Of Angels and Demons

Chapter Seven

Things had fallen into place seamlessly, almost to seamlessly, bright blue eyes gazed about the room she had called hers since she was young. Pink, there was far too much pink. A light flush dusted her cheeks glad her past companion's had never seen the inside of her room before.

It had been decorated by a child enamored by the thought of love and happily ever afters. Painted with the hopes and wishes of an innocent young girl, something she would never be again. No, she had grown, aged beyond her years in every sense of the word. She wasn't one hundred percent clear on how it had happened, just that she was now ever living, she wouldn't age a day past what she looked like at this time.

It was a curse or a blessing, depending on whom she talked to, bestowed upon her by the jewel. One last parting gift from the sentient jewel, one last fuck you. After her time in the void she had been spit out in her own time, unable to return to the past for three years. She had moved on with her life, ready to keep moving forward only to out of the blue feel the ever familiar pull of the well.

She had run towards it, her heart beating as she threw caution to the wind, too happy to have a chance at her happily ever after with Inuyasha clouding her mind and judgment to think of the pros and cons of such a rash decision. She had babbled out a goodbye to her family and thrown herself into the past, ready to snatch up her hard earned happily ever after.

Only to have to slip through her fingers, three years was a long time to be apart from someone, even the one you loved. They had both grown in ways that did not complement each other. Soon their legendary love fizzled out into that of best friends and by then it was too late. The well had closed again, she was trapped in the past and for a time she was bitter.

She watched with a bitter smile as Inuyasha found love with another, while she herself was stuck...taking up the mantle of the resident miko after the passing of Keade. It wasn't until Sango hit thirty that they realized she hadn't aged a day since she had reappeared in the past. It wasn't confirmed until she had taken a blow that should have killed her and only walked away from it with stained and ripped clothes that it was set in stone.

She could not and would not die.

Many celebrated it, their shikon miko would never leave them...as the generations aged and gave way to the next they began to fear her. She took the hint and began to wander the lands. Doing what she could here and there, spreading her light. It was these selfless acts that caught the attention of the celestial realm, they saw her deeds and deemed her worthy of an invitation to their realm.

She had jumped at it, wanting, no, needing a change of pace. She had been welcomed with mixed reactions due to her past interactions with demons, there were those that didn't trust her and then there were the others. They had opened their arms to her, more so the youngest of the family of seven. How easily she and Lilith had become like sisters, and in turn the twins followed after them like puppy dogs.

They were enthralled with her tales of the human world and of a world where demons and humans interacted as one...it had been the beginning of the end. War sparked and once again those that she loved and cared about were torn from her, she was locked away. Blamed for the loss of so many celestial lives...

For years she had been locked away with only a handful of captors disguised as visitors. Until she had been offered a chance to redeem herself, she would be sent back to the world she had been birthed to if and only if she looked after the reborn soul of her best friend. She had jumped at the opportunity, wanting to be reunited with her friend even if she was forbidden from mentioning their shared past.

Sadly the world she had returned to was not the one she had left, no longer were demons freely allowed to roam the human world, they had all been shoved back down into the Devildom, yet another repercussion of her actions. No matter where she went she seemed to bring nothing but pain, even so she did her best to make her friend's human life the best it could be.

Hiding her unaging face behind a glamour to avoid suspicion, the day after she had buried her friend she began wandering again. Once again she had no place to call home, she was hundred of years too early to return to her family's shrine and hundred of years too late to seek out her demon friends. So she wandered aimlessly, for years, dabbling in this and that.

Which was how she met him, the self proclaimed sorcerer king, he saw right through her glamour and was quick to insert himself into her life, whether she liked it or not. Yet as time went on they grew close, closer then she had anticipated yet the deeper he dabbled in the darker arts the farther apart they grew until it came to a point where she knew she had to leave.

By then she had only a few more years to wait for her childish self to run headlong into the past to once again set off the dominoes. Five years whittled down to four, then three...it was around then that she recalled the demon her fifteen year old self had been forced to make a pact with. He was a wrathful one, seeing her interfering with his minion as a slight against himself.

She hadn't meant to do so, she just couldn't stomach the idea of poor Mayu being dragged to hell...he hadn't cared. He demanded a soul for a soul and thus she had been bullied into a pact, how silly she had been back then, if only she knew a fraction of what she knew now back then...so much could have been avoided but that was hindsight.

Even so she rekindled what little of a connection they had, and with him the last few years of waiting flew by, almost too fast for her liking, yet she would keep her word and seek out her family the first chance she got. He would understand, or he wouldn't, either way she would sooth his bruised ego later, it wasn't like she wouldn't have the time to do so.

Right now she wanted to spend what little time her family had left with them, they deserved it and damnit she wanted to be selfish, hadn't she earned at least that much?

Wrinkling her nose at her thoughts she shoved them down, she really was getting senile with her old age. Biting back a light chuckle she stood from her bed and readjusted the over sized fluffy towel over her body, being sure to hide the few magical tattoos that graced her skin, not wanting to have to explain them to her family just yet.

Their version of her had left but weeks ago, happy go lucky and naive. She didn't want to burst that bubble just yet. As time went on she would let them see the new her, tell them tales of her travels and tribulations.

Maybe she would even teach Souta some low grade elemental magic, if only to have something for them to bond over. Sure mama might get mad but she doubted she would forbid it, gramps would probably weasel his way into said lessons.

A smile bloomed on her face as she exited her room, intent on settling in the bubble bath she had been drawing. Say what you want to about her younger self but the girl had the right taste when it came to bubble bath and bathing oils, almost as good as the her dear feminine friend from the past. She quickly shoved the thought of him away, a light flush on her cheeks recalling a certain night spent trying out one of his exotic lotions...the man had a way of speaking and acting in such a way that he often got what he wanted.

She got maybe two feet away from her bedroom door when she felt it, the tug of magical power. Thick, powerful and unrelenting, it happened so fast she wasn't able to throw up a barrier let alone refute the magical pull. She could only curse as she felt the dark magic wrap around her, her hands tightening on the hold of her towel, whomever was summoning her was not getting a free show!