AN: Again, took me a long time, because Open Office deleted the finished version whilst my computer was spazzing, but! It is done. Yayyyy. I paid a visit to the coast, and got loads of inspiration so, gasp, I actually have chapters pre-written! I'm lazy, though, so they will be published gradually while I try to find errors, and keep writing chapter 2 of legend's Rage. Damn my eloquence, I feel a need to make chapters as long as humanly possible.

Disclaimer: I do not own any series mentioned in here. Suicune - this version - is mine, though.

Chapter 2 - Blood of the Demon

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"Emotions are for lesser beings who live in fear of death, and live short, meaningless lives. Fear is for the weak: hatred makes you strong, anger lends you purpose. The others are mere words, fables that do not concern us."

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The voices were what woke her. She was only confused for a moment, as the memories rushed back. Pain from her burned fur, as she had stumbled into one of the flaming buildings, and from the long cuts on her side… Suicune had been helpless to protect herself, to keep away death. And yet, she was alive. The voices in the background sharpened, and she struggled not to gasp for breath, paralyzed by fear. He was there. Her attacker, the one who had come so close… Reflexively, she closed her eyes and did her best to look unconscious. He couldn't notice her, she wasn't here, she was just another corpse…

"I don't see why you had to take this souvenir of your great triumph. It was just another scavenger, another body to be disposed of. I do not need a reminder of how easily you can kill an imp." Suicune was confused - who was he talking about? And who was this, anyway? It wasn't her attacker - this one sounded younger, more proud.

"It wasn't that. Besides, it isn't dead. Not yet." That was him, but he was much less cold than she seemed to remember…

"Do not tell me you felt pity for something like this? It has as much use as a human - and it's as easy to kill. If you will not take care of it…" The sound of footsteps. Suicune couldn't have moved; not only because of her (now failed) ruse, but because of icy fear. He was going to kill her, and she was going to die, and she would never see her family again!

The thought of closing her eyes, however, was almost as appalling as seeing her last moments, and she slowly looked up - and then wished she hadn't. The cold gold eyes gazing down at her were even worse than before. She could barely notice the little details that her own eyes drifted towards - a blue crescent on his forehead, two reddish stripes… It didn't matter what he looked like - he was going to kill her, and she almost closed her eyes again. Would it hurt? There was a soft sound, almost like a breeze without the rush of air, and she tried to brace herself for the coming blow.

"Father." She inadvertently looked up at her would-be killer and flinched at the sight of an outstretched hand, glowing a sickly green. Why wasn't she dead? Why had this red-striped person hesitated? "Do not tell me you are having a fit of mercy. This wretch is hardly useful." The hand gestured to her and she shrank back from it, terrified. Now, though, she could see that the one she had seen earlier, the older one, was holding the other back. But… how had he gotten there so quickly?

"Hardly, Sesshomaru. This… wretch, as you call it, might be more powerful than I thought at first. Tell me, the nuisances that prey on our borders -"

"Your borders, you mean. Until I defeat you." The one with red stripes - Sesshomaru? - pointed out calmly.

"Yes, until you defeat me. Though you are not capable of that sort of power - yet - you are already too powerful to bother with the annoyances that plague my territory. So, why not have something weaker to take care of the small oni and their ilk? Easier than wasting your power - or mine." the older one continued. They had to be father and son - the same eyes, the same sort of face. They even had strange pointed ears! Suicune couldn't ever remember any humans with anything but rounded ones… Not that she had been allowed to get close enough to see, but the occasional walk had brought her near a few when Entei wasn't hovering nearby.

Entei… Would she ever see him again? Or Raikou? Or her mother, for that matter? There was a painful twinge in her heart, not from any of her wounds. They all hurt, but not like this… The conversation continued, and she tried to focus on what they were saying, but it was hard when all she could think of was her family. Finally forcing herself to listen to them, she felt the now-familiar jolt of fear as they both turned to look at her.

"It wouldn't be intelligent enough to serve that purpose. It hasn't said a word yet." Sesshomaru said dismissively.

"Perhaps it's frightened, then. Nearly being killed twice tends to terrify most.", his father retorted, still not even looking at her.

"If it feels fear, then it is even more useless. A demon that feels fear is weak." Now he looked at her with those cuttingly cold eyes, as if studying her worth. Suicune shrank away from his gaze, feeling pathetic. What was all this about 'demons'? What were demons anyway? "So, imp, can you speak, or are you mute as well as simple-minded?" he asked her.

Now was the time - maybe talking would keep her from being killed… "I - I can talk!", she yelped, hearing her voice waver. She would have said more, but Sesshomaru's father let go of him and stepped forward. She, predictably, cut off and tried to stay away from him, but it only resulted in her whimpering and trying to edge backwards without much success.

"It talks. Without moving its mouth.", the father observed, eyeing her with more interest now. "And it sounds female." She couldn't imagine why they were surprised - everyone she knew spoke like that. Was moving your mouth in such odd ways really necessary? Still, they seemed to find it strange.

Sesshomaru looked unconvinced. "So it speaks. What does that change? There is no proof it is strong enough to live a month, if you do put it to use." His father seemed prepared for this sort of statement, though, and only raised an eyebrow.

