Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

Author's Note: One afternoon, out of the blue, I felt like I needed to tell this story, and wrote the entire thing in about two hours in my notebook. Two weeks and many edits later, here we are. I'm not sure exactly why this story came to me, but I do hope you enjoy. I've put a lot of thought into it. :)

Legacy of the Protector

Long ago, when Japan was young and wild still, humans walked the land without purpose or wisdom. They were pagan and simplistic, meeting their physical needs as they presented themselves, never working for a greater purpose. They walked in blindness and carried with them an air of ignorance and irreverence, having forgotten their creators after only a few generations because of their imperfect character.

This was not the way that the kamis, who had formed them from nothing and gave them life in the very beginning, had intended their creations to live. The kamis loved the humans like their children, above all other living things on the earth, and had no wish to see them remain in darkness. They had plans for the race of man, and these plans were great and perfect. They knew they had given the humans great potential, and they intended that their creations would rise to these expectations. They also knew that the truest love of all was love freely given, and that was the kind of love and reverence they wanted from their children.

For these reasons, they sent magnificent, exotic, diverse creatures down to the wild lands of Japan, to guide the humans and inspire them to greater things. These creatures were called youkai, and they were of all shapes and sizes, beautiful to look upon and regarded with respect, because the kamis had sent them. They helped man to develop villages and become learned, and reminded him that the kamis still existed and loved them unconditionally. The youkai told the humans that the kamis wanted them to have the same love, for each other and for their creators. For a time, the land was beautiful and good again, because the humans were living out their purpose and following the perfect, amazing plans the kamis had laid out for them before time had begun. They loved the kamis, and because they loved them, they wanted to please them and make them proud of their children.

However, there were some among the heavenly servants of the kamis that had the root of evil within their hearts. Having been cast down to the dark places of the land long ago as a result of their traitorous actions, they hid in the shadows and waited. One in particular was the strongest, most prideful of all the fallen servants, and he was patient and cunning. He gave himself and his followers the name "demon" and connived for the downfall of the perfectly orchestrated plans of the kamis. With the demons were monsters; hideous, twisted creatures that followed the orders of the demon lord. They were named "oni", and many such oni monsters terrorized the new human settlements, forcing the youkai to do battle with them in order to safeguard the humans.

One day, as a neko-youkai was prowling her way through the wild forests, watching for malignant oni, the demon lord approached her. She immediately recognized him as a demon and an enemy and coiled her muscles to spring, ready to destroy this traitor of heaven and terrorist of humanity. However, he managed to pacify her with smooth words, and convinced her to listen. He spoke with venom in his voice, craftily planting the seed of doubt in the wavering neko's mind, and then, slipping away into the foliage as though he were a phantom, allowed his plan to be set into motion.

The kamis saw their fallen servants plotting and scheming against them and their creations, having known since the beginning that this must come to pass. For this reason, they had created a special race of youkai, to protect the humans from the evil to come. They were called the inu-youkai, and they were first placed in the western lands. They were instilled with a strong sense of loyalty and integrity, and have never to date been surpassed in their protective instincts.

It didn't take much to corrupt the hearts of the youkai, as the demons soon discovered. A whispered word here, a murmured question there, were all it took for the demon lord and his followers to sow discomfort among the youkai. Slowly, inexorably, the creatures designed to be the greatest helpers of mankind began to doubt the integrity of their purpose. "How can the kamis know what is right and good when they do not walk among us themselves?" they whispered to each other. "Do such beings even exist as kamis? Are we not in control of our own destinies? Why should we, the greatest beings on earth, be inclined to help such a weak and useless race as humans?" They became deluded and convinced of their own superiority, gradually falling into ignorance themselves, and eventually denying and ignoring the very existence of their creators.

The kamis watched all this with sorrow, for they had known from the very beginning that this was to happen.

The demons saw the events unfold with great pleasure, reveling in in their supposed foiling of the kami's plans. One by one, the youkai began to turn on the race of man, killing and attacking them wherever they found them and destroying the villages they had worked to build with their one-time friends. Humans quickly learned to fear these youkai. Because of the evil corrupting the great creatures, they soon became indistinguishable from the oni, and soon the word "youkai" came to be synonymous with the word "demon" in the minds of men.

There was confusion and division within the two warring species as well. Youkai turned on youkai, succumbing to their animal instinct and forming fierce territorial rivalries, even as humans began to feud and fight bitterly over land and wealth and other such matters that had not been known to them until the arrival of the youkai, and which had now been corrupted because of their fall.

