Chapter 1
The crisp night air of spring made Youko feel exhilarated as he ran through the forest that fated night. He caught scent on the wind that caused him stop and show his eyes widen and sparkle in curiosity. 'I thought the clan of the black furs had gone south a while back...' he thought to himself. His curiosity got the better of him as he noted blood on the wind that carried the alluring scent of the female who caught his interest in that moment. As he silently and quickly crept through the forest he came upon a scene that raised his blood and turned his stomach in disgust.
A female lay slumped forward on the ground; an internal battle for dominance over blood was taking place. Her black kitsune ears slightly twitched with the passing breeze as it carried on, ruffling through her black tail as her form and the wide stream were bathed in moonlight.
The scene would have been peaceful had it not been for the dry blood on the black fabric she wore to possibly cloak herself and hide her body from prying eyes. The cloth was simply black, nothing special. It served its purpose helping her to blend in with the darkness and cover her intimate body parts.
Soon a group of demons seemingly tracked her to that spot and rounds of cheers were let out as they boasted about their prey. A discussion soon joined in as they reflected on their prey.
"Boss we finally get 'er worn out! The lassie won't be putting up a fight with 'er flashy powers, eh?" A seemingly drunken Irish accented man had remarked.
"The bitch will pay us handsomely with such rarity of her class," came the snide remark made by another.
"Hn, we were lucky her stamina and adrenaline had finally worn off. The clashing powers seemed to aid her more than it did us." The boss remarked while switching his monotone voice to one of praise as he patted another demon on the back with a smirk. "We wouldn't be here if it were not for you. Your skill in the field of changing another species is doing malicious wonders. We would still be tracking that clan down or bringing in lesser furs and leathers had it not been for our paths crossing. I can't believe we snagged this vixen without turning to ash."
Youko quickly began adding up the pieces to this puzzle and with how freely they talked, he knew he would soon be relieved of the mystifying answers surrounding this scene and the confusing human scent.
The Boss began to bend down to grab hold of his prize when an invisible force repelled him. One of his men widened his eyes as he took note of the jewel's glow around her neck as it pulsed in time with the repelling of the barrier.
"Boss, it's her." His vague statement got all eyes on him as he slightly fidgeted under all the gazes and rubbed that back of his head. "She is the guardian miko of the infamous jewel. She wears it around her neck. I don't think we should mess with this one. She was made special by the Kami's and they favor her highly. Suppose something happened if..."
"Stop your paranoid pestering," the boss responded as he tried to break into the barrier with a grin on his face as he looked at the back to the form of the female and then the innocent jewel that lay on the dirt attached to a chain around her neck. His grin soon showed frustration as he could not get past the barrier and also realized it is by the jewels doing. "It's like that damn jewel has a mind of its own," he muttered offhandedly, more to himself than others.
He became quite agitated until the squirming in a pouch left abandoned on the ground had placed the malicious glint back in place. Another demon snatched a kit from the sack that looked at them all quite wearily and gasped upon recognizing the miko turned kitsune, unconscious on the ground. They could easily see the panic in his young eyes. The demon shook him roughly while he pulled a blade out.
The boss gazed back at the miko-kitsune. "Miko, Jewel, whoever the fuck you are. I suggest you go into your more animalistic form and drop the barrier unless you care not for the kit you are to protect."
The paranoid demon gazed worriedly at his boss. "Boss, the kit is similar to a son attachment to the miko. The rumors speak of how selfless she is for the kit. She gets power from the jewel since the spider's demise. Let's forget she exists and get easier prey, she could easily purify us!"
"No kidding!" Another demon spat out with venom heavily lasing his sarcasm as he stood there bandaged and badly burnt as he glared daggers at the miko, "I was more than 6 feet away from that arrow! I'm almost burnt to a crisp here!"
They shook the kit violently and he yelped in protest to the action. Kagome's eyes fluttered as the jewel calmed down. "Kagome don't listen, forget about me, don't do anything!" Kagome the woman was now identified as; had let her eyes adjust as she got up confusedly and stiffly. Still somewhat on her side and steadying her body on her hands while her legs stayed tilted to the left. She soon realized she was tightly surrounded. She looked in horror as the kit is being threatened and treated rottenly.
Youko watched this intrigued, he had never known a miko to take in an orphan cub. His anger rose seeing the orphan threatened repeatedly and watched them take actions but stopped himself from exposing his presence to the filth. His instincts told him to wait for the miko to make her move and so he did as he sunk his claws into the bark and absentmindedly noted his partner has arrived on the other side of the stream.
