What Once Was Lost by Earthling

No Such Thing

It is ironic how humans hold such great power and yet no power at all. Belief is what makes something real and human belief is the most powerful. It is what reduced the mightiest of the Greek Gods to mere tales of myth. And it is also what banished the creatures of magic into hiding. Dragons, unicorns, phoenixes and all other kinds of demons, they once lived among us, most would even appear as one of us, but that didn't stop us from driving them away. Humans always had numbers over demons, even if a demon would slay entire villages, there would always be ten times as many to takes its place. Soon the hunters became the hunted, humans made sport of slaying demons and those who could bring down a dragon would be pronounced a hero. They were forced to retreat and soon we saw no trace of them again.

Time went on, as it always does, and with time human belief began to dissipate. Fact became legend, legend became myth and what once was a great breed of creatures were now only referred to in human fairy tales...it was as if they had never really existed.

"Songo! Aren't you a little too old for fairy tales?" Sango looked up from her book to her friend, Kagome.

"It's not a fairy tale; it's a book about the theory of mythical beings once existing as physical entities." Kagome just stared at her lazily with her hands on her hips before turning her head up at the sign that read "Fiction Section" Sango gave a nervous laugh and closed her book.

"Hehe...you can never be too old for a good story."

Kagome dropped her serious look and smiled "I suppose you're right. Are you ready to check out?"

"Yeah, let me just get my card out" She said as she began to stack the books she wanted to check out.

Kagome looked at the titles of her books and gave off a heavy sigh. Sango looked blankly at her and asked what was wrong, even though she already had a good idea of what it was.

"How could you be getting all those stupid spell books and fairy tales? It's a waste of time to believe in such things. Magic and demons don't exist."

"C'mon Kagome, everyone has their own beliefs. You should understand that better than anyone. I mean you live in a shrine after all."

"Yeah but I also live with my grandfather. If you spend a week with him you'd understand. I use to believe in such things when I was a child but with all the failed charms, spells and summon calls you can't blame me for scoffing at the idea"

"Miroku believes in this stuff and he wants to become a monk."

"Yeah...well, monks have to be very open minded to their surroundings, including the foolish ideas of others."

"I suppose shrine maidens don't fall under the same set of rules." Kagome only looked up a bit surprised then frustrated because her friend had made a good point. Sango smirked because she knew she won the argument, then gathered her books and proceeded to check them out, Kagome following behind silently.

Kagome had stopped feeling angry by the time they left check out. After they got out of the library they said their farewells and parted ways. When Kagome got home she went straight to her room and plopped down on the bed, while staring at the ceiling she thought to herself how foolish her friend was, then turned her head to the big box labeled "junk" in the corner of her room.

"Sango and Miroku are crazy, they'll grow out of it just like I did. I mean look at this useless junk" Kagome got up to look through the box of useless gifts her grandfather gave her, reciting a few items and their 'functions'.

"A monkey's paw that can grant four wishes. A pink marble that will grant ultimate power. Evil spirit repellant charm? Where does gramps get this stuff! Hmm... maybe I can get Songo and Miroku to take this stuff off my hands." She continued to rummage deeper into the box, sorting through it all, one thing in particular caught her attention, it was a small round mirror. Kagome examined it for a moment and remembers she had gotten it for her 8th birthday, by then all her charms had failed and she just tossed any magic item into this box without a second thought. Even though it wasn't a real magic item it still seemed like a pretty good mirror. And if she remembered correctly the mirror was suppose to act as a window to the demon world.

"Looks like an ordinary mirror to me." She said as she looked at her reflection.

Kagome put everything away, save the mirror, changed into some night cloths and spoke to Sango a while over the phone. Sango was definitely interested in looking through the box so they agreed to stop by her house after school then hung up. Before going to bed Kagome hung the mirror in front of her desk and brushed her hair. Satisfied with her work she proceeded to turn out the light and cuddle up in bed. As night fell the moon's rays enterd through the window of Kagome's room and she was sound asleep. Unaware that someone, somewhere was gazing upon her sleeping form.