This is a story I've wanted to write for a while. I've had the plot for this story and its characters designed for a while and since a few of them have already made a cameo in my sister HappyCookiie's fic: Beyond Tomorrow (Arcs One & Two), I decided it was time to get my head down and make a start with a whole new writing universe.

This fic takes place in an alternate ending after the main series came to a close, meaning the events of The Final Act aren't a part of this universe. This also means things might happen differently, certain characters might act in different ways, and it might change regarding who's dead and who's alive. (Also note that since this is based on the manga universe, let's just say that Ayame doesn't exist for the sake of the plot and considering this is a Koga/OC pairing fic).

Enjoy! Don't forget to follow and review if you liked the first chapter and want to keep up with updates :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

The Phoenix Chronicles

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Chapter One - Little Red Riding Hood

How does one survive in a world where it is you that must make all of the difficult choices in life? In a world where everyone and anyone is depending on you alone. You. The connecting piece. The cement holding the rows of brickwork together. A world where the weight of responsibility sits heavily on one's shoulders.

There are those that could never imagine a world like that, so how are there those that live in it?

Does one give in to that never-ending strain? ... Or does one make oneself stronger?

Standing in the middle of nowhere, was a small woodland cottage. There were hardly any towns or larger settlements nearby, but that was why it was the perfect home for three deserted children.

The cottage itself was no masterpiece, but it was good enough to live in. The roof was sturdy and there were two reasonably sized floors, lined with the most essential of rooms. The reason that there were no towns nearby was partly because this cottage was built deep in the heart of thick forest. Tall, almost skeletal trees surrounded the shabby cottage structure, and there was only a small winding path leading down from the font door and into the trees.

"I'm going out! Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone!"

A female's voice echoed from behind the door of the cottage before it opened and a girl the age of eighteen came running out. Her long scarlet red hair was tied back in a yellow ribbon and swung to and fro across her back as she moved. She had plain laced up trainers on and her top and leggings looked quite dull in comparison to her vibrant hair. Her eyes did not share the same vibrance as her hair, big and dark, but they had an air of intelligence about them that made her seem beyond her years. She went by the name: Tomoyo; blessed with pragmatism and worldly wisdom.

Since she had been living in the wood for two whole years now, she had mesmerised the route perfectly. Every day she ran through the forest as a means of exercise, but had never come across anything to prove that others were also living there as well.

That was, until that fateful day.

She turned the corner and was brought to an immediate halt because of what she saw. Had she taken a wrong turn? But how could she have? She had explored the whole forest before and never ever seen ... another cottage.

Intrigued and bewildered, she creeped towards the unfamiliar forest cottage and studied its external appearance. It looked relatively ordinary so she took a step closer and peered through one of the windows on the front. Inside had a similar layout to her own cottage, only the table was filled with sweets, chocolate and various other yummy treats. Apart from that though, there appeared to be no one there, nor was there anything particularly peculiar to be seen.

Thinking nothing more of it, she planned to continue her way until—

"HELP!"

Tomoyo stopped and the noise sounded again. It was the scream of an old woman, coming from the cottage she'd never seen before. She turned around and in front of her suddenly was an elderly woman, with quite generically hideous features such as a crooked nose, crusty warts sprouting hairs, and thin knotty locks.

"Oh, my goodness!" the woman cried, "I thought nobody would ever come and save me!"

She began to walk quickly towards Tomoyo, grabbing her shoulders harshly.

"Please help me," she went on, "I'm begging you!"

Tomoyo nodded, alarmed, "What's the problem?"

"It—It's my oven. I can't turn it off. I've hurt my back and now I can't reach the dials! Please, will you come inside and turn it off for me, lass?"

Tomoyo blinked and nodded again, taken aback by how simple the 'catastrophe' was, and followed the old woman into the odd cottage. She could see billows of grey smoke pouring out from the oven once inside, and she rushed towards it to fan at the dark clouds with a cloth. She then kneeled and looked at the dials, coughing violently, and was relieved to find that it was the same oven she had back at her home.

"Is it the main oven or the grill?" she choked, too swallowed by smoke to even try turning around to look at the old woman.

"Yes, it's the main oven! But oh, dear I almost forgot! Could you get out my cake? It's in there I'm afraid."

Tomoyo stared into to the main section of the oven and wondered if the cake would even be edible after all the smoke and burning it had endured. "Um, I'm sorry," she started, "But there's nothing in here? Are you sure you—"

"There will be soon!"

The old lady shrieked ecstatically and grabbed Tomoyo's head, then started trying to push her into the oven!

