Giving the Miko a Second Chance

Giving an Elderly Miko another chance


Chapter 2: Last meal…?

Arriving at Lady Kaedes’ hut she was greeted by Rin, the adorable little girl that could warm even the coldest of hearts. She smiled and bowed to show respect to Sango which just showed how amazing this little girl is.

‘She holds no grudge towards me, even after I almost took her life to save Miroku’s.’ She thought as she felt a tightening in her chest.

“Hello Lady Sango!!!” She said with a bright smile. Then she turned her attention to the twins. “Hey De-ji (Daisy) and Bara (Rose). Your breakfast is on the table.” “Yay, yumyum!!!” The twins said in at the same time. They had a habit of doing that. They gave Rin a big hugged which she returned before they ran off to dig into their meal.

Rin looked at little Miroku jr. and asked:

“Can I hold him, please?” Rin brought out the puppy dog eyes to add to the effect.

“Sure Rin here you go.” Sango carefully handed the child to Rin. Rin cooed and played with the baby for a bit. Jr. gurgled and smiled his toothless smile at Rin. After a little while she handed him back to his mother and went to eat her breakfast. Sango soon joined her.

“Ah, there ye be young Sango, where are the rest of the children.” Kaede said as she came in the room holding another tray of Rice balls. As far as Kaede was concerned, the whole gang are her adopted grandchildren.

Rin got up to help her while Sango stood up and bowed. Then Sango answered:

“They went to take care of a horde of youkai in a village a 12 hour run from here. They should be back in a few days.”

“So, young Kagome and Miroku went to assist Inuyasha on the night of the new moon.” Kaede said wisely.

“Yes they did, I hope they come back soon.” Sango said with a hit of worry.
“Do not fret child, they are strong willed and powerful. They will be alright.” Kaede said in a tone that was gentle and not to be disagreed with. Sango nodded as she started to eat her meal. Everyone thought it was delicious as they devoured the Rice, sweet cakes and tea. Shortly after they finished the twins Bara said:

“Mama can we go outside and play with Rin?”

“Yeah please.” De-Ji pleaded.

“If Rin doesn’t mind…” Sango said looking at Rin. The child nodded her head eagerly; she was restless and needed to burn some energy also.

“Rin doesn’t mind at all.” Rin said. Sometimes she had a habit of speaking in the third person. A habit she picked up from a certain daiyoukai after she learned to talk again.” Smiling, Sango nodded. They children jumped up and bolted for the door full speed when she called out.

“But don’t go outside the village perimeter, stay away from the forest.”

“Okay!!!” They all shouted before they ran out the door.

Kaede was in the other room making an extra batch of tea as she peeked out at Sango and her youngest child.


‘Ah, what a beautiful sight.’ She thought as she looked at Sango rocking her child. Kaede helped many village women bring healthy, beautiful children into the world, but never had any of her own. She wanted to, but her duties as a miko prevented her from doing so. When her sister died for the first time, she decided to dedicate her life to the protection of the village, even if it meant that she had to sacrifice her own happiness.

Despite the fact that she was a young beautiful woman she never saw herself as such. She never thought she was as beautiful as Kiyko because of her scared left eye. She also didn’t have the lean shape like her elder sister. She was shorter then and she had a curvier, nearly full figure form. She was naïve and didn’t know at the time that many man like women with an extra meat on there bones. Her low confidence in her looks was another reason why she never had a child.

‘My pondering of the past is a waste of the few years I have left.’ She thought. Smiling again at the young mother and her child she went back into the room to find a few mint herbs to add some flavor to her tea.


In the mean time baby Miroku started to whimper and cry. Recognizing this as the ‘I am hungry feed me!’ cry, Sango opened up her Kimono and proceeded to breast feed him. Shortly after, the child fell asleep. Sango placed him on the futon and was about to go check on the other children when she heard them scream. Sensing a youkai nearby and cursing herself for not noticing earlier, she figured she must be losing her touch.

“Kaede a youkai are attacking the children I ‘m going on ahead!” Sango said as she ran out the door towards the screams. She didn’t have her signature weapon with her so she grabbed a pitch fork.

Kaede being older grabbed her bow and arrow and rushed after them as fast as she could. Before she left the village, she placed a barrier over it to protect the residents there.

When Sango arrived in the forest she told them NOT to go into; one of the twins Bara looked like she injured her ankle. The other twin was screaming hysterically. Rin using the knowledge she acquired from her time with Kaede put up a miko barrier to protect all three of them.

