Tales of the Shikon No Tama
Episode One: The Boy in the Forest...

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Chapter Two:

I was ushered into the village.  It was like walking into a history book.  The houses were huts made of wood and thatched roofs.  Like something out of old Japan.  The Feudal Era to be exact.  The villagers made a path for the old woman, the two men, and me.  Mothers held onto their children as they beheld me.  Whispers came from them, trying to figure out what I was and why I was dressed strangely.  I was wondering the exact same thing about them.  A small girl walked up to me even though her mother told her not to.  Her dark brown hair was in a ponytail and her blue eyes were wide with astonishment.  Her purple dress was tied around her waist by a blue sash.  She wore no shoes on her feet.

“Back, Siari.”  The old woman said.  The little girl stepped back toward her mother who feebly clutched the little girl by her shoulder.  We went to a hut at the top of a small hill at the edge of the village.  

The woman turned to the two men.  “Thank ye, I can take it from here.”

“Yes, Lady Kaede.”  The men pushed me forward into the hut; I tripped on the porch and fell on my shoulder.  The woman walked in after me.    She eyed me and set down her weapons.  I pulled myself to my knees across from her with a hand on my sore shoulder.

“Who are ye?”  She asked me.  I looked up into her stern features.  She sat down across from me at the small hearth in the center of the hut.  The smoke from the fire drifted up through a hole in the center of the hut’s roof.  There was a room adjoining this one which must have been a bedroom or something.  Along the wall near it was a work station.  On it were bowls and various herbs.  Some I knew, some I didn’t.

“My name is Anayame.”  I said quietly.  

“From where do you hail, Anayame?”  She asked me.  

I looked up at her.  “Tokyo?”  I shrugged.  

“Tokyo?  I’ve never heard of it.  Is it a large country?”  Kaede asked.

“Never mind.  Where am I?”  I asked shaking my head.  “Last thing I remember was walking home from school and being grabbed by something.  A monster I think.”  

“Ye are in the Feudal Era of Japan.  My name is Lady Kaede, I’m the priestess here.”  She said.   “Did ye see what grabbed you?”  She asked me.

I ran my hand through my red hair and pulled my knees to my chest.  I rested my chin on my arms and looked at the old woman.  “It was a woman, I think.  At least the top part of her was a woman.  She had six arms and cold black eyes.  The bottom half was a centipede I think.  She was looking for some jewel, but I didn’t know what she was talking about.”  

“A jewel?  Did she call it something?”  Kaede asked me.

“The Jewel of Four Souls?  I think?”  I replied.  “When I woke up, I was at the bottom of the well and I was here.”  I shrugged and picked a piece of dirt off of the sleeve of my jean jacket.  

“The being that grabbed you was called ‘Mistress Centipede’.  A very powerful demon that, like most demons, are searching for the Shikon no Tama – or The Jewel of Four Souls.  My elder sister, Kikyo, protected the Jewel until her death fifty years ago.”  Kaede said.  I felt something stir inside me.  I took in a deep breath and widened my eyes.  

Before me was another scene, playing like shadows on the wall or the residual haunting of long ago memories.  I saw the woman, the Priestess Kikyo on the ground clutching her shoulder.  A small girl with a bandage around her eye rushed to her side.

“Elder sister!”  The little girl cried.  

“Kaede, you must do as I say.  Take the Jewel and burn it with my remains.”  Kikyo told the younger girl.  She handed the girl the jewel that the white haired boy had dropped earlier.  “I will not live through these wounds, you must do it.”

“Yes sister.”  The little girl said submissively.  Then the scene shifts and I see a funeral pyre.  On it was the woman, Kikyo, holding the jewel in fingers in quiet repose.  The fire took her and the Jewel.  Then I see a woman with a clouded face, holding an infant with a tuft of red hair.  A glowing light emanating from the child’s heart.

When I returned to the present, I was breathing heavily and clutching at my t-shirt.  The older woman looked at me oddly.  “Are ye alright?  Ye were staring off into nothing.”

“Kikyo.”  I mumbled.  “Kikyo died, didn’t she?  Taking the Jewel to the afterlife, right?”  

“But how did you-?”  Kaede stammered.  “How de ye know she took the Jewel with her?”

“I…just saw it.”  I replied.  “May I get some air?”  

“Yes.”  She nodded in astonishment.  I got up and left the hut.  

Walking slowly down the hill, I came across a bridge over a small stream.  I stood there, watching the black, gold and white koi swim lazily beneath the surface.  Looking at my reflection, I pulled a small twig out of my hair and flicked it into the water.  The koi swam away from the ripples left by the stick.  I heaved a sigh.  

What a mess I was in.  Just a few days ago I was a regular High School student studying for college exams.  All I could think about was normal everyday things.  Homework, friends, guys, video games – but now my entire reality shifted.  

