The Mysterious Springs - Omake

Omake: The First Day Together

- "And therefore, I trust you will all be able to acknowledge the seriousness of this situation and act accordingly" – said Kaede authoritatively to the villagers that had gathered on the village's shrine upon being called by her.

Only a few minutes had gone by after Kagome and Inuyasha, the former now going by the name Miko, had been turned into children and brought back to the village by their friends.

- "But Kaede-sama… Is that true? That Inuyasha is now a kid?" – said a villager in a blue kosode with a dark beige hakama.

- "It is. The same thing happened to Kagome, and like I just said, we can't allow them to see anything that triggers their memories or tell Kagome her true name. You all must remember she goes by the name Miko now" – said Kaede shaking her head.

- "But that means we could kick that hanyou out of the village at last!" – said an old man in a dark green kosode and brown hakama.

- "Hey, that's acting ungratefully!" – said another villager wearing a blue kosode with dark blue patches on the shoulders with a dark blue hakama. It was Kaede's helper Rikiichi – "Remember that Inuyasha and his friends have saved our village many times now!" –

- "But he's who caused the death of Kikyou-sama!" – replied the old man.

- "Like I previously told you so long ago, Inuyasha was not responsible for my sister's death!" – said Kaede while scowling at the old man – "Her murderer was the demon Naraku, and Inuyasha and his friends have been hunting him to avenge her death!" –

- "We always have a lot of fun when he and Kagome-sama are around too!" – said a boy wearing a dark blue kosode and white obi.

- "Yeah, it looks like they like each other a lot!" – said a little girl wearing a mauve kosode.

- "Hey, if they're kids like us now, that means we could go and play with them too!" – said another boy that wore an aquamarine kosode.

- "I don't mind it if you do so, little ones" – said Kaede while smiling at them.

- "But won't that be dangerous, Kaede-sama?" – asked a middle-aged woman that wore a red kosode with the shoulder area colored pink, who had a worried expression on her face.

- "I don't think so. Since Inuyasha is now a kid, he won't think of harming others his same age" – said the blue kosode villager with a smile.

- "Exactly. Besides, Inuyasha would benefit from having friends now he's got back to that age. I have to add that he remembers nothing after the time he was like that, and so he fears we humans may attack or try to kill him like the youkai he's been running away from" – said Kaede while sighing heavily.

- "That means… He's a really lonely boy now…" – said another woman wearing a blue kosode.

- "Well, he's not going to be lonely anymore!" – said another little girl that wore a pink kosode with black markings.

- "Yeah! Let's be friends with him and Kagome-sama!" – said a little girl wearing a yellow kosode.

- "I trust that will be the case" – said Kaede with a smile – "That said, try to not badger them too much and let them have some time alone. They need to meet each other again, after all. And it would be good that you treated them as if you had always known them and that they just had forgotten you" –

The village kids nodded in agreement with Kaede's words, and while some of their parents seemed a bit worried about the idea, they decided to let them go ahead.

- "Also, we'd like for them to participate with us in what we've got planned for the village's harvest festival if you're okay with it, Kaede-sama" – said Asagi walking from behind the shrine.

- "We didn't really like how a certain person talked about Inuyasha-san, though" – said Moegi with a sad face.

- "That means… We gotta leave the village now?" – asked Ai, with her eyes glassy and about to start crying.

- "Don't worry about that. Nobody will be leaving the village anytime soon" – said Kaede with a tranquilizing smile. The old man then had to gulp down and look downward as the other villagers and children glared at him.

- "Anyway, won't that ruin our plans, onee-san?" – asked Dai to Asagi crossing his arms.

- "Yeah. Dog boy and his girlfriend aren't that good singers, right?" – asked Roku extending his arms with his palms upward.

- "Well… We've never heard them, but it's possible it can come out well" – said Shion while smiling shyly.

- "That's exactly why I want them to join us. It's so they know they have friends here, either as kids or grown-ups, and it's also a way to pay them back for saving our lives" – said Asagi nodding with enthusiasm.

- "In that case, children, I leave it in your hands. Asagi and the others, let's let them first get acquainted with the village children, and you can introduce yourselves and ask them to join in your plans in a few more days, okay?" – said Kaede nodding.

- "Yeah!" – said both the Hourai Island children and the village's own children.

- "As for the rest, please help us by treating both children well and making sure they don't leave the village or get anywhere the Goshinboku" – said Kaede. The villagers agreed with the suggestion and started leaving the shrine to head back to their chores.

As for Miko and Inuyasha, they were still playing hide-and-seek around the village, though Inuyasha was having the upper hand thanks to his nose.

- "And gotcha!" – said Inuyasha when he found Miko hiding behind a hut and had touched her on the shoulder.

- "Whoa! You're really good at this, Inuyasha!" – said Miko laughing as she left her hiding spot.

- "Thanks! I've never had so much fun before!" – said Inuyasha while laughing happily.

- "Really? You've never played with anybody else or anything?" – asked Miko while her smile changed to a puzzled face.

- "Yeah… Not really many kids wanted to have this monster with them…" – said Inuyasha while his gaze darkened.

- "And here you have now a kid who wants to be with you~!" – said Miko in a singsong voice – "You're great to be around, and your ears're so cute too!" –

- "Umm, but please don't touch them…" – said Inuyasha as he backed off a bit while Miko had her hands closed in front of her face – "They're really sensitive" –

- "Hehe, it's okay! If you don't want me touching them, I'll bear with it and won't do that!" – said Miko giggling – "Still, I'm not lying when I say that I really like playing around with you. I don't mind you being a hanyou or whatever!" -

- "Thanks! But aren't you tired?" – asked Inuyasha while looking at how her cheeks were slightly red and she seemed a bit short of breath – "We've been running around for a while now" –

- "Well, I could use some rest now" – said Miko swiping off some sweat from her forehead – "Hey, how about we sit down under that tree next to the river?" –

- "Sounds good to me!" – said Inuyasha.

