Recollections

Amaya stared into the distance. How many years had it been? How many years had it been since the death of her father? She pondered that question for a while and realised for the thousandth time that it had technically happened half a lifetime ago for she and her brother were now sixteen years old.

How their childhood had passed without their father. It was hard to think of. Amaya loved her father more than anybody and when the news reached Kagome it was the most heartbreaking day of their lives. Kagome had caught word of what happened from a messenger who had handed her a letter from Kaya who had seen the whole event from beneath the mountain. The snow storm had clouded her vision slightly, but she still managed to witness most of what had happened. She wrote that she had seen Inuyasha lash out at the demon first and that the battle had lasted at least half an hour. Shushu had become useless within the first ten minutes when he was thrown to a bolder and knocked out by the demon. Kaya explained their whole reason for being there to Kagome in this letter, and she further explained that Shushu, herself and her brother would avoid coming anywhere near Kagome and the children to ensure that Kyoufu Oni would never find them. Inuyasha had in fact reached his objective just before he himself was killed. Kaya had witnessed Inuyasha drive his sword into the heart of the beast before Inuyasha himself was struck by the creature's deadly claws.

In this letter to Kagome Kaya assured her that Shushu, her brother and herself would stop at nothing until they found Kyoufu Oni though they had no idea how they would defeat him since none of them could use the Tetsusaiga, which was sent with the letter to her. The messenger was a trusted friend of the librarian who took care of Riku. Today the Tetsusaiga stayed in a small building, a memorial for Inuyasha waiting for the day it would be used again.

Amaya recalled how much her mother had cried behind a closed door, hoping that no one could see or hear her especially her children. But it was all in vain. Everyone was in grievance for months and Amaya had refused to play with Tanaka. She sat in a dark corner and sobbed quietly, she wanted to appear strong in front of everyone like her mother. Her brother Kazuki had the same intentions and would never be caught dead crying in front of anybody since that day. Something hardened in Kazuki that day, all that could be seen was one tear, a single tear in the corner of his eye but since that day Amaya had never seen him cry again.

Kagome, and the children had been living with Sango and her family ever since. Their house was re built to be bigger to accommodate for the size of their new permanent residents.

Amaya had been living a peaceful life with her and Sangos family. Everything had been quite happy in her new home the last eight years. She loved her new home, and her new friends, but nothing compared to the life she once lived when her family was whole.

Kazuki had become even closer to Miroku and Sangos children and was even now dating their oldest daughter Sen. Which wasn't a surprise to anyone, it was evident from the first day of them staying there that Kazuki had developed a crush on her. It was difficult though, living in the same house. It gave Kagome and especially Miroku unrest for concern about what might happen when they weren't looking. Miroku constantly gave Kazuki threats about what he'd do if Kazuki didn't respect certain boundaries concerning his daughter. Rules became a little stricter for Kazuki who was constantly under the watchful eye of his girlfriend's father. They had been dating for a year now.

"Amaya!" Called a rough husky voice, "It's time to go!"

She looked down to see Tanaka calling up to her. He had grown taller over the years and was about two feet taller than her. Amaya was sitting on the roof where she liked to think a lot. Everyone knew not to disturb her when she was on the roof, everyone accept Tanaka who barely cared for other peoples rules.

"Can't you see I'm thinking?" Amaya called back angrily.

"I don't care! Come down already. You promised you'd come today!"

Amaya rolled her eyes but then smiled. It was typical of Tanaka to not care about her feelings when a promise of hers was involved.

"Fine I'm coming down already! You're really an obnoxious brat sometimes you know that!" She threw her shoes down to him. She never spoke to anyone like this accept Tanaka. They had been best friends for so many years that it never mattered what they said to each other. She was sometimes rude to him and he said mean things to her but none of them cared because it was all in a good joke. Around everyone else Amaya was more polite and a little shy, but over the years, and thanks to Tanaka, she had a lot more confidence in herself. She was a bit of a tomboy with a sweet innocent face and figure. She was petite with long silver hair and her ribbon curls gave the illusion of complete innocence and even weakness. Most people assumed she was a weak girl who was shy and sweet, but she was only like this when she was little. Amaya was actually a very strong capable girl who was a little rough sometimes. She blamed all this on Tanaka for being her main companion for the last eight years.