A demon pulled a sword in front of her to keep her from doing anything to further cause them injury but they plunged the dagger down on Shippo so she reacted by jumping, forgetting and not realizing entirely that a sword had cut through her side as she grabbed Shippo and cuddled him to her chest while still in motion and cringing as the dagger went through her left chest and the sword continued to carry through her back right through her stomach and abdominal. She gasped but looked down at the frightened Shippo. "Shippo you're not hurt are you?" He could barely shake his head no as he watched the shiny blade be pulled from her by his peripheral vision, as it was; his eyes were glued to Kagome's face.
Her face scrunched up in pain as she tried to smile reassuringly to the kit in her arms while both blades left her body. She was now on her stomach once again and felt the anger from the demon to her left that is assumed to be the boss. He brought his whip down on the flesh of her backside.
"Bitch! Surrender yourself. We can still turn in the kits tail and feet. They are quite rare since you have both parents to go through instead of a fucking miko!"
Youko had seen enough and let his presence be known as he appeared out of the shadows while his partner stayed half in and half out of the shadows. The demons looked in somewhat of a shock at the silver kitsune. "You are trespassing. Leave now or forfeit your lives."
The demons angered by the intrusion but would not be wishing to receive Youko's wrath lest they leave. They roughly grabbed the miko whose eyes had begun to dim as blood met the ground.
"Leave the vixen and kit. Now." He understood now as to why the black furs hid themselves. The traders-hunters were always after kitsune fur and the black furs were close to extinction. It explained the increase in slaughtering of mysterious kitsunes. He knew there couldn't be that many kitsunes in the area and tonight it answered all those puzzles.
"Shippo, must..find...kitsune..." She struggled to form a complete sentence as tremors shook her body but Shippo knew what she was trying get across to him. She spoke of this recently and he stubbornly stayed by her side though he knew it might not be best. Now, he would not accept losing her when she had been turned kitsune forcefully.
"No Kagome! I will not leave you! I lost both my parents already!" He openly sobbed. He spoke quieter at first, "Besides you're like a second mother to me Kagome. You took me in with open arms and never regretted that decision once," And then spoke dramatically stronger as his fear gripped him as he watched her body begin to change, "I can't lose you! You're all I have now! Don't leave me, I won't allow myself to lose another parent!"
Shippo watched fearfully and gripped Kagome from where he currently was held in her loving arms but that changed as she turned into her animalistic form and went into unconsciousness after a tear rolled down her cheek slightly.
Youko watched it all but turned his cold eyes on the intruders, as they foolishly did not leave. The boss went to defend himself if need be but was cut short of words as the blade of a scythe cleanly removed him from the vocal cords. The rest of them were dead not a minute later and blood traveled down the stream.
Shippo continued to try and wake up Kagome as the other males took care of the traders-hunters. Fear gripped Shippo as he is the last one standing. He knew the kitsune could see through his trickery and both are highly skilled. They would not take to being made fools. He heard the crunching of grass from behind him and could see another kitsune emerge from the shadows with silky, sandy-blonde hair along with smudges of a natural brown. The blonde held a certain orange tint while the hair was lightly streaked with gray. True to the name of Chilla-gray kitsunes, the male held metallic gray eyes, not silver. Silver is more like chrome while the metallic gray held many small specks of sparkles like silver glitter splattered across gray eyes.
Shippo couldn't tell if they are friend or foe as he bravely stood guard of Kagome's prone body. She is the same size as his father in this form and held three tails, her black fur full of grime from the past harsh days. Her body still slightly shook while it tried to repair itself. Shippo knew he ran out of time as the demons began to approach him not giving him any clue to their emotion while he visibly shook but bravely continued to try and keep himself between Kagome and them.
The Chilla kitsune reached him and bent down lending a reassuring hand to the badly shaken kit. He caved in when the male's eyes had softened as they gazed at him. He tentatively took a step forward but jumped backwards, twirling around when he heard movement and stared openly as the silver kitsune gracefully picked up Kagome's body. He looked over his shoulder when a hand lightly touched his shoulder. He caved in once again and cried in the older kitsune's arms. He soon realized they are all moving quickly and the movements lulled him to sleep with quiet sniffles.
Kagome woke up in a dimly lit room but seeing things far better than a week before. She still ached a little and was a bit light headed as her sight adjusted quickly and she made to scan the room in a sitting position with a palm on her forehead hoping to relieve herself of the headache. Her eyes went to the figure in the corner that stared at her intently before realizing another in the door way. She stretched her senses out to find Shippo; finding him only a few rooms down.
Kagome did not know what to think of this situation. She wasn't sure if they are traders too or if they rescued them for some other reason. Nothing helped to tilt the scale in favor for one or the other. Kagome decided to make a quick escape with Shippo as soon as possible.
