Chapter Six

Much to the surprise of Setsuko, Ikeda and the others Haruna didn't leave the house for three days and nights. If someone entered her room she could be seen sitting on the floor, her legs crossed and her hands loosely on top of her knees while her fingers formed an 'o'. She was meditating ever since the monk had shown his face in town. She kept her sword on her waist and her bundle of belongings were strapped onto her back. "Its just in case of emergency," she said when someone inquired if she was leaving. But the monk hadn't been seen since he disappeared into the forest. The guards patrolled the border more often and came across no one. The people were thinking: after three days passed, surely the bandits would have moved on?

'Kodama found me, he knows I'm inside the infirmary and I'm convinced he got me surrounded,' Haruna thought to herself.

'He's come all the way over here himself... Owh damn, he must be bent on taking me back home. He won't take no for an answer for sure, that means I'll have to fight my master. He had me living in that sanctuary, thousands of steps up mount Fuji. The other monks... they all had a choice at some point in their life. They had their chance to get to know the world and lived in the sanctuary out of free will, but I was born in a monastry and never allowed to leave far away. Well, things are changing now. I want to make my own choices!'

She could feel the scroll inside of her bag poking against her back and felt an urge to open it once more.

'He's after that, I took it without permission. It used to be in mom's possession... I'll have a look now before he can take it away.'

She took her bag and picked the scroll up from between her other belongings. Carefully she peeled the wax seal off that she had placed there herself the other time and rolled it open. The writings were in a strange language, hard to decipher. She had only taken minor training in this ancient language and was unable to read it all. At the beginning of the scroll she knew was an explanation about why the scroll was formed, but she hardly understood anything. Something about a spirtual Order and a gate. What interested her was the sutra charm that was displayed there, she had never seen anything like it. It was a complicated design. From a description she understood that it was powerful but that one needed to be pure in order to use it. This was the incantation she had engraved into her own katana... She opened the scroll further, it seemed to contain more instructions to spells that also used some simple hand signs to perform them. They were needed to channel energy. Large pieces of text... Shadows... battle... Sa'keeth... whatever that was about. The scroll was ages old, so the history that was described there must've been from hundreds of years back. More complicated seals and incantations were depicted, but she could understand nothing from them. A few pictures of strange beasts...

"Ahh, this is useless..." she groaned and started to roll up the scroll again.

'If I stayed longer I might've learnt how to read this, but then I would've had to be initiated and permanently join the Order. I definately wouldn't have been able to escape after my initiation, they would've told me all their secrets.'

She wasn't sure if she wanted to turn her back on the Order for good, but at least for now she wanted to see the world. She had always lived in the area of mount Fuji, under close supervision of the head priestess and head monk. At first she didn't mind, though she realized that her life was going to be different from those of the village girls in Yamanakako. In Yamanakako was a shrine where monks and priestesses underwent training. From amongst those, students were sometimes chosen to train further at the sanctuary up the mountain. A stairway led to the top of the mountain, halfway the mountain was the sanctuary and at its top a tower. She had lived in that sanctuary for three years now. A harsh environment for anything that lived, only the most stubborn grasses and bushes could endure the cold. Though at that height there wasn't snow all throughout the year, the temperature was never high even in summer due to the icy wind that flowed down from the mountain peak. She had always did her best to obey, to live up to the high expectations of her superiors, until a ever stronger growing feeling of discomfort and sadness turned her rebellious. She was a flawed human being, like anyone on this earth. She couldn't bare the solitude of the sanctuary, the constant pressure to reach absolute perfection, the lessons on how to switch off her emotions.

'I won't return!' she firmly decided.

That evening there was a harvest festival inside of town. After being pestered by Setsuko who didn't accept she would stay behind, she decided to come as well. She had dressed up in a kimono that Setsuko borrowed her: an emerald green one with a pattern of delicate white and pink cherry blossoms with a red obi-sash. She had braided her hair and Setsuko helped her fasten it as a bun on the back of her head while her slanted bangs fell across her forehead. She looked a lot prettier than usual. The total image of her outfit got a bit ruined though by the bag attached to her back and the katana on her side. Setsuko tried to get her to keep those items in the infirmary but she insisted on dragging them along with her. Akira came to pick her up from the doctor's house and the four of them walked to a big bon fire that had been made a little ways out of the village, close to the river. A few villagers brought instruments: a flute, a large string instrument named koto, the Japanese long necked guitar named shamisen and a small set of drums. There were kitchen ladies from Shobo's family house fanning the fires under large pots of boiling rice and other food. The smell of grilled fish and vegetables made Haruna hungry. When the music started she began to forget all her worries.

"Yuna-san! Will you do an old man a favor and dance with him?" Ikeda said, offering his hand to her. She had to laugh and placed her plate on the ground next to her feet.

