My father was gone for 3 days, by the third night he had finally returned. He met all of us in the garden with Hinako bound and on her knees.
"What have you done to us?" Sango shouted.
"I have helped you." She told us.
"All you did was turn us into children! How does that do anything?" Sango shouted.
"Could you please just change us back?" I asked much kinder than Sango had.
"I will change you back, but to do that…" She had a huge grin on her face. "You must kill me. Kill your innocence. That is how you will change yourselves back."
"Then what was the point in doing this to us?" I asked. "You wanted to show us things we hadn't learned as children, correct? So, how will killing our innocence do anything but return us to our old ways?"
"It may return you exactly the same, but perhaps, you may return to normal in the mindset you are in now. Thus, having learned the lesson I have set for you."
"Fool, this has proved nothing." Inuyasha said. "Is this really how you wish to die?" Hinako stared at him, still holding on to that huge grin. Then she started to laugh hysterically, perhaps she truly was mad?
"You actually think you'll be able to kill me like that!" She continued to laugh barely breathing. My father looked at her angrily. I walked up to her my claws ready to taste her blood.
"Think about it. I will give you only now to think, would you rather die at my hands, or change us back and go on with your life." Although I sounded inhumane and cruel as I said it, honestly I was being graciously kind. She just kept laughing. "Fine, unbind her." I told my father, who smiled and cut off the ropes. Hinako looked at me, still grinning, but as I looked into her eyes I could see true sadness. "I am truly sorry, Hinako." I whispered as I slashed my claws through her entire body. I watched her face drain of all happiness, of life itself. He smile died as she did. Her body seemed to shatter and dissipate as she died. Then, she was gone, as if she had never been in the first place. I felt such guilt in her death. Unlike any guilt I had felt before, this was almost unbearable.
My body then glowed in a brilliant white light. I felt my strength return to me, my body shift, and my mind finally come to ease. I sighed as it all ended. One question now remained. Why? I turned to look at everyone. Sango, Miroku, Kagome, Shippo, they were all celebrating. I looked into Inuyasha's eyes, the sadness and confusion from before remained. We all gathered inside the castle, my father threw us a feast, a feast in which Kurono did not attend but instead my mother. All was well it seemed and yet still I could feel such great sadness in what had happened, as did Inuyasha. I knew not how to fix this feeling of utter guilt, other than to simply go on with life. So I did, I put it all behind me that night.
In the morning I bid my mother and father farewell, and we continued on in our search for Naraku and the Jewel shards. It was awhile before anything interesting happened, almost an entire month. One day while we were eating lunch something finally happened.
"The breeze feels so nice." Sango said.
"It's so peaceful." Shippo agreed.
"We haven't found a single clue leading to Naraku and here you are wasting time like this!" Inuyasha exclaimed. "Hurry up and eat!" He shouted shoving rice balls into his mouth as quickly as he could. I watched him silently as he chugged down an entire bottle of water that Kagome had brought.
"To make things worse, demons that were laying low while Naraku was around are now coming out of the wood work in droves. Things couldn't get more discouraging." Miroku commented.
"You going somewhere with this?" Inuyasha asked annoyed.
"I'm saying let us relax and at least enjoy our meal in peace." Miroku replied.
"You should have a little sympathy for them Inuyasha." Shippo explained.
"What?" Inuyasha asked getting into Shippo's face.
"Kagome, Miroku, and Sango aren't strong like us. They're only weak mortals. You're expecting the impossible." Shippo continued. I started to laugh quietly, so did Kagome.
"Did he call us weak mortals?" Sango asked.
"It seems so." I replied.
"Well, it's a good thing you understand Shippo." Miroku said going along with it.
"Huh, what…I didn't say something weird did I?" Shippo asked.
"Nope, not at all." Kagome replied with a smile. Shippo sighed.
"I'm not wrong right?" He asked. No one answered. I laid down and looked up into the clouds.
"What do you mean strong like us? Go ahead and keep eating then, wake me up when you're done." Inuyasha said as he laid down in the grass.
"You betcha." Kagome replied. I started to doze off a little. I sat up and looked over to Kagome as I heard her stand up, missing part of the conversation. "Kind of like the Sacred Jewel and yet, not exactly." She said. I turned to look at her excited to hear some good news. Inuyasha looked over at her too.
"Well, which one is it Kagome, yes or no?" Inuyasha asked.
"I don't know this time it's different." Inuyasha stood up as he heard her reply.
"Where is it?" He asked. She pointed to the east.
"Over that way. It's coming closer!" She shouted. I jumped up and readied myself for a fight as did Inuyasha and the others. Inuyasha ran ahead of us. We reached the demon, which was chasing a young man. Inuyasha of course decided to take on the demon. The demon pestered him a little too.
"What do you want half demon, how dare you interfere?" It said.
"Is this guy the one?" Inuyasha asked Kagome.
"Yes, I sense he has a jewel shard in his belly, but it…" She replied unsure. The demon tried to threaten Inuyasha and attacked him, but still even with a shard it was no match for Inuyasha. He sliced it apart with one swing of the Tetsaiga. An entire sacred jewel fell out, freaking everyone out. Inuyasha grabbed it and it shattered in his hand. Then I smelled something on the wind. The young man began to explain to them how it was an imitation jewel that a demon had been giving out.
"So it was a fake let's go." I told them.
"No, I think we should stay and figure this out." Inuyasha said.
"Wow, that's strange coming from you Inuyasha." He gave me an annoyed look. "Well, I have some business to attend to. Would it be okay if I met up with you in awhile?" I asked.
"Sure." Kagome replied.
