Lea: Thank you very much! :)
In this story, I think we need to understand the point of view of the two main characters. So, it's time to meet the one who is hiding inside the forest.
Chapter Two
In the forest
Life was hard behind the thousand-year-old trees, but he wouldn't have changed it for anything. He felt as free as the wind. No one told him what to do and few dared to stand up to him... and those who did, did not come out alive.
The Yōkai Forest was his home. He had been roaming every nook and cranny for two centuries, fighting the enemies he encountered along the way, which sometimes were too many.
The trees stretching across thousands of acres were gigantic. The atmosphere was damp and savage and, after a good fight, the earth smelled of blood.
Several mountain ranges surrounded the forest. Some of them were so high they always had snow on their peaks, and only cold-blooded yōkai lived there.
He hardly ever went near the small towns. They were usually around one of the four palaces for their protection and it was one of the few places where demons could live quietly, without having to be on constant alert for any threat that might appear.
It was in their nature. Demons found it hard to take orders and every few years there was a rebellion to try and bring down one of the Lords, though it never lasted long. Any insurgent was mercilessly crushed.
There were only two rules that everyone had to obey: respect the palaces and their inhabitants, and never leave the forest.
The few yōkai who had built their homes away from the Lords' control were always suffering attacks from other demons who wanted to steal everything they had, or who were just bored and felt like fighting.
He didn't mind fighting, but he wanted to be able to sleep peacefully. That's why he chose his cave. It was in a secluded spot, a small valley crossed by a river full of fish and a meadow covered with flowers of every colour imaginable. Some were small and some were twice his size, there were even carnivorous flowers that it was best to avoid... but not in that meadow, he had got rid of them long ago.
It was the only place where he could lie down, close his eyes and enjoy the warmth of the sun's rays, the soft whisper of the wind, and where he spent his evenings gazing at the starry sky and counting shooting stars.
Always with an ear to the ground, of course. He knew that a yōkai searching for trouble could appear at any moment, and he had to be ready.
There were few meadows in his world. Trees covered almost everything and few flowers were able to grow among them, as sunlight barely penetrated their branches and everything was in constant gloom.
That is why he decided to settle there when he found the place, although he never stayed there for more than two days. He liked to run through the forest and discover every little thing. His aim was to get to know it completely and he was still far from achieving it.
He had met many different types of yōkai. Almost all of them despised him, though some tolerated his presence and even talked to him for a while, but it was not the norm.
As a child, he didn't quite understand what was wrong with them, but as he grew older, he learned to despise them as well. If they picked a fight, he killed them. If they insulted him, he growled at them. And, if they just ignored him, he did the same.
His only regret was that he didn't have someone, a friend with whom he could share time and adventures... but he didn't need that either. He was fine on his own, he had been alone for a long time and he didn't mind.
The ground was covered with leaves all over the forest. Some ferns surrounded the trees and gave everything a wild and mysterious aspect that he loved, it was like living in the middle of a legend.
And legends were the basis of his world, no doubt. Few knew the full story of when the yōkai separated from the human world forever, and he was one of them. He wasn't born back then, but he knew the details. He had even seen the evidence with his own eyes when he could not yet read.
The sun was already high enough in the sky as Inuyasha ate what he had just hunted in his little cave by the river, totally lost in his own thoughts.
When he finished, he put out the fire he had lit with one of his feet and stood up, putting on his red jacket and hiding his hands in his sleeves to protect himself from the cold.
His kimono-like clothes were the only thing he had left of his father, along with the sword he wore tied in a cloth belt. It was made of fire rat fur, one of the strongest materials available, and was a thousand times better than wearing armour.
Both the red kimono and the sword had served as protection for him for two centuries, as soon as he left his older brother's palace to live on his own.
The other demons hated him because he was a hybrid, so he had decided to live in solitude, not having to endure their taunts and beatings. But if they attacked him, Inuyasha made sure they never saw another sunrise.
