I wake up to the chirping of the birds that tells me, morning has arrived. I sit up and stretch my arms into the hair. I rode my horse to a nearby stream and wash up. I re-braided my hair and I sit on the edge of the stream. The weather feels colder than the past few days. I realized that winter is slowly approaching and autumn is coming to an end. I take my feet out of the water, dried them off and hopped back on my horse.

 

"Let's go Hidzume, we're almost at the next village." I say patting my horse on his strong neck. 

 

I gave him a nudge and we set off. A few hours went by and I finally arrive to a hill not far away the next village. I can see it, it's a decent size village, not big but not small either. It seem to be a place that holds shrines, a spiritual place. I've heard of villages like these but never have I seem one in person. I got off my horse and begin to walk down the hill. Suddenly I hear a young child's voice laughing and coming towards my area really fast. I turn around and I see a girl in a green kimono running down the hill looking behind her, then another girl in a yellow kimono comes out from behind a bush, chasing after her. They looks alike, almost like siblings. They look about 9 years old. They have big cute eyes and sleek shoulder length black hair. 

 

"Woah slow down." I said holding out my hand.

 

The girl who's running away towards me turns her head, her eyes went wide when she sees me and without enough time to stop, she runs into me. With her momentum, it actually knocks me backwards. My hand got caught onto my koto that is strapped on the side of the saddle and I brought it down with me. We fall back onto the grass, the other girl gasps and runs up to us.

 

"Oh my, miss are you alright?" The girl asks.

 

I prop myself up, and the girl who crashed into me quickily caught of me. With a girl her age, she actually kind of knocked the wind out of me from that fall. 

 

"Ya I'm fine, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" I asked breathing in deeply, feeling a little bit better. 

 

"Yes we are, sorry about that. We're glad that you're not serious injured." Says the other girl. 

 

"We have never seen you before, are you traveling?" The girl who crashes into me asks. 

 

"Yes, I'm on my own, traveling around Japan and seeing the world with my horse Hidzume and my koto." I said with a smile.

 

"Koto? What's a koto?" The other girl asks curiously.

 

"A koto? Oh it's this thing." I said reaching for the koto on the ground.

 

I unwrap it and place it on my lap showing them it. The girls looks at it with curiousity.

 

"Is it an instrument? There are strings on it." The girl who crashed into me asked.

 

"It is, it's an instrument that is made of polished wood, there are 13 strings on it ans they produce a rich tunes when strummed. I love music and the koto is my favorite instrument. Would you like to hear a song?" I ask them with a gentle smile.

 

They both nodded with a smile, they sat down beside me and watched my fingers as they begin to strum the strings. I played a slow tune, then a happy and lively one that I thought fits their lively personality. We talked for an hour or so, until it was in the late afternoon. 

 

"Would you like to come to our village? We have to go back home now, we promised our mother that we'd be home by evening. You can stay the night, we want to hear you play the koto again tomorrow." The girl in the green kimono says with a big smile.

 

"How about I'll take you girls home and we can see from there?" I said.

 

"Sure thing! Come on!" They said tugging me up by the hand. I wrapped up my koto and guided Hidzume with the two girls back to their village. When we arrived at the entrance to the village, a young lady is waiting at the entrance. Her appearance looks similar to the two girls, so I assume that she their mother. The mother's eyes went wide as she saw me with their girls. 

 

"Girls.." She says as the two girls leaves my side and runs towards her.

 

They hug her and tugs at her to towards me.

 

"Mother! We met this miss outside on the hills, she's a traveler. Can she stay the night?" They both asks. 

 

Their mother looks up at me and smiles. 

 

"Thank you for taking my girls back to the village, it seems like they have taken a liking to you. I'm Sango, and you are?" She asks kindly.

 

"I'm__________, yes I met these girls on the hill right after I arrived, the meeting was a rough one since one of your daughter crashed into me as they were playing a game. They weren't injured or anything. I talked with them after and played my koto a little bit." I said with a smile. 

 

"I see, my apology, my twins are quite hyper and playful, I'm glad that you're not injured________, please come, it seems like you could use a place to stay tonight." Sango says with a smile and gesture me into the village.

 

"Thank you." I said.

 

Sango and I head into the village, small shrines were displayed along the road, huts lined neatly beside each other. There were fields of vegetables and fruits. It's a really peaceful village. 

 

"This place is beautiful, is it a village of priests and priestesses?" I ask Sango. 

 

"It is, the head of the village is an elder priestess names Kaede. She watches over the village. 

 

"I see, I wanted to see a village like this, and I finally got to. I even wanted to meet a priestess in person and learn some of the spirtual things." I said.