- "Ah, but I think I wanna go drink some water first. I'm thirsty from all the running we did!" – said Miko with a smile as they both walked to the village well, drew a bit of water from it and drank it. They both then walked to the tree Miko had pointed out and sat down under its shade.

- "So, you don't remember anything about yourself?" – asked Inuyasha while lying at her side, using his own arms as a makeshift pillow.

- "No… Houshi-sama and Sango-san said my name's Miko and that I live with Kaede-sama, but…" – said Miko while she showed a sad smile and looked upward at the clear sky – "I can't really remember anything about myself… Everything is a blank before waking up in the hut next to you… How I ended up in this village… Who I actually am… I can't even remember my mommy or daddy, or if I have siblings…" –

- "I see. Sounds pretty rough, Miko" – said Inuyasha while sitting up and looking at her with surprise.

- "I think I'm even… Scared that I don't have any parents…" – said Miko while she hugged her knees with her hands – "And since we're in this village too… wouldn't that make me a peasant orphan that Kaede-sama just happened to pick up somewhere…?" –

- "Don't worry about that! To me you'll always be Miko, no matter whatever anybody says!" – said Inuyasha rolling to get on his fours and get his face closer to Miko, while smiling at her.

- "Thanks, Inuyasha!" – said Miko smiling a bit happier – "But what about you? Do you have a mommy or a daddy?" –

- "My dad died when I was born… But as for my mom…" – said Inuyasha as his gaze darkened. It didn't really seem like he cared much about his father, but his mother was another story. However, he then shook his head for a moment to then stand up and smile again – "Hey, we've rested a lot already, right? Let's go play something else!" –

- "Okay…" – said Miko blinking at his sudden change in attitude but she then smiled at him – "Hey, how about we go play tag now?" –

- "Fine by me!" – said Inuyasha.

- "Hey!" – said a voice from the distance.

- "Ah, you're that fox that was in Kaede-sama's hut" – said Inuyasha blinking as he saw him running to their side.

- "You're… Shippou, right?" – asked Miko with a smile.

- "Hey… no… fair! I was… hidden all… this time… and nobody went for me!" – said Shippou gasping and wheezing from the exhaustion.

- "Sorry, we forgot you were playing with us too!" – said Miko with an embarrassed smile.

- "Ugh, and I hid so well too…" – said Shippou crestfallen as he looked down.

- "Well, you can play tag with us now!" – said Inuyasha.

- "Hey! Miko-chan, Inuyasha!" – said the girl with the mauve kosode as she and the other village kids ran to them.

- "Huh? You guys know us?" – asked Inuyasha a bit spooked as the other kids surrounded them.

- "Yeah! Don't remember? Miko's lived a long time in this village, just like you, Inuyasha!" – said the girl wearing the yellow kosode.

- "Really…? I wish I could remember anything about that…" – said Miko embarrassed and sad.

- "And the last thing I remember before waking up here was being in the run from some youkai…" – said Inuyasha blinking while not giving credit to his ears.

- "But that doesn't matter!" – said the blue kosode boy – "We're friends after all, and we were thinking you'd like to come with us while we're doing our chores, so we can all go play together after we've done them!" –

- "We're friends…? Chores…?" – asked Inuyasha blinking a few times.

- "Yup! My mommy's told me to go help her harvesting in the fields, so we're on our way to do it!" – said the pink kosode girl.

- "After that, we've got to go feed the chickens, help brush the village horses, give some hay to them and the cows, carry water to our huts…" – said the dark blue kosode boy.

- "But shouldn't you be doing each of those on your own to finish 'em faster?" – asked Shippou while he sulked, as he wanted some quality time with Miko.

- "Well, we heard Miko-chan and Inuyasha lost their memories, so we thought we'd do everything together with them today so they'd start remembering us!" – said the yellow kosode girl.

- "But before that, we gotta tell 'em our names, right? Since they don't remember us and all" – said the aquamarine kosode boy.

After a short while, the children had introduced themselves before Inuyasha, Miko and Shippou.

- "So now that's outta the way, let's go help with the harvest!" – said the mauve kosode girl, Chidori.

- "Ah, that's why you all've got baskets strapped to your backs?" – asked Shippou while he looked at how all the children had one.

- "Yup! My mommy gave this one to me, and she asked the parents of all the other kids to give them one so they could help today!" – said the pink kosode girl, Sakura – "We even got three more baskets for you all to use!" –

She said as the other children presented each of them with a basket, including even a mini-sized one for Shippou.

- "But… are you sure that's okay…? I mean, you really wanna have this monster helping you out…?" – asked Inuyasha taken aback.

- "Hehe! We're glad to have you living with us in this village! Why wouldn't we want you to help us?" – said the blue kosode boy, Tsurusuke. This instantly caused Inuyasha's face to light up with a smile.

- "And this all means… I'm really a kid from this village…?" – asked Miko a bit scared.

- "Yeah! We don't know your parents, but from what Kaede-sama told us, you've been living with her from as far as we can remember! She's even said you're going to be our village's next miko!" – said the dark blue kosode boy, Kinta, which also caused Miko to smile in relief.

- "Anyway, let's go! The faster we finish, the sooner we can go play!" – said the yellow kosode girl, Asahi.

- "Yeah!" – said the kids excepting Shippou as he, Miko and Inuyasha took the baskets and put them on their backs. They then followed the other children to the village's fields, which already had several villagers reaping the rice and the other crops that were ripe for harvesting. They greeted them with smiles when they appeared.

- "Mommy, we're here!" – said Sakura as she went up to her mother, who wore a white triangular headband on her head, a dark red kosode and a yellow mo-bakama.

- "Ah, good timing dear!" – said her mother as she stopped briefly her labors to look at her daughter and her friends – "I see Miko-chan and Inuyasha are here too!" –

- "Yup! We're all here to help with the harvest!" – said Chidori.

