The last chapter was not the best, I know. I wonder whom we'll be with now…
P.S. Recaps are not the same! Reviews, favorites, alerts… Anything is appreciated! :D

The Lost Years of Kaede

Recap: "You're a miko, though a little weak from lack of training."
"What do you mean, miko?"
Knock-knock
'Naraku wants to turn me into a demon. I will be a traitorous minion, even if I do not remember who I am but what he tells me.'
'I need the Shikon jewel. It's with Kaede.' From his post, he saw a few messengers knock on Kaede's resting place.

The Hut

Sayuri turned in fear, hoping that the knocker was a friend of Daisuke's who would in turn be her friend, or at least be someone would not harm her while she was in her weakened state. She could barely lift herself from her bedroll, let alone protect herself while she was this deteriorated. Seeing as he was in his home village, the thought never crossed her mind to worry about her host, for who could be in danger when everything they knew was within a stone's throw?

Daisuke, however, thought differently. He knew precisely what could be outside, and thus was more frightened than Sayuri. They were both in danger. If the village elders found out that he had not come to them immediately when she woke, he could be put to death according to the de facto laws of his community. They could, and would if they were in the mood, do this without bothering to hear his side of the story or Sayuri's. His fate would be would be to await decapitation if put to death, and that was getting off lightly. He didn't even want to think about what they would do to his temporary ward, a mistrusted foreigner. The possibilities were too gruesome for any sane person's description.

Tired of waiting, a voice called out, "We know you're in there, Daisuke," causing his heart to stop and for Sayuri to audibly gasp. As if it were impossible to hear the going-ons inside the hut from the man's position outside the thin door, the voice continued. "We have a message from the elders. They say that the girl is to be trusted. She is sister to no other than the dearly departed Kikyo," the male courtier finished.

Daisuke was in shock upon hearing this. How could this girl, who could be no older than sixteen or seventeen, be Kikyo's sister? Her tales of beauty and miraculous powers in the art of purification were known throughout the village and those surrounding it, as she herself had graced them with her presence once, a long time ago. This girl, no matter how talented, could not be Kikyo's sister. She just couldn't be. Though visually appealing, the girl had nowhere near the exquisiteness Kikyo was purported to have had. And that was just the superficial qualities, before he considered her capabilities as a priestess.

It really just boiled down to the fact that, though she was obviously a powerful miko, there were few reasons for Daisuke to come to the conclusion of her identity being what the council had decided it was. 'It's not my place to say they're wrong, but… The sister of Kikyo would never allow herself to be overpowered like this girl was. Would she?'

Sayuri took the news rather differently. 'How do they know?' she wondered frantically, her thoughts simpler than those of the male beside her, but more extreme as her internal discussions ran the gamut of possibilities with more emotion.

Stunned into silence, locked into their own personal dialogues, the pair quietly sat for a moment in the gloomy sub-room, digesting what had been revealed to all.

In the Trees

Naraku saw an opening that he could exploit, and thus gain the miko-in-training he had been vying for in the first place, but he didn't take it. Instead, he planned a course of action that was more pertinent to his preferences. He devised a scenario that would have him turning the entire village against her, making her weaker and much easier prey. This served both his purpose and his ego's requirement for a grand, complex stage in order to completely ruin his enemies. Oh yes, she would be devastated and torn apart by his scheming, and this time she would not have her sensei to save her. It was flawless and very well set out already, and all he had to do was find the right place to drop in and make everything worse.

'Now who shall I…? Yes, yes, of course… That will be brilliant, and the perfect way to do that is…'

Naraku knew exactly what to do and how. Dangerous was he when he did. After all, he had killed Kikyo with this sort of idea. How different would this be?

At Naraku's Castle

It was more than she could handle. She was given food and a nice place to sleep; somehow that made her situation worse. Sakura knew that like with all things, the luxuriance wouldn't last. She had known that when Naraku had met her he'd found her captivating, and that he was enticed and enthralled. He would do everything in his power to have her, and to corrupt what he could not understand.

Her mental state was deteriorating. During her brief moments of lucidity, Sakura found the proof she needed for this diagnosis from the way her mind kept regurgitating the same facts over and over, albeit in different ways: She knew that Naraku would eventually, as soon as he returned perhaps, attempt to make her a demon. He would succeed; there was no way any mortal can resist a demon for very long without the aid of hope or innate power. When he eventually corrupted her, he would try to mate her. That much was obvious. And therein laid the problem.

If she stuck to her principles and refused him entrance, he would suck her up; if she agreed, it would only prolong her fate. And that fate was to live a life as a twisted hanyou like the monster that was subjugating her. No matter what, she was going to die here. She may live on as a demon, but her humanity and true soul would die the moment she became tainted.

The only question was if she was willing to allow her body to become tainted, as her soul was doomed to be. Or she could take a risk, and steal her own life away before Naraku had the chance. Live, and live while dead, or die to die alive? Which option was not impossible to ask, to answer?

She knew which one she was going to choose.

She wondered what kind of demon he would make her. A pretty one, she hoped. But that may be too much to ask for. It wasn't like she had experience with creating demons from human bodies; she was usually too busy purifying the dangerous ones to care about their methods.

Sakura did want to be pretty. If she had to become what she hated, then she may as well be allowed to make the best of the situation. 'Oh well,' she thought, resuming her practicing and disgorging her mind from its repetitive cycle, though unwilling or perhaps unable to acknowledge the fact that she was only falling into another pattern.

'Thinking like that is ridiculous. I will live in order to help Sayuri. My life, that is the only thing I will sacrifice for her; it is more than anybody should have to be asked to give. I offer it to her willingly.'

Though captured, Sakura was still training her miko powers. If she could not make them stronger, then she was doing it to keep them in tip-top shape. She could be given the opportunity to use them at any moment, and they had to be in peak condition in preparation for that slim, slight chance.

Though a few days had passed, Sakura had been too filled with scenarios and escape plans to keep up with her daily training regimen. Well, she had also been also been rehashing the same monotonous information, but the only way to keep hold of her sanity for long was to refuse to think about that.

She slowly realized her powers were not the pale green they once were. They were now… She couldn't describe the color. Even if they were no recognizable color, it was obvious that they were not the vibrant, almost pulsing green. Yes, her powers were once a pale green, but that didn't mean that there wasn't an animated excitement to them. Along with the color, her powers were fading and becoming very weak.

'Is he…? No. He couldn't be. Naraku couldn't be… That's the only explanation, though. He's making his minions drain my power out of my body. What does he plan to use them for?' Sakura thought, her first coherent and original thought in days. 'Any demon, half-bred or not, would have their blood instantly purified if they tried to use the condensed form of my powers. They would be cleansed if they even tried to touch it. And where did he get such knowledge?' Sakura pondered worriedly, knowing not where this new revelation would guide her thoughts and conclusions of various scenarios, and only certain that whatever Naraku was scheming, it couldn't be good.

What will Naraku use Sakura's power for? I don't know yet, or maybe I do, I just don't want to tell…
Any ideas will help me. I have a pretty good plan of what I'm going to do, but anything will help!
P.S. Not true. Not true at all. HELP! Oh, and reviews are happily welcomed.