Author's Note: As this is my first foray into fan fiction of any kind I believe a brief introduction is in order. I'm an English major so I'm used to writing, but this is the first creative piece I've written in a very long time. Still, I'll try to keep the writing interesting. Also I enjoy criticism of any kind; hell flame me, it all helps, just review.

Alright, here's the first chapter. I suppose now is a good time to review the potential pairing. The idea was to make this an InuSan, although that is not set in stone. It fits the main plot idea, although it's been done. Many times. The only reason I'm doing this is to try to do it a bit more realistically than I've found. Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions for things they'd like to see in the plot or if, post it in your review. I have the basic story hashed out, but the details aren't final. Review, review, review!

Disclaimer: If I owned InuYasha, would I be poor right now?


Sundered

I

Screams

It was finally morning. The sun hung low in the sky as InuYasha dropped from the branch where he had passed the night. He yawned, cracked his, and took a quick look at his hands to confirm that his claws had indeed returned. When he was satisfied that he was back to his lovable demi-demonic self, he paused to ponder his luck and exhaled deeply. For once, nothing had come after them on one of his human nights.

InuYasha glanced over to the camp his companions had prepared the night before, occupying a small clearing a short walk from the path that traversed this forest. His friends were arrayed outward from the smoldering remains of a once potent fire. Kagome was curled up swollen ball, enveloped by her sleeping bag. Her yellow backpack and her bow sat in a heap a few feet past her head.

Miroku was leaning up against the base of a large tree. His staff lay at his feet. Periodically the monk's fingers would clench and then release. InuYasha noticed one of these instances and thought to himself, 'so the lecher's hentai in his sleep too… typical'. Sango lay several yards beyond him, clutching Kirara like a child's doll. Hiraikotsu was propped up by a stump about a foot away from them. Shippo was sprawled out on his back near Kirara, snoring.

InuYasha surveyed the scene and quickly decided that he didn't have the patience to wait for them to wake up. He strode into camp and approached his victim. He crouched next to Shippo and, with a devilish smirk, poked him twice in the ribs with one of his claws. The little kitsune cracked his eyes, very much in a daze. InuYasha bent over him until they were eye to eye and whispered.

"Boo."

Shippo screamed in terror and scrambled backwards attempting to stand up, tripped over Sango's legs, and fell down hard on his behind. Sango groaned groggily. 'One down,' InuYasha thought. The fox quickly pooped to his feet.

"INUYASHA, YOU JERK!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, trying his best to sound intimidating, unknowingly accomplishing the half-demon's task for him. Inuyasha began to chuckle as the rest of the party was quickly jolted from their sleep. 'Well, that's done,' he thought. Kagome sat up and stared, Miroku hopped upright, Sango reached for her katana, Shippo glared, his heart still racing from the scare, and InuYasha sat in the middle, eyes closed and laughing.

When the recently roused got their bearings, a mass rolling of the eyes ensued, followed by several sighs and a "SIT!" With that, the gloating hanyo crashed to the ground awkwardly, his head nearly in his own lap.


Kikyo walked along the river's edge, bearing her usual stoic, featureless expression. She held her hand out to the side, catching the incoming breeze. Looking out from where she trod, she caught sight of a curious village skirting the forest ahead. From what she could see, there were no less than fifteen huts, arranged around a central fire pit, but they all appeared vacant. Intrigued, she climbed the grassy incline flanking her and veered from the river's course as it bent slightly to the right.

The village appeared to be no different than the hundreds of others that dotted the rivers of the river. Kikyo had already passed by three of them that morning. It had small, roughly square wooden huts, one larger hut which likely belonged to a hetman or miko, and assorted tools and materials strewn about. It had all the signs of life, but there were no people. 'The villagers should be working by now. What is going on?' she asked herself as she approached the village proper.

As passed by the first hut, an eerie silence overcame her. She shuddered momentarily, and walked over to the wooden structure and peered through the doorway. She staggered back when she saw what was inside; a man, a woman, likely his wife, and a young lay in a heap on the floor in a pool of blood. Upon closer inspection the man appeared to have been impaled, while the women's throats had been slit. Kikyo backed away and darted from house to house, only confirming what she feared.

"This entire village was slaughtered in the night," Kikyo stated. Before she could ask herself the obvious questions to follow, such as 'who would do this?' and 'why?' a soft but vicious sound reached her ears. 'Laughter Someone is actually laughing at this this massacre? Who… wait, someone… alive' "Who are you!"she yelled with newfound conviction. Her forceful inquiry was met only with more of that insidious laughter.

