Disclaimer: I, the author of this fanfiction gain no profit from this story, I did not create any of the original characters of this Manga, nor do I hold any legal rights to it.
The forest wept, branches rubbed and bowed creaking in the drizzle of rain coming down and the animals mourned in the shadows as the youkai followed the sprite. It had sought him out, the majestic silver inu living in his den with his mate and young sons. Yet it would not come closer, it would not indulge him in the answer to his question. His booted foot extended before him as he came to a break in the trees. There curled in the gnarled roots of the largest tree he had ever seen was a human woman, barely clinging to her soul, the wisps of it tangled around her and pulsed weakly trying to escape.
Her chocolate eyes opened and she watched as the demon came to her side, his massive figure looming over her in spades. She glanced to the forest around them, mourning heavily like a spoiled child denied a play thing. "Nori*, Inu born from the gods themselves... you came." He inclined his head a fraction to confirm her words. "I am glad for this."
"Why have you summoned me woman-child?" His voice was deep, and hard reminding her of the tree she was nestled up to. She sighed then, glancing into the branches guarding her from the rain and she let tears come to her eyes.
"I have summoned you, son of the Kami, because you seek peace." Her whisper silenced the mourning forest as it waited for her law to be given. The land was wild and it sought its master through the deeds of those walking atop its skin. "I have heard of you, a just lord to your kind and an honorable creature in the eyes of the humans living near you. It is said you seek truth before a punishment is given, and that you are a moral compass to those lost to sin." His amber eyes flickered in acknowledgment of the statements for he could not deny their truth.
"Is it this you wished to tell me, that you brought me from my den and the warmth of my pack to speak truths known far past your forest?" She turned her eyes back down on him, and he took a step back from her in hesitation.
"I summoned you, because I am dying." The forest sobbed then fell silent again as she took in a new breath. "And I wish to entrust my power to you. I want the Kami to bless you with the protection of these lands, that none with ill intent might hurt them." She pulled her arm away from her body and exposed her swollen stomach with a sad smile. "To entrust to you, my daughter who will come to guard the pure and innocent with the blade of a demon in her grasp. These things I have seen, and know to be true." He turned his own gaze up into the boughs of the tree and let his breath out as rain speckled his cheeks. "Take my daughter from my body, my time has come. Raise her as your own so she will know love and honor for her journey, this I entrust you Nori."
The demon stepped to her in the roots, his clawed hand running over her tight womb as she wept. The metallic scent of her blood filled his senses as he cut the babe from her body, as he watched the life in her eyes harden and die out. A soul hovered over the silent infant; who stared up at the male with large blue eyes, brushing it with the purity of its mist before disappearing into the forest around them. He wrapped the newborn in a swath of cloth from her mother's robes and tucked her against his breast, turning and leaving the body to the forest as he headed once more for his pack.
The forest whispered after him in the childish voice of the woman, "Midoriko... Midoriko is born."
Strange and cryptic opening... hope you guys like it.
Nori-Japanese unisex name meaning 1) "ceremony, regalia," 2) "code, precedent," 3) "model, rule, standard," 4) "law, rule."