A TALE FROM THE PAST

-by Kittymui-

CHAPTER VIII

Somewhere in a dense forest of the Western Lands stood a small house. Its walls were made of wood and its roof of dry hay and reed.

Inside the resident burned a small oil lamp, which created a round shadow on the low table it was resting on. On the wooden floor next to it sat a young woman dressed in navy blue.

Her long raven-black hair was resting against her back that was slightly bent forward. And her dark-brown eyes were focused on the cloths she was holding together with one of her hands. Using the threaded needle in her other hand, she connected the overlapping edges with straight lines consisting of tiny stripes that were almost identical to each other.

She let out a content sigh when she finished attaching the last two pieces of fabric to each other and bit through the thin thread. "Done!" she praised herself with a smile and folded the newly created garment before putting it on the floor next to her.

Out of boredom, she got up and walked towards the only window of the house, which was located not very far away from the door. 'She's late...' she thought while pushing away the brown textile curtain to look outside.

It was a strange landscape through the window frame compared to the one she saw during the daytime. The budding trees failed to block the pale light of the moon that made their branches seem thinner than when they were touched by the rays of the sun. And a creepy darkness, which could make people hallucinate, lurked between the trunks where the whitish beams couldn't reach.. But to Kagome, it was like looking at a grayscale portrait, and her eyes slowly traveled upwards to its painter, who was sitting lonely on a dark sparkly carpet.

As she traced the curves of the pale moon, she couldn't help but think about a certain person whose emblem on the forehead had the exact same shape. Her hand unconsciously moved to the leather cord around her neck and with her fingertips, she trailed along it until she reached the three fangs.

"Sesshoumaru onii-sama..." she whispered. 'I wonder how they're doing...and Inuyasha too...' she thought, imagining how her little brother would look like after all these years.

It had already been 9 years since she left her family behind and there wasn't a single day that she didn't think about them. It was hard at first, when she just arrived at this place. She remembered how much she had cried when she had to celebrate her birthday without her family for the first time. But as time passed, she gradually got used to it and the number of times she cried began to lessen.

Inside, she couldn't possibly imagine how unbearable it would have been if she had to endure these long years on her own.

"Thinking about your family again?" a voice made her jump up of shock.

"Oh forgive me, hime-sama. I didn't mean to surprise you like that," the person behind her apologized.

She turned away from the window. "Sango, how many times do I have to remind you that you're supposed to call me by my name," she sighed.

"I know! I'm just teasing you!"

She was, like usual, wearing her black youkai taijiya outfit. Her long black hair was tied into a high ponytail and she was carrying a large boomerang behind her back.

"Then don't do that again!" she commanded, her hands placed on her sides. "You never know who might be listening outside."

"Aw Kagome, you know very well that hardly anyone comes here," Sango argued while she put away the bone boomerang.

The taijiya looked around as she sat down on the floor. "Where's Kirara?"

"She went to the creek to wash herself," Kagome replied as she walked away from the window.

Kirara was the name of the fire cat that had been fighting alongside Sango ever since she was little. Normally, Kirara would take the appearance of a harmless cat-like animal with four black paws, a milky fur and an unusual two-tailed rear. But when in battle, she would turn into a large demonic cat with sharp fangs to assist her mistress.

"So...how did it go?" she asked.

Not only was Sango her guardian. She also carried the responsibility of earning their living by helping people. Almost every morning, the taijiya left to search for assignments and came back around dinnertime. And when they needed something that couldn't be gathered in the forests, Sango would always be the one going to villages to buy it.

Kagome's responsibility, on the other hand, was to prepare meals and take care of all the remaining activities regarding their residence. But she had nothing to complain about, since these arrangements were made for the sake of her safety.

"It went quite well. Here's what I've earned today," was her reply and a small bag of coins was handed over.

Kagome's face dropped as she took the bag. "You're always the one doing the hard jobs. I'm so asham-"

"Don't start again Kagome," Sango cut her off. "I didn't hesitate for one second when your father asked for my assistance and I have never regretted the decision to protect you and prevent you from falling into the hands of Naraku."

