A/N: First things first. Ahlo, I'm Saiketsu the Fire Starter. I burn things. : D Anyway I am here cuz i've had many suggestions to come. so i finally did. I was told that this is where all the reviews are at. Where people actually read your stories. I'm new here, so will i be disappointed? Oh, I hope not.

Chapter 1 on.

The Phantom Killer
Chapter 1: Yuuyake Revealed

"Yuuyake, where are you?" an old but powerful fire demonmurmured to himself from his place on the step outside the hut where he searched for his daughter withhis eyes. Blast it, he thought with a prolonged sigh, looking around at the rising sunlight that bathed the landscape in a bright yellow glow. She's off again! Whenever she's needed, that girl is off somewhere. One question. I can't even ask her one question. Why do I even try? With another heavy sigh he went to go look for his son instead, turning another way.

The girl hidden behind themighty magnolia tree sighed in relief that her father hadn't noticed her there. She relaxed somewhat, leaning her back against the majestic tree. Then, glancing only quickly at the retreating figure, she left, traveling deeper into the forest.

She built up speed and moved fast through the forest, no more than a blur to any passersby. As she went, the brilliant lights of the mid-spring morning struck the ground violently in blurs and then were lost in her speed.

Her mind had darted from one subject to another as anyone's would, for there was no need for concentration. The place was almost like ahome away from home for her, what with seeing it almost every day. She knew every tree to pass, path to take and fallen log that lay in her way. She knew what demon lay hidden, laying in wait for any prey.

And soon, far from where she started, she began to slow as her uneasiness ebbed. She was far enough away from her home and her thoughts that there was really no need to escape anymore.

The young woman found herself wandering through an ancient grove of sakura trees after a while, one that had been there long before she were born. her pace had slowed severly down to a walk while now she looked at the cherry blossoms casually, as if they were nothing new in the scenery. The spring always offered these beautiful, delicate sakura blossoms, just like many other things- food, life, renewal. Memories most of all.

But they were never good ones...

And her mind wandered yet again. It wandered back forty years. To a day that had forever changed her. The day when she, her mother and elder brother had attempted to take the sacred Shikon no Tama from it's home in a human village. And failed horribly in the process.

The wide area near her shoulder still flared in a dull, black pain at this memory.

Kikyou, the priestess that had then guarded over the Jewel, had killed her mother and her eldest brother. The priestess had almost killed Yuuyake that day as well. And that wenchcame deathly close to finishing her off, too.

Yuuyake cringed remembering the pain that surged through her veins, filling every crevice of her body with a feeling of being ripped apart from the inside, out. It felt as if it only happened yesterday, with pain this intense. Most of the it, however, was from the failure that she alone faced now. Their lives had been wasted. They hadn't retrieved what they went there for and now, out of the three, she was the only one left alive to share with the rest of her family the news. It was truly a miracle, though, that Yuuyake had escaped and survived the encounter with the miko that had taken the lives from countless demons with only her bow and a quiver of arrows.

Yuuyake trembled remembering the encounter and somehow managed to calm her nerves, looking up to the sky and exhaling. Above, puffy clouds were drifting slowly through the sky that was now a bright blue. They reminded her of smoke, white smoke. The same smoke she had seen that day.

She knew that somewhere above her, just far enough out of her mind's reach, her family stood gazing down at her and the rest of the family. Could they see her looking up at them, feel her pain? Hear her questions of life? Hear her ask herself what it must be like to die?

And that was another thought that rose on Yuuyake's mind constantly as it was doing now. Why hadn't she died that day along side her family? Why had she only been just lucky enough to bestruck with one arrow instead of three, like them? She was plagued with guilt that she hadn't died as well, even to this day. And somewhere deep inside, she knew that she would never heal, never forgive herself for what she had happened and lived to tell about. Sometimes she wished that the Gods would strike her dead, to take her life, to stop her eternal pain.

Pine eyes gazed back down to the world around her as the flowers danced in the wind. She plucked one of the petals of the pink flowers off of the great tree with a slow and somehow painful motion. Yuuyake sighed inwardly. Death was such a confusing thought to her.

