Inu no Taisho ran like a bolt of light shooting through the forest. The leaves and branches of trees seemed to shy away from his frenzied presence.

The smell, it's coming from behind that tree!

He approached the tall tree, and stared behind it. Someone was laying on the ground. A familiar someone.

"Inukimi!"

The dog general ran towards the tree. He was so focused on the fallen princess that he didn't even sense impending danger. But he soon heard it. Inu no Taisho turned around to see a humongous lizard, at least ten feet all. Taken by surprise, Inu no Taisho could hardly think of how he was going to overcome this new challenge.

The monster swung its tail straight at the dog general. Inu no Taisho dodged it perfectly, jumping up and avoiding the huge sausagey thing. But suddenly, the lizard's tail changed course in midair. Unable to foresee this, Inu no Taisho could not dodge it again. It hit him square in the face and sent him flying, barely landing on his feet. He stood there huffing and puffing, bleeding from the mouth.

The beastly lizard was about to launch another very different attack. Inu no Taisho could see the black coloured demonic aura around it form delicate spirals. Then, all of the black aura grouped together into a huge ball of energy. This energy was aimed at the unfortunate dog general, and thrown at him with unbeatable accuracy.

"I change my mind," Inu no Taisho mumbled, wiping the blood off his face, "I think Tetsusaiga is still more useful!"

He gripped the hilt of his old sword, pulled it out and thrust it straight at the beast's demonic aura attack.

"Bakuryūha!" He screamed, as he cut right into the big black ball of energy.

The evil ball of energy became wrapped in a blue cloud, and the next moment it was hurled right back at the face of its creator. The force of the lizard's homicidal attack hitting its face was so great that the very ground shook. Soon, the demon met a sad end, and died without a resting place for his remains...because he had no remains.

Once the beast and the artificial earthquake were gone, Inu no Taisho stumbled up to the limp and unmoving body of the princess he loved.

"Oh, Inukimi," He said helplessly, "Wake up!"

He shook her gently by her shoulders, but got no reply.

"No, don't die..."

He fell on his knees in front of her, feeling more hopeless than ever. He noticed that her clothes were all dusty and there was blood on the back of her neck.

I'm such a hopeless person, how could I have let her die?

"Anou...Taisho-dono?" A voice said behind Inu no Taisho.

The dog general turned around to see a young woman with her black hair pinned back, dressed in a very strange looking pink outfit. Her figure was familiar to him somehow, and he felt as if he had met her somewhere. But he couldn't remember ever hearing her voice before.

"Your sword," The girl said, holding out Inu no Taisho's blunt sword to him, "You dropped it. It's a good sword, so I thought you'd want it back."

Inu no Taisho took the sword from the young woman, puzzled as to who she was.

"This sword sure is useful," She said, "But it has an ugly name. Coffin Cheater? I thought of a better name. It looks like a tooth and it can save people, so I called it the Fang of Rebirth."

Turning back to Inukimi, Inu no Taisho mumbled, "The Fang of Rebirth? Tenseiga?"

The sword pulsated immediately, as if it was answering to its name. Inu no Taisho grinned.

"Thank you!" He said, turning around, "Huh?"

The young woman was gone. She was absolutely nowhere to be seen, despite that she was right beside him just a moment ago. It was as if she had never been there in the first place. Then, Inu no Taisho suddenly remembered. She was the same girl he saved from Inukimi that night!

Just who is she?

Raising his Tenseiga, Inu no Taisho stared down at the body of Inukimi. Then he stood there unmoving. He couldn't believe his own eyes.

The pall-bearers, I can't see them. Why? Why?

No matter how many times he blinked or how carefully he looked, he could not see any little purple critters.

Am I too late? No! Why? Why can't I see them?

Not lowering his sword, Inu no Taisho gritted his teeth, but could not accept what was happening. He hung his head in grief, before his eyes started getting watery.

"Hey, baka!" A voice suddenly blurted out, "Put that sword down! Can't you wait till I'm dead?!"

Inu no Taisho jumped. If he didn't have eyelids, then his eyeballs would have fallen out of their sockets and be rolling around on the ground by now.

Inukimi sat up and stared in disgust at the dog general who was about to chop her with a strangely blunt sword, despite having said that he doesn't hurt women.

"Why you!" Said Inukimi angrily, "I thought you-"

She was cut off by Inu no Taisho, who suddenly grabbed her and hauled her into his arms. He held her so tightly that she could hardly breathe. He just had to make sure that she was real, that she was really alive and well.

"I'm so glad you're alright..."

"Baka! You thought I was dead?" Inukimi said, pulling away from him, "What are you doing here anyway? What do you want with me?"

Inu no Taisho blushed. What did he want with her? How could he say it? Despite practicing the same sentence for hours with two dozen different boulders, Inu no Taisho was certainly not ready to say it to her face.

