It was only suppose to last three months.
The large crowd gathered around a dirt street in the middle of the city. Inu dog and ningen human alike cheered. A hanyou half-demon child sat on a ningen's shoulders, waving a colorful paper streamer. A wagon pulled by two brown horses rode slowly in the rode, kicking up a small puff of dirt as it passed the crowds. Sitting in it were two figures. One was a large, lightly armored, inu youkai demon. Waving at the crowd, he gave a wide grin. The other was a fragile ningen woman, who only gave a nod or two to the crowd.
"We shouldn't have left Inu Yasha or Sesshoumaru behind. They would have enjoyed this." The woman said in a quiet voice, looking up at her husband. He only gave a hearty laugh, reaching over with his free hand and patted her shoulder.
"Nah, Sesshoumaru would have just sat there and Inu Yasha is too young! They'll enjoy the festival later on." He said, pointing out a child and waving to her specifically. The girl jumped up and down, shouting something to him, though it was inaudible.
It happened too fast for anyone to react. "InuTaisho!!" The driver shouted, turning around and pulling back on the reins. The lord was sitting in shock, half of his face spotted with blood; his ningen wife's blood. The crowd stood silent, the only sound was the sound of heavy boots pounding the ground as the man ran away from the bloody scene.
InuTaisho didn't have time to go after the man, he only had time to turn and hold his wife as she died in his arms. She only left a smile as life was drained from her body. A few tears escaped from the strong Lord's eyes, dropping on the arrow pierced her back and heart.
"It was a neko!"
"No! A hebi!"
"It was a neko! I saw its ugly face!"
The crowd erupted in anger, shouting out any answers they could sum up to try and soothe they're leader. InuTaisho's eyes went blank, holding the body of his love close to him. "…Neko…" He muttered, watching the red stain on his clean, white outfit spread.
InuTaisho sat, in the same blood stained clothes, in front of a council. It was silent except for the shuffling of chairs and feet. Everyone's head was down, trying to avoid any eye contact with InuTaisho. The lord sat staring at the wall, his hands folded below his chin. His golden eyes looked blank, reliving those few moments over and over again.
"S-Sir… we need to discuss this… this was a deliberate attack and they were asking to start up a war!" One brave member shouted, pounding his fist onto the table. Everything went dead silent; no one moved or even breathed for a second. They all awaited they're leader's command. InuTaisho closed his eyes and let his forehead fall into his hands.
"But… I don't want to send men to their graves. I don't want my country to hate me 'cause it looked like I wanted revenge," InuTaisho muttered, though everyone could hear him clearly. Silence once again spread around the room like a disease.
A heavy knock on the door broke the silence. A man, dressed in armor, peeked his head inside. He took a look around before addressing InuTaisho.
"Sir, there's a crowd outside asking for you," he said in a calm voice, "and we have some information for you." InuTaisho looked up at him. Pushing his chair back, he stood up and moved towards the door.
"We found the man. There was a group of them. They committed suicide, sir. They were identified as hikyuu leopard from a clan currently living in the south." The soldier pauses frequently, trying to gather his thoughts. "They are a small clan currently governed by us. They wanted freedom. They were very strong nationalist. And that's why—"
"They killed my wife." InuTaisho finished his sentence, still looking down the hall.
"Y-Yes sir…" He nodded and clutched his hands together, his head bowed. The doors swung out as the two came close enough to the balcony. Past the bright light, the sounds of the crowd below erupted.
"This means war!"
"Let us fight! She was ours too!"
The crowd began to chant and rave over the unneeded murder of they're Emperoress. InuTaisho's emotionless face turned from the crowd to the small council behind him.
"I guess this means a war." He said, stone cold before looking back at the crowd. His solider looked up at his, uneasy, and then back down at the crowd.
"I'll inform everyone." With that and a solute, the solider turned on his heels and began to run off.
So why am I still fighting?
"M'mam... it was brought to my attention a little while ago that the Inu clan has officially declared war on the Hikyuu clan." A tall man stood, stiff as a board, in front of a shadow covered woman.
"So? Why should that concern us?" A male's voice in the corner said. He was leaning back in a chair, tapping his small dagger on the stone-top table.
"Well… it does. We, as in the Neko clan, signed a treaty with them." The general said, sounding a little iffy on the subject.
"I'm pretty sure I haven't signed anything with this "Hikyuu" clan." The woman said, holding her head in her hand.
"You didn't, m'mam. The clan leader 150 years ago did. They've sent several representatives who are demanding help. They're clan is very small." The soldier looked worried as he looked back and forth between the two. "We… need a decision, m'mam."
"…" She was silent, trying to think it over. "Send a message to the Inu clan. Tell them if they do not back off of the Hikyuu clan, then we will declare war on them." Her voice was strong. He nodded slowly, bowed low then left to go find a messenger. Grey eyes followed the man out until the door closed with a "bang".
