A/N: Oh look... another story... please don't shoot me! *ducks for cover behind table*
I uh...I needed something to watch at night and my friend kept going on about Inuyasha (It's like her favourite anime) and so I thought about rewatching it and now I'm into it again... .
So uh... I'm just going to start now... *still cowering behind table*
Btw... HELP ME! Please? :3 I hate the summary for this story right now and I'd love some help changing it... I'd appreciate suggestions for it. So please help me!
Slowly, the girl opened her silver eyes to stare at the blue, peaceful sky above. She heaved herself up into a seated position, but otherwise remain on the ground. Today was supposed to be a momentous occasion; the halfdemon Inuyasha was going to become human using the powers of the Shikon Jewel, and if Kikyo was correct, it would purify the jewel as well: ridding the world of it forever.
Though it would be a wonderful thing for the world if no one could misuse the jewel again, she couldn't help feel like it was a shame. Such a powerful object used for a rather stupid purpose- why would anyone want to give up their demonic powers? She would never do something so foolish. On top of that, why did he need to get rid of them anyway? What was so wrong with Kikyo loving a halfdemon?
With a sigh, she brushed aside all the thoughts and questions buzzing around in her head and stood up. By now everything should have occurred and she could go congratulate them, halfheartedly, but congratulate them nonetheless. The girl turned her head into the new found breeze to keep her long black hair from getting into her face... and froze. The scent of blood was wafting downwind from further up the grassy plane. Kikyo's blood- and it was fresh.
So much for having a party and relaxing. She took off at a run towards the source. Although the priestess had tried to kill her when they had first met, now they were on rather good terms and as for the dog demon, the two of them were close as well.
As she neared the source of the scent, she came to an abrupt stop. An arrow landed where she would have been if she had kept on her course. She recognized that arrow; turning to look into the forest, she caught sight of the young priestess, but she wasn't the normal Kikyo: her eyes were filled with hate and there were claw marks on her shoulder as well as another large wound that dug into her stomach.
"Ame! You're a traitor, just like him!" Kikyo spat, glaring at the other girl.
Ame merely gave her a look of confusion. What in the world was she talking about?
"I thought I could trust you! I believed in you, and let you live here with us, and this is how you repay me?" she continued, drawing back the string on her bow once more.
"I haven't done anything! To you or even any other human since I've been here and this is how you repay me?" Ame protested, defending herself.
"Enough of your lies!" With that said, Kikyo fired several more arrows toward her. Ame dived out of the way, cursing. There was no talking to her as she was now, which left her with few options: she could kill the priestess to save herself, she could let herself be killed, or she could run. She growled in annoyance, but chose the only option where she wouldn't reward kindness with death. She ran. Normally she wouldn't be so gutless, but she still had her honour, and her honour would never allow her to live with herself if she didn't pay back her debts.
Kikyo scoffed at her cowardice. The priestess stared at her retreating back for a few seconds before deciding she had better things to do than chase her down. She turned and headed in the direction of the village.
Ame watched Kikyo leave, from her position in the treetops. As she scanned the area trying to comprehend out what the hell was going on, she caught a glimpse of smoke rising from the village ahead. Kikyo was heading towards the smoke. Even if there was now a target on her, Ame felt like she had to do something: at the very least, she wanted to figure things out. She leapt from one branch to the next, following the blood trail.
As she made it to the village, the girl paused to take it all in: buildings on fire were everywhere and the villagers were in a panic. Repeatedly, they called out Inuyasha's name in anger. Ame pushed aside all the questions that were springing up, ignored the villagers, and continued to follow her friend's blood. When she neared the end of the trail, she spotted Kikyo not far up ahead. The beautiful priestess stood with an arrow in hand and had it aimed straight at Inuyasha's chest. Said dog demon was running, with the sacred jewel grasped firmly in his claw.
"INUYASHA!" Kikyo yelled out his name in pure hatred.
"Kikyo! What are you doing?" Ame yelled, but to no avail, the arrow had already been let loose and it was on a collision course with the halfdemon. It flew true and hit, barely missing his heart- apparently Kikyo couldn't finish off her former love after all, but now he was pinned to the tree behind him. Ame watched the sacred jewel fall to the ground, and for a brief moment, imagined snatching it up, but she dismissed the thought as quickly as it came.
"K-Kikyo... How could... I thought..." his body then went limp and his eyes closed, not to open again for 50 long years.