On the one hand, death would bring her closer to the ones she had let down. She'd be able to repay them for her weakness, to give them something she couldn't have before. Now she was stronger, more focused in her tactics and own powers. She could be their savor as they were hers.

But then what of her father? She looked back sadly over her shoulder. She could never put him through the pain of loosing yet another child. There was too much here for her to just leave with no regrets. Her brother was so young and still needed to learn much of what she could teach him.

But for some reason, even that didn't matter to her. She didn't understand why, she only accepted it. There was probably only one definite thing that kept her from killing herself. And that was-

A rustling of the brush shook Yuuyake awake and back from her thoughts. She backed away into the shadows of the protective collection of tall oaks, sakuras and magnolias, disappearing behind one of them, waiting patiently to find out what had made that noise. Her body began to gather energy and she channeled it down to her fingertips, now glowing an orange color with the fire that the energy could produce.

Fire. One of the deadliest substances around nowadays. It could tear an entire village apart and only a few could be capable of controlling it. It took years of practice to master the energy.

A fire demon. The rarest of all demons in the world. And the most she had ever seen were five, all of them her family, because all of her life, her family was the one thing she had ever known...

"Yuuyake?" came the somehow scared voice of a young boy she knew so well through the full green leaves of the tree. "Yuuyake come out. I know it's you..." The voice trailed off quietly, cowardly almost.

Yuuyake sighed with a smile and let the fire die. She stepped out from behind the tree, turning 180 degrees swiftly to face the young boy, herflowing midnight hair following suit, swinging around and breaking on her shoulder before becoming still.

"And what do you wish from me now, Kasaimaru?" Her voice was smooth and velvety as she spoke to her younger brother, almost taunting the young boy. From the light of the midday sun, her eyes shimmered a dazzling shade of pine green and she seemingly radiated in her white and purple robes. She suddenly realized how far along in the day it was and it almost scared her.

"Father's been looking for you," he said matter-of-factly, "and I know you know that. He sent me to find you."

"And so, at the moment, you are his little errand boy, are you not?" Yuuyake smiled simply at the cross expression on her little brother's face. It was rather funny how easily she could tick her little brother off. It was good to laugh. It reminded her that there might actually be something worth living for in the world. "Come. Let's walk and talk."

"You do not know exactly why father has sent me out here, do you?" Kasaimaru asked casually, looking around boredly at the scenery, the way only a young boy would, taking it all for granted. Yuuyake supposed they all did.

"Not really," she replied forwardly. "Did he tell you?"

Kasaimaru shook his head and smiled. "He didn't have to." He said shortly with that large ear-to-ear smile.

"No, I suppose not." She smiled as well, lifting her gaze from her bare feet out to the rest of the wide world.

"He only wishes to know whether or not you'll be around tonight."

"Probably not, Kasaimaru. I was planning on other factors," she said cautiously and looked away from him, thinking.

"That's not the reason," he said not looking at her, "but I shalln't meddle more, elder sister." He started to walk away from her. "Have fun and Father says no terrorizing villages. No, not even the small ones!"

She stared athim and couldn't help but smile before she walked off in the other direction, back towards the groove. Although he was younger, Kasiamaru knew Yuuyake well, even without his powers, which was amazing even now. They had always been so close up until the day long ago and ever since then, things have never been the same on her part. Kasaimaru was too young at the time to remember anything significant about the deaths of the family members and so she never worried about him changing. It was her that had definitely changed.

She lifted her head and traveled on.

Back in the grove of the sukura, all was peaceful and relatively calm, the wind weaving and lacing its way through the delicate petals and carrying their scent all around the grove. The wind toyed gently with her raven hair. The sky was now a bright crimson color, and then sun was laying back down into the blanket of clouds and purple mountains as she picked up another petal and started examining it.

Her mind wandered again as it always did. The blossoms were so beautiful in spring, so fresh and pale pink. Then summer comes and knocks them off to make room for the actual cherries, so ripe and ready to fall when autumn comes and it is time for them to fall. Winter finally comes and freezes over everything, so unforgivingly. But then soon after the spring thaws come and the flowers are back again...