Thus, the race of youkai caused the race of man to fall into chaos once more.

However, the kamis had known these things were to occur since before time began, and there was still hope for the land of Japan. Some of the loyal heavenly servants relinquished their eternal forms for a time, to come walk the land and aid the humans in the constant battles and feuds that now perpetuated the era. These merciful servants now called themselves miko and houshi, among other names, and wielded their spiritual powers with reverence to the kamis. Because of these self-sacrificing servants, man again stood on equal footing with his adversaries.

What of the ultimate protector of the human race, the inu-youkai?

When youkai had first begun to allow demons to influence their hearts, the inu had retreated to their original domain of the west, which they quickly established as theirs. At first, they ruled this region with benevolence and protected the humans within their borders as they had always done. After a time, however, many became corrupted as well, and began to turn inwards, only protecting their own, and eventually even persecuting and hunting the humans down. Only a few remained stalwart and loyal, remembering the purpose for which they had been intended, and even these became few and forgetful over time.

But there was one inu-youkai born with the memory and integrity of his calling, and he fell in love with a human princess, against all youkai custom and tradition. In these days, the original race of youkai had been all but forgotten, and the demon-youkai were the only race the humans had ever known. But this woman, this princess, saw past the demonic characteristics of the inu, and through to the loyal, good heart that he had been born with. They were married, and though she was rejected by her people and he was ridiculed by youkai nobility, for he was Inu no Taisho, they were happy for a time.

Now, the demons and evil youkai were still very much at work in the land of Japan, and they could not let this audacious inu get away with his breaking with tradition for long. He, eventually, was killed, but his legacy and heritage remained in his pup, his hanyou son.

This hanyou was not born to have an easy life. As a child, he was reviled and hated by youkai and humans alike, treated with contempt by every person but his mother. He loved a human miko, but because of the evil of the youkai, their tentative love and trust was easily severed by a brutal misconception. Under the impression he had been betrayed by her cold nature, the hanyou's heart was embittered. Imprisoned for fifty years in an endless sleep, he vowed revenge. He no longer wanted anything to do with humans, and hated his human blood with a passion.

But the kamis had a plan for this hanyou, and he wasn't going to fall like the rest of the inu.

After half a century of hopeless confinement, a kind young miko arrived. She hearkened from a time where demons had caused the world to fall asleep, youkai and humankind alike forgetting the kamis altogether. Youkai were no longer necessary to the demons there, and so they died out, the fallen servants of hell causing their extinction gradually and thoroughly. Soon, the land of Japan was no longer wild, and even the miko and houshi had nearly forgotten their true heritage. It seemed as if the demons had won the milennia-long war at long last.

But, in their pride, the demons had overlooked one crucial fact, and that was this; they were still lesser beings than the kamis whom they had once served. And the plans of the kamis were perfect and unable to be ruined.

By the use of a sacred well, the miko was sent to the era of human feuds and evil youkai. She alone had the ability to right the wrongs her predecessor had committed out of bitterness, distrust, and misinformation, and she set free the hanyou. They soon became close friends as they sought to rid the land of the evil youkai who had caused the hanyou so much pain. The young girl was reminded of her purpose and heritage as a miko, and she healed the wounds of the hanyou's scarred heart with her innocence and kindness.

The kamis watched their progress in thwarting the demons in the past with a smile, knowing that the two, and their love, would eventually reawaken the hearts of her era while saving those of his.

And the land of Japan, while no longer the virgin country it had been before the arrival of corruption and hatred, was well on its way back towards the place it was originally intended to be. The inu-hanyou would protect the miko, bringing remembrance back to the inu-youkai, and the miko would heal his wounds and those of the race of man.

The kamis watched with satisfaction indeed, content in their knowledge that all would soon be fulfilled, and then all creation would be following its perfect, beautiful design. And these two, the lovely miko and her hanyou protector, would be willing instruments in making it all happen.

-fin-

Author's Note: I know, I know, another random Inuyasha story instead of updating Friendship & Betrayal. I'm quite ashamed of myself, really. But for some reason I've been feeling very inspired in this area lately, and so I decided to share this with you all. I hope you've enjoyed it, and please do send a review. They let me know how I can improve myself(: so if you'd like to flame, though I can't say I appreciate you very much, at least have the decency to criticise my writing in a way I can learn from.

See y'all next weekend. Hopefully by then I'll have an update on both my chaptered stories! :)

Lady Elisabeth