Chapter 1

Kagome wasn't quite sure what had transpired to cause her to end up in the forest, wandering around aimlessly. She had generally been living a good life in the village where she was born, but things had gone downhill after her parents had passed away. Now, she only had her brother left, and no support from others in the village. The important thing to do was to keep Sota safe, he was her first priority. He was generally a happy boy, easily getting along with others his age, but he had changed a little, withdrawing from others after their parents passed. Kagome worried about that, but she knew that the village would take care of him.

Kagome, however, was a different story; she had never had the charisma that her brother did. Sure, Kagome had a couple of friends, but after her parents' deaths, they had dropped her quickly enough. You see, she was considered to be a little odd, always trying to learn more than the other villagers. She didn't pretend to be smarter than others, but she was frequently in her head about what a new place might be like. Kagome supposed that she was a bit of a dreamer, and her friends frequently found her conversation to be boring.

Her parents had always listened to her wishes, and had been encouraging. She did know that they worried about her sometimes, and her place in the village. Kagome did her work and contributed, she just didn't fit in very well. The leader of the village, however, seemed to have taken a strange liking to her as she had grown up. She started noticing him looking at her when she turned sixteen, and it only got worse after her parents died. Kagome was uncomfortable, but he was married, so she assumed that she was being paranoid. His stares had increased once she recently turned eighteen.

One night, the leader of the village called Kagome over to his home, and she reluctantly went over, knowing that disobeying his summons never went well for anyone. She thought that something was strange, but went anyway, not wanting Sota to get into trouble for any reason. After a few minutes of talking, the leader got closer to her, and before she knew it, he was trying to force himself on her. Kagome fought as hard as she could to throw him off, but he was too strong. Luckily, or so Kagome thought, his wife had walked in on his attempt, and Kagome sighed in relief. The leader immediately got off her, not having been able to get far. His wife, however, had a glare so dark, that Kagome knew right away that this would not end well for her.

"You filthy wretch!" She screeched, slapping Kagome. "How dare you slither your way into my home and seduce my husband?"

"No, ma'am, I didn't..." Kagome tried to defend herself, but she was cut off.

"Silence!" She snapped. "What did she do?" Her attention now turned to her husband.

"I promise you Shoko, she came in here suddenly, and I don't know what came over me. I'm so sorry, I never should have been tempted by her evil, I think I was put under a curse." His wife turned to Kagome then, rage in her eyes.

"They do whisper about you being a priestess, you witch," she said. "Perhaps you thought that seducing my husband would get you status in this village."

"No, I would never," Kagome protested. True, she'd sometimes felt strange powers in her, but had never tried to explore them, for fear of being singled out even more by her village.

"You should be executed!" The woman said, and Kagome's face turned pale. "You will bring shame upon your late parents, and brother."

"Shoko, I make the decisions," the leader said, putting a stop to conversation of execution.

"Yes," his wife said, very reluctantly backing down.

"Although she has committed evil, there is no reason to shame her family. And her brother is well liked in our community," he said calmly, a wicked glint in his eyes.

"Rather than bring shame on your family, you will be banished," he said. "We will take good care of your brother, he is so close to his best friend's family, that they have practically adopted him."

"I'm as good as dead," Kagome whispered. "If you throw me out."

"You shouldn't have seduced my husband," his wife snapped, inserting herself back into the conversation.

"If you do not leave, we will tell everyone what happened here, and you and your brother will be shunned. However, if you leave, we will make something up to maintain what little dignity you have left."

"Fine," Kagome said harshly, surprising them both. "I will go quietly, I know that no one would believe my side. But know, Shoko, that your husband tried to violate an innocent woman. I wanted to thank you for stopping him, but I no longer wish to do that. I know now that you have the same evil soul inside. Someday, the two of you will pay."

"Your threats prove your guilt," the leader said. "You are trying to curse us."

"No," Kagome disagreed. "I just know that this will come back to haunt you someday. I will leave at first light."

Kagome left the two of them, not looking back at the pair. As she let herself back into her home, Kagome quietly opened the door, and closed it. Sota was still awake by a flame, waiting for her. Kagome sat in front of him, tears in her eyes. She recounted what had happened, and Sota had started to protest at her leaving.

"You can't go sis!" He replied, loudly. "You didn't do anything, and he'll just get away with it."

