Chapter 1
The field was quiet. Not that that wasn't the usual here. Even the animals knew to be quiet this far out, the only sound coming from the slight brushing of the tall grasses against each other as the wind blows. But when the comfortable summer breeze stops, it goes back to silence. Always silence. And it was deafening.
A flicker of red and silver flashes to the East end of the field near the tree line. A quick blur that most would have missed.
A small family of foxes, nestled in a den, rest peacefully until a screech pierces the silence. The mother startles and then races to the mouth of the den, recognizing the sound as one of her pups in pain. One of them must have snuck off while she was sleeping. Shooting a look over her shoulder at the remaining pups that says, don't move, she races out in the direction of the screech.
Half a mile away, a woman pauses her bathing in a stream. A screech like that could only mean one thing, and that noise was much too close. Scrambling out of the water as silently as someone in a panic could, she pulls on her clothes and rushes back to where she had stashed her belongings. Her bow lay strewn by her pack and quiver under a nearby bush, everything already set to go as she hadn't planned on too long of a stay. As she reaches her bow, another screech sounds, this one slightly deeper and drawn out. And closer.
She slings her pack and quiver over her shoulder, grabbing an arrow and readying her bow in case she needs it. She hopes she doesn't.
Pacing forward slowly, she keeps her eyes peeled for anything out of place. Heart pounding from the adrenalin, she tries to calm herself so that she can focus on her surroundings. A snap of a twig to her right makes her pause and turn slowly. Luckily there is a tree blocking her from view in that direction, so she slinks closer to it to give herself more cover. She doesn't run. She's seen what happens when you run. She won't make that mistake.
Peaking her head around slightly to see what she is dealing with, she watches as a small fox limps into view. After a few stumbles it collapses on its side in front of her tree. It's very young from the looks of it. She bites at her bottom lip a few times in indecision, weighing the pros and cons of helping the injured pup.
A wail sounds not 50 feet away and she makes up her mind. She can't just leave it there to die. Putting her arm through the bow so it rests on her shoulder, she quickly ducks down and pulls the pup into her arms. She knows her clothes and arms will be covered in blood, an extreme inconvenience in this region, but she takes the risk in order to save the fox.
The young woman returns to her spot behind the tree and pulls out bandages from her pack. Assessing the damage quickly, knowing she can give him better care later, she wraps the worst of his wounds. Using the rest of the bandages she brought with her, she makes a crude rendition of a baby sling under her jacket to keep him safe and warm against her body. It also keeps her arms free so that she can use her bow if needed.
Another twig snap makes her freeze. She knows if it's what she thinks it is she's in deep shit. Her best bet would have been to just leave the damn fox and run for it when she had the chance, but she couldn't bring herself to abandon a baby. Call it motherly instincts or whatever, but she just had a feeling she needed to save him. Of course, if she gets caught, then both of them will die and the whole thing would be in vain.
She quickly zips up her jacket, patting the fox pup's head gently when he begins to stir, and readies her bow again.
"Where'd that little runt run off to, brother?" A gruff, nasally voice asks.
"He's here somewhere. I can still smell his blood." The second voice sounds younger, more of an arrogant tone to it. The young woman curses to herself lowly. Two demons. Just her luck.
Taking in her surroundings she tries to decide quickly what the best course of action is. An explosion and a blinding flash of light to her left cause her to jump and let out a soft noise of surprise.
"You hear that, brother Hiten?" The first demon asks.
"Yes, Monten. It sounds like we have new prey. And this one is a girl." The arrogant one, Hiten, purrs in a voice that has chills running up and down her spine and goosebumps spreading across her body.
These demons weren't on the hunt for food. A bad situation in itself, but the one she was currently in was much worse. The only thing worse than a hungry demon was a bored demon. Those ones were ruthless and only hunted for the pleasure of the kill. And the fact that these could talk, let alone do whatever it was that caused the explosion, meant she had two very powerful, very ruthless demons hunting her now.
"It sounded like it came from over…" Hiten pauses for a moment, scanning the area around him. "There!" He shouts.