 

"I see, this place is really nice indeed, I use to be a demon-slayer. But after starting a family, I retired because taking care of two girls and a son is tiring. So settling down here is peaceful." She says with a small laugh. 

 

"Oh you were a demon slayer? That's sounds amazing. I've heard of that a demon-slayer, a demon named Inuyasha a monk and a priestess destroyed the demon, Naraku a few years back. Is that demon slayer perhaps... you?" I asked sounding astounded.

 

Sango gave a shy laugh and a smile. 

 

"Yes, that was me, the monk, Miroku is now my husband. The priestess, her name's Kagome, she became a miko in training. Her and Inuyasha are married now, and they live in this village as well. My husband and Inuyasha are out right now slaying demons and evil spirits, they should be back soon for dinner. Come on, Lady Kaede, and Kagome are preparing dinner at the moment." Sango says. 

 

She guides me into a larger hut. The girls run in. Sango lifts the straw curtain and gestures me in. When I entered, there is a elderly woman with an eyepatch on her right eye, she's in a priestess clothing. Next to her is a young woman about my age in the same miko outfit. Her hair is down to her back and she has bangs, she is a beautiful young lady. 

 

"Who is this Sango?" The elderly lady, who I assume is Lady Kaede asks setting down a plate of food.

 

"Lady Kaede, Kagome, this is__________. My girls met her on the hills, she's a traveler. She's about the same age as you Kagome. I told her about our journey when we were looking for Naraku, she seems to be interested in the spiritual practices and a wants to learn a bit about it. You think you can get along with her Kagome? It's been a tiring day for her I assume, so let's give her a place to stay for the time being." Sango says introducing me to them.

 

The young priestess named Kagome with a big smile, gets up and takes my hand. 

 

"Of course, we'll find a place for you stay after dinner, please come join us! Oh is that a koto? It's such an elegant and beautiful instrument. Oh and please, just call me Kagome" She asks me with a bright smile seeing the koto on my back. 

 

"Thank you, I'd appreciate the hospitality. Yes, yes it is a koto. You seem to know it quite well Lady Kagome." I said surprised by her knowledge of the koto." 

 

"No need to thank us, we welcome everyone with open arms. Stay as long as you like_________. Come on sit down with us, the guys will be back any minute." Kagome says taking my hand and guiding me to sit down with her.

 

"Girls, let's go get big sister Rin, Shippo and your baby brother." Sango says taking the girls' hand and going out to get Rin and their baby brother. 

 

I talked with Kagome and Lady Kaede a little bit and got to know them, their journey a bit more. Suddenly the curtain opens and Sango comes back with the girls, her son. A girl in around 17-18 years old with a purple kimono, long hair with a single braid on her right side of hair comes in. She is a beautiful young teenage girl, and I assume that she is Rin. Beside her is a young boy but with a fox legs and tail. Bright green eyes and auburn hair, I guessed that he's Shippo. A monk comes in with a smile and a wave. I assume that he's Sango's husband, Miroku. Right behind him, another man comes in a red kimono. He has expressionless face, he's in the middle of nagging at Miroku. The things that makes my eyes go wide is a pair of white dog ears on his head, his hair is long and white. But the most captivating thing about him, is his golden amber eyes that looks so familiar. I became speechless. 

 

"You must be__________, my you're an elegant young miss. Sango told Inuyasha and I about you on our way here. It's nice to meet you, I'm Miroku, this is Inuyasha. I take that you met Kagome, Lady Kaede, and our girls." Miroku says taking a bow at me.

 

"Ah yes, it's nice to meet you too. Yes Kagome, Sango and Lady Kaede are very kind and welcoming to me. "I say getting up and bowing to them, my eyes landing on Inuyasha's amber eyes. 

 

We all sit down and enjoy a nice dinner, we all talked and got to know each other more. Inuyasha's personality is a bit rash, but Kagome seems to keep him in check. I got to see their close bond, after their long journey in the past, it's no wonder they're so close. They feel like a real family in my eyes. Afterwards, they asked me if I can play a play a song for them, so I did. They all enjoyed it and I was happy. 

 

"Say how far are you planning to travel_______?" Miroku asks me.

 

"I'm not sure, I guess wherever the journey ends." I say with a shrug.

 

"The next village is pretty far, it's going to take you a few about a week or so." Sango says.

 

"Autumn just ended and Winter's coming. It'll be hard on your travel in the winter when the snow begins to fall." Inuyasha says with his legs crossed and arm folded on front of him.

 

"Inuyasha's right. Why don't you stay with us till Winter is over. How about starting your trip back up in the spring?" Kagome suggests putting an arm around my shoulder. 

 

I looked at them with gratitude, and smiled.

