Another boring day... but, when you think about it, nothing is ever boring in the Feudal Era. I know you just loved the title there. I’m sure you thought is was cunning to make Tale become Tail to tie in the ‘cat’ aspect of the story… but anywho my name’s Kairi and we’ll keep last names to ourselves at the moment, thank you. Krystal pestered me enough to write a brief book, you could say, about my past. It will, in no way, be as lengthy as Krystal’s but we all know that’s good right? Good, let’s begin.
To pretty much sum up my life as a kid, you’d have to describe a regular week in my home, Ayemray. Say that ten times fast. Basically, we would work the whole day… we had the occasional demon attack for, what my mother said, was a shard of a jewel… that same jewel that Inuyasha and Kagome are looking for. At any rate we would have the same routine everyday until our fifteenth birthday, when the village warriors would come and take us to be trained to fight. Now… now that seems like it was all foreshadowing that one demon that would attack.
I was trained by one of the best teachers in the Feudal Era at the time, Master Kakashi. I was his last student before he left our village. He taught me everything I know… how to fight with fists or, if I could get a hold of some, Katanas. I have, not once, run into any of those yet, except the ones Kakashi gave me. Then came the time when the demon, Naraku, had attacked our village, coming for the jewel. I was out looking for herbs for my mother at the time… I saw smoke and ran towards home.
“Mom?!” I shouted, looking around the burning houses franticly. “Mikiro, Anyone?!”
Mikiro was my older sister…
“One scrawny cat still lives?” a man’s voice came.
I turned and looked at him, standing in the road. Naraku grinned at me sinisterly.
“What have you done to Mikiro, to my mom… and the others?!”
“Do not worry… you will soon join the rest!” he shouted, and ran towards me.
I thought I had enough training to defeat him… but I was wrong. Naraku punched me straight in the chest and I flew back into one of the huts.
“Pathetic… they called these imbeciles guards?” he said mockingly and walked away, thinking I was dead.

I coughed up some blood and tried to get up. I held my hand to my head and saw I was bleeding there too. I walked to the door and slumped against the opening. I had to think of something quickly or I’d die… my greatest hope was to get to the next village. I started walking towards the closest village, Usiti, leaving a trail of blood behind me, coming from my mouth. I was walking for a couple minutes when my legs gave way and I fell to my knees coughing up more blood. He must have broken my ribs or something… I thought. I was never going to get there this way. My ears sagged and my eyes half-closed.
“Oh my God, are you ok?!” a girl shouted, running over to me and kneeling next me.
My eyes shot open and my ears perked up in surprise. I looked at the girl, Krystal. I’ve heard that demons could transform themselves to look like something harmless, so I assumed that was what Naraku was doing.
“Just get it over with… go ahead and kill me already.” I said softly, looking away.
“I’m not here to hurt you… I was looking for my friends.” she said, sympathetically.
I stared into her eyes… this couldn’t be a demon; a demon would have loved this chance to kill something. A small smile appeared on my face, and I nodded at her, trustingly. My eyes closed quickly and I fell forward into the Krystal’s arms. I was lucky she was there to help treat me… I would have died for sure if I hadn’t met Krystal and been healed.

I woke up in a bed in some strange house… I felt better than I had earlier. I sat up and looked around. Krystal was there, with her head on my bed sleeping soundly. Ash was leaning against the doorway sleeping as well. I looked back and Krystal.
“Hey… hey, get up!” I said, poking her forehead with my finger.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes.
“Who’s that?” she asked, sleepily.
“Thanks for your help back there… I thought I was done for.” I said, smiling.
“No problem, my pleasure.” she said, smiling, seeming wide awake now.
“The name’s Kairi, pleased to meet yah.” I said, extending my hand.
She shook my hand and said “Name’s Krystal and same to you.”
Ash stirred and rubbed the back of his head. He’s a sweet guy… Krystal’s lucky to have him.
“That’s Ash, my husband.” she said, looking at him, and then shifted her gaze back to me. “He helped bring you over here.”
“Thank you.” I nodded to him and he nodded back. “If you don’t mind my asking, why’d you help me?” I asked confused… why would a complete stranger help someone they didn’t know?
