Ayakou is an 18-yar old girl who has lived with demons all her life. Her best friend and protector is a wolf demon himself. Their lives have been peaceful, but rumors of a great demon war now threaten their peace. Now Ayakou has to travel to the western lands, the lands where she is forbidden to enter, in order to find a powerful priestess who may yet save her dying, younger sister's life!

Chapter 1

"That will be to two coins ma'am." Ayakou reach into her kimono sleeve and took out three coins. She handed the two to the man and then received her rice.

"Sora, do not forget the lady's fish!" The man behind the rice stand shook his head and mumbled something Ayakou couldn't quit make out. A young boy carrying a bundle of fish wrapped around some cloth came running around the corner of the hut.

He stopped just in front of Ayakou and attempted to catch his breath. "Son you've made the lady wait long enough now give her fish!" His voice was now louder and more demanding. The boy jumped in alarm and offered out the fish for her to take.

With a considerate smile Ayakou took the fish from the boy and gave him the coin that had grown warm from the long wait in her hand. He held it with two hands and stared in awe.

"Ma'am it was only two coins, there is no need for the third." Ayakou shook her head and ruffled the hair of the boy before her.

"It's not for the fish, it's for his hard work. I can tell he is doing his best and I believe that deserves some compensation. Do you not agree sir?" Her voice was so calm and gentle that the small boy could help but blush.

"T-thank you very much m-ma'am." Ayakou nodded and then walked away before anything else was said.

Ayakou walked slowly down the narrow dirt road not because she was tired, but simply because she was enjoying the walk through town. The light fall breeze felt good. The laughter of children and the sound of joyful town made her feel more than contempt.

"Um, e-excuse me miss, would you like some help with your basket? It looks a little heavy." Ayakou turned her head to find a young man around her age with a light shade of red sprinkled on his face. He was looking down to the ground and was fidgeting a little bit. Ayakou knew he meant no harm, but she didn't want to be a bother and there were still some vegetables she wanted to buy.

"Thank you, but I'm fine. It's not heavy at all." Ayakou gave him an honest smile then continued her shopping.

Ayakou secured the rest of the food she bought to the basket with some string. She followed the same narrow, dirt path she used to get to the town. She wasn't ready to take any chances and get lost before nightfall. Her sense of direction wasn't the exactly the best. Just before she was about to enter the forest and old raspy voice halted her in her tracks.

"Surely you do not plan to enter that demon infested forest when we are so short of day light. A young helpless girl like you will surely be easy prey for demons. Especially now that rumors of a great demon war is about awaken."

Ayakou studied the old woman not too far from her. She was short and had many wrinkles on her face. Only small cracks of her eyes were visible. She reminded her of a certain witch that she knew. The only difference was this old woman was harmless and human of course. Sure Ayakou didn't like the idea of traveling at night, but she was positive she would be fine.

"If you wish you may stay in m hut. I live alone with my granddaughter so it's not too crowded. Or if you prefer some of are men may escort you to your home."

Ayakou was quite surprised in how nice the villagers here were. She began to feel guilty for not wanting to accept her offer, but she didn't want them to go out of there way for her and plus she wasn't exactly by herself per say.

"Your kindness is much appreciated, but truly I'll be fine."

"Well if you are sure you'll be fine then I wish you the best of luck child." A gentle smile formed on the old women's face. Ayakou bowed in gratitude.

"I'll be on my way then."

An exhausted sigh escaped Ayakou lips. Maybe she should have accepted the young man's help earlier. One thing was walking down a hill with an empty basket and another thing was going up one with a 20 pound basket on her back. Luckily she stumbled upon a tree stump and could finely get off her aching feet.

She took the time to take her sandals off and rub her throbbing heels. This had been the first time she ever been in that village so she wasn't use to the long way back home. Once she was done she jumped off the stump and stretched. She was just about to reach for her sandals when she heard a twig snap that caused her to jump a little. It was probably a rabbit or something she thought to herself. She bends over and reached for her sandals, but stopped when she heard the sound of leaves crunching, except the noise was closer this time.