- "So… Where do we start…?" – said Miko while placing her hands before herself and looking downward.

- "Hehe, don't be so nervous, Miko-chan!" – said Sakura's mother with a smile – "It's okay: You and Inuyasha can go harvest that row over there, while Sakura will stay here with me, Chidori-chan and Tsurusuke can go over there, and Asahi-chan, Kinta and Tasuke can go over there" –

- "Umm, how we do it…?" – asked Inuyasha a bit scared – "I mean, I've never harvested anything…" –

- "Hehe, don't remember? But it's fine!" – said the aquamarine kosode boy, Tasuke as he stepped in front of his row to show them – "Since these are daikon, they're nothing difficult! See the green leaves here? Just grab their base and…!" –

He then started pulling out the leaves and, after a few seconds of effort…

- "There!" – said he as he took a middle-sized white radish from the ground. Miko and Inuyasha were left awed at this.

- "I don't get why it looks so awesome to you two…" – said Shippou sighing.

- "Come on, Shippou! I've seen daikon before, but this is the first time I've ever seen how they harvest 'em!" – said Inuyasha excited. He then turned to Miko – "Okay, let's get to it, Miko!" –

- "Yeah!" – said Miko – "Coming too, Shippou?" –

- "Yeah!" – said Shippou while suddenly springing a smile on his face and heading to the row Sakura's mother had pointed them to ahead of them. Miko and Inuyasha caught up to him after a few moments, and after they both rolled up the sleeves of their outfits so they'd get held up by the baskets' straps and Miko grabbed part of her hem and tucked it inside her obi, they squatted in front of their row and started trying to pull out the daikon from the ground.

- "Ugh… This is harder… than it looks!" – said Shippou as he tried pulling one, but sadly for him his little strength was not enough to lift it.

- "Hey, this is fun!" – said Inuyasha after taking out two daikon from the ground and throwing them into his basket to then look at Shippou. His face was turning red from the sheer effort he was making – "Need a hand?" –

- "No…! I can… do this… on my own!" – said Shippou as he kept trying, but in the end, he had to let go of the daikon he was attempting to draw out and fall back on his behind while gasping and wheezing – "I can't… It's too rooted to the soil…" -

- "But I can pick them easily too…" – said Miko tilting her head, showing off how she had already taken two out from the soil and was now putting them in her basket.

- "Even you, Miko!?" – asked Shippou as he felt his insides go empty. He then looked around and saw how the other kids were also picking them up easily.

- "Looks like you're the only one having trouble here, fox!" – said Inuyasha between giggles.

- "Ugh… Why me…!?" – said Shippou falling to his knees.

- "Don't worry! We can pick up the slack for you here!" – said Inuyasha as he uprooted the daikon that Shippou had troubles getting out.

- "Yeah! Let's get this done quickly!" – said Miko as she and Inuyasha continued taking out the rest of the daikon out from the row they had been assigned, leaving Shippou flabbergasted. After several more minutes, they had finished with it and they had split the harvest between their baskets, with Shippou depressed because his basket was the only one empty.

- "Oh, I see you've finished!" – said Sakura's mother when she saw how they both had finished their task.

- "Yup…!" – said Miko placing her hands behind herself – "I hope… we did a good work!" –

- "Yeah… I hope we didn't get in the way or anything…" – said Inuyasha crossing his arms and looking downward.

- "Far from it, you two were a great help!" – said Sakura's mother.

- "And we're finished too!" – said Sakura as she and the other kids got closer to her mother so she would check the results.

- "You've done a good job, kids!" – said her upon checking how they all had their baskets filled with the radishes – "Okay, you can go now" –

- "Okay! Next, we've gotta help my dad feed the chickens!" – said Kinta.

- "Your dad's told me about it too. He should have the seeds and grains you're going to feed 'em ready and waiting. And you can leave the baskets here. We'll sort and store 'em later!" – said Sakura's mom. The kids obeyed and left the baskets on the field near her.

- "Okay, Kinta, lead us there!" – said Asahi with a smile when they were ready to depart.

- "Yeah! I wanna see how you feed these birds!" – said Inuyasha with excitement.

- "Yeah, me too!" – said Miko with a smile.

- "But first, how about we go to drink some water? We were a good while working under the sun and all!" – suggested Chidori with a smile.

Nobody had problems with the idea, so they all went to the same well Miko and Inuyasha had used previously and took turns to drink from it, as well as using part of it to wash their hands. They then headed to the henhouse amidst bouts of laughter. There, they found Kinta's father: the blue kosode villager, who was in front of the small hut that served as the henhouse. There were several hens and chickens running around the place as well.

- "Dad, we're here!" – said Kinta to his father.

- "Ah, hi everybody!" – said Kinta's father upon seeing the group of children arriving – "Good to see you're all in good spirits, and that you also brought Miko-chan and Inuyasha with you today!" –

- "Umm, hi, oji-san…" – said Miko fidgeting a bit.

- "Hi…" – said Inuyasha lowering his head.

- "Did things go well in the harvest for you all?" – asked Kinta's father.

- "Yup!" – said Chidori placing her hands behind herself and smiling – "Miko-chan and Inuyasha really helped us and mommy with harvesting the daikon!" –

- "Hehe… Even though we only harvested a row…" – said Miko blushing, feeling they were giving her too much credit.

- "I couldn't even uproot a single one…" – said Shippou gritting his teeth.

- "Glad to hear that!" – said Kinta's father. He then grabbed a sack he had tied to his hip by his obi – "And well, here's the feed you'll be giving the chickens and hens" –

- "Um, oji-san…" – asked Inuyasha while he fidgeted – "Do we have to do anything to feed 'em?" –

- "Inuyasha, we just gotta spread the feed around and watch over the chickens and hens" – said Tasuke with a smile – "And if the chickens and hens start quarrelling, we gotta break them up too!" –

- "But can we do that…? Won't they get mad at us or anything…?" – asked Miko a bit scared.

