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The Forest Maiden's Apprentice

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Waking Up Lost

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On cold dark nights when no one is there… there is always the moon.

By Anonymous

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When the two spirit detectives awoke they found themselves in the middle of a grassy field of what appeared to be wheat. They glanced at each other,

"What was that?"

"I don't know, I have about as much idea as you do Hiei."

Standing up they moved to look around. They were on a hill and from what they could see a small town lay down in a valley with farmland branching out. Past the farmland however it was impossible to see farther because trees stretched in every direction toward the north. The trees towered high, unlike any forest wither of them had ever seen before. Without having to say anything, he two of them figured they were no longer within their own world.

Pointing to the small town, in case Hiei had missed it, Kurama broke the silence. "I think we should go down there and see if we can get some answers Hiei."

Nodding his head in response Hiei walked silently ahead of Kurama as they walked down to the town. Although when they got closer they found it wasn't really a town, but a little village that you would see in medieval times. They remained silent and continued walking towards it.

When they reached it they began receiving odd looks from the villagers. It was no wonder though; they looked very out of place considering what everyone else was wearing. They were dressed in very plain clothes, much different from the brightly colored clothes Kurama wore. Hiei caught people's eye, from the sword he wore around his waist. Kurama went up to a woman who was ordering around a young boy about sweeping up.

"Excuse me miss, but I was wondering where we are?"

The woman turned around then looked at Kurama and Hiei before answering with a smile on her face.

"Oh, travelers are you. This village is called Chico, (Chi-co) and if you're looking for a place to stay this right here is the village Inn."

Pointing to the building behind her Kurama looked at it for a moment before turning his gaze back to the woman.

"I'm the innkeeper here so if you have any questions you ask me. The rooms are five kani each."

Kurama looked to Hiei then back to the woman.

"I'm sorry miss but we have no money with which to pay you."

The woman looked shocked for a moment then narrowed her eyes. "No money means no rooms. Although..."

Looking at them both she seemed to be lost in thought.

"We've been a bit short handed with our tavern lately and if you would work off you're tab there I'll let you have the rooms."

Kurama turned to Hiei.

"I think we should do it. We don't know anything about where we are and maybe in the tavern we could get some information."

Hiei looked at Kurama a moment.

"Humph I don't care let's just get out of here as soon as possible."

Kurama turned back to the woman.

"That sounds great, when do you need us to work?"

The woman smiled a toothy grin, "Great. You start right now. Follow me."

She led them into a dimly lit tavern, there were a few travelers and locals discussing rumors and legends and other things in hushed voices. She led them both into the back room before giving them instructions on what they needed to do. She also provided them with some suitable cloths to wear, said to be from her dead husband.

After a while of working, two men came into the tavern, one younger and the other an older man. They looked thoroughly shaken and asked to speak with the Innkeeper. Kurama went to fetch her right away, and she followed him back out into the tavern. It was obvious she was a little irritated at the interruption, but when she saw who it was and how they looked she rushed over.

"Oh, you boys look in a mess! What happened to you?"

Kurama, cleaning a table nearby listened in, wondering what had shaken the two so.

The younger boy spoke up first, "He said we should go to the sacred woods. I told him it was a bad idea because...she was there."

The woman's eyes widened at this bit of news. "You saw her?! You actually saw her?!"

The two men nodded before the older man continued with the story.

"One minute we were riding through no problem, but out of nowhere wolves appeared everywhere. Scared the horses half to death and they threw us off and made a break for it. Then we saw her, just for a moment we saw her shadow before she warned us to never step foot in those woods again then she let the wolves do what they wanted with us. We ran as fast as we could out of there."

The woman simply shook her head. "You're lucky you made it out of there with your lives. There are many who've sought more than deer in those woods and never came out of those trees..."

Kurama who had long since scrubbed the table clean moved closer and spoke up.

"Excuse me, but I overheard some of that and was wondering who is this girl you're talking about? And what did you mean by 'sought more in those woods'?"

The group simply stared at him for a moment dumbfounded before the younger man spoke up. "Well since you're obviously not from around here I'll tell you. There's a story around these parts that a while ago that the Maiden of the Forest, one of the triad maidens, took up residence in what is now known as the sacred forest. They say she guards over a great treasure known as the Forest Pearl. A great gem unmatched in value and power said to make men as powerful as Gods. She guards the gem well, but recently she's taken in a young girl. The girl's more animal than human, no one knows if she has a name or not, so people have started calling her the Forest Maiden's apprentice simply because she is very close to the Forest Maiden. She lives in the forest with her and all the beasts that dwell there, and is learning the ancient magic of the forest. She will kill anyone who comes in the forest trying to hunt or steal her master's treasure."

Kurama was surprised at the name of the jewel, "Forest's pearl did you say?"

The young man looked at him oddly, "Yeah that's what I said, but you'd be a complete fool to try and take it."

Kurama thought for a moment, Wasn't that the name of the jewel we grabbed before we wound up here?

"Thank you for informing me. That's a very interesting tale."

Author Note

Italics are thoughts.

Bold text I mainly use just to emphasize a point.