The air surrounding her crackles with electricity and she breaks into a sprint just as the lightning strikes the tree she had been using for cover mere seconds prior. She could feel his power surging before he had released the lightning bolt, if she had been less sensitive to power, they would have been goners just like the tree.
She uses the explosion as a cover and makes a bee line for the field. It's her best chance of escape at this point.
"Get back here, girl!" Monten shouts. She turns her head slightly and catches a blurry glimpse of the demons pursuing her. Monten is stocky and almost lizard like in his appearance. His "brother" by comparison is much more human looking, a lot smaller and leaner. But she knew which one held the most power. While Monten's appearance was unsettling, it was Hiten she feared more, and he was fast.
She narrowly avoids another lightning bolt, causing her hair to stand on end and a metallic taste to fill her mouth.
Shit, shit, shit. She thinks to herself. She knows she has no chance of getting away now, but she pushes her legs to go faster. Her lungs are burning and her heart is pounding out of her chest. But she can't give up.
A soft whimper sounds from her coat, the baby fox must have woken up from all the commotion. She had nearly forgotten he was there.
She can finally see the field through the tree line, a feeling of relief washing over her as she realizes they could actually make it.
Her relief is cut short when the ground in front of her explodes into light, launching her backwards and into a tree. Her head cracks against the base and she's pretty sure there is a branch through her thigh.
Her vision blurs as nausea washes over her in a strong wave. Her head snaps up in concern, making the world spin and pain to explode in her skull, and frantically opens her jacket to check on the pup. Two big, bright green, tear stained eyes stare back at her. It's then that she fully realizes that she's the biggest idiot who ever lived. The once completely fox like creature is now more human toddler in appearance than fox. Still tiny and adorable, but distinctly more human. Only the tail and pointed ears show he's not human.
She leans her head back and groans. Of course he's a demon, just her luck. She looks back down again, vision still cloudy, and checks him over.
"Are you okay?" She rasps. It hurts to talk. Definitely a broken rib or two making breathing difficult. She shifts on the ground slightly as she hears the demon brothers approach them. Her leg throbs and she lets out a small cry of pain as she breaks of the end of the thin branch, leaving the rest inside her leg. That's not going to be easy to run on. She'll have to wait until she gets home to have it taken out.
The fox demon nods his head slowly, lip quivering. He's terrified. Whether its because of the two menacing figures approaching them or that she knows he's a demon now and thinks she'll abandon him, she can't be sure.
"Just stay quiet and out of sight, okay? I'm gonna do my best to get us out of here." At least she hopes she can.
She looks around for her bow and quiver and finds them several feet away, arrows strewn about on the forest floor. Huffing a sigh that makes her sides throb, she begins to shuffle over to her only means of survival. She's by no means the expert marksman her sister is, but she's no slouch.
She reaches her bow and quiver just as a giggly snort sounds from behind her.
"Look at this dumb human. She thinks that wooden sticks will protect her from the mighty Thunder Brothers." Monten's odd laughter continues. She does her best to ignore it and continues to frantically gather her arrows.
"Stupidity is an inherent human trait, Monten." Hiten chuckles. He stalks forward just as she finishes gathering her arrows and readying her bow.
"Stay back!" She wheezes, failing to sound as stern as she intended. She takes aim at Hiten and prepares herself to fire.
"A silly little bow isn't going to save you, girl." Hiten mocks. "You're going to die at the hands of the Thunder brothers, just like so many before you have, and so many after you will." He stalks closer to her and she raises her bow higher, body tensing and heart pounding out of her chest. Her vision is still foggy and the need to vomit has not lessened since she hit her head. Her arms tremble as he continues toward her.
"Look at how she trembles, brother! I love it when they tremble in fear." Monten states, pleasure lacing his voice and making her stomach roll even more. He hasn't moved from his spot near the edge of the field where she had been blown back from.
"I agree, Monten. It's my favorite part as well." Hiten purrs.
Heart pounding and mind racing, she remembers a thought she had when she was running. Hiten is the more powerful of the two. Monten is the weak link. Making up her mind and hoping for the best, she adjusts her aim and releases the arrow before either brother notices.