What the hell!?

She could feel the heat of the flames burning against her face, and coughed violently under the constant spray of thick smoke.

There was nothing wrong with the woman's back, but there was definitely something wrong with her mind!

Spluttering, Tomoyo jolted and grabbed the old woman's arms and started pushing them backwards. Thankfully, she was much stronger than the old woman, thus they fell backwards onto the table lined with treats and goodies. The table split and fell, chocolates spilling everywhere and making it hard to manoeuvre around properly. Still, Tomoyo jumped up and looked around the cottage frantically. Where could she possibly hide before the hag emerged from the pile of sweets and cookies!?

When the woman began to pick herself up, Tomoyo decided to leg it for the nearby wardrobe.

She jumped in and shut the doors, trying not to make a sound, but the woman just got closer and closer to the wardrobe. Every step she took forward, Tomoyo took back. It got to the point where she could step back no further, and she accidentally triggered a loud creak that confirmed her hiding position.

"Heheheh. I knew you were in there, girl. Why don't you come out and have a cake?"

Finally, she tore the wardrobe doors open violently...

But there was nobody in there.

"What...?" the old woman hummed, "...Hmm. It must have been a mouse." She slammed the doors shut in frustration and continued searching the house for her elusive victim.

But where was Tomoyo? Where was the girl with the vivid red hair? Had she hidden herself away elsewhere? Had she tricked the old woman with her wit? ...

Or was she in a different place entirely?

Something soft and cold drifted on Tomoyo's rosy cheek and lay resting there. It was small and wet, and seemed to vanish away the second it touched the warmth of her face.

Her eyelashes fluttered she opened her eyes, and was welcomed by the sight of an empty wardrobe. That's strange, she frowned. I could've sworn that the wardrobe I hid in was full of a load of crap. So why was the one she was in now somehow completely empty?

She sat up and looked around the small compartment. The door was open slightly so she could see that it was bright outside. Unnaturally bright, a vast white light shining through the thin crack.

Slowly, she pushed the twin wooden doors open.

She gasped. What in the world was she seeing? Someone had to be messing with her because she was still in a forest... but it was snowing! And not just lightly snowing either. The ground was coated with white and the leaves had long fallen from the dark bony branches. It was certainly too vast of a change to have occurred during the short time she'd been in the old woman's cottage!

Turning around slowly and taking in her surroundings with wide spooked eyes, she shivered. Not entirely because of the cold, but it was very, very freezing wherever the heck she'd ended up.

How had she gotten there? The wardrobe she'd entered in was in the creepy old woman's house. Not a snowy wonderland!

"This is very funny!" she shouted, hoping whoever was playing this huge joke—though what a strange and dramatic joke it was—would show themselves and own up. Was it Ren? It was probably Ren.

Silence answered her.

"Ren? Yuki? Come out now and tell me how you did all this!"

When the silence only stretched, she grew frustrated. She hated practical jokes and she hated them even more when the trickster failed to own up to their actions. She scowled and kicked some snow with her foot.

"This is your only chance!" she called, sighing desperately.

Receiving no answer once more, she leaned down and scooped up some of the fake snow into her palms, watching it slip through the cracks between her fingers like cold, glittering sand. Only it wasn't fake snow like she'd thought it would be. It was completely real, down to the coldness and how it melted at the warmth of her touch. She scooped up some more and rubbed it in her fingers.

What is going on?

Dragging her feet through the heavy snow, she started walking. There was no point in standing stupidly at the wardrobe. The path felt endless. So, endless that she must have been walking for at least a few hours before coming across anything other than snow and forest. Which was the way back to her cottage? The path was covered and she didn't recognise the surroundings at all. It was as if she was in a completely different forest. Her forest couldn't have simply vanished though. There had to be an explanation.

Perhaps she'd find said explanation later because she could feel a cold coming on. Her arms had goose bumps and her legs were freezing, not to mention her nose was starting to run because of the harsh freezing air. She would have to find shelter soon if she couldn't locate her cottage.

She started running. Even if it had been a messed up joke she had had it now. Ren had taken it too far this time, even if he was constantly under the strong influence of rum or whiskey (or sometimes both). Maybe she should just cut his supply. That would teach him. But it would probably just enrage him and lead him to do something even more terrible than playing elaborate ridiculous jokes on her. Maybe it was best that she didn't try to hide his bottles.