“You were bleeding and well… I just felt like helping you.” she said, looking into my eyes. “Who did that to you?”
I shook my head “I don’t know… whatever it was killed everyone in my home… including my sister.”
I didn’t want them to know about my little, one-sided, fight with Naraku.
“I-I’m sorry… I didn’t know.” she said, sadly.
“…You said you were looking for your friends.” I said, changing the topic. “Did you find them?”
She shook her head and Ash said, “We brought you back here to rest… Miroku and Sango will be fine out there.”
“Um… are you a demon of some type?” she asked, choosing her words carefully it seemed.
“Heh… no, I’m not, the ears make you want to think that though.” I smiled. “I just have ears like a cat… that’s what I thought everyone had.”
She smiled, and shook her head, “Nope not many people have ears like yours.”
I heard the door open and we all looked to see who it was.
“You couldn’t be the kid of a demon and a human?” asked a boy with silver hair and ears like mine, as he sat next to Ash, a girl with black hair came in next and sat next to the boy.
“I’m sorry I don’t know.” I said, my ears lowering, embarrassed… I just knew my mom; my dad had died long ago protecting our village… I didn’t know if he was human or not.
“You have to know!”
My eyes shot away from him and I blushed.
“Stop pestering the poor girl Inuyasha!” said the girl. “If she says she doesn’t know then she doesn’t know!”
There was a pause and then Ash said “Well since we’re all living shall we head back to look for Miroku and Sango?”
“Uh… what about me?” I asked.
“You wanna come with us?” Krystal offered.
“Ok, that is if you don’t mind.” I accepted… maybe I could get revenge on Naraku this way.
“Yea…” started Inuyasha.
“First lesson is to never listen to Inuyasha, Kairi,” Krystal said, smiling. “Because he’s wrong most of the time.”
“What’d you say?” he said looking at her.
She smiled at him and said “Nothing Inuyasha.”
She got up and extended her left hand.
“Ready to go then?”
I nodded, grabbed her hand, and we set off.

This next part I’ll just add little notes on. We went back to Kagome’s house and Eclair, an old friend of Ash, showed up. She dragged him away to see Lumiere, another friend. We waited until that night when they came back. They talked for a few minutes and off she dragged Ash again, Krystal following after him.
I stared at the door and Inuyasha said “I swear that guy is getting to be like Miroku.”
Kagome just laughed.
“I-I’ll cook dinner if you want.” I said, uneasily.
“Oh…” she said looking at Inuyasha. “You don’t have to.”
“I’d like to if you’d let me.” I said, ears rising.
“Ok… I’ll help.”
“Um… O-ok.”
We made dinner for the three of us.
“It’s good Kairi.” Kagome said, smiling. “You’re a good cook.”
I blushed, my ears rose, and I said “Really?”
“Hmph… It’s not bad.” Inuyasha said.
“See even Inuyasha likes it.”
We finished dinner and Kagome got me a bed.
“Thank you, Kagome.” I said, bowing.
“You don’t have to bow you know… and there’s no reason to be embarrassed when somebody pays you a compliment.”
“I-I just…” I started. “Ok Kagome.” I said and smiled.
I woke up the next morning and made breakfast.
“Inuyasha come eat.” I said, annoyed.
“Where is he?! Ash knows we need to find Miroku and Sango!”
“Inuyasha, Get over here and eat!”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Hmph… fine, starve, see if I care.” I said, sitting down.
Kagome whispered to me “See, don’t you feel more in place acting normally and not like some servant?”
I nodded and smiled “Thanks, Kagome.”
Inuyasha came in and sat down “Fine I’ll eat ok?”
Kagome and I smiled at each other.

I guess Inuyasha got tired of waiting and decided to find Ash.
“He’s taking too long! We’re going to find him and drag him back here.”
“I’ll stay here and watch the house!” I yelled as they ran out the door.
It was a few hours before I heard a knock at the door. I opened the door and a lot of people were outside.
“Um… yes can I help you?” I said, politely.
“You’re Kairi right?” said a tall boy with red hair.