Said woman then limped up to the jewel and collapsed. Ame's face gave way to a somber expression as she saw the last of her friend's life begin to drain away. None of the villagers paid her any mind as they ran past her and huddled around the dying priestess. Kikyo's little sister, Kaede, pushed through the crowd to sit by her sister's side. Ame might have done the same, but she felt like an outsider. Most of these people had known each other for the majority of their lives while she had only been there for a barely a year. So instead, she kept her position and watched the scene unfold.
"Big sister! You're hurt really badly!" Kaede said in a fearful tone.
The elder sister's body trembled with pain, "I forgot who I was...and now I see that..." she whispered regretfully. She then glanced at the fallen jewel and picked it up. "All for this. The sacred jewel which-" she cut herself off with a groan of pain.
"You're in pain. Let someone-" Kaede was interrupted.
"I won't be in pain much longer. And so I give this to you, the Shikon no Tama, which you must burn with my body. It must not fall into the hands of those who would abuse it." Kikyo held the jewel tight. She then closed her eyes and fell to the ground...and didn't get back up.
"Sister Kikyo!" Kaede cried, tears streaming down her young face.
Ame remained where she was. Her eyes travelled from Inuyasha to Kikyo and to the broken down village. They were both gone. In a matter of minutes, two of her only friends were lost to her and the reasons made no sense at all. What betrayal? Why had Kikyo shot at her and not thought twice about shooting at her former lover.
Breaking out of her thoughts, she began to walk up to the bodies but the villagers stood in her way. "Be gone demon!" they spat.
"But... what happened? I don't understand.." Ame said, more to herself than anyone else. She blinked, trying to take everything in and make sense of it all.
Kaede, who was still crying over Kikyo's body, then looked up at the young demon. "It's all your fault! You and Inuyasha killed my sister! All for the jewel! This village trusted you!" she cried angrily, not giving Ame a chance to protest.
"Me and Inuyasah? Kill Kikyo?" Ame echoed in disbelief. She hadn't done anything at all to the village, and there was absolutely no way either her nor Inuyasha would harm the priestess: they both cared for her.
"LEAVE THIS VILLAGE AND NEVER COME BACK!" Kaede screamed. In response, the villagers grabbed their spears and other weapons and ran at Ame. They chucked the spears at her, forcing Ame to back away from them. With no other choice, she turned and ran. Behind her, she could still hear Kaede's sobs as she cried over her sister's corpse.
The next day, Ame watched from afar as her friend's body was burned. She watched the pink glow of the sacred jewel fade into the flames and Kikyo's soul leave to the afterlife, taking the jewel along with it, just as she had wished.
Ame frowned slightly, after yesterday's fiasco she knew she couldn't go back to the village without being attack so now she was down a place to live. Now she had to once again sleep on the hard ground and go back to a cooked fish and maybe a fruit or two diet.
She sighed. Inuyasha was hot tempered and rash but he was fun to be around, and he was loyal, overall, a good friend to have. As for Kikyo, she never hesitated to help those in need or do anything for those she cared about, a good person to be sure. She would miss them both, but things like this were bound to happen eventually, after all, Ame was a demon. She would live for hundreds if not thousands of years while everything and everyone around her crumpled to dust.
Turning away from the huge bonfire, Ame looked towards the woods and beyond. With reluctance, she left the village behind her. There was nothing she could do right now. Maybe she would come back later and try to clear her name, but for now, she would leave them alone to deal with their grief.
For the next 40 years, Ame has been alone: travelling from place to place but never staying for very long. As she left the latest village she had spent the night at, she looked up towards the sky. Brushing away her black bangs she let the sun's rays warm her skin. She exhaled deeply as she headed towards the forest. While she walked she allowed her thoughts to wander.
With no parents, and what had happened the last time she had gotten close to anyone, Ame had opted to remain alone. She swore to herself that she would never let anything like that happen again, no matter the cost.
Stepping out of a river with her new found dinner, she threw the fish to the ground near her campsite and proceeded to sit down. Patiently, she waited for her meal to cook by the fire. Ame looked around the area she had commandeered. She had the river on one side, which was her source of food and water, and the forest on the other which provided her with a good cover. But evidently, not good enough.
The smoke from her fire must have drawn someone's attention. Ame immediately directed her attention to a new rustling sound coming from the undergrowth. Although it was dark out, Ame had no trouble seeing the perpetrator. Her eyes glowed ominously as her pupils dilated to enhance her night vision. The sound stopped.
