In their absence the demon members of the Inu-Yasha cast have grown bitter over the dwindling of their way of life. Sesshomaru spends his time chasing humans out of the few demon territories left. Hakudoshi's wandered off into the mountains, never aging, and bitter enough to kill nearly any human he meets on sight. Kouga's grown a little, and risen to elder and alpha of his clan. Kagura spends her time searching the ruins of the Fuedal Era, both mourning and at the same time looking for relics of the past that might assist her in protecting the few demons left. Shippo's used his fox illusions to hide among the humans, and has found a boyfriend, pet, and roommate in Aoi of all people! And Inu-Yasha, mourning, wanders the mountains, waiting for his human friends (and his pet Monk) to return.
The year is 2032, and demons all over the world have been forced to hide. The encroachments of man have driven the yokai to near extinction, prompting the creation of Patrols, small, dedicated groups of demons and even a few humans who remember the Old Ways of the Fuedal Era. The legend of Kagome and her band have been reduced to myths, whispered mournfully from muzzle to ear as tales of a better time. But the powers of Mikos and Monks have fallen asleep, the weapons of demon hunters have rusted and eroded into shards and shrapnel in the ruins of caves. Swords no longer have names, whispered lovingly in the firelight. And attackcries no longer ring through the mountains. The jewel shards have vanished, and with them all hope for the future of Demonkind.
The scattered few who remember the Era of Inu-Yasha look on in grief to see forests replaced with glittering cities, phoenixes and dragons replaced with strange machines with names like Ospray and Jigabachi, bows and arrows and spears replaced with Sebros and Matebas. And where, perhaps, the larger demons may have clashed in battle, Multipeds and Armed Suits wage horrible, jarring battles with speeds and strengths no demon could hope to match against. Thoughts that they cannot hear, not even in whispers, fly across the airwaves and even into space! The world they loved is dying, it is the Sunset of the Yokai, and every heart knows it.
Sesshomaru was tired, and even worse, he was irritated. The wolf elder really should step down. But he owed eldery Haruki a favor, and one should always respect ones elders.
The humans had set up some kind of block. It wasn't magic, but it /did/ have some pretty hefty weapons, the sparrow demon sent on ahead had reported a control van. Some kind of monitor android, standard female model, was operating it. But there were humans going in and out.
Two ridges partially hid the road from sight, and on the nearest from his vantage point he could see the sniper post set up, its one eyed occupant and a fat, burly technician setting it up. Rippling the size of a firecat but slow in motion heralded the presence of a multiped. And more ripples in the air indicated three, four, five others in various places around the road. A white haired man with crystal eyes and a purple haired woman with eyes like Kagura's were discussing something. And others, all of them dressed in grey and black battle armor were buzzing around.
Sesshomaru's keen ears and nose picked up the movement of the multipeds, each one ordered to keep silent. No self respecting demon would obey a human the way these creatures would. His nose could smell motor oil, and the fluids of one, two, three seperate full body cyborgs.
And he could hear the conversation.
"Ishikawa, how close are they." A woman with purple hair and red eyes asked a man who'd just come out of the control van.
"About fourty five minutes."
"Alright, in twenty minutes we'll take our places."
"Whatdo we do in the meantime Major?" A whitehaired cyborg asked.
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. The answer is simple...
Sesshomaru couldn't let violence take place in demon territory, the demons that lived in it could get hurt. For all intents and purposes, their little stake out had to clear out. They could trap the badguys elsewhere. His eyes narrowed.
He raised his head, time moving as if in slow motion, and he howled. It held all his anguish, all his rage, all his pain. Then he roared and leapt on the sniper station first.
CRUNCH!!
He couldn't hear the humans yelling, the blood was roaring in his ears. How could he have sunk to such a state that he was reduced to bashing the property of the humans that had, by the time of Kagome's departure, earned his every respect. After all, he'd protected Rin, loved her like a father, raised her like his own blood, and buried her with his father.