“Yes… but who are you?”
“I’m Gene and Kagome told us to come here and wait until they found Ash.”
“Oh… Ok come in.”
I met everyone… Gene, Jim, Ryoko, Sasami, and the list goes on. Everyone got settled and I started dinner. Sasami came in and asked if she could help. I nodded and we cooked dinner together.
I heard the door open, later, and Kagome shouted “Kairi we’re back!”
I poked my head around the corner and smiled.
“Welcome back! Dinner’s almost ready.”
Sasami and I finished dinner and everyone seemed to enjoy it, it put Krystal right to sleep. We all went to bed and, again, we cooked breakfast for everyone in the morning. Krystal was the last one to get up.
“Morning, Krystal.” I said, smiling.
Morning, Kairi, have you seen Ash lately?” she asked.
“Uh… I think he went outside with the boy with blue hair.”
“Hmm… I wonder why?” she said and headed for the door. “Thanks by the way!”
“No problem, Krystal.”
Kagome came out and talked to Sasami. She then walked over to me.
“You’re welcome to come with us, Kairi. Sasami can take things from here.”
“Oh… I couldn’t just leave her alone.”
“No, it’s ok Kairi, I’ll be fine.” Sasami said, cheerfully.
We headed outside to where the others were waiting. We then went into a well and were back in the Feudal Era.

“Please, friends of the demon slayer, you must help us!” said a man, running towards us. “Our castle is under attack by a horrible demon and we can not seem to find the demon slayer anywhere.”
We accepted and headed, with the man, towards the castle.
“Ok… we’ll head in when we get there.” said Ash. “I want you to stay outside, Krystal.”
“What, why?!” Krystal said, turning towards him. “You said you’d let me fight, and that’s what I want to do!”
“Kairi we need you to head to a village and get us some supplies.” Kagome was saying to me.
“Is that what you guys do? Just get rid of the people that can’t fight when danger comes?!” Krystal shouted.
I nodded to Kagome and I left to go to the town. It was a small town, supported by the castle that the others went to. I stopped near a produce stall and started talking to the manager.
“We’ve been looking a long time…” said a boy in purple armor.
“I don’t know, B, we’ve been everywhere.” said a girl in a blue shirt next to him.
They stopped at a nearby stand and started talking to the man there.
“A girl with long brown hair?” repeated the shop keeper. “Traveling with a demon with silver hair?”
Inuyasha? Then they must be looking for Krystal. I thought.
I walked over to them and said “Um… excuse me but are you looking for a girl named Krystal.”
The girl in the blue looked at me and then at the boy in purple armor.
“Yes we are… have you seen her?” he asked.
“Yeah she and the others are at the castle exterminating some demons… We could meet you at the next town.”
“Thank you!” said the boy. “The name’s Bryth, I’m her son.”
My ears perked up “I’ve heard of you! The name’s Kairi, I’m a friend of your mom.”
We headed back to the road, after meeting the others, and I headed towards the castle and they headed the opposite way to the other town. My ears lowered… something was wrong. I set the supplies down by a tree and ran towards the castle. A group a demons was circling the castle. I kicked the closest demon to make an opening to get to the castle. I rushed in and saw Krystal ducking from the demon I kicked forward. I put my hand on her shoulder and she flinched.
“Hey we’re not going to get through this if you’re just running.” I said.
“Kairi, I’m so glad to see you.” she replied, nearly crying.
I smiled at her “Nice to see you too Krystal, but let’s focus here.”
“Uh… right!” she said, standing up. “I never knew you could fight.”
The demons started in towards us as I pulled out my katanas.
“Sure I can, because-“ I said, kicking one of the demons backwards into some of the others and slashing another demon’s throat “-you won’t live very long in this time without learning to fight.”
It was a good thing I got here in time or Krystal would have never been able to survive. A demon ran towards me but I spun away from it and elbowed it in the neck, then it fell to the ground. I spun a bit more and impaled the demon behind me through the chest.
“How, if you could fight, did you get that badly hurt?” she asked, punching a few of the demons.
“Lemme tell you, if your home of over one hundred and fifty people can’t kill something, you don’t stand much of a chance by yourself.”
