I could only look at Nuwa in awe as she takes a step to the right, as she moves the soft silk of her dress flows making her seem like she’s floating. Her eyes never leaving mine, they are hypnotic. I finally find my voice after pulling my eyes away from hers.

“Please Goddess Nuwa, please help me save the person that I love.” I say bowing to her again.

There’s a brief silence, I look back up at her. She turns around and looks up at the statue of herself.

“Guanyin told me about your arrival and why you want to find me. I’ve never had a mortal come here to find me, then again, no one was given the permission to come see me. You must be quite special to have been given the permission of a goddess herself.” She says as she turns around to look at me.

“I asked her the same thing, she said that I was different, and somehow I reminded her of you.” I answer quietly.

“I see.” She replies.

She then looks at the others.

“You must all be tired, I appreciate you all for accompanying this young woman here on this 3 day long journey. But from here on out, it’s between this young woman and I, and the one that she wants to save. I would like to ask you all to wait outside and give us some privacy.” She asks all of them.

“Are you sure we can’t stay here with her?” Kagome asks.

Nüwa doesn’t reply, she only shakes her head side to side slowly. They all look at each other and then to me. I give them a nod and smile.

“I’ll be fine. Thank you guys and don’t worry.” I assure them.

“Alright. We’ll see you soon.” Miroku replies.

Inuyasha lay Naraku’s body onto the ground gently, They then all turn to leave, Sesshomaru looks at me, his amber eyes glistening in the candle light. I look back at him with a smile. Sesshomaru then turns and leaves. After he disappears into the dark tunnel again, Nuwa turns to me, I stand up straight and look back at her. She then walks over to Naraku’s lifeless body, she walks around him as she studies him.

“Tell me your name child, and about this being here, and the relation you share with this being.” She tells me.

I walk over to Naraku’s body and I kneel down, I gently lift his head onto my lap as I hold his cold hand in mine. I look down at his face, and I feel tears starting to form again, but I hold it in and I smile as I squeeze his hand.

“My name is_______________. This being right here, his name is Naraku, and he is a demon.” I start of.

I can see Nuwa standing on the other side, her purple dress unmoving and  neither was she, I can feel that she’s listening to me, just like Guanyin when she listened to everything that I said that day.

“Naraku is my soulmate, the love of my life. I met him about 12 years ago when I was 10, at the time Naraku was a half demon that was out to destroy the world and was trying to obtain a magical orb called the “Shikon Jewel.” He was evil, he was a manipulator and a deceiver. But I met him at a magical cherry blossom tree one night, he saved me after I fell off the tree. He was evil, he was an evil demon he didn’t have to save me…but he did. The first day that I saw him, I didn’t know he was evil, I didn’t know anything about him, but I was captivated by his eyes. They were so gorgeous and unique, the red around his pupils were like the crimson fire and the white of his pupil were like snow. I have never seen anything so beautiful and unique in my life before, even the beautiful nature's flowers could't even compete with his unique and one of a kind eyes. I was captivated by him, but since I was only 10 I only thought that it was because of his uniqueness that captivated me, but 12 years later, I met him again. But when we met again under the same cherry blossom tree, I couldn’t remember who he was. He wiped away my memories of him that night 10 years ago because he didn’t want someone innocent like me to remember a being like him. He saved me again in the same manner that day, Although I couldn’t remember who he was, I got to know him this time around and before I knew it, I realized that I was in love with Naraku. I might have even been in love with him 12 years ago but I was young and I didn’t know love. The thing is, Naraku actually died 12 years ago after meeting me, but somehow he came back to life. Naraku couldn’t remember his past when I met him the second time. He couldn’t remember who he was or what he did, all he remembered was waking up in an empty field and seeing a figure in a cloak walking away. Despite everything, we fell in love and because of the love that we shared, we were able to break the barriers that blocked our memories of each other and our past. I taught him how to love, how to be happy, and he taught me how to cherish the things that we care and love. We were happy, we went through a lot. Sometimes I wonder, how could a human like me and a demon like Naraku fall in love with one another. It’s a dream, but it became reality. Being with him, it makes me so happy. He’s a gift. We actually promised each other that we would start a family and live out the rest of our lives together until my time comes. We were happy until not too long ago, an unexpected event occurred. A Chinese woman possessed by a Chinese demon and 2 deadly illnesses entered into our land and broke the boundaries, my friends and I managed to take her down, but then the god, Lei Gong appeared and thought that we deserved to be punished because we could’ve saved the woman’s life by exorcising the demon within her. We tried our best to deflect Lei Gong’s attacks, but unfortunately, we were no match against a god. By trying to protect me, Naraku got killed in the fight by an attack that was reflected off of Lei Gong’s drums. His death devastated me, I couldn’t accept the fact that I lost him. I tried my best to move on but how could I? I lost the one that I love so suddenly, and so unfairly. But thanks to the heavens, the goddess Guanyin came and told me that the creator goddess can save Naraku. She told me to find your name first and know your story, then travel 3 days towards east. After going through all that, I’m finally here. That is my story, I’m here hoping that you can help save Naraku, Guanyin told me that when he was revived, he only had half of his soul. She also said that his aura is slowly fading but not completely gone, that if I manage to find or get the other half of his soul before his aura completely fades away, he can come back to life. Please tell me that all of this is true.” I tell her my story and looking up at her.

