Disclaimer: InuYasha does not belong to me, he is the property of Rumiko Takahashi and Sunrise.
Chapter 7: Of Threats and Peril
It was Takemaru's turn to be on duty and patrol the castle grounds. Although he had circled the interior of the castle, he thought he could go further and also survey the forest.
He had never liked the forest. It was exactly three years ago in the same forest when his princess started dreaming strange dreams, which she would not reveal to anyone. He suspected that the personal attendant knew something about the contents of the dream, but no matter how he grilled the girl, she would not yield any information.
Takemaru had not been on the scene three years ago, but from what he heard, the princess stole out one day. Usually, none of the servants were worried because the princess was well known for her adventurous endeavors. But when the sun started gliding downwards to merge into the horizon and the princess was nowhere to be seen, people started worrying.
It was night when they found the princess, who was pale and clutching onto her torn robes. The uncanny aspect was that the princess did not seem to be afraid, but rather, a sort of calm ascended her. She returned to the castle afterwards, mute and tranquil.
For the whole week, her father interrogated her, and no matter what he asked, the princess's reply was always the same: she had gone out on one of her walks, encountered a demon that wanted to kill her, but was saved later. However, the details of the attack and rescue were vague; the princess did not remember the whole process. The lord resolved to call exorcists to help cleanse the princess's mind, yet the exorcists said that they couldn't do so, for the princess was not tainted spiritually in any way.
Takemaru, who had experience with battling demons, speculated that the princess had encountered two demons, not spirits of any sort. What he did not get was why the demons had left her alive. Or why one of them supposedly saved her.
It was during this patrol that Takemaru chanced to see the shadow of a girl walking in the forest. His immediate reaction was to hide behind the nearest tree and stalk the figure. It was not a hard task, considering the fact that the snow muted his footsteps. In the depths of his mind, he fancied that the figure he saw was the princess. But it was nonsense. The princess was being "grounded", and she would probably not steal out in the middle of the night again – especially during full moon nights. Most demons become hyperactive during full moons, therefore people in the castle knew when to avoid leaving the barriers.
Due to the heavy blanket of darkness, Takemaru did not saw the branch in front of him and stepped accidentally upon it. The figure in front of him was startled by the sudden sound, turned swiftly away to the right and fled. Takemaru got out from the covers of the trees and started pursuing the figure. He smiled grimly when he noticed that the figure was running at an awfully slow pace. Almost too slow for a demon, Takemaru thought to himself. He drew his sword from his sheath, blade facing downwards at his side.
Suddenly the figure, seeing that it can no longer run nor hide any more, stooped down and cowered. Takemaru also slowed down his pace, sword tip pointing at the figure. He cursed himself silently for not taking a firebrand along so that he could at least get a glimpse of the figure properly before getting too close to it.
"Cease to struggle and I shall not bring harm on you…that is, for now." Takemaru ordered authoritatively.
Izayoi, upon hearing a familiar voice, stopped shivering. In her mind, she was trying to match the voice to a face. Finally, she recognized the voice as Takemaru's, a subordinate who had always guarded her family loyally, if not overly protective.
"Sir Takemaru?" Izayoi looked tentatively up, relieved that it had not been a demon that was stalking her.
"Prince….princess?" Takemaru replied, equally surprised when he recognized the voice. "Why are you out in the middle of the night?" Yet he did not move his sword for fear that it was a demon-in-disguise.
"Please don't tell father about this!" Izayoi implored as she clutched blindly onto Takemaru's sleeve regardless of the sword that was pointing at her. "Father will be mad if he hears about my disobedience!"
"That is beside the point. But I have to know why you slipped out in the middle of the night, especially into this forest." Only at such a close proximity was Takemaru willing to acknowledge that it was truly the princess and sheath his sword.
Izayoi shifted nervously. "This forest has always attracted me. Ever since three years ago, I dreamt about him every night, and the forest beckons me so. I thought if I visited it again and again, I would meet him sooner or later." Izayoi hesitated; she thought she could sense a tension throughout Takemaru's body the moment she mentioned three years ago.