When all of the demons had either fled or died, Krystal leaned against the wall and slid down to the ground.
She let out a long sigh and I laughed “Pretty exhausting huh?” I said, smiling, putting the katanas back in their sheath on my back.
“You’re not kidding… thank you Kairi.” she looked down “Without you I would have died for sure.”
I sat next to her and smiled “Hey a debt repaid…” I said, happily.
She nodded and we sat there a good while before we remembered Ash and the others.
“Oh… we forgot about Ash and Inuyasha.” I said, standing up slowly.
I held out my hand and helped Krystal up.
“Ok there has to be a switch or something around here that opens the gate.”
We looked around the castle, on the walls, in the bushes and on the ground. The doors swung open and the others rushed out.
“W-what happened here?” Inuyasha said, looking at the dead demons.
“All right she must have found the switch.” I said, avoiding the question entirely.
“You mean you and Krystal did this by yourselves?” Ash asked, surprised.
“Yup, yup, you’re lucky Kairi got here in time.” Krystal said, stopping in front of them.
“Krystal… I’m sorry I just didn’t want you to get killed.” Ash said.
“It’s ok Ash… I got my fight, but I think I’ll sit the next couple out.”

As you may have guessed, the fight wasn’t over yet. The large demon got up carrying its sword, and held it up to Krystal’s neck.
“We’re not done here.” it said.
“Krystal!” I shouted. “Let go of her.”
He turned her around so he could look her in the eyes.
“You, little girl, have caused us too much trouble for your own good.” he said, cut the side of her head, and blood ran down her cheek. “But you will still be eaten.” he finished and licked the blood off her face.
“Get off of her, dammit!” Ash shouted.
Krystal turned her head towards Ash who was clenching his fist.
“Stay there, boy, or I’ll kill her now.” the demon hissed in reply.
The demon grinned at her and leaned his head forward, teeth barred. An arrow shot through the demons head, splattering its blood on her face, and stopped within two inches of her face. The demon fell forward and Krystal slid to a sitting position on the ground. She looked up and saw Arliss holding a bow.
“Oh my God… Krystal I didn’t hit you did I?!” she said and knelt in front of Krystal wiping some of the blood off her face.
Krystal leaned back and wiped some off of her cheek “Arli… what’re you doing here?”
She sat in front of her and smiled. “We met Kairi in one of the towns… looks like we came in the nick of time.”
“We… what do you mean ‘we’?”
Arliss motioned to Bryth and the others running towards us.
“Um… why’re you dressed so strangely?” Krystal asked.
“It’s Artifact Armor.” Ash said.
Krystal turned her head quickly to look at him and some blood fell from her hair and landed on the ground.
“At least I think so… I’ve heard of it.”
Bryth nodded and Arliss said “Yeah… it’s awarded to people that are experts in their class. The one B’s wearing is for Dragoons, I’m wearing the ones for Rangers, and Mall’s wearing the ones for Black Mages. Ryo,” she said, looking at the cat girl “is just plain wearing rare armor.” she smiled at Ryo who smiled back. Zeph,” she said looking at the taller boy “is wearing the armor for Paladins. Finally, Ende is wearing the ones for Monks.” she finished, with the last boy. “We’ve all been busy training.”
“I’m glad you got here when you did Arli…” Krystal said, smiling.
“I’m just sorry you got bloody from that arrow Krystal.”
“We’re lucky that’s the only thing that happened.” Ash said.
“You’re right, dad.” Arliss said, looking at him. “Sorry about…”
Krystal’s head cocked at Arliss whose eyes went wide and she looked away, blushing quite a bit. Bryth’s eyes went from her to Ash, eyes just as wide as Arliss’.
“Dad huh?” Krystal said, quietly “What was that supposed to mean?”
She looked back at Arli who blushed even more.
“I-I… didn’t mean to… say that.” she said, quietly.
“You know… people that aren’t related usually call the husband or wife’s parents ‘Dad’ and ‘Mom’ when they’re married…”
This made Arli blush even more than she had been.
“You don’t have to hide it… I can’t think of anyone else that I could trust with Bry.”
