Chapter 17:A VisitTo My Village

Sango was walking along the path with Kirara. It had been awhile since she was able to be alone. She wanted to stop by her village and pay her respects.

As she walked through the forest, she could feel something familiar about the place. Kirara must have recognized it to, because she gave a little mew and ran off.

'Kirara!" Sango called chasing after her. "Come back! Where are you going?" But Kirara had already disappeared.

Sango desperately looked around for her. Kirara always seemed to be running off. Sango was just about to give up when she heard a rustle in the bush. She smiled as Kirara emerged, but it quickly turned into a puzzled frown when she saw what Kirara was holding.

In Kirara's mouth, was a white and yellow lily. Sango gasped as her dream flashed in her mind over and over again.

The mountain, she realized, was Mount Hakurei. And the man in the fire was Bankotsu! How could she not have realized that earlier? But why was he in the fire? Maybe it meant something. It couldn't possibly be a coincidence.

Suddenly her heart stopped. She knew where she'd seen those flowers before, but she had to make sure.

Sango raced into the trees. She kept running until she found herself in a sea of white and yellow lilies. Her face lit up with a smile. She remembered now. As a child she would come here with Kohaku and Kirara. They would lie in the field and watch the sky.

Sango sat in the field. The gentle breeze caused the lilies to brush against her legs, causing her to giggle. But she realized that she should get to her village if she wanted to be back home by nightfall. She sat up and gathered a few lilies for her village, keeping one for herself.

When she arrived at the slayers village, Sango wasted no time. She began to put flowers on each grave and prayed, but looked up in surprise as two little children ran in front of her.

Sango stood up. She wasn't sure why they were there. Then, a woman came out from a house. "Kids, settle down. Your father is on his way-" she gasped when she Sango. "S-Sango-chan!"

Sango stood there for a moment, squinting. She had no idea who she was, but then she recognized her.

"Kagome!" she was shocked to see that Kagome had kids.

Next, Sango noticed all the things inside the temple. A flow of anger rushed through her. That baka had been living in her village! Didn't she realize how disrespectful that was?

"How dare you!" Sango snapped at her. "Make yourself right at home in my village, why don't you!"

"Sango please." Kagome tried to explain. "We didn't have anywhere else to go."

Sango looked at him and almost burst out laughing. "What do you take me for?" she asked. "Do you really think that I care?"

Kagome gasped aloud. She was shocked at what had used to be her best friend had just said to her.

Sango glared at her. "Oh give it up Kagome! You haven't changed one bit! You're still some wimpy little schoolgirl. I'll bet you haven't even collected half of the Shikon no Tama!"

Kagome looked uneasily at the ground. "I've found two." She replied in a tiny voice.

"Two." Sango repeated, amused. "It took you 10 years to find two Shikon shards. It was such a waste of time traveling with you!"

"Hey wait a minute!" Kagome blurted out. "You have a Shikon shard in your neck!"

Sango smacked her face. "You just figured that out?" she asked in a dry, criticizing voice. Kagome was more stupid than she thought!

Suddenly, the Kaze no Kizu burst through the village walls and was heading straight for Sango. Kirara quickly transformed and pushed Sango onto her back. They were able to escape just in time.

Sango sat on Kirara, thinking about what just happened. Kagome looked more like she was in her 50s then in her 20s.

A large lightning bolt shot down and just missed Sango and Kirara. Following the lightning was a young man on flaming wheels, which somehow enabled him to fly. At first Sango thought it was Bankotsu because of the long braid, but she soon realized that it was someone else.

He stopped beside her and slashed his staff thing at her. Sango easily knocked it away with the Hiraikotsu. He backed away, and then charged at her again. Sango leaped off Kirara and hit his staff with the boomerang, almost knocking it out of his hand.

He backed off a bit and smirked. "You're pretty good." He commented.

"Who are you? Why didn't you attack me?" Sango demanded.

"Relax Babe," he said casually. "I was only testing your skills."

Sango glared at him. Babe? What gave him the right to call her that? Whoever he was, he sure had some spunk, and a lot of nerve.

"My name's Hiten." He glanced at her. "Your part of the Shichinintai, am I right?'

"Well… I guess…" Sango said, looking away. She never actually thought of herself as a member of the Shichinintai.

"Interesting…" Hiten remarked. "I would never expect those mercenaries to bring a woman into the group, but then again, I can see why they chose you."

Sango found herself blush a little. How couldn't she? He kept complimenting her! It was starting to get annoying.

She flew forward on Kirara, and Hiten followed.

"What's your hurry? You're not trying to avoid me or something are you?"

Sango shook her head, trying not to be rude. Truthfully, she did want to get away from him, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings, not after he was being so nice to her. But then again, he didn't seem like the type to start crying over something like that.

"No, I'm not avoiding you. I just need to get back. I don't want Ban-" she paused, thinking she shouldn't give away any names, "- the others to worry."

"Well do you mind if I come with you? I need to talk to the Shichinintai."

"Can't you just ask me then?" Sango asked, a little suspicious of Hiten now.

"I mean the leader. And no offence, but I don't think the Shichinintai would appoint a woman as leader."

Sango sighed. There was no getting rid of this guy, so she might as well take him back to the castle. She would let Bankotsu deal with him.

O yes... Bankotsu will deal with him! MUAHAHAHA! In case you hadn't figured it out, Bankotsu will hate Hiten's guts! R&R please