"I'm sorry..." Kagome apologized with an awkward expression. "I didn't mean to remind you of your past..."

Her guardian was actually the only living member of their youkai exterminator tribe. Once living together with a caring father and a shy little brother, she now had nothing but herself and her demonic companion. Because of Naraku's evil scheming, her family and the entire tribe was wiped out in one single evening.
As the sole survivor of the massacre, she had vowed to avenge the death of her kin by re-establishing the clan someday and taking out that wretched lord of the Eastern Lands.

But the taijiya eventually shook her head. "Although my vow to avenge my family and tribe was my initial motive for accepting to be your guardian, I now have found another reason." She placed a hand on top of Kagome's head and smiled. "After all these years of living together, I have started to see you more than just a subject of my assignment. You're my only family now, Kagome. That's why I will continue to protect you even if your father suddenly decides to break our contract."

"Thank you," Kagome smiled warmly. She was truly happy to hear those words. To be honest, she had also begun to see Sango more as a big sister than a mere bodyguard.

"Pfew, I'm getting hungry from all this talking," her guardian suddenly let out.

"I'll prepare something for you right away." With that, Kagome walked to the other side of the house; where a stove of stone stood against the wall. She lit up a fire within seconds and placed a pot on top of it. "It won't take very long. I only have to heat it up," she said, putting more logs into the flames. "Oh by the way, I made a new cloak for myself while you're away. It's on the floor right next to the table."

Sango responded with a sigh. "Kagome, I told you that I would buy a new cloak for you in a couple of days."

Kagome stirred the pot's content with a large wooden spoon. "Buying a new cloak is too expensive. Besides, the new cloak turned out pretty well even though it's made of my old clothes."

"But you could have kept those clothes as a part of your childhood memory!"

After ladling part of the pot's content into a small ceramic bowl, she turned around and walked back to Sango. "My memories will always be kept safe between my ears. I don't need physical things," she replied, putting the bowl on the table before her.

The taijiya raised a brow. "Oh? Then what's that thing dangling around your neck?"

"This..." Kagome pointed at the necklace she got from Sesshoumaru. "...is an exception."

"Right..." Sango snorted as she took a first sip of her warm meal.

That moment, Kagome noticed the dirt clinging on her outfit. "Your clothes need a good wash..." she remarked.

"But I need these clothes to go outside and earn money!"

"Then you're staying home tomorrow," she decided. "You've been tiring yourself too much lately. It's time you took a day off."

Her guardian puffed out in defeat. "Okay, whatever you say...hime-sama..." she grinned, emphasizing the last part.

Kagome widened her eyes. "Stop that!"

And the both of them burst out laughing.

-.-

The next day, Kagome left their house in the early morning and headed towards the nearby creek with Sango's black garment in her arms. The little fire cat accompanied her by sitting on her shoulder and acted as her guardian instead of the taijiya, who was still sleeping when they departed.

Upon arrival, the fire cat jumped off of her shoulder to scout the area. At the same time, Kagome took out a thin white cord and tied back her long navy sleeves to prevent them from getting wet.

Just when she was about to bow down to the flowing waters with the dirty fabric in her hands, Kirara ran towards her and slightly pulled at the ends of her kimono with her small fangs. "What's wrong?" she asked in puzzlement.

By the continuous pulling, she realized that it was trying to make her go somewhere. Eventually, she decided to check it out and followed Kirara into the forest.

After passing several trees and bushes, they arrived at another clearing along the creek, but this one was much larger than the previous one. Kagome was also familiar with this part of the forest, since she and Sango would occasionally come here to catch fish.

This clearing was namely surrounding the shallowest section of the creek, which was also close to the point where the borders of the West, East and South met.

The most dangerous place was always the safest of them all. It was the same thought that motivated them to choose to live here. Besides its advantageous density, they picked this particular forest out of hundreds also because it was located in a valley between two high and rocky mountains. This place offered them excellent protection since hardly anyone came here, but unfortunately, it also had a drawback: its remoteness severed their connections to the other parts of the Western Lands, making it more difficult for them to earn money and buy things.

