Kohaku had found herself sitting by a fire pit in a wooden one-room hut, the old priestess sitting across from her. Over the fire was a black pot. Cooking inside was a thick stew of vegetables, herds, and what looked like chunks of chicken. It smelled good, and Kohaku was feeling a little hungry. Hungry enough that her stomach let out a loud rumble.

The older woman let out a chuckle causing Kohaku's face to heat up in embarrassment. The woman grabbed a spoon and a wooden bowl from nearby and began to scoop some out. She put in a reasonable amount and handed the hot bowl to the amber-eyed girl. Kohaku nodded her head in thanks before taking a tiny sip. Her eyes widened, and she started rapidly slurping down the stew, not even noticing the woman trying to hand her a little wooden spoon.

"My, you must have been starved child. Slow down; there is enough food for you to have a second helping." the woman soothingly said to the girl. Kohaku wasn't sure what she said, but she felt like it was something reassuring in a sense. Bowl now empty, she handed it back to the woman, but before the older woman could refill the bowl with more stew, Kohaku motioned for her to wait. Turning around, she grabbed the book and pen again, opening a fresh, clean page to write something for the woman. She was quick with it and passed over her finished message to the woman.

"My name is Aoi Kohaku, and I thank you for the meal. It was very filling. But I didn't come here for food. I need to get back home. If possible, could you please point me in the direction of Tokyo? I was okay with playing along for a while, but all this talk about demons and stuff isn't funny. Unless this is another one of my dreams, something is wrong."

The words shocked the priestess. This child really thought this world wasn't real? And what's even worse, she didn't even know the power she possessed. But she agreed with the demon to help the girl understand her situation and possibly figure out the power within her. The woman took the girl's strange utensil in her old hand and wrote with what knowledge she could give. She wrote enough of what she could and returned the book to Kohaku.

"Hello, child, my name is Kaede. I am the head priestess of this here village. I do not know what this Tokyo is, but the nearest village from here is miles away. I'm afraid this is no trick, nor is this a dream. The demon told me how you fell from the sky by the sacred tree, which holds immense power and has been here through the ages. How you appeared in a flash of light, light that he said felt powerful for just a brief moment. I know this to be true. I can sense it in you. And the clothes you wear and the belongings you have are strange. Like they are not from this world. Or not of this period? Whatever it may be, you are here for a reason, and I will try my best to help you."

Reading once and rereading again, the young black girl started feeling faint. She didn't want to believe that she wasn't in just some backwaters part of Japan or that everything was just a dream. But she knew she had to be rational, and denying what was in front of her was just something she couldn't do anymore. After all, why was it so surprising that demons were real? Or that somehow accidentally traveling through time was possible? She has heard of and also read plenty about both subjects, yet she wants to deny it the moment it happens to her. Even her great-grandmother has schooled her about the supernatural of the world.

With the weight on her shoulders making the fifteen-year-old feel much older, she released a heavy groan as she allowed reality to set in. She's somehow in the past; she doesn't know how far back, but she's banking on about five hundred years based on the clothing, buildings, and few weapons she has seen so far. FFor some reason, she she has a power inside of her that others can feel, but she can't. Though her great-grandmother can explain that away, that lady used to be a medicine woman and a powerful one at that, but apparently, she did something considered taboo, and it got her kicked from her tribe. Now that Kohaku thought about it, it is possible that whatever lies in her, mixed with whatever power lies in that tree, caused her to be sent back in time.

Having a eureka moment, she was about to start blabbering her ideas and hypothesis to Kaede. Still, she stopped short after reminding herself that although she could read the language, she couldn't speak it. Turning to a new page in her book, she wrote something and passed it over to Kaede, who was watching her intently but also held some amusement in her old brown eye.

"Look, all this is hard to believe, but after some thinking and consideration, it seems you are right. You see, I was born May thirty-first, nineteen eighty. And from what I'm seeing, this isn't present-day nineteen ninety-five. I don't know what caused me to be brought here to this period, and it will likely not be easy for me to return. I'm willing to learn how to survive so that when the time comes, I can go back home alive. But to do that, I need to know how to speak. Will you help me, please? While you teach me to speak, I'm willing to help you and your village in any way I can. Whatever it is, and whatever it takes, I'm willing to do it."

It was a small plea, but it was all she could do now. And Kaede didn't know what to make of the girl either. But as the older woman sat there and contemplated what to do, she looked into the girl's bright amber eyes. She saw resolve in those eyes. Saw the fighting spirit within her and the kindness she held within. But she also felt the hidden demonic energy that flowed hand in hand with the pure spiritual energy that also resided in her. It was something she had never seen before, and she wasn't even sure the girl knew about it. This would be a challenge for the old priestess and her village, but this felt like the proper challenge.

Nodding her head in agreement, the head priestess took the offer from the girl, smiling warmly at her newest student. The next three days were going to be quite eventful.


The rest of the day was spent with Kohaku learning to pronounce each word from her previous message in her sketchbook and eating the rest of Kaede's stew. She learned fast before passing out from exhaustion and overusing her voice. And even though she fell asleep inside of Kaede's home, sometime during the night, she slipped out and huddled beside the two-headed dragon, tied up to a tree beside the hut.