"And who happened to be that fortunate 'him'? Perhaps it is a secret lover that you dared not tell your father?" Takemaru's voice was as cold as steel and frighteningly detached.
At that moment, Izayoi realized her mistake: she had never told anyone else aside from her attendant in detail about the silver-haired demon that rescued her. She knew she would have to explain it to Takemaru now that she mentioned him and hoped to the heavens that Takemaru won't pass the message along to her father.
"It was…the demon who rescued me three years ago and escorted me to the edge of the forest where I can see the castle. I wanted to thank him for that." Though Izayoi tried to convince herself that she only wanted to meet the demon in order to thank him, deep inside her, she knew that she was attracted for another reason.
"Go back. I don't know why that demon had spared your life, but all demons are to be mistrusted. He may not kill you that time, but he will kill you the next time you meet him. So come back with me." Takemaru replied curtly. He extended his hand for Izayoi. The princess was hesitant at first, but knowing that she had nowhere else to escape, she reluctantly gave in.
As both people were talking, they did not realize that they were already out of the protective boundary of the priests. Under the effect of the full moon, a nearby demon had became hypersensitive and was attracted to the smell of human. Humans were rare in this area of the forest.
The demon was an enlarge version of a cobra, except with a double-spiked tail and a hardened skin. Through its sense of smell, it was able to locate the two humans easily and started sliding towards its target.
At the same moment, Takemaru was escorting Izayoi slowly back. Should the princess accidentally wound herself in the dark, he would have to pay the penalty. And probably with his head too. For the second time he cursed himself for not bringing along a torch.
"Ah!" Despite all their caution, a small rock still managed to escape their notice and Izayoi tripped upon it.
"Princess!" Takemaru shouted as he bent down towards the princess. It was fortunate that he did so as a spray of viscous liquid streamed over his shoulder. Some fell upon his helmet and seared through the metal cleanly. He shook off his helmet immediately for fear of the liquid touching any section of his body. As he did so, he realized a pair of glowing orbs a few feet behind him. These orbs were about half a body taller than him.
"Princess, please escape in the direction of the castle." Takemaru turned swiftly, drawing his sword in a defensive pose. Izayoi, stunted by the fall, did not realize the urgency of the situation. Because Takemaru was standing behind her, his armor blocked her view of the glowing orbs. Just as she was wondering what had occurred, the pair of eyes winked out.
"Sir Takemaru, what is—?"
The shadow of a tail weaved by Takemaru's legs and grabbed hold of Izayoi's arm. Before Takemaru knew what was going on, the princess was already being dragged along the ground. Takemaru only managed to catch the ends of Izayoi's robe, which tore into two in his hands. He laid there on the forest ground, staring at the distancing figure of his princess who was in danger. He was torn between the decision of chasing after the princess alone or returning to the castle and gathering other people to help him. However, he knew that the latter would not work, as time was a factor in this chase. The princess's life depended upon how fast he acted.
Without further ado, Takemaru plunged headlong into the thickening foliage, blindly grabbing at branches and stumbling over protruding rocks and branches.
Meanwhile, Izayoi was stunned beyond words. She felt like a toy doll being forcefully dragged around by a dog. Except that this wasn't a dog, and she was not just a mere doll, but also possibly the next meal. Nonetheless, she could do nothing to help herself; the mere act of trying to keep conscious was proving a challenge for her. The challenge further increased as she realized that part of her robe was torn off, and what she had left was only a thin fabric on her thin frame. The fabric did not protect her from the rough terrain, and her exposed flesh burned painfully as she felt the rocks and leaves tearing at her. There was a few times where she clutched out at anything her hands came in contact with, only to have her grasp tore loose and adding further to the pain.
