LadyBugs!

[Sango / Yuuki Mizuo]

Yuuki nodded. "I don't come across many people, so I enjoy their company." She smiled grabbing a hold of the part of the reins closets to Cho's muzzel. She clicked her teeth and told Cho to walk on. Holding onto the reins Yuuki leads Cho around with Kikyo ontop. "I am 16. What about you?" Yuuki smiled. "Tell me if you want to go faster or slower or anything" Yuuki pulled out a couple of berries and places a few in her mouth and in her palm infront of Cho. Cho ate the berries, he liked them, but he likes apple most.

[Kikyo / Jaken]

Kikyo held onto Cho tighter when he started to move. Kikyo could not help but be nervous about riding an animal. The animal she was riding was much larger than her, too. She watched Yuuki and told her, "The speed we are going at now is good." Kikyo inhaled and exhaled to keep calm.

Yuuki told her that she was 16. Kikyo looked at Yuuki and thought that she looked much older. "You are but 16? I thought that you might have been my age... I am..." Kikyo wanted to say "18" but she had been dead for 50 years. Did that make her 68? Kikyo decided that even if she said 68, Yuuki would not believe her.

"I am 18." Kikyo ran her fingers through Cho's mane. Cho's mane was course. Kikyo began to relax. Now that she was riding Cho she realised that it was not as bad as she had made it out to be in her mind. It was rather calming, Kikyo determined with a smile.

Kikyo decided that Yuuki must be uncertain whether or not she wanted to travel with her because she had not answered. That was understandable. Kikyo had turned down people who had wanted to travel with her. However, Kikyo could not help but feel disappointed. It would have been nice to have company on the road.

However, should she be relieved? She might have gotten herself into something that did not concern her. She needed to hunt Naraku... That was her concern... Naraku... Kikyo became lost in her own thoughts as she rode Cho. However, Kikyo realised, Yuuki had not answered yet.

[Sango / Yuuki Mizuo]

Yuuki looked up at Kikyo and smiled, "18 eh? That around the same age as my brother, I think... Hmm.. I don't remember. And you asked if you wanted to join me? Or something of that nature?" Yuuki smiled again. "Tell me about yourself, Kikyo. Where have you been, what have you done? Random things. Little things." She continued to walk Cho around, cutting though trees and through a rivers and a patch of flowers. ((I thought we could roll around in slow motion here XDXD!!!! )) Yuuki loosened Cho's rein so he could smell the flowers. Cho liked flowers. I wonder what he story is, she's mysterious, yet open, she doesn't talk much... Yuuki looked at Kikyo again and smiled. "I would like to learn more about another priestess, you're the first one I've ever ran into... Could you help me? Like in training? I don't know much, I'm an armature, and I would greatly appreciate your help." Yuuki shyly smiled at Kikyo. She's so great, and only 18?

Yuuki let go of Cho's reins and wandered off by the river, she silently sighed and sat down beside it. She glanced into the water, the image of her brother reflecting back. Tears filled her eyes as she splashed the water away and whiped her face. Yuuki stood up slowly and walked quietly back to Kikyo. While looking down at the grass, she notices a few flowers, she leaned over and picked them. Yuuki stared at them and smiled, looking back up at Kikyo. She walked back to Cho and Kikyo, she reached her hand up and gave the flowers to Kikyo and smiled.

[Kikyo / Jaken]

Kikyo took the flowers from Yuuki and smelt them. The flowers were beautiful. When Yuuki gave Kikyo flowers Kikyo remembered that children also liked to give her flowers. Kikyo smiled and then put the flowers in her knap-sack. Perhaps she could use them later in her potion making.

Kikyo contemplated Yuuki's question. What could Kikyo tell Yuuki about herself? Kikyo could tell her all about herself. However, Kikyo doubted that Yuuki would believe all she had to tell about herself. "There is not much to tell. My mother was a priestess who lived in a small village. I was her first daughter and she trained me to be a priestess. I had a sister named Kaede who was her second daughter."

Kikyo dis-mounted Cho. She smiled at Cho before she sat down beside him. Kikyo liked Cho but Kikyo was not comfortable riding him. She hoped that she would become comfortable riding him soon. "I was ten when Kaede was born. I was twelve when my mother died." Kikyo sighed, but she was not sad. Her mother had died a long time ago.

"I became the village priestess after my mother died. It was hard, but I managed to be a good village priestess and raise my sister after my mother died. Although I was a girl, the villagers told me I was a stronger priestess than my mother. I realised that I was stronger than a regular priestess when I killed a demon without a weapon using my spiritual powers."

Kikyo looked at her hands, as though she were contemplating her spiritual powers. That comment reminded Kikyo that Yuuki had asked for training. Kikyo smiled at Yuuki and told her, "I will do what I can to teach you. However, there are some things that cannot be taught. There are some things that you will have to learn alone. Some of these things require strength, but most of them require wisdom."