"Sure!"

They danced around the fire, they could feel the heat on their skin.

"Now you've had your chance long enough to dance with Yuna-san, it's my turn," Akira joked.

Later she danced together with the women while they shared gossip. Everyone was happy, the children could stay up late and played tag with each other while the elder and sick kept half an eye on them and the other half on the dancing crowd. No one noticed the seven men which were approaching in silence. Kodama stepped inside the light of the fire. His straw hat was now hanging by the string around his neck on his back, but his forehead was still covered by an orange bandana. His eyes searched the crowd until he spotted what he was looking for.

He walked forward and people were starting to notice him and his companions. The voices and laughter died, a sudden fear replaced their joy. The music band abruptly ended their song and the dancing crowd stopped to look what was the cause of this interruption. Haruna felt a strong energy. She looked around until she crossed eyes with the head monk.

"Kodama-sama!" she gasped and took a step back.

"Yes, I've travelled past many towns, through several meadows and across even more mountains to come here. Now you come with me, Haruna."

"Haruna?" Akira muttered and looked confused from the girl back to the monk.

"I'm not going anywhere if I don't want to..." she snapped at Kodama.

He gave her a stern look that promised trouble if she didn't comply. He took another step forward and examined her. An angry frown formed on his face.

"So it's true! I heard rumors of what you did, but I hoped they were false! You have done a foolish thing." He pointed at the katana.

"And now you've even sullied your soul by causing the death of an innocent person."

She felt too shocked to think about how he could know she had something changed to her katana, outwardly it looked the same as always. His words hit her hard. Ever since that day the blacksmith died she had always felt guilty... Before going to sleep she'd always pray to her jade bodhisattva. Tears welled up behind her eyes.

"It was an accident!" she exclaimed. "I didn't mean to cause anyone harm, I just..." a tear trickled down her cheek.

"You were just too curious for your own good, using a forbidden incantation from the scroll you took," Kodama continued unforgivingly, "by the Gods, girl. Since when did you become this disobedient?"

"You had me take the Vow of Silence... for four months!" she yelled at him angrily. He remained a calm composure.

"I wanted to help you find peace with your fate by trying to remove you from distractions..." he half-whispered. But the villagers held in their breath and every sound could be heared clearly.

The villagers understood by now that these monks were no bandits at all and that they had been lied to.

"Yuna-san, what is this?" Setsuko asked her softly.

"I'm so sorry, I've lied to you because I didn't want to be found by my master, Kodama-sama. I didn't want to return to the sanctuary. I'm really sorry!" she replied. Another tear ran down her cheek.

"It's not too late, Haruna. We must return to the sanctuary immediately, you must undergo your initiation," the old monk stepped forward and the other monks followed after him. Haruna's heart started beating faster. Monk Masao clenched his rosary and Jinsei had one hand inside his kimono. Their eyes focused on her, they looked like hawks.

"Now hand over the scroll first, it's not yours to keep yet," Kodama demanded.

"No!" Haruna said firmly. She backed away from them, closer to the river. They were going to close her in! She had to cross the river to get a chance at escaping. Without a second thought she jumped as far across the river as she could and fell into the water. She heard the monks run to the edge of the river bank while she climbed out on the other side.

"Stop this folly right now, or it will soon be my turn to get angry!" Kodama called out.

"I'm sorry master, but I have to follow my heart. I cannot accept my duties right now, please let me go," she told him.

"Then you give me no other choice," he bitterly replied, "San Suu Kyo Shi Ho!"

He pushed his staff forward and an invisble blast of wind crossed the river. The water surface moved wildly, the reed broke off and the grass near Haruna's feet got torn before she was hit. She was nearly spun around by the sheer power of the impact. Her feet slid back into the ground and she gritted her teeth and squinted her eyes against the wind. Her brown hair fluttered madly. With an effort she raised her hands with her palms open in front of her, the wind around her subsided and it looked as if she was holding back a growing ball of raging wind. Laboriously she moved her hands to the left and let go. She panted heavily and watched the blast of wind shoot into the soy fields where all the plants in its path got ripped apart until 50 feet into the field.

"Good, but you're no prodigy like your mother!" Kodama's voice boomed from across the river, "let's see how diligently you have studied." He held his staff up, a light began to shine from within the dark purple gem. Small yellow orbs were forming in the air, growing in number, floating in front of Kodama. He flung his staff downwards and they sped forward to Haruna like bullets. She quickly grabbed her sheathed katana from the strap around her waist and held her arms up to shield herself. A barrier she hastily errected while muttering a charm deflected the orbs and they crashed behind and besides her, exploding on impact. The rising dust veiled her eyesight and caused her to cough. She could hear Akira and Setsuko call out her name and looked at them through the floating dust. They seemed to want to help her but were too scared to do anything.

