Chapter 1: Almost Perfect Life

Life was simple in my demon tribe; we had plenty to eat, we had a large territory that a small village was in, our tribe was powerful, we had almost everything that a demon tribe could have. Also, being the leader's daughter of the nine tailed fox tribe had its perks as well. Even though my father had a small family, he was happy, even if we didn't have our mother. Our home, where our tribe lived at, was close at a forest at the base of a mountain. This gave an advantage on seeing enemies since we had a sentry up above the forest on the mountain, plus having a cave right behind a waterfall gave us protection if we needed to hide out from some demon that strayed into our territory. We also defended the small village that lived away from the mountain since they were in our territory, at first when they settled here they didn't know that they were on our territory. It was funny when we came down to greet them and when they realized that we weren't here to do them any harm they accepted our help. "Life is perfect," Koryu, my younger brother, exclaimed; his forest green eyes glittered in the slowly dying light, I nodded with a stretch and I scratched behind my ears.

"You're right," I yawned as I leaned back in the tree and I watched him play with a little ball that the villagers gave him when he was a smaller kit. "Life is too perfect for me," I said, I hung upside down by my knees and ruffled Koryu's dirty brown hair.

"Don't do that!" he yipped; I laughed as he tried fixing his already messy hair. Koryu looked like a human who had just turned into his seventh year, well minus the fox ears and nine foxtails trailing after him.

My ears pricked up as a large hornet flew by; it was far too big to be a normal size hornet and I had been seeing more and more of them hanging around for the past few days. I remember killing one and showing it to my dad, he told me that they were Saimyosho. I started seeing them a lot around the forest that I soon began to just ignore them completely; Koryu got up from the ground then took off towards the village and I jumped from my tree, I started to follow him home. Father probably wanted us home soon for the ceremony that would take place when the full moon was overhead the mountain top. The ceremony was all about when the leader of the pack recognized that their son or daughter was strong enough to fight to gain control of the whole pack under that full moon, the moon was the one we foxes stood for. I noticed that some of the vixens were out gathering food for the little ceremony for what was about to happen tonight, I shook out my fur on my tails "Aarune!" called out a voice, I looked up and waved as one of my friends came running up to me with her arms filled with dead rabbits for most of the food there "So, what's the first thing you're going to do when you become the leader of the pack?" she asked with her yellow eyes glittering in the dim sunlight.

"I have no clue, but I know fighting for the leadership title will not be easy since father is skilled at fighting, Sayu," I replied with an unsure tone in my voice, Sayu rolled her eyes in aggravation.

"You'll do fine! I mean you defeated Koga of the Wolf Tribe! Your father couldn't even defeat him, you'll be able to beat your father with ease!" she exclaimed with confidence and I smiled slightly.

"You know, when I'm leader, I'll let you do anything you want to do, okay?" I stated, she squealed in delight and followed me back to our cave. I had to get ready for the ceremony, which started as soon as I got my furry little butt home. All the villagers came up to support me, which surprised me on how many were here since the village itself was small.

Before I could react, someone covered my eyes from behind me "Guess who," he asked, the wind blew his musk wolf scent to my delicate nose.

"Koga?" I questioned, he uncovered my eyes and I looked at him with a slight smirk that blossomed on my face.

"Good guess, but the wind helped you on that one," he chuckled as I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Are you going to stay and watch?" I asked, he sighed softly as looked at me.

"No, I'm really sorry, I just came by to see you before I left to head back to my tribe," he replied, my ears drooped slowly. He tilted my face up "I'll come back every chance I get when you have stated your claim as leader.

"I wish you could stay," I muttered, he rubbed my cheek and gave me his sweetest, gentle smile. The fire behind me shone in Koga's light blue eyes, I leaned up to his face, I felt his arms lightly wrap around my waist to pull me a bit closer.

"Aarune! Come on, it's almost time!" Koryu called, I flinched back slightly and he kissed my forehead gently.

"Good luck, fuzz ball," I smiled from his nickname and I gave his hand a quick squeeze.

"You're all the luck I need," I remarked, he smiled and let my hand go, I turned and walked over to the ring of foxes that were all in my tribe, I glanced back but I didn't see Koga. I walked through and to the middle of the ring; right now I had to focus on the fight ahead of me. I, finally, turned my full attention to my father who was standing near the center of the circle. His forest green eyes shone brightly in the burning fire's light, his tails swished slightly behind him and his black armor was shining in the light.

I walked out to him but only stood a few feet away "I'd thought I would never have to challenge you. But when you defeated Koga by yourself, I knew I would have to fight you," he said, loud enough so everyone could hear him. I caught a glimpse of white out of the corner of my eye but I ignored it, if I turned my face away from him then I would be showing weakness to him, even if it was to figure out what I saw.

We both looked up at the full moon that was shining down on us, it was almost time. I blinked a couple of times to clear my eyes when I noticed something; there was a ring around the moon, a bad sign. A group of loud roars echoed throughout our area and my ears pricked up as I looked towards my dad and then towards the source of the noise. I saw a huge band of demons flying towards us, the villagers screamed out in terror and took off running.

"Keep the kits, vixens and humans out of this fight! Get them to the cave!" I yelled to the warriors, they quickly took them to the cave that was behind the waterfall. My tails' fur stood on end as the demons attacked everything that moved.