"We were beginning to wonder when you would allow yourself to wake. You regained this body several hours ago vixen." The bat smirked at her from the doorway and shifted his posture a little to leaning in the doorway and regarding her curiously. The other began to get up to walk towards her and she didn't know what kind of demon he was but the feeling of being cornered increased and her heart raced in her chest. In a split second decision while the demon went to grab her, she ducked and quickly went by the two shocked demons and kicked the bat into the other demon and left to grab Shippo.
Shippo came out into the hall slightly and peered down to see what the commotion is. His eyes widened as he watched Kagome kick the bat in his back and what sounded like him hitting another body. Kagome came running his direction and before he could blink, she had grabbed him without breaking her run, not wanting to waist a second.
She ran down hallway after hallway, following her nose to fresh air and avoiding where it seemed some demons had gathered to eat. She put her entire focus on getting out of this castle. Finally she spotted a door straight ahead of her that would lead her to a possible freedom but then it slid open to reveal a silver kitsune carrying his kill over the left shoulder and his eyes widened as she ran at him and didn't even break pace at seeing him, whizzing by without a second glance.
He caught himself before he fell on the ground and watched a couple of his men try to stop her with failure. He dropped his kill and took off after her as she scaled the walls and jumped to the other side and disappeared into the darkness of the woods.
Kagome was doing her best to avoid the beautiful plants, knowing that they held youki in them and not wanting to be the next unsuspecting victim. She ran with all her might to get away but unsure as to where they are and where exactly they could go from here and be safe from all the demons it was a blind getaway. She ran through streams and changed directions occasionally once they would get to any place with water. She jumped up to a tree and leaps to another but her landing didn't last as the branch of the other grabbed hold of her and seemingly came alive. She struggled to get free and soon found herself flying backwards at alarming rate and hit the trunk of the tree, the branches quickly surrounded her and a vine slithered up and around her, holding her tight.
Youko looked at the scene and smirked as he came out of the shadows from her front right and watched her struggle to get free even more so as he separated the kit from the vixen as her panic increased.
Kagome sensed the youki and looked at the silver that stood there radiating smugness and then she noticed a wall behind him. "You're still not anywhere near from escaping. That wall marks the end of my hideouts territory. I still rule over the land until you get out of this forest." He chuckled at the face she made and the glare she sent him. Her determination never left though.
He let the branches and vine drop her as he quickly closed the gap and signaled for his partner and second in command to leave with the kit while he distracted her. He grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to his chest as he took in her scent. He whispered in her slightly twitching ear as his breath hit it lightly. "It's rude to leave vixen without explanation after we went to the hassle of saving your lives. If you want your kit back then I suggest you come and get him yourself. Until then miko." And he left after crossing his wrists and letting a fog out, surrounding Kagome.
The blush on her cheeks from his close proximity was till there until she fumed about Shippo being a hostage. They knew she would come back for him but unless she can learn to use her demon abilities she won't be able to find the place nor would she be able to sneak in and out without being detected.
Kagome left that spot and back tracked to the stream and sat on a boulder in thought as she tried to figure out her new powers. It wasn't until she swiped her hand through her hair in a sign of frustration that she discovered pebbles, no not pebbles but seeds. She regarded them curiously and focused the demon ki into a seed like she does her miko powers into her bow and arrows. She watched it grow into a small dark almost black tree with more seeds. She picked one and continued her analysis. She spent the night figuring out what these plants do and made sure to retract her ki and put them back into her hair.
By dawn the next day she knew them but not the names or how to effectively use them in battle. It wasn't until she was fishing that a demon had come across her path. It smelled the blood of the fish that she was stripping of bones while feeding the fire. It stood on two legs but still held animalistic features. The lizard hissed at her but she didn't give it the pleasure of her gaze and that angered it as she predicted.
It stupidly tried to swipe at her but the fish and herself were gone. She set the fish on stick and stuck them in the fire and stepped out of the way just in time to grab a burning log and jam it in the demons stomach before it could destroy her meal. It hissed, cussed and groaned in pain from the burns it now had.
"Leave." Kagome said and dropped the log in the fire, careful not to ruin her meal. She went through the night with a building frustration with the events that have occurred in the past several days. A thought struck her and she grabbed a seed and fed it her youki chucked it into the lizard's skin and distracted the demon while waiting to see what the plant would do.
She noted his veins turned black and the white of his eyes grew smoky-cloudy like and soon the lizard grew irritated and went to move but was frozen in place. The pores in his skin began to open up and black blood poured out and he soon was covered in a black glaze and it solidified and he died a slow death.