"Hmpf," the monk snorted, "you used the power from your katana. You still don't seem to have access to the true depths of your spiritual strength."

He formed a hand sign in front of him while raising his staff another time. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She had never fought Kodama before. She looked at the small craters around her... If those orbs would've hit her... Now he was doing something else, invisible to the eye, but she could feel the build up of energy. It turned the air static.

'I have to use that,' she realized. She held the katana in front of her body with her left hand and kept her right hand with all the fingers pointing up close to her chest. She began to whisper a charm as fast as she could.

"Ohm Lo Chi Dazheng Kho Chaa."

"Kodama-sama! She's-!" Jinsei exclaimed worried and surprised.

She could feel a pressure building inside her body. Just a moment... Just a few second and the charm would take effect! She focused all her energy. Kodama almost seemed ready to use his attack as well, but she realized she was faster! She began to smile.

"I can't stay here fighting you Kodama-sama," she said and then vanished in thin air. Kodama peered at the spot where she had stood just a second ago and lowered his staff. A sigh of relief went through the crowd behind him. Was it over?

"She used spiritual teleportation," he said out loud. He taught her that skill but she had never been able to use it properly yet. Somewhere in his mind he felt proud at his student for being able to outrun him. He was just about finished preparing the skill that would've left her immobile. Now he lowered his staff and inhaled deeply, absorbing the energy he had been about to release.

"Master Kodama," it was Masao, "pardon me, but I don't think she's ready for the initiation even if we catch her." None of the monks were truly set back by her dissapearance, they had confidence in their master's tracking skill. Even a demon wouldn't be able to outskill Kodama when it came to tracking. But they had all noticed something troubling: the girl had lost part of her purity.

"We need her," Kodama simply replied, "she's her mother's child."

Had he been too harsh on her? He had noticed a change in her since a couple of months ago. The Vow of Silence had been to help her to find her inner peace once again, so she would be ready to carry the burden of the Order. But he had failed to understand just how deeply damaged she was, he had failed as her mentor. He felt a sharp sadness inside that he quickly supressed.

"For now our main goal is to retrieve the scroll from Haruna," he told his companions, "Jinsei, please talk with the village leader to gain information about Haruna's stay here, and pay them for the trouble we caused."

A few miles further away Haruna reappeared and nearly fell over. She felt nauseous from the teleportation process but didn't care. Inside she was happy and relieved she had escaped from her master. She let herself laugh out loud, but only shortly. Her joy quickly turned into sadness. She didn't hate the old man who had been by her side all her life. As fast as her laughter came, a sob welled up from her throat and tears blurred her eyesight again. All the adrenaline and different emotions coursing through her body at once... And she felt exhausted, she had used up all the energy she had stored inside while meditating the past days. She let herself become emotional only for an instant and recalled the instructions on how to regain her composure and cut those feelings off. A soft roar from behind her... Haruna became aware she wasn't alone.

"Who are you, human wench? Appearing out of nowhere while Lord Sesshomaru is resting?" a squeaky voice barked indignantly. She turned around and to her surprise saw a young man in the cool light of the moon, appearing only a few years older than her, with long silver colored hair. He watching her intently. His face was calm, not exposing the indignance she had heard from the voice. He was sitting against a tree trunk with one leg pulled up and his arm casually resting on top of it. From the looks of it he was tall. He wore an armor with a white and red kimono underneath, and she could see he carried two swords.

"Over here!" the squeaky voice yelled. This guy's lips didn't move... he wasn't a belly speaker was he? She noticed from the corner of her eye that a large staff was being waved around in the air. It was adorned with human heads of a man and woman carved out of wood and painted. A small impish demon was holding it, he just reached the height of her knee. He had yellow eyes and moss-green skin, a little black hat was strapped onto his bald head and he wore a brown kimono.

"Who are you guys?" Haruna muttered in surprise.

"What? Don't ignore that I asked you first!" the demon imp exclaimed insulted. She looked over her left shoulder and saw a two-headed dragon eating grass from a small field. She turned back to face the man who was sitting, he still watched her in silence. She noticed his amber colored eyes and the purple stripes on his face and hands.

"Wait... have we... met before?"

A/N: Whoohoo! This has been my favorite chapter to write ^_^ I've been working on getting to this point in the story. Yes, Haruna can be considered a priestess. But her personality is more like Kagome's than Kikyo's, and within the Order she has average skills. I like describing fighting scenes, was it any good though? There will be plenty of fighting scenes and drama to come in the future... when the threat from the Realm of Shadows enters the plotline. Almost all the main characters have been introduced. I gotta think of a plausible explanation why Sesshomaru would tolerate another human close to him... o.o ...