Brilliant! epic! so righ and as filling to my soul as a bowl of momma's stew. your version of kaede has forever changed my view of her. I will definatly be recommending this to my inuyasha-fandom friends, and definatly rereading this any time I need to curl up with a good character fic.

Wow! I adore this story fiction thingy! There aren't mant Kaede fictions out there, are there? Oh well. Nevermind. I just wanted to say how much i like this fic...oh and there are a few episodes on how Kaede's eye was hurt...well more like one...truth is it's Kikyo's fault. They were fighting a bunch of demons and Kikyo's arrow hit Kaede by accident. Well, I'm not totally sure. I think it happened during the Tsubaki episodes? I'm sorry it has been awhile since I saw them. I just vaguely remember this stuff...bye!

~RaNdOm99BaNaNa

Wow, this was really good. If I may, I'd like to write a one-shot that sort of buds off of this thread, if that's alright with you. I realize that's kinda rude of me, but I would try to stay true to your ideas as best I could, and hopefully you'd like the story.
KEEP ON WRITING!

Wow， this was amazing.

Wow. Excellently written. The bitter-sweet moments of her happiness were rendered all the more powerful because of our knowledge, as the reader, that it can only be temporal. Thank you for creating a background story that is so coherent and fitting for the series!

This is amazing. The story started a little slow but I'm glad I persevered through because the meat of this was absolutely engaging. The depth and breadth you give Kaede's character is beautiful - seeing her present mind as she must view Miroku, the journey she had to go through to accept Inuyasha and suggest he be freed in the first place, seeing Naraku's evil intent spread across from Shinzou to her own sister and the present day, then to Kagome, her sister's incarnation who lets her see more of Inuyasha's heart than she ever would have been able to otherwise. It's a great characterization and I'm glad to have found this little jewel.

Beautiful. I've always loved stories like this--the insites into the secret lives of the people we love but never see. You actually made me tear up here and there--especially when she went to him at the end; I could just imagine a lost little girl begging her beloved father or brother or teacher for all the answers to her problems. I hope you write something just as beautiful of your own little world and share it with everyone who's ever had to grow up the hard way.

Thank you, thank you for giving Kaede a backstory. And one tragic and bittersweet enough to rival those of the younger members of the cast. With angsty romantic entanglements, to boot. I loved the flow of this, as well-- the way you conveyed the passing of time.
And no, the author's notes at the end were not 'way too much' at all. Actually, it was nice to get an idea of your thought process.

i say this only rarely but this story made me cry. I feel like this was one of the most original things I have read in over a year on this site. Not only is this one of the only times i have seen a kaede-centric storyline but it really fleshed out her relationship to inuyasha. I had never even given a lot of thought to her reaction in the first episode but you are right- she had to have come to some sort of conclusion in order to be so sanguine about seeing her sister's murderer.
brilliant job.

This is absolutely amazing. You've given us a sensitive, thoughtful development of Kaede as she moves from a immature child to the wise woman of the manga. It's obvious a lot of thought and effort went into this, and though there are some minor errors (very few) the story is well crafted and evokes powerful emotions.

... You are amazing! I liked how Kaede had her own little story, as most people just skim over her, which makes me sad, now that I think of it...

I also think that she took the idea of being a miko to seriously (I'm not saying that you did anything wrong... it really seems like something young Kaede would do). Miko often marry, but then no longer are miko, and I don't think Kaede would just go "Oh well, screw you village, I'm in love!" and not rightly care that the village could easily die without a miko. So kudos to that bit! X3

As soon as I saw Misao's name, I suddenly got a picture of RouKen Misao hitting Shinzou and ranting about how much she loves Aoshi... -le sigh- I've never heard of Shinzou before, but then again, I hate the anime beyond all belief. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, they murdered the manga... HOW COULD THEY HAVE SKIPPED ENISHI! THE KAORU DIEING SCENE WAS THE MOST ADORABLE (if not slightly morbid and disheartening) SCENE I'VE EVER SEEN! >< ... Sorry 'bout that... >.>

Wow.
I really like this.
I like it a lot.
I almost didn't read it once I realized it wasn't about Inuyasha and Kagome, but I'm quite glad I did.

I really enjoyed reading this story... didn't really think anything about Kaede would be interesting, but somehow you found a way to make it so!

I really enjoyed reading this perspective. It makes Kaede's character seem more real. Especially the part with Jiro.. Oh! and I loved the inclusion of Miroku's grandfather! Great job all around!! :D

that was a very fascinating and interesting story. a perspective on kaede's life that i haven't ever considered. that is the beauty of reading fan fiction, i get to see characters and situations from someone else's eyes.

thank you,
ginny