It has been three days since Kagome left the group. To her surprise, she didn't cry. She wasn't even sad. All she felt was this over helming hatred. But the first night when she was alone in the forest, sitting on a tree, that feeling subsided. Now, she was traveling to the southern lands, planning to visit the old miko who taught her how to use her miko powers. However, all this time one thing was worrying her. That night she, again, saw this bloody red eyes right after her anger reached its peak.

But this was not supposed to happen. Sesshomaru said that after three sun rises his blood will be purified.

That was not the whole thing. She noticed, the second day, when she woke up that her vision was sharper than normally, so was her sense of smell and hearing. Kagome searched in her head for any reason why this was happening to her, but always ended up with just one: she was turning into a demon.

At first, the thought scared her, but now she was comfortable with it. What's more, she was quite happy because if she trained her demon powers properly she will have a better chance of proving Inuyasha that she is not a weak human. In fact, right now she is not human at all. Smiling to herself, the young miko jumped off the tree and got ready for the day. First, she ate her breakfast, and then took a quick bath in the nearby river. Sensing that she was near the village, she decided to wear her miko clothes. The same that Kaede gave her on the fourth day in Feudal Era. With her backpack on one shoulder and her bow and arrows on another, she started walking to the nearest village.

---

"So where do you think Kagome went?" asked Miroku. The next morning, after Kagome left the group Inuyasha went to her time to get her, only to discover that she was not there. Sango and Shippo were depressed. They barely ate anything and spoke. It is as if Kagome was their live, which was taken from them.

"I don't know Miroku. She could be everywhere. Where do you think she went?" Silence. Everyone was thinking the same question for the past two days.

"South." Sango whispered.

"What did you said?" asked Inuyasha.

"South. If I were Kagome I would go to the southern lands. Remember? She said that she'll prove to you she's not weak." For a second they seemed to think about it.

"I believe Sango may be right, Inuyasha. As I recall, Kagome befriend an old miko who taught her a few things about her miko powers." The half-demon only nodded, so Miroku continued.

"Besides, it's not like we have any better clue."

"Yeah, you're right Miroku. We'll leave tomorrow morning." And with that they started to gather they belongings, making sure everything was ready for their journey.

---

To say Sesshomaru was furious was a big misunderstanding. Two days after his encounter with miko, he came back to his castle after the night patrol only to find that Rin was missing.

"Milord!" a green imp screamed making its way to the great lord.

"What is it, Jaken?"

"Young Rin! She's missing!"

"What do you mean by that?" Jaken took a deep breath. He knew saying this will be hard for him. It would be a miracle if the taiyoukai do not kill him.

"Milord, she was escorted to her room after supper as you ordered. However a few hours later one of the servant came to the Lady Saya and said that the girl is not there."

"Well, where is she?" Sesshomaru asked with such a cold tone that you could almost see the ice dripping from it. His glare was as hard and deadly as ever.

"We don't know milord. I ordered to search the whole castle and the gardens. I hope you're not mad at me, milord."

Sesshomaru just nodded in approval.

"When they finish, report the results to me."

"Yes milord." And with that the taiyoukai went to his office.

Half a day later Jaken came back without any news of Rin. Sesshomaru send his spies to search the whole western lands. After that, it has been four days without any trace of the little girl. He was sitting all this time trying to figure out what had happened.

If Naraku were still alive it would be most likely his job, if anyone kidnapped Rin, which is impossible with his guard, someone would contact him. The Dog-demon did not even tried to think of the last option; that Rin felt bad in his castle. After all, she was the one who desired to help him and then traveled with him. There was no way she would abandon him like that just now. So, he did the one thing he hated the most. He waited. Trying to be calm and patience, he waited.

--

After the whole day of traveling, Kagome finally reached the village. On her way, she thought about how to convince people to let her stay in someone's hut. She was even willing to use the old trick about fake demon. However, her doubts were quickly cleared when one of the villagers saw her.

"Miko! You fall from heaven to us!" The old man called, gaining attention from everybody else.

"Please, calm yourself and tell me how can I help you?" She spoke softly. The man just smiled.