Kazuki however was a lot like his father. Almost exactly like him accept he possessed a kind of softness his father never had. He was more compassionate and understanding but still quite rough around the edges at times. This close resemblance to Inuyasha sometimes made Kagome tear up with both grief and pride. She was proud that Kazuki had turned out like his father, so strong and dependable, but grieved that Inuyasha wasn't there to see it. She knew that Inuyahsa would have been so proud to see his son walk in his footsteps.

Jirou was now eight and a half years old and was best friends with Mina, Sango and Miroku's youngest daughter who was born only a month after Kagome and her family arrived. Jirou was a cheeky boy and liked to play jokes on the other children. Mina and Jirou were always up to something together, to prank Miroku in particular, and anyone else they could get their hands on. Mina had light brown hair and deep brown eyes while Jirou grew to look more and more like his mother Kagome.

Amaya ran off with Tanaka to go to the hill. The hill was a new place they went to hang out, it over looked the whole village and Amaya felt that she was on top of the world when she was there. They chased each other up the hill, nothing was too childish for them, that was one thing that Amaya liked about Tanaka. She could have all the fun in the world and act as stupid as she wanted and he would never judge her. In fact he would act even sillier and make her seem like the amateur of ridiculousness. They reached the top of the hill and peered at the now setting sun. The orange glow streamed over the land, it was a beautiful sight to be seen, and everything was so perfect that Amaya wished this would go on forever. That nothing would change this time.

She looked over the land and rested her eyes onto the forest. The mysterious forest that Tanaka and herself were never allowed to explore before because it was said that there was a young beautiful empress that lived there. They say that her eyes are beautiful like sunsets and her hair dark like the night. She was said to be young, but she was deadly. Anyone who pursued her paid for it with their lives!

Tanaka was always intrigued by this and hoped to go there someday without their parents knowing. Amaya had always objected to the idea because she didn't want to worry anybody. Tanaka would tease her and tell her it was because she was afraid that she'd "end up dead" like everyone else who went into the forest. This always started a protest on her side. She was afraid of nothing she'd say, nobody, or anything!

"Sure sure." Tanaka laughed.

"It's true! And you know it!" Amaya growled.

"Ok fine." He looked away with a smirk and suddenly a large stick came flying her way.

Whack!

Amaya blocked it with her wooden sword. "You thought I was going to back off didn't you?" Amaya smirked smugly.

"Alright then." He began, "Let's see what you're made of." Their swords were only large wooden sticks but they always had a lot of fun training together.

"You know what I'm made of!" Amaya said. "I'm made of Awesome!"

Tanaka burst out laughing. "Sure, sure you are."

Amaya stuck him and he fell to the ground, she pointed her 'sword' to his throat. "I told ya!" She laughed.

"Fine you win. THIS time!" He accepted her hand and was pulled up from the ground.

"I always win." She smiled in victory, and it was only true. Ever since she was fourteen she was always beating Tanaka at any physical activity. She had become very strong and even a little manly over the years.

In the distance they could hear shouts. Someone was running to the village screaming so they went to investigate. The man ran to the elder and told her that another man was killed in the forest. It was the beautiful empress who had killed his friend. He claimed that they didn't even notice her and were only looking for food but Tanaka knew this was a lie.

"What do you think happened?" Amaya asked him.

"This guys friend was a womanizer. I knew him. This 'empress' only seems to attack those who pursue her." He smiled at her, "Which means she'll be harmless to us!"

"You gotta be joking!" She gasped. "You're not thinking of going in there NOW are you?"

"Sure why not?" He smiled. "Unless you're scared!"

"I'm NEVER scared." She frowned.

"Then let's go!" Tanaka ran off and Amaya followed. She knew this was a bad idea but somehow she suddenly didn't care. She felt a rush of excitement, they were finally going to explore this forbidden forest and who knows what they'll find.

Authors Note: When I was editing this chaper I found that I had forgotten that I created a new character (Mina.) I thought I had forgotten to write about Miroku and Sangos youngest child (who wasn't even born before the time-skip.) I find it hard to keep up with all of my Original Characters that I have created for this fanfiction. There's so many! Thank god I have a word doc with all the characters names and descriptions about them now!

I hope you guys don't find it too hard to keep up with all the characters I have created. I know I am haha! There's going to be another new character in the next chapter and I know a lot of you will be excited to find out who she is!