Chapter 1
Emiko and Setsuna set up a small hut outside a rather large kingdom. The two hanyou twins were healers and went into the city to buy various supplies that hey could not find in the surrounding forest. Emiko always had a problem with authority ever since she was a young child. Setsuna always reprimanded her twin with starting fights with the Emperor or his men. Today was no different. She traveled to the village to pick out some fabric and a few other things. She didn't bother hiding her dog ears like she once did everyone knew she was a hanyou. Her gold eyes swept the village as they watched her. Most were quite friendly to her and Setsuna. They healed many and saved a few lives. There were still a few people who saw them as monsters and wanted nothing to do with them and occasionally still threw stuff at them.
The village did rather well for itself but they were still pretty poor since the Lord of the land taxed them and took what ever he could from them then terrorized them if they couldn't pay. The reason most of these merchants still had anything was because they serviced the palace. She watched as a young boy who was starving took some fish. Emiko nor the store owner said anything. The poor child was alone and the man felt Sympathy for the him. The guard who caught the act did not. He grabbed the boy roughly by the arm and pulled him to the middle of the village. "Please sir I was just hungry."
The guard struck the poor boy and Emiko could basically hear Setsuna's voice in her head. 'Don't get involved we can't afford another altercation with the Lord.' She promptly ignored that voice and went with her instincts to protect the kid. She walked up to the guard and yelled "HEY!" The guard turned to look at her and he sneered at the half demon woman. "Learn your place woman" He struck her across the face.
She took a deep breath looked back at the man that struck her ,fire filling her eyes, not failing to notice the other guards gathering around them. "The Child has done nothing wrong. I will not have you punish an innocent boy for your stupid male ego." She bared her fangs at the man. "You insolent half breed wench." He raised his hand to strike her again. She ducked away from the blow and smashed her forehead into his nose then brought her foot between his legs. "If you want to punish people make sure they've done something wrong first." She told him as the guard crumpled to the ground. The others surrounded her and she dropped her basket. And faced them as they made a circle of swords around her.
The lord, doing his normal rounds, had heard the commotion within the village and stopped to see what the problem was in his peaceful town. He was not surprised at all to see the half breed woman with the golden eyes named Emiko. He longed to possess her sister Setsuna. Emiko always had a fire about her, he always wanted to put out that fire that caused so much trouble. Setsuna was the ice to Emiko's fire. The ice hanyou had beautiful blue eyes that he wanted for himself. It had been a long time dream of his to collect her ever since he saw her in the village healing a man who had been injured in a demon attack. Today was the day that his dream would become a reality and he would use her sisters fatal flaw to achieve it.
Emiko jumped over the guards and landed behind them, she swept their legs sending them tumbling. One managed to cut her cheek. That did not help him. She ducked, dodged, punched and scratched. She flipped the last guard on his back in a pile with the other guards. She stood there breathing heavily. Then Emiko looked up at the emperor on his horse flanked by one of larger size. "Bow to the emperor wench." She held her head high as she retaliated the guards' command. "I will not bow to a man who does not treat his people with the respect they deserve and punish innocent children." His guards grab each of her arms preparing to force her into showing respect. "Let her go."
Both Emiko and the guards had looks of shock and surprise. "Mi-lord?" the man asked confused. "Let the halfbreed run home, the punishment for her insolence will come swift enough." He enjoyed seeing the shock on the woman's face and wished to see the shock and pain that will come to her when her sister is taken from her in the dead of night. The Emperor gave a wicked smile that sent a shiver down the half demons spine and set a coldness in her gut that even her fire could not beat. This man was an evil one, one of the worst they had ever encountered. The guards let her go. She picked up her basket and left the village making her way to the hut she and her sister shared. The wind circling around her whipping what was left of her yukata. Though there wasn't much of it left, she hardly noticed.
Setsuna was the complete opposite of her tempestuous and hot headed sister. While they both held the dark raven colored hair of there father, the dog ears were inherited from their mother. Their skin pale, yet almost translucent. Emiko inherited their mother's golden eyes. She could always see the power of fire burning within them. Setsuna herself was graced with her Father's ice blue eyes. She was calm, cool and collected. Her anger was like a raging snow storm when her sister burned like an inferno. She kept a wary eye on most things and saw everything with a skeptical, strategical eye. Her mother always admired her gift for strategy. She could practically hear her mother's words in her head. 'You have your father's gift that made him a great warrior.' She smiled but the smile faltered when she smelled her sister's blood. "What did she do now?"
The lord watched as the fiery hanyou walked away sparing a look back at the boy to see that he was safe she walked off into the forest. The lord looked at the boy and smiled. Something as simple as a child could be a weakness for a half breed as powerful as she. He extended his hand to motion the boy forward. The boy timidly walked forward bowing eyes straight down. "Y-y-y-yes M-m-m-milord.?" The fear in the boys tone was almost palpable the lord practically fed off of it.
"Young child, what did you do to warrant the half breed's attempt at protecting you?" he asked the scared boy with faux kindness. The boy trembled before the power of the lord it carried to his voice. "I- I- I t-t-t-took some f-f-f-fish Mi-lord." The smile on the lord grew. "Admitting what you did was not hard now was it? Unfortunately, you must be punished for your thievery." The lord acted fast and with out hesitation. The poor boy was lucky.
Shhhing!
The boys head came clean off, blood spurting everywhere, the boy still trembled even as his body fell. The lord sheathed his sword and commanded the guards. "Take his body and bring it to the fore front of the village let this show as a warning for anyone who disobeys me anyone who shows respects to the boy or tries to give the spirit peace will meet a worse fate than this little urchin." The lord walked back to his palace as the guards disposed of the corpse as he commanded.
Though he was covered in his unfortunate victims blood, the lord enjoyed it immensely. After his usual rounds of terrorizing the village, he would go see how his concubine business at the local temple was doing and enjoy his prized ones himself. But today he had a different plan in mind he summoned the local monk to his chambers. He had started planning the moment he spotted the beautiful blue eyes of Setsuna after the half breeds had taken up residence right outside his village.
"Lord Takashi?" The monks voiced riled him from his dark thoughts. "Ah yes Kaito glad for you to come." The monk Kaito stiffened he hardly liked lord Takashi and extremely disliked the lords use of the temple but he had no choice just like today. "Not like you gave me much choice mi-lord but it is a gracious gift indeed to be in your presence. " The lord smiled wickedly that smile was so wicked that it sent a chill down the monks spine. "I need your assistance in a demon problem our village has come to have."
"Demon problem? I have not sensed any demons nearby as of late." The monk said clearly confused. The lord stared at him "Yes Demon problem, the two hanyous that stay outside our village have become a problem today. Emiko murdered a young boy. She must be dealt with. Your sutras can nullify there demon senses can they not?" Kaito saw the blood on the lord and knew this was a lie but he could not defy the lord even if those girls did nothing but help the village since they had gotten here. "Why yes my lord but they have been nothing but helpful to this village since…." the lord cut him off raising his voice, "You dare question me?" The monk flinched "No mi-lord."
"That's better. Setsuna, I will take to be the prize in my collection of exotic creatures and Emiko will die by that unquenchable fire within her heart." The lord gave a cold laughter of delight just thinking of the hanyou's pain stricken screams. "We will start when darkness covers the lands."