"It's my wife. I think she's sick. We don't know what to do." Kagome sigh mentally.

This is going to be a long night.

"Lead the way."

"Yes, miko." The raven-haired girl laughed lightly.

"It's Kagome." The man looked at her for a second with confusion but quickly smiled and bowed.

"I'm Hakaru, it's pleasure." Kagome bowed back and they went to the hut. After she treated the old woman, the other villagers also asked for her help. Being the girl she is, Kagome just couldn't refuse them. So she helped. Every one of them. She cooked, cleaned, treated wounds and most of all she played with children. The kids were in heaven playing tag, or hide and seek, or many other games. Before she noticed, two days flew by. Now, she was saying goodbye to all of the villagers, who loved the little miko with all of their hearts, presenting her two new kimonos and two sets of new arrows. Kagome bowed them and with tears in her eyes accepted their gifts. After all was done, she set herself on the road again.

--

Walking the whole day and night, she decided to make a stop for some breakfast. With her new demon blood, she noticed that she did not need as much sleep as usual, but since she was new with all this, she decided not to over exercise herself. She was happy that along the way she did not met any demon. Probably, because of her ability to mask her scent and aura. After a quick breakfast, she changed into one of the kimonos the villagers gave her. It was simple, cotton, in a light green color with pink blossom petals. Checking that it fit her perfectly and was very comfortable at the same time, Kagome decided to try her new abilities. She saw a tree branch twenty feet above her head and with a little concentration, she jumped…. and landed on the exact same branch. Proud of herself, she jumped down and started to run in circles. First, slowly, then faster and faster, until, for a normal human she was but a blur. Seeing it was getting dark, the young miko decided to spend the night here. So she gathered her belongings and jumped again at the tree branch.

What exactly am I now? I am not a full human, but I am not a full demon either. On top of that, I am miko! Maybe… I know! I will call myself mikoness! Miko and demoness in one word! She smiled to herself from her new discovery when the sudden movement from the bushes caught her attention. Within a blink of an eye, she was pointing an arrow at the bushes ready to strike whatever was hiding there. However what she saw make her heart broke into pieces. Little girl, about nine years old was slowly and shakily making her steps.

Kagome immediately jumped from her branch down to the little girl. Up close, she looked like a walking dead. Her skin was pale, almost white, her hairs were tangled with many leaves, and she had many little cuts on her legs and hands, probably from bushes, because her little orange and yellow kimono was shattered in few places. Kagome quickly run to the girl seeing that she will fall down in any minute.

"Are you okay?" she asked. The little girl only looked at her with brown eyes, full of pain and sadness.

"I'm dizzy." The little one whispered, obviously having difficulties with breathing. Kagome layed her on the ground and quickly ran to her backpack. Pulling out sleeping bag, she rolled it open on the ground and placed the little girl in it.

She's sweating, had difficulties with breathing and is pale. She must have been poisoned.

Without a second thought, she dove into her backpack again and pulled out a little bottle with herbal medicine.

"I need you to drink this. You will feel better." The child only nodded lightly so Kagome put one arm on her back to help her sit and with second hand, she placed the bottle into girls mouth. After she drank half of it, the young miko placed her again in the sleeping bag.

"Sleep. You are save now. I will be watching over you." Kagome stroke her little patient's hair and with that the girl fell asleep. Kagome sat beside her, listening to her surroundings. Nothing seemed too suspicious so she closed her eyes and relaxed. However, after an hour or so, she heard some grass rustling. Like something was crawling. Looking in the direction of the noise, she spotted an animal.

Pearl white snake stopped in the same time and raise his head to look at her. She pointed her arrow at it, waiting for animal's next move. To her surprise the snake lowered his head and turned it slightly to the right. Not knowing why she calmed and put her bow down, letting snake come to her. She sat on the grass near the sleeping girl again and the snake wrapped itself around her leg with head resting on her knee. Few minutes later, she smelt something and looked at the little human girl. She was covered with sweat, tossing in her backpack. Kagome panicked, the medicine wasn't working. If she didn't do something quickly, the little girl will die. That's when she felt the snake wrapping itself tightly around her, like trying to calm and comfort her.

