The morning sun rose, peaking through the opening of the hut, bringing Kikyo out of her sleep. The miko of the shikon no tama yawned, lightly rubbing her eyes as she got up. Kikyo slipped out of her night kimono and into her red nagabakama* and white kosode* with additional details woven into the fabric. She tied her miko outfit together with a red obi*.

After getting dressed Kikyo prepared a small Japanese breakfast, Tamago kake gohan*. She put aside some of the food for when Kaede woke up. Kikyo made her way over to the equipment that she had laid out last night.

Kikyo didn't sleep much last night, she was too occupied with the thoughts of walking into a trap meant for her.
She picked up the equipment that she would be bringing with her; her Saigu-Yumi and sacred arrows, some healing salves, water, shikigami and the beads of subjugation. Tsubaki was already waiting for Kikyo at the front gate of the village.

"Good morning, Tsubaki-san. Are you ready for today?" Kikyo asked as she looked at the other miko besides her. The two began to leave the safety of the village and headed for their destination. Tsubaki's eyes wandered around the forest path, looking for any yokai that might try to attack them.

"I am Kikyo-san but are you ready?" Mused Tsubaki, almost pleased with herself at the unsaid meaning behind her words. "I gather that the you have brought the shikon no tama with you. I mean it would be dangerous leaving it unguarded."

Kikyo didn't confirm nor deny that she had the shikon no tama with her. Tsubaki's inquiry of the shikon no tama made Tsubaki more suspicious in Kikyo's mind. She concluded that Tsubaki wanted the shikon no tama for herself but Kikyo didn't know what Tsubaki planned to do with it.

"Let's continue on to the village, the sooner the yokai are dealt with the sooner we can leave," told Kikyo, not bothering to look at Tsubaki to see her reaction. Tsubaki's gritted her teeth as she followed Kikyo, she couldn't help but dislike the other miko in front of her. Why was Kikyo entrusted with the shikon no tama and not her?

****

Kikyo felt the warmth of the midday sun on her back. The two miko were only minutes away from the intended village. 'Something is wrong, I sense no human life up ahead and multiple yokai,' thought Kikyo. "Tsubaki-san, how many yokai are in the village?"

"There shouldn't be that many yokai," told Tsubaki. She couldn't help but feel giddy, soon the shikon no tama would be in her grasp. But first she had to help Kikyo with the yokai, there was no way that Tsubaki would allow a yokai to take her prize.

Kikyo pushed a tree branch out of her way, upon observing what was in front of her, she gave a soft gasp. The village that they were supposed to come and save had been destroyed. However, on a closer inspection, Kikyo found that the villagers had been dead for far longer than a couple of days.

'The multiple yokai auras that I sensed before are coming closer,' thought Kikyo. She brought out her weapon while Tsubaki summoned her shikigami to fight. The battle was fierce with Kikyo taking out multiple opponents at a time, while Tsubaki focused on giving her shikigami power. A yokai managed to slice Kikyo's right arm before she could purify it, said miko winced at the bleeding wound. 'So this was her plan, use the yokai weaken me.'

"Tsubaki-san all the yokai have been purified, we should bury the villagers," said Kikyo. She knew that Tsubaki would at some point try to attack her for the shikon no tama. 'But first I need to take care of this injury,' Kikyo thought as she glanced at the wound.

Tsubaki's snake shikigami made its way back to Tsubaki, wrapping its body around her. "Kikyo-san please hand over the shiko no tama and I'll allow you to live!" Tsubaki's shikigami flew forward, slithering closer to attack Kikyo. The shikon no tama miko used her Saigu-Yumi to deflect the shikigami, sending it straight back to its master.

"Ahh!" Screeched Tsubaki as her shikigami hit her face, causing a nasty scar to form in her right eye. Kikyo used this time to load a sacred arrow into her saigu-yumi and aimed it at Tsubaki. "Curse you Kikyo-san. I curse you to die a violent death!" Tsubaki screamed, her eyes shifting to red. Kikyo let go of her sacred arrow, shooting Tsubaki in the heart. Tsubaki's shikigami disappeared as Tsubaki died.

"Rest in peace Tsubaki-san," whispered Kikyo into the wind, she stared at the sakura blossoms in the distance and then looked at the wound on her arm. She summoned her own shikigami, Kocho and Asuka, to assist her with burying the dead villagers. While Kocho and Asuka were burying the villagers, Kikyo used this time to tend to her own wounds.

