I trudged up the snowy mountain, slowly dragging my feet through the snow. It was snowing hard tonight, when I looked behind me I could see my footprints gradually being covered by falling white flakes. If I craned my neck I could see faint, flickering lights from the village below. If one didn't watch out, they could get lost in this heavy snow.

I really didn't want to be up here in weather like this, but who am I to disobey Oyakata-sama?

Snow fell all around me, decorating the trees with blankets of white. They were bare, long thin branches stretched out, boughs frozen and icy. Not one person could be seen, no signs of demons anywhere. I was the only one here as far as I knew.

I'm alone.

Again.

I was always alone.

Well, not always.

But ever since Tsutako nee-san and Sabito both left me.

My parents died when I was young, I and nee-san were the only ones left. The old hut they had left was the only sanctuary we had. And of course, we needed money to live. Nee-san worked day and night, three hundred and sixty-five days a year in order to get enough food and money for us. She always put me before herself. Life was hard, but we were already satisfied as long as we could live happily. One day, she got a marriage proposal from a well-to-do family in a nearby village. She accepted, and preparations were made for the upcoming union.

But fate was cruel, it had to take nee-san from me.

A demon came to our hut in the night, nee-san hid me in a cabinet and was ripped apart for the time she took to make sure I got away. The only thing I had left of her is the red haori she always wore.

The incident happened on the very eve of her marriage.

After that, I wandered the roads, with nowhere to live. I could only resort to begging people for food. Sometimes, I was lucky and got a meal. Other times, I only got a few scraps, or nothing at all.

I never stayed in the same area for too long, as people would yell at me, beat me and chase me away. Every day seemed to get worse and worse. I got weaker by the day, finally collapsing at the foot of a high mountain.

When I woke up, I wasn't where I was originally.

Instead of the remote mountain path, I was in a hut, in a comfy futon with a warm fire crackling next to me. There was an elderly man and a boy appearing to be my age in the room too, with their backs to me. They turned to me and I saw the man was wearing a bright red, fierce tengu mask. The boy was also wearing a mask, a white kitsune mask with dark eyes and a scar on its right side.

Later, I found the man's name was Urokodaki Sakonji. He lived alone with the boy on this mountain, but he wasn't as scary as he appeared to be. He was actually really nice. He insisted I live here with him after hearing about my past.

The boy's name was Sabito. I found he shared a past with me, his family was also killed by demons. He later went on to be my best friend. Urokodaki-san taught us how to fight with swords. He trained us fiercely every day, stern but kind. Sabito was always praised for his technique, his great skill and precision. I was only yelled at for not working hard, for slipping up during training, getting hurt by the traps Urokodaki-san had set up all over the mountain…...Sabito got all the compliments, while I only got criticized.

I finally improved enough to not be berated as much anymore. My strength had increased, as well as my agility and techniques. I was also able to cut through a huge boulder as Sabito had done.

But I was never as good as Sabito was.

He pretty much single-handedly defeated every demon during the Final Selection. I could barely take care of myself, but he managed to survive, plus helped many other participants in the Selection. When I got injured by a demon, he entrusted me to another boy and immediately sped off in the direction of another call for help. I begged him to stay behind, but he was already running away through the trees.

He was the only one who died in the Selection that year.

I now wore half of his haori along with half of nee-san's to remember him.

I took another step forward, nearly tripping over a mound of snow and found I hadn't been watching where I was going. I had gotten stuck.

Cursing slightly, I pulled myself out, shaking the snow off my haori and continuing my trek up the mountain.

After walking for a while, I heard a slight rustling and crackling. It sounded like a person walking through the snow up ahead.

Stepping between two particularly tall trees and appearing on the top of the mountain, I saw a man in a black suit with gold decorations and long white pants. He wore a white fedora with a few strands of curly black hair showing just under its rim. Hearing my footsteps, he turned, and our gazes met. His deep, plum red eyes seemed to glow in the soft white light.

I instinctively tightened the grip on my Nichirin blade.

He was a demon.

Hey, welcome to my first fic on this site. I have some pre-written chapters already as this was originally from another site, but after that updates will become slower. Tell me what you think about this first chapter?

(I promise chapters will become longer though :'))