A/N: Yay! Ch. 3 comes to you today! It seems like the only time I get to update is on the weekends, so expect new weekly chapters from now on for all my stories! (Except for the Blue-eyed. That one's taking a while.)
Chapter 3: Never Alone
I awoke with the ground to my left and the tree filled sky to my right. I was confused. Shouldn't it be a different way? The sky and ground turned so that they were horizontal once more, and I rubbed my aching head. My eyes were puffy and I felt like...shit, to be precise. The first bit of information that transferred in my head was that we were in a forested area. My heart swelled. I must still be home. Home...
It call came back like a sudden tsunami of memories. "Oh, my gosh! My forest! The Souls! I have to save them! I have to protect them!" I stood up in my craze and fell back down as the world began to turn sides again.
"Calm down!" an unfamiliar small voice told me. I registered that it came from behind so I turned around to find a small human girl I had never seen before. "You should lie back down. You haven't gotten over your fever yet."
"Yes, lady songstress," a small, green-skinned creature with bug eyes addressed me. "That was a fierce battle and it seems you are tired emotionally as well as physically. How are you feeling?"
"Not as bad as your looks," I stated bluntly as my brain reminded me that this creature was the one called Jaken, who had accompanied the stranger who asked passage through her forest.
"Why I never!" Jaken fumed and stomped off towards a glimmering visage that leaned against a tree.
Even though I recognized him as the traveler, Lord Sesshoumaru, who had crossed my forest, I never truly saw him until the morning sun shone apon him. He was a breath-taking sight. He carried the noble beauty of a demon lord. His silver hair reflected the soft morning rays with sharp power. His golden eyes looked more like sappy jewels then actual eyes. And his body was nothing short of a god. I never truly gave his handsome splendour credit when I first met him in the moonlight. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and my cheeks grow hot, which soon spread through the rest of my body. I soon became aware that my mouth was gaping open and I soon closed it.
"Oh, my! I think you're fever is rising!" the human cried out as she felt my forehead, causing me to break my stupified gaze from the godly beauty. "You're face is all red!"
"Yeah, it does feel a bit hot," I sighed, and my words had double meaning, but luckily, the human only took the innocent meaning.
"Here, have some water," she shoved a drinking sac in my face.
I hesitantly took and brought it to my lips. The sweet, cool liquid felt pleasant down my dry and sore throat. I drank as much as I dared and handed it back to her with a satisfied sigh. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," she politely replied, taking the sac and putting it into a pack. "By the way, I'm Rin. You don't know because I wasn't following Lord Sesshoumaru and Jaken into the forest. They wanted me to go around."
"Because your human," I thought aloud. "A wise decision. Humans are weak against the mischeif of my beloved forest."
I frowned. My beloved forest. It was gone. Flattened. Damn him! Damn that Naraku! Why? Why did he ever show up? Why did he decide to destroy her forest. "To power up the Soul-Eaters, of course," I mumbled my thoughts to myself.
The others stared at me. "Lady Songstress?"
I looked up at the one who had spoken, Jaken. "My name is Karmina of the Forest of Souls. Well...previously of the Forest of Souls. You shall address as Lady Karmina, as my status permits."
Jaken gave me a look of contempt but obliged. "Yes, Lady Karmina. So..please enamorate on wht you spoke earlier. What were these Soul-Eaters doing in your forest?"
My eyes turned sharp and my frown, a snarl. "Blasted Soul-Eaters! As you may know, they feed off souls, so my Forest was an 'all-you-can-eat buffet' to them. With each soul they eat, the more their power increases. However, they did not come here of their own accord. Someone led them here."
Jaken and Rin gasped. "Who?" the asked harmoniously.
"A demon by the name of Naraku."
This caught Lord Sesshoumaru's attention. He looked up at me, interested. "Naraku?"
"Yes, that is what he called himself. He must've been stopping by my forest to power up his little 'pets' before he decided to use them, for whatever it was he had planned for them. That plan is ruined, now that I killed all of them."
Everyone remembered the tragic battle that had exploded out onto the forest. I realized with dread that part of the forest's destruction was my fault, but I was just so pissed and distressed and heart-broken. I couldn't control the immense power that lay dormant inside of me. I had to take it out on someone. I fought to suppress that passionate feeling of sorrow, so as not to unleash it once again.
"What will you do now?" the golden eyes were not on me, but looking into the far off distance.
"I don't know. I was stripped of my home and occupation all in one night. I...I don't know where to go. What to do..." I swallowed the lump in my throat as I tried to think of what my future might be. I almost swayed from the anxiety.
"Why don't you join us?"