- "In that case, I'll step in to keep them from harming you kids" – said Kinta's father – "Anyway, just be careful while you're giving them the feed" –

- "I can also scare 'em if they get troublesome!" – said Shippou putting his hands on his hips while a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

- "We'll be counting on you if that happens, Shippou!" – said Miko with a smile, which made Shippou blush and smile in satisfaction upon imagining her praising him as if he were a hero.

The other kids just giggled at this, and they then started grabbing parts of the feed from the sack and threw it in the patches of the ground around. The chickens and hens instantly started going around the areas where the feed had fallen and started pecking at it.

- "I thought it'd be more boring, but it's kinda fun to try and throw it where there's no birds gathered!" – said Inuyasha as he jumped from an extreme to another of area where the chickens and hens were gathered and threw the feed around as he did, trying to not hit the birds.

- "Whoa, you can jump really far, Inuyasha!" – said Miko amazed.

- "Hey, I can do it better!" – said Shippo as he took out a leaf, placed it over his head and used it to turn into a pink balloon – "Look, Miko! I can fly and throw the feed from above!" –

He then started sprinkling the feed in a similar way to how Inuyasha had done it as he floated.

- "Hehe, looks like we've got a rivalry going here!" – said Asahi between giggles.

- "But we're not really competing here…" – said Inuyasha blinking after he had made a return trip to feed the chickens that weren't directly under Shippou and was now standing near Miko.

- "Looks like Shippou's made a competition all in his head then!" – commented Chidori with a smile.

However, they then saw how a couple chickens had started fighting over some pieces of feed and a couple worms that had come out from the ground.

- "Hey, you two, stop it!" – said Miko as she tried to run in to stop them, but she then screeched and ran back – "Kyah! A worm! A worm!" –

- "Come on, Miko!" – said Inuyasha between fits of laughter as Miko ran to hide behind him – "Worms are more scared of you than you're of them!" –

- "It's just I can't stand them!" – said her as she shivered and clung to the sleeves of Inuyasha's haori.

- "Hehe, it's okay, Miko-chan!" – said Tsurusuke – "Kinta's dad and we can take care of breaking them up!" –

- "Hey, you stupid birds!" – said Shippou as he regained his normal form and he fell near both chickens – "Stop fighting already!" –

- "Shippou, you shouldn't have done that…" – said Kinta with a sigh. Just immediately after, the chickens stopped fighting, glared at Shippou and started screeching.

- "I don't like this…" – said Shippou gulping down and sweatdropping. Right away, the chickens jumped at him and tried to peck him – "Ahhh! Help me, Miko!" –

- "Huh? But what can I do…?" – said Miko blinking from behind Inuyasha.

- "Looks like he screwed up…" – said Inuyasha blinking in the same way Miko did.

He tried to run away, but he got the nasty surprise that the whole flock was going after him now, so he had to run in all fours and jump away. The chickens didn't just give up though, and he had to turn again into a balloon and get up into the air to escape them.

However, this caused the chickens to get restless and feeding them was now impossible, so everybody had to get away from them to avoid getting pecked.

- "Looks like we'll have to wait a little and let 'em calm down" – said Kinta's father upon seeing the mess.

- "Well, at least Shippou did break up the fight" – said Sakura with an amused smile.

- "But he made all the other chickens mad in exchange" – said Inuyasha after a brief sigh.

- "At least we did get to have some more fun seeing him run away" – said Kinta while laughing.

- "Seriously, does everybody have a grudge against me or what…?" – said Shippou while breathing in and out from the stress. He had now landed behind Inuyasha and was slumped next to Miko.

- "Poor Shippou…" – said Miko while patting him on the head.

- "Ah… Thanks, Miko…" – said Shippou about to start tearing up – 'This made going through that hell worth it…' –

But before Inuyasha could respond to this, Kinta's father spoke.

- "Ah, looks like they've calmed down. But there's not much more feed to be given to them, so I think you can leave now. You've got other chores you need to do, right?" – said him while smiling to the kids.

- "Yup. We're supposed to go and help my mommy with brushing the village horses!" – said Asahi while grabbing her hands and placing them in front of herself.

- "Okay. In that case, be on your way" – said Kinta's father with a smile – "And be careful to not make the horses mad!" –

- "We'll do!" – said Sakura with a smile.

- "Looks like we'll have to keep Shippou away from them in that case!" – said Inuyasha to then laugh a little.

- "Yeah. Don't wanna have them running off or anything!" – said Tsurusuke between bouts of laughter.

- "Come on, don't be so mean to him!" – said Miko with a smile. Shippou himself was too entranced by being consoled by her to add anything. However, he suddenly awoke a few minutes later to notice the other children had left him alone.

- "Huh!? Where'd everyone go!?" – said him noticing he was alone with Kinta's father now.

- "Oh, they went to help brushing and feeding the horses" – said Kinta's father.

- "Agh! Wait for meeee!" – said Shippou as he ran off as fast as his paws let him. He got the scents of Inuyasha and Miko and used them to find them, which he did about a couple of minutes later near the village's center, where the horses were.

- "*huff… *puff*…" – gasped Shippou as soon as he reached Miko and Inuyasha – "You… left… me… behind… again!" –

- "Sorry, rat! We were kinda in a hurry!" – said Kinta as he and the others looked at him in amusement. They all had bundles of hay in their hands.

- "I'm telling you I'm a fox!" – said Shippou angry – "And anyway, what're you doing, Miko?" –

- "Ah, Shippou! We're about to feed the horses!" – said Miko with a smile – "I wanted to bring you with us, but I had to leave you there until you woke up because I needed to use my hands to help with the hay!" –

- "But you could've woken me up! I wanna help too!" – said Shippou gritting his fangs.

- "You came at the right time then!" – said Asahi's mother: a woman that had her hair in a triangular bandana and who wore a green kosode with a brown mo-bakama over it. She also was carrying a baby on her back – "The other children have already gone and brought here the hay they're going to feed the horses" –

- "We've also gone and brought here the brushes we're using to groom them!" – said Sakura in a happy voice.

