PROLOGUE
Keranna stared into the fire, watching as her family, friends. . .her entire village, burned to the ground. The screams of her mother, father, and older sister calling to her was all she could hear. She only stared as everything she knew was destroyed by a dog demon.
Kera awoke from her nightmare. Her village had been destroyed eleven years earlier, everyone slaughtered mercilessly. She was the only survivor. 'Why?', you might ask? Simple fortune, or possibly misfortune, really. She had gotten into trouble and had run away to a nearby lake to hide from her mother. When she returned, all she saw was blood and bodies. Even she, as a human, could actually smell the blood. And then she saw him. A demon, large, it's long white fur covered with blood stains that matched it's glowing red eyes perfectly. She fainted in her hiding spot in the bushes, and when she awoke, the demon was gone.
Now, at the age of sixteen, Kera was a skilled fighter. Her Katana was her most deadly weapon, enforced with magick, powerful enough to kill a full demon. And that was exactly what she planned on doing. Finding and killing the demon. . .the dog demon that ruined her life when she was only five. . .
CHAPTER ONE
Kera walked through the forest, half-heartedly, swinging her Katana at the plant life that was in her way. She made herself a path to the river. It was such a hot day, and the water looked so nice. . .
She carefully placed her Katana on top of her clothes that were carelessly thrown in a pile on the ground.
As she slipped into the water, she suddenly got the feeling that she was being watched. She sunk lower into the water, shaking off the feeling. She submerged herself for a few seconds, and when she resurfaced, she was just in time to see an imp-like creature running into the trees.
"Hey!" she called out "Get back here you little pervert!"
she quickly put on her kimono, grabbed up her Katana, and chased after the little imp. She knew he'd been the one watching her, and it was obvious that it was a male, so there was slapping and major reddening of the face to be done when she caught her little 'spy'. She was about to call out when she heard talking from behind the bushes.
"M'lord, I'm sorry to disturb your sleep, but there is a human close by."
Kera was listening in, but jumped when she heard the voice of a small child.
"Hi!" the little girl began "What's your name?"
"Keranna, but you can call me Kera." She whispered "but be quiet, I think there's a demon over there."
The little girl, who could have been no older than eight, giggled and ran through the bushes. . .right towards the voices! Acting quickly, Kera followed, and when she arrived on the other side of the bushes, no one was there.
'they got her. . .' she thought, a tear forming in her eye. 'but there's still a chance that they haven't killed her for food yet. . .'
she glanced around, noticing a small path that they must have taken, and ran at full speed down the path. She ran for what could have been a couple miles, but tired, and had to stop. She climbed into a tree and slept for the rest of the night. When she awoke, she smelled something burning. A campfire, perhaps?
She climbed down from her perch in the tree, and followed the scent of burning wood. She walked only a short distance before reaching the spot. She curiously peered through some thick bushes, and when she did, she released all of her rationality. The girl, from the evening before, was lying on the ground in a bed of leaves near the fire. She rushed up to the girl and scooped her up into her arms; the girl's eyes fluttering open.
"Kera?" she asked, sleepily
"Yes. Are you hurt little girl?"
she giggled a bit "Little girl? My name is Rin, and no, I'm not hurt."
Kera opened her mouth to say something, but was cut short when she heard a squeaky, screechy voice from behind her saying "Put the little girl down."
Kera turned around, setting Rin on the ground gently, preparing to fight, and when she turned, she saw the same green imp-looking demon from the lake.
"LORD SESSHOUMARU! A HUMAN IS TRYING TO HARM THE LITTLE GIRL!!!!!!!" the creature yelled.
"Kera wasn't going to hurt me, Jaken. You're so silly!" Rin giggled.
Kera was about to say something to the little demon Rin had called Jaken, when a man. . .no, a demon stepped into the clearing. He had long, flowing silver hair, yellow-amber eyes, a fluffy tail over his shoulder, two maroon marks on either side of his face, a blue crescent moon shaped mark on his forehead, and a glowing hand. . .which was now mere centimeters away from Kera's face. He was holding her up to a tree with his free hand, crushing her throat.
"Tell me, human, what did you want with Rin?" he asked, half annoyed and yet with absolutely no expression showing on his face.
Kera stared into his eyes, quiet and defiant, although she really had no choice, seeing as that her path of oxygen was cut off.
"Um. . .M'Lord, perhaps she could better answer you if she could breath. . .just a suggestion. . ." Jaken said, his voice quivering.
This demon, Sesshoumaru?, let out a slight growl, but lowered Kera and slightly released her. Instincts took over and she tried to run. Sesshoumaru easily pulled her back to him, one hand over her mouth, causing her screams to come out muffled, and the other arm at her stomach, his claws slightly touching her, just enough to let her know that if she moved he might kill her, but not enough to harm her.
"If you promise me that you will not scream, nor attempt to run, I will let go of you. But if you do, I will kill you."
Kera, terrified, could only nod. She felt him release his grip on her and she slowly turned to face him. He stared her directly in the eyes, still no emotion showing on his face.
"P-please at least l-let the girl go. . ." Kera motioned to Rin, who was standing over by Jaken.