He butted the one eyed sniper against the wall and snarled, the barrel bodied cyborg helping him was next, kicked backwards against the nearest boulder with frightening force. The think tank finally disengaged its shielding. A tachikoma? Those pieces of junk!
Sesshomaru snapped his jaws down on the machine gun first, cracking it off. Then he spun, swinging his hindpaws to bear.
BAM!!! Tachikoma 1 down for the count.
"PIECE OF JUNK!" He roared.
"What's going on up there??"
Sesshomaru turned to look behind him. The cyborg was out cold, and the sniper was bleeding, flat on his face. He looked up at Sesshomaru, one eye wide as their gazes connected. But not with fear.
His gaze reflected only awe.
"I spared your life, because I once raised a human as my daughter." Sesshomaru growled. "I could eat you right here. But your gaze shows no fear of me. I will leave you."
And with that he leapt off the ridge, landing on top of Tachikoma number 2. He didn't speak anymore. All he did was hate, hate and hate and hate. He howled again, as if the vocalization could bleed off his pain. His human friends had abandoned him through the well. His Rin, his beautiful wonderful Rin had long since gone to dust.
Two humans stood between him and the van, one with tawny hair and brown eyes, slight of build and armed with... wait a minute? Was that a pistol? He thought he could take him down with a mere mateba? Sesshomaru had withstood being shot by machine guns and he'd come out alive. Perhaps a Sebro with the right shells could have disabled him, but the mateba didn't have the velocity.
"TOGUSA OUT OF THE WAY!" The other human, brown hair, husky build, and whiskers that should have been shaved a long time ago leveled some sort of cannon at him.
Tauwny dove aside. Sesshomaru smirked. Too bad, he'd have made a great lunch. But this guy would do. Sesshomaru leapt out of the way of the rocket shot at him, and then snapped up the rocket launcher. Breaking it in two with his jaws he considered trying to wrest the stupid Mateba from the tawny human's hands, but then that would involve biting them off.
He shot forwards towards one of the tachikoma to try and break that as well when a woman threw herself in front, ready to aim a punch. She was going to try to brawl him? With that flimsy cyborg body? A heavy mod might have been a danger, but not a lightweight like her. Sesshomaru leapt out of the way of the punch. He wasn't interested in harming humans more than he had to. He landed beyond her and aimed for a kick, but was countered by a grab at his hind paw. She was swinging him? No way a cyborg was going to swing him. A kick backwards had her twirling through the air.
"So you wanna play tough huh?" The woman demanded from above. "Batou!"
Suddenly Sesshomaru found himself penned on two fronts. Big deal, he yawned boredly. Humans, cyborgs, even AI's had tried this tactic before. He'd beaten them.
"So you wanna mock me now huh?" The white haired cyborg smirked. "Better look up!" He pointed.
Sesshomaru glanced upwards. The woman's fist was sparking. A lightning glove?
BAM!!!!! BOOM!!!! Sesshomaru was assaulted by lightning from above and from the blow that had just smashed upwards under his chin. He whined, pathetically, screaming in pain. There was, no use at all, in fighting now that he'd been taken down. It hurt too much. Let him be slain if that was what was to happen. He fell, pathetically, to the ground, whining.
"Is the trank loaded Togusa?" The woman asked tawny.
Trank?? They were going to take him back as a trophy? Or for science experiments? NO!!! Sesshomaru whined and kicked pathetically in struggle.
"Almost, I don't understand how Saito works these things. If it ruins my mateba he's fixing it."
"Stop whining." The white haired cyborg grunted. He leaned down and stroked Sesshomaru's head. "That's one big..." Sesshomaru snapped at him and he fell back on his butt. "One big puppy!"
A PUPPY?????
Sesshomaru heard the shot ring out, and just before he blacked out he heard the woman say. "We'd better pull out! Chief, we need reinforcements and a medical team! We're retreating!!!!"
And then everything had fallen... deep, into darkness.