Outside, Lord Okami slammed his daughter against the wall and whipped her with a leather switch. Her mother tried to close her eyes so she didn't have to watch, it was too painful for her.

"You're lucky I don't kill you. Touching me is a crime, did you know that? Only my wife can touch me. NOT YOU. The only reason I'm keeping you alive, little pup, is so you can become marriage material for Shino. That way you can make a ninja fit to become a champion. You'll mate with him and breed the finest pedigree of ninja." he talked about his own daughter as if she were a thing.

"B-But what about Kiba...?" Keira had taken a liking to him, "He's part of a dog clan, right? Shouldn't we keep our clan blood clean...?" she smiled to him with blood dripping out of her mouth. He suddenly got angry and punched her in the face against the stone wall.

"We will NEVER deal with that mutt. GOT IT?" His wife patted him on the shoulder to tell him to stop, and to their surprise, he let Keira go and she fell to the ground.

"Keira...!" her mom called for her and caught her in her arms. Her father just walked away, leaving his bleeding daughter to his wife.

Back at the hotel where they were staying, Keira's mother was using healing jutsu to erase many of the wounds.

"Mom?"

"Yes?" she asked, putting some alcohol-based ointment on her neck, and Keira flinched a bit at the pain.

"Can you tell me a little history about you and dad? I want to know why he hates me and you." she asked, and her mother picked up the hairbrush for Keira.

"Well," she stroked the brush through her daughter's silky milky blue hair, "I guess I wouldn't mind telling you." she made sure the hair was untangled, and then put the hairclips back in, "Back in ninja school, I had a best friend. Her name was Kaori. I was Kikyou Toboeda. Kaori was much more popular than me."

"You like Hige, don't you?" she asked Kikyou. Hige was Keira's father. Kikyou blushed like crazy.

"Y-Yeah..." she shyly replied.

"I'll help you out, any way I can." Her friend smiled. Kikyou hugged her out of thanks. She truly loved her friend. They made friends with Hige, who was much more friendly, but quiet and a bit dark back then. They were a great trio. But then...

"You've been chosen to marry Hige. The Toboeda family has accepted the offer." Kikyou's father told her, smoking on a pipe, and she smiled, "Although Kaori was first chosen... But she refused." Kaori had more will to make her own choices than Kikyou and other high class girls. She had the right to turn down wedding proposals if she pleased. But Kikyou was plenty happy. Kaori had turned him down for her, and just because the Okami family wanted Hige to marry Kaori to marry him, didn't mean he wanted to... Right...?

"What's wrong Hige...?" She kneeled down to his level.

"Go away...!" he pushed her back. Kikyou had a feeling of what had happened...

"We're getting married! Isn't that great...?" she nervously asked.

"I didn't want to marry you!" he yelled at her, and she jumped back. Tears started to fall from her eyes.

"It couldn't be... You're in love... With Kaori...?" she asked quietly. He nodded his head in a shrug. She felt her heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

"Why else do you think I stayed around you?! I wanted to be near her!!" he yelled. Kaori felt so hurt, but she loved him so much, she gave everything she had to him that day to ease his pain. Her soul didn't satisfy him, so she gave him the one thing that a man wanted. The body of a woman. Even before they eloped, she let him have her. He felt absolutely nothing for her and used her body that night until it was worn out. They married a week or so after, and Kikyou had become pregnant with Keira.

Kaori had fallen in love with someone else, however. She had married Tsume Inuzuka, and she truly loved him, and he loved her. They were always so happy, but Hige didn't want to be in love with Kikyou. When Keira was born, all of the main family was angry.

"It's all because we didn't get Kaori!" said the grandfather.

"We wanted a SON! A son that would become strong and purebred! We should have never let you marry him!" the grandmother screeched at Kikyou, who was still hurting from labor.

"Hige, this girl needs to be taught a lesson!" the old man grabbed Kikyou by her hair and placed a kunai to her throat.

"Stop it! It's not her fault!" Hige yelled at his parents. Kikyou was on the verge of dying, but she was still happy, because her loved one had stood up for her.

"Fine... Come with us son, and we'll discuss an alternative." the woman pulled her son along with her husband. Kikyou waited an hour, but still they did not return. She stood up to see what was going on, and went to talk to her parents in law.

"Ma'am, where has Hige gone?" she asked. The old woman had the laugh of a goose, and she squawked in laughter.

"He's gone to kill that traitor, Kaori." she took a bite at an umeboshi. Kikyou was shocked. She felt her stomach turn in circles at the truth.

"He did it so he could save YOU. What a fool." the grandfather took one as well from the glass jar and chewed it in his old, wrinkly mouth. Kikyou was happy that he chose herself over Kaori, but Kaori was going to die! She ran as fast as she could to a grassy field, where she saw Kaori and her son Kiba playing together. And then she saw Hige in black clothing with his miniature dog, Sirus, on his shoulder. He took his katana and stabbed it straight through her chest, and Kiba screamed.

"Hige, why?!" she cried to him after Kiba had been taken home and Kaori lay before them.

"You would have been killed. And if I don't obey the main household, they'll make me possessed with a demon. It's happened once before." Kikyou gritted her teeth and slapped him on his soft face.

"Kaori was my best friend...! And you were in love with her...! I would have glady died knowing that you would be happy...!" she sobbed, holding her best friend's lifeless hand. He pulled it away from her and hugged Kikyou in his arms. It was the first, and possibly the last time he ever treated her like that.

"So that's why dad hates me... He had to kill the one he loved in order to save you because I was born." Keira had tears coming strong down her cheeks, and so did her mother.

"I think deep down, he really is trying to care for you, it's just hard..." she smiled sadly. Keira understood. She understood everything.

Later that day, Kiba was looking for Keria, when he saw Akane Ishida, the one that Shino was in love with.

"Akane! It's been a while." he smiled. She pushed her glasses back on her nose.

"Shino?" she asked in monotone. If she said anything to anyone, it wasn't going to be anything more than a sylabal or two, or barebone words to describe things.

"Oh, he was in a meeting with the Okami family, but they just got out of it." he told her. She actually had a bit of a worried emotion on her face.

"Now? Where?" she asked.

"He should be at his house... By the way, o you know where Keira is?" She nodded, "Where?" She pointed towards the inn to the west.

"Take care." she said softly.

"Thanks!" he patted her on the head, and she placed her glasses back on her nose. He ran to go see how she was after the encounter with her father (he didn't know the actual severity of it). What he didn't know when he barged in... Was that she was taking a bath to help ease the pain from the wounds. He went into her room and saw her covered in just a towel. His face went crimson and he slammed the door and stayed on the other side to talk.

"S-S-Sorry! I-I didn't see anything!!" he flustered.

"N-No, it's OK..." Keira replied softly. They were both blushing, it was like their hearts could be felt behind the paper door.

"I just... Wanted to see if you were OK..."

"Oh, yeah, I'm totally fine, don't worry..." she smiled, but she lied. She wasn't fine.

"Keira... If you ever need someone to talk to or whatever... I'm always here!" he tried so hard to say. Keira gasped, her heart beating faster than before. She softly opened the paper door, and Kiba was about to turn around to see her, when she spoke.

"Please, don't turn around." she held her arms around his waist and hugged him. She was only cloaked in a hot, steamy towel, and he grabbed her damp hand and held it in his.