“Lady Sango! Granny Kaede help, please! I can’t hold him off much longer!” Rin was a novice when it came to her miko abilities. As soon as her powers dwindled, they all would be done for.

“Get away from them you fifty coward.” Sango said as she throws her pitch fork hitting it in its eye. She knew a human tool or weapon couldn’t bring much harm to a youkai, so she made sure she blinded him enough so Rin and the other children could escape.

“Get away from him now!!!” Sango ordered. Rin placed Bara on her back and ran as fast as she could with the heavy load. Rin was rather small for her age after all. The youkai bellowed as he pulled the pitch fork from his eye.

“Human wench you will pay for that, no one steals a meal from me!!” He roared. He wasn’t even concerned about his eye for it will heal in a short while. But he heard that eating a miko would give him the ability to resist miko powers. This was the case for all youkai except for those born with a natural resistance, those with immense power. A low level youkai like him needed all the help he could get to increase his strength.

“No one harms my family and gets away with it!!!” she yelled as she dodges his huge palm. Rolling to her right she picked up a long stick…planning to put his other eye out temporarily.

Kaede appeared and launched one of her arrows at the ogre youkai, missing it by a hair. As Kaede fired her arrows of purity she was mentally holding up the barrier around the village.
Sango threw her makeshift weapon, but he dodge. She managed to impale the beast in its neck instead. It roared in anger as it broke off a long slim branch from a tree, making it a spear like weapon. He grinned evilly at Sango. Planning to return the attack indirectly at Sango he threw the spear. Sango jumped to the left to grab the spear out of mid air, but it was out of her reach. It zoomed pass the trees, Rin who had tripped earlier knocking the wind out of herself. The fall also made Bara fall off her back on to De-Ji, knocking the wind out of her as well. Rin got up trying to help Bara who managed to worsen the ankle injury. Rin had gotten up right after the ogre threw the spear. Her back was turned toward the youkai as the spear speeded toward her.

“Get down!!!” Sango cried as Rin was the only one in the spear path. The other two children were still on the ground. With out giving it a second thought Kaede placed herself in front of the children to put up a miko barrier. Only to realize that too much of her power was focused on protecting the village. Kaede knew her fate seconds before it occurred but did not move. The spear impaled her upper abdomen and chest killing her almost instantly.

“Nooooooooo.” Rin cried out as the other children sat on the ground in shock.

“Run all of you now, tell the other villagers to stay inside!!!” Sango yelled as she picked up a large rock and hit him in his nose cracking it. She figured if she pissed him off bad enough, she could lead him away from the town.

The children obeyed running toward Kaedes’ hut.

“You pathetic human you are going to suffer.” The ogre said as he launched at Sango. With no other weapons, she took off into the forest. With her past experience, she knew it was important to know your surroundings. As she took off running, she sensed a very powerful youkai nearby. She had an idea of who it was, she figured it was stupid to ask him for help considering what she had done, but she had to give it a shot. She had to at least try and get him to save Kaede. Destroying the ogre would be an extra perk. As the ogre gave chase, the powerful aura circled around them at an incredible speed. The next thing they knew silence.

As she turned around, she saw that the ogre was nothing but a pile of ash blowing away in the wind. There standing directly behind the pile of ogre was Sesshoumaru. It turns out that she didn’t have to ask him after all. She didn’t have to ask for help with the ogre, but she did still have to ask for Kaede.

Sango bowed low and said.

“Thank you so much…and please help Kaede.” She nearly pleaded.

“Your gratitude is not necessary nor is beseeching. This Sesshoumaru only removed an irritating pest from his lands.” He stated in a monotone voice.

“But, you saved my life, even after…” She trailed off with tears trying to spill from her chocolate eyes. Sesshoumaru knew exactly what she was referring to and said:

“You like your brother were a pawn in the spiders’ games. This Sesshoumaru doesn’t participate in games, especially those created by his enemy.”

With her head dropped she said:

“Still you could have just let him kill me.”

“Slayer if this Sesshoumaru wanted you dead, you would have met your demise at my hands. This Sesshoumaru does not need a low class youkai to kill for him.” He said a bit aggravated. Kohaku tried to kill Rin yet he took him under his protection what made her think he wouldn’t do the same for her.

She looked at him with sad eyes and whispered:

“Please help Kaede.”

