Chapter 1 – Beginning of the End

It's been about a week since the group left Kagome's village. They had no set destination in mind, so they ended up aimlessly wandering around. It was beginning to get on Kirai's nerves. She was never one to just walk around without knowing where she was going.

"Okay guys," Kirai began after they set up camp for the night. "Let's figure out where exactly we are going."

"Well, I still think we should hunt down a guy for Safaia," Rin spoke up instantly, causing the pink-haired Safaia to frown.

"Guys really, I am fine without a man."

"I agree with Rin. So sis, do you want a demon or a warlock as your man?" Kirai questioned, ignoring her sister's words. Safaia just sighed to herself.

"A demon would be preferable. I don't really trust warlocks anymore."

"Then let's find a demon village. I know there are some nearby." Kirai then turned to Sesshomaru with a smile on her face. He internally sighed and smelled the air.

"There is one just north of our location. We can go there tomorrow." The tall demon responded simply. He seemed annoyed, to be honest, but that was to be expected. He didn't really like other demons just as much as he didn't like humans.

"Thank you, Maru," Kirai spoke as she smiled at him even more.

"Yes, Maru, thank you," Safaia grumbled, much to the annoyance of Sesshomaru. He glared at the other woman, causing Kirai to laugh.

"Now now you two." Kirai didn't like it when Safaia and Sesshomaru got on each other's nerves, but it was funny sometimes. It didn't happen often, but they were both strong-willed people, which sometimes caused some issues.

"We'll go to that village in the morning, right now, it's time to sleep." Rin's tone gave no arguments. It was clear she wanted everyone to be quiet now, so they all went quiet. She'd been particularly tired that day. So, now that she'd curled up with Ah-Un and fallen asleep, everyone else chose to do the same. Well, not cuddle up with the dragon, but they had their own spots.

Kirai was snuggled up with Sesshomaru, who had a protective arm wrapped around the girl. Safaia was sleeping up in the tree Sesshomaru and Kirai was leaning on, laying on a tree branch. She chose one she wouldn't fall off of too easily. Meanwhile, Jaken slept all alone by the fire.

~

Once morning came and everyone had some form of breakfast, they headed out. The village wasn't too far away so it only took an hour to reach it. As soon as they got there and began to walk through the village, the demons of the village all looked at them. It wasn't every day that a powerful demon such as Sesshomaru entered a village of demons. Soon, an older man approached them. He was clearly the village chief.

"Hello, travelers. What brings you here to our humble village?" The old man spoke softly to the group. Everyone looked at each other trying to figure out who would talk first. It ended up being Safaia who stepped forward to speak.

"We are here to find me a husband. We hoped to get lucky finding a good demon here in your village." Safaia was almost embarrassed to say such a thing out loud in front of so many demons.

"I see. Well, we can round up the single men and you can talk to each of them. We thank you for choosing our village to search in." With that, the old man waved his hand at two men who'd followed him. They walked off, unassumingly to gather the single male demons of the village. "Come with me, I will show you to where you can stay the night."

The location of their temporary home was the chief's house. It was large with a lot of rooms, meaning each of them could have their own space for the time being if they so chose to.

"We thank you for your kindness. I'm sure our request was quite strange." Kirai spoke as they followed the man around the house. He was taking them to the specific rooms they would be staying in.

"Yes, young witch, it was quite strange, but not uncommon. Many witches choose to mate with a demon due to the equally long life of both parties. Is that not what you have done?" The man paused to look at Kirai and then to Sesshomaru.

"Oh, no no, Sesshomaru and I aren't mated yet."

"Yet?"

"We just... haven't found the time I guess." Kirai was unsure of herself. It was just not a topic that had come up before.

"Hmm." The man continued to walk a few more feet and then stopped in front of a room. "This is where you can stay. The rooms on either side are also for you. You may choose to separate yourselves as you wish. One of my men will come to get you when the men have assembled." With that, the old chief wandered off on his own. They all did go off on your own into the three rooms. Rin in one, followed by Jaken against his will. Kirai and Sesshomaru in the room in the middle and then Safaia in the last room. Ah-Un remained in the courtyard, watching over the three rooms.

"Sesshomaru, we'll have privacy tonight," Kirai muttered, hinting at some activities they could do.

"Focus on the task at hand, Kirai." His comment made the girl pout, causing Sesshomaru to smirk. They hadn't gotten any alone time in years, meaning this would be the only time that they had together. However, the demon was right and Kirai knew she needed to focus on the situation.

"You're no fun Maru."

"Have I ever been?"

"Well, there was that one time. You remember the one, right? We were in that abandoned castle and you put your-" Sesshomaru put his hand over the girl's mouth to silence her.

"Enough, I remember." It was almost like he was embarrassed to be reminded of their last alone time together. Kirai just chuckled and removed his hand from her face. She then kissed it and smiled up at him. "Kirai."

"Sesshomaru." The two were about to kiss when their door flew open.

"Come on, the men have been brought to us... Was I interrupting something?" It was Safaia. She blushed at the sight of the two almost kissing in front of her.

"Yes." Both Kirai and Sesshomaru responded at the same time. They were both irritated, but it quickly faded as they followed the pink-haired girl out of the room. She led them to the courtyard where Ah-Un was and where there were 5 guys.

The 5 guys introduced themselves as Jiog, Dol, Jigoku, Yurei, and Ken'o.

Jiog is a 300-year-old fox demon with red hair. He had a bad attitude and was quite rude towards Safaia, so she sent him away.