"Sota, I have to, no one will believe me, you know that. Even if they do, they won't go against the leader, I have no choice. Stay near your friend and his family, the head of the village told me that you would be taken care of. They'll make up some story about why I left, and soon, the villagers will forget."

"They need the truth!" Sota replied, still not satisfied with her explanation. "I need you." This last part, he said much more quietly.

"I can't let you be shamed because of what happened," Kagome replied.

They said their good nights to each other after another couple of minutes, and Kagome quietly packed once she heard Sota's soft snores. She had probably gotten three hours of sleep, having had a lot of trouble resting. As soon as she saw the first light, she gently shook Sota, waking him up. He stirred briefly, but was wide awake once he realized that Kagome was getting ready to leave.

"I want to come with you Kagome," Sota said, latching onto her arm.

"You need to stay here Sota, it's too dangerous," she said.

"I know," he sniffed, tears coming. "I'll never see you again."

Kagome felt her eyes watering, and tried to put a smile on her face, but failed. She would come back to Sota one day, she knew that this wasn't the end. Kagome loved him with all of her heart, and perhaps when this blew over, she could come back.

"We'll see each other again, Sota, I can promise you that," Kagome said with such conviction, that she truly believed what she was saying. "This is not the last time we will speak. Someday, I will come back for you when I am established somewhere else, and we can live together again. Meanwhile, stick to the people you trust and know."

"Yes, Kagome," he said.

"Take care of yourself," she said, hugging him fiercely, and kissing the top of his head. He returned her hug, and Kagome cried as she walked away in the early morning, not bothering to say goodbye to anyone else. Her brother was the only one she would miss.

Kagome found herself back in the present, tears coming due to what she had just been thinking about. She had been walking for several hours, heading east in the forest, hoping to come upon a village. She doubted that there would be a village that would take her in, but she had to try. She knew she was a good worker, and could be useful. Hell, maybe these strange powers that she had would be helpful. It wouldn't be a bad thing to find a priestess to train with, if she did truly have power; she could defend herself at the very least.

As Kagome headed east, she thought about the stories that her father had told her about outside of the village. She had heard countless tales about demons, from the blood-thirsty Inuyasha to the evil Naraku. Demon slayers sometimes stayed in their village, and told her about their adventures. Ever since she was little, Kagome had always wanted to meet one, a good demon of course. Her father had told her about demons of all shapes and sizes that lived east of here. He had also mentioned that there were far away villages east that were welcoming to travelers, which was why she had headed in that direction.

It was rumored that Inuyasha was a traveler and brought chaos everywhere he went, and people avoided him when they could. Kagome had never seen Inuyasha, and it was only her father who spoke of him in the village. She was willing to accept the risk of running into him, for finding a village. For all she knew, he didn't exist. If she ran into demons, well, she would just have to run.

Kagome had brought enough food with her for a time, and some clothes. She figured that she might be able to stop and rest now that she was farther away from the village, it was nearly nightfall. Her father had told her that there were some vicious demons that wandered at night, so staying in one place was not wise. Honestly, she couldn't continue on. Kagome leaned against a tree trunk, and allowed herself to close her eyes to get some much needed sleep, but after what she assumed were a couple of hours, she heard very heavy footsteps, and she doubted that this was from a human.

A ball of purple hair, there was no other way to describe it, came upon Kagome, and stared at her with devil eyes, opening a mouth with a sharp set of teeth. Kagome had no interest in finding out if this demon was trying to scare her away or eat her; either way, she wasn't sticking around to find out.

She quickly got herself to her feet, and ran at a moderate pace, seeing the monster following her, apparently meaning her harm. As the minutes passed by, the lack of sleep and her depleted energy were impacting her, and not even her adrenaline could keep her at a fast pace. She was slowing now, and had no idea what to do. She would soon run out of energy, and decided to try and fight the demon. The one thing she regretted was promising that she would see Sota again, Kagome had very much overestimated her ability to live off the land. Like she had told the leader of her village, banishment was a death sentence.

Bravely, Kagome used all of her strength, and hurled a rock at the demon, cheering herself on as she pushed it back a few feet. But this did not slow it down, and only seemed to anger the demon. Kagome picked up a stick, but threw it back down when she realized it was hopeless; so she ran again. Of course, with her luck, she tripped over a root, and resigned herself to staying face down, praying for a miracle.

