!AUTHOR NOTE PLEASE READ BEFORE STARTING CHAPTER!

Okay, so I've debated doing this for weeks now since the last chapter. I've talked to a few friends who read the story, and they all really enjoy this chapter.

But they also don't think I should post it. Normally, I take my friends' advice into SERIOUS consideration, and usually, I agree with them. But I have been sitting on this for what feels like forever (really its only been about the time it took me to write my last chapter), and I've finally decided that I'm just going to post this anyway. But there are a couple of WARNINGS you should read up on before deciding to continue.

WARNING 1) This chapter IS NOT a continuation from the previous chapter. This chapter I wrote for fun, however, if you were to see this in the anime, this would be called a filler episode. Everything in this chapter is a filler, something I wrote because of inspiration and I couldn't really stop myself.

WARNING 2) This chapter DOES NOT INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS: Kasumi, Sesshomaru, Rin, Jakken, Ah-Uhn, Usui, Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara, Naraku, Kohaku, Kagura.

WARNING 3) This chapter is not about our main story. This chapter I wrote for Kasumi's mother, believing she was worthy of having her own story to be told to. This chapter is about Yuriko when she was Kasumi's age.

I would like to continue writing this filler, and I may post the next couple of chapters (depending I'm not sure how many) following this story before continuing to the main. I would post this as its own Story, however, I do not believe it will be long enough. Therefore, the chapters following Yuriko's life will be named Our Beginning, with parts to their respective amount of chapters.

I WILL BE CONTINUING THE MAIN STORY!

I just felt that this was something I needed to do. Something I really wanted to do and share.

Now, I won't be offended if you choose to skip this chapter in favor of staying true to the main story. I would love it if everyone read this, But I understand no one really enjoys fillers too much and won't hold it against anyone. So without further ado, please enjoy...

Chapter Twenty-Six: Our Beginning

Twenty-two years ago

Warm breezes brushed through the tree leaves, whisking away bloomed flowers, petals dancing with the wind flowing down into the stream just below the hill, nestled behind the peach tree. Across the stream, a woman sat on her knees, a large stringed instrument laid out in front of her. Village children sat around her, listening to the beautiful harping as she plucked the strings, going across the curved body, soft, light-hearted music dancing with the wind, flowing with the calm stream. Her fingers streaked across the instrument, plucking at one end with her fingers while her other hand flew across the strings, sliding along them, warping the sounds they made, flowing into beautiful heartstrings.

The children watched in awe as the village maiden played, plucking, her fingers dancing across each note like a water dancer. More amazing to them was that the woman managed to flow across each beautiful sound she created with her eyes closed. She seemed in a trance, so lost in the music she breathed life into she hardly noticed her audience growing, expanding into not just the village children, but an admirer far off in the branches of her family peach tree. Her fingers plucked and danced until she suddenly changed the flow of the music to the quick thrumming of a thief in the night.

The children jumped up at the change of tempo and danced around her, their little feet tapping against the ground, twirling in circles around her, around each other, partnering up and flowing together like the adults during festivals, laughing and cheering and the woman lips turned up at the sound of their joy. She quickened her fingers pace, the limber limbs a blur as she kept up with the energy of the children.

"Yuriko!" The music suddenly stopped, as did the laughter of the kids and the woman quickly sat up and looked behind her. "What are you doing out here?!" A woman in stark white robes and red hakama came barreling down towards her from the hill, her black hair pulled back into a long tail at her neck. "And playing such vulgar music! You're supposed to be inside, practicing! Not out here with these little urchins! Shoo!" The woman shooed the children off and the scattered away like flies in the wind.

The woman, Yuriko sighed and straightened her back. "You're a terrible priestess, Hisayo." Yuriko watched as her sister came around to her side. "You're supposed to look after the children as well as the villagers." Hisayo bent down and yanked Yuriko up by her arm. "And be gentle with your siblings." She yanked her arm free and Hisayo only glared.

"Get into the house this instant. Father has been calling you for hours now. Wait until he hears you're out here playing the music those filthy heathens in the village play." Hisayo pointed towards the old temple nestled into the woods outside the village.

"It's not filthy," Yuriko muttered, bending down to pick up her Koto.

"What was that, little sister?" Hisayo snarled and Yuriko only shook her head.