Despite his condition, he got angry every time he thought of his father, who was one of the most powerful demons (or yōkai, as humans called them) in Japan and Lord of the Western Forest, a role that his brother Sesshomaru had held since his death.
Toga was part of demon royalty, but he abandoned his yōkai wife when he fell in love with a human who lived outside the forest.
How could he do that? A mere human was not worthy to be the mate of a demon as important as Toga Taisho, much less sire a child with his blood... and so Inuyasha had been born, a half-demon whom everyone despised.
He had no memory of his parents because they both died within a year of his birth, leaving him completely alone. According to what his brother Sesshomaru had told him, his father died trying to protect his mother from the attack of several very powerful yōkai. Sesshomaru sought him out as soon as he heard of the attack and brought him to the palace where he lived with his mother, who was still smarting from the betrayal of the great Toga Taisho and refused to accept in her domain that horrible little creature.
Sesshomaru insisted that Inuyasha was too small to fend for himself and, even though he was a hybrid, he had his father's blood and therefore could not be left to die in the forest. His mother agreed in the end, but demanded that he take full responsibility for his care. No one else would want to be near a half-demon and she would not allow it.
So Inuyasha grew up in a gigantic palace in the western part of the Yōkai Forest, where everyone but his brother Sesshomaru ignored him. On the rare occasions he saw his mother, named Irasue, she would give him hateful looks and speed off in the opposite direction without a word to him.
Her golden eyes oozed contempt whenever they met his. The demon woman always wore dainty clothes and a furry stole over her shoulders, much like his brother's. Her long white hair was tied in two buns on either side of her head, letting it fall down her back, and she had a magenta line under each of her eyes. That and the crescent moon on her forehead were her yōkai marks. Everyone respected her and bowed their heads when she passed by. Irasue was the lady of the palace, a very powerful yōkai.
Inuyasha shook his head to get rid of his childhood memories and rested a hand on the hilt of his sword, looking out at the horizon. He could see the human city from there.
He leapt up into one of the gigantic trees and climbed, using his claws until he reached the highest branches. Yes, from there he could see the skyscrapers of Tokyo in the distance. Inuyasha had to hurry if he wanted to get there in time to see her around that corner and watch her. This girl had become his personal nightmare since he had seen her two days before... but that wouldn't last much longer.
Inuyasha knew a little about that huge human city, though only his brother knew that.
Hybrids like him had one night a month where they lost their demon blood, reduced to mere humans and in constant danger as they were surrounded by bloodthirsty demons.
There were barely half-demons alive in the forest of Japan, and that was because when they lost their powers on new moon nights (or dark nights as he liked to say), if the demons found them, they had no trouble killing them. Inuyasha had never seen anyone like him.
Hybrids were a disease that should be wiped from the face of the earth. They were neither human nor yōkai, and therefore did not deserve to live in either world.
On those nights he used to stay inside one of the highest mountains in the forest, hiding his trail and waiting in the darkness for the sun to rise again, so that his body would transform back into a half-demon and he would be able to protect himself.
But one dark night Inuyasha was close to the border of the human world, and he thought about leaving the forest to explore that strange city. No one would notice that he was different because he looked like a human, so he could camouflage himself among them and he wouldn't have to spend those hours hiding, fearing that the demons would find him and kill him, taking advantage of his weakness.
His nails were usually long and strong, like claws, and with them he could destroy a weak yōkai easily. He also had thick, sharp fangs, though he rarely used them to tear at an enemy's throat. His body was human-shaped, but the two furry ears sticking out of the top of his head made it clear that demon blood ran through his veins. And his eyes were golden, the same as his brother and father.
All three of them also shared the colour of hair, as white as snow. Inuyasha wore his hair long, though not as long as Sesshomaru. His brother's hair was down to his knees and he didn't like to cut it at all, another thing they had in common.
