1. Interlude
The sky slowly darkened over Feudal Japan, it's savage mountains silhouetted by an endless forest, wild and almost sentient as creatures chattered in its obscurity. The trees rustled violently, spurred by giant wandering demons, and at the roots of the mountain, a worm-like trail of torches ran after a figure darting past foliage.
The figure - a human girl with brown skin, tan eyes and dark hair - desperately sprinted through, cutting herself against twigs and fumbling over uneven earth. Blinded by choking tears, the female sobbed and suddenly yelped when a thrown spear almost pierced through her leg.
"Fuck!" the hunter seethed, and watched as his lanky cohort paused to raise his bow, and fire. The arrow clumsily soared, slashing a deep cut into the girl's arm before wedging into a tree. Lliyah shrieked and up ahead, the group leader barked, "We've almost got 'er, men!"
The loud answering roar of twenty hunters rattled the forest, raw energy encouraging their speed. Ryoji, the young leader, saw an opportunity to flank the woman's side and dashed into a muddied path of shrubbery. Everyone disappeared from his view and for a long moment, he was all alone in the Forest of Inuyasha, with nothing but his breathing and erratic heart beat to keep him company. But when heavy, distinctly feminine panting met his ears, he unleashed all his anger and tackled the woman to the ground.
Lliyah screamed at the man's appearance, his face contorted with rage, a savage roar bellowing out of his mouth. He smashed into her and the air left her lungs. She felt her equilibrium spiral but as soon as she fell to the ground, her head bounced off a rock with a horrendous crack.
Stars dotted her vision and darkness flooded in to engulf her.