- "Great! Let's start then!" – said Shippou jumping up and down.

- "Umm, but are you sure you can do it? You're kinda little for the hay…" – said Tsurusuke as he looked at Shippou with a doubtful face. Shippou just scowled at him.

On the other hand, Miko and Inuyasha had already started feeding the horses their own shares of hay.

- "Okay, here you go!" – said Miko as she gave the horse in front of her: a light brown one, a mouthful of hay – "I hope it's tasty!" –

- "The same for you, big guy! Here!" – said Inuyasha as he fed the horse next to Miko's own, which was of a darker brown – "Hehe, looks like they're liking it a lot!" –

The horses kept on chewing and munching the hay, and after a few more instants, they lowered their heads in front of their feeders.

- "Umm, oba-san… what's this mean?" – asked Miko a bit worried.

- "Ah, that means the horses're waiting for you to pet 'em on the neck!" – said Sakura as she turned walked to them with some hay on her hand – "Go ahead!" –

- "Okay… Here goes nothing!" – said Inuyasha as he placed a hand over the horse's neck and starting patting it. The horse snorted a couple times, scaring Inuyasha, but it then closed its eyes in a pleased gesture and tilted its head in the direction of Inuyasha's hand – "Ah, looks like he likes it!" –

- Hehe, it's the same for me!" – said Miko upon having done the same motions with the horse she was feeding, and while the horse didn't snort at her, it seemed to have taken a liking for her too, since it also tilted its head in her hand's direction – "Hehe, that's a good boy!" –

The horses then finished by licking them on their faces, causing both children to wink and giggle in response to it.

- "Looks like you two're pretty good with the horses!" – said Kinta as he took Inuyasha's place in feeding the light brown horse.

- "Hehe, but I'd never fed a horse before!" – said Inuyasha putting his hands behind his head and stepping aside so Kinta could feed the horse his share of hay.

- "I don't remember having ever done it either, but I'm glad I could do it!" – said Miko smiling, satisfied at herself while she placed her hands before herself.

- "Hehe, our horses are pretty friendly too, but I guess they took a shine to you two anyway!" – said Asahi with a smile while she replaced Miko in feeding the other horse.

- "Okay, lemme try it out!" – said Shippou excitedly as he tried to grab a small bit of hay and fed it to the horse Kinta was feeding after the latter had finished.

However, after the horse grabbed the hay from his hands, it just backed away from him and turned around to continue chewing.

- "EH!?" – asked Shippou shocked – "What's up with this horse!?" –

- "Um, looks like it didn't really like you much" – said Sakura while looking at him wide-eyed at this.

- "It's so weird. Like Asahi-chan just said, the horses are pretty friendly…" – said Tsurusuke while feeding the horse Asahi had feed and both of them were rubbing it on the neck.

- "Agh! You stupid horse!" – said Shippou jumping on the horse's back and landing right above its tail's base, which he started to pull – "Why don't you like me!? Hey, listen to me!" –

- "Um, Shippou…" – said Miko blinking at was happening – "I don't think you should be doing that…" –

- "Yeah… Looks like you're seconds away from a catastrophe…" – said Inuyasha stepping back with his elbows and knees partially flexed and a spooked expression on his face.

- "Huh? What you mean?" – said Shippou as he slid down the horse's tail, pulling it even harder and ending up near its tip. However, he turned to look at the horse's behind, and his question was answered the next instant right as he realized what was happening and gulped down terrified: the horse neighed loudly, it stood on its front legs and then it gave Shippo a hard kick with its hind quarters – "Aaaaaaahhhh!" –

- "Shippou!" – shouted the children as they saw Shippou get shot up into the air and keep flying off until they saw a small twinkle in the distance and he disappeared.

- "Is everybody okay!?" – said Sango as she rushed in after seeing what had happened.

- "Sango-san… Yeah, we're okay, but Shippou…" – said Miko looking downward with sadness.

- "I know. I'll go now to bring him back here! Kirara!" – said Sango as she called her small companion, who jumped off from her shoulder and turned into her gigantic form.

- "Whoa, so cool!" – said Inuyasha excited, emotion all the other kids shared as they surrounded Kirara and Sango.

- "It's… kinda scary…" – said Miko as she looked at the large Kirara with apprehension while Sango mounted on her.

- "Don't worry! Kirara's really nice and won't do anything bad if you treat her well!" – said Sango with a tranquilizing smile – "Go ahead and try petting her" –

- "Okay…" – said Miko as she hesitantly extended a hand to Kirara's head and tried to scratch her behind the ears. Kirara just closed her eyes, moved her head in rhythm with Miko's hand and purred loudly – "Hehe, you were pretty cute when you were little, but even when you're big you're a really nice, cute kitty!" –

- "Yeah. Kirara's always liked you a lot" – said Sango with a smile.

- "But that means that… Umm… Sango-san… You've actually been looking out for us all this time then?" – asked Miko as she fidgeted a bit.

- "Yeah… But why do you ask that, Miko?" – replied Sango tilting her head confused.

- "Well… I was wondering… Can I call you Sango-nee…?" – asked Miko as she stopped petting Kirara and she closed her hands to then put them before herself – "I mean, if you've really been taking care of me and Inuyasha, that means you're like our big sister!" –

- "Yeah! I wanna call you that same way too, Sango-san!" – said Inuyasha as the eyes of both sparkled with excitement.

- "Ehehe, I see! In that case, I don't mind you two calling me that!" – said Sango with a pleased smile – "And looks like you're not afraid of me anymore, Inuyasha!" –

- "Ehehe! Since you've been taking care of us two, I don't have a reason to be afraid of you, slayer or not!" – said Inuyasha with a relieved smile.

- "Anywhere, let's keep talking later. I've got to find Shippou before something eats him! I'll be back in a little!" – said Sango as Kirara roared and they both took off in the direction Shippou was sent flying off.