"One could be caught off guard out here, Yuuyake," a smooth voice drifted through the trees, causing her to flinch in alarm. The voice's body appeared from behind her in the leaves of the trees. He was a tall young man, about the same age as her with short black hair tied in the back save for his bangs and very bright, disturbingly blue eyes. Hisdeep bluerobes fit his tall frame perfectly and he wore a very sly smile.

Yuuyake spun around to face him as he came closer to her. "Nice to see you too, Makaze." She went back to looking down at the petal in her hands, a small smile on her face as his two arms snaked around her waist gently. Makaze put his head on her shoulder.

"I love sunset. It reminds me so much of you," he whispered into her ear, "so peaceful and beautiful."

She turned to face him, looking him deeply into the eyes and went deep into his strong, protective arms, wishing they could stand there for all eternity. The only place where she truly felt safe anymore. She felt like blurting out everything she felt to the demon boy but she held her tongue, deciding against it.

They stood as such for a countless amount of time before he lifted her chin and kissed her greedily. "Run away with me, Yuuyake. We can just drop life here and never come back." There was such excitement and hope in his eyes as well as his tone.

But Yuuyake's heart sank somewhat. She had known he had said it with all his heart and the thought was definitely inviting. She hated this place. There were too many memories and thoughts of the past that haunted this forsaken place. But what of her Father and her younger brother? What would become of them when and if she left?

"I'd love to," she said very slowly, looking into Makaze's bright blue eyes (how strange his eyes are…). "You know I'd love to. But what of my father and Kasaimaru? What would happen to them? My father cannot take care of Kasaimaru alone. He'd worry himself to death about me. I don't want to have him go through any more pain, Makaze. I can't do that to him."

Makaze sighed with a desolate smile, but understood. He knew what was going on, what her life was like, for he'd have been going through the same thing, only he'd been alone. Thanks to Kikyou, the priestess.

The Shikon no Tama...

It had also brought his family to its unfortunate demise. Yuuyake was the only one he had left and she was, indeed, very close to the family she had left, like he had been.

"Under any other circumstances I would. It's just…" she didn't finish or even look up at him but he understood what she meant. She pressed her head against his chest and felt like breaking down and letting the tears building in her eyes fall. Yuuyake closed her eyes and didn't speak, listening to the other's breathing and his strong heartbeat. Through it all, she wondered if he knew she was crying. She felt rather stupid.

"I know. It was a stupid suggestion," he sighed again. "I can't stand it here. There are just too many memories buried in this earth. Just the thought of escaping all the pain sounds inviting, does it not?" He asked hopefully, even though he knew the answer. "If not for you, I probably wouldn't still be here," he said referring to the deep scars of the purposeful slits running the width of his chest and arms where he had tried to cut himself open and bleed to death. He smiled down at her but it was full of masked desolation.

She nodded and understood everything. It had been many days after her mother and brother died that Makaze and his family of his mother, his father, him, his elder brother and sister had attempted to take the Shikon no Tama. He and his sister were the only ones to escape, for she, Yuuyake, had found Makaze and his sister in the forest.

Her mind drifted into an uneasy haze of memory as she remembered the first time she met Makaze.

She had been wandering through the forest many days after she had been shot with the arrow by the miko. As weak as she still was from her healings, she continued out of pure spite and wandered blindly into the forest.

Not long afterwards, she stumbled across a patch of frozen ground and as she looked closer at it, she could see that the entire area was frozen over. She stepped onto the ice and it melted beneath her bare feet. She continued deeper into the frozen forest, oblivious to any feeling she had about how safe it was that she was doing this.

Eventually, she came across what was causing the landscape to freeze over. There at the base of a tree, sat an ice demon, his short hair pulled back and his bright ice blue eyes burning onto hers. Even from where she stood leaning one hand against a tree for support she could tell his breathing was very ragged. She could also see that he had an arrow piercing him squarely in the chest, his shoulder and another at the base of his throat.

All of the arrows, the fire demoness noted, had a thick purple aura around them and were covered in blood that looked not even hours old.