Long hair was a symbol of power among the high-ranking yōkai. If they cut it, it was because they had been defeated in battle and were ashamed. But neither he nor his brother had lost to any of their demon enemies, and so they wore their long white manes with pride.
On those nights of the new moon, Inuyasha's hair colour changed, turning completely black, and his eyes darkened too. The dog's ears disappeared as well as his fangs and claws, making him look like an ordinary human.
So, that night, he quietly walked out of the forest to the outskirts of the city, making sure no one was around.
Since he was so stealthy, he took the opportunity to sneak into one of the houses and take some human clothes. Inuyasha suspected that he would attract too much attention with his red kimono. He left it well hidden at the edge of the forest and walked into the human city, wearing dark jeans and a grey shirt.
His long black hair was tied into a high ponytail, revealing the human ears he would have for the night. He began to walk through the streets of Tokyo.
The buildings were huge. Inuyasha had seen them many times from afar, but walking among them was a totally different experience. There was a lot of noise and hundreds of smells, some of which made him wrinkle his nose.
Humans strolled the streets. He watched them slyly, studying their movements and mannerisms so that he could imitate them and go completely unnoticed. In the centre of the streets, humans were passing by in wheeled machines that emitted a very unpleasant smoke. Inuyasha heard several of them talking about the pollution and understood that they were complaining about what they themselves were creating. It didn't make any sense, humans were just out of their minds.
He rolled his eyes and continued to walk deeper into the city, stopping every time he came across an area full of trees. It was strange that there were so few of them, Inuyasha was used to being surrounded by them and he didn't understand how humans could like living like this, drowning in their own shit and so far away from nature.
Inuyasha could read and write thanks to the education his brother gave him, and he had in his possession some gold that Sesshomaru gave him when he left the palace, though he had never used it because he was able to hunt his own food. Inuyasha had no trouble finding a shop where he could exchange that gold for a wad of banknotes, which humans used to buy things.
Inuyasha wandered around the city and its parks for hours that first time in the human world, stopping at various stalls to taste human meals. He discovered noodles, a kind of food that took only three minutes to make if you added hot water and had chunks of meat and vegetables in it.
He returned to the outskirts of the city before sunrise with a bag full of packages of noodles, more clothes he had bought in one of the shops and a map of the city for his next dark nights. Inuyasha took the kimono from its hiding place and dressed in it, watching as the first rays of sunlight appeared on the horizon.
He felt a tingle running across his skin and watched as his fingernails grew longer. He caught a strand of hair from his ponytail with one of his claws and watched it change colour, turning completely white again. He touched the sides of his cheeks, where he no longer had human ears. Lifting his fingers up to the top of his head, he able to touch those furry ears that he knew so well and that helped him hear everything around him.
At last he was himself again, a half-demon.
The dark night in the city had not been bad at all. Inuyasha decided that, from now on, he would devote them to wandering around Tokyo and mingling with the humans. He would ask Sesshomaru for some more gold when he saw him, to buy more clothes for his forays into the mortal world.
At full speed, Inuyasha returned to his cave and left everything he had brought from the city there.
After sleeping for hours, clutching his sword in case he was attacked, Inuyasha heated water in a pot on the fire and poured it into two of the instant noodle packages, devouring them quickly. That damn human food was delicious, the next month he would go out again and bring back as many as he could.
Remembering that he would need gold for that, Inuyasha sat up and climbed one of the trees, watching the sunset. With great agility, he hopped from branch to branch towards the edge of the forest. Inuyasha had not seen his brother for several weeks, but he knew Sesshomaru was in charge of controlling the border to the human city that month.
Sesshomaru had never treated him badly, though they did not get along particularly well either. They respected each other, helped each other when needed, and Inuyasha knew he could count on him for anything. Besides, Sesshomaru would surely be interested to know how his secret adventure into the human world had gone.
When Inuyasha was less than a kilometre from the end of the forest, he noticed a curious smell and stopped. He closed his eyes, sniffing the air. His heart raced, pumping at full speed.
The scent of his mate?