Disclaimer: These characters are the product of Takahashi-sensei's glorious mind. They are hers and her related affiliates. I own nothing but the contents of my twisted imaginings.
Still without review, but I shall update regardless.
The recap is never identical to the chapter it was taken from.

The Lost Years of Kaede

Recap: "Go and destroy the young miko-in-training. Do not dare return without the Shikon Jewel."

"This wood is just dry enough to use without putting out sparks," Tenten said, unaware of the danger she was in.

One of the snake-demons bit her, injecting all of its venom.

"Ahhh!" Sayuri cried as the demon bit her. She could feel the poison in her veins, and knew that it was slowly ending her life, heartbeat by heartbeat ticking by her. Her thoughts ran out to her sister, as the suddenly loud, suddenly precious rhythm reminded the miko-in-training of Kikyo's last moments. Suddenly ashamed of betraying her sister by thinking of her, Sayuri screamed in rage and fear, the noise echoing off the trees and down the path to the cottage.

Inside, Sakura heard the yell and recognized her young charge's voice from it. Hastily abandoning the green shoots she had been chopping up as a garnish, she stood and grabbed the ever-present bow lying next to her.

She followed the path to the location she had pinpointed from the yell. After so many years of being nearly blind, her ears and memory had compensated by becoming extremely sharp. The only danger that ever presented itself is if someone moved the scant furniture in the cottage around without her knowledge.

In the time it had taken her to find Sayuri's location, the other snake demon had separated itself into multiple, smaller copies of itself, and had entwined itself in a semi-circle around the writhing struggle of girl and demon. Sayuri was desperately pulling at the serpent coiled around her neck, not realizing the creature was only waiting for the venom to force her to pass out. "Get… The shhhhhard…" several pieces of the divided snake hissed.

Not hearing this exchange, and unable to grasp the diluted image her eyes were showing her, Sakura slowly approached the mass. "What—Oh my goodness! Why are you surrounded by so many demons?" Sakura asked, seeing the multitude of worms and misinterpreting them as separate beasts.

"Get this effing snake off of me!" Sayuri yelled through the suffocating weight of her living necklace. "This one's poisoned me!"

"Poisoned? Sayuri, don't say such odd things. This type of demon doesn't have poison, only venom," Sakura said, without any apparent concern for her charge's well being.

"Whatever! Just—mmph!" the teenager cried, cut off by a particularly strong squeeze. "… help me," she gasped out after pulling a coil far enough away from her vocal cords, finishing her interrupted sentence.

Sakura surveyed the situation coolly. The snake demons were weak, though it was odd that they were attacking only Sayuri. The priestess dismissed this as irrelevant, and deemed the threat minimal enough for the girl to handle on her own. "No, this is perfect miko-training. Would you like my bow?"

"They're after the fucking jewel!" Sayuri cursed, shocking her teacher into reconsidering her stance.

"They are? Are you sure? Then I must help you." Sakura had to give in. If these demons were power hungry enough to attack a girl this far into the wilderness, away from their homeland, they would stop at nothing to get the Sacred Jewel. Especially since, considering their own level of strength, they were most likely being manipulated by a stronger being.

Using her own pale green miko powers, Sakura destroyed the complete snake demon clutching Sayuri's neck with an arrow shot from her carefully aimed bow. Sayuri, exhausted from trying to get away from the demon and how it had to shake her body in an attempt to make her fall limp, finally passed out. The venom in her blood had finally taken affect, and with the lack of the demon threat, the adrenaline keeping her awake quickly died down. She slumped to the floor, still surrounded by the second demon's quickly rejoining parts, and the fangs of her original attacker protruding from her neck.

'Damn it, the girl is useless now,' Sakura thought. 'Regardless, I must kill the remaining demons before I can attend to her wounds.' Still not seeing that the many demons were really just one, she pointlessly shot arrows at strategic areas designed to purify as many as possible in a short amount of time. Each arrow, however, missed the crucial serpent holding the heart of the entire beast, making her attacks ineffective.

She never got the chance to tend to Sayuri's wounds, for the wormlike separations she had thought purified surrounded her, and destroyed her bow. They returned to one form, and much like the first serpent had done to Sayuri, it enveloped her body until there was not a trace of human skin left showing, and it teleported away, taking the priestess with it.

The demon had been a weak creature, but it still would have been able to sense the presence of the Shikon. The pair, both the one now purified and the one transporting Sakura away, had been part of a species of demon that could taste the recent possessions of any creature. That was part of the reason why they had been coerced into attacking the girl in the first place. However, neither woman had a hint of that demonic power residing anywhere on their skin. Naraku had warned them not to come back without the jewel, but there was no jewel of any sort to be found on them. He had also claimed to want the girl who possessed the Shikon, his exact words requiring the miko-in-training.

Sayuri had the fangs of the demon's fallen ally still injecting her with poison, and had thus been ignored by the dull creature's primitive senses, as she now read as a demon rather than human despite her miko powers. Sakura, however, had not had the same luck. Merely following orders that it didn't quite understand, the demon had mistakenly taken the wrong priestess.

Sakura was taken to Naraku and dumped rather unceremoniously at his feet. "Masssster Naraku… Thissss miko… Sssssshhhe desssstroyed my brother. I sssssaw her ssssslay him with my own eyesss. Ssssssshe didn't have the jewel. I sssswear," the snake told Naraku.

"Are you not aware, you lack-brain, that this is obviously the wrong girl? This priestess's powers are obviously too finely trained to be learning her trade. She's blind in both eyes, as well. Not just one. You have disappointed me in more ways than one," Naraku spat, displeased with the demon's failure.

Naraku smirked coldly. There was only one fitting punishment for such mistakes.

The serpent saw the mirth in Naraku's eyes and knew what it entailed. The demon twisted itself around and tried to flee, quickly shouting a "Naraku-ssssama, I tried!" but Naraku was too quick. For not retrieving the jewel and thus disobeying his orders, he blasted the lackey with a weak but lethal dose of his poisonous miasma.

Naraku took care to avoid Sakura with his attack; though he was outrageously disappointed at the mix-up, he was slightly comforted at the sight of the miko. The mad susurrations of noise inside his head showed him the ways she could be useful. Naraku smiled harshly, the handsome figure somehow marred by such an inhuman grin. "Come close," he ordered without preamble. "I have plans for you. Come, or I will extinguish your life."

Sakura had to obey. She knew her demons well, both those within and without. This one was not being merely humorous when it said it would kill her. Though the things that it may make her do would most likely be morally repugnant, she had to live in order to train the younger sister of Kikyo. That girl, she could sense, had many things to do before she died. Her future accomplishments were worth any price.

A/N I'm sorry that this chapter is still rather short. I promise, they will become longer. And hey, since I'm the author, it may turn out that Sayuri/Kaede dies, but is recreated as an empty pot like Kikyo. :3 Gotta love it when canon supports your crazy ideas!