"To be wise you have to understand the world around you." Kikyo held out her hand and a ladybug landed on her finger. "You have to understand the balance that the world has and the balance animals have. You have to accept that sometimes the balance will not be balanced at all. Although sometimes this balance can be restored, sometimes it cannot."

The ladybug flew off her finger and Kikyo did not attempt to stop it. "If you can sense a demonic aura you can understand what that I mean. A demonic aura is unbalanced. However, the aura that you have is balanced. I can tell you that but I cannot teach you that." Kikyo sighed again, and looked at the ground.

"... I could tell you more about me, but I doubt I could tell you what you want to hear. My story became a sad story after that event."

[Sango / Yuuki Mizuo]

Yuuki looked at Kikyo, she sat down in front of her flattening out her hakama. She smiled at Kikyo. Yuuki liked Kikyo, more then the other traveler she would run into, mainly thieves, or sad loners who don't talk to anyone. Kikyo was nice, she was open, yet she kept her distance, like Yuuki was hiding something. Though, Yuuki was just another priestess, she questioned Kikyo's thoughts, she wondered what Kikyo thought. She questioned Kikyo's feelings. All these things Yuuki wondered, how she became such a great priestess, how Yuuki could become great also.

Yuuki had a dream, her dream was to find her brother and father; to become someone great. She was not wanted in her village, she wasn't as experienced, she wasn't as good as other traveling priestess's. Yuuki felt useless, she knew if her mother was alive she would be great. Her mother was great, though Yuuki never met her, she knew it. Because Yuuki had such a dream, she also had a fear, what if she didn't become as great as she hoped? But.. That wasn't the worst, it wasn't power, or anything like that, that she wanted, she wanted to be wanted. She wanted her brother, her father, her... Mother. Some of these things she knew she couldn't become, or couldn't have. Yuuki wanted her brother, she never met him, but she can feel his love, she hoped that he was somewhere, searching for her.. That's what kept her going, knowing someone was looking for her. He refused to give up, she refused to doubt herself, yet here she is, questioning herself, Why ask Kikyo for help? What good will it do? These thoughts ran through her mind. She couldn't help but admire Kikyo, though they have just met, she wanted to be like her, so peaceful, so elegant.

Yuuki looked at the horizon after her long and deep thought, "I am interested in you, Kikyo... You, you have so much mystery." Yuuki smiled and looked back at Kikyo, the wind blowing both of their hair to the side, Cho eating the grass, everything was so nice... So.. Peaceful... Yuuki couldn't explain herself for wanting to know so much about Kikyo..

"It's getting late... Should we make camp?" Yuuki looked back at the horizon, the birds flying from tree to tree, the water singing a sweet song. Everything was nice. Yuuki like this moment. It was a very good moment.

[Kikyo / Jaken]

It was late. Kikyo hadn't noticed it was late until Yuuki told her that it was getting late. She realised that the sun was setting. The yellow sunlight had become orange and was on her now. The crescent moon was rising. It was strange how time had passed so fast.

"We should make camp." Kikyo got up and began to collect firewood. Yuuki helped her collect firewood. When the two had collected enough firewood the two started a fire. When the fire was burning the sun had set. Kikyo looked up the moon and stars. In the stars she saw constellations.

The constellations were beautiful. She also saw planets and galaxies and those were beautiful too. She told Yuuki while Yuuki made dinner, "They are beautiful, aren't they? I do not know what they are, but I do not need to. What do you think, Yuuki?" Kikyo was not clear whether she wanted to know if Yuuki thought they were beautiful too, or what Yuuki thought they were.

Kikyo looked down at the ground and said, "I have been to the north. In the north, where it is cold and dark, there are lights in the sky! Not the lights in the sky now, but lights that move in unusual patterns. I think it might be magic, but I do not know."

"I tried to find the source of the northern lights. I walked in the direction of the northern lights until I could walk no more. I walked back in the morning, but I still do not know what they are. There is so much mystery in this world..." Kikyo could smell what Yuuki was cooking, but she wasn't hungry.

She never was. She hoped that Yuuki would not offer her food or she would have to refuse. Kikyo had refused Yuuki at lunch when Yuuki had offered her fruit, if Kikyo refused dinner too Yuuki may become suspicious of her. Her abnormalities as an anthroparion were the reason Kikyo kept to herself.

[Sango / Yuuki Mizuo]

Yuuki smiled at Kikyo as they gathered wood. "Would you like some soup?" Yuuki looked at the stars, contemplating on what to say to Kikyo. Yuuki was scared of Kikyo's judgement on Yuuki's thoughts of the stars. She nodded and smiled. "The stars tell a story, they tell us of our past, and warn us of our future." Yuuki looked at Kikyo then at cho. "On different nights, if you lay in the same spot, you can notice that the stars change, it's like... Something unbelieveable." Yuuki's eyes glowed with wonder, she stared at the sky, sighing again and smiling. "I believe if we listen to the stars, they will show us the path to our future, they teachs us about what we are, who we are, and what we are to become." Yuuki shook her head. "Of course, what do I know? They could just be there to look pretty, though, that works for me. They are quite beautiful." Yuuki liked the stars; she loved them infact. They gave her hope. That something was out there, leading her to her brother, leading her to greatness. Yuuki smiled at Kikyo.