The arrow sails past Hiten's head. He doesn't even move to avoid it, knowing it won't hit him.
"You missed." Hiten says, smugness lacing his tone.
She smirks slightly, "No, I didn't."
A look of confusion passes over the lightning demon's face before he turns to look at his brother. Monten was still where he had been before, but now he had an arrow sticking out of his maxilla. Not exactly where she had been aiming, he had moved his head to the side slightly at the last second, but satisfying nonetheless.
"Monten…" Hiten breathes out, starting to make his way over to his brother to assess the damage.
"I am all right, brother." Monten growls, "But I am angry now. May I have the honor of killing this bitch?" The look he gives her is nothing short of murderous.
Hiten nods stiffly, anger rolling off of him in waves, "Make her hurt, baby brother."
It's Monten's turn to stalk forward now as Hiten watches. The power surge she begins to feel makes her take pause. Her eyes widen as she realizes perhaps she misjudged Monten's power level. This power, while different, is almost as strong as his brother's.
Monten opens his mouth wide and electricity starts to glow and form a ball at the back of his throat, growing in brightness and size as his power builds.
Oops…she thinks to herself.
Hiten smirks in approval as his brother flexes his power. Her body tenses as she prepares herself for the hit. She knows she can't survive this hit, that she should move, but she's frozen in shock.
Just as Monten is about to release his power, a tiny ball of fur flies at him, hitting him in the chest and causing him to shift slightly. The beam of electricity he releases narrowly misses her and makes her hair stand on end, the air crackling around her.
"What the…" Monten grunts, looking around in confusion.
She's just as confused as the demons. That is, until she notices her jacket is unzipped and a certain baby fox missing from his sling.
"You damn runt! I thought we killed you with the rest of your family." Monten growls. A hard kick to the pup's side makes her wince. He's so small and a blow like that should have killed him. Why he even tried to help her instead of just running is beyond her.
"Don't hurt him!" She shouts, wincing again as her ribs ache.
All three demons look at her, the brother's in amusement and the fox in shock.
"Why not? He's a demon. Don't your kind love to kill creatures like him?" Hiten teases.
"He's just a baby, he's done nothing wrong." She pleads. She knows it's pointless to plead with them when they obviously delight in torturing and killing, but she is desperate. Why she cares so much about a demon child she just met, she has no idea. She just knows she needs to save him.
"A demon is a demon, or have you forgotten that?" Hiten kicks the pup again, this time adding some electricity to it. The pup cries out in pain as he sails in her direction from the blow. "They all grow up to be monsters, no exception. I mean just look at us!" He chuckles. She claws her way towards him desperately, holding him tightly to her chest once she reaches him.
"Please…" She wheezes, tears lining her eyes at both his pain and her own. The puncture wound to her thigh burns, and her head throbs painfully. The boy clings to her tightly and she slips him back into her jacket.
"Thank you for helping me." She gives him a watery smile, "But you need to get to safety."
The fox shakes his head rapidly, clinging to her tighter. He's afraid, she knows the feeling.
She smiles again and whispers, "What's your name?" She knows that this isn't the time for introductions, but if it will get him to run to safety, she'll do it.
"Shippo" He says softly.
"Shippo, I need to run and hide somewhere until it's safe." She says as sternly as she can. It's getting harder to stay conscious. She must have lost more blood than she thought.
"No!" Shippo cries, hiding his face in her chest. "My mommy told me to hide. She said it would be okay. But she wasn't okay! They hurt her bad and I couldn't help her!" He starts to sob loudly. "I couldn't help and now my whole family is dead because of me!" He wails. Tears and blood now staining the front of her shirt. This was not how she thought her day would go.
Looking up at the two monsters in front of her, she gives them the best glare she can muster.
"You killed his mother?" She asks calmly.
Monten scoffs, "We killed his whole family. Don't you like the lovely belt his father's pelt made?"
