Rin and Kirai had made their way to the nearby mountains. Their trek there was peaceful and no one bothered them on their journey. A few people did look at Kirai a bit oddly for the way she was dressed, but they said nothing to her since she was with Rin. The problem started when they got to the foot of the mountains. A man stopped them before they could go up the path that would lead them to where they were heading.

"Wait, you two are not safe to go up the mountain." The man spoke with worry in his voice.

"Why not?" Kirai questioned irritated yet again.

"There is a witch up there. She is insane. We are all afraid of her here in this village. She might kill you if you mess with her."

"It'll be fine. We need to get some herbs. So we need to go. Thank you for warning us though." With that, the two girls continued their journey. They headed up the path and were stopped when Rin spotted a little cabin.

"That wasn't here before. It's new."

"Want to go check it out? I guess that'd be the witch's home."

"Sure." Both girls knew it wasn't smart, they just were more curious than anything. So, instead of picking herbs, they headed over to the little cabin. As they got closer, they could see it was small but was beautiful.

The pathway leading to the door was made of completely crystal stepping stones. They were a blue/purple color and sparkly in the sunlight. There were actually precious stones everywhere around the cabin. They all were different colors and shined brightly in the light. It gave off the feeling of being totally inviting, even though the man said the witch might kill the two girls.

So, with the feeling of friendliness in the air around the beautiful cabin, the two girls approached the door and knocked on it. It took a few moments, but eventually, someone opened up the door.

Standing there was a young girl, in her early 20s. She had pastel pink hair and silver eyes, showing that she was a witch and not human. She wore an eclipse pendant with even more precious stones in it. Her shirt and skirt were all black with hints of purple and silver around the edges. Instantly, Kirai gasped and so did the witch.

"Oh my goddesses and gods, it's been forever since I last saw you!" The witch exclaimed happily as she opened her arms as if to hug someone.

"I know right!" Kirai and the witch did indeed hug each other but then froze in confusion. "Um, wait who are you?"

"What is going on?" Rin asked, incredibly confused at that moment in time. The two split apart and just looked at each other.

"You look exactly like a friend I had back in America. I haven't seen her in years though." Kirai explained simply as her face went red with embarrassment due to her actions from a moment ago.

"You are the spitting image of my late sister. For a moment I almost thought she'd come back to life. She disappeared many years ago, so she has been presumed to be dead." The witch explained sadly. "By the way, my name is Safaia Tsuki."

"I'm sorry." Rin and Kirai both spoke in unison with a sad look in their eyes. They both understood the feeling of loss that the witch was feeling.

"It's quite alright. I have a feeling she'll be back one day. Anyway, do you two want to come in?"

"We shouldn't, we just wanted to say hello. We're actually going to pick some herbs and get home before dark."

"I see, well how about I pick some with you? I haven't had too much human contact for a long time. Well actually ever since I moved up here a month ago. Everyone in the village thinks I'm evil."

"How come?"

"I get a little crazy when it comes to crystals. So that makes the people a little nervous of me."

"Oh? A little crazy how?"

"...You'll see..." The three girls then set out and made their way to the meadow. Suddenly Rin stopped and bent down.

"Oh, a pretty purple crystal!" All at once, Safaia leaped towards the crystal making a strange growling type noise that scared the hell out of Rin and Kirai. Both girls jumped backward in horror as Safaia landed on all fours where Rin said there was a crystal.

"Holy fuck!" Kirai yelled out as she grabbed Rin protectively. Both girls were terrified as Safaia dug out the crystal and held it to her chest.

"No one touches my precious babies!" She then took a moment to collect herself once again and stood up, brushing herself off in the process. "My bad guys. My bad."

"It... It's good." Kirai hesitantly spoke, still a little scared of the witch. She then began to laugh though. "You know, my best friend used to act like that too, maybe not as insanely as you, but similar."

"I think we're going to get along nicely," Safaia spoke with a huge friendly smile on her face.

"I agree," Kirai responded with a smile of her own on her face.

"Now let's get those herbs Kagome wanted!" Rin was excited to be helpful. She had a list of the herbs and a basket to put them in. So with nothing stopping her, she went to work. Safaia also went to work, gathering her own herbs, while Kirai just stood there, confused.

"Um, I have no idea what I'm looking for. I've never looked for herbs before." Kirai felt bad about not being able to help like she'd been wanting to.

"It's okay, you just stand watch and guard us."