"Nothing, Hisayo." Yuriko took one moment to look up at her eldest sister. She was a woman nearing her thirties but her years of training as a priestess had done nothing for her age. She sagged in places a woman of her age should not sag in, and her grey hairs gleamed in the sun more than their fathers did. She had angry, bitter dark eyes, and jagged, uneven browns set in their distaste for the world. Yuriko always said Hisayo had been dealt an ugly hand since she was born.

As the eldest in the family, she had to follow into the footsteps of their father and mother, becoming a priestess of the temple that oversaw the eastern side of the country. She followed in the family steps, despite that Hisayo didn't have strong spiritual energy, therefore she struggled to do the most mundane of temple duties, whereas Yuriko, the youngest of six daughters had the best ability. Of course, as the sixth, she had no responsibility to her families temple and would be the only one to be allowed to marry and bear children.

That being said, it wasn't like Yuriko had a line of young men at her feet, waiting to wed her. No man in the region wanted to wed the daughter of a temple family. Certainly not Yuriko at the very least.

Always getting into trouble with her father, with the villagers. She spent too much time with the urchins, took offerings from the temple and brought them to the children. Teaching girls to read and boys to dance, teaching children of all classes which herb did what, even going so far as mending clothes for them.

Ideally, she would make a remarkable priestess. The roll came so easily to her, her ability, her generosity, and kindness, but for her, she only stepped out of bounds which caused trouble for her sister and problems her father had to fix. She had gained a reputation as a troublemaker, and no man wanted a troublemaker for a wife.

Hisayo grabbed Yuriko's arm again beginning to yank her towards the village, causing her to almost drop her Koto. She gripped the instrument tight to her chest while her sister pulled her through town, like a parade demonstrating that once again the temple maiden was in trouble. She was dragged into the temple, not allowed to state her hellos to the familiar faces she passed. She was dragged along until she was in front of her father, her sister smugly sitting beside him.

Norimoto, a partly man with a shaven head. He wore his robes well, adorned in blue and gold, his beautifully jaded mala beads wrapped around his hand and arm, the statue of the Buddha a prominent figure behind him, gold and foreboding, and glaring down at Yuriko like a demon. Always reminding her that the good she did was wrong. Her gaze fell back onto her father, just to see Hisayo leaning away from him as she whispered something in his ear.

"Out practicing by the stream again?" Her father asked, a brow raised and his head inclined towards her koto.

"I find the stream to be a beautiful muse," Yuriko stated, setting her koto down at the far back wall before sitting seiza in front of her father and sister.

"You were playing the same music they play during the festivals," Hisayo said, getting a shush from their father.

"There were children listening, I thought they might enjoy a bit of fun music to dance to. It was harmless fun," Yuriko said trying to keep her tone even.

"It's plucky and inappropriate for a shrine maiden," Hisayo said.

"Then I suppose it's a good thing I am not considered a shrine maiden, isn't it?" She smiled at her sister and she could see her father fight his own smile.

"Hisayo, why don't you attend the temple? I'll handle your sister, don't worry." Norimoto motioned for her to leave and Hisayo scoffed but did as she was told.

"I don't understand why you put up with her, papa." Yuriko rolled her eyes causing her father to chuckle. He motioned for the tea beside him and she moved to his side to pour it for the two of them.

"She's my daughter and the future of this temple." He explained taking the cup she offered him.

"If she's the future of this temple then this temple and the land is doomed," Yuriko spoke dryly into her cup.

"Yuriko! She is still your sister, whether she is awful to you or not she is a good priestess." Norimoto chastised but it only had Yuriko shake her head.

"But she isn't the best choice and you know it. Why won't you just let me take her place instead? You know I can do so much better than she can."

"Shame on you, daughter. She has done the best she can since before you were born. All my other children have been sent off to further other temples and shrines across the region, why must my youngest show such harshness to her sister?"

"Because she's awful to me. You said so yourself, who wants a priestess who cannot even be kind to her own family. She berates me every chance she gets. She acts like she's my mother!" Frustrated Yuriko got up, walking away from the Buddha statue before it came crashing down on her in her shame.

"She is all you've known as a mother, Yuriko. She raised you after your mother passed away. To her, you are more than just a sister, you are a daughter and she sees so much in you. Things you have yet to see in yourself." Norimoto sighed deeply setting his tea down and standing before his daughter. "You have a great responsibility on your shoulders. To marry and further our legend. Your mother passed before she could bare sons, so it falls onto you, my youngest and my fairest of daughters to find a good husband. So your future children may keep our temples strong."

"But papa, why does that mean I can't play my music?" She spoked exasperatedly which caused her father to smile warmly down at her.

