There was a quiet village deep within the forest that had always found itself at peace. They were too far from others for anyone to be interested in taking over their village. This peace lasted for only so long once the last member with the knowledge to fight has perished in a fight against a demon. Since this knowledge of skilled expertise had been passed down through the families protecting their village, once it was gone they were vulnerable. They had lost hope for their survival, knowing full well how easily their homes could be taken from the land with not a single person knowing. It wasn't until the day a majestic cat demon came and saved their children from an attack by a group of demons did they believe that hope was not lost.
"My name is Shiritai," the large cat spoke to them. It was at least the height of a house from head to feet when it sat down. The tone of the voice was feminine, so the villagers guessed that the identity of this cat was female. "I have heard your calls of distress in these troubled times, knowing too the sorrow of losing your kin. I will make a trade with you. If you allow me to live in the nearby caves and coexist with your village, then I promise to protect this land." They agreed wholeheartedly, knowing that the only way to live without fear was to coincide with this demon.
For many generations the cat demon and the villagers existed happily side-by-side. They treated her wounds from battle and helped care for her young when she gave birth. The kittens stayed in the village and eventually found human companions to whom they showed their trust. Some of the men, with the cat demons by their side, felt confident enough to learn how to fight by going out and fighting weak demons. A few more generations passed down, as the men were able to help protect the village with their cat demon companions. They often ventured off and away from the village to bring back delicious food, such as fish from the lakes nearby or berries from the trees further into the forest. Mizuhashi, a young man from the village with a curiosity worse than the kittens roaming the land, was the first to leave the area on his own.
Mizuhashi was a skilled swordsman, so he felt confident enough to leave without the protection of the cat familiars. He wandered off until he ended up in another village, one where he saw a group of people huddled together around something. When he got close enough, he saw one of the familiar cats. "Mitoki!" He shouted out to the kitten, running through the crowd and putting himself between Mitoki and the people. "Why are you hurting him?! What has he done to you?!"
"Child, ye should step aside from it. This demon is a curse and will bring ye nothing but misfortune."
"That's not true! Mitoki and his kin have done nothing but protected my village since before my great grandmother was but an infant!" He moved closer to him as he the crowd grew closer towards the two. He felt a sudden sharp pain in his ankle, flinching to look down as Mitoki's teeth were deep within his skin. "A-Ah! I'm sorry," he cringed as he pulled away.
"See, child?! It attacked ye when ye had not provoked it!"
"No, I must have stepped on his tail… or something…"
"Nay, child! Ye had done naught wrong against this demon. It went after ye simply because it could! Since seeing this demon, my village has seen only misfortune as many of our children have fallen sick. Now step aside, so we may get rid of it!"
Mizuhashi had a difficult decision to make, leaving with Mitoki and not believing a word these people or leaving by himself and leaving Mitoki to the fate of them. He ran off, tears in his eyes, as he felt a deep mistrust between the familiar cat and himself. Before he returned home, he went and asked other villages about the cats they called friends, learning that every single one of them had only bad luck brought upon them with their visits. When he walked into his village, he was greeted with the angry glares of the people there. In the middle of everyone was Mitoki, badly beaten and struggling to breathe with Shiritai curled tightly net to him. Her attention was brought up to the man who made his way home, with his tail between his legs.
"Mizuhashi," the demon cat growled towards the boy, as she had seen him. "You dare return here, a place that I have helped protect for many generations along with my children, after allowing another village the opportunity to nearly beat Mitoki to death? If he does not survive, then his death will be on your hands," she warned as she stood up, glaring at Mizuhashi.
"It's not my fault! Mitoki attacked me! How can we trust you when you and your kind bring calamity wherever you go?!"
"You dare accuse my family of bringing disasters to you, when we have been the ones that saved your village?"
"I bet the demons weren't attacking before you came! I have been to other villages; they all say the same thing! The twin-tailed cats are not to be trusted. They bring with them plagues and famines. They are the cause for the over whelming amount of demon attacks here! It's their fault!"
The other villagers slowly stopped their angry gazes, thinking over what he said. A few began talking it through themselves and eventually their opinions were split in half.
"What's the matter with you?! Don't you see?! Her twin tails means she's a nekomata, and they are not to be trusted! Don't you remember the old stories passed down about them?!"
Despite Mizuhashi's efforts, the other half of the village remained unwavering. It was then a large wolf trampled into the village, growling and snarling. The half of the village who no longer trusted Shiritai were not being protected by the cat demons, but left to fend for themselves.
"This is exactly what I mean! It's all her fault! She grew angry with me for exposing her evil ways and sent this demon to attack us!"
While the villagers and cat demons fought off the new wolves that sauntered into the village, Mizuhashi found this as his perfect opportunity. He snuck between all the fuss and walked up to Mitoki, eyes glazed over with hatred as the half dead kitten looked up at him with fear. He forced his blade through the heart of the young one as the sound of cries filled the air before silence. Shiritai screeched as her tails puffed out, fur on end with pure anger in her eyes as she made her way to the now dead Mitoki. The other cat demons quickly removed the wolves before mourning the loss of their kin.
"Mizuhashi," the addressed him in the most livid voice imaginagionable. "What you have done today will haunt you, your family, and this village for generations. For as many generations as I have spent helping this village, it will now be cursed. Food will be unable to grow in this land and animals will not live here. You shall carry this curse wherever you go, bringing the same misfortune you have been gifted unto any other lands you attempt to call home. For this action, none of this village will ever be able to find the new area I will call home. Their attempts will end in vain and be lost within the forests. Only two of your people, with pure hearts and intentions, will be able to find us when we have left. They will bring life and share happiness. This curse can be lifted, but only after this generation has had children. Those children, grandchildren, and so on will be able to make the journey to apologize for their kin's wrongdoing, but only if they are also pure of heart with honest intentions. Remember these words, as this is the beginning of the generation with The Curse of Mizuhashi."