Dol is a 600-year-old panther demon with blue hair. He made it very clear that he was already in love with someone, so Safaia, the hopeless romantic, gave him some advice to confess and sent him away.

Jigoku and Yurei are twin lizard demons that are 800 years old. They were quite odd and spoke in unison, causing Safaia to get freaked out, so she sent them away.

The last man, Ken'o was an 800-year-old dog demon with gray hair. He spoke softly to Safaia and even complimented her on her appearance. He seemed to be a good man, and a gentleman so Safaia let him stay.

"So tell me a little about yourself," Safaia said to the dog demon in front of her.

"Well, it might sound weird, but I really like these stones." He then pulled out two purple crystals. "I love to collect pretty stones like this." It took every ounce of restraint for Safaia to not flip out. Those were her favorite types of stones.

"Well, that isn't weird at all. I'm known as the Crystal Witch. I'm big into stones and crystals as well."

"That's amazing."

"So tell me some more about you."

"I love animals and try my best to not unnecessarily hurt anyone that I don't have to. I also love nature and take long walks frequently." That was another point for him. Safaia was a big animal lover and adored nature as well.

"I like you. You seem like just my type." He was even taller than her, which was another thing she looked for in a man. Outwardly, he seemed to be everything that Safaia was looking for. "Let's eat lunch together and get to know each other more." Safaia was all for this man, but Kirai felt something off. She kept her issue to herself but made a mental note to tell Sesshomaru later on when they were alone.

"Thank you, Safaia." Oh, look, another red flag that was thrown up for Kirai. To her knowledge, they hadn't told them Safaia's name or anything yet, but she let that go as well. It was lunchtime and Kirai was hungry.

Rin and Jaken came out of their room for lunch and they all ate together in the big room with the chief. Kirai and Sesshomaru sat next to each other, and Safaia and Ken'o sat together. It was a peaceful lunch with some idle chatting. Kirai bothered Sesshomaru about eating human food while Safaia and Ken'o got to know each other better.

Once lunch was over, the chief left the room along with Rin and Jaken. Rin wanted to go hang out with Ah-Un and Jaken had to follow her wherever she went, much to his annoyance.

"So Safaia, what else are you hungry for today?" Ken'o leaned towards the pink-haired girl as if to imply he wanted a kiss or something. However, Safaia just leaned away and stood up.

"I'm sorry. I can't kiss you yet. We just met and I'm waiting for 'the one' to do anything with." Her words were soft and kind but hid an annoyance deep within.

"What? What kind of whore are you?"

"Whore? Excuse me, but I'm the opposite of a whore, I've never had sex before." Safaia was now growing annoyed and she started to feel threatened. Instantly, Sesshomaru was standing right next to her and glared down at the still seated man.

"Is there an issue?" Sesshomaru questioned, already knowing full well what was going on. He and Kirai had heard the entire exchange between the two of them.

"This whore-"

"Get out. She is no whore, she is my sister whom you will not dare to touch or speak to again." The tall demon glared down at Ken'o causing the slightly shorter demon to scurry off in fear.

"Sister, huh?"

"Be silent." Sesshomaru turned to Safaia to glare at her next.

"Thank you Sesshomaru, he was starting to seem a

bit..."

"A bit, more like a lot of a jackass," Kirai spoke as she glared at the now open door that he'd fled through.

"Yes Kirai, that sentence made sense."

"Shut up Maru." Kirai smiled at her demon before turning to her sister and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm a little shaken up though. He seemed so nice, I wonder why he turned out to be so rude and disrespectful." It was clear that Safaia was a little upset about the situation. So, being the somewhat kind big brother he is, Sesshomaru put his hand on her head, as if to comfort her. "Thank you, both of you. I'll be alright."

"Should we kill him?"

"What?! No, I just said I'll be okay!" Safaia looked horrified at Sesshomaru's question. To her reaction, Sesshomaru just smirked. "If that was a joke it wasn't funny."

"It kind of was," Kirai muttered with a smile on her face. She earned a glare from her sister but chose to ignore it. "So what now?"

"We leave." Sesshomaru grumbled clearly wanting to head out.

"Just because Ken'o was an asshole doesn't mean anything. We should still accept their hospitality." Safaia's words left no argument to be had. Sesshomaru just huffed and left the room and headed back to where he'd chosen his room would be. Kirai quickly followed behind him, running to catch up with him.

"Maru, is there something on your mind?" Kirai could see through Sesshomaru clearly.

"Hmm." He chose to not talk until both of them were in their room with the door closed. "I believe that demon will cause us more problems."

"Huh? Why?"

"He didn't submit to me."

"He ran away though?"

"He merely pretended to be afraid of me."

"I see..." The two were on edge, while Safaia was blissfully unaware of the potential danger she was in.

However, dinner that night went without any problem, and they slept through the night also without any problem. It was almost too peaceful, which set Sesshomaru on edge further, which caused Kirai to become further on edge as well.

"So where are we going next? Another demon village?" Rin questioned hopefully. She was ready for the adventure and was completely unaware of the issues her friend had the previous day with Ken'o.

"Excuse me." Everyone turned around to face Ken'o.

"What do you want?" Kirai harshly questioned stepping protectively in front of her sister.

"I just wanted to apologize. That's all." He bowed down and muttered an apology that seemed insincere, and then ran off.

"Well, that was kind?" Rin noted hesitantly with a smile on her confused face.

"Hmm." Even if it was kind of the man to apologize, Sesshomaru was still suspicious. He didn't trust Ken'o at all.