I slowly gain consciousness, I open my eyes to a burning fire on the other side. My vision is fuzzy, and my arms are immobilized. I shake my head and look around, I'm still in the dark cave. Everything from last night flashes back to me, my arms are tied to my sides with strong vines in ropes of 2. I'm sitting on the cold rocky floor tied to a large rock. I remember the burn on my hand. I look down at my left hand, the back of it is red with burned skin and it's wrinkled and peeling. I thought he scorched my hand into black flesh, but I'm surprised he didn't. It will scar and I won't be able to feel any sensation on the part of my hand afterwards... well, who knows if I'll be able to live that long. I move my hand, my sore hand feels sluggish, also the scar that Sesshomaru gave me that day is barely visible anymore. I sigh and look at the stream in the middle of the cave that wells up in the center, unfortunately, I can't reach it. Since it's so "dark" in the cave I have no idea what time it is. I close my eyes and try to clear my mind and gain my composure back, I have to stay strong till the end. I hear heavy thumps coming closer from the dark long walkway of the cave, I open my eyes and see the bird demon come into view. I hold my breath and press myself back against the big rock behind me hoping to gain some distance. He crouches down in front of me and grab onto my chin with his clawed hands and turns my head to face him, he observes my face and grins.

"For a human, you are quite stunning. I didn't get the chance to look at you properly last night." He says in a low tone.

My heart begins to thump faster, I have no idea what is going to happen after hearing those words.

"Let me go." I say to him.

"Tsk tsk, that's no way to talk to your master. It would be shameful to burn and scar that face of yours, not that it matters since no one else will see it except for me from now on." He says with a laugh.

"Someone will come to save me, just you watch." I tell him.

"Quite fiesty and strong willed aren't you? Guess a few more burns will tame you soon enough. How about a scratch on the rosy cheek of yours to start things off?" He says.

"No..." I let out.

His clawed tipped fingers comes up to my face and he glides it on my skin with a fair amount of pressure and I feel a stinging sensation, it feels like trailing fire. He has cut my cheek, luckily it's not too deep. I have scars all over my body, what's another few. I take a deep breath and pull my face out of his grasp.

"How about washing that tear stained face of yours? Wouldn't want to see that when I get back at night." He says.

He unties me and with his strong hands holds the strong vines that binds my two arms, he drags me to the edge of the pond at the center of the cave and pushes me down onto my knees.

"You better take a deep breath." He tells me.

Knowing what he's about to do I quickly take in a deep breath, and not a second after he pushes my head under the water. The cool water submerges my head completely, my long hair floats around me like smoke. The cut on my cheek stings a little bit at first but it eventually subsides. The water is cool and soothing, so different from fire. Of course, it can drown you if you're not careful. Earth's elements can be frightening. He holds my head for about 15 seconds or so and pulls me back up, my smoke like hair now becomes a veil and conceals my face. I let my breath go and gasp heavily.

"All cleaned up. I'm going to tie you back up, I'll be out till night fall looking for food. I'll feed you tomorrow, tonight you'll starve." He says.