She looks down, just now realizing that this disgusting creature is wearing a full fox pelt around his hips. Shippo lets out a soft cry against her chest and something inside her snaps. White hot rage flooding her system.
"Why?" She questions softly.
"Why what? Why did we kill them? Or maybe you are curious about my belt?" Monten taunts, patting his belt.
Hiten, who had been quietly observing up until then decides to add something that makes her blood run cold. "We kill because we want to. His father was just in the wrong place at the wrong time I guess. His mother died trying to protect this pathetic runt." He pauses for a moment, observing her reaction to his next words carefully. "His siblings were too easy, though. Fox pups aren't as much of a challenge. One hit from my lightning wiped them all out." His smile was maddening.
"You killed children…because you were bored?" She whispers.
"Yes" They say in unison. Both are obviously pleased with themselves and the reaction they get from her.
Her hold on the child clinging to her tightens as her other hand reaches for her bow.
"Hold on to me tightly and don't let go, okay?" She mutters to Shippo. He nods and tightens his grip on her, burying his face back in her chest to hide as best he can.
She releases him in order to ready her bow and take aim.
"We already told you, girly, a little stick won't-" Monten's voice cuts off as her arrow pierces his chest. The purple glow it gives off causing both demons' eyes to widen in shock.
"Priestess…" Hiten whispers in awe. "I thought your kind were wiped out in the war!" He roars in outrage.
"Sorry to disappoint you." She smirks.
"Brother Hiten…." Monten stutters. He starts to fall as his strength begins to leave him.
Hiten's head whips around in his brother's direction. A cry of outrage leaves him as he sprints to catch Monten's falling body.
Seizing the opportunity given to her, she grabs her things and starts making her way to the field as fast as she can on her bum leg.
She hears a loud cry of despair sound from behind her and knows the extra time the distraction of Monten's death gave her is gone. Her foot snags on a branch at the edge of the forest and the searing pain that shoots down her leg causes black to dot her vision as she stumbles to the ground. She shuffles forward as best as she can to disappear in the tall grass that now surrounds her, hoping that she doesn't run into something worse while trying to escape Hiten.
The air around her crackles and she knows what's coming before it can hit her. She rolls to her side, further cracking her ribs and making her vision swim, as the lightning strikes right where she had been previously.
"Shit" She breathes. She used up the rest of her strength to infuse her magic in that arrow to kill Monten.
"You retch!" A voice snarls above her. She turns her head to see Hiten glaring down at her, lightening crackling around his body uncontrollably because of his rage. "You killed my brother!"
"Yeah" she sighs, "and you've killed countless other innocents. Consider it overdue karma." She quips, rolling her eyes at his hypocrisy. Had she been in her right mind and not suffering from excessive blood loss, she would have been scared out of her mind, but right now she was just annoyed.
"You bitch! You'll pay for this with your life!" Hiten screams, preparing to deliver a final blow that would probably obliterate everything within a one mile radius.
"It's time to run now, Shippo." She says softly. He gives her a firm shake of his head and stubbornly burrows further into her. She sighs, too tired to argue anymore. She supposes she understands, though. She would rather die with someone than be left alone in this world too.
The air around her starts to crackle in the telltale sign of Hiten's attack. She braces herself for the blow that will end her life. She waits, and waits. Opening her eyes in annoyance she prepares to tell Hiten to just get on with it. But it's not Hiten that's standing over her anymore. In fact, it seems like he's disappeared completely.
She raises up on her elbows to see where he went and is greeted by the sight of a lifeless Hiten splayed out on the ground about ten feet away from her. She feels that she should have heard him go down or at least the struggle that caused his death, but the ringing in her ears has only gotten worse and is nearly deafening at this point.
A flash of red in the corner of her vision catches her attention and she turns her head in its direction. A man stands to the side of Hiten, glaring down at his body in disgust.
She stares dumbly at him for a few seconds, taking in his appearance. He's handsome, with a strong jaw and high cheek bones. His nose fits his face perfectly, not too big, not too small. What is perhaps the most striking thing about him is his piercing golden eyes that seem to glow in the late afternoon light. His hair was long, much longer than her own, and a beautiful silver color that gleamed in the sunlight.