Sesshoumaru already knew of the elderly mikos fate. He was patrolling the area fifth teen miles away from Inuyasha village when he smelled a rogue youkai. He figured that Inuyasha must be traveling downwind from his forest. That combined with the fact that the new moon was coming tonight Sesshoumaru knew that Inuyasha would not be able to detect the youkai scent. He knew his brother wasn’t in the area so he went to take care of the insignificant pest when the scent of blood hit his nose. Not wanting to waste more time he said:

“Where going.” He turned heading toward Kaede body not waiting for Sango to catch up.

A few moments later, he came across Kaede body. He heard the screams and cries of the children as some of the villagers came out of their homes. They knew the miko was dead, but they wasn’t sure if Sesshoumaru killed her or not. But the villagers doubt it, they knew he visited the village and they knew he left someone in her care. Why would he wait until now to kill her? Knowing that the creature was very powerful, some of the men grab their weapons, but didn’t make a move. They didn’t want to unnecessarily anger the daiyoukai. Sesshomaru sensing their paranoia and hearing Rin sobs said:

“Rin, she will be fine, take the other pups inside and wait there.” Rin choked out

“Yes Lord Sesshoumaru” before she grabbed the other crying children and went inside the hut. She was amazed to find Sango’s baby gurgling on the futon not even aware of what happened. She busied herself wrapping Bara ankle.

“Granny has a big ouchy on her chest what do we do.” De-Ji said as Bara cried in pain saying mama and papa over and over again.
“Nothing, Lord Sesshoumaru will fix her.” She said with certainty.
“The pretty man?” De-Ji asked innocently.

“Yes, he can heal her ouchy.” Rin said with a smile. Tears were still running out of her eyes. Even if Sesshoumaru brings Granny back dying is a terrible thing. She knows about it all too well. Rin thinks of her and the rest of the gang as family. Her being such a kind hearted creature made the incident worst.

‘If only I had more control over the children this would have never happen.’

She thought about how the twins ran off into the forest. They were so distracted by their play that they didn’t even hear Rin call for them to come back as she chased after them. Thinking it was part of the game, the twins ran farther into the forest. This is how the ogre found them.

After she finished wrapping and Bara stopped crying she asked Rin.

“Why are your eyes crying?”

“Happy tears, I am happy that Kaede will be okay.” Rin said not wanting to tell the young ones everything she was thinking. The twins sat quietly waiting for their mom to return as Rin went to check on the baby.

“Slayer make sure the humans do not follow.” Sesshoumaru ordered as he picked up Kaede. Sango nodded before she walked over to the town’s folk and told them what happened so they wouldn’t get the wrong idea.

After her audience with the village residence, she went inside Kaede hut to check on all of the children.

‘Damn, if I had brought my boomerang bone Kaede wouldn’t have been injured.’ Sango thought, not taking into account that the large weapon could have knocked over many of the forest trees, hurting herself, Kaede and the children.

Sesshoumaru took Kaede a couple miles away from the village. He had to act quickly before the imps of the underworld took her soul. Placing her on the ground in the clearing, he felt his Tensaiga pulse indicating that she can still be saved. Sesshoumaru pulled the sword as it glowed blue. He focused on her body until he could spot the little soul thieves.

‘I see them, the pallbearers of the afterlife.’ He thought as he swung his sword killing all of them in one strike. Then something unusual happened. Instead of her waking up like Rin did from death, a bright pink and blue light covered her whole body. He shielded his eyes from the blinding light as it increased. After the luminescent glow disappeared he heard her heart beat strong in her chest. He looked down and widen his eyes in shock for a few seconds before his face reverted back to its usual stoic mask. The woman before him had changed. He knew it was the same woman because of her scent but:

Lady Kaede, the elder miko looked like an 18 year old girl.

“Kaede…” He breathed in quiet amazement. His voice betraying his mask a little.

She opened her eyes and gasped. She sat upright quickly and said:

“Lord Sesshoumaru, what happened where are the children, is everyone alright…”

Sesshoumaru put his left hand up to silence her and said:

“They are safe; however, you should worry about yourself.” He said with regain most of his usual calm voice.

“What is it Lord Sesshoumaru.” She said sounding a little concerned.

“Look.” Was all he said before he held the Tensaiga in front of her face? She stared at her reflection for a moment in shock and then she did something she hasn’t done in a while….

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Was heard throughout the forest causing small animals to flee. Sesshoumaru repressed the urge to wince. Her scream hurt his sensitive ears. Well at least it wasn't her last meal, that was one postive upside to the situation. But she had no idea what would happen next, what the side effects could be.

TBC:

A/N: Hope you like please review.