Chapter 1

Oddity

It was a perfect day for hunting, patrolling or any other kind of out-door activity. It was late spring, the forests were covered in green leaves and blossom of all kind, and the weather was sunny and mild. Not that the cold would have bothered him, or rain. Actually, he didn't care much about the weather, but it was nicer to be outside without getting drenched (and smelling of wet dog).

Taro's agenda for today included patrolling with maybe a side of hunting, you never knew what you would come across in these parts. Some tasty game, lowlife youkai or wayward humans... he was quite willing to find out.

The daiyoukai was currently headed for several small hills covered in trees when he heard voices. Pausing to sniff the air, he caught the scent of a group of humans and a horse.

"Well, hello there, little lady", a man's voice spoke. Taro envisioned a rather nasty grin along with it.

"Oh, good. Finally some people", a female voice replied. Calm and collected, she didn't seem to think – or realise – the people she had encountered could be a threat.

Somewhat curious, Taro changed his course and headed for the group, counting on the thick foliage for cover.

"I need directions", the woman went on. "I need to get back to Takayama, I seem to have lost my way."

She sounded annoyed at that. Then again, anyone would be annoyed if he managed to get lost.

"Takayama? You mean the little village over there?"

"Village? What rock did you live under? Takayama is fairly big. I should be able to see it from here, so I must have taken a wrong turn."

"Did you just insult me, wench?"

"WHAT did you call me?!"

Taro was now close enough to see them. The woman, he noticed, was the only person on horseback – she had her back to him and was facing a group of eight men who looked rather dishevelled and unpleasant. Taro slowly inched closer.

"Now, now", one of the other men said, placing a hand on the shoulder of one who had called her "wench" in a calming gesture. "Clearly, the young lady is not in her right mind. Wouldn't do to get angry and risk hurting her, now would it? She is pretty exotic, and she has a horse – we'd get quite a sum for her at the market, I'd wager."

The other men nodded in agreement and Taro could sense disbelief and fury emanating from the woman.

"You are slave traders?"

"That's correct, little lady", one said sweetly. "And you're coming with us."

"No way", she spat. "What do you think I am, some sort of merchandise?! You can't just decide you own me, that's against Human Rights, Right to Freedom and so on."

"Hey, lass, what are you babbling about?", one asked, clearly confused. Taro couldn't make more sense of her words, either, and he thought himself greatly superiour to those curs.

"She clearly hit her head", the man who apparently was the leader replied. "Get her!"

"One step closer, and you die", the woman announced, her voice icy.

The men halted for a moment, surprised. Taro could smell the rise in adrenaline, and the horse shifted in response to it, black fur gleaming in the sunlight. He was surprised there was no fear in her scent, apparently she was to focused on standing her ground. Fear was also often interpreted as weakness, so it was better for her not to show any.

"I'm warning you", she went on, her voice dropping half an octave. "I am not as helpless as I may seem."

The men burst out laughing.

"You mean to threaten us? That's hilarious. You probably couldn't harm a fly!"

"Never underestimate your opponent if you want to live. And consider this a warning, not a threat. I don't go about threatening others."

Taro decided it was about time he intervened. Though he didn't particularly like humans, he saw it as his duty to protect those living in his lands against harmful things (as much as he was able to) and he had a particular distaste for slavery. He couldn't quite understand why humans would enslave one another, save maybe because they wanted to profit from other people's misfortune. Soundlessly, he emerged from the trees and strolled over to the small group, just as the men were about to close in on the woman.

He was certain they didn't know who he was, but they froze in their tracks nevertheless, a look of horror on their faces. One mouthed the word "youkai" before they turned and ran, as fast as their legs would carry them.

The woman just watched them go, apparently not caring about the fact that they were running as if the end of the world was near. Or maybe she hadn't noticed him, since she was human. Her horse did notice his presence, its ears twitching, it shifted nervously. The woman merely pulled on the reins and kept it in place. Her calm demeanour seemed to affect it. When one of the men turned to look back at her, he saw a daiyoukai standing behind the girl, who didn't even budge, and he ran – if possible – even faster. Taro couldn't suppress a smile.

"I am beginning to wonder if you even noticed there was someone behind you", he observed after a while.

The woman jumped slightly, but the moment of fright was over almost instantly. She merely clicked her tongue and gave some sort of command he failed to notice, for the horse started moving – keeping its front legs in place, it turned around to face him. Taro was no expert on horses, but he had never seen a move like this before, and he briefly wondered how she had done that – before noticing that the men had been right in claiming she was exotic.

Her skin was very pale, not coarse or darkened by the sun as a farmer's, and her eyes were blue – a very unusual colour for a human – they all had brown eyes. Also, her eyes seemed bigger, and he couldn't quite figure out why. In addition, her hair had different colours – light brown and golden, again very unusual – humans usually had black or dark brown hair. While he studied her with interest, he himself became the object of a close ex amination. Though her face betrayed no emotions, he could sense her curiosity.

And that perplexed him. No fear, panic or pleading for mercy, which was how humans normally reacted. Even those that lived in the Western Lands were uneasy around him.

"I had thought it would be possible that someone was there", she finally replied calmly. "I'm not so scary as to send them running as if they'd just seen a ghost. Besides, Beren doesn't usually get nervous just because he hears a sound, I made sure of that. I just thought it would be better to ignore you for the moment, since you apparently didn't have any intentions of attacking me."