The young miko looked confused at it and the snake only pointed its head at the dying form. Kagome could not understand why but she trusted this little animal and somehow, she understood it. So without a second thought she nodded her head and snake crawled from her leg on top of the little girl who was now breathing short and sharply with her open mouth. White creature made its way to her mouth opening his own to reveal two fangs with something green on them. Kagome was looking all the time and felt a little nervous when her newly found friend put his fangs in her mouth and release the green liquid into them. Almost immediately, when little one swallow it, she stopped tossing and went back to sleep peacefully. Young miko was shocked but grateful at the same time. She picked the snake and it wrapped itself around Kagome's neck looking straight into her eyes.

"Thank you." Kagome whispered and the snake licked her with its thin tongue, which made her laugh.

--

Little girl woke up the next day around the noon. She sat in the sleeping bag and rubbed her eyes with her little fists to remove the last of her sleep.

"I see you've woken up. How do you feel?" Kagome asked softly. Little girl smiled.

"I'm good! Thank you pretty lady for saving me." The young miko could not believe that this was the same child who last night crossed her path. Who would want to hurt something so joyful, pure and innocent?

"What is your name? I'm Kagome." The little one hopped out of the strange thing she was sleeping in and sat on Kagome's laps.

"Rin is Rin." The girl said.

"Well Rin, why were you here? Did something happened to your family?" The little one thought for a moment then looked at miko with fear in her eyes.

"I can't remember." Now, Kagome was also worried.

"Do you remember where your village is?" Rin just shook her head.

"Can you remember anything?" The girl again was quiet for a moment, obviously thinking.

"I remember moon." She replied.

"Moon?" The girl nodded.

"Oh well. Are you hungry? I've made some breakfast." The girl hugged Kagome squealing happily.

"But first..." Kagome started, gaining the child's attention. "We need to make you clean."

Rin nodded again and they both went to the nearest river to take a quick bath. When they returned, Rin screamed and hid herself behind Kagome's legs

"What is it Rin?"

"There is a demon!" She said pointing at the pearl white animal. Kagome took a few steps, stretched and lowered her hand so that the snake could wrap itself around it. Then she turned to still scared Rin.

"Don't worry. It will not hurt you. In fact, this little animal here saved your life." Kagome smiled when Rin's face turned from shock to confusion and finally to a little smile.

"If you want to, you can touch it." The little girl took a few steps forward and reached her hand to touch the snake who was still, not moving an inch.

This animal is smart and useful. Maybe I can ask him to travel with us. She was stopped from her thoughts when Rin's laugh rang in her ears. She looked and saw the snake licking the girl's face.

"So Rin, do you like it?"

"Rin likes the snake and snake likes Rin!" She said with delight. They sat and ate their breakfast. Rin had the biggest portion since she needed to recover her strength from the poison. After the meal Kagome sat the girl in her lap and put her chin on little one's head. They sat like that in silence for a while when Kagome decided to speak.

"Rin how would you like to come with me? Who knows, maybe we can find your parents and your village?" Rin just looked at her with tears coming down her face.

"What's wrong? Why are you sad?" The miko asked.

"Rin is just happy! Will Kagome be Rin's older sister?" She asked with a puppy dog eyes. Even without them Kagome would say yes. It really wouldn't be hard to believe they are sisters. Both of them had raven-hair, brown eyes and their skin is almost the exact same color.

"Of course, Rin. I'd love to be your sister." The little one squealed with pure joy and hugged Kagome so tightly that she couldn't breathe for a moment.

They packed all of their thing into backpack and were ready to go, when Kagome felt something smooth on her ankle. She looked down into a pair of ruby red eyes looking straight at her. She knew what the snake wanted, so she smiled.

"You can come too if you want." In an instant the snake crawled itself on her legs, wrapping its body twice around her belly, then chest and finally neck with the head resting on her shoulder and tail hanging loosely on her hip. Rin took her bow and arrows, Kagome placed her backpack on her free shoulder, and all three of them began to walking into Kagome's destination.