Kaya's Story (An InuYasha Fanfic)

Chapter 69: The Demon's Curse

I arrived at the Sacred Tree in mid-afternoon and stopped to look at it. 50 years ago I stood here as a naïve little girl and now I stand here as a liar and a traitor. With that thought, I climbed the roots leading to the scar in the tree and placed my hand to it. When I did though, I began to feel dizzy and lost my footing. The last thing I saw was a flash of red before darkness consumed me.

I woke up in a nice room, not the wooden walls of a hut like I was expecting. I sat up and looked around to find it was the room I had lived in the palace with Mother and Father. "How in the hell did I get here?" I asked aloud. "M'lady, you're awake. Lord Ichiro was worried about you," a girl to my right said. Now, I was really confused. "Kaya, darling, I'm happy to see you are alright. Your Father told me you took a nasty blow from that spider demon," my Mother stated with relief. I jumped up quickly and ran to my mother, pulling her into a hug and taking in her scent. She giggled and placed a kiss on my forehead. A moment later, I pulled away and was picked up from behind, causing me to squeak in surprise. When the person put me down they spoke, "I told you Kimiko, it takes more than some spider demon to take down my daughter." I turned around recognizing the voice, "Father!" I ran to him and buried myself in his chest causing him to wrap his arms around me protectively. I still didn't understand what was happening, but at that moment I didn't care. "Airi, we can take it from here," Father told the girl from earlier. "Of course, my Lord," she bowed before leaving the room. Once the girl had left, Father let go and his face turned stern. "You must not do such rash things, charging in as you did. Your injuries could've been a lot worse." "They would've been if I wasn't half-demon," I argued but had no idea where that thought came from. Father nodded in response, and Mother spoke. "Half-demon or not, your father is right. I don't want you getting hurt like that again." I nodded in response. Shortly after that, my parents left the room again, giving me a chance to better explore and maybe figure out what the hell was going on.

The room was large and bright with large windows filling the two outer walls. One window had a stack of papers below it, so I decided to walk over to them. I knelt and examined them, some of the papers were blank, but others had drawings of various nature scenes or people. "Lady Kimiko said you enjoyed drawing, so I brought in more paper for you," Airi's voice startled me and I jumped. "I'm sorry, M'lady, I didn't mean to startle you," She stated, apologetically. I turned to her and smiled, "it's alright. Airi, I do have to ask, you are a human, aren't you?" She nodded, "Lady Kimiko asked me to be your companion when we were children because you saved me from a demon. I guess you don't remember, it was a long time ago." I stared at the girl sadly, because my memories were much different than what was happening here. I looked out the window at the evening sun. "Airi, would you like to take a walk with me?" She nodded in response and we left the room heading towards the garden. The evening soon turned into night and the lights slowly began going out around the palace. "M'lady, we should return, it is getting late," Airi suggested. I nodded and we headed back towards the palace. When we reached my room again, Airi went to her bed in the far corner and I went to mine by the window. For several minutes after I laid down, I couldn't bring myself to fall asleep, so I decided to go take a short walk to clear my head. I looked at the sky, there was no moon which was strange. The last time I checked, the moon was between the first quarter and full moon phases. I sat down on the palace steps and continued to look at the stars, pointing out the different constellations present. That's when I heard yelling near the castle gates and decided to investigate. Halfway there, I ran into a couple of guards dragging a human. "Lady Kaya, you shouldn't be out here alone," the left-hand guard stated. "Nevermind, me, what are you doing with this human?" I questioned. "He was trying to get into the palace gates. We were taking him to the dungeon," the right-hand guard explained. "Don't bother, I'll take him and don't report this to my father, like I knew you were going to do," I commanded. They went to argue but I shut them up, "return to your posts." The nodded and bowed before leaving. I picked up the man and immediately recognized his scent causing me to almost drop him in shock. I placed him on my back and raced to the infirmary wing of the castle.

When I got there, I laid the man down, lit a couple of torches and began my work. I waited a long while before the man stirred. I walked over to him and sat down, as he opened his eyes fully. He bolted up and immediately winced with pain, grabbing his arm. "You shouldn't do that, InuYasha," I told him. "How do you know my name?" "We know each other. Don't you remember me?" I asked. He shook his head with a confused expression plastered on his face. "My name is Kaya. I'm a half-demon, just like you. Please," I pleaded. He shook his head, again. Soon the early morning sun shown through the window and InuYasha changed into himself again. We stared at each other for a moment in silence before I broke it, "you should go. The guards will tell Father eventually. I'll walk you to the gates, so they don't try anything." "You're that kid, from the forest," he stated. I nodded in response. I had the feeling I've had this conversation before. That's when an image came to mind of the Sacred Tree. None of this was real. "Come on, we have somewhere to be," I told him. He stood up and nodded. The two of us ran out of the infirmary towards the castle gates. No one was going to stop me, not this time.