He then ties me back to the large rock and walks out of the cave. I'm alone once again. Is this going to be my life from now on? I'm in the middle of nowhere, Sesshomaru won't be able to find me here, Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Lady Kaede are absolutely clueless about my whereabouts as well. Kagome and Sango probably just thinks I got lost... I didn't tell them exactly where I was going either... but I know they're out searching somewhere for me. Inuyasha, Miroku, and Suikyu will be back by tomorrow, if I can only hold out till then. I know I can do it, I've been in a similar situation before, although I got injured, I escaped, and Sesshomaru saved me. The new scar on my back reminds me perfectly of that day, and how Sesshomaru stayed by me all night. I smile at the memory, how I long to see him again. I will see him again, he'll be returning soon, and for him, I'll hold on. For the others, I'll hold on. I'm a strong person, even if I die, I'll die fighting. I start to wiggle myself hoping to loosen the vines, I can try slipping out from underneath it, but it will take a while. I don't know if my bare back can handle getting new scrapes and cuts from the rock that I'm tied to. Regardless, I try, I wiggle myself against the vines, I try pulling myself away from the rock, hoping to loosen the strength of the vines. I'm at it for who knows how long, hours most likely with little breaks in between. Time passes and I finally lean myself against the rock, I managed to loosen it up a little bit, but not enough to free myself. I'm exhausted, I lay my head back onto the rock, and stare up at the rocky ceiling. The burning fire crackling away in the distance. I close my eyes and let fatique take over me. What's the point of making the vines loose? If I don't manage to break free before he returns at night, I'll be back to where I started. I pray that someone will come and save me. I fall into a stressful sleep, because it's the only thing I can do now till I regain my strength again. The sun-less and moonless cave completely blinds my sense of time, it's suffocating. I probably fell asleep for about an hour or two, if I started at morning, it's most likely late afternoon or evening now. He'll be back soon. I wake up to distant sounds, I open my eyes and adjust my vision. The fire is still burning away, that must be some mystical fire to be burning all day without diminishing. I shake myself awake and look towards the darkness that the fire couldn't reach. It sounds like gentle ripples, ripples in the water. It's weird, why is he walking in water? Isn't he afraid of water? I can't see anything, no figure no presence. Just the sound of gentle water ripples slowly coming closer to the middle of the cave. I begin to panic, what if it's some kind of sea monster or big fish that found its way in. As the ripple sound finally enters the large cave, I can finally see the water ripples in the stream and coming to the pond in the center of the cave. I hold my breath, hoping to hide my presence from whatever is about to come upon me. The water ripple suddenly stops, it becomes quiet. It's unsettling to be honest. I stare at the pond without movement. Then the surface of the water gently moves and a pale hand with webbings between the fingers comes out and grabs onto the rocky ledge. My eyes widen at the sight and I feel like I'm about to lose my mind. It's not a sea monster or fish, but a fish human hybrid? Oh my I'm in trouble if it's like the fire bird demon, who knows what it's like and what it will do. The figure then pulls itself out of the water and onto the rocky ground, my eyes once again widen a little as I see the figure. In the lit fire, It looks like a man, he has webbed hands that's for sure, but he looks very human. He has back length long hair in a shade of pale blue, it's half tied up and he has bangs that frames his face and covers his forehead. He is barefoot, and he's wearing an armour made from huge fish scales it looks like, it is reflecting the light of the fire, it's decorated with shells, pearls, and barnacles lining perfectly and beautifully. On his arm and thighs are huge fish fins, and on his hip is a large long coral spear with a huge sea snail spiral shell tipped into a sharp point. His skin is pale and fair. Two long blue strands protrudes out from the top of his head, I can see gills on the side of his neck and pointed ears, he's for sure a demon, a fish demon perhaps from the looks of him. I just can't see his face yet. He doesn't seem hostile or dangerous at the moment, he lifts his head up and I can see his face now although it's heavily shadowed in the dark cave. He slowly walks towards me, and the feeling of hostility rises in me. I push myself against the rock. He kneels down in front of me, just a few centimeters away. He looks at my face, and now that he's closer I can see his face better. His pale skin is flawless(as expected from a demon) and he has fish scale markings on the edge of his eyes. He looks familiar in a way, very familiar. But just because he looks familiar doesn't mean I can let my guard down.

"Who are you and what are you going to do to me?" I ask him in a defensive tone.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to get you out of here__________." He says.

My eyes widen at him mentioning my name. How does he know my name? His voice sounds familiar as well.

"Who are you?" I ask him again with a surprised tone.

He smiles at me.

"Do you not recognize these eyes?" He asks me.

I look at his eyes and focus mine onto his, in the lit fire and with deep observation, I finally see his eyes clearly. They are pale blue with tints of gray, they are like aquamarine crystals.

"Suikyu...." I murmer out still dumbstruck.

Suikyu smiles and brushes aside my messy hair from my face.

"There's no time to waste here, I'm here to save you. Let's go, stay still." He says.