What was the deal with these visions of mine?  Were they forgotten memories?  No, I’ve never been here ever in my life.  Wait… maybe in this life.  What if I was a reincarnation or something?  It would explain why the boy looked familiar and why a certain calm was settling on me from the village’s atmosphere.  A feeling like I’d been coming home after being away for such a long time.  I turned around and leaned back against the railing.  The river at my back.  If Kikyo was burned with the Jewel it would make sense why something would come after me for it.

“Umm… hello?”  Muttered a small voice.  I opened my eyes and looked forward to see the little girl from before walking toward me again.  

“Hi.”  I said.  I glanced at Kaede’s hut to see the old woman standing outside of it, no doubt making sure I didn’t hurt the girl or run off.  I looked back at the girl.  “What’s your name?”

“Siari.”  She replied.  “What’s yours?”

“Anayame.”  I said, kneeling down on the bridge, I looked toward Kaede.  The old woman had gone back inside.  The girl before me was no more than six or seven.  

“Are you a demon?”  Siari asked.

“No.  I’m a priestess… well, at least I think so.”  I answered.

“You’re a funny looking priestess.”  She said with nose wrinkled.  I chuckled, she gasped.  “I’m sorry!  I didn’t mean that to be nasty.”  

“It’s okay.”  I sat down, she sat next to me.  “I think I’m a priestess, but I can’t be too sure yet.  There are still some questions that need answering.”  

“Lady Kaede will help.”  Siari said.  “She'd know all about that kind of stuff.”

“I’m hoping she will.  Though, to be honest, I’m kind of scared.”  I admitted plainly in a voice that she could understand.  “I’m not from around these parts and I don’t know what to expect here.  My home isn’t like this.”

“Well, there are monsters, but they don’t come here.”  Siari explained.  “Oh!  You could always ask Inuyasha, he’s in the forest.  I heard that a priestess pinned him to that tree, maybe you could talk to him… if you are a priestess.”  

“But he’s dead, isn’t he?”  I asked her.  

“No, he’s just sleeping.  Maybe if you can wake him up, he’ll tell you what you need to know.”  Siari said, playing with a blade of grass in her fingers.  

“Does Inuyasha talk to you?”  I asked.

“Not really.  Not very much.”  She shook her head.  “Don’t tell Mama, but sometimes I go into the forest to see him.  I like his ears.  I just talk to him and tell him how I want him to beat up my older brother who teases me all the time.”

I chuckled.  “Does he answer?”  I asked.

“No. But I know he can hear me.”  She replied.  “His ears twitch.”

Suddenly, there was a horrifying scream of something.  Possibly a horse.  I got up and so did Siari, she hid behind my legs as a dead horse fell on the other side of the bridge from us.  There was a gaping hole in the horse’s chest.  Siari hid her eyes.  I felt her shaking, but I wasn’t sure if it was really her or just me.  The stable cracked and popped as the beams were reduced to splinters and kindling.  The animals, the live ones at least, scrambled in different directions.  The monster, Mistress Centipede, was in the rubble of the stable.  There was blood running down her chin like a vampire after a midnight snack.  In her one arm was sheep, two more were holding a cow.  Her black hair fell down her back as she turned those coal colored eyes at me.

“I found you!”  She hissed and scrambled toward me.  I grabbed Siari and jumped away with a cry.  The demon destroyed the bridge Siari and I had been sitting on.  I landed on my side with the little girl clutching at my arms.  Siari let me go and ran toward Kaede’s hut.

“Lady Kaede!”  She cried.  “Please!”  I stumbled to my feet and ran after her.  The old lady came out of her hut just as the centipede locked on me again.  

“Oh my!”  Kaede gasped.  “Siari, get inside.”  The little girl listened and disappeared into Kaede’s hut.  She came toward me as fast as she could.  

Then it hit me.  A realization that could save this entire village.  “She’s only after me.”  I said quietly.  I looked at Kaede, “Make sure that kid gets home okay.”  

“Anayame!”  Kaede called.  I ran down the hill toward the centipede and didn’t listen to the elder woman.  I was running on fear and adrenaline, but I wasn’t going to huddle up in a corner and wait to die.  I could at least save these people.

“Hey ugly!”  I called to the centipede as I skidded to a stop.  The monster looked down at me and her mouth turned into a wicked grin.  “Picking on kids and animals all you can do?”  

“Give me the Jewel, Priestess.”  She growled, I was taken aback, so I was a priestess.  I narrowed my eyes and clenched my hands into fists.  Right.  

“If you want it so bad, come get it!”  I cried and started running toward the forest.  I wasn’t sure exactly why I was going in the general direction.  It wasn’t until I saw a light of some kind surrounding the area where the boy was attached to the tree.  I headed toward that, zigging and zagging any way I could to try to lose her.  I slid into some brush and watched as she slithered by.  

“What’s the matter, Kikyo?  Afraid of a big bug?”

A voice said from behind me.  I stopped short and felt the power prickle across my skin again, only stronger and more apparent.  I turned and slipped down into the clearing, thankfully managing to stay on my feet.  The boy against the tree was looking at me, his golden eyes were intense and focused.  There was color back in his cheeks again.  He was alive.

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