Ayakou swallowed. She was probably just getting paranoid because of what the old woman told her and besides she was sure no demon would come near her. He would not allow it. She held her fist to her heart in an attempt to calm it. The sound of rustling soon hit her ear. That only served as an aid in the uneasy felling she felt at the pit of her stomach.

Deciding to completely forget about her sandals Ayakou began to speed walk back to her house before the last rays of light were completely consume by the dark. Ayakou bit her lip in an attempt to hold back the yelps of pain as sharp rock dug deep into the souls of her feet. In addition to the previous noises from before a low growl could be heard from all around her. Ayakou could feel her bangs cling to her forehead formed by the cold sweat caused by the fear growing inside her.

The air grew thicker and heavier, no doubt it was because of a demonic prescience. She felt like she was suffocating and her throat burned from the strain of trying to gulp in some air into her lunges. The forest was growing darker and she could barely make her way around the trees. Was this a curse from the gods, she thought to herself.

Suddenly she crashed into something hard. The impacted was great enough to knock her down on to her bottom. Her hand fell onto a jagged rock causing an ugly gash to form on her palm. Was she so afraid that she actually ran into a tree? Slowly Ayakou raised her head. Her breath was caught in her throat as her eyes meet a pair of blood shot eyes filled with hunger. It was so dark that all she could see was his eyes and she wanted nothing more but to get as far away from them as possible. She flinched as the demon reached out and roughly grabbed her by the arm. Before he pulled her up she was able to grab a hand full of dirt.

The Demon raised her wounded hand that now was a bloody mess to his mouth. Her legs now struggled to hold up her weight. His breath lightly brushed her palm causing her to shiver. She tried jerking her hand way from him, but a low angered growl arouse from his throat causing her stop. He send a threating glare to her in order to warm warn her not to move again. Against her will, her body froze up.

Ignoring her he went back to whatever he was doing. Ayakou wanted to scream as loud as she could, but for some reason when she parted her lips no sound came out. Then demon closed his eyes slightly and with his other hand bend back her hand just enough to fully expose her blood covered hand. Then he sniffed her hand. She stared in confusion and horror as the demon began to lick her hand, more specifically the blood covering her hand.

Her body began to uncontrollably tremble. Was he planning to eat her? Once again she tried to get out of his hold, but with his demon strength she had no chance of getting away. Her face felt hot at the feeling of his tongue gliding lightly over her palm. She pinched her lips together as the tip of his tongue slide up and down the center of her hand. She squeezed her eyes closed. It sort of tickled but not in a ha-ha way, no it was a feeling she did not want to feel because of this beast.

Her body began to tingle as if it were going numb. It somehow felt good, much to her displeasure, but also disgusting. Not knowing when he would stop Ayakou opened her eyes just enough to see his face. The fact that she couldn't see his eyes made his face look somewhat normal except for the marks on his face that she couldn't exactly make out, but she could see the features of his nose, his parted lips, the pale completion of his skin, and long thick eyelashes. He was . . . well in other words beautiful.

What felt like thirty minutes passed and the feeling of his tongue was gone. All the blood that once coded her hand was gone, but the wound remained. The demon slowly lifted his head and opened his eyes and their eyes meet. Ayakou took this chance to throw the dirt she held so tightly in her hand into his face. She manages to hit him right in the eyes causing him to throw her onto the ground and hiss in pain. As she fell her knee scrapped along a log. It was painful, but just what she needed to get over the fear and begin to run away from the demon.

Ayakou tried her to scan her memory for the path to the village, but alas her sense of direction failed her. The endless darkness never seemed to end. She moved as fast as her legs could carry her. She was now huffing and puffing try to keep herself moving. She ran further into the never ending forest trying to find any source of light. Ayakou couldn't take it anymore, she needed to rest. She placed one hand on her knee and the other one what she thought was a hill. Her hand wasn't caught though it simply fell through the mossy grass. What she though was a hill, was actually a small cave. It was big enough for her so squeeze herself in. She grabbed some dirt and rubbed in on her wounds and skin. Hopefully that could be enough to mask her scent.

