Bark at the Moon

an InuYasha story

by: Sakura Onna

Disclaimer: I do not own any InuYasha characters, weapons, or any other item. I am not getting payed to write this story (even though I would like to be very much). The only characters I own are Kimiko, her father, her father's weapon, the youkai lord of the mansion, and Akachi as they were created by my own little mind. Anyway off to the story! Oh yeah! I do not claim the rights to use the song title of Ozzy Osbourne's work for this either. I'm just borrowing it! Anything else I missed belongs to their respective owners and not me.

Chapter 1: escape

For a change the look of boredom in her face was real. Not that anyone in the mansion that was her prison knew that. One could only bide their time gathering their strength and plotting revenge for so long before even it lost its entertainment value. The time still didn't feel right to launch her campaign against the traitors who had killed pretty much her entire household except for her, and bust out of here to claim what is rightfully hers. Her clawed fingers twitched of their own accord at the memory of her father betrayed and slain by his own vassals. For all of the two and a half centuries she had been imprisoned in the home of one of the aforementioned vassals the mere thought of it all was enough to make her blood boil. She was secure in the knowledge that she was more than strong enough to escape from the mansion and level it to the ground in the process when it felt like the time was right.

But one of the first things she would have to do after escaping would be to locate and take possession of her father's weapon. The weapon that had been forged from one of his own fangs.

Kimiko caught a few strands of her hair, which others for whatever unfathomable reason kept referring to as spun sunlight, in her claws and thought of the late lord of the west who had two swords forged from his fangs. She mused for a few seconds if she should try to steal the Tetsuaiga, the sword that could slay a hundred youkai in one swing, from its current master before dismissing it as ludicrous. All she needed were her claws and fangs, and her father's weapon.

Kimiko tensed as the son of the mansion's lord approached her place of meditation in the garden. There was only one thing that would bring him here in general, and that was that the lord told him to tell her that her presence was demanded. Everyone in the household knew she was a ticking time bomb of violence and the servants refused to come near her. So the lord was forced to use his own son to retrieve her so he could show her off as a trophy of war. She knew the red-haired panther approaching her place of solitude was wary of her every moment. She knew that he knew that she could rip out his throat with the smallest flick of the wrist if it struck her fancy, and he was afraid of her for it. She liked that fear because it meant when the time came she could easily manipulate him.

"The lord requests your presence in the audience hall immediately," Akachi called out stopping 14 feet from where she sat with her back against a maple tree.

Kimiko cracked her knuckles unhappy with the intrusion and Akachi took a few steps back before taking a defensive stance. "You mean he demands my presence in the audience hall, so he can try to impress his guest."

The panther youkai's almost human face became a mask of pure terror as Kimiko rose to her feet. The glint in the female inu youkai's blue eyes made him want to soil his hakama and sink into the earth at his feet . . . anything to get away from her and out of her way. A whimper of fear escaped his throat as she walked toward him. His pulse sky rocketed and he jumped to the side as she moved to walk by him. He cowered in the shrubbery shaking worse than if an earthquake had struck. As she strode past his quivering form, she caught the scent of urine and dung. A cruel smile curved her lips as she walked toward the house.

She was going to humor the lord for the last time then begin her campaign to reclaim what was rightfully hers that night. The time still didn't feel quite right, but she didn't care anymore. She was tired of waiting.

Kimiko easily cleared the wall surrounding the mansion with minimal effort in a single leap, landing softly on the other side. She stalked quietly from shadow to shadow in the flickering light cast by a few torches. Soon the little good-bye present she left should create a big enough blaze that would cause enough distraction for her to slip passed the guards without receiving much attention. Yes, she wanted to leave with a bang so to speak, but she knew it would be more practical to slip by with as little notice as possible. Doing so would give her enough time to accomplish the preparations she needed to make for the coming war: like finding the spear-like weapon forged of her father's fang. Though she was loath to admit it, she would need allies as well in this war she was going to create.

A growl escaped her throat at that thought and she applied a spell to mask her scent as the wind shifted so she was upwind of the guards. Even though they were only cats their noses would be sensitive enough to know her scent shouldn't be there. She quickly leaped over the outer wall of the mansion compound and made a break for the forest a hundred yards away as the cries of fire began to rise up and the glow of the blaze could be seen.

As she padded through the forest easily going over roots and other such obstacles, she mulled over her problem and what she would have to do to solve it. Kimiko knew she could handle an army of almost 500 pretty well on her own, but also knew she was bound to encounter numbers far larger than that. Therefore she had to enlist the aid of another youkai, but she also had to make sure she could beat them as well in case they tried to double cross her . . . But not so weak they would be of no use either. Decisions, decisions.

Unbidden the memory of the late Western Lord came once more to her mind. She had heard that he had two sons; the elder of which would have inherited that title . . . Maybe she should seek him out . . . and maybe he would have heard something through the great youkai grapevine about her father's fang as well that he could pass on to her that could be of use.

Kimiko paused on the large root of a giant tree that stuck out of the forest floor a good seven feet - more than enough for a grown human male to walk under without worry of hitting his head - to weigh her options. She had never met the elder son of the famed inunotaisho but she had over heard enough gossip in the mansion's audience hall over the years to know he was not prone to granting favors, or anything of such nature, unless he had something to gain from it. Though on the other hand his strength was pretty well known in the youkai world and to be receiving his aid would more than tip the scales of power in her favor. It would make it well known to all that she was truly a force to be reckoned with and not just an upstart female. It would get her to be taken seriously faster. But then there was the problem of locating the wandering tai youkai . . .

Kimiko sighed as she reached a conclusion. She would look for the wandering elder son of inunotaisho, but she would only grant herself half a year. If she couldn't locate him in that time frame, she would focus on locating the fang and someone else as an ally . . .

A/N: Well, there you have it: the first chapter of Bark at the Moon. If you want to read more you're gonna have to review because I'm not posting the next chapter until this gets at least three. So review if you like or hate it. Either one is fine with me especially if it points out the weak spots of this chapter. I want to write a good story that people will enjoy reading so every comment counts! No more threats to the reader in future chapters! I do want input though!