InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shadows From the Past ❯ From Now to Then ( Chapter 1 )

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From Now

To Then

 

San stood up; her long black hair fell past her waist. Her training was over for the day, and Sesshomaru was tired of her insolent mouth.

San dug her claws into the trunk of a gigantic tree. Sesshomaru was her uncle; he took her in when both of her parents were killed by an evil demon, Naraku. She climbed up the tree, life was hard enough in exile, but it made it even harder to know that her father was not loyal to his family, and both of them were curs.

Her face did not smile anymore. Her eyes no longer twinkled like they used to. Instead they were lifeless and dull; no warmth could be seen in them any longer. San wasn't the same after her parents' death, taking her brothers with them.

Her dead eyes peered out amongst the treetops.

Her birthday was tomorrow, and she knew it would be nothing special, it never was.

Oh joy. Nothing like another birthday to cheer you up! She sarcastically remarked to herself in her head. Who really cares anyway? Her chin dropped, resting her head on her arms, only her eyes were visible. Her bangs fell around them.

The night was cool and pleasant, owls hooted as the moon rose higher into the night sky. Blackness engulfed everything. The stars even seemed to fade at times, bowing down to the mercy of the darkening heavens.

San stared up at the small specks of glittering stars trying to shine trough the immense blanket of the night. She could not sleep, for there had never been a night that has not past where her horrible memories had not tortured her. They had always lingered in her mind, especially at night… Was there no end?!

The wind that had been caught by the trees made the night time so much more enjoyable.

Ever since her family died by the hand of that wretched demon…San never spoke much after that. The village that her parents had helped build banished her after the fire was put out. But there was one incident that they hated her mostly, (other then blaming her for her father's leaving) when San was very young, she could not control her powers, little but few as they were, they were brought on by emotion. So, when several boys of the village ended up dead by poison, she was held responsible.

Sesshomaru never stayed in one place for more than a week, always on the move. San knew that he ruled over all the Western Lands, but she's never seen his home, the place where he resigned. And she knew that when his half brother, San's father, was alive, they were always fighting. She knew that the Tetsusaiga and the Tenseiga were created by Toto-sai, and made from her grandfather's fangs. But she never figured out why her uncle saved her, or why he kept her around. He didn't seem like the type to take care of a child- he by no means would ever show any emotion what so ever.

For this reason, San understood feelings as a weakness, and tried to hide them from everyone, for it is a cruel world, indeed, in that which not even a child is safe from the wrath of men.

Morning soon came; a bead of dew fell on San's nose, causing her to wake. She opened her eyes, it was late morning, and soon to be noon and she felt a worrisome feeling crawl into her gut.

Sesshomaru will surely have my head this time! She thought to herself, hopefully he's not up yet. Which she knew would not happen, Sesshomaru sleeping in. `Tis just a petty wish her weak heart yearned for to save herself from him.

She stood and walked drowsily to the campfire, where Sesshomaru and Jaken had already begun eating their breakfast and were almost done.

“Hurry up, San, day waits for no one. You should've been up hours ago,” Sesshomaru spoke cold and truly uncaring, but said or did nothing else towards her. This surprised the young girl and she sat next to her uncle, waking herself up by her thoughts. “Today is Toto-sai's turn to have you,” he spoke as it were nothing to him, but she felt like he enjoyed the time she was gone all too much.

After breakfast, they headed towards the old man's lair. Sesshomaru looked up the large line of stairs which led up to the smith's cave and he came to a stop. He wasn't going to waste his energy climbing them. He turned to face San.

“Now at the age of fifteen, and now a woman, I believe you are strong enough to take care of what your mother left you,” he reached into his kimono and pulled out a small sphere, a jewel, but not just any jewel- no, this gyoku was very important, and very powerful. This kyÅ« was the Shikon No tama. It had belonged to San's mother and she was now of age to receive it as an heirloom.

Sesshomaru placed the orb into the girl's hands he left after she lowered her head in respect. Jaken was hidden in the trees and when his Lord had come he stared and asked, “Lord Sesshomaru, why did you give up the Jewel to that wretch?”

“Because I have no use for it and she needs something of her mother's, not just memories,” the demon paused while he spoke, not so much as looking at the imp, and then continued walking.

Jaken watched the girl walk up the steep stairs while her black hair swayed back and forth with her hips. Then he scuttled off after his Master.

San reached the top of the stairs, she had grown used to walking up and down them, for Toto-sai had made her run up and down, and up and down, until he thought her fit to even touch a sword. She stared, and looked around the area, it was vacant, where was he?