"I could have."

She inclined her head. "True. But that is idle speculation."

"Why are you not frightened?", Taro inquired, taking a measured step closer.

"You did nothing so far as to frighten me", she replied.

"The mere sight of me frightened those men, and there were eight of them."

She frowned slightly. "Maybe they thought you were strong? That's what I was playing at, you know. Bluffing. Pretending to be all tough and more than capable of holding my own against them."

"But you wouldn't have been."

"No. There were too many of them. I might be able to take on one, maybe two, but I was outnumbered – plus, I don't have any weapons, which makes it harder. But, getting back to your question: do you want me to be frightened?"

"Not particularly. I was just surprised – humans usually react with fear to my kind."

Her frown deepened. "You mean to say you're not human?"

His eyes widened slightly. "You did not realise this?"

"No", she replied, sounding somewhat incredulous. "Is that why they ran? Because you're – not human?"

"Correct."

"Okay, now it's starting to make sense. A bit. I'm still confused, though. Er – I don't mean to be rude, but – what are you?"

"I am an inu-youkai", Taro replied calmly, closely watching her reaction.

Her eyes widened a fraction, but she still showed no sign of fear. If anything, her curiosity increased.

"Really? I had no idea youkai actually existed – I always thought they were just some fairy tale."

"I assure you we are quite real."

"It's just I've never met one before – or heard of anyone doing so. Which is why I didn't recognise you as one. And why I'm not scared of you."

"What do you know of our kind?"

"Nothing, really. I've only stumbled about some legends mentioning youkai when I came to Japan three weeks ago."

"You are from the continent?"

"Europe."

"What's that?"

She gave him a look of pure disbelief.

"You don't know?"

He gave her a look that implied he wouldn't have asked otherwise.

"Oh dear... Europe is another continent, to the west of Asia. Takes a long time to get there on foot. Several months, I believe."

"Hm. Is that why you are wearing such strange clothes?", he asked, indicating at her strange apparel.

He had rarely ever seen women on horseback before, and never in such an outfit – she wore boots that came up almost to her knees, and very closely fitting trousers were tugged into them. The top was also strange – it didn't have any fastenings, and he wondered if it was simply pulled over the head. All in all, it seemed rather inappropriate clothing for a young woman.

"Those are for riding", she informed him. "I don't usually run around wearing those."

"Europe must be a strange place", Taro mused.

"Well, I think Japan is a strange place – but not necessarily in a bad way. Say, do you know how to get to Takayama? I said I'd be back by nightfall, and if I don't make it, they will be worried..."

"I can take you there. How did you manage to get lost in the first place?"

"I don't know", she growled. "I don't usually get lost. I got momentarily blinded by some strange light, and when I looked back, I could no longer see the town. I've been trying to retrace my path, but I couldn't..."

"Strange. Well, I know the way, you will be back at the village in time."

"Thank you most kindly", she replied, her face lighting up. "Oh, I never caught your name."

"I am the Inu no Taishouu, Taro", he replied with dignity.

"It is a pleasure making your acquaintance, Taro-sama", she replied, inclining her head. "I am Lillia."

He nodded his head in acknowledgement before starting forwards. She tugged on the reins and made her horse turn around once more, but this time walking instead of turning on the spot.

"How fast is he?", Taro asked, nodding towards the stallion.

"Uh, I don't know... how fast are you?"

"Fast", he replied.

"Oh, then we must race. I love races!"

Taro allowed himself a slight smile, amused by her sudden enthusiasm. She was only mildly surprised when she noticed his fangs, apparently having decided she'd not be sur prised by anything anymore.

He broke into a run and heard her give the horse a command that sounded like "ta-rab", something that didn't make any sense to him. He could, however, hear the stallion speeding up, and soon the horse pulled alongside him. He quickened his pace, but she wasn't about to let him get too far ahead of them – even though Taro had already figured that he would end up winning their race. She didn't seem to care – he could sense her elation, apparently she liked going fast. And humans, he had noticed, weren't usually very fast runners.

As they raced during the forest, Taro wondered why he bothered showing her the way. He usually had no dealings with humans whatsoever, and normally wouldn't have wasted his time on one. He finally came to the conclusion that her oddities were what made her inter esting – she was so different from anything he had known so far. His encounters with human women had been very sparse, but he had always had the impression that they were rather demure and meek, and never talked back to a man. But this one had stood up to a group of eight men, without batting an eyelid. And she wasn't scared of youkai – even the strongest miko or houshi usually showed some amount of fear when dealing with a dai-youkai. But not she.

Catching the scent of the human settlement, he slowed to a walk. She reined the horse in next to him, affectionately patting the stallion's neck.

"Are we there?"

"Almost."

They crossed another ridge and Taro stopped, looking out onto the village that was called. Takayama.

"I believe you should be able to find your way home from here", he observed.

He turned to find a look of confusion and worry on her face.

"This isn't right", she said quietly. "This isn't the right place."

A/N: The names of Sesshomaru's parents aren't canon, I chose Taro for his father be cause it seems to be favoured by many fans, and I like it. I called his mate Yuki, since she's the mother of the Ice Prince, so it fits her.

I hereby declare that I do not own the characters of InuYasha, merely Lillia is a product of my own imagination. This disclaimer applies for the whole story.

The image I use as cover has been created on Doll Divine/Kimono Maker, and can also be found on my deviantArt account (I go by the same name there).