She found him after a few minutes, and which wasn't her surprise upon seeing he was dizzy, with spirals on his eyes and lying on the ground on his back with a horse hoof marked on his face, a large lump on his head and next to a boulder that seemed to have gotten smashed. From the looks of it, he had crashed head first into the rock when he landed.

- "Geez… Shippou, you'd be dead if you weren't a youkai…" – said Sango shaking her head as she dismounted from Kirara and picked him up.

- "Ahaha… I see so many Mikos and Kagomes… I wanna be with 'em forever… And I can keep hitting and bullying these stupid Inuyashas as much as I wanna…" – said he while he kept seeing stars.

- "Oh well. Nothing to be done. Kirara, let's head back to the village" – said Sango after briefly sighing. She mounted back on Kirara with Shippou in her arms, Kirara roared again and they took off to the skies to return to the village.

- "Ah, Sango-san is back!" – said Asahi as she saw her flying on Kirara making her way back to the village. The other children instantly gathered around the place she was flying over and waited for Kirara to land.

- "That was pretty fast, Sango-nee!" – said Miko with a smile.

- "Yeah, couldn't let Shippou be eaten by anything after all!" – said Sango as she dismounted Kirara, who then enshrouded herself on flames and went back to her smaller form. She then closed her eyes and loudly meowed.

- "How's the fox?" – asked Inuyasha with his arms crossed.

- "He's still out for the count, it seems" – said Sango showing them the unconscious fox in her arms.

- "Looks like that really hit him hard. Oh well, let's try healing him!" – said Sakura with a smile, and before anyone could reply, she ran back to her home and returned bringing a bunch of bandages.

- "Umm, are you sure we should do this, Sakura-chan?" – asked Miko taken aback – "Shouldn't we let Sango-nee or any of the grown-ups do this instead?" –

- "It's okay! Mommy's taught me how to bandage wounds, so I think we can do it!" – she said as the other kids excepting Inuyasha and Miko helped her. However, the only result was that Shippou ended up as bandaged as a mummy.

- "Umm, I think you guys went a bit overboard…" – said Inuyasha sweatdropping.

- "Agh! Mghghghgh!" – shouted Shippou out of nowhere. Sango then removed the bandages that were covering his mouth and nose - "Why I'm bandaged from head to toe!?"

- "Looks like you woke up…" – said Miko blinking a couple times.

- "Well, we wanted to make sure you were okay, since you got kicked on the face and all by the horse!" – said Sakura between short giggles.

- "Though just bandaging his head would have been enough" – said Sango as she removed the excess of bandages from Shippou, leaving on only a couple around the bump on his head – "Done. This should be enough for the bump to heal" –

- "Bwaaah! Thaaaaanks, Sangoooo!" – said Shippou as he hysterically jumped on Sango's chest and started crying.

- "Hehe, looks like he's too relieved!" – said Miko as she laughed, which the other children also did.

- "Anyway, shouldn't we go do our next chores?" – asked Tsurusuke after they all stopped laughing.

- "Yeah. Next, we've gotta feed the cows, right?" – asked Shippou.

- "Yup! We're using the same hay we gave the horses, so it'll be easy!" – said Asahi as she grabbed a bunch of hay and prepared to leave.

- "By the way guys, aren't you gonna go to the forest to forage for mushrooms, fruits and the like?" – asked Shippou crossing his arms.

- "Sorry to say this, but nobody should be leaving the village for the next few days" – said Miroku as he walked to them.

- "Ah, Houshi-sama!" – said all the children excepting Shippou, and Sango.

- "Miroku! Whatcha' mean that nobody can leave the village?" – asked Shippou raising an eyebrow.

- "There has been a large amount of children-eating youkai roaming around the outskirts lately, so it's not safe for children to be leaving its borders and the barrier that Kaede-sama has placed to protect it" - said Miroku with a dignified face. However, he gave Shippou a brief but piercing glare, causing him to shake upon noticing he had made a question he shouldn't have.

- "Yup. Our parents told us that going to the forest to forage is forbidden for now, so we're just doing all the chores we can do here inside the village" – said Kinta with his hands behind his head.

- "That's precisely why I've been around patrolling the area around the village too. As a slayer, I have to get rid of them if we hope to make the place safe again" – said Sango with a smile. However, she also gave Shippou the same sort of glare Miroku had given him previously, causing him to gulp down and sweat profusely.

- "Yeah! And so we can get our chores done, let's hurry and go feed the cows!" – said Sakura cheerfully. The other children helped her carrying the bundles of hay to the shack where the cows were, and prepared to feed them.

- "Hehe, they're as nice as the horses!" – said Miko with a smile as she fed one of the cows with hay and patted her on the head.

- "I don't agree with the horses bit, but yeah, they're really nice" – said Shippou as he gave some hay to another cow, and blushed upon seeing how cute Miko looked while she tended to the animals.

- "We'd like to tell you we can milk them too, Inuyasha, Miko" – said Kinta as he fed another cow.

- "But it isn't time to do that yet" – said Kinta's mother, who was wearing a blue kosode with a gray mo-bakama – "The cows need a few more months before they can be milked" –

- "Still, we've had a lot of fun with you guys! Thanks for being our friends!" – said Inuyasha as he carried two bundles of hay and set them down on the ground so the others could take pieces of them to the cows.

- "Don't mention it! We really wanted you two to know just how much fun we have together, and see if we could get you to remember it all!" – said Asahi while she blushed and smiled with her eyes closed.

- "Well, we didn't remember anything… But it's great to know I actually belong to this place!" – said Miko with a smile, to which the cow she was feeding responded by mooing – "Hehe, and looks like the cow agrees too!" –

- "Plus, we didn't wanna see Inuyasha so lonely again either! I know other people've treated you badly in the past, but to us, you'll always be our friend!" – said Tsurusuke as he grinned and patted Inuyasha on the shoulder.

