Taijiya & the Beast

Prologue

Once Upon a Time

'Thoughts'

Flashbacks

"Speaking"

Original Publish Date: 4/4/2017
Minor Edits: 3/26/2018

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful wind sorceress by the name of Kagura. Though as powerful as she may be, her father, the dark spider half-demon, Naraku, held her heart in a rusty cage.

If she talked back, he would squeeze it.

If she tried to disobey him, he would squeeze it.

If she attempted to escape, he promised he could crush it until it was unrecognizable mass of muscle and blood.

She wasn't deterred. One day, she knew she would take her life back, and the life of her sister, Kanna, the mirror demon. But that meant she needed to pursue the help of others, who in this land was strong enough to battle her father and be victorious?

The answer seemed obvious. The Inu no Taisho, Touga, and his two sons, Sesshomaru and Inuyasha, were the strongest beings who roamed this country, possibly even the world. Lord Touga was a reasonable youkai, he would see the threat Naraku was to his people, he would act, he would finish him.

Though it seemed fate had different plans for her as the great dog general succumbed to his wounds from a fierce battle with a dragon demon before she could appeal to him. Now what were her options? Inuyasha, he was a half-demon, and she doubted he had the resilience to take the spider on. Sesshomaru, however... he was just as strong as his father, if not more, and seemed to be taking his freshly minted title of the Lord of the West very seriously.

Kagura waited a few days before she approached him in a clearing under the midnight sky. 'What a beautiful man... So serious.' She warned him of Naraku, that he had been attacking the human villages that bordered the western lands... and he scoffed at her, told her he wouldn't spend his time fighting a worthless half-breed or protect the weak mortals that polluted his borders.

To say she was shocked would be an understatement, did he not see how this 'half-breed' was rampaging the country? What would his recently-deceased father think of this? He didn't care. If was not affecting him or his demon people, then it was not his concern. The wind witch cursed the demon before she took off to the skies, that is when she noticed a group of humans doing battle with some of Naraku's minions... and winning.

Her ruby eyes scrutinized the humans, "Who are you?"

The leader of the group seemed wary of her, but stood tall, his black eyes did not break away from her own, "We are Taijiya."

She smiled, "Let me help you."

And an alliance was born.

To think that the former Lord's son, Inuyasha, would soon join, bequeathed with Tessaiga... Then a priestess from another world with unmatched holy power, a monk with the wind tunnel in his hand, from a family Naraku had cursed long ago... It added a formidable power to the group that almost allowed her to hope, to believe she would be free.

Then the final battle came... and not only were they victorious, they didn't lose a single soldier. The gods truly favored their plight that day.

The only reincarnations that were left were Kanna, the illusionist her father tried to replace her with named Byakuya, and herself.

It was a glorious night of wine, food, and celebration... but Kagura was not done. Not yet, there was still one thing she needed to take care of. You see, while she had no negative opinion on humans before all this, she saw now that they fought and bled stronger than any demon she ever faced. It was no longer a wonder to her why the former Lord took a human mate. They were worthy of love and protection, and she couldn't help but remember the thousands that died just under the Western Lord's rule due to his youkai pride.

What a terrible way to die. His disregard for life reminded her of Naraku, and she couldn't let his sins go unpunished.

With Kanna and a bit of outside help, she trapped his mind to a rare, blue rose from a garden deep in his territory that saw more security during one of the spider's raids than a neighboring human town. If he cared for the flowers so much, his sanity would tied to its life. With every petal that fell, he would lose his grip on his mind and his youki. Each falling petal would turn him more into a base beast, ones that humans regard in the same way as he did to them.

With the help of Byakuya, she put the demon's castle under a veil, to be forgotten from history. There would no legacy for Lord Sesshomaru and he will forever be 'the eldest son of Lord Touga, who cowered from Naraku and vanished without a trace in shame.'

Or not.

Kagura may be tough, but she was not as cruel as the spider. There was a way to break the curse. A rather simple solution really.

Love a human, and earn their love in return.

It didn't even have to be in love, it could be romantic, parental, a deep friendship—she thought it was fair. She even reasoned that if a human was brave enough to weather the wind storms outside his castle, surely they were worthy for at least a bit of his time. Maybe one could help him realize his wrongs.

Unfortunately, it seemed that would not be case.

It had been 5 years since she placed the curse on the demon, and his pride and ego were still inflatable. His once-handsome humanoid appearance was gone, now he looked something like a silver werewolf with his golden eyes still as cold and passive as ever... and his intelligence was fading, she knew. It was pitiful.

He had his chance, the wind sorceress reasoned. She knew of four humans that stumbled through the castle gates, the first three never returned and the last one was severely malnourished and traumatized. She had Kanna let him forget his experience there before they dropped him at the town to heal, though she was a bit surprised the demon lord let this one escape. Perhaps there was a slight change happening, but it was far too late for him.

The rose only had at best till the coming of spring until the final petal falls and with it, the last bits of his sane mind, his crumbling, empty castle, and his precious pride.

End of Prologue

Author's Note: Guys, this story has been in my mind for like, no joke, 7 years. I wrote it down once and had something insane like 20k words and lost it all. I wasn't ever going to go back to it, but after seeing the movie a few weeks ago, I couldn't get it out of my freaking head. So here it is!

Why is this Sango and Sessh? Because I got like, 4 Sess/Rin stories already and another one possibly in the works. I need a different pairing! Also, this story isn't exactly going to play out like Beauty and the Beast as you can see, I didn't want Kagome or Rin as the typical beauties, Kagura is a demon so no, and Kikyo would have seemed out of place to me. I'm also not sure I could write a M/M pairing well…

Yeah, that's right. I'd ship Sessh with anyone. Lol

For the very few fans of this pairing, and anyone else who decided to take a chance and read this, I hope you enjoyed it so far! :D

NEW NOTE: Changes were time curse has lasted and mentioning 'love in return'. How did I forget that line the first time? Jeez. lol.