Disclaimer: Everything is all mine! NO! I'm lying. Rumiko Takahashi owns them. For now.
The recap isn't totally the same…
P.S. That's really all I have this time, too.

The Lost Years of Kaede

Recap: "Come close. I have plans for you. Come or I will extinguish your life," said Naraku.

"I have to train the young priestess; I cannot die."

A day and a half later

Darkness eating up the light. The sensation of falling, of drowning, and choking. Swimming in air, swimming in mud. But not swimming in water; only swimming in alternating liquids of differing viscosities, and not a single one of them truly fit for swimming in. Something precious being yanked out of her, something that was both hurting and protecting her at the same time. Crying out for it. Aching for the pressure, for the constant life-eating pain to return. A hand on her brow, murmuring encouragement and comfort. A cloth washing her skin, gingerly avoiding her more inappropriate areas. Another cloth, cooler, attacking the same places with gusto conflicting with the personality of the gentle cleansing. Whispers above her head, wondering whether she was going to live, an adamant voice screaming, "She is!" The same circle of whispers growing louder, demanding to know who she was and where she came from, getting nowhere, and finally just asking to let known when she woke. A return to the deeper side of sleep; dreams where her sister—no, don't think her name! —was still alive and they lived in a small but comfortable hut in an equally small but comfortable village together, laughing and smiling and teaching each other. Bringing joy to each other's lives. Sadness at knowing what was to come, what had to come. And not caring. Relishing the moment for as long as it lasted. Her sister left, without blood this time, and she smiled at the young girl, now sixteen, as light emanated from her body. The light faded, and all that was left was darkness. The darkness that had fed on the light. Fear. Then comes light; light different than what surrounded her sister. Darkness surrounded and pushed out by this light, so all that was left was the light…

"Uhhh… What happened to me? And where am I?" Sayuri woke murmuring, looking around from the bedroll she found herself wrapped in. She appeared to be in a darkened hut more similar to the one she lived in with Kikyo than the cottage she had trained in under Sakura's watch.

'Sakura!' The young girl's mind suddenly burst through the haze of sleep, screaming at her with a sudden jolt of pain. Where was Sakura? Her sensei would never have left her alone like this, not in such a strange place. She'd lived with Sakura-sensei for three years, and they'd only left the immediate forest surrounding the cottage once! Sayuri couldn't remember what exactly had happened, but the fuzziness surrounding the events was clearing, and she couldn't recall her teacher ever bringing her here.

That much was clear.

All of this was processed in the space of a few seconds, during which someone heard her voice, and her question, and entered the bedroom from the adjoining main room.

"I found you in near a densely wooded path after following the sound of a scream. We feared for the lady priestess's life. There were many scorch marks of varying sizes burned into the ground around your unconscious body. I assume those were formerly demons that attacked you while you were gathering wood. You must have put up a good fight, for there was a great amount of demon venom in your system," answered a masculine voice.

Sayuri blinked and turned to the man. He was not much more than a boy, just slightly older than she herself. He had oddly light brown hair, but the kindest eyes she had seen on anybody's face since her sister died. His eyes were as light as his hair, and he was darker than even the oldest, most suntanned field workers. Though he was dark, he didn't seem to have gotten this way by staying out in the sun too long. It was like he was dark and light at the same time, like he could get darker by staying out in the light just a few more hours each day.

She shook her head clear. The man was only slightly attractive. He was actually quite average. There was no reason for her to study him like she did one of Sakura's scrolls on demons! "I did not take out any of those demons; it must have been Sakura-sensei. Did you by any chance see another human body?" Sayuri asked, the flashes of threads in her mind and the story the man was narrating weaving a cloth that showed the truth of what happened.

"No I did not," the man answered simply, without preamble. At this news, Sayuri raised herself to leave, for she had no business being here while her teacher was obviously in trouble. Sakura would never have left her alone in the woods like that, no matter how injured the older woman may be, without someone or something preventing her with force. As she lifted her body, though, a pang gripped her heart and she found herself gulping desperately for air. 'Breathe in. Breathe out. Slowly,' she ordered herself, continuing to rise.

"No!" the man said, coming closer to her and throwing an arm across her body, preventing her from getting up any further. "You mustn't leave! I couldn't take out all the venom, and you can't get up before all of it leaves your body!" he warned. If she got up before she was ready, the girl would probably fall back into sleep, one deeper than before. The girl might not wake up that time.

Sayuri listened, but didn't hear his words. She struggled uselessly against the man's strong bicep, yearning to rise and help her beloved teacher. Seeing her determination, the man used his last resort, and manipulated the truth. "If you do, you will die, and be of no help to your sensei."

Sayuri saw the truth in his statement, having no reason to disbelieve him and knowing that death would prevent coming to Sakura's aid eternally, and she lay back down. Her body, still worn from the fight with the snake demon and now the pain of working the venom out of her, shuddered at the sudden release of tension. Her sense of relief was so great that sleep almost reclaimed her, and Sayuri's eyes were fluttering open and shut.

The man noted this, and decided the girl had had enough sleep for now. Though she was probably a priestess sworn into protecting a village, or at the very least a girl destined for such a fate, she was cute. There was no harm in flirting, now was there? "Now that we have that settled, may I learn your name, fair maiden?"

At this, Sayuri's eyes burst open wide, and she blushed. For better or worse, she was awake now, and was going to stay that way. After taking a moment to gather herself, she replied with as steady a voice as she could manage, "My birth name is Kaede, but I must now go under the name of Sayuri for the safety of others." She didn't know why exactly she had told him her real name, but she knew she could trust him, as he had bandaged her wounds instead of killing her.

Besides, the thought-reading demons that proliferated the area could only read thoughts, not minds. The pair, considering she's never met the man before and the hut they were in was more suited to one of the villages in the valley than in the middle of nowhere, were safe from them. Being weaker than your average human, those demons hardly came this close into civilization. At least for the most part.

"That's a sweet name you have. Both of them are beautiful, actually. Mine is Daisuke." The man, Daisuke, knelt down next to her pallet and smiled at her. Sayuri blushed at his words, glad that the semi-darkness of the room hid her face.

"Please, keep my name a secret. You know about the Listeners, right?" Daisuke nodded. "I'll be in trouble if too many people know and think my real name," Sayuri added.

"Then why'd you tell me it?" Daisuke added with a laugh. The mirth quickly faded from his eyes as he realized what her waking meant. With a sigh he told her, "I will have to inform the village elders of your awakening."

Sayuri echoed his sigh. 'Of course everyone knows where I am, except for me!' "That's perfectly understandable. If I were in your position, I would treat you to the best of my abilities, but be wary of you. There's no shame in being prudent. The dangers that surround this area… They aren't pleasant," Sayuri said, waving her caretaker off. The young man stood looking embarrassed.

"I really don't want to have this suspicion about you," he confided after some inner debate. "You're definitely a miko, even if you're a little weak from lack of experience."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm a little concerned about you and your elders as well. I don't want to be suspicious of you either, but I must. Especially knowing the weakened state I'm in. But, what do you mean, miko?"

She said it in such a way; Daisuke thought she had taken offense. Frantically, he retracted his last statement with a, "Oh no, I don't mean you're worthless! Or that you're a priestess! I was just saying that not very many miko could withstand that much poison!"

Sayuri was about to correct him, and tell him that what she had meant was that she didn't understand how he could've mistaken her for a fully-fledged priestess, when her senses told her there was a presence somewhere outside the hut. Daisuke and her froze at the same time when they heard a knock on the door in the main room.

I know; this one sucks as a cliffy.
P.S. Reviews are adored!