After awhile, the continual pulling caused Izayoi's body to turn numb. She no longer felt the pain in her body, as if she was just a soul caged in a shell and watching the blackness flew by. She fancied that she had had such an experience before. Somehow it all seemed so familiar to her – the helplessness, the fear of dying, and lastly, the stage where she went beyond her fears and everything became null. And then it struck her:
It was one evening when she stole out to collect some exquisite flora that she spied on one of her father's hunting trips. Unfortunately, she did not find the flowers, and to make it worse, she was lost. The canopies of the forest were so dense that the tall castle was obscured from view. Time flew by and a red round moon rose in the sky – yes, that was a full moon, but somehow it was the color of crimson.
Izayoi was lost, and before she knew it, a shadow struck her. The attack was too fast.
Izayoi felt claws striking her arm, her body being flung backwards to the ground and a creature pressing down upon her abdomen. Through the silhouette, Izayoi could make out a claw against the night sky, raised and aimed at her. At that moment, she was frightened, and like any other thing that a decent girl would do in such a situation, she started crying. The tears came streaking down, but her voice was choked with fear, and she can barely produce a sound.
Just then, a second and smaller figure in the form of a man appeared behind the creature. She saw the man swing a mighty sword and the next thing she knew was that the demon's claw was lying next to her body. The demon, quite wounded and enraged, turned upon the figure and snapped its grotesque jaw at the man. However, the men merely sidestepped and perform another swing, this time leaving a gash by the demon's flanks. A great howl tore through the air as the demon flung his whole weight against the man. Halfway through the air, the demon flipped backwards in a surprise bout of agility and brought his tail upon the sword blade. It slapped squarely across the immense sword and the man lost hold of the hilt. In a moment, the gigantic sword transformed back to a piece of crooked antique. The man pulled away from the demon and drew out another sword from his back, this time a smaller sword with an orb embedded at the end of the hilt.
The moonlight passed through the orb and it shone a ghastly purple. Izayoi felt an evil but suppressed aura from the sword. Oddly enough, she felt comforted by the sight of the man holding onto the sword. The demon also sensed the aura and leaped away, carefully circling the man.
The man stood calmly and raised his sword – blade tip pointing towards the sky – with both hands firmly gripping the hilt. "Gokuryuuha." A deep masculine voice rebounded against the trees, causing thousands of echoes. Two dragons circled the blade as they traveled up the entire length of the blade. Finally, a purple colored energy ball appeared at the top of the blade. The man swung his sword towards the direction of the demon and the energy engulfed the demon amidst its purple clouds. In a moment, the demon was obliterated and surprisingly, the purple energy ball also dissipated immediately into the air. The man sighed and sheathed his sword back into its position on his back. He went to collect the other sword and placed that into the sheath beside his waist. Just then, Izayoi noticed that there was a third sword at his waist. This was the first time that she saw someone carrying so many swords around.
Finally, the man took notice of Izayoi and approached her without a sound.
When he was close-up and the moonlight shone on part of his face, Izayoi realized that the man was a demon. 'Well', she thought to herself, 'I should have expected that, a human couldn't wield such a huge sword with such ease after all'.
She saw the purple streak across the man's square but strong jaw, his pointed ear, silver hair and golden eyes. It did not occur to her that she should be running away during the fight rather than waiting till now. All she felt was tiredness and her lids drooped. Before she went to sleep, Izayoi felt herself being cradled into strong arms and swept away. When she awoke again, she was at the edge of the forest and her castle was in sight. The moon was still shining, and she could only assume that she was unconscious for a short period of time. She felt light on her head, and could only recall vague details of the fight and the demon that rescued her. She realized then that she was probably too traumatized by the experience that she repressed her memory unconsciously. She heard her servants calling out to her and she went to find them.
Bump. Izayoi stopped. She was brought back to her current situation and realized that the demon had brought her to its lair. It was a deep hole located vertically downwards through the ground with cobwebs and sticky fluid all around. 'So this is the end.' Izayoi thought to herself as she looked upwards to the entrance of the hole and at the last stray piece of sky.
