Disclaimer: I do not own the show Inuyasha or the characters. Rumiko Takahashi's brilliant imagination created them, so they belong to her. I'm always broke and all I have to my name right now is a stick of gum. So please don't sue. Thank you. Jul-chan

Eternity's Passing

Chapter One: Suffocating

Suffocate; it was a word that means to be deprived of oxygen. It also means becoming uncomfortable due to the lack of air. This was the way Kaede had felt as she watched her older sister, Kikyo's body burn. It wasn't from the intense smoke, or the stench of burning flesh with burial herbs. While those alone would cause distress to someone's breathing, they didn't really bother her. It was the fact that she had lost the only family she ever had.

She was very young when her parents had died from a mysterious illness. It had swept through the village, taking many lives along with it. Kikyo was thirteen at the time and had to raise Kaede afterwards. The illness was what made Kikyo decide to be a priestess. She hoped to make a difference in the small village, hoping to prevent future illness outbreaks. Kikyo did not have an easy time of caring for her sister while training. While the village women helped out with Kaede, the future priestess felt that she should have most of the responsibilities. Kaede remembered that she followed Kikyo around, helping out whenever she could. She even had an affinity to herbs. The little girl had proven to be useful when it came to helping her sister with healing. Kaede even had this sixth sense about things that she had developed without training, unlike Kikyo. She felt important, not like the little sister that was never needed. Unfortunately, that feeling changed when Kikyo became the protector of the Shikon no Tama. The jewel of four souls was said to give whatever or whoever that possessed it great power. It often corrupted the minds of humans and demons alike, but Kikyo was strong enough to withstand the jewel's influence. She even had the power to purify it, which was one of the main reasons she was chosen to protect it. From then on, Kikyo had developed stronger spiritual powers along with excellent use with a bow and arrow.

Her left eye began to burn as a tear formed. It felt strange to have only one eye tear up. She had lost her right during the attack that had taken her sister away. Kikyo, the powerful, invincible priestess had fallen in her duty to protect the Shikon no Tama. Kaede hated to learn about how fragile human life was the hard way. No matter how powerful someone became, they were still human. They were prone to the same human weaknesses such as fear, pain, love, anger, and sadness. Even the strongest can fall to one the smallest weaknesses. Kikyo had fallen to love. While she had not confided to her younger sister, Kaede knew that Kikyo had feelings for the half demon Inuyasha. She had often caught the two of them together; they were either walking or just talking. The girl knew not of what the two had planned, but she felt that something would happen. That something wasn't good. The end result was that Inuyasha was now sealed to a tree and her sister was dead.

Kaede refused to watch as her sister's ashes were gathered up to be placed in a special urn. She wandered from the mourning crowd to get some fresh air. If it was not her own grief that was suffocating her, then it was that of the wailing group that surrounded her. How could anyone feel deeper loss than she? It was her sister that she had lost. But… Kikyo had touched so many lives. She was recognized as a powerful priestess who used her spiritual powers for good. There was also the fact that she was beautiful. Everyone said that she brightened up a cloudy day with only her presence. She had cured all of their ailments and was a comfort to those who needed it. Kikyo was what held the tiny village together after the outbreak. It prospered now thanks to her touch. Now that she was gone, who would take her place? Can there be another Kikyo?

No, there is no one in this world that could replace her sister.

She realized that she was near the cave that a bandit named Onigumo stayed. The sisters had found him severely burned and near death. Kikyo, whose duty was to show compassion to all human kind, had insisted that they care for him. Kaede had some reservations. She had noticed that the stranger's eyes stayed overly long on Kikyo, and she also noticed something darker and very primal glinted in them. It was not just Kikyo he lusted after, but the young girl knew he hungered for the power of the sacred jewel. For some reason, her ill feelings were stronger around that man than for Inuyasha. But as she walked by the cave, she had an eerie feeling. It encouraged her to check the cave, to see what she would find. To her surprise, she found nothing when there was a severely injured man there the morning before. There was no sign of Onigumo, except for a spot in the cave where grass did not grow. Her initial reasoning was that maybe a demon had slipped in and did something with the bandit, but deep down she knew it was something darker. But what could it be?

Not wanting to dwell on the creepy feeling in the cave, Kaede left and kept wandering on. Thoughts drifted through her head. What was she going to do? Where would she go? What now? She was starting to feel suffocated again until she found herself in the very forest that Inuyasha was sealed in. Finding the sealed half demon she just stood and stared at him. This was the very demon that had taken her sister away. He was the reason she lost both Kikyo and her right eye. The half demon who gets a forest named after him, yet he did not look so dangerous pinned to the tree like that.