"I think I'll make soup." Yuuki made a fire from some of the wood, and took out a metal pot from her bag. She poured some water in and placed some fruits, berries, and vegetables. Some people thought it was weird that Yuuki did not add meat to her soup. Yuuki did not like meat. She felt the saddnes that they felt dying while she eats them. She did not like saddness. Though she felt it often. She showed little of it. Yuuki smiled once more at Kikyo. "Soup?" She asked again.

[Kikyo / Jaken]

Kikyo listened to what Yuuki told her about the stars. Kikyo thought that Yuuki had an interesting idea. If Yuuki had asked Kikyo what Kikyo thought the stars were, Kikyo would have told Yuuki that she did not know. Kikyo did not respond to Yuuki, but Kikyo nodded to let Yuuki know she understood.

"Do the stars tell me what I do not know?" Kikyo looked at the stars. The stars reflected in her brown eyes. "Perhaps, however the stars do not tell me in a language I understand." Kikyo hung her head with a sigh. Kikyo did not raise her head when Yuuki told her that she would make soup.

Yuuki offered Kikyo soup. Kikyo looked at the soup and the soup looked good. It had thin broth but large slices of fruits (apple and pears) and vegetables (onions). The stars also reflected in the green-yellow broth as the stars had reflected in Kikyo's eyes. However, although Kikyo wanted to accept the soup she told Yuuki,

"I apologise but I must decline. I do not want to decline, but I..." Kikyo did not know what to tell Yuuki. Kikyo turned to head to not have to look at Yuuki. "...I am not a regular priestess. I do not eat food." Kikyo thought although she did not speak the thought out loud, "I eat souls, however."

[Sango / Yuuki Mizuo]

Yuuki looked over at Kikyo. "My father told me stories of the stars. They are visions of fallen heroes. Warriors. Kings. Queens. He said that great people form the shapes hidden in the stars. While regular people create the stars that form these shapes. Who you are as a person depends on what hero you fall with. Like warriors and hunters would go with Orion's Belt." Yuuki's eyes glanced at the three stars, one after the other, creating a line. She pointed her index finger to them. "You see those three stars? That's what my fathers says they call Orion's Belt. He was a great hunter. My father says it shows the story of a man, Orion, with the head of a beast that he has slayed next to a river, Eridanus, and his two hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor. They say he slayed the beast called Taurus. In other countries, and places, they call his belt Drie Konings, meaning three kings, or Drie Susters, meaning three sisters."

Yuuki's eyes wondered toward the soup. The wood was near the end of it's ember, keeping the soup warm. She pulled out a small wooden spoon, acknowledging Kikyo's decline, and took a bite. "Are you alright, Kikyo? Was I talking to much?" Yuuki's eyes shifted to Kikyo. Kikyo's head was turned away. Yuuki couldn't help but to fear she had done something wrong. Yuuki smiled, "I know, let's sing a song!" Her eyes glowed from the reflection of the moon as she began to sing,

"Aíde, aíde, kimísou, kórí mou
K'eghó k'eghó ná soú kharíso tín
Alexandra zákhari
Ké to ké tó Misí ri rí zi
Ke tín Konstantantinoúpoli
Trís khrónous ná tín rízis."

Yuuki's eyes closed as she smoked and she sang again,

"Now then sleep, sleep my child.
Sleep and dream my lovely child.
I'll give you the city of Alexandria in sugar;
All of Cairo in rice.
And rich Constantinople.
And there you shall reign for three years."

When Yuuki stopped singing she looked Back at Kikyo. "What kind of priestess are you? What do you eat?" Yuuki's eyes filled with wonder. She was not scared weather Kikyo ate people, souls, demons, or anything else. She just simply smiled and wondered.

[Kikyo / Jaken]

Kikyo smiled at Yuki. Kikyo liked Yuki's song. Her song was in a language Kikyo had never heard before but although she could not understand it, she liked it. Yuki was an interesting girl because she knew information that Kikyo did not know herself.

Kikyo had not heard more than the song but she had also not heard about Orion, Orion's belt, or the other constellations Yuki mentioned. Kikyo did not see the constellations when Yuki indicated where the constellations were. Kikyo was entertained by Yuki herself.

Yuki asked Kikyo what she ate. Kikyo felt her smile disappear. A frown replaced her smile and she looked at the ground. Could she tell Yuki the truth about her? Kikyo decided that there was nothing to tell Yuki than the truth. "Yuki..." Kikyo began, "I did not finish my story earlier."

"However, my story has a bad ending. A bad ending that became a bad beginning. Although you are a new priestess, Yuki, you are a priestess. Can you not sense the aura that I have? If you can sense the aura that I have you will understand the reason that I do not eat what you do as a human."