form, she tried to kick the beast---it didn't work. It only laughed and touched Taji's chest, making her rise off of the floor and to whimper, biting her lip as her body pulsed.

When a light formed around the being and it screamed, Taura should have run. Kagome stood there, hands poised in front of her as the beast slipped away and the sphere fell to the floor. The larger part of it faded away---and out of it came a Shikon No Tama. It rolled over to Taji and hovered over her chest. "Please . . . not my baby," Kagome cried.

Taura watched in disbelief as the darkness of the Shikon No Tama began to envelope Taji. The necklace Kagome had made broke off and spilled over the floor, and one last time her body pulsed before her eyes snapped open. Her violet eyes laid on Taura---seemed to flicker with emotion for a minute before they returned to blank.

With a viscious growl she flipped into a crouched position behind her mother, ears flattened as the power of the Shikon No Tama began to control her mind. Kagome cried out to her---and she turned her head to the side and brought her lips back into a snarl. Taura slammed down her boomerang and called out to her. Without a word, Taji turned around and fled from the house.

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'The pain . . . is excruciating . . . I can't take it . . . '

Running through the night, the youkai fled through the city. Away from the life it known . . . driven by the blood running through it's veins it had no reasoning. No common sense as it sprinted from building to building. Fighting her sheer will was something it had never done before . . . and it was completely too easy.

'This . . . this demon. Why does . . . the pain . . .'

Anda looked into the pool water. Brown eyes dulled by her fatigue, bags forming under her eyes as her bangs stuck to her face . . . she truly wasn't looking her best. She leaned down and stuck her finger into the water---watched as half her face rippled and was replaced by the face of a youkai . . .

'It . . . it resembles me! This . . . am I not human? Am I a bloodthirsty beast?'

She looked at her hands frantically. Looking back into the water was her regular reflection, and she ran a hand over her face as her eyes dulled even more. Kiyoshi was still sleeping and she snuck away when the pain became too much for her to bear. A rustle in the bushes caused her to turn around---and she was greeted by the site of a little girl. Hair extremely long---looking like somebody she knew yet she didn't, she couldn't help the feeling that she was here for a different purpose. "Please . . . what am I? Tell me . . . "

"What you see now . . . is only half of who you really are. You were brought here to learn who you truly are---to learn your purpose and defy the laws of fate."

"Defy the laws of fate? What are you talking about?"

"Your mother always did the impossible. She was a role model to millions of people . . . and now it's your turn. You must fulfill your destiny---and in turn, save his life."

Anda looked into the water again. There it was . . . the youkai that looked exactly like her. Was she . . . was she half human? Just exactly what did that mean? She looked human enough. When she transformed . . . if she was able to transform . . . would she hurt Kiyoshi? Would she hurt anyone? "I don't . . . I'm a monster."

The girl shook her head and giggled. "You will not return because you will learn the truth. You have a destiny to fulfill---and he will save your life only if you save his. Where there is darkness . . . there is light. The light fears the dark . . . as well as the dark fears the light. Once upon a time . . . there were two warriors. They fell deeply in love---both searching for the power to kill the other without them knowing. The darkness loved the mistress of light so much that he was willing to die for her . . . and she loved the darkness so much she was willing to die for him. In turn---they sealed each other's powers and their hearts formed into one. But now . . . for some reason the two hearts have separated and taken residence in two different beings. You can kill him, or save him. He can kill you . . . or save you."

Anda lookd baffled. "What are you talking about? Who has to kill who? Who are you?"

The little girl smiled and faded away. "I am a friend . . . of your mother."

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A/N

Sorry it is so short---enjoy!