Nuwa doesn’t say anything after listening to my story, like pupils looking down at Naraku’s body, her expression is soft and kind. She is indeed the creator of life.

“I can see why Guanyin wanted you to find me now. You already know my story and life, although it has been lifetimes already, but knowing that my love, FuXi passed away and leaving me behind still pains me to this day. Although I am the mother goddess and creator of all living things, I couldn’t bring the one that I love back to life no matter how much I try. After hearing your story and your love with this demon and how much you go through to try to bring the one you love back, I can see how much you resemble me in that aspect. I sympathize for you___________ because I know how it feels.” Nuwa softly says.

“Love can be painful, but it can bring so much happiness when it’s at his full bloom.” I reply with a smile looking back down at Naraku’s face.

“Yes, I can save him.” Nuwa suddenly adds.

My eyes goes wide as I hear that, my heart is beating so fast I almost feel my mind going blank. I look back up at her, she is standing there and looking down at me with a gentle smile.

“You can save him? You can actually save him?” I ask her almost losing my control of my emotions.

She then kneels down and touches Naraku’s chest near his heart. She looks at him, the slit of her eyes becoming more thinner for a second.

“Indeed, in fact, I was the one who brought him back to life that day.” Nuwa says.

My eyes goes wide again as I hear that, I look at her side profile in front of me, her skin is flawless like porcelain and white as ivory. She was the one who brought Naraku back to life? How and why?”

“Why? Why did you bring him back to life that day? And how?” I ask her.

“I was outside one day admiring the beautiful nature that my creator created. When I saw a small glowing particle floating in the air not too far away from me. I managed to catch it before it faded away, it looked so faint and weak. When I closely examined this beautiful particle, I realized that it was a soul, the smallest fragment of a soul. It wasn’t like a human soul, it was special, a demon’s. I took it back inside the cave with me and I nourished it, I nourished it because it was a soul and every life is precious to me. As I nourished it, I was able to see into its past. I saw what kind of being he was and what he did, and I understood why he did it, what made him do it. I saw you. I know you know this, or maybe you don’t, but he was once a human and for that he is a child of mine despite not being a part of my domain and origin. He did’t know love, he didn’t understand it, he only understood hate and knew how to destroy. I wanted him to learn what love is and learn to treasure and protect the things that he will come to love, I wanted to give him a second chance in life. I wanted to give him a second chance at life as a human, a new clean slate, but unfortunately the soul fragment was mostly the demon side. Not wanting him to remember who he was and what he did, I could only create a block on his memories of his past. The spell could only be broken when he realizes real love and wanting to protect the very thing that means everything to him. I had faith that the new him will not become the him in the past, decided to give him that chance. I nourished his soul with the energy that I preserved all this time trying to revive the one I love. I have never given life to a demon before or any kind of being that is not mortal, so by reviving a demon, it requires more energy than usual from me. But I did, unfortunately I realized that by reviving him again on this soul fragment will take years, centuries perhaps, so in order to speed up the process I split the soul fragment in two when it reached the point of that it can be manipulated. The nourishing process sped up and 12 years later I was able to fully revive Naraku and his soul has matured to what he is now. I want him to learn about life, so I placed him in an open field, forcing him to take in everything around him by himself, and then I left when he woke up, I was unaware that he saw me as I left.” She tells me.