"Make sure the public knows about this. And if they refuse, it might be the motivation to start them into a war." The Lord called out to the man in the corner, who only gave a slick grin in reply.
I didn't want all of this.
The sound of heavy boot thundered down the hallway of a giant castle. "Masurao-sama!" Mrs. Masurao He didn't stop running, or shouting her name, until he ran right into the doors. Since he hit them with full force, the doors swung open, which caused the ookami wolf youkai to stumble over and crash on the ground.
"I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere. No need to act like a fool." A woman said, standing over her "fallen" soldier. He looked up and tried to give a grin, telling her he was alright.
"Masurao-sama! I have very important news!" Scrambling to his feet, his face changed into a much more serious look. He saluted her before continuing. "Several of our soldiers and innocent civilians were murdered while bringing supplies to the villages along the Inu and Neko line."
It was silent. The only sounds were made by Masurao, who was shuffling back to her seat. Sitting down, she stared forward with a confused face.
"Who attacked?"
"Both sides, m'mam. Inu and Neko," He answered, still in the saluting position, "There are going to be riots in the streets once word gets out," The tone in his voice was a little sad. He, like everyone else in the castle and Ookami clan, didn't want to go into another war. They had just gotten out of a long, brutal civil war between the smaller ookami clans within the state.
"Riots? Do you mean… in unison?" Masurao asked, sounding more interested in the fact her people were going to riot together then innocent who were murdered.
"Yes. How else would you riot against this, m'mam?" The soldier sounded confused, though he didn't get what his Lord was hinting at.
Masurao stood up and walked to the window, looking down over the small crowd gathered in the garden of her castle.
"Together…" She said in awe, looking at the different type of ookami standing outside, glaring up angrily at her. "Make sure everyone knows about this! Make it sound like the Inu and Neko are the ultimate evil for committing such a crime!" She shouted, turning around and pointing at the confused soldier, still saluting her from a long time ago. Her face dropped and she slapped her head.
"Never mind, I'll do it," She moaned, though under her hand, was a grin of happiness.
So why am I covered with dirt, blood, and death?
-3 Years Later-
"Inu Yasha-sama… Inu Yasha-sama… INU YASHA-SAMA!!" A grimy soldier shouted, trying to get the attention of his Major infront of him. White ears twitched on top of the hanyou's head as he turned around and gave the death glare to his subordinate.
"WHAT?!" Inu Yasha yelled, stopping to turn around and stare down his soldier.
"Are we there yet? And where the hell ARE we?!" The inu youkai asked, his scared face plastered with the look of boredom. "Or do you not even know that…?" He asked, looking around in the forest. There hadn't been anything for days. No villages, no food, not even a clean stream for water.
"Yeah. It's just a little further up here." Inu Yasha said, turning on his heals and began to walk again. The small troop began to move as well, leaving behind the complaining youkai.
"Eh… you said that yesterday. At least I think it was yesterday. Arg! I've been out here for so long I forgot what day it is!!" He shouted and wined, tugging at his hair. Inu Yasha didn't reply, but kept facing forward. He tried to look stone cold, but it was hard to hide the fact they were hungry, tired, and worried.
One tall youkai stopped, holding his nose to the sky. "I think I smell food… and fresh water!" He said, looking at his officer with a sheepish grin.
"Shut up Hiroshi…" Inu Yasha growled, not bothering to stop and at least see if he was right.
"No! He's right!" Another member of his troop said, sniffing the air. "I smell a fire!" Inu Yasha stopped, turned around and looked at his troop all sniffing the air for the scent of food.
"Ningen too… we're in Neutral territory! They'll take us in!" Hiroshi grinned with optimism. Inu Yasha didn't smile, still looking a little worried.
"Kikyou-sama!" Little children played and laughed around a miko priestess. She bent down and patted one of their heads, giving a friendly smile.
"Ah! Kikyou-sama! Who are they?" One boy asked, pointing over to the forest where Inu Yasha's troop had gathered. He cling to her red hakama pants, peering out to take a look at the strangers. Kikyou looked up and stared at Inu Yasha for a second. A small grin creased her pale face.
"Kagome-chan! Shippou-chan! We have some company!" chan is a friendly term She called into a hut, trying to get the attention of someone inside. A girl poked her head out, looking almost identical to the miko standing a few feet away.
"Who?" She asked, walking out with a small kitsune fox youkai at her heels. She wore a seifuku school uniform and looked completely out of place from everyone else. The kitsune jumped up to her shoulder, putting his hand over his eyes to look at the troops at the edge of the forest.
"Some friends. Why don't you two go greet them?" Kikyou asked, walking past her and into the hut. A child followed her, keeping an eye out on the inu.
"Why us?" The kitsune asked, hugging Kagome's face in fear. Kagome only looked over at Kikyou disappearing into the hut, then began over towards the starved inutachi Inus.
I wish it would all end.