"It shows you have fire in you, passion when you play songs not meant for a woman. You shouldn't play any music at all, but you have your mothers ear and talent for music. You use her koto well, daughter, but remember your responsibility."

He leaned forward to kiss her forehead, and all Yuriko could do is accept what her father wanted of her.

That night

"Who expects their youngest child to carry on such a responsibility, Kyah?" Yuriko huffed as she paced the inside of her rooms, tossing her hands into the air in her exasperation.

"I know, Yuri. Your mother carried you so low, we expected you to be a boy. Her first son, of course it would have fallen onto the first boy but now…" Kyah trailed off. Her chestnut colored hair fell over her shoulders as her head moved back and forth to watch her friend pace.

"I don't care if mother carried low," Yuriko huffed. "If she hadn't passed they could have had another chance for a baby boy, and I could be with my sisters, doing what I actually want."

"Yuriko," the shock in her voice stopped Yuriko's pacing and she gave her friend a pained look.

"You're right I shouldn't speak ill of the dead. It's just…" She sighed deeply falling next to Kyah in a heap of angst. "I feel like I'm worth so much more than being some man's quiet little wife, only there to bear children for my fathers legacy."

"You are worth so much more, Yuriko," Kyah said softly.

"So you agree with me then?" She sat up sharply as soon as she heard Kyah's words, focused now more than ever that someone agreed she deserved more from life than being a wife.

"I… of course I agree with you, Yuri but.. it is your duty…"

Yuriko groaned and leaned down into the tatami mats face first, letting her body sag into the floor. Sighing, Kyah rubbed her back getting only animal grunts of approval from Yuriko. "Yuri, just think about it… once you have your own child, you can teach them how to be a priestess yourself. Or your father will have a grandson to carry on the name. Imagine the little daughter you could have. You can teach her how to sing, and dance, and read, and write. You can teach her how to use a bow, how mend wounds, how to tend to a woman when she gives birth. You can do what your sisters can't. You can teach your child how to be what they are, just like your mother did with them."

Yuriko huffed and sat up slowly. "I suppose you have a point. Maybe I can marry a man in the village, who will let me teach the little ones on the streets who have no one to teach them. My child will have many brothers and sisters in the village." She touched her belly, not so averse to the idea now that Kyah has shown her a positive. "Alright then, let's get going." Yuriko jumped to her feet and Kyah watched in shock.

"Go? Go where, exactly?" She asked while Yuriko stripped her red hakama's off and began to rummage through her wardrobe.

"To the village of course. I want to get there before they start playing music." Yuriko said, pulling out an orange kimono before setting it aside and looking deeper.

"Did you not hear anything I said? You have a responsibility to-!"

"To uphold my family name, I know. And I will, but if I'm going to get married then it's going to be to a man I've picked for myself and he has to accept me for me. That means," She pulled out a red and orange kimono and turned to her friend. "We are going down to the village to dance the night away." Kyah groaned and stood up, rubbing her face in frustration.

"Fine, but if we're going, you aren't wearing that." She walked over to the wardrobe and pushed Yuriko aside. She only took a moment to rummage inside before she pulled out her target and turned. "You'll wear this, or we don't go."

Center of the village there was the full thumping of drums being beaten, men shouting, and the men and women of the village were crowded at its core, dancing together in a flurry of bright colored music. Men breathed fire around the edges, enchanting the children and charming the women. String instruments strummed out between the beats of the drums, creating a wave of music that possessed the crowd as the limbs flew out to flow with the melodies. Just seeing the drummers play was its own type of performance and they hit the leathers their bodies flowed and bounced with each sound and more pumped through the blood of the villagers. Some cheered for the performance, but many of them joined in the dance.

"Look, we're just in time!" Yuriko grabbed Kyahs arm and dragged her to the center of the fray. They held positions, Yuriko with one arm raised, a closed fan in one hand, and her other arm was held low with a second fan. Kyah stood opposite her, and she quietly looked up at her friend.

"We are going to be in so much trouble after this," Kyah said. Yuriko looked up just to grin. Then the tempo of the song changed. The thumping of the drums picked up and the girl's bodies flowered together like water. They walked around each other with their fans closed, their feet doing their own little dancing of their own and the two held eye contact. When the tempo slowed they switched sides swiftly, and the drums picked up again and the villagers cheered all together, repeating the same words the drummers declared. The crowd parted as the drummer's voices went low and the two girls at the center went low with their right fans and as their voices raised up, so did their fans. The pace of the drums quickened and they were lost in the sea of dancers, their fans flinging open once the singing got louder, Kyah and Yuriko joining in the boisterous noise. They danced around each other, with others of the village, and with each new person they danced with the tempo of their movement switched. People stood around the dancers and clapped and cheered and when the drums were nothing but a loud hum in the air people parted again but this time to reveal a couple at the center.

