Chapter 10

5 years later

Today was Sai's 15th birthday. She was finally being given full standing as a priestess. Her mother was conducting the ceremony. Sai didn't usually have patience for such things, but this was an exception. She liked this ceremony because everyone she cared about was there. Her mom and dad, Aunt Sango and Uncle Miroku, her crush Kaze, and her two best friends in the world, the promiscuous twins, Umi and Nami. Kaze was 17 and had jet black hair. He looked a lot like his uncle Kohaku had, when he was that age, he even had the same hair style. The only difference was that Kaze had his father's eyes. Nami and Umi heavily resembled their mother. Their features were almost identical to hers except for the fact that they had also inherited their father's eyes. The girls also took after their mother in makeup as well. Nami used blue eye shadow and Umi used purple, as opposed to their mother's pink. The rest of the village was at the ceremony too in order to see the induction of their new priestess. During the ceremony, she was presented with her official kimono as a priestess and given her priestess' bow and sword back which had now been imbued with new enchantments by her mother. Everyone looked on at her. They were all so proud, especially her parents. This was sure to make Kaze hers. She wanted him to make the first move, but was starting to lose patience. She'd give him a few more weeks, but then she would have to make a move. The ceremony ended with a procession to the village shrine led by her parents, who had become the de facto leaders of the village since Kaede's death. After that the ceremony ended and most of the crowd dispersed. Only her parents and Sango and Miroku's family stayed behind. They all congratulated her personally. Even Kaze did it. She got really nervous, like always, when she was around him.

"Dammit," she thought, "I'm a powerful half-demon priestess and I can't even tell a boy how I feel! This is ridiculous!"

Eventually they all headed home. Her mom had prepared a really nice dinner for all of them.

"Good job Sai. You earned that honor out there." Her mother said, beaming at her.

"Thanks mom." She said shyly.

"Your mom's right," Inuyasha interjected, "you trained hard to get where you are, you deserve a little praise."

"Thanks dad," she said.

"Wow," Sai thought to herself, "they really are proud of me. Dad never says stuff like that."

They had dinner and then went to bed. She needed the rest. Tomorrow, her dad was taking her on a demon hunt. They were going after a powerful demon that had been attacking livestock a few villages over. It was her new responsibility after all. Her mother was going to be busy helping a man who had been seriously injured by a bear in the forest a few days ago and since she was now an official priestess, it was her job to help protect this region. She was looking forward to it. Her dad told her that he was going to leave it up to her how to deal with the demon and that he would only step in if necessary. She had to impress him or else she feared that he wouldn't take her next time.

After Sai fell asleep, her parents stayed up discussing the upcoming day.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to let her go on such a dangerous hunt?" Kagome asked, worried about her daughter.

"Yeah. I have faith in her. She's strong." Inuyasha replied, trying to keep his own worry out of his voice. "Besides, I'll be there if anything happens."

"Okay, just keep her safe." Kagome pleaded.

"Of course. She's my daughter too you know. We'll be fine."

"Alright. Well I guess we should get to bed too. We've all got big days coming up for us."

Inuyasha agreed and they both climbed into bed.

The next morning, Inuyasha and Saiai got up bright and early. Inuyasha strapped on Tetsusaiga and Sai crossed Mondai and Jikan across her back. The enchantments on her priestess weapons allowed her to summon them from thin air at any time. It was a handy trick and meant she didn't have to carry as much.

"You ready?" Her father asked her.

"I was born ready." Sai replied with the sly smile that only she could perfect. Her pure white fangs shined in the sunlight. It was only at that point that he realized how beautiful his daughter really was, even in battle gear. She would be a great catch for whoever won her heart, if he approved of him, that is.

They set off at a fast pace, even for them. Both of them wanted to be home for dinner and since Inuyasha didn't have Miroku slowing him down, this would take a lot less time than usual. They arrived after only about 2 hours of running. The demon was resting, probably sleeping off his last meal of village livestock.

"Alright. I'm going to wake him up." Her dad said, "I want to see what you can really do."

"K dad. Just wake him up already." Sai replied, desperately wanting to start the battle.

Her dad turned to the sleeping demon.

"Hey you!" Her dad yelled at the sleeping demon, "Wake the hell up dammit!"

The demon stirred and began to rise.

"Who dares to disturb my slumber?" It bellowed. The demon was huge. She could have fit five houses into the thing. It looked to be made of rock. She guessed that it was a relatively small mountain demon that had been driven out of its territory.

"I do!" Sai yelled at the demon, drawing her swords.

"Ha! A mere half-breed girl? What can you do to me?"

"Oh you did NOT just call me a half-breed!" She growled baring her fangs. She moved like a blur, jumped into the air, and was at the demon's head within a fraction of a second. Her kick slammed the demon right between the eyes. She flipped off of the demon, gracefully flying through the air, her black hair flowing freely in the air and landed lightly on her feet. The mountain demon stumbled, groaned, and fell to the ground hard making the earth shake beneath their feet.

"Ha. Didn't even know what hit him." Her father muttered under his breath approvingly. This made Sai smile. She was doing well.

"Get up you bastard!" Sai yelled at the beast.

It did and tried to attack her. She was faster and had her swords moving before the demon knew what was happening.

"DRAGON RIFT!" She roared.

Green light shot from her swords that she had slashed in a giant "X". It seemed like space and time themselves were being altered by this attack. The light hit the demon and a blinding flash ensued. A roar of pain and surprise was heard, but that and the light quickly disappeared. The demon was gone. It was completely destroyed by the attack, but so was a large swath of the woods behind where the demon had been standing.

"I think I went a little overboard on that one." She said laughing to herself.

"Yeah, no kidding." Her dad said. "Good job out there. You handled a strong demon and you did it with style and speed."

"And without your help." Sai interjected putting away her swords. This made her dad smile.

"Let's head home, Sai." He said, "Your mom will worry if we don't get back soon."

"Yeah you're right. Let's go."

They began running back to their village. Sai had killed her first big demon and without any help either. She couldn't help, but be a little proud of herself.

"If only Kaze had been there to see that." She thought to herself.

They arrived home just as the sun was about to start setting.

"Hey mom, we're back!" Sai yelled.

"Oh good, I was starting to worry." She said, walking out to greet us. "So how'd it go."

"She did great." Her father answered, "Wiped the demon off the face of the earth. Thing didn't even know what hit him." Sai beamed at the praise she was getting from her dad. He didn't give it much, so this was special and she was going to hold onto it for awhile.

"Great job, honey!" Her mom said, "I bet you're hungry. C'mon, dinner is almost ready!" They ate dinner together as a family. Sai had never felt so powerful, never felt more safe. That was before the dark days, before the demon purges.