After that, Shiritai took Mitoki and left with all of her children. It was said that a boy from the village ended up vanishing in the night the next day, believed to be from the curse brought upon them by Mizuhashi. This was not true, though. The young adult, Koizumi, had left on his own to try to find Shiritai. He still believed that she was a sign of good fortune and hoped that perhaps he would allow him to live with her. His efforts were not in vain, as many of the other men's were. She welcomed him with an open heart as all of his intentions were pure. It was a month after the disappearance of Koizumi that a girl named Kumiko left in the same search. She, too, was welcomed by the family. By this point, there were a few people from other villages who had managed to make a new home with the twin tailed cat demons.
"Now that the two from the cursed village of Mizuhashi have made their way into our homes, I can grant the gift that I had promised to you all. I have brought so many of you here so that you may parent a new breed of demon. They will be like the cat demons, but traits of myself. All pure bred demons will have cat ears for increased hearing, markings in their hair and along their skin to show the same markings they may have when they transform into twin tailed cat demons as large as I am, family markings that resemble shapes of their family and are the color of their eyes, and increased agility and flexibility to move around easier."
Kumiko slowly spoke up, voice resembling a shy and quiet girl, "what about your beautiful tails, Shiritai?"
Shiritai looked sadly towards Kumiko, but offered a gentle smile. "In order to help protect these future children, all pure bred demons will not have the twin tails. It is for their safety, as I do not want them ridiculed as my family has been."
"Then what will happen with any half breeds?" asked Koizumi.
"Anyone who is not a full cat demon will have the twin tails of the cat. If they are half or less, their ears may be of a different kind. If they are more than half, then they will have both the ears and tails like the twin tailed cats. Everything stays the same, except for the tails and possible family markings. When a child is half or less, their markings that tie them to the family will not be there, or resemble the other parent's if they are too a demon. They are also unable to transform, thus unable to show their true strength in battle. I will choose a family, once they begin to mature into adulthood that shall govern over the village. It is up to you to choose their title."
After that, all of the females carried in them children of this new demon race, and the men helped with population. It took six months before the children were born. Years later, Shiritai chose an offspring to be the first in line of governing the lands. They decided on the titles "Queen" and "King", with their children being "prince" and "princess" whenever they bore offspring. Each person born into the family, or welcomed through marriage, was to be accompanied by two twin tailed cat demons. This was for immediate family, of course. The grandfather of the mother who had been married into this royal family was free to befriend any of the wild ones, but was not given two when his daughter married. The familiars are often chosen for the heir at their time of birth, typically associated with the newest litter of kittens in which they may share a similar lifespan together.
"So, yeah, that's pretty much the story of our village! I mean, you won't find any of the shards of the Sacred Jewel here, but you're free to stay for some time."
The girl who told the story of her homeland had waist-length black hair that ended with dark grey tips; her twin tails and cat ears matching the odd coloring. There was a similarly dark grey forked marking on her forehead with cyan curved streaks on her cheeks. Her eyes held an oval shape with a similarly shaped pupil in the middle of the cyan orbs. She wore a strangely short kimono with something akin to black leggings that ended just above her knees. This one was clearly not a pure demon or pure cat demon at least, but some variation of it. From the story that was told by her, the twin tails gave it away, and yet the village seemed to openly accept her. Perhaps that was why they were unable to find their way there without the invitation of the cat demon?
"So, what about you… um, I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten your name," Kagome said, feeling a bit bad about the fact.
"My name is Kiana and this is Hirone, but you can call him Hiro," she spoke as she gestured to a silver twin tailed cat demon with black paws, ears, upper part of his tail, a partial triangle on his forehead, and baby blue eyes.
"Right, sorry, Kiana, but I was wondering, you're not a full demon, right?"
She tilted her head with that fully-opened-eyes confused look cats and dogs alike often gave.
"I am. If you mean: "Are you a full cat demon?" then, no. I am, however, a full demon."
"A-ah, sorry, but that was the question I was trying to ask." Kagome smiled nervously.
"If you don't mind me asking," Sango started, "what are you? Other than cat demon, what do you have?"
"Clearly she's part dog demon, she reeks of it," Inuyasha blurted out.
The group could see as her ears flattened in annoyance, eyes narrowing ever so softly before her cheerful demeanor returned once more.
"While it may be true," she hissed through gritted teeth before Kagome was able to call him out for being rude, "I don't particularly like to talk about it."
Her head was held high as her tails puffed up in slight aggravation, clearly her pride getting in the way of referring to the dog-like qualities she may have obtained through the process of her parents.
"Keh, this is why cats are so annoying," Inuyasha blurted out, clearly not thinking who might take offense to it.
He was greeted with three angry women and two cats with absolutely no support from the two males. Kiana had gotten her two cents in and proceed to watch Sango and Kagome, who were yelling for similar reasons. Of course, when he had made the comment it was more directed at the two legged cat demon, but managed to forget it might offend the four legged cat demon. Kagome was more furious by his rude behavior than anything, which only ended with a swift "Sit, boy!" that ended the conversation entirely.
AN: So, the story in the beginning was brought upon from creativity on Kiana's heritage. I'm hoping to continue at some point and not entirely sure where it will be going. There may be a possibility in the future of canon x oc, just warning. I hope you find my rendition of the sibling race to the twin-tailed cat demons. ^^~