"Not so tough now, are you?" she spoke. Her hand went to the bandage that covered the right side of her face. Scars replaced where her eye once was, thanks to some flying debris from his attack. It would be a permanent reminder of all she had lost.

She did not worry so much for her eye. It was just that she wished that it was the only thing she had lost. If Kikyo were here, she would have helped Kaede to deal with it. But how can an eleven year old deal with the loss of her sister on her own? She looked back to Inuyasha. He took it all away.

"Why?" she whispered. "Why did you do it?"

Not that she expected an answer from the sealed half-demon.

"If only she hadn't wasted the last of her strength on you. She could have had her wounds tended to before going after the stupid jewel shard. It was not that important."

But it was, she silently amended. With that jewel in his hands, he would have been very powerful. He wanted to be a full demon after all. Just thinking of how dangerous he could have been made her appreciate her sister's sacrifice even more, but it still hurt. She couldn't get how peaceful he looked despite everything that happened. It wasn't fair. There was this incredible urge to go up and yank off those white ears of his. One for her eye and one for her sister. Something had stopped her though. There was something about Inuyasha that told her that he wasn't completely at fault. Of course she ignored it.

"It's not fair." She said aloud this time before turning around to go back to the village.

It was sun down when she was greeted by the villagers. They finally remembered Kaede, the little sister of Kikyo. The main person affected by the entire ordeal. What is she supposed to do now? She looked around and saw traces of sadness and hopelessness on the villagers' faces. Who would they look to for support and healing? Suddenly realization dawned on her. She was being very selfish thinking that Kikyo was only important to her. That she was the only dependent person for Kikyo to look after. Here were all these villagers that had watched over them as they grew up without a mother and father and was taken care of by one of the very orphans. Kikyo had been everyone's hope and protector. With her gone, who would take care of them now? Where is their source of hope? After watching most of the villagers break down in grief and hopelessness, she had enough, especially when one of them had wailed in despair.

"The world is at an end! Lady Kikyo has been slain and we are now doomed. We have no one!"

Suddenly she was compelled to stand on a pile of debris. Although she knew what she was doing, she did not know why. All she knew was that she was beginning to feel suffocated again as she was surrounded by the crowd, and she had no idea what she was doing. She was trying to fight it, trying to find that fragment of control that she had held on to for so long but lost. She was about to run away and fight the feeling to do whatever it is her body was making her do. There was no way she was going to give all control over to some unknown force. Or she could be losing her mind. The pressure of grief may have made her break down finally. Whatever it was, she did not want to submit to it. But as she saw that the crowd finally noticed her, she calmed a little. They probably thought that she finally cracked as well and were very worried. It was not good to see the sister of the dead priestess to lose her mind above all things. She decided that she did have control over one thing, and that was to trust her instincts.

"Yes, Kikyo is dead, but it is not the end of the world. She was just a woman who cared for her village all who lived in it. Her duties were further realized when she was chosen to protect the Shikon no Tama."

"That was what her death was, a final duty to protect us. She sacrificed the last of her strength in protecting the jewel, and then she ordered it burned with her body to protect us. Since she had done her duty, we have to do ours. We must rebuild and carry on. It is what she would have wanted.

Everyone was staring at her in awe and then cheered, thus boosting her confidence. Even though she was a child, she had to grow up faster than normal. She must take care of this small village like her sister before her. She would have to become the next village priestess.

Note: This is my first Inuyasha fan fiction, so please be gentle in your reviews. This is the first chapter among several that I have planned for this. As you can see this is about Kaede's life after Kikyo's death. What I hoped to convey in this chapter was how she might have felt during her sister's funeral. I never had a sister so I wouldn't know how it would feel to have one, much less to lose one. But I'm sure I would feel pretty bad.

Forgive me for the sloppy quality that may have been placed in this chapter. I'm happy with it, but I'm sure that I could do better. I kept running into a huge block whenever it came to this part, so I had written out what I could. Since it's done I'll have better ideas now. Thus is my life.

This story will be about Kaede and her life in between Kikyo's death and Kagome's arrival. Kaede will not be saying things like 'ye' or anything like that. It kinda takes away from the story, plus it's a pain trying to remember to write it that way. I will warn you that this is not for the Kikyo flamers, for Kaede will have very fond memories of her sister. I believe that Kikyo wasn't that much different from Kagome before her death. Maybe a bit more subdued, but just as kind and warm. Any who… I hope that you enjoyed this. The next chapter should be a bit better. If you leave a review, I don't care if you enjoyed the fic or not, but please keep any comment or criticism polite. Thank you. Jul-chan