"And why would you not want Rin to be here?" Sesshoumaru asked her
"You. . .know her name?" Kera asked, surprised that Rin had told this demon her name.
"Lord Sesshoumaru, you aren't going to kill her, are you?" Rin asked.
He turned to face Rin. "Do you wish for me to allow her to live?"
"Yes. Kera's nice to me."
"This is the second time you have called her Kera." He then turned to Kera "Am I to take it that Kera is your name?"
"My real name is Keranna, but my friends call me Kera."
"And you are human, are you not?" he asked, knowing the answer, but curious about how she would reply.
"Yeah, I'm human. And I suppose you three are all demons?"
"Rin is a human, but my worthless minion, Jaken, and I are both demons, yes." He stared into her eyes with much concentration, as though trying to see into her very soul.
"So, are you going to let me live, or not?" Kera asked, tentative, yet defiant.
"You will live. But in return, you must travel with us."
"kill me then. I refuse to travel with a demon."
"You can't let her come with us, M'lord! One human is worthless, but two is just. . .it's. . ." Jaken was so frustrated, he couldn't even finish his sentence.
"please come with us. Lord Sesshoumaru is really nice, and it's so much fun to annoy Jaken!" Rin giggled as Jaken stuck out his tongue at her.
Kera let her human drive to live take over, and glared at Sesshoumaru. "okay, I'll come."
They traveled around for hours, and pretty soon, the sun started to set.
"Jaken, you and Rin go on ahead and find a place to sleep for the night. We will be along shortly."
"Are you sure you wish to be left alone with this. . .human?" Jaken asked, rudely.
"Listen, toad. I do have a name, you know." Kera glared at him.
"Jaken. Go. Take Rin."
Jaken knew better then to argue with his master, so he reluctantly led Rin away, only looking back once at the two he had left behind. Once Rin and Jaken were out of sight, Sesshoumaru spoke.
"Human. Earlier, you refused to travel with us because Jaken and I are demons. Why?" he asked in monotone, absolutely no change in his mood from any other time during the day.
"Because I hate demons." She simply responded.
"Just as I hate humans."
"I have a reason, though. You only hate humans because you're a demon. I hate demons because of a terrible childhood experience."
"Childhood traumas. Yet another sign that you are nothing but a weak human. You see a demon and are forever frightened."
"Saw a demon?! A demon killed everyone in my entire village when I was five! That's why I'm out to kill the mutt that killed them!"
the word 'mutt' caught Sesshomeru's attention.
"So this demon. . . was it a wolf demon?"
"No. A dog demon. Huge white dog with red eyes and fangs. I don't really remember anything else, but when I see him I swear I'll. . ." she let a few tears fall from her eyes.
"And you, a mere human, intend to kill this demon by what means?"
"My Katana."
"Hah! You plan to kill a demon with a small knife?!" laughter almost dashed across his face, but then he returned to his usual emotionless expression.
"My Katana uses magick given to me my Master Tokinara, in return for saving his life once. This magick is capable of killing a demon. I'm not as stupid as you obviously think I am."
"Even using the Katana, you must be a skilled fighter in order to survive a battle with a demon." He pointed out to her.
"And I have killed demons before, too. Master Tokinara has taught me well."
"Perhaps you won't be as worthless to me as I thought." Sesshoumaru began walking, and then turned to face her again. "come then, Jaken will have a fire waiting for us."
Kera followed him a short distance to a clearing where Jaken had started a fire. Rin was sitting on a log, but stood up and walked over to Kera.
"Want to play with me?" she asked, pulling out a ball from her pocket and began tossing it back and forth with Kera. When Kera turned around, Sesshoumaru was gone. Rin noticed. "he's getting food."
A while later, Sesshoumaru appeared with a deer, dead, and flung over his shoulder. Kera saw him through the corner of her eye. He was watching the two girls play and he was. . .smiling?! Kera, surprised, turned quickly to see him, but when she did, he was staring at the fire, his face expressionless, as always. He threw the dead animal down, right next to the fire.
"Human. Cook it." He ordered
"You make Rin do the cooking?!" Kera asked, a bit shocked.
"Wrong human. Lord Sesshoumaru meant you." Jaken explained.
Realizing all three of them were staring at her, she blushed slightly, and walked up to the deer.
'well, here goes nothing. . .'
END CHAPTER ONE
Peggi-Well, what did you think? This is my first ever InuYasha fanfic and I'm going to try and keep the characterization as good as I can. This is dedicated to Fae and Keiku, my cousins who I got into InuYasha by letting them read this fic (yes the whole thing is written, just not typed) and if I owned InuYasha I'd be making money off of this fic but I'm not so therefore I don't own InuYasha.
Sesshoumaru-Are you done rambling yet?
Peggi-(huggles Sesshy) No Mr. Sir Fluffy-sama I'm not done rambling yet. Anywayz, this is one of the fics that I got the chance to type up and post, I hope it was good, it gets better as the story goes along. Well, enough rambling for now, please review or it'll take me longer to post chapity two (chapity is MY word....) (glare)