But nevertheless, it was a great spot to fish.

Her thoughts were cut off when the fire cat left her and headed towards the creek. "Where are you going?" she shouted as she ran after it. She stopped right before the bank ended and watched how it jumped over several rocks that stuck out of the water surface and suddenly stopped after landing on the third one.

"Kirara, be caref- " Kagome warned but halted when she noticed something in the water near the same rock.

She widened her eyes when she realized it was a person and turned to the fire cat. "Kirara! Go home and tell Sango to come here immediately!" she ordered.

As the small animal disappeared into the woods again, Kagome quickly kicked off her sandals and socks and entered the water. She slightly cringed at the low temperature that reached a bit above her ankles but she endured the coldness as she rolled up the ends of her blue kimono. Slowly and carefully, she started making her way through the slippery floor of the creek. From the stature of the unconscious individual, she knew it was a man. And fortunately, his head was resting on top of the bigger stones in the water, which saved him from drowning.

After successfully dragging him to the dry bank, she finally got the chance to examine his condition. 'He's still breathing...' she thought relieved as she saw the weak rising and falling movement of his chest.

It turned out to be a young man, who was probably older than she. He had long black hair, messed up and plastered against his face and body. Curious to how he might look like, she removed some wet strands that were shielding most of his features.

Uncovering his forehead revealed an unusual dark cross-shaped mark and she continued downward. As soon as she pushed aside the last bit of hair, she widened her eyes and gasped. 'How awful...' she thought with a concerned expression.

His eyelids and the area around them were red and swollen. And the rest of his face was smothered with mud and a bit of dried blood. From the way he was dressed, Kagome assumed he was some sort of warrior. Although the light-blue armor miraculously remained intact, the protectors around his lower limbs were irreparably damaged and the white garment he wore beneath them was torn open at random places.

As she estimated the gravity of all these injuries, she couldn't help but wonder what trouble he had stumbled upon before he fell into the creek. She untied the rope that held her sleeves together and let down the ends of her kimono. Not long after that, she suddenly caught something shimmering beyond the creek.

But before she could figure out what it was, the transformed fire cat descended from the sky, with Sango on her back, and landed on the grass beside her.

The taijiya, dressed in a simple gray kimono, looked at the situation and turned to her. "Kagome, what happened?" she asked.

"I'll explain later," Kagome replied. "Let's take him to our place first."

They carefully placed the man over Kirara's back and headed back to their small house.

-.-

Once they got back, they immediately laid him on the wooden floor and got rid off his wet clothes. They had no idea how long he had been lying in the water like that but if they didn't do anything to stop his body temperature from falling soon, his condition will become more critical than it already is.

By the time they finished cleaning the wounds and preparing medicinal herbs, it was already late in the afternoon. Not allowing any chance for infections, they quickly bandaged all the high-risk areas and slipped him into some dry clothes.

Both of them let out relieved sighs as they concluded the tending and began to clean up the mess they created. While Sango gathered the bloodstained cloths from the floor and washed the tools they used, Kagome prepared something to eat. After all, they haven't had anything since this morning; it's practically a miracle how they managed to do so much without any breaks.

-.-

"Will he be okay?" Kagome asked as she put down two bowls filled with broth and two small loafs of bread on the low table.

Sango settled down in front of her share. "He's very weak at the moment," she explained. "There's no telling whether he can survive the coming hours or not. But if he survives until sunrise, it'll mean that he's strong enough to hold on."

Consumed by an unexplainable worry and a bit of fatigue, Kagome merely used half of the broth and bread. With the remaining half of the soup in her hands, she stood up and made her way towards the man sleeping on the floor in the back of the room.

"Kagome, you haven't eaten all day. You should fi-"

"I will, Sango...don't worry," she cut her off as she knelt down and put the bowl next to her.

Gently, she shoved her arm beneath the man's shoulders and lifted him from the thin pillow to rest on her lap. A caring expression appeared on her face as she moved a half spoon of broth to his dry lips.

While she fed him, her eyes drifted towards his swollen eyelids. "What...about his eyes?" she asked.