Inukimi shook her head at him.

"If you do not have any business with me, then I should be returning home. My father will be worried."

Inukimi turned her back on the dog general and prepared to leave. Just as she was about to take off, Inu no Taisho suddenly grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Inukimi," He said shyly, "I've got something I want to give you, I think you'll like it."

The dog general started rummaging around the inside of his kimono. Inukimi stared at him. He fumbled for ages but couldn't find what he was looking for.

I remembered I put it here! Don't tell me I've lost it! This is my one and only chance!

"Is it this?" Inukimi said with a sly look on her face. She held out a big shiny gem, as blue as the sea.

"Hey!" Screamed the flabbergasted dog general, "When did you take that off me?"

"Well, when one is too focused on their own plan, they can neglect important details!" Inukimi repeated Inu no Taisho's words with a rich lady laugh.

"Those are my words! Give me back that stone!"

"If you can get it!"

Inukimi ran out of the bush and changed into her dog-demon form. She flew at the sky, leaving the poor Inu no Taisho to chase after her. He followed her, also transforming to his true form and running across the air.

The golden morning light shone over the land. It illuminated the green hills, the rivers and the farms. The beautiful scenery was perfectly lit up, and up in the air, Inu no Taisho could see it clearly. But he could hardly care about such things. He was huffing and puffing, following after the elegant white dog in front of him. Speed was never Inu no Taisho's strength, and that fact made him disadvantaged when it came to chasing people.

He was completely exhausted from so much running. Just as he felt like his heart was going to give out, he took one more look at the white dog in front of him. That moment, he knew what he wanted.

Inukimi was still running at full speed, turning back once in a while to look at the cute love-stricken puppy who was chasing her. Just as she was about to charge forwards at full speed again, she heard his voice.

"Marry me, Inukimi!"

Inukimi's eyes opened wide, and her jaw dropped. Those words were so despicably unbelievable that they stopped her dead in her tracks. This was, of course, just what Inu no Taisho wanted. Before Inukimi realized it, he had caught up to her. Unable to put on the brakes in time, Inu no Taisho ran straight into Inukimi, sending them both cascading to the ground.

Changing back to their humanoid forms in mid air, they plummeted straight into a meadow of tall grass. Inu no Taisho fell on his back in the soft grass, and Inukimi fell on top of him.

Inukimi, clearly dissatisfied, got up and off the dog general, and was about to run off clenching her fists in anger. Just as she took her first step away from the guy who deeply annoyed her, Inu no Taisho tripped her up by pulling her other ankle, and she fell back on top of him. Before Inukimi could object and start a yelling battle, Inu no Taisho grabbed her shoulders and gave her a sharp tug towards him.

Their lips crashed together... and Inukimi tried to scream.

Pulling away from the dog general once again, she screeched in his face, "What the hell do you think you're doing, you jerk!"

She punched him hard on the chest, before raising her hand again, about to slap his face.

"Sometimes, in order to obtain what you want, you must use crafty methods," Inu no Taisho said with a grin, repeating Inukimi's words and getting her back for using his words earlier.

This was surprising and made Inukimi lower her hand, deeply impressed at the dog general's great memory and quick wit. She decided to save the slap for later.

"I'm sorry," She said rather sarcastically, "Does it hurt? Where I hit you."

"Nope, not at all."

Inukimi stared into the dog general's beautiful eyes. They were an orangey yellow, similar to her own but much lighter. The colour of his eyes matched that of the rising sun. Then, to Inu no Taisho's surprise, Inukimi closed her eyes, leaned in closer to him, and kissed him properly.

Inu no Taisho thought he was going to pass out.

The tall grass, trees and mountains in the distance formed a perfectly peaceful background, framing the foreground like a painted portrait. All that could be heard was the chirping of birds, and the flowing water of a nearby river. There could not be a more tranquil and relaxing environment.

Inukimi lay on top of Inu no Taisho for a long time. She never wanted to leave his warm embrace.

"Will you come and live with me in my castle, as my wife?" He finally asked her, "I love you, Inukimi. Rest assured, you are my one and only."

Inukimi did not reply immediately, but wrapped her arms around him, rubbing her fur on his. They lay together, looking up at the clear sky. And finally, Inukimi truly understood what her father had meant by telling her to join the east and west. She lay still, feeling more at peace than ever before.

Neither of them could even imagine in their wildest dreams that eventually, Inu no Taisho would cheat on Inukimi and die in a man-made housefire.

As mentioned, not every romance lasts till death do them part, and not every love story has a happy ending.

~~The End~~

Thank you for reading this story, I really appreciate it!
Please review my story honestly.
And Merry Christmas! Don't forget to spend plenty of time with friends & family.
Have a great Summer/Winter holiday!

-Ezekiellia, author of this fanfic.