I look at her as I listened to her explanation, I feel gratefulness towards her, she is indeed the mother of all. Because she cares for life so much she even revived a demon, despised entities in her culture. I bow to her.

“Thank you so much Goddess Nuwa, thank you for nourishing Naraku back to life, for bringing him back into the world of the living, back to me. But I pray and hope that you can bring him back one more time. One last time, back to my side. You split his soul in two so does that mean his other soul is still being nourished?” I ask her.

“Indeed it is, but since I spent most of my energy on the soul that he had before his second death, I could only nourish so much on the second half, but it is strong enough to enter his body again….” She says.

I look at her, she suddenly stops talking but continues to look at Naraku’s face.

“But?” I ask her.

She turns to look at me, her eyes holding mine in a trance almost.

“But for the soul to finish its nourishment, it requires memories. Since I devoted most of my energy to the other half, I was able to transfer all of his past memories into the soul that he had, and thus the fragment that remains has no memories or any traces of his past life, it’s just a soul.” She goes on to say.

As I listen to her words, I begin to wonder as to why she is telling me this, I ponder for a few seconds and my eyes darts back to hers in realization.

“Does that mean, that it requires a sacrifice in order to be used?” I clarify with her.

Nuwa stands up and walks to the pond, she looks down into it.

“Indeed. There is a saying in life. In order to bring a life back, a life is required. A sacrifice must be given to bring something back. Are you willing to do that?” She asks me.

I feel my mind going blank, I couldn't speak. I look back down at Naraku, he gave up his life for me despite having a second chance in life. That is true love, I taught him that. I will give up my life for him, I came all this way. Although it’s something that never crossed my mind, but somewhere deep down I knew that it wouldn’t be easy. I gently put Naraku’s head down onto the ground and I stand up, I walk over to Nuwa and the pond. I take a deep breath to calm my speeding heart. I’ve decided.

“I will, I will sacrifice myself for him.” I say to her.

“Dear child, I could never take a life.” She answers me turning back to look at me.

I widen my eyes, I realized that what I said might have offended her. How did I forget? She is the mother goddess, she gives life, not take them. I immediately bow.

“I’m so sorry, I realized that my words may have offended you. But if you don't require a life than does that mean you require the memories? Like you said?” I ask her.

“I understand that the word sacrifice usually refer to a life, but I don’t require life. Yes, it will require the sacrifice, or offering of one’s memories. Memories you see is the most important part of a person’s life, it records one’s history from birth to death and everything in between. It is precious to anything that contains a soul, for a human, an animal, a demon…even for a deity.” She says the last part quietly.

“So by giving up my memories, Naraku can come back to life?” I ask her again.

“Indeed, it will complete the nourishing process and give a part of his life back with the help of your memories. But by doing that, you will not remember anything of Naraku.” She says slightly furrowing her brows.

I will not remember anything? I feel my heart stop for a few seconds.

“Anything of Naraku? You mean…” I say unconsciously.

“Anything and everything of Naraku. Meaning, the day you met him, the day you fell in love with him, the day he died, who is was and who he became. Including your love. You will not remember anything that happened between Naraku and you. He will hold all the memories, and if he loves you like you do him, he will use those memories and help you regain yours and ignite the love between you two. Are you sure this is what you want_________?” She asks me with a serious tone.

I listen to her words and they swirl around in my mind, I will not remember anything of Naraku, including our love. But I want him back, I want him to live again. I may not remember him but I believe that no matter what, I will fall in love with him again if I see those eyes of his. I believe that I will remember everything again. Because love can do that. I look back at the goddess, and I straighten my back.

“I do, I want Naraku back.” I tell her confidently.

Nuwa looks at me with a slight surprised expression but then softens it. She nods.

“Alright, if that is what you want, I will revive Naraku. But before I do that, I want to let you know something and I hope you will remember it in the future. You can only revive a soul so many times before it completely disappears, life should not be tampered with or cheated. When a soul dies, we should let it be. But I will break the rules just this once because you remind me so much of myself.” She tells me.

“Thank you for everything.” I say bowing to her.

“Also, I would like to congratulate you.” She suddenly says.