There was a sudden dip in the path that Tomoyo didn't notice until she had fallen into a hole of sorts. Brilliant. First a snowy woodland that made her lose her way, and now a pit in the middle of nowhere. She tried to pull herself up out of the hole, but hours of walking in the snow wasn't good for a person's health, therefore her strength was highly diminished. She frowned deeply and sat on the ground of the pit, thankful that it was at least drier and less snowy than the turf above.

Despite the situation, Tomoyo saw no problem with having a little rest for no more than a few minutes at least. After those minutes passed and she found that she couldn't get up even after a few minutes, she laid there a little longer.

It had been a bad idea.

Mere moments later, she drifted off into a state of unconsciousness. After walking for so long in the cold, her limbs had ceased to work and her eyelids had glided to a close. It didn't help that she was wearing her workout clothes that were made from thin material and revealed a lot of her shoulders and arms. From the walking and the cold and the encounter with the sinister old woman, Tomoyo was just exhausted, so she didn't try to fight the sleep that washed over her in the pit of the hole.

In the dreamy mist of sleep, she thought she felt a pair of arms wind around her and lift her up out of the pit. They held her against their warm chest and she felt a heart beating against her ear even in her lack of awareness.

Had someone come to rescue her? Had Ren realised the foolhardiness of his pranks? Or was it something far, far more fantastic?

"You seriously think ya can get away from me, pathetic human?"

A man's rough voice echoed throughout the forest amongst an abundance of frightened screams. There was another man further up—a human—shrieking and pleading for mercy from whomever was giving chase.

The man chasing him, if he could be called a man at all, for he was a youkai, had sharp canines and wicked eyes. He wore tawny brown fur all over his body and his movements gave him the impression of a wolf hiding in a man's skin, rather than an actual man. He gave a devilish grin and ran with the wind, along with his two other youkai companions.

It didn't take them long to catch the man they were pursuing, and the youkai leader picked him up by his haori and sniffed his neck.

"So," he proclaimed, "What d'ya think, guys? Think he's good enough to eat or nah?"

The man started sobbing messily and the other two youkai nodded eagerly. "NO!" he screamed, "Please, demon! Let me go! I have a wife and two children! They won't survive the winter without me—"

"And I should care, because?"

The head Wolf Youkai threw the man onto the crisp white ground and flexed his claws. His eyes flashed red for a second before he snarled, lunging forward, and the man's screams were soon no more than short choked cries...

The once beautiful white snow was now covered in blood like paint on a canvas.

The Wolves grinned with their ruby sparkling teeth and darted through the trees on their way, laughing and howling as they ran. There was an air of darkness about the one leading, however, and that darkness had taken root in his bones and mutated him into something ... malicious.

"That was a truly delicious meal, Koga!" one of his followers praised, "But I'm still not completely filled up!"

Koga flashed a deadly scarlet smile.

"We're never full," he laughed, "Let's just hope there's some more delicious meals to come soon!"

With more laughing, they were gone in a flash. Eventually Koga could see their cave coming into view up ahead, and felt somewhat annoyed that they hadn't come across any more humans on their way back. It wasn't something they'd done for a while; feasted on human flesh. They'd forged a friendship with a human girl, Kagome, and she'd changed their minds on the matter.

But none of that was important anymore. None of it.

Koga paused suddenly, stopping in his tracks.

"What the hell is that?"

The three Wolves looked down, and at a first glance, the thing they were looking at looked almost like a red blob of some kind. Too solid to be a puddle of blood, but resembling no plant or animal any of them had ever seen before.

One of his followers, Hakkaku, grabbed the bizarre object and pulled it closer to them.

"... It's a human!" he cried excitedly after close inspection, his face like the look a child would wear on receiving a new teddy bear... or a plate of delicious meat.

The second Wolf, Ginta's eyes widened and he shifted closer to take a look. "A human woman," he added, "They're always the most mouth-watering."

Koga grabbed the human by her oddly coloured hair and brought her up closer to his face. She was sleeping, thus didn't cry or cower in their presence, but there was something about her face that unnerved him. Like he was holding a ghost by its silver flame and it was staring up at him with deep probing eyes. The innocence and natural trust in her sleeping face reminded him of another human girl he'd known, and he repressed a shudder in front of his companions because of the memory.

It didn't matter anymore, he reminded himself.

It didn't matter.

"Come on, guys," he said, pulling out of his dark thoughts, "Let's take her back to the cave. Food never tastes any good when it's frozen."

Ginta and Hakkaku cheered merrily and Koga picked her up, not gently, and held her to his chest. His mouth curved into a terrible frown and he headed towards their cave, teeth grinding and head swarming with memories he'd rather forget.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't ... matter.

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