This is a new story, hope you like it! I wrote a draft, scrapped it, wrote another, scrapped that, and finally came out with what you see here.
I'm afraid you won't see the Inu-gumi for a while. This is a sidestory with original characters, showing the effect of the Shikon Jewel, Naraku and Inuyasha on the lives of complete strangers.
Chapter 1: Fire Demon
Takayuki staggered along the footpath that cut through an ancient forest. He was exhausted. The yellow robes of his monastery were stained with sweat and dirt. His journey had taken him part way up Masujima Mountain and across the river at its base. At least it had been a success: his prize was wrapped in a square of silk and tucked in a hidden pocket of his robe. The village he served was less than a quarter-mile away, and the small Buddhist temple where he lived two miles beyond. Takayuki thanked Buddha for granting him the strength to return home.
The prayer had just passed his lips when he felt a tingle of danger. A yokai was nearby. He called out, "Show yourself, demon!"
She stepped out from between two trees, barring his path. She was shapely but with the delicate bone structure of a bird. Her short, curly hair was black with crimson tips that framed clear green eyes. She wore leggings and a sleeveless top.
"Houshi-sama," she purred in a seductive alto. Her fangs flashed between her lips as she said, "You bear a heavy load. Allow me to lighten it."
"I must refuse your generous offer," the monk replied calmly.
The demon pouted. "You are unfaithful to your vows. You renounced worldly goods, houshi-sama, yet you carry the wealth of a daimyo in your pocket. Resist temptation: give the jewel shards to me."
"No."
Her voice sneered. "I grow impatient, monk. I feel no pleasure in slaughtering fledgling humans, especially ones too weak to walk. However, I won't let you leave with the Shikon shards. So choose: either you give me the shards and leave unscathed, or I take them from your corpse." The air surrounding her shimmered like heat waves from the intensity of her demonic aura.
The young monk watched her with eyes the color of the calm sea. "I cannot give these shards to any who would taint them. May Buddha's mercy keep you on your true path."
The demon's sneer faded, replaced by wariness. She turned slowly to survey the forest behind her, all of her senses straining. She felt the brush of another demonic presence once again. "I'll deal with you later, boy. Now get back."
The ground shook from a giant's footsteps as Takayuki scrambled away to the base of a giant oak. Two of the trees beside the female demon shuddered and toppled over, uprooting themselves. A great bear-demon emerged, fully twenty feet tall standing upright on her back legs. The she-bear roared at the smaller demon, "Get out of my way, weakling! I am Kodama the Claw of the Bear Clan. Who dares to defy me?"
The human-shaped demon smiled ingratiatingly up at her opponent. "I'm called Quickfire." Her aura blazed and crackled around her. "And I found the Shikon shards first. Tough luck."
"I will crush you!" Kodama yelled. She swung her left arm to destroy the human-sized demon, but bellowed in pain when a stream of flame shot from Quickfire's hands and burned through the bear's limb at the elbow. Still howling, the she-bear uprooted an ancient tree and hurled it at her opponent.
Quickfire readied one of the four master techniques. "Seiryu's Shield," she called as waves of flame rippled out around her like the circular ripples caused by a pebble in water. The tree struck the shield and was incinerated completely before it reached its target.
Kodama the Claw retreated in front of the lethal shield technique. Quickfire dropped into a crouch and placed both hands on the ground. "Genbu's spear," she called as the earth beneath her hands superheated and exploded. The heat traveled like a spear aimed at the she-bear; the giant was knocked off her feet by an underground explosion.
Quickfire turned her back on her defeated opponent. She spotted the young monk's yellow robes amid the charred wood and splinters. He was unharmed but shaken. Quickfire felt a twinge of disappointment that he was so young and weakened; she always enjoyed fighting strong opponents, and he wasn't bad looking . . .
Quickfire was ten paces from the monk when she felt Kodama's demonic energy surge. Turning in disbelief, she saw that the she-bear's severed arm had reattached itself without even a scar. It was too late; Kodama's casual swat caught the smaller demon and flung her thirty feet, where she slammed into an ancient hemlock tree seven feet in diameter.
Quickfire's thoughts were scattered: "Fast. Much too fast. How can the she-bear move so fast? And the arm. I tore off her arm. How was she able to heal?" Her vision swam in and out of focus. She tried to sit up fully, but a searing pain in her ribs and terrible nausea kept her still. "Mild concussion," she thought, "six broken ribs, difficulty breathing. Kuso, I can't fight her when I'm this badly injured. I need more power. I need . . ." Her gaze shifted to the left, searching for the monk. "All I need is the jewel shards. They'll restore me . . ."
She saw a patch of yellow, and crawled towards it with determination. Every movement was accompanied by the sound of grating bone. She grabbed the collar of his robes and shook him weakly, whispering, "Give me the shards!" He pushed her away, jarring her ribs.
Quickfire's vision darkened. The giant bear-demon towered above, all of her teeth shown in a horrible grin. The pieces clicked together in Quickfire's mind. "Kodama must have jewel shards of her own. I underestimated her . . ." Desperately, the wounded demon tried to aim her "Byakko's arrow" attack, even knowing that the stream of flame would be useless if it missed the bear-demon's shard. She tried to stand, but the movement triggered violent vomiting.
Quickfire had only a hazy idea of what happened after that. Kodama raised a hind foot to stomp on her enemy, but was thwarted by a shimmering blue globe. Quickfire's eyes were dazzled by the spirit shield, which was the exact same shade as the monk's eyes. Takayuki was near collapse. He began to cough violently. Beside him lay Quickfire, who was crippled by her injuries. He could still hear her whispering, in turns demanding the shards and begging for them. A part of him was tempted to hand the shards over and run. Instead, he cradled the injured demon's head in his hands and murmured a mantra to calm himself. Healing energy flowed from his fingers.
Quickfire's mind cleared and everything snapped into focus. She saw a drop of sweat trickling down the young monk's face. She watched the spirit shield shudder and flicker under a barrage of Kodama's blows. At the moment the shield failed completely, Quickfire performed the most difficult of her techniques: "Suzaku's spirit."
Takayuki felt the fire demon's soul leap from her body. It was the shape of a bird with a ten-foot wingspan; its plumage was living flame and its tail was smoke. The bird passed right through the bear-demon's belly, then streaked up above the treetops.
Kodama's eyes widened with shock before collapsing backward, dead. From the she-bear's forehead fell a single glittering jewel shard. Before it touched the ground, there was a "swish" and a warm breeze; the flaming bird had swooped down and caught the shard in its beak. It dropped its prize into the young monk's lap and dove back inside Quickfire's body.
Immediately, she began to cough and struggled against the monk. With a feeling of awe, Takayuki touched gentle fingers to each temple and eased her into a deep, healing sleep.