- "Hehe, thanks Tsurusuke!" – said Inuyasha smiling back.

- "And from what I head, you two have been a great help with the chores too" – said Kinta's mother with a smile – "There's only one more you have to do before you're finished, right?" –

- "Yup! We just gotta fill the buckets with water and take them to our homes!" – said Chidori as she fed another cow.

- "And we'll do our best to help with it!" – said Inuyasha placing his hands on his hips.

- "But you'd be better off not doing it, Shippou!" – said Tasuke as he laughed.

- "Agh! Why not!?" – asked Shippou as he grabbed another bunch of hay.

- "Well, you're not that strong" – said Miko as she placed a finger pointing upward near her face – "So it's possible you'd just end up just spilling the bucket and getting yourself all wet" –

- "Hehe, yeah! I can see that happening!" – said Inuyasha as he and the other children laughed.

- "Ugh…!" – said Shippou, knowing that Miko wouldn't rescue him here because she herself had brought up why he wouldn't be useful for carrying the water.

- "Still, we can go play all together once that's said and done!" – said Tasuke – "And we're about done with feeding the cows, so let's go pick up the buckets!" –

- "Yeah!" – said all the children as they left the place and ran to where the wooden buckets were piled up.

They then went to the well and started taking turns to draw water from it to fill the buckets.

- "Hehe, looks like it's pretty heavy work…" – commented Miko as she tied up her sleeves and pulled up the rope she had tied her bucket to, like the other children had taught her. The other children had also tied up the sleeves of their own kosode so they wouldn't get in the way while they worked.

- "Ooph, so that's why you guys didn't want me helping here…" – said Shippou as he stood over the well's border.

- "Yeah. Drawing out the water is pretty hard," – said Asahi, who already had a full bucket in her hands and was placing it on the ground while she waited for the others to finish – "But carrying it back home isn't easy either" –

- "And since we need it for cooking and washing, you guys know it" – said Tsurusuke, who was waiting for Miko to finish to draw water with his own bucket.

- "Didn't you guys need it for laundry or something too?" – asked Inuyasha with a raised eyebrow.

- "Not really. Our moms take care of the laundry, and they always do it at the village river's bank" – said Sakura with a smile.

- "They didn't tell us they needed to do laundry either, so that's fine!" – said Yuuta closing his eyes.

- "Okay, I'm done!" – said Miko as she untied the bucket from the well, used her strength to raise it to then place it on the ground near her feet, and wiped off some sweat from her forehead with a hand.

- "Nice! It's my turn now!" – said Tsurusuke as Miko stepped side and he went up to the well to tie his bucket to the rope.

- "Um, but there's not really much for me to do here, right?" – said Inuyasha looking crestfallen – "I mean, Miko already drew out the water, and both me and her live in Kaede-sama's hut, so…" –

- "Hehe, I drew it, but you can carry it back to Kaede-sama's hut for me!" – said Miko giggling.

- "Yeah, it makes sense for you guys to split up the work!" – nodded Shippou with a smile.

- "Okay, that's what'll do then!" – said Inuyasha smiling again.

- "Still, I wish there was a more convenient way to do this…" – said Miko looking at all the efforts she and the others had done drawing out the water – "Like, having water in our homes without having to go to the river or well to grab it and bring it back…" –

- "Yeah, that'd make things a lot easier" – said Kinta as he raised his bucket from the ground as he and the others got ready to carry the water-filled buckets to their homes – "But that kinda sounds like something out from a fairy tale" –

- "I feel like I saw a house with that sort of thing once… But I can't remember when or where…" – said Miko a bit sad as Inuyasha took her bucket, and they and the other children walked with their buckets in their hands.

- "Don't beat yourself over it! I'm sure you'll remember everything sooner or later!" – said Inuyasha while he smiled at her – "And I'll be there when you do!" -

- "Thanks, Inuyasha! But still, I'm also kind of afraid… What if I don't like what I remember…? What if I remember I actually don't have any parents or anything…?" – asked Miko.

- "Well, Kaede-sama told us you have parents, and that they sent you here with her so you could train to be a miko, since you've got really strong spiritual powers and stuff" – said Shippou as he jumped on her shoulder – "So don't worry about it!" –

- "Hehe, I'm glad you know so much! Thanks, Shippou!" – said Miko with a wide smile, causing Shippou to blush and fawn.

- "And like I said, what you end up remembering isn't important! I mean, you're the first friend I remember making!" – said Inuyasha grinning – "So I'll keep on supporting you, no matter what!" –

- "And if you ever want us to help you out, you can always ask us!" – said Sakura with a smile – "Maybe we won't be able to do much since we're kids and stuff, but still, you can count on us!" –

- "Yeah! Thanks, guys!" – said Miko a lot more cheered up. While this hadn't completely dispelled all her fears, at least she felt a bit more relieved from having so many people supporting her. Then they finished their chores by delivering a bucket of water to each of their huts, with Kaede's being the last one.

- "Okay, we're about done with the chores! So, let's go play!" – said Chidori while clapping her hands once and while everybody untied the sleeves of their respective kosode.

- "Okay how 'bout playing a round of tag?" – said Tsurusuke, to which the other children agreed between cheers and joyful shouts.

- "Hey, that's good! And we've got also a ball to play kemari with in Kaede's hut once we're done with that!" – said Shippou.

- "Nice! Then we'll go for it after we finish playing tag. So now… Tag, you're it!" – said Asahi as she touched Kinta. The children then started running off in all directions while laughing.

- "Hey! Wait for me! I'm gonna catch you all!" – said he laughing as he started running after Asahi.

The children then spent a pleasant afternoon playing around in the village, first finishing their tag rounds to then start playing hide-and-seek, and then they finished by bringing the red rubber ball that was stored in Miko's backpack and playing kemari with it.

- "Looks like it's time for us to go home" – said Sakura as the sun started setting and the sky was colored orange.