All eyes were on the young girl, Rin, who had just spoken. She was a strange little human girl, slightly cute with her missing tooth, but strange for a human. Who would invite an unkown demon to accompany them? Especially after they saw that display of power. Sure, I had no control over it, but she didn't know that. I looked to Sesshoumaru for permisison. I would love nothing more than to be with him for the rest of my life; he was so beautiful! He also seemed to be the one in charge of their little group.
"Why should I deal with her?" he asked coldly, but wasn't exactly expecting an answer, or wanted one.
I turned to him, sitting formally with my legs folded beneath me. I bowed down, my hands on the ground and my fore-head resting on them. "Please allow me to accompany you, at least until I find new purpose in my life! To wander this planet with neither friend no purpose is worse than hell!"
I knew very well hat that was like. The beginning of my existence, as far as I can remember, this is the zombified life I lived. I was ignorant. Stupid. Alone. Until I met the former Soul Gaurdian. He played the flute so beautifully. Much more beautituflly than I. His music is what led me to him. He saved me. Gave me purpose. Raised me. He taught me all that I knew, and when he finally left this realm, I carried on his legacy. But now that I had failed and he was gone. I swallowed the tears that threatened come out.
"Another burden," the deep voice sighed at me and I looked up with such a look of explicit joy that I felt like hugging him right then and there, but knew it might only result in my decapitation.
Rin hugged me happily, and I smiled softly. This girl wasn't actually as bad as most humans. Maybe this life might be better for me.
The afternoon heat blazed down on the demonic-one part human-group. The group was drinking at a freshwater spring and taking a rest in the mountainous valley. Karmina had just finished telling them all about her, well, all that she felt like telling, however. The silver-haired beauty suspected there was more. She explained her once vocation and her powers.
"This is my flute, Tsuki," the songstress held the silver instrument up for all to see. "And once I do this..." She thrust her flute into the air, to give it some room, and shouted, "Tsuki Transform!" It elongated into her scythe, which she caught from its fall. "...it becomes Akaaka Tsuki, or 'Bright Moon.' This is its fighting form. I can play music in this form, also, but it's attack magic. In its dormant form, Tsuki, I can use supportive magic, like healing or sheilds."
"Do you have to call its name out everytime you transform it?" Jaken snorted, but his question was the one Sesshoumaru was waiting for.
"Yes, actually. It reacts to the sound of my voice, and only to certain sounds, its name. Now, Akaaka Tsuki runs off my power, so once I'm out of power, so is it, so it automatically goes back to its dormant state, Tsuki. I call it 'dormant' because it requires no energy in this state, so it gives me time to recharge. I can, however, change it back to Tsuki, by doing this."
She held Akaaka Tsuki out in her hand, arm stretched in front of her, and calmly said, "Tsuki, Return." Her weapon glowed for a second with a silver light, then it was back into its normal flute size and she tucked it back between the cloth that was tied around her waist.
"Karmina," I finally spoke. I was curious to see her skills in combat, besides that vicious transformation that took place. "What about that thing you transformed into?"
She froze and an unpleasant look was on her face. The Demon Lord raised his eyebrows. This was going to be interesting.
"That...even I know little about that. All I know is that when I feel some sort of emotion to the extreme, it magnifies t to an unbelievable degree and I do unbelievable things. I almost killed myself once when I saw an ape demon it a puppy."
Sesshoumaru found that picture slightly amusing. She always had this calm, collected demeanor about her, that he could never imagine her cutting herself over a young pup. "Why don't you show us what you can do with that flute?" Sesshoumaru demanded more than asked, a flat tone in his voice which completely contrasted to the actual sentence. He seemed almost annoyed.
"Yes! Play a song for us!" Rin added, excited.
Karmina sighed and held the flute to her lips. Her slim fingers lightly played across the top of the flute, a crisp staccato flying through the air. The melody was a heart lifting one, that was encrested with magic to give energy to her new companions. Everyone, even Lord Sesshoumaru, felt revitalized and ready to take on the day. Karmina was just getting to the end of her tune when a loud roar resonated through the valley. Karmina stopped her music just as a giant bear demon came crashing through the trees. Oh no! Karmina thought with fear. My music attracted a demon!
The young songstress found that her worries were for nought, because Lord Sesshoumaru flicked two fingers in the air. A whip of light followed his movements and seperated the head from the body of the bear demon. Its body fell limp on the ground, blood pouring into the clear spring. "That's also a disadvantage of Tsuki being in its dormant form. I can't direct the sound waves, so anyone can hear it, and it will work on anyone."
Rin and Jaken, who had finally calmed their racing hearts looked up at Karmina. An awkward silence passed bewteen the nomads, and then Sesshoumaru began to walk down their path. Everyone silently followed.