"Kagome, who says that's for you to decide!" Inuyasha exclaimed.
"Chill out Inuyasha." She replied. It was times like these that I simply adored Kagome.
"Thanks, Kagome. I'll be seeing you in a day or so then. Don't get into any trouble okay?" I shouted as I ran off towards the familiar scent. I was lucky that I had a keener sense of smell than Inuyasha, considering I was more demon than he was. For then he wouldn't have let me go at all. As the scent became closer and closer I became a little nervous. Finally, I reached it. I began to walk into the open field, the breeze gently blowing my hair. As the light stopped blinding me, I saw him standing there completely lost in thought, yet completely aware of everything occurring around him.
"Sesshomaru." I called. He looked over to me as I walked toward him.
"It's you again!" Jaken shouted.
"Shiori, so you have returned." He assumed.
"Yes, for a short while, for Naraku still has not been slain and my debt still not paid." His eyes were almost as kind as they used to be as he looked at me. "I smelled your scent on the wind and came, for Inuyasha has no clues as to where Naraku is so I figured he'd pay no mind to me leaving for a short while." I explained finally reaching him. He said nothing in reply. He just looked out as he had been. Just being with him was good enough for me, so I stood there with him, enjoying the day.
"Master Jaken, who is that? She's so pretty" I heard Rin whisper.
"Foolish girl, that woman is Lady Shiori; she is Lord Sesshomaru's betrothed." Jaken replied. Rin gasped in surprise. "Not only is she beautiful but she is almost as powerful as Lord Sesshomaru himself!" Jaken told her with praise.
"She sounds amazing." Rin said.
"Indeed she is." Jaken confirmed. I smiled at this.
"Shiori," Sesshomaru said, I looked to him immediately, "these belong to you." In his hand, he held my two swords. I looked on in amazement.
"How did you get them?" I asked amazed as I took them from them, taking each one by one out of their sheaths. Each blade was no longer than my arm, unlike most swords. I looked over them happily, not even a scratch, they were perfect. He had them sharpened too. It had been a long time since I'd seen my blades.
"It does not matter how I got them." Sesshomaru replied. I smiled, even though his response was arrogant. I couldn't hide my happiness. This would make fighting so much easier for me. Although I rarely had an issue fighting with my claws alone, it was boring and tiring.
"Thank you." I told him. He was content with this and continued to look into the distance. After looking over my swords for who knows how long, I turned to Rin and Jaken as I heard Rin's stomach growl. I put my swords back into their sheaths, and took the cloth I had once used to hold them to once again tie them to my waist. I walked over to the two of them sitting around Ah Uhn. As Jaken saw me approach he bowed down to me, and pulled Rin down as well.
"Lady Shiori!" He shouted.
"Jaken, you do not have to bow to me, ever." I told him, sounding almost as cold as Sesshomaru. I hated people treating me as though I was greater than they, just because of my blood, or because of Sesshomaru. I was no better or no worse than anyone else. "Uhm, yes me 'lady I'm sorry." He said standing once again. Rin just stared at me in wonder. It was strange; I hadn't been around anyone like Rin or Jaken in a long while.
"Rin, come with me." I told her. She stared at me, but did not move.
"Get up, silly girl! Do as you're told!" Jaken shouted.
"Jaken!" I shouted angry that he would treat her so. He backed down immediately. I held out my hand to Rin, which seemed to annoy Jaken. She took my hand and stood. I felt Sesshomaru watching me, but paid no mind to it. She seemed to slowly snap back to reality. "You're hungry, right?" I asked her. She nodded. ""Then let us get you something to eat." I told her. She smiled and we walked off into the woods. It took awhile but she found some berries she could eat, and I found a boar I could cook for us. We carried our findings back to where we'd left the others. Rin made the fire and I cooked the food for us. Jaken watched us enviously. Sesshomaru was just laying under a tree silently watching as he always did. When dinner was done I offered some to Jaken who graciously took it, as did Ah and Uhn. I walked over to Sesshomaru with some as well.
"Would you like some, Sesshomaru? It's not much, but I figured I'd offer." I explained. He took a bit of the meat I'd brought him. He doesn't really like to eat food like that, but he'll eat when he's hungry, I thought to myself. I sat with him and ate as well. Afterwards, I just stared at the stars, leaning against him. I closed my eyes for a moment and took in the night. I must have fallen asleep at some point; because when I opened my eyes it was morning. Sesshomaru was gone, but Jaken, Rin, and Ah Uhn were still in the field asleep. I got up and walked over to them to see that Jaken was actually awake, the only one awake.
"Jaken, where has Sesshomaru gone, do you know?" I asked.
"No, me' lady, I do not. Lord Sesshomaru said he would return soon though." He replied. I sat down across from him. I stared up at the clouds and started to wonder what Inuyasha and the others were up to. "Me' lady, if you do not mind me asking, where have you been these past hundred years?" Jaken asked. My ears perked up for a second. His question had come out of nowhere. I continued to look to the sky, but I answered him.
"I sealed myself away, Jaken." I told him honestly.
"But why, although he'd not admit it, Lord Sesshomaru worried for you." He explained.
"I was a fool, Jaken. That is why I did it. For I let my human emotions get the better of me," I began shuttering at the words 'human emotions'. "The strongest human emotion is fear, and I became afraid. So I gave in like a foolish human would, and sealed myself away, so that I could escape my fear." He watched me in understanding although I doubt he understood. "You cannot escape fear, Jaken." I told him. Then I waited for the question I knew would come.
"What were you afraid of, me' lady?" He asked. I finally looked at him from the corner of my eyes.
"What I was afraid of…" I said, and then I smiled and looked back into the sky.