He raises his right arm, and the huge fins on his forearm hardens and spikes shoots out from the edge, he brings it down onto the vines and cuts through them. He pulls me up, my legs are numb from sitting all day, Suikyu supports me to the edge of the pond. I turn to him surprised still at what he actually is.

"We're going to swim back to Lady Kaede's village. Don't worry about oxygen, I'll handle it." Suikyu says.

"Suikyu, you're a demon... but why di..." I start to ask him.

"There's no time to explain right now, the bird demon will be back soon since it's night. If we waste time talking he'll be back. We can talk later." Suikyu says.

I nod, Suikyu grabs my hand and we jump into the water. I hold my breath on instinct, I open my eyes underwater and I see Suikyu in front of me. He lifts his right hand to his mouth, and he opens his mouth, his blue eyes flashes white for a split second, then a small bubble forms as he pulls his hand away from his mouth. He comes up to me and place the bubble to my mouth and nose. Immediately I don't feel water around my mouth and nose, I take a breath and realize it's an air bubble. Suikyu nods and takes my hand, his legs are surrounded in strong currents and they disappear and in its place is a big fish tail. He holds me close to him and with a push from his tail we glide through the narrow stream and out of the cave, the underwater rocks soon disappears and the vast sea surrounds us once again. I'm so happy that I get to see the openesss of the beautiful water again, but I return my attention to Suikyu, I'm at his side holding onto him as he's swimming in front of me. I know that he's a demon now, but were there clues that I've missed? I think back to all of the times from the first day that we met. He was gazing out into the sea, almost as if he's longing to be in there or as if he misses it. His incredible stamina and strength in the water when he saved the boy and I from drowning. Not feeling tired or out of breath afterwards. Him knowing a lot about seafood and avoid eating the fish on the table. Him talking about his home being near the sea, him growing up close to the sea, if I had known that the sea is his home. Him asking me to accept the different side of him. And of course the beautiful and rare blue eyes of his, no foreigners would have eyes as gray and blue and as unique as his, only beings that are not human have such eyes. It comes as a surprise, but I became so close to him despite him being a demon. I suppose the questions on my mind now is how he found me, and why he concealed his true form from us. Also, how is he here? What about Inuyasha and Miroku? We swim for about 6 minutes or so without stopping, I hold onto Suikyu closely. We finally arrive onto dry land, not exactly on the same beach but somewhere I believe that's a few minutes away from Lady Kaede's village. Suikyu's tail changes back into legs and with a few kicks, he shores us both. I stand up on my feet, after being so long in the water, my legs feel like jelly and it's somewhat tingly. I look around the area, the sky is clear and star filled. The moon is bright and high illuminating the blackness around it with spirals of white halos, it's only been about a day or so, but to see the outside world again feels like a gift.

"Come on let's get you back home, but first let's get you dried up." Suikyu says.

"Ya, thanks." I reply.

Suikyu raises his hand and touches my arm, and I feel all the water on my body rushes towards that spot, he lifts his hand off of my skin and the water follows his hand and detatched itself from my body into a water sphere. He then opens up a pouch like container on his waist and places the sphere in it and seals it. My kimono is still a bit damp, but my body is now dry and my hair is also a bit damp but it's on the verge of being dry. Suikyu looks at me with his gray blue eyes and he turns and walks off, his long blue hair flowing behind him like cascade.

I follow behind him, and then beside him. We walk off from the sandy ground onto luscious green grass, we walk in silence for a little while, but there were no awkwardness between us. Well at least on my part that is. I decide to break the silence first.

"Thanks for saving me Suikyu. How did you find me? And how did you know I was in danger?" I ask him.

"The sea told me." He replies with a smile.

"The sea? When?" I ask him.

"When you ran into the water yesterday trying to escape the demon, the heartbeat was felt through the water. I was in the water that night and I felt it. Then when you got burned and your hand fell in the water, the pain you felt travelled to me." Suikyu explains.

"Ah... you left Inuyasha and Miroku to come save me.. do they know that you're here?" I ask him.

"I told them that we have to head back immediately, I told them I'm going on ahead. I assume Inuyasha knows what I am now, Miroku I'm not so sure of. I changed back to my true form in order to escape the uneven land and instead swim my way back." Suikyu answers.