"He… he… he… he… he…"

Kikyo looked left, then right, then cautiously upward, catching the eyes of the fiendish figure with her own. It appeared to be a child with flowing white hair partially obscuring his face. What looked to be a wakazashi hung at his side.

"He… he… he… he…" he continued, dangling his feet over the edge of the roof, seemingly quite amused with himself. He sat on the gable that hung over the hetman's porch hunched forward, arms balancing, face beaming.

"Who are you?!" Kikyo demanded. Had he been there the whole time? She was sure the village was abandoned, "Did you slay these villagers?" She jumped back, drew her bow, nocked an arrow, and took aim at the devil-child 10 feet above her.

"He… He…" he responded, still staring at her. Had he blinked even once?

"Answer me!" Kikyo roared. Her face was tense but still expressionless. When the only reply garnered was that same monotonic laughter, she discharged her weapon. Only mildly startled by her aggressive behavior, the child darted suddenly to his right, evading the miko's sacred arrow. With feline agility he slid down the slope of the roof, latched on to a jutting timber lintel, and swung to the ground, landing with a slide and a small cloud of dust. Kikyo redrew her bowstring and locked her piercing gaze on to the ashen-haired devil. He had to have massacred the village. The child flipped his hair out of his eyes, smirked, and spoke.

"I thought you'd come."

"Did you kill th–" Kikyo retorted.

He cut her off. "These people?" he finished, "Maybe. But that doesn't matter now."

"Who are you? Are you one of Naraku's incarnations?"

"I am called Hakudoshi. Please prepare for death."


"What the hell did you do that for?" InuYasha remonstrated, turning to Kagome, spitting out the odd clump of soil as he spoke.

"You were messing with Shippo again, weren't you?" responded a grumpy Kagome, still sitting in her sleeping bag.

"So what if I was? It saved me from having to wake all of you up individually."

"Humph…"

"Annoying, but effective nonetheless," Miroku commented, picking up his staff, "I take it you wanted an early start, InuYasha?"

"Of course," InuYasha retorted, hoisting himself up.

"There are less dramatic ways to wake someone," noted the exterminator.

"Yeah," Shippo concurred, having finally regained his composure after having been so rudely jolted from sleep, "I thought we were under attack."

"Oh get off it already," barked the hanyo.

Kagome let out a small sight then rubbed her eyes. She wriggled free of her sleeping bag and looked up to InuYasha. "If you expect us to get back on the move quickly, go out and catch breakfast."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you were up first." A renewed force clung to Kagome's words and they hit InuYasha square in the necklace.

InuYasha grunted heavily before turning to leave. He had no desire to be sat twice in less than five minutes, but if he was going to let her order him around, at least he would make sure everybody was well aware of his displeasure. As he trudged into the dense trees in the direction of a nearby river they had spotted the day before, Sango thought to herself sighing for what had to be the tenth time that morning, 'Kami, why does every day have to start like this?'

InuYasha found the river exactly where they had left it, a ten minute stroll from where they had made camp, at the bottom of a lush mound, pockmarked with purple and yellow wildflowers and patches of dry dead grass. He walked slowly but with long strides, as if he was storming out of a room very very slowly. A playful wind buffeted his hair into his face, impeding his view. InuYasha grunted and the wind died down, as if nature itself wouldn't dare to bother the half-demon when he was annoyed. He continued down the incline to the river's edge and into the soft current without hesitation, half-scanning the water for signs of breakfast, half-complaining to himself in regards to Kagome's orders. That latter began to win out as he allowed himself to drift downstream several hundred yards. He held his eyes closed for several minutes before a strange scent bid his nose twitch. His eyes jumped opened as he hopped out to the near bank, spraying icy cold water in all directions. Landing, he turned to face the familiar odor.

"Damn it," He muttered under his breath, "I don't need this now." 'But I can't ignore it. Damn, Kagome's gonna be pissed.' The sans-fish hanyo forsook his assignment completely and began to glide towards the source of the scent like a fly drawn to the light.


"Hakudoshi, what business could Naraku possibly have with these people?" Kikyo asked coarsely, her weapon still fixed intently on the child's chest. Her glare never relented, as if trying to impale him with her eyes. He stood in front of the large hetman's hut and began to advance towards her slowly. She matched his steps, keeping him at range. An unyielding smirk still blazoned on his young face as a banner declaring malicious intent, breaking only partially when he spoke.

"Are you saying that I'm just Naraku's puppet? Who's to say I didn't just decide show these nice folks a good time?" Hakudoshi said, bearing a short-lived full smile and giggling again, all the while steadily forcing Kikyo back through the village towards the river.