Arliss looked up at her, still blushing, and smiled “You mean it?”
Krystal nodded “Of course… this was bound to happen anyway.”
She shot into Krystal’s arms and hugged her.
“Thank you… I didn’t know if you’d approve.” she said.
“You’re both old enough… It’s your life; you can do what you want with it.” “Well… You need a bath Krystal… you’re covered in blood.” said Kagome.
“Oh yeah… sorry about that.” said Arliss.
“Should I just head back?” Krystal asked.
“I think we’ll come along,” said Ash “I think we need to train more.” he said, looking at Shugo.
My ears lowered again. Something’s not right… I thought. There’s something still alive out there. Ash must have noticed my ears; he came over to me.
“Everything ok, Kairi?” he asked.
I shook my head “I don’t know… I just have a feeling that something’s out there, watching us.”
Boy was I right. An arrow shot out from the trees and hit Krystal in the right shoulder.
“Krystal!” Ash shouted and ran over to her.
She staggered backwards into his arms. Arliss whirled around, bow in hand, and shot an arrow into the trees. A demon fell out of the trees and hit the ground, an arrow skewering its heart.
Krystal’s eyes half-closed “Why’re they trying to kill me?” she asked, rhetorically.
She went limp and Ash shouted “We have to get her back to rest!” he looked at her and whispered “Hold on Krystal…”
We headed towards the well, jumped in, and got Krystal into a bed.

That night, Ash and I watched over Krystal. I looked over at Ash, sadly, ears lowered.
“Ash, I’m sorry…”
“You had nothing to do with this.” he replied, smiling faintly.
“I-I know this isn’t the time to say this but…” I said, starting to blush “Would you kiss me?”
Ash stared at me strangely “Why…?”
“I… think I… love you, Ash.” I said, blushing. “But… I know you love Krystal and… it would be easier to forget you if…” I was interrupted by Ash kissing me on the lips.
He smiled at me “Think of it as a thank you for saving Krystal…”
I smiled shyly back at him and looked at Krystal. “Think we should keep this a secret?”
“If you want it to be then I’ll be sure to keep it.”
I nodded; this was my first kiss actually… and I’ll never forget it.

Somehow… Krystal found out about our little kiss. She didn’t mention it until dinner the next night.
“So Ash…” she started, calmly “help any stray cats lately.”
Hmph… stray cat my ass, that was a low blow… she knew I felt bad about kissing him behind her back.
“Krystal… I…” I started.
She stood up quickly and looked at Ash.
“I can’t believe you’d do something like this!”
She headed for the door and Ash got up.
“Krystal… hold on.” he said.
“No, just back off and let me think!” she shouted and headed outside.
“Ash… I-I’m really sorry…” I said, starting to cry.
I shook my head and tears flew from my eyes.
“I never thought she’d take it this hard… It was just one kiss… I mean… it’s not like you felt anything between us.”
I stood up and looked at him, concentrating.
“I’m gonna go talk to her.”
I headed out the door and saw Krystal sitting on the step.
“Krystal, can I talk to you?” I asked.
“Hmph… what do YOU want?” she asked.
This made me flinch and my ears lowered as far as they could go.
“I-I… just wanted to say… that I’m sorry.”
She looked at me and said “Oh you have huh?”
“I know you two love each other and… I’m not jealous of you for that. I needed to kiss Ash because… I wanted to be able to let you two be together. It would be too hard for me otherwise.”
There was a long pause.
“Tell me Kairi… think Ash kisses well?” she said looking at me.
I blushed and looked at her “W-what?”
She smiled and laughed “Just a yes or no.”
“Uh… I-I guess so. That was my first kiss though.”
“What really?!” she asked, surprised.
“Yes… really.” I said, embarrassed.
And with this we talked for most of the night.
And…
This is where I’ll stop. I promised her I’d give her a background on my life and hopefully clear up the whole kissing thing once and for all, but here I am explaining things she’ll explain more thoroughly in her book. Hope you enjoyed this… especially you Krystal, I hope you understood. It may not seem too extensive a history but that’s it.
Kairi Takiro