"Thank you so much Suikyu. Besides how old are you then? I'm for sure you're not 25." I ask him with a laugh.

"You're right, I'm not 25... I'm over 300." He says with a laugh.

"Wow, guess you're my older brother then... so much for being an older sister to you. You're older than Inuyasha but younger than Sesshomaru." I say giggling.

Suikyu looks at me.

"Sesshomaru? The great dog demon? You know him?" He asks me.

"Of course I do, he's my husband. He's the person that's dear to me." I answer him.

Suikyu's beautiful gray eyes seem so sad all of a sudden. For some reason I feel like I can relate to his sadness in his eyes.

"Suikyu, I know you've saved me twice already, but is there a reason as to why it's me? Have you saved anyone else in such situation?" I ask him.

Suikyu looks ahead his blue bangs swaying as we walk.

"No.. You're the only human that I've actually wanted to saved so far." He replies.

I stop in my track, Suikyu walks ahead of me without stopping.

"Did you save me because I was your sister figure? Someone you're close to or is it something else?" I ask him.

Suikyu stops.

"It's because you're the opposite of a sister figure to me, you are someone that I've grown close to yes. I see you as someone else." He says turning back to me.

"What am I to you then?" I ask him, having a hint of what his reason is finally.

There's a brief silence, and Suikyu shows me a faint smile.

"You're the person that I've come to love." Suikyu finally says.

My eyes widen a little, and my heart seem to stop at his words. It all somehow seem to make sense now. He could've saved anyone but it's me, that night when I asked him who he likes, he said someone who's strong and brave, kind, and understanding, which somehow describes me. We've looked at each other for so long that day, and recently I'm the only woman in his life that he actually spent time with. He loved me but I was oblivious. He told me that he wasn't sure how the other person felt, I... I only saw him as a close friend, a brother figure. Nothing more. Just when I'm about to say something, Suikyu's blue grey eyes widens as he looks slightly above me, he then dashes towards me. Not knowing what's going on I freeze, Suikyu grabs me and pushes me onto the ground, I landed on my back hard, Suikyu shields me from above and he raises his hand, the water that he collected earlier from my body flows out from the container on his hip and he spreads it above us, a streak of fire hits it and the contact between fire and water creates an explosion of smoke. Then a gust of wind blows pass us, then above us I see the fire bird gliding above.

"You alright________?" Suikyu asks me.

"Ya, thanks, how about you? Are you hurt?" I ask him.

"Don't worry about me, it's going to take a lot more than that to bring me down. Come on we have to get you to a safe spot." Suikyu says.

He stands up and pulls me up quickly, he take his coral spear out from his hip and holds it up preparing to fight the bird demon. The demon flies down again and breathes out fire towards us. Suikyu stands in front of me protectively, he twirls his coral spear with great speed and a water shield forms in front of us. The fire hits and it disperses along with the water. The bird lands onto the ground, setting the grass below it on fire. Its wings comes in front of him and when it unveils itself it turns into its cape, and its bird form disappears and in its place is its human form. He stands a few meters away from us. Such contrast between red and blue, such hostility between fire and water. The bird demon laughs.

"I see my little human pet escaped with a help of a fish friend." He says.

"She's not a pet and she's certainly not your pet. She's a human being. There are animals out there that you can hunt, why are you going for humans?! From the looks of it, you seem above than an average demon, shouldn't you have some morals at least?" Suikyu shouts at him.

"Because humans are weak, they live to be hunted. From the looks of it, you look above average yourself, why are you protecting a low mortal?" The demon says back.

"You're wrong, there are more to humans than you see and know. Leave them alone." Suikyu says.

"What if I don't?" He asks.

"Then you'll have to fight me to get to her." Suikyu says sternly.

"As you wish fish boy." The bird demon says.

He then pushes himself off of the ground and blows a stream of fire at us.

"Run________, get to somewhere safe." Suikyu says.

"But..." I start.

"Now!" Suikyu shouts.