"She will live past a month, or even a year, if she is trained." He looked expectantly at his son, and Suicune sagged in relief. They weren't focusing on her so much as each other, which had to be good.

If possible, Sesshomaru's voice became even flatter than before. "Trained? And I suppose, since you are intent on expanding the territory, it is my task to care for this worthless thing?"

"Of course. I also hope you won't decide to accidentally lose control of yourself and kill her," he retorted mildly. "Or then you would have to find a replacement by yourself, and since you see no value in most yokai weaker than us, it would be quite a task." They were staring at each other, and Suicune wanted to dig a hole in the ground and hide in it. Of all things, why did they have to argue about her? Both of them scared her equally - she didn't want to be 'trained', whatever that meant. She wanted to go back to her mother and Raikou and Entei…

"Very well. But do not hold me responsible if one of the demons she is supposed to eliminate kills her instead," Sesshomaru said at last, turning away. "I will start the training once she heals." She wasn't sure how, but he somehow disappeared, as if he had never been there in the first place. The father didn't do the same, however, and only crouched to look at her. Suicune had to resist the urge to curl up in a ball and pretend that all this didn't exist.

"You're quite small, aren't you? You do look just like a normal imp," he said calmly. "No wonder Sesshomaru thinks you are useless. Perhaps he didn't notice though…" She continued to stare at him, wide-eyed. "I'm not going to kill you, you know, so you can stop looking terrified. Even he has to see that you have some sort of power. Otherwise, you would have had the same fate as this village." He gestured at the still-smoking ruins around them, and to the piles of bodies that she had been trying to avoid looking at. "Weaklings and worthless beings are killed. You are not worthless. Not yet, anyway. We will see."

Suicune felt even worse when he said that. What did he want? What made her so useful to him at this moment, but could make her worthless the next? Her confusion and fear must have showed, because he laughed, and it was the worst sound she had heard. There wasn't any real amusement in it at all. It seemed, in its own way, as dangerous as the sound when he had drawn his weapon to kill her. "I suppose if you don't heal quickly Sesshomaru will injure you so that you bleed to death," he remarked. "So, here." He turned, grabbed one of the bodies, and as calmly as if he had been ripping apart a leaf, tore an arm off and tossed it. She inched away from it - it was spattered with blood, and the smell made her want to throw up. The other watched her with amusement at first, but once she obviously refused to touch it, his eyes narrowed.

"Why won't you eat?" he demanded, obviously expecting an answer.

She resisted the urge to whimper and tried to keep from looking at him. His eyes frightened her so much… "It smells bad." She spoke so softly, she doubted he would hear, but his hearing seemed as good as her own.

"Oh? Well, it is human, but there are no other yokai around that you could have instead. If you don't eat something, you'll lose what little strength you have." He smiled, which only made her even more terrified of him. "And, if you refuse to eat, I will stuff it down your throat." She couldn't do anything but eat it then, and after a long deliberation on how to go about it, she squeezed her eyes shut and took a bite.

She wanted to spit it back out - the taste of the blood was horrible, and she couldn't taste anything else. After a struggle, she managed to swallow it, but another look at her 'meal' made her nearly give up. The fact that he was watching her, though, forced her to continue. It was gruesome, and Suicune couldn't imagine anyone ever liking something like that. Didn't they have any Berries around that she could eat instead? What had he said about what she was eating? That it couldn't taste good since it was human? That made little sense to her. The things he kept mentioning as well - demons, and yokai, whatever they meant - were confusing.

He watched her with narrowed eyes, smiling as she choked her way through the meat. After a few minutes, he sighed and tugged the remnants away from her. She wasn't about to protest – her stomach roiled and she wanted to lick her fur clean of the horrible blood. "Sleep now," he ordered her. "I didn't hurt you too badly; you'll be fit by the time you wake up." He continued to smile at her until she curled up, wishing that everything didn't ache so much. She closed her eyes and heard him move away. It was true, she was tired, but she felt so sickened and confused…. When Suicune was sure that he was gone, she got to her feet and threw up. It didn't make her feel much better, and now she was both tired and hungry.

Now that there were no distractions, there was nothing to keep her from feeling alone. She could see the sky, and it was beautiful in its frightening clarity. She could see stars, and a moon – things she had only seen as sources of light behind clouds. Yet… the sky was different from the sky she knew. The land was different from what she knew. Where was her family? Where was she?

AN again: So. Sesshomaru is way too much fun to write when he's being an arrogant, selfish, cold bastard. Which he stays for a very large part of this, so yay! =D Alas, the awesomeness that is Inu no Taisho/Taichou/whatever the hell his name is does not make much of an appearance for a while. Which is sad. But I get to write lots of Sesshomaru. Which is good. Anyways, this happens long before the timeline of Inuyasha - Inuyasha hasn't even been conceived yet, Sesshomaru is younger and humans are less abundant. I'm also pleased with Suicune being less of a blank space with just a name, but I haven't really described her. At all. Which I am kicking myself for, but whatever! Reviews, please? I would like to know if this is utter crap or not.