****
Kikyo awake a few hours later, recovering some of her lost reiryoku form the fight. Her shikigami had dispersed once they had finished their given task. Kikyo went outside to visit the graves and to give a small prayer for the dead, she hopped that their souls would rest in peace. Seeing that their was nothing left for her to do, Kikyo was going to leave the village.

Kikyo gave one last glance towards the village and then departed. 'So much death, all because of the shikon no tama,' mused Kikyo. 'Tsubaki-san was originally suppose to live but I killed her. I wonder what will happen, without her?'

It had taken Kikyo more time to return back to her own village than she expected. Kaede had stood at the village gate with a hopeful expression, waiting for her onee-sama. When she seen Kikyo, Kaede ran straight up to her, Kikyo hugged the younger girl, but winced lightly as Kaede touched her wound. Seeing that Kikyo was in pain, Kaede pulled back.

"Onee-sama, I'm sorry. What happened? Are you hurt?" Exclaimed Kaede, fussing over her onee-sama. Kikyo smiled at the younger girl and placed her left hand on Kaede's head, rubbing it fondly.

"I couldn't ask for a better imouto," said Kikyo. "I'm fine."

Kaede seemed to accept that. "Onee-sama, I want to show you something that I have found," told Kaede as she dragged Kikyo off to a new area that she had found. "I found it while I was picking herbs for Rima-san special medicine."

To her surprise Kikyo found a meadow filled with many plants and flowers, hidden by the trees. A sakura tree was planted in the middle of the meadow. The blossoms from the tree bloomed brightly, making Kikyo mind be at rest from the days events. Kikyo was growing to love this small meadow that with radiated life.

Kikyo sat on a branch of the sakura tree with Kaede snuggling deeply into Kikyo's lap, very content with the heat that was being provided by it. "Thank you for bring me here imouto," said Kikyo as she enjoyed the peaceful nature of the meadow.

"Onee-sama, may I ask. What happened to Tsubaki-san?" Asked Kaede. Kikyo couldn't help but frown at the other miko's name. It brought back the memories of earlier.

"Tsubaki-san has sadly passed away," Kikyo explained but she left out that she killed Tsubaki.

"Oh, I see, so thats why she didn't come back with you," Kaede said with a sad smile. She didn't press further into Tsubaki's death. "I think that we should go back to the village,' told Kaede. Sensing someone familiar, Kikyo stayed while Kaede went back to the village.

"I know your there, Sesshomaru-san," calmly said Kikyo. The daiyoki of the west, walked to the base of the sakura tree and looked up, catching Kikyo's eyes.

"Your skills haven't diluted, Kikyo-san," Sesshomaru comment with his usual cold stare. Kikyo took it as a compliment or the closest thing to a compliment that Sesshomaru would give. He wasn't the type to give compliments to people. "Who was that child that was with you?"

"That child was my imouto. Her name is Kaede," replied Kikyo. It seemed to trigger something in Sesshomaru at the mention of siblings. "Do you have any siblings?"

"None that I recognised," hummed Sesshomaru. Kikyo wanted to slap herself for even referring about Inuyasha. She knew that their was bad blood between them.

"May I ask what brings your presence Sesshomaru-san?" Asked Kikyo.

"There was talk of a miko being killed in a nearby village," said Sesshomaru.

"So you decided to check up on me?" Mused Kikyo, a sakura blossom floated down from the tree and made its way into her hair.

"Don't flatter yourself, miko," huffed Sesshomaru. His light whip formed in his fingers, he aimed it at Kikyo, who shut her eyes, caught completely off guard by the yokai. Kikyo slowly opened her eyes to see a Sakura petal in his hand.

"Thank you Sesshomaru-san," said Kikyo with a smile, she closed her eyes again and listened to the calming sound of the wind. Sesshomaru listened to the steady beat of the miko's heart.

"What a foolish miko, to fall asleep in the presence of a yokai," hummed Sesshomaru as he took a seat at the base of the sakura tree. "And your injured yourself too. You truly are a foolish miko." He sensed a low level yokai sniff around, he allowed a small amount of his own power to leak out, scarring off the other yokai.

Japanese terms

Nagabakama is a very long hakuma.

Kosode is a basic Japanese robe.

Obi is a belt worn with both traditional Japanese clothing and uniform.

Tamago kake gohan is a japanese dish consisting of cooked Japanese rice topped or mixed with raw egg and soy sauce