"I'm sorry Sota," Kagome whispered. "Please take care of yourself."

She did not expected a quick breeze to pass by her, and a triumphant,"There you are!" from another voice. Kagome sighed at her bad luck, assuming that she had run into an even more violent and ferocious demon.

"You filthy boy!" She heard a different voice, the demon who had been chasing her, she supposed.

"Glad I found you, now I can finally enjoy silence," the newcomer said, a challenge to his voice.

Kagome heard a shredding sound, a scream, and then silence. Reluctantly, she turned around to see who had won the battle, and found herself face to face with a strange looking boy, who she thought looked like a demon. However, he did look rather human as well, so Kagome was thoroughly confused. He was also wearing some strange red gaudy outfit. Still, her heartbeat was quick, and she was filled with fear. She saw the pieces of the first demon around her, and the glare from this new demon, she would just assume that's what he was for now. Kagome didn't have too much experience with demons, so what else could he be?

"Please don't hurt me," she whispered weakly from the ground, still wide-eyed from her surroundings. Kagome scooted back using her feet and elbows to move backward. This new demon stared at her, looking like he had just realized that she had been there the whole time.

"What?" He asked simply. Kagome still saw the glare on his face, and he looked like he was poised to attack; this was how she would meet her end.

"If you're going to kill me," she said quietly. "Please do it quickly, I don't have any energy left."

"It's always like this," he said in a low volume as well, his eyes looking blank.

Kagome was very confused right now. His posture had relaxed, but he looked numb somehow, as if he was used to people being afraid of him. Kagome wasn't quite sure why this would be a surprise when he defeated a demon within seconds. She had no idea what his name was, but she was still scared. Slowly though, he was taking more of a defensive stance. Was he afraid of her?

"You're a priestess," he said, looking at her, sounding wary.

"Um, not really," Kagome responded. "Clearly, you don't mean to kill me."

"I can sense it, you've killed my kind wench," he said aggressively, but he was no longer looking like he wanted to attack. He only seemed defensive. "I only kill if you're a threat. And a few seconds ago you weren't, but now you are."

"I don't think I could do much to you," Kagome said, letting air out, not realizing she had been holding her breath.

"You're a fool then," he said, getting ready to walk away.

"Wait!" She called out after he had turned his back and taken a few steps forward. "Please, can you sit with me?"

"I fell for this once before, witch, I won't do it again," he snapped at her.

"If I was a priestess, couldn't I have finished off that hairy demon myself?" She challenged, questioning why she was informing this demon that she was weak. Clearly, he felt threatened since he thought she was a priestess.

"Fine," he agreed, turning back and sitting next to her.

"What's your name?" Kagome asked, after an awkward silence. He turned to face her, his defensive walls returning. Kagome simply sat, figuring that she had tried what she could. She just hoped she would be able to eat a little bit while he was here, certain that he didn't mean to attack her. She wasn't sure if anyone else would attack her, but at least he was company, which, at the moment, was something she had never desired so much in her life.

"Miroku," he said slowly. "That's my name."

Kagome wasn't quite sure that she believed him, he sounded far too hesitant to be telling the truth. She assumed that she would have to share some of her own information in order to gain his trust, if he requested it. She had a feeling that he wasn't a fan of hers, and could tell that he would leave as soon as possible.

"Well, Miroku, what are you doing out in the woods?" She asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

"Wandering," he snapped. "What's with all the questions wench? I don't see you sharing any information."

"You didn't ask." Kagome found herself getting angry.

She was regretting her decision to ask him to sit with her. It had been a horrible day, she was exhausted and hungry, and the last thing she needed was to be called a "wench" by this idiot.

"Leave!" Kagome ordered him. "I don't need you insulting me."

"You're the one who asked me to stay," he pointed out.

"Yes, well, I changed my mind. I don't know anything about you. For all I know, you're planning the next way to kill me!" She snapped again at him. For a while, she didn't hear him respond.

"Yeah, that's what everyone says about me," she heard him say, barely conscious. Exhaustion had taken over, and she couldn't stay awake anymore. She leaned against the tree trunk, and could care less about what this Miroku fellow would do to her. He said something else, but she didn't hear it as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.