He was dressed in billowy red pants and a baggy long sleeve shirt. The style almost reminded her of her old karate uniform from when she was a kid. His outfit was too big for him, baggy in most places, but still managed to look good on him somehow.
There was one other very important detail about him. He wasn't human. Two small dog ears sat at the top of his head. They perk in her direction as she slowly sits up more, not very graceful in her movements as the world starts spinning around her.
"Kikyo?" The newcomer asks tentatively.
She falters for a moment, looking up at the stranger in confusion. He just stares back, a look of surprise crossing his features. "Kikyo is that you? What are you doing out here?" He gets closer with each word until he's standing right over her, looking down at her in confusion and what seems to be annoyance.
"What?" She mumbles, grabbing her head to try and stop the spinning. It doesn't work.
He crouches down next to her, staring into her eyes with his sunshine ones.
"Cut the shit, Kikyo. Why are you here?" He growls.
She blinks at him in surprise of his sudden attitude change. They hold each other's gaze for a few more seconds before she looses the fight with her nausea and leans over to the side to empty her stomach. The newcomer makes a noise of disgust and backs away as she tries to catch her breath.
As she leans back, Shippo wiggles his way out of her jacket and sits in her lap, looking up at her in concern.
"Are you okay?" He asks in a small voice. Eyes still glassy and red from crying.
"I'm alright, Shippo. Just a little nauseous from earlier is all." She mumbles out, giving a small, forced smile to ease his nerves. He doesn't buy it.
"You hit your head really hard earlier! And your leg has been bleeding bad for a while now." His voice starts to get panicky and high. She brings up a hand and gently rubs the top of his head.
"I'll be fine." She insists.
"No you won't." The stranger grumbles. "It's not nice to lie to children, Kikyo."
She tries to give the stranger her most menacing look, which falls flat, as Shippo starts to cry again in her arms.
"Thanks a lot." She grumbles, looking down and petting Shippo's head as she holds him closer to her chest. "And stop calling me Kikyo. That's not my name."
He frowns at her. A look of distrust crossing his feature.
"Oh really?" He quips, "Like I'd ever believe a thing you say anyway. You've always been a lying bitch."
She whips her head up in his direction, regretting it immediately, but pushing through the nausea to give him a piece of her mind.
"I don't know how you know that name or why you think that it's mine, but I'm not a liar." She seethes, "The only person I know with that name in this entire area is my sister. So, how do you know her name and why do you keep calling me by it?"
He looks taken aback for a moment at her outburst. She doesn't know how it happens, but one minute he's standing three feet away, glaring at her, and the next he's in her face, looking over her features carefully. She pulls the sniffling fox pup closer to her chest, but otherwise stays still, not wanting to provoke another demon so soon.
He leans back, letting out a grunt. "You're not Kikyo." He murmurs.
"That's what I've been telling you." She grumbles, rolling her eyes.
He just stays where he is, observing her. She has enough of his antics and decides it's time to try to get back home. She tucks Shippo back into his make-shift carrier, giving him a comforting pat before zipping up her jacket, and attempting to stand. After some struggling, she manages to get to her feet. The dog demon still where he was before, a blank look on his face.
"Thanks for the help." She murmurs, but she's pretty sure he doesn't hear her, too busy thinking about whatever it is that has him so silent.
She goes to take a step forward and her injured leg gives out, making her fall back to the ground. She braces for an impact that never comes. Opening her eyes slowly, she is met with striking golden eyes. Her vision becomes spotty again, the fight for consciousness finally being lost.
"What's your name?" She asks. If he's going to keep saving her she feels she should at least know his name.
He looks at her for a minute as if contemplating whether or not he can trust her with it.
"Mine's Kagome." she mumbles softly as she begins to fade.
He shifts her gently so that she is cradled against his body.
"InuYasha" He huffs, as if it's a great inconvenience that he has to tell her his name.
She opens her eyes one more time to look at him before she passes out. Repeating his name softly as the darkness consumes her.
"InuYasha."