Out of the forest a monk emerged. He took one look at the girl standing by the fire and knew right away that she wasn't human. "Foul demon! Why are you here?" he questioned suspiciously as he reached into his kimono.
"I'm sick of everyone saying that!" she exclaimed, her gray eyes narrowing. "I haven't done anything wrong so why don't you continue on your merry way."
"I can not allow you to remain here, bewitching honest men only to kill them later!"
"Bewitching? Killing? What the hell are you talking about?"
"I've seen the bodies strewed near the entrance to this forest. 50 good men were slaughtered- it could only be the work of a demon," he stated. From his clothing he pulled out a pile of sutras. Ame hissed- even if those things would probably not be able to kill her they would still hurt. Ignoring her protests he threw the paper straight at her.
Ame crouched down to avoid the attack and dived past him. She hadn't sensed any demonic auras nearby, nothing strong anyway, so what killed those people? She had to see this carnage for herself. The monk cursed at her as she ran from him and gave chase. Disregarding the holy person on her tail, Ame sped towards the area she had been pointed to. It didn't take long for her to smell the fresh blood and merely follow her nose to get to the right spot.
As a demon, Ame was faster than the average mortal and easily lost her pursuer. She stopped once she reached the sight.
It truly was a massacre. Bodies of humans and horses lay strewn everywhere, some were in pieces, others were with gaping wounds that could have come from claws or a large sword. Some even appeared as though they may have had a bite taken out of them or they were contorted with their hands around their throats as if they were suffocating. Judging from their armour, these people were part of the nearby lord's army. There were so many different styles of injuries that there was no way a single being could have done this. There were definitely multiple attackers, but it wasn't demons.
Just as Ame came to her conclusions about the scene before her, she sensed something coming up from behind. She whirled around only to come face to face with the monk again. It seemed as if he hadn't giving up after all. On top of that, he had had the gall to run and fetch reinforcements along the way. Behind the monk was another military regiment from the same lord as the slain ones.
As the young demon had been studying the bodies and their injuries she had knelt in their blood and her clothes were soaked in it now. She looked down at herself, then at the murdered soldiers and then back to the live ones, realizing how it must have looked. She put both hands up in a peaceful gesture and said calmly, "I swear I didn't do this."
The leading soldier scoffed, clearly not believing a word she said. "You can't fool us! This monk told us all about you. Even though you appear human you are in fact a demon." In response, the monk threw another of his sutras at the girl and this time it hit her in the chest.
Ame winced as spiritual power ran through her body. It crackled around her as if it was electricity. It hurt.
"Show us your true form demon!" the monk chanted as he made some spiritual sign with his hand and increased the power.
As the pain grew worse Ame bared her fangs at him. Her canines had grown sharper and longer than the average mortals and her hair shifted to show her pointed ears. Red markings appeared all over her body; they swirled up her arms, shoulders, and neck until they came to stop on her cheeks in a patten that resembled claw marks. Her eyes became a brighter silver colour and the pupils slitted, giving her a dangerous look.
At her new appearance jeers and cries of "monster", "demon", "lying wretch" and other things to that effect were called out by the soldiers.
Unwilling to withstand the pain any longer, Ame tore off the tag with a hiss. As the paper was separated from her body her features returned to normal.
"Prefer your fake appearance to your natural one do you?" a soldier sneered.
Ame huffed. "This is my natural one! That damn monk forced out more demonic power than I usually use!" No one paid any heed to what she had to say, as usual. She groaned in frustration and glared at them. She was sick of trying to make herself heard to stubborn idiots who were were either too sexist or bias in some form to listen or see reason. As the armed soldiers began to draw their swords and various weapons, Ame cursing her luck, turned and ran. She had no intention of fighting a hoard of humans at the moment and worst of all, she had been interrupted in the middle of dinner so she was starving. As if to prove her point, her stomach chose that moment to growl.
She clasped a hand to her stomach as she did her best to outrun the men on horses. As she ran further into the forest her sharp nose caught the scent of fire and food. Without meaning to, she found herself altering her course towards the origin of the scent: her stomach was leading her.
When she got closer to a clearing she began to make out a variety of shapes huddled around the campfire. With the sound of hooves still close behind her Ame sprang into the clearing and came to an abrupt stop at what she saw. Seven people, or at least, she thought they were all people, paused in various stages of eating or drinking at her sudden entrance. From behind her the soldiers had finally caught up as well.
This was not good.