“Congratulate me? On what?” I ask her confused.

“You are pregnant, one week. I assume that it is Naraku’s?” She tells me with a smile.

My eyes goes wide as I hear that I’m pregnant. I hold my stomach that is still flat. I feel so delighted, but at the same time devastated. I won’t be able to tell him this, and I won’t remember anything of Naraku and I. But I hope that everything will turn out alright. It was a fleeting happiness and joy, and it quickly faded.

“Thank you for telling me. Also, what about the others, will I forget about them?” I ask her.

Nuwa looks at me and then away from me, she seem to be gazing at something in the distance behind me but with a gentle expression. Then she looks back at me before I can check.

“Yes you will, but perhaps your memories of them may be a bit faint in some aspect. If you are ready then please ready your mind, also, please give me the cherry blossom flower and the bamboo bracelet.” She says holding out her right hand.

“Why do you need them?” I ask her.

“By having them, I will be able to transfer the memories better and more strongly. Objects contain memories as well and I know they are important to you.” She says.

“Will I get them back?” I ask her.

“You will.” She answers with a slight pause.

I take a breath and I nod, I take the bracelet and the cherry blossom flower out of my kimono and place it in her palm. She then gestures me to stand in front of the pond. I watch her as she lifts her hand, I follow the direction of her hand and realized that she is aiming at Naraku’s body. She lifts her hand gently and I see Naraku’s body levitates into the air and floats towards us, towards the pond. I watch as she gently place him into the clear water, right away the once clear water glows.

“Why is it glowing?” I ask her curious.

“It’s because the other half of his soul is in the pond, it is protected in this pond and nourished in there as well. By coming in contact with the body that it originated from it glows to signify that it is complete. Now prepare yourself and relax your mind, think of all the memories that you’ve shared with Naraku, bring them to the surface.” She instructs me.

I look at Naraku floating in the pond one last time. You’ll come back to life again my love. I’ll bring you back to life. I close my eyes and I think of all the happy times that I had with Naraku. Then a sudden bright light fills my whole vision, just like that night when Naraku wiped my memories. I’m sorry Naraku, we went through a lot trying to regain back our memories then, but I will forget about you after this moment. It pains me to know that I won't remembering anything of us, but it’s worth it, because by giving up my memories of us together I’ll be able to bring you back to life. I believe that I will remember one day, I believe that I will remember it all. I hope that you will wait for me. I love you Naraku.

“It was a pleasure to meet you____________, remember, cherish those that are important to you, cherish Naraku. Farewell.” I hear Nuwa’s voice in the faint distance.

I nod my head in response as I could not speak at this point. The bright light glows brighter, and then I lose my consciousness completely. I black out. I open my eyes and I see a wooden ceiling, I squint my eyes, huh? It’s morning? I'm back in the village? I slowly sit up and as I sit up, I hold my head.

“Wow… that is some terrible headache.” I groan.

I squint my eyes hard, I fee like my head is getting hit with stones repeatedly, it’s pounding really hard. I wonder what happened for me to get such headache, I never had a headache this bad before. Did I sleep for 3 days straight? I feel out of it. I think I need to get some fresh air. I slowly get up and rub my temples with my fingers as I groan, I then open the door to my hut and the sunlight hits me hard. Not the best time, I look around after my eyes adjusted the bright light of day. People are out and about, I don’t know what everyone else are doing but, I think I’ll take a walk to the flower field. I think it will be lovely right now, I hold my head as I exit out of the village. The walk is quiet and comforting, I feel free. My headache slightly subsides as I walk, I can hear the birds chirping around me and I smile. When I arrive at the flower field, I close my eyes and I take in a deep breath of the fresh air of the open field. I then look into the flower field, and I see something or someone standing in the field. My lingering headache is causing my vision to be slightly blurry still and it makes everything spin slightly, so I take a step forward. I take a step forward one after another the flowers sway as I move through them and the tall grass rustles as I step through them, As I come closer I can finally tell that it’s a person. Except, this person looks very different, different than all the other Japanese people that I’ve come upon. This person is facing the opposite of me, this person is looking out towards the horizon. I’m not quite sure if this person is a woman or a man, but their figure is quite tall and slim. Very elegant like, this person seem very foreign. As I near I can distinguish their attire, it’s beautiful and one of a kind at the same time. Silk like fabrics in the color of the snow, long sleeves tipped in red beautiful floral patterns. Bell shaped white bottom attire. On his right shoulder and trailing behind him is a peculiar piece of attire, it’s light whitish brown and it looks fluffy, like fur. I’m guessing it wraps around his shoulder, it looks soft and comfortable. Then protruding out of his left shoulder is an arm guard made out of metal and spikes. The person’s hair sways softly in the summer breeze, their hair is the same color as their attire, white as pure silk and flowing like spider web threads, it reaches down to their knees. As I near him, I can sense a strong aura from him, he is different somehow.

