Disclaimer: The only character I own as of yet in this story is the Miko.

Prologue

A young woman wearing miko robes approached the nearby edge of the village silently. Her black hair shone with the moonlight as she walked past the villagers, acknowledging them with a small smile that didn't completely fit her sad face. They grinned back, bowing profusely, their noses almost touching the wet earth. She laughed to herself, but managed to keep her face straight.

She had stopped by this village at about nightfall because had sensed the aura of a youkai that was apparently destroying the lives of the villagers. The youkai had demanded that if a single person had stopped working while he was awake, they would be eaten alive. The villagers would have had her wait until the nocturnal demon was asleep, but she couldn't have that. She didn't want a single other villager to die from the hands of that despicable youkai, and-

Suddenly, a pack of children swarmed over her, catching her by surprise and interrupting her thoughts. They all started yelling at once at the top of their lungs, so she could only catch some of what they were saying.

"Do you have to leave, Miko-san?"

"Remain here, Miko-san!"

"Please don't go!"

"We need you!"

"Stay in the village forever, Miko-san!"

The young miko looked at them sadly. "I wish I could stay here forever. You are such kind children. However, I am afraid I must leave. I have sensed the aura of a dangerous group of youkai, and they are headed straight for the slayer village! I assume that many of the slayers are absent, and don't know of the threat!"

A man was desperately trying, and failing admirably, to compel the children back to bed, as humans generally prefer to sleep during the night. He looked at the miko in intermingled shock and admiration. "You mean you're off to slay another youkai, without even so much as a reward?"

"Of course. These four shards of the Shikon no Tama are reward enough. I can claim a reward from some other village when I am hungry, but for now, my stomach must wait. There are youkai to exterminate." The miko bowed. "Sayonara."

As she ran off into the distance, something in the man's head slid into place. The miko had told him that she was from the slayer village. She had reassured him that because of her father's unusual heritage, he was a youkai-exterminator houshi. He had taught her both the ways of the youkai-exterminator and of the miko, and warned her that the Shikon no Tama, the Jewel of Four Souls, the very jewel that had originated from her village, must not under any circumstances fall into the hands of a youkai. If it did, the whole of Japan might be destroyed. He smiled to himself, watching the children drift off to sleep one by one. He sure was glad that there were noble mikos and slayers in the world so the children could sleep soundly at night, unafraid of youkai terrorists or monsters.

The miko, Zenkawa Yoshimoto, smiled to herself. Those children were cute, and it was a pleasure to work for them. Still, it was a bit sad how easily she was able to fool the villagers. She looked up at the sunrise, and tied a bandana over her head. The bandana seemed to swell with two growths on either side of her head. She hated to tie up her ears like that, and it was painful, but it was necessary to pass as human or she risked death. She hoisted her pack onto her shoulders, made sure the shards of Shikon no Tama were secure, and set off at a run.

She may have lied about sensing youkai, but she still had to hurry. She hadn't sensed them; she had smelled them, and there was a dangerous hanyou on a bloodlust. She was too late already for the village; she knew that from the start of the evening. However, maybe, just maybe, she could destroy the hanyou before it destroyed her kin. She may have been a hanyou, but that didn't mean she would just abandon her family.

A/N: The name of my original character, miko/demonslayer/youkai Zenkawa Yoshimoto, was created through 20000-names dot com. Her "last" name (in Japan, it would be the first name) means good river, and her first name means origin of joy. At least, those were the intended meanings. Please, someone, correct me if I'm wrong.