The first wave of demons attacked my father; he killed them with just a flick of his tails. I heard a man cry out; I turned and saw a man, which was wearing a white baboon pelt on the ground, and being attacked by three demons. I darted over and sliced the demon's heads off their bodies with my sharp claws "T-thank you," he said, I shivered at the hypnotic tone in his voice.

I heard my father scream out in pain; I turned my head with my heart dropping into my stomach and saw a half demon with long silver hair, wearing a fire rat robe, standing over my father with his hand covered in blood. My eyes widened as my father fell, his body suddenly bursting into flames before he even hit the ground, a cremation that all nine tailed foxes went through when they died. The half demon smirked as he looked up from the ashes that were left of my father "N-no! Father!" I whispered as a gust of wind blew the ashes away. I looked around the village, the flames were devouring my friends and comrades, and my heart turned in my chest in pain. "KORYU!" I yelled as I ran towards the cave that had the humans and foxes, forgetting about the man in the pelt. When I got to the mouth of the cave, I saw the senseless slaughter that that foul half demon did to them all and I felt the tears running down my face. "K-Koryu?" I stuttered and his head popped up from the bed of hay that he slept in at night.

"Aarune!" he ran into me, burying his face into my stomach and he wept in fear, my tails wrapped around him to pull him closer against me. I looked back outside, making sure I was not going to be caught off guard by the half demon "W-where's daddy?" he whimpered softly, I looked down at him and the tears that streaked down my face and hit his dirty face.

"H-he's dead…" I cried softly, Koryu reburied his face back into my stomach and I felt his tears on my stomach as he shook "Koryu, listen to me," he looked up at me with a hiccup "I'll keep you protected from any threat," he nodded and clung to me. I caught a whiff of the half demon, my tails unwrapped around him and I shoved Koryu away, turning to face the half breed and felt his claws go through my stomach "A-ah! K-Koryu, hide in the r-rabbit hole!" I gasped, Koryu took off running and I clutched the half demon's wrist.

"Let me go, you fox!" he snapped, his golden eyes flashed in pure anger as if him killing was not his fault and I gripped his wrist tighter, he caught my chin and dug his nails into my flesh "You're asking for it," he snarled, I didn't let go. He suddenly slammed his lips against mine, my eyes widen in surprise and I lost my grip on his wrist and then he ripped his hand out of me, my crimson blood covering his hand; I bit my tongue to keep from shrieking out in pain. He laughed "Pathetic!" I growled weakly, I then realized that the only thing that was keeping me standing was his grip on my chin.

"W-who are you?" I hissed softly, his hand moved swiftly from my chin to my neck.

"Name's Inuyasha," he replied, his grip suddenly tightened around my throat.

"N-ngh!" I choked out, his smirk widened to a twisted smile and I weakly tried to make him let go of my neck and I struggled to get free but his grip tightened. I was getting scared that I was going to die and not keep my promise to Koryu, my eyesight started to grow hazy and my body was slowly going limp.

"Fox Fire!" a blue flame smacked Inuyasha on the back of the head, his grip loosened and I gasped for air and from the pain when I hit the ground.

"Damn you little whelp!" he snarled, I lifted my head up weakly off the ground and saw Koryu with blue flames in his hand as Inuyasha charged at Koryu, he jumped out of the way with ease like father had taught us "I'll slaughter, you runt!" he yelled as he chased after Koryu.

"Come and get me!" he yelled back as he threw more Fox Fires at him, which smacked him in the face; I tried to stand up but my body had already lost too much blood and energy.

My body started getting hotter, as if I was on fire "N-no! I mustn't die!" I thought as I slowly forced myself to stand up, the waves of pain were making it harder to concentrate on keeping myself alive. My eyesight blurred some more; I quickly shook it off, making myself stay awake then suddenly a Fox Fire hit my stomach, where Inuyasha had his claws dug in, and my body instantly absorbed it. My wound healed instantly, I notice that Koryu was trying his hardest to keep Inuyasha away from me so I could regain my energy.

Koryu yelped loudly when Inuyasha caught him by the back of his armor and I quickly took unsteady steps towards them, Inuyasha looked at me "I see you haven't died yet," he remarked. He pulled Koryu up into the air "Don't worry, I'll put you out of your damn misery after I kill your little brother," he smirked darkly as he flexed his claws that had my blood covering them.

I hissed in anger from the pain that was coursing through my body and from the anger that was boiling; he instantly dropped Koryu when all nine of my tails flared up behind me, showing how pissed off I was "Curse him, sister! Show him what we all do best!" Koryu cried out as he darted away from him, Inuyasha's eyes widened in terror.

"Half demon, Inuyasha! You shall be cursed for killing my family!" he stepped back in fear "You're punishment will not be to die," he sighed softly in relief "but it will be that you shall be shot by a priestess that you will fall in love with!" I shouted; my tails grew brighter and brighter then stopped, the curse had been cast and Inuyasha ran from our village like the cowardly dog he was, "That's right! You better run, you dog!" I screamed after him, Koryu ran up to me when I fell to my knees.

"Sis! Are you okay?" he clung to me and I held him closely, I nodded as I gently rocked him.

I tensed up some as the man in the white pelt walked up to us "Easy, I'm here to help you both," his quietly said, my eyes drooped from the sound of his alluring voice. "Rest, I'll take care of everything," I nodded slightly and let my eyes close, falling into a deep sleep.