The next day, Kohaku woke up bright and early, tucked next to the dragon whose heads were covering her like a warm scaley blanket. Stretching until her back popped, she attempted to comb her fingers through her hair until it wasn't too matted. It didn't take long for her to get up and find her way back inside the hut. Kaede was already up and was putting some hot rice in a bowl for her, and to top it off, she cracked an egg on top for her. She waited for the teen to sit down crisis cross before handing over the bowl of food, and before long, Kohaku was again scarfing down the food.

"Slow down child, lease you end up choking. Today you will help out some of the village women with washing clothes by the river. After that, you will help me forage for some herbs. All the while, you will be speaking and getting used to speaking. Now that you are done eating let's take you to get washed. I even borrowed some clothing from one of the village women. Come, follow me." the old priestess instructed, passing the teen a bundle of clothing. Kohaku didn't have time to look at the clothing before scrabbling to follow the surprisingly fast woman.

They went out of the hut, stopping to bring along the dragon and going down the village's dirt road. Many people who passed by were openly looking at Kohaku, judgment in their eyes, some even with fear. Many did stop to greet their priestess, bowing slightly to her in passing. From what the teen could see, these people really loved and respected Kaede, something Kohaku wished could be said for her. For many years, not once has she felt loved or respected by anyone other than her great-grandmother, father, and mother. But two out of those three people were gone now.

Lost in thought, she didn't see the little boy and his two little friends running in her direction until it was too late. The first boy crashed right into her legs, but she was able to catch him from falling and was able to steady them both. And the second boy crashed into them along with the little girl chasing them. The combined weight of the children made Kohaku fall onto her back, the three kids lying piled on her legs and torso.

"Are you children okay?" Kaede asked in concern. "Im good." Kohaku was able to breathe out. Dazed, she began pushing the kids off of her, they tried to scramble off of her with slight fear in their eyes, but they just ended up tangling their selves together. She got up, dusted herself off, and offered a hand to the first boy that ran into her. His big brown eyes shone with panic and fear, but seeing the teen softly smiling at him with nothing but pure kindness in her eyes made him stop hesitating and take hold of her hand firmly. She hefted him up easily, helping the little guy dust the dirt off of his green sleeveless kosode. Giving the kid's short brown hair a rustle, she helped the others up, dusted them off too, and went back over to the priestess, signaling to her that everything was good and that they could keep going. As they walked away, if Koahaku and Kaede had stayed behind for just a bit, both would have noticed that Kohaku's little act was seen by many villagers, who now had a different opinion about her.

The pair walked until they came upon a path that, as they continued, winded around a cliffside overseeing a spring. "Go, child. Clean yourself off so we can start the day. You smell a little." Kaede said as she went to relax on a nearby rock. "Yeah, yeah." Kohaku chuckled. She searched in her bag for any hygiene products, and shockingly, she found her bamboo toothbrush but no toothpaste, her all-natural aloe bar of soap she had recently bought, and a clean rag she now remembers that she always carries around. She was lucky to have put these items in her bag beforehand, but that's also because she doesn't know how to pack for shit properly.

Taking the hygiene products and the bundled clothing Kaede gave her, she approached the spring. Kneeling, she put the items on a nearby flat rock and dipped her figures in the water to check the temperature. The water was cool but bearable for a dip. She began slowly coming out of her clothes, starting with her hoodie and shoes, then working her way to her pants, shirt, and undergarments. Once nude, she piled her clothes with the rest of her stuff and quickly slid into the water. A shiver ran down her body, but she warmed right up once she started to swim around. Not wanting to take long though, she swam back to shore and washed away three days' worth of dirt from her skin and hair.

Once clean, she climbed out and sat on the rocks. In the bundle of borrowed clothes was a towel, which she used to dry her hair first and then her body. Next, she put on the old-fashioned underwear and the dark green kusode that also came with straw sandals. The clothing felt weird to wear but something she was sure to get used to. Whoever the clothes originally belonged to must have been the same body shape as her. Her form filled the clothing well, even if it was slightly short because of her height.

Before her hair could fully dry, she used one of her many hidden wide-toothed combs to detangle it as much as possible before putting it into two thick, below-the-shoulder braids. As she was braiding, sitting on the rock facing toward the woods on the cliffside, Kohaku could have sworn she saw a flash of white. Looking closer, she was right. Standing on the cliff was Sesshomaru, just staring passively at her. She watched as his silver hair caught with the slight breeze in the area, watching as tree leaves fell behind him. Now any other female would have screamed at being watched while bathing, but she wasn't the most logical woman.

She sent him a small hesitant wave, which he didn't return, but she saw him slightly nod at her before he turned and left back into the greenery. Letting out a chuckle and done doing her hair, she grabbed her things, heading back to Kaede and the dragon. Putting her things away, with putting the masks back on the dragon heads, she looked over expectantly at the priestess, ready to begin her chores. It was going to be a long day for the teen.