Beholder
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha nor its characters sadly
Chapter 1: Fading Faith
Peaceful bliss, is they only way to describe it. Soaring above the tree line, feeling the love and passion around her, it was spring. Animals waking from their sleep to carry on ready to perform their next step in life and the first step of a new life and she loved it. It was heavy in the air, excreted from everything; trees, animals even the water gave off the blissfulness of the new spring's passion.
Aphrodite relished in it all, every spring she would swoop down and bask in the passion. But this spring was different. With her people her culture slowly being taken over she had to flee and now she was losing her power, her allure. Though she was still extremely powerful, none dare claim they were as lovely as her, she was after all still a goddess. Alas the embodiment of beauty was fading from the world and she was at a loss of what to do about it. She did not want to disappear, she wanted to stay and continue feeling spring's passion.
As a dove she searched and searched for a solution to her problem. She needed to find a love so powerful that she could dive into it and become love itself or else all is lost for her. A love that powerful however was extremely rare so rare that only herself had seen it and that was only among the gods but this time she needed to find a mortal capable of such love, for only mortals could continue to believe in love, because gods can fade with faithlessness, mortals on the other hand keep belief alive and Aphrodite needs love to live, to stay or else the world would be filled with hate.
Aphrodite headed east to start her search, but all she saw was women being oppressed, yes where she was women were brought down too and much more than these cultures, but some of these culture don't allow women to express their beauty! She continued on she found another culture but she could not for they already had a goddess of love. She started to lose hope, these gods still were untouched by a uni-god, while her brother Zeus lives on her other brothers and sister were not welcomed in this new religion and were forced to leave the only left was old statues and scrolls of a forgotten faith, but at the same time she pitied him he gave up much to live on, even is lust in mortal women though she was sure it wouldn't last. Once she reached the end of the continent she looked back at the world and knew this new faith would change everything she hoped that some cultures would stay unchanged, to keep their gods to keep faith. There was not very much world left Europeans would be converted soon and the natives of the other continent would have their gods already. She needed to find a home a place to grow new love she was about to turn back ready to fade with her brothers and sisters, then she saw it a small island it appeared to have no define gods of love. So she flew with a new hope in her wings.
In this land, the rich wore fine silks and their hair long very similar to the culture across the sea. Though there was distinction their view of beauty was more natural then animalistic, understanding beauty was a fading thing. Aphrodite respected that understood it and the more she observed the more she found the place more peaceful though the country was at war they knew to respect the little things. They somewhat kind to women but that wouldn't be avoided. She liked it that is until she looked beyond the mortals.
The demons of this land called Yokai were either troublesome or harsh but mostly sprits of mortals who have yet to pass she felt sorry for them. But these yokai were terrible, never once mortal only testaments of hate and pain in which they only knew of. They destroyed the beautiful land and scared the people. Then she saw all was not lost there were few who did fight against these creatures slayers they were called. Though the slayer can kill the demon she was more worried for the demon lords, these beasts were embodiments of terror and corruption. The slayers could not even stand in the presence of one and Aphrodite hoped the mortals won't die out from the brutality of these creatures.
She gazed at the beasts with distain, until a giggle? Of a child alone in the woods? Aphrodite perched on a branch and saw something that shocked even her. A demon lord caring for a little girl, he was sitting against a tree with a watchful eye, while the girl picked flowers and deposited them on to a greenish creature with a staff twice the size of the creature.
"Here you go master Jaken!" the girl giggled happily as the creature 'Jaken' grumbled insults at the girl who didn't hear them. The girl was adorable, truly innocent, but with a demon? And happy? Her people would be concerned, Aphrodite gazed at the child looking for answers and in the child's eyes she found them, an orphan, killed by wolves and saved by her demon watcher. Aphrodite then realized she was being foolish for assuming all types of creature are equal though demons as a whole act very similar to each other there are those who break the cycle. By falling in such stereotypes made her more mortal then she cared to be. Aphrodite looked back at the child smiling, yes not every creature in this world is completely like their kind; there are…exceptions to the rules.
Seeing the devotion in the child's eyes Aphrodite flew to her protector, hiding herself from him a small withering part of her expected distain but scoffed it out of her mind. In his eyes was not devotion like the child but a protectiveness of a caring father watch his daughter play. His body projected pride and arrogance as he sits away from her leaning against the tree as if he owned the whole forest and Aphrodite knew the child held a piece of his heart but pride clenched the rest. His arrogance pulsed off him like a beacon and Aphrodite distasted it. Does he not see it? That there will always be another above you, no matter how powerful you claim to be. Aphrodite signed, disappointed that she let her anger rise again. She wasn't always like this but again before she wasn't losing her allure, she had to beat this maybe this demon if his pride is ultimate could his love be too? She just needed to find the right girl.
In order to find more about him she followed him so she can meet the lord behind the pride. As she observed she could not help but gaze on the beauty that was him, his long sliver hair, almost as long as hers (in her usual form), tall, lean, strong and exotic. His stripes only add to his allure, pointing to all the attractiveness of him, and yes I've seen them all and they do indeed point to all his hugely attractive assets. Despite his drool-able body, his heart is cold like an unforgiving winter. Frozen in its ideals of love, that it cripples the infected slowing them, depleting their strength. At first Aphrodite believed the mother was the cause for she had coldness to her as well. After looking into memory she found it, the father. His father in his mind was a great demon, who won many battles conquered all, a model for any son. But that was not what Aphrodite respected; his father fell for another no doubt to seek warmth from a cold love and he died from that warm love he died protecting it. While his son believes his father perished out of weakness of allowing love into the heart, Aphrodite sees it as an act of extreme honor. She also sees that the young lord loved his father and was hurt by his father actions for in the end when his father died the young lord's heart froze refusing to fall to that fate, the fate of his father.
After knowing this Aphrodite looks back at the small girl and smiles knowing that this little girl melts his heart one drop at a time, But for Aphrodite that is too slow. From everything this demon is, his searing body or his ice-bound heart, his eyes, those amber eyes reveal his true state. Aphrodite loves and hates those eyes, every glace, glare and stare they show what he is; a terror among terrors but deeper much deeper there is a small seed of compassion inside waiting to grow and all it needs is a little sunlight.
A/N
Okay! So this is installment one of my new story, now I know I'm going to get heat from the religious people so I'm going to say this; people back then often put images to their gods made them more 'human' shaped as the bible says. And also back then Zeus was known as the king of the gods so back then people being taken over by Christianity who first believed in the greek/roman gods would I believe put Zeus in that spot so that's what I have to say on that. Also note this is a sess/kag sess and the goddess of love and beauty are not getting it on.