"That injury is probably caused by the contact with some sort of venom," was Sango's reply.

"Don't we have a cure for it?"

She shook her head. "I cannot give him an antidote just like that. Without knowing what kind of venom we're dealing with, arbitrarily applying remedies would be even more life-threatening than the venom itself."

Kagome dropped her face. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Don't worry too much Kagome. The most important thing to do right now is to keep his eyes as clean as possible at all times. This way, we might slow down the poison from making him permanently blind," her guardian told her.

"I understand," she nodded. "I will wound a cloth around his eyes to protect them and prevent him from opening them too often."

Her sentence was followed by a moment of silence.

During the stillness, Kagome drowned in her own thoughts. She didn't know anything about the man, yet inside, she hoped very much that he would be able to pass this evening safely. But why?

"Euhm...Kagome?"

She snapped out of it and turned to look at her guardian, who drew her attention.

"Just how long are you going to let him stay on your lap like that?" she asked out of the blue.

Kagome shifted her eyes to her lap, only to meet the young man's sleeping face. She realized that she had emptied the bowl of broth a while ago and blushed. "Ah...well...I..." she stammered and quickly laid him back down on the pillow.

As soon as Kagome returned to sit down near the table, Sango burst out laughing. "You should have seen your own face back there," she teased. "It was almost as red as the setting sun!"

Kagome's cheeks became redder than before. "Sango! Stop laughing!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Oops sorry, updating this chapter took longer than I had expected -glares at muses-. Homework is so-so, but I'm having some inspiration problems lately. I know what I want to write but I'm having trouble with how to write it. It sucks...anyway I still hope you liked this chapter!

By the way, be sure to check out stories of Kyia Star, she's got great stories under her name :)! And I recommend the stories of BelleDayNight as well!

Greets,

Kittymui

-.-.-

Italic: thoughts
"...": spoken words
-.-.-.: time gap
-CAPSLOCKED WORDS: noises

-.-.-

Next chapter: Chapter IX

-.-

Guess you all know who got fished up from the creek :). In the next chapter we'll see what happen after the same night! Be sure to look forward to it ne?

-.-

Vocabulary:

youkai taijiya: demon exterminator
hime-sama: 'hime' means 'princess', by adding the suffix '-sama' makes it more respectable.

-.-.-

REPLIES ON REVIEWS:

Kyia Star: The dialogue quotation marks-problem is fixed! Thanks for telling me :)!

Duzzie: I'm glad to hear that! Yup, Kagome is 19 right now.

Wake-Robin: Thanks. Hahaha it would be too sad if one of the main characters had to die. Hope you liked this chapter as well!

Skye: Thank you!

sakurakitsune14: Hahaha, true!

eMeLyNoOoPeE: I will continue this fic until it's done, don't worry! Thanks for reviewing!

Angel of Darkness and Death: Guess what? I made Kagome save Bankotsu :), liked it? Hahaha, anyway Kagome is 19 years old and thanks for reviewing!

sessywuve: Glad you loved it! I'll try to update as soon as possible!

Skitzoflame: I guess you didn't have to wait too long huh:)

Kokoro Mizu no Kaze: Sorry for the late update this time. Hope you enjoyed this chapter too!

x0xprincess-sakurax0x: I'll try!

Inukamisashi: About the smsac thing (mobile network), I tried to accept your invitation but it didn't work before. Luckily you sent me another invitation :). Thanks!

evilmaniac: Thanks thanks! I'll try to update as soon as possible next time!

Sirayme: And as usual, it encourages me to go on when reading your reviews :)! Looking forward to your next review hehehe!

whitewolfmoro11: -sweatdrops- I sure hope that was a positive smiley...

sailorstarwinter: Sorry for the late update, but I hope it was worth the wait!

starfighter48: Thank you!

BelleDayNight: How did you like this one?

Posted: 17 Feb 2005
Last Edited: 17 Feb 2005
Spelling check: YES

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha or any characters of it. And I do not own whatever elements of this story that seem familiar and had already been used by other creative individuals before. But... I do own the idea of mixing all of these elements together into a new story!