Then a sword darted from nowhere directly at San, she dodged, but ended up rolling in the dirt, she managed to stop herself and she held an arm up for balence while the other was on the ground and her legs bent. Her head scanned the region for the source of the blade. Having no luck, she glanced back at sword, which was stuck, vibrating, in a tree trunk. San cautiously stood up, resuming her place among the air, but then a voice started laughing and `tsk'-ing her. She looked towards the mouth of the bony cave to see an old man in black and green striped kimono walking out into the daylight.

San relaxed as the sword smith, Toto-sai came strolling up to her. When the old man was standing beside her, he whacked her on the head! San held her noggin and glared at the old man.

“What the hell was that for?!” she screeched at him with a redden face and watery eyes.

“You should be prepared for anything! -I will not allow your father's weapon of power be in the hands of a weak puppy!” he closed his eyes and held his hands behind him. He sighed, “And here I thought you were ready to receive it, I guess we'll just have to practice more.”

“I'll show you puppy!” San pulled the sword from the tree and charged towards the old man, he reached out and grabbed her wrists, retrieving the blade and slinging her to the ground. She gritted her teeth angrily- how dare he! -elder or not, she didn't like being treated like such. Oh if only her jaws were fangs, she'd show him what was on her mind.

“If you're going to attack, don't give yourself away so easily- how your father managed to do so, well- I'll never know! Wait to pounce, and roar after you know you have your prey cornered,” he stared at her in disappointment. She stood slowly and closed her eyes.

San bit her tongue; oh she wanted to chew him out! Then she felt his presence coming nearer. She opened her eyes, bright and amber, and saw the old man walking past her. When he was standing next to her, all the while moving on, San turned so quickly, he didn't sense it was happening. The girl quickly whipped herself around and snatched the sword from him and kicked him onto the dirt. She placed her foot on his chest and the blade at his throat.

She gritted her teeth into a wicked smile, a low growl hummed inside her; she had beaten the old man.

He stared in amazement, Sesshomaru has taught her well. He thought. “Very well, if want it that badly, and are willing to put up this kind of fight for it, I shall not stand between you and your sword.”

San smiled and stood, helping the smith to his feet. She twisted her wrist and handed the blade to him in respect. The old man took it, and departed, only to return with something that surprised the young girl.

He brought out an old, worn, red kimono, trimmed in black thread on the sleeves. It was wrapped around a long something, and San's amber eyes lit up like fire. Her heart's imagination grew wild as she wanted to rip the cloth around it to shreds. The man stopped in front of her and placed it gently into her hands.

“The cloth of the fire rat, it belonged to your grandmother, your father wore it always (his way of keeping her with him, I suppose),” said he as he watched the girl run her fingers across the material. “It will protect you, nothing can penetrate it; it is stronger than samurai armor.” All this she had heard before, and witnessed when she was very small, but she had never really listened.

It was now that she began to uncoil it from around the object. When she had, she found it to be none other than the Tetsusaiga, a powerful weapon that she remembered seeing her father carry around with him, always. San didn't quite remember what it had looked like, so her imagination made it something of marvel, and grand. But when she gazed upon its scabbard and grip, both beaten and tattered, her heart sank. She pulled it from its sheath and looked onto its dirty, chipped, and shabby thing for a blade and became enraged.

“This cannot be my father's sword! Surely your old eyes have mistaken this piece of junk for the splendor of the Tetsusaiga?!” the girl protested.

The old swordsman looked carefully at the jin to make sure, for he thought the girl was joking, “Hm, nope, this is the one!” he readied himself for a good laugh from both him and the young one.

“No! This is not right! -it can't be right! My father's sword was magnificent, not a bit of trash!”

“Hold your tongue, girl! That, there, is the most powerful thing you've ever held, in terms of weaponry, it was foraged long ago, by your grandfather's fang, and mended, later, with that of your late father's! -if anything should be lowered in status, on the count of names, you should, for showing such disrespect to them!” The old man barked. San lowered her head, and held her speech, she had been wrong to do so, even with a snappy attitude like hers should've halted long ago. “This sword has seen many a battle, and it's not surprising that, with all it's been trough, look the way it does, but until you can possibly wield it, you must behave yourself!”

San sighed, sitting on a tree branch, for up there was practically her only shelter from the world. She stared out over the rest of the forest and the village nearby. Her foot swung off the edge, dangling in the air, it was small and dirty from walking on the ground, but she didn't really care.