 

"Thank you everyone, I'll take your suggestion. But since the Winter is so long, I want to help out in the village if I can. Is that alright?" I asks feeling I should do something to repay their hospitality. 

 

"Well, we'll be harvesting some of the vegetables tomorrow, you can come along. I can also show you around and we can talk too." Kagome says with a smile. 

 

"Can you help me babysit my three kids with Rin and Shippo? They seem to take a liking to you__________ quite a bit." Sango says. 

 

"Ya! It'll be fun!" Shippo and Rin both shouted. 

 

"Sure thing, I'd love too." I replied. 

 

After the warm dinner and company, we said goodnight. Rin said that there's a hut next to hers, so she guides me to my hut. I know a little about Rin, she's a lively, optimistic young teenager and she reminds me so much of me when I was younger. We bid goodnight and turned in. The next day arrives, and I head to the field with Lady Kaede and Kagome. We talked and laughed as we picked up the vegetables and fruits in the field to store for the upcoming winter. In the afternoon, Rin, Shippo the teenage fox demon, and I went to Sango's place to help her babysit her girls and son. Inuyasha and Miroku were out on their demon job. After the babysitting, I went to Rin's place to hang with her for a bit. I brought my koto with me to her place to teach her a little bit about the instrument. 

 

"What happened to your hand?" Rin asks seeing my scar on the back of my hand.

 

"Oh I got this a few days ago, I got scraped by something, don't worry about it, it's just a small cut. Say Rin, where are your parents? Are they in the village?" I asked her as I braided her hair for her for fun.

 

"They passed away when I was younger. Since then I met Lord Sesshomaru, I've been with him ever since. We were on our own journey to destroy Naraku, Lord Sesshomaru protected me whenever I was in danger. Then 8 years ago he left me here with Lady Kaede because it was believed that I need to interact with people again instead of just demons. And in time, when I'm old enough I can decide which world I'll stay in." Rin says looking at the wall.

 

"Lord Sesshomaru? Who is he? He's a demon? He seem to have really cared for you Rin." I said combing my fingers through her hair. 

 

"Yes he is, he's actually Inuyasha's older half-brother. He wasn't really fond of Inuyasha and the others, humans mostly, but he seems to have softened a little in the past few years. I would come to visit me bringing me presents and gifts along with Master Jaken and A-Un." Rin says with joy in her voice. 

 

"You must really cherish him and him with you. I didn't know Inuyasha had a brother, does this Lord Sesshomaru look like Inuyasha?" I asked.

 

"They do in a way, they both have long white hair, Lord Sesshomaru's more quiet than Inuyasha. Although a slight different personality, but you can tell they're brothers upon first glance." Rin says looking at her hair with a smile.

 

"I see, I hope I can meet this Lord Sesshomaru one day." I said tucking a strand of stray hair behind Rin's ear." 

 

"You will_________, say thank you for braiding my hair, it looks beautiful. Can you do my hair some other days too?" Rin asks.

 

"Of course Rin, just come and ask me anytime, I'd love to doll up a person. I have a little sister back home and I would talk with her and do her hair when we were younger. So just come to me whenever you feel like it while I'm here, you can come to me to doll you up, or just to talk girl with girl alright?" I said. 

 

"I will, thanks_________." Rin says giving me a hug.

 

"Alright, I'll let you rest for a bit and let's help Lady Kaede with dinner after." I said getting up and picking up my koto.

 

"Alright, see you later________." Rin says with a wave.

 

I waved and headed out towards the door. I lifted up the curtain and headed out. The early evening's sunset is so bright that I had to close my eyes for a seconds as I head out. I took my left hand and blocked up my eyes from the sun's ray and I lowered it down as I walked forward. Then as I focused on front of me, a tall figure walks past me. I see long silver hair flowing behind him elegantly, his white kimono reflecting the sun's colors, there is a big bundle of fur on his right shoulder. The thing that makes me recognize him, is his captivating expressionless face with his golden amber eyes looking forward. My eyes were on him as we walked past each other with him on my left. As I lowered my left arm, my finger grazes on something cool and soft. I realized that my fingers accidently touched his as we walked passed each other. And in that split second, I see his amber eyes shift from the front to look at me. It was only a split second, not even a second. My eyes met with his golden ones, and he walks past me just like that. I stop in my track, and I hear Rin's hut's curtain open. 

 

"Lord Sesshomaru! You brought presents too!" I hear Rin call out happily within the hut. 

 

"Lord Sesshomaru?" I said in my mind.

 

I turn around and look back at Rin's hut, the cool winter wind gently blows pass me, then a single snowflake falls onto my koto now wrapped tightly in my arms. 

 

"So he's Lord Sesshomaru, I finally know his name." I whisper to myself.

 

Eventually that single snowflake became a small shower of them.