Yuriko, in her bright blue kimono stitched with peach blossoms, danced across from a man in black.

He had dark hair held up high in a ponytail atop his head, the inky black locks mingling in his robes. He had a mask over the top of his head, covering parts of his face but Yuriko could see the smile on his lips as they danced around each other, moving as if the two were sparring, arms stretching out to each other as if to strike, just for one person to take a step back and swing around to do the same. Their legs mingled together, the drumming thumped in their ears and died slowly in the air as the song stopped.

Yuriko stopped and bowed to the crowd as they cheered and her mysterious partner did the same. She was sweating and laughing but it didn't stop her from dancing again when a new song played, strings plucking on a koto she couldn't see admit the drums and her and her mystery partner began another dance anew, Kyah long gone from Yuriko's mind. Their bodies never touched when they danced, and when they moved partners the two always seemed to come back to each other, and always with a smile on their face. She was lost in the eyes of the man in front of her, his emerald gaze holding her hostage until eventually the exciting part of the evening finally died and the crowd had dispersed to pursue other activities in the festival.

"You're a marvelous dancer," her mystery man complimented her, walking her to a nearby bench so she may rest.

"You aren't halfway bad yourself, my lord." She fanned herself, straightening out her mothers' kimono on her legs and shoulders.

"Well, it was quite the struggle keeping up with you, my lady." He sat beside her. The whole time they danced, not once did he remove his mask, even now as they calmly sat together he did not remove it.

She stared up at him, folding her fan on her lap. "You kept up well then. For a beginner at least."

"Was it obvious I had never danced before?" His voice was sheepish, but she couldn't tell what his expression really was. She could only partially see his lips, and only occasionally got a glimpse of those gemlike eyes of his.

"It was to an experienced dancer, but you moved well. You must be partial to martial arts. Sword fighting perhaps like most men." She theorized.

"I know how to use a sword," he agreed.

"But it is not your preferred weapon," she thought for a moment, tapping her chin with her fan. "You prefer a tessen, don't you?"

"Correct, how did you figure?" He asked.

"We had samurai stay at the temple, helped a few of them heal. In return, one man taught me how to wield tessen. You move like a man who only prefers to use them."

He laughed and her heart fluttered at the warm sound. "You mean to tell me a temple maiden dances like a Maiko?"

"You are very rude, sir." She stood up sharply crossing her arms and glaring down at him.

"You are right, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. The way you danced was an art form. I thought only a professional could have taught you. To think it was a samurai." He chuckled again but it didn't stop uncross her arms. "Forgive me, my lady. I meant no disrespect."

"Very well, I will forgive you. But only if you remove that mask. Otherwise, I'll just have to assume you're a demon. Or a fox of a man, to wear a kitsune mask."

He laughed again, and reached up, sliding the mask from his head and setting it down on the bench. He had a slender face and piercing narrowed eyes, set beneath mischievous brows and a pert mouth. He had laughter in his eyes, and kindness in his smile. His dark hair framed his face, bangs feathered his forehead and hid his ears and Yuriko's heart stopped for a moment.

"I was right, you really are a demon." She stated point blank, unable to look away from him.

"What makes you say that?" He asked her, looking surprised.

"No human man could possibly be as beautiful as you are. Now tell me why you're here, demon? I hope it is not to eat anyone in the village. There isn't much food going around here so most of the villagers are too skinny. You couldn't possibly fill up on them."

He looked taken aback for a moment and laughed again, loudly and boisterously.

"You are a strange woman, my lady." He smiled at her, and Yuriko couldn't help but smile back.

"My name is Yuri-"

"Yuriko!" Kyah's voice broke through the haze of their conversation and Yuriko looked back to see her friend frantically making her way towards her. "Yuriko! It's Hisayo, we have to go! Quickly before she catches us!" Kyah grabbed Yuriko's hand and started to pull her away from her stranger.

"W-wait! What's your name?" She asked the man as Kyah dragged her into the depths of the crowd, towards the temple.

The man stood up, cupping his hands around his mouth and shouted. "My name is Tomosue!"