The fang was dull, chipped, and ragged. It was worn and aged. San had no idea of the power that it withheld. “Ha! How stupid does that old man think I am? I remember my father's sword, it was magnificent and big; its blade was as big as one of Sesshomaru's fangs (when he was fully transformed). But this piece of rubbish isn't even fit to cut off a pig's head for a butcher!” she mocked the old man and the sword to herself. She stared at it for some time before said anything more, “Well,” she continued, “it's a sword, after all, might as well make good use of it!”

And with that, the girl stood and recovered the fang in its sheath. San stuck it through a slot she had sewed onto her pants to hold a sword, that way she didn't have messy stains on only slices of her `underwear', which really didn't expose much more than her normal attire. Her kimono was different than that of normal people; it was in two separate pieces, both red, like her father's fire rat kimono. Her top was cropped to show her middle, and her sleeves were short, all edges were sewed double, to keep from falling apart, while her pants had draw strings at the bottom, to keep them close to her instead of flopping around, and the waist of them was cut low, below her navel.

Then, after securing the jin to her side, San folded the fire rat kimono into a small square, and fastened it like a `backpack' under her blouse (that way if an enemy tried to attack her from her blind side, they would not hit their target, which, if they were smart, would aim for her heart).

Then San stopped, when she was finished, and listened to the woods. There was a strange restlessness among the trees…but what was it? She could feel a strange sensation at her side, in a small, red bag; the Jewel seemed to have an aura wrapped around it. San opened the bag and stared at the stone inside it, so small, yet so potent.

“Now, puny human,” she heard a straggled, raspy voice sound. “Prepare to become my meal!” A demon screeched, as he charged at a small girl. Not really knowing what to do, San swallowed hard and closed her eyes.

The demon was a huge snake, about twenty feet or so, it was silver and atrocious. He opened up his jaws and readied his taste buds for blood, but then a silver streak fell from the tree in front of him, and snatched up his rations before he could. He looked around the clearing and saw no sign of the thing that had stolen the girl.

Hiding behind a bush, and watching the hideous demon slither away, then she released her grip from around the girl's mouth. She scrambled away from the hybrid, who still was on the look for the demon.

“-You're a demon!” the girl screamed.

“I'm a -what?!” San stared at her in confusion. Then she noticed her hands, she had claws, and the hair that flowed around her amber eyes was now a light silver color. “I'm a,” San's voice had left her and was a whisper full of excitement, she could smell so many new things, and her hearing was also heightened.

Then the thought of the demon returning for his prey, flashed into her mind. She looked up to see the girl still terrified, “Get out of here, now!” the half-breed scowled.

The girl, without so much of a `Thank you' leapt to her feet and ran off, out of sight. San shook her head, wondering why on earth she was even out in the woods, she turned to leave, to see a scaly, silver belly in front of her nose. The demon's scent was strong, and his aura was blackening. The young woman looked up in fear and paled in color.

“You stole my food, you wretched half-demon!” he croaked in that hoarse tone of his. “But, you are bigger than that child, you will make a fuller stomach than she,” there was a growl in his throat and a fang bared smile curled onto his mouth. “Prepare to die!!” and he again opened his jaws and trailed after San, who ran as fast as her little legs could carry her.

San jumped up while the viper continued to lung forward, she found herself cruising on his back. But not for very long, for he soon stopped and whirled his head around, he began snapping at San as if she were an annoying flea. San, in her current form, was much faster, but remembered Sesshomaru's old trick and sped up greatly, and the viper came after her and snapped down upon itself.

The snake's eyes became watery and tears flowed from them, even though they were unblinking, great pain was shown as he released his grip of himself. Then the pain was quickly replaced with hatred as the tears dried and he gnashed his teeth together and glared at San, who was awestricken from the whole ordeal. She came to herself when he again, lashed out. She instinctively jumped over his head and dug her claws into his rough hide.

“That's it!” he screeched. “Slay the one who has gone unpunished, leave the one you care most for, and then you may return!” The demon bellowed and shook San from and lined his jaws with her and a swirl of colors and bright beams of light came form his mouth. San, in fear, tried to jump, but found that she couldn't move her body; she quickly shut her eyes and awaited the pain of her bones being crushed to vibrate through her. But the pain never came, when she did open her eyes, she was floating in a vortex of light, and at on end, there was a spot of green. As she drifted through whatever she was gliding through, the green became bigger, and bigger, until the spot became a field, a pasture.

Then all of sudden, instead of the feeling of floating, San felt the feeling of falling; soon after, her small body collided with the grassy earth. A pain ran up her spine and blacked out.