Standing guard was quite a boring job. Kirai wanted to do something other than just stand there. However, she was soon lost in her thoughts as she thought back on how her life led her to where she was now. The surprising thing was, Rin seemed to read her mind and questioned her about it suddenly.

"So you said you ran away from home and ended up at Kagome's family's well house. Why did you run away?" Rin questioned, not really knowing she shouldn't have asked such a personal question.

"Oh, um... Well, that's complicated."

"How so?" Safaia asked as she joined in on their conversation.

"I... don't really remember why. I can remember arguing with someone but I don't remember who that someone is."

"That's weird, do you think that's because you hit your head when you fell down the well?" It was Rin once again asking the question.

"Yeah, that's a possibility." Kirai rubbed her head as she thought back on if she really did hit her head or something. She wasn't sure of anything at that moment. All she knew was that she was confused. Her mind was all scrambled, leaving her not confident of her own thoughts.

~

As the three girls were picking the herbs, they began to feel an ominous presence. The witch and Rin were the first ones to notice it, while it took a little longer for Kirai.

"What is this feeling? Is something bad coming our way?" Kirai questioned as she was getting a little freaked out now.

"Yeah, most likely demons. Do you guys have any weapons on you?" Safaia asked as she pulled out her witchy witch stuff. She had powders for killing the demons.

"Of course we do," Rin spoke a little harshly as she pulled out her bow and arrows. Kirai pulled out the sword she had but just stared at it.

"Hey Rin, I know I said I can handle this earlier, but I'm starting to get a little freaked out." Kirai was unsure of herself, but as the 10 demons approached them, something took over within her. The sword she was holding began to glow a dark blue color. "Hey was this sword supposed to be all magical and shit?!"

"Uh... Not that I can think of." Rin responded, quite unsure and shocked at what she was seeing.

"The dark blue is coming from you. It almost seems like you have priestess powers, even though they are so dark." Safaia noted in awe. "It looks just like my late sister's powers..."

"Really?" Kirai looked at her sword surrounded by the dark blue light and smiled. She now had confidence that she could defeat the demons.

As the demons drew closer, Rin began to shoot arrows. They had a little bit of pink priestess power along with them, which successfully took out any demon she hit. She only had 4 arrows though, which only killed four demons.

Next was Safaia's turn. She threw her powders at the demons which instantly killed them as it touched them. With her witchy witch stuff, she took out 3 demons that came near her. They quickly understood to stay away from her, so they all began to go after Kirai.

Kirai swung her sword at the demons, causing a wave of blue-black energy to come shooting out from the weapon. As the wave of energy touched the demons, it instantly killed them in the form of dissolving them. It seemed like the power from the sword was like acid. It shocked the three girls who witness it.

"Well... Um, that was new. I've never seen a human do that before." Safaia commented after the initial shock wore off.

"I agree. I thought only demons could do something like that." Rin noted next, as her shock began to wear off.

"That was cool though, right?" Kirai seemed oblivious to the surprise of her companions. She was only focused on how amazing she felt now that she was able to wield such a weapon with such power. She was a little unsure though. She was confused about why she had such abilities. She was just a normal human after all, right?

"Well, let's not just stand here. Let's gather what we came here to get and head home before more demons arrive." Safaia finally spoke with a tone of finality. She wasn't giving the other two girls the option to just stand around and do nothing. So, Rin and Kirai did as they were instructed to. They gathered their herbs and put them safely in a basket. Once their task was done, they headed to the crystal witch's home to say goodbye.

"I hope we can meet again soon. We'll come and visit you every so often." Kirai spoke with a smile on her face. She and Safaia hugged and felt a spark between them, but neither woman was sure of what it meant. So, they let it be, for now, hoping their questions will be answered another day.

"It was great meeting you, even though you scared me a little bit when it came to that purple crystal," Rin spoke with

her own smile on her face.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It's why the villagers are afraid of me. I should probably work on that... well, I would if people would stop messing with my crystals." Safaia smiled back at the two girls. She was glad to finally have made two friends. She had been alone after the disappearance of her sister, so it was nice to end the loneliness after so long.

With that, the two girls began to head back to their own village. With Safaia waving them goodbye, they headed out and began to walk down the path that would eventually lead them home. Both girls had a sense of peace as they walked away. Not only did they gather what Kagome needed, but they made a new friend in the process.

However, Rin was still a little uneasy about Kirai's show of powers. She hoped they didn't mean anything bad, while Kirai still felt proud of herself at the use of them. She didn't quite understand what her powers could mean. However, to both girls, that was a problem for when they got back to the priestess, Kagome.