She stared at him for a moment in wonder and she instantly knew what had happened to this demon. She took a step closer and was suddenly struck in the body and thrown back, off her feet, into the base of a tree, completely tearing into it, knocking it over with an earth shaking force. Animals scampered away for their lives.

A moment passed and she opened her eyes once more weakly, coughing and looked up out of the pile of crumbled and splintered wood. Yuuyake could feel a large piece of the tree trunk snapped and ragged in her back. Shifting her gaze, she could see a girl standing in front of the boy, crouched down guardedly. Her fingertips were glowing a hazy sapphire color and her clothes were torn and bloodied. She also had an arrow sticking out her arm.

Yuuyake stood up slowly, pulled the branch of wood out of her back, the tip in a good inch or so, covered in blood. She wiped off her clothing as the other got ready to attack.

"Wait," she said weakly to the ice demoness and coughed again from being so out of breath. Yuuyake looked past the girl, to the boy sitting down. "I mean you no harm." She coughed wearily again.

The ice demoness glanced back at the boy and then back at Yuuyake. "What do you want, wench? State your business with us," she shot at the fire demoness very icily.

Yuuyake glared a moment longer but decided to ignored the other girl's icy threat. Undoing part of her kimono just enough, she revealed the wide part of her shoulder directly above her breast, the part of her kimono where the scar of the arrow had just started to form, though she was careful not to reveal too much in the presence of this boy. "She tried to kill me too." Her voice was weak but calm, showing no hint of fear.

The elder girl's eyes softened somewhat as she saw the scar. "What's your name, girl?"

"I am Yuuyake. I am a fire demoness. I've just lost my mother and my elder brother and I almost died myself," she said in a low voice, looking sternly at the elder girl.

The boy at the tree was staring at her in interest. "Ma-kaze," he stuttered painfully, making both the women look at him. His face was twisted up in pain, Yuuyake could see. The other girl faced Yuuyake again and hesitated before answering.

"My name's Yuugao. I'm sorry for striking you down, Yuuyake, but the world is a very unsafe place and we must be careful, as you probably know." She sat down next to Makaze. They had the same eyes, she saw that from where they stood. She wondered if all ice demons had that same trait...

He exhaled a sudden shriek in pain as the arrows in his body pulsed painfully and violently.

"Makaze?" Yuugao looked at him unsure of what was happening, scared.

Yuuyake understood perfectly what was happening and there wasn't much time. The arrows were trying to kill him with their miko powers. She reached over and pulled out the arrow in Makaze's arm quickly causing him to yell out pain. He glared at her heatedly, manipulating the icy orbs so effortlessly, it moved her...

Yuuyake sighed, pulling herself out of her memories. "I know. If not for my brother and father, I'd leave this place forever."

Yuuyake laughed a small hint of laughter.

Makaze looked at her. "What is it?" He questioned.

She smiled slightly, the corners of her mouth only twitching. She shook her head and looked out into the field in which they sat. "Nothing. I was just thinking of something." She leaned her head against his shoulder, blinking once or twice and setting leaves or grasses or flowers on fire with such ease.

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Well feel free to share."

She sighed. "If you think about it, we," she searched for the words carefully inside her head, "shouldn't be as close as we are."

He hesitated, looking out on the land, chilling the flowers she just set ablaze, calming and cooling the fire. "How so?"

"Think about it. I'm a fire demoness and you're an ice demon. We are opposites," she closed her eyes and yawned.

He didn't say anything, only stared off into the distance. The sun was behind the mountaintops in the distance far off but there was still some light. The field in front of them was bathed in a golden color now and lightening bugs darted back and forth from the depths of the tall grasses. Birds were calling out and he could hear some crickets chirping away and they probably would until sunrise came once more.

"But," she yawned again, "what should that matter?" She stated more than asked, finally letting herself drift along with the clouds into a very dreamy presence.

"It shouldn't," he put his arm around her back, slipping it down so that his hand rested on her hip, protectively. "It doesn't... Does it?"

She smiled up at him. "No. Of course not." She said before she drifted away to sleep.

He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead tenderly before leaning his head on hers and drifting off to sleep himself...

A/N: so...End Chapter one! yay? Review now!