“You’re awake___________.” The person says suddenly.

He know I’m here, and he knows my name. Their voice is deep, rich, and quite distant sounding. The tone of their voice makes me realize that it’s a man. I take a deep breath and I stop a few feet away from him.

“Uhm yes… How do you know my name? And if you don’t mind me asking… who are you?” I ask him back.

I see his head lowering slightly, he then turns to his left and his eyes meets mine. My eyes goes wide as I see them, they are…gorgeous. His skin is fair as porcelain, on his cheeks are two magenta stripes, and on his eyelids as well. Then on the middle of his forehead is a purple bluish crescent moon. The thing that stands out the most about his majestic features are his eyes indeed, they are the colors of amber, orange as the sunset with flakes of yellow and brown like the fall leaves in Autumn. I’m captivated by them. He looks at me with a slight furrow on his brows, he looks slightly troubled for some reason. Silence fills the field for a few seconds, but then closes his eyes, hiding his amber gems.

“Sesshomaru. I know Inuyasha.” He answers.

“Oh. I see, well, nice to meet you Sesshomaru. Guess you already know about me from Inuyasha and the others, if you also don’t mind me asking, are you perhaps, a demon?” I ask him as I see his pointed ears.

He looks at me again, now his face filled with slight sadness, why does he look sad? I want to know him, I want to talk to him more.

“I am yes.” He replies simply.

“You’re not the type to talk much are you?” I ask him again.

He glances at me.

“You’re not afraid of me despite knowing that I’m a demon?” He asks me.

The question surprised me, and somehow, it seems like I’ve heard someone ask me something similar a long time ago, but I don’t know who.

“No, I don’t find you frightening, in fact, I would like to get to know you better. I think that demons are just like humans if they know emotions, it seems that you know emotions because you seemed a bit troubled earlier, a bit sad if I must point out. Is it something that you want to talk about?” I ask him with a gentle smile.

“No.” He replies averting his eyes.

“Oh, alright. No force. I just want to say that, holding in pain and sorrow may just cause more pain to yourself. Talking to someone may help, it will…help lift the burden. All you have to do is open up just a tiny bit, of course, when you want to.” I tell him.

Sesshomaru slightly gasps and turns to look at me again, I look back at him. Was what I said that surprising?

“Is something wrong?” I ask him.

“Perhaps it is, and perhaps it may not be. I suppose it just depends on how you or I look at it.” He says with minimal expression.

“Well, if you ever need to talk about it, or anything, you can come find me, I’ll be staying in the village for another few months. I think it will be nice to get to know each other a little bit. At least for my part that is.” I suggest to him.

“And why would you want to get to know me? I’m a great Daiyokai, feared across the land, and you a mere mortal would want to be closer to me?” He asks me back with a slight furrow on his brows again.

“Uhm, ok, now that I know that you’re a great Daiyokai, learned something new. To be honest, I don’t think my first impression of you was fear, it was intriguing, graceful and extraordinary instead. So no, I’m not afraid of you, you can say that I wish to understand you a bit better, get to know a demon and see them as not a demon but as beings that can understand emotions. I hope that satisfies your question.” I say to him with a smile.

The two of us just looks at each other after for a few seconds, no words exchanged.

“_____________! There you are!” I hear a woman’s voice shout from behind me.

“Kagome?” I say softly.

I turn around to see, I see Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and… a young man running towards us. He’s wearing a dark navy blue kimono with a purple vest. He has sleek wavy back length black hair with bangs, they flow in the wind as he runs. His skin is like Sesshomaru’s, porcelain fair and flawless. As I look at him, something catches my attention. His eyes, they are different, they look…unique.