There seemed to be something off with the demon that had attacked her so maybe he wouldn't find her. For one he didn't notice the dirt in her hand until it hit him in the face. He had human form so he had to be strong and normally would have seen what I was going to do. His eyes where blood shot red and she heard that demons only got like that when they were faced with danger that they could get out of. That and when they were . . . in heat. If that was it then that may have been the reason he was licking the blood of her hand, but then was he going to hunt her down and rape, then kill her. She hugged herself thinking of what a horrible death that would be.

Once again she felt the demonic aura all around her. She place a trembling hand over her mouth to keep from making any noise that could give her away. She prayed that he wouldn't find her, but once again she found herself out of luck. The mossy wall was ripped off the entrance of the cave. The demon was once again stood before her. He was only about 5 feet away so she was trapped. The demon growled flashing his perfect fangs at her.

"Pathetic human you dare go against me! I will show you no mercy!" But before he could get any closer a flash of white instantly dashed out of the trees and blocked his path.

"Move any closer and I'll rip your head right of your body Dog!" Blocking Ayakou from the demon stood a wolf the size of a full grown bear. His beautiful white fur stood up and its mouth was slightly parted showing all of his fangs as a threatening grown came out.

"You think you have the power to kill this Sesshomaru filthy mutt!" The demons hand began to glow green that must have been poison because a nearby tree melted just ne being next to his hand.

"This coming from a dog that cannot even control himself when he is in heat. You are truly pathetic. It would be a disgrace to lose to someone like you."

"Enough! How dare such lowly scum like you talk that way to a demon lord! Bite your tongue peasant, show more respect trash!" The Demon more furious than ever, lashed out a green whip that struck the wolf on his face.

The wolf didn't even flinch. A low chuckle came from his throat. "These are not the western lands Sesshomaru you have no authority over me."

The demons stood in an unbreakable stare down. Out of nowhere the once crimson colored eyes of the demon lord faded into a golden color. They were the most beautiful colored eyes Ayakou ever saw. She was surprised at her own thoughts as it was the same eyes that stared at her with such malevolence. Her now adjusted eyes could make more detailed features of the demon. There was a moon crest on his forehead and two narrow stripes on either side of his cheeks. His hair was full and lung with a beautiful silver-blue color to it. On his shoulder rest a large amount of fur that raped around his arm. He wore expensive looking armor and clothing. His obi held down two swords which he seemed to have no intention of using.

"I will allow you to live for now wolf, but next time we meet you will not have such luck and remember do not ever lay a foot on my land." Within a single second the demon was gone. Ayakou who hadn't move from her spot started to breath once again. The snow white wolf that stood as a guard was now gone and in his place to a man. (Well sort of)

He rushed over to the dazed girl and helped her out of the cave. She held on to his arm for support not trusting her legs.

"Tsuyoshi-san your wounded." Ayakou place a gentle hand over a red line formed on his cheek.

Tsuyoshi smiled and place his much larger hand over her small one. "Silly girl you worry over such an insignificant wound. Have you forgotten about your own?"

Ayakou blinked and looked down at herself. Her once white kimono was now covered in mud, her hands filled with dirt. Blood mixed with dry dirt covered her knee. Her once perfectly straitened hair was now everywhere. She frowned at the sight.

"S-sorry I guess you're right."

"You actually apology's for that." She blushed slightly of embarrassment. She almost apologized again, but caught herself.

"Here these belong to you." He reached into hi kimono sleeve and took out a pair of familiar sandals. He held them out for her to take.

"Ah my sandals, thank you Tsuyoshi-san!" She dropped them on the ground then slipped her feet in.

"There is a nearby stream where we can clean your wound."

"Ah bu- before anything else was said she was swept off her feet and found herself being carried bridal style into the air.

"T-Tsuyoshi-san w-what are you doing?" A light layer of red spread across her face by how close he held her to his body.

"We'll get there faster this way."

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