Ch. 2

The black blur continued to watch Sango until it knew she was safe. When she turned the corner of the alley it jumped down, and picked up the small back she left behind. It opened and dug through it. After a little digging it found a small mirror. It opened it and looked into it to see a young girl staring right back. The girl had silver-blue eyes, and black hair. She shifted it to see the top of her head. There, sitting on the top of her head, were two little dog-ears.

The girl put the mirror back, and dug through the purse some more. She then found a brown wallet sitting on the bottom. She took it out and looked inside. She found a licence and library card. She opened the bigger pouch of it to find money inside. This got her excited. She took the money out and put it in her back pocket, and the wallet back in the purse. She then took off for the store.

She slowly walked into a store on the edge of the city. This store was sort of shabby, but held up. Inside you could get anything: food, clothes, toys, books, and much more. This is where the girl went every time she had money. She would come here to buy clothes, she never got shoes they just cost to much.

She walked in and went directly to the food isle. She grabbed foods she knew would not go bad fast, and are easy to cook. Then she went to the medical. She picked up a small blue bottle. She then went to the counter to pay for all of the stuff.

"That will be $50.69." said the cashier gruffly.

The girl reached into her pocket and pulled out the money. She looked at the numbers on there and matched them up with what the man said, and handed it to him. He took it and counted it to make sure it was all there. He then nodded to her and she left. She had only one bill left and it had the number 20 on it, but she gave it to one of the little kids standing on the street corner. She then ran all the way home with her stuff.

Her home was a run-down old shack on the edge of the city. The roof was almost caving in and The walls were rotten. There were ratty-old blankets in the make-shift windows to keep the cold out. The door was non-existent. But, even though the house was in bad shape, the flowers in front were not. They were taken well care of and were as beautiful as the full moon.

There wasn't anything outside that really mattered to the girl. The thing that really mattered to her was inside and it wasn't a thing it was a person. Inside the shack lived an old woman that had found the girl on the streets begging for food. She took her to her home and that was where she lived for the rest of her life. She was also the only one that truly accepted the girl as who and what she was.

The girl slowly crept up the steps trying not to make too much noise, but stopped when a raspy, and old voice stopped her.

"Come on child. I know you're out there. Everyday you try the same thing for the past 12 years." it said.

The girl just sighed and walked the rest of the way to the door, and went in. She looked around. There lying on a rag-tag bed was an old woman. The woman had gray hair and gentle brown eyes. She seemed that she used to be full of life, but that diminished with old age. The woman was also a miko, or priestess.

The woman turned and looked at the girl, before speaking. "Kagome did you find something for us to eat?"

The girl, now known as Kagome, nodded and walked over. She gently held out the bag of food she had gotten at the store.

"Kaede, Kaede, Kaede." said Kagome.

Kaede looked over to the girl. 'I wish I had taught her to talk right. She can't talk, read, or write. She taught herself some numbers so she could buy stuff for me. She can only say her name and mine. But, at least she can understand what is being said. I don't think she really has to talk. After all, dog-demons use barks and whines to communicate, and humans can understand her feelings by that way. So I doesn't matter.' the old woman thought.

"Now Kagome, where did you get the money for all of this? You didn't steal it did you?" asked Kaede in a stern tone.

Kagome whimpered a bit and held up the purse she had found after rescuing that one girl.

"Let me see the purse Kagome." Kagome handed it over. Kaede took a moment and dug through it a bit. She found the same wallet that Kagome had and opened it. She found the licence, and read it to Kagome.

"Sango Shikamaru. She lives on 16th Ave SW. That's a pretty rich part of town. But, still that doesn't make it right. Kagome you should know better that to take other people's things." she said putting the wallet back. "You have to..." Kaede stopped. She sensed something wrong was coming. She knew Kagome also sensed it. The girl was tense and growling. They waited a few moments before they heard what they were waiting for.

"Come out demon before we burn you out. If you come out you will die a quick death, maybe even put into slavery.!" yelled some man outside. Kagome just growled louder at them.

They heard her growling at them and got scared. One of the men was scared enough and angry enough that he threw his torch through the makeshift window. The rest of the men soon followed suit. The fire from the torches quickly spread, because of the rotten and dried-out wood.

Kagome quickly reacted to the torches flying through the windows. She grabbed a stunned Kaede and started dragging her out. She almost didn't remember the purse she was going to give back. It took a lot of Kagome's strength dragging the old woman. Because, even though she was a hanyou, she was still young. She was almost through the door when the roof collapsed. Kagome jumped back in surprise, accidentally forgetting about Kaede. The wood poured down on top of the old woman. Kagome quickly rushed forward when she noticed she was trapped.

She tried pulling Kaede out, but the boards held fast. She then thought of a different idea. She reached her hands forward and gripped the burning wood. The fire slowly started burning her hands. Kagome whimpered a bit from the pain, but didn't back down. She pushed with all her might to try and get that wood off of her.

She could hear the creaking of the wood as it was starting to move. It was slowly going up and over. Kagome knew that Kaede wasn't going to last much longer with this heat on her. The fear of that happening caused Kagome to have an adrenaline rush. That rush gave her the extra power needed to push the wood off.

As soon as it was off, Kagome quickly dragged Kaede to the forest edge. The old woman seemed to be having a hard time breathing. Her clothing and skin were scorched. Kagome could smell death coming to the old woman. This information caused streams of tears to come falling down her face.

"Kagome..'cough'... you have to run. You being...'cough'...half-demon/half-miko...people don't...'cough'..accept you. Go to that...'cough'...Sango's house." Kaede said between coughing fits. When Kagome seemed reluctant Kaede added, "Please Kagome..do it for me." with that Kaede died.

Kagome listened as Kaede exhaled her last breathe. She just couldn't accept she was dead. She tried shaking her shoulder's to get her to wake up, but nothing seemed to work. She gently nuzzled her face and whimpered. Ever since she was little she wouldn't speak. She knew a total of 2 words. One was her name and the other was...

"Kaede...Kaede...Kaede! KEADE!" Kagome screamed which soon turned into a heartbroken howl.

When she stopped, Kagome turned back to the now dead Kaede with tear streaked eyes. She silently picked her up and buried her in a place in the forest she loved most. Through the whole thing tears streaked down her face. She said a small, and silent prayer to the kind, old woman that had taken in a street rat like her.

Kagome slowly backed away from the greave, and walked back toward the city. She knew where she had to go. She had to keep Kaede's last wish.