"Are you scared, Kikyo? That doesn't seem like you," the villain taunted. Kikyo did not respond but kept backpedalling. She was close to running out of village. The sun had floated higher in the sky and the once friendly breeze began to pick up steam, kicking dust up into the air near Kikyo's face. She blinked. 'There!' Hakudoshi exclaimed internally like a child who had just won a game of hide-and-seek.

Kikyo knew blinking was a mistake. She had been sure not to let her gaze break from him since he had started his charge, advancing like one army on another, slow, steady, and intimidating. When she opened her eyes Hakudoshi was upon her, with a drawn sword and a madman's grin. Fear overcame her for the first time in as long as she could remember and she found herself unable maintain the pull on her bowstring. She closed her eyes, waiting for death. Somewhere above her, Dame Fortune smiled.

The attack she had braced for never came. Kikyo cracked her eyelids and peeked out from the slit. Hakudoshi stood in front of her, wide-eyed, lips upturned like they were trying to smile, cheeks contorted like they were trying to wince, and legs stumbling back a few steps before quickly regaining balance. His sword was still clutched firmly in his right hand, lying at his feet. Bloody strands of flesh now dangled from his shoulder, like a crimson wind chime. Kikyo shuddered at the site and bounded backwards onto the verdant slope approaching the river. All she could do was stare. Somehow, quaking in uncharacteristic fear, she had wantonly loosed a sacred arrow and freed her assailant from his arm. Luck, she thought, was too weak a term to describe it. This was a miracle. As he stood motionless before her she found the strength to compose herself and prepare for the coup de grace. She drew another arrow, took aim, and pulled the string to her ear, but found herself unable to fire.

"He… he… cough he… he…" She was stifled again by that sinister giggle. One-armed Hakudoshi spit up blood as he laughed. His expression had returned to normal. His blood leaked from the corners of his mouth as he whispered, "Lucky Shot."

InuYasha neared the epicenter of scent he was tracking. He was now bounding along the river's edge with a sense of urgency, his clothes flapping violently as he cut through the morning air. It was now about three hours from midday, almost a little over two hours from when he had set off to gather breakfast. He knew what the conversation would be back at camp.

"What's taking InuYasha?" Shippo would complain gruffly, "he was the one who wanted to leave so quickly and now we're ready before he is."

"You don't suppose something happened to him? Ran into a demon maybe?" Miroku would propose, only mildly concerned. InuYasha, he thought, should be able to handle most any demon to come his way.

"What do you think, Kagome?" Sango would ask, not quite sure what to expect.

"The jerk probably went off to see Kikyo," Kagome would say, displeasure only slightly masking her disappointment. She would be right, as she usually was. For some reason she could read him like a book. 'I'm never going to hear the end of this,' InuYasha thought, rolling his eyes. But he continued to press on. He didn't like this second scent he had picked up close to Kikyo's. It stunk heavily of Naraku.

InuYasha scanned the river valley from high above as he progressed and soon spotted a red and white blur standing near the edge of the river. The pungent odor of blood that surrounded her unnerved him greatly. He landed with a loud thud and ran up to what had to be a Kikyo about to strike.

She saw him coming from the corner of her eye, and turned her head to him, still twenty odd yards away, without a second thought. "InuYasha…" she muttered softly in a tone merely stating that she acknowledged his arrival. She looked at him for a few seconds, not seeing Hakudoshi part his severed hand from his wakazashi. InuYasha caught her stare and stopped dead in his tracks. Her eyed suddenly tore wide to match his. His body began to shake uncontrollably as he stared at her with a stained blade protruding out her back. The blade was abruptly pulled upward exiting her motionless frame at the base of the neck. Her bow fell from her grip as she collapsed into a heap before him. Her soul collectors withered in the air above her while countless glowing azure orbs escaped from her mouth and wounds. Behind her, InuYasha could see an injured child with pallid skin mounting a fire-shrouded steed and shooting off towards the horizon. The hanyo did not pursue; he could not pursue. He simply sank to his knees and began to weep heavily.

"Kikyo…" he stated, sobbing heavily,"Kikyo… Kikyo… KIKYO!!!" The scream InuYasha let out knocked birds from their nests, startled fish in the river, and caused the dead in the village homes to lurch. The echo that followed only increased his sorrow, her name ringing in his ears for what seemed like several minutes.

End Chapter


Author's Note: I realize that isn't how Kikyo dies in the manga, but for this story, I'm really only concerned with the time right after the end of the anime. The rest is not canon for this story. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be released, hopefully within a week, but I can't make any promises. Review, review, review!