- "Yeah. Our parents're gonna get mad at us if we're not home by the time dinner's done" – said Yuuta with a smile.

- "I see. It's kinda sad we can't continue playing more today…" – said Miko as she grabbed the ball.

- "Still, I'm really glad we could play around this much, guys!" – said Inuyasha – "It's the first time I actually felt glad that I was playing kemari with somebody!" –

- "Glad to know that, Inuyasha!" – said Tsurusuke as he patted him on the shoulder.

- "Can't we go play tomorrow again?" – asked Miko with a sad expression.

- "Kaede-sama's told us she's gonna give you miko training and that Inuyasha is getting swordmanship practice from the old guy that made his sword" – said Chidori, causing Inuyasha to widen his eyes in surprise – "So looks like you won't have much time tomorrow…" –

- "We've also got to do our own chores too" – said Asahi after letting a sigh out – "Really, I wish we weren't all so busy the next days…" –

- "We're still thankful that you let us help you with them, and also that you let us play with you all" – said Miko with a satisfied smile – "And who knows, maybe we'll have another chance in a few more days?" –

- "Yeah! So, let's all do our best so we can play together again!" – said Shippou jumping up and down.

- "Yeah! And it's time to go for us! See ya guys later!" – said Tsurusuke as he and the other kids waved at them and started walking to their own homes. Inuyasha, Shippou and Miko then entered the hut, Miko washed her hands and face using some of the water they brought back with them, and then they sat on the wooden floor to wait for Kaede's return. She finally returned when night had fallen with a large bundle of herbs in her hands.

- "Ah! Welcome back, Kaede-sama!" – said Inuyasha and Miko happy to see her.

- "Hi, Kaede!" – said Shippou happily.

- "Hi, children" – said Kaede with a smile upon seeing them so happy – "I see you had a pleasant afternoon!" –

- "Yup! We spent the whole day helping the other village kids with their chores, and we also played a lot with them and between us!" – said Miko placing her hands together.

- "Yeah! I've never had so much fun, and I thought I'd never meet people who'd treat me as nicely as the kids and their parents here did!" – said Inuyasha so happy that he was barely containing himself.

- "But… I've got some questions, Kaede-sama… Do I have a mommy and daddy? I'm not just an orphan you found somewhere?" – asked Miko, which caused her happiness to fade away and she seemed about to start crying.

- "Did the other children tell you anything?" – asked Kaede as her smile and Inuyasha's faded away and both looked at her with worry. Shippou looked at Kaede as if he were trying to explain what he had told Miko earlier, but he couldn't say anything without looking suspicious.

- "They just told me my parents sent me with you to start my training as a miko…" – said Miko with a downcast gaze.

- "Well, there you have it. Your parents asked me to take care of your training and education until you learn how to use your spiritual powers, and that's why you're here now" – said Kaede with a severe gaze.

- "Okay… And for my other question…" – started Miko as she blushed, but Inuyasha had a feeling about what she was going to say and did it first.

- "Well… Our other question is that since you're taking care of us here and all… Can we call you Kaede-obaasan?" – asked Inuyasha with a shy smile.

- "Oh? And where did you get that idea?" – asked Kaede with an amused smile.

- "B-Because… You're taking care of us and serving as my teacher, and you're like a nice granny to us… So… Can we call you that?" – asked Miko, nervous and a bit afraid that they were acting impolite to the village's miko and leader.

- "Sure! I don't have grandsons or granddaughters, but I have always seen you two as if you were my own" – said Kaede smiling with closed eyes.

- "Yay! Inuyasha, Kaede-obaasan is really like our granny!" – said Miko as she and Inuyasha joined hands and started jumping from joy, but they blushed and separated a bit later.

- "I'm glad to see you two so happy about this all. In any case, we better make dinner now to go to sleep. You know children shouldn't stay up until late, and you'll need to raise early tomorrow for your respective trainings. If I remember correctly, the demon swordsmith Totosai will come here tomorrow to teach you, Inuyasha" – said Kaede with a smile as she started taking out some greens from one of the vases near the hearth and a cauldron to make some stew.

- "Yeah, I'm really waiting to see if all you told us about that rusty sword is true!" – said Inuyasha with his eyes sparkling with excitement to then direct a brief gaze to Tessaiga, which rested in its sheath against one of the hut's back walls – "And you're going to teach Miko how to use her powers, right?" –

- "Yes, but our training will also include archery lessons and a primer on finding medicinal herbs out in the wild" – said Kaede as Shippou ignited the fire in the hearth and she filled the cauldron with the water the children had brought – "So, Miko, I hope you'll put all your efforts into it" –

- "I'll do my best, Kaede-obaasan!" – said Miko in a burst of joy.

- "I'll be expecting a lot from you then" – said Kaede as she nodded.

- "Me too! I'm looking forward to seeing your powers, Miko!" – said Inuyasha excitedly.

- "Hehe, I also wanna see the powers you can use with that sword, Inuyasha!" – giggled Miko as she smiled with her eyes closed.

Miroku and Sango returned and joined them for dinner shortly later, and after they all had eaten, had put away the bowls and the cauldron, and had prepared their futons, they all went to sleep.

- 'I'm not completely sure about the things the other kids and Kaede-obaasan told me about my parents… But still, I'm glad I've got people around me who're so nice to a girl like me… A peasant with no memories or anything…' – thought Miko as she turned around to sleep in her futon – 'I hope we can do something to pay them back when I remember everything…' –

- 'This is the first time the humans've been so nice to me… A hanyou that everybody rejects and wants dead… I thought nobody excepting mom'd be like that to me…' – thought Inuyasha as he briefly shivered – 'And we're so close to a new moon night too… But at least I'll be able to spend it in a safe place… Thanks, Kaede-obaasan… And to everybody in this village who've been so nice… I'll do my best in my swordmanship practice tomorrow so I can protect this place!' –

And with these thoughts in their heads, they both fell asleep…

{The End}