The Heavenly Life Fang

Chapter 1

~The Reincarnate~

            The sun was bright that day.  Gasaka felt the heat on his back, beating on his tired old skin.  He had been working for two shifts that day, each grueling with only a cup of water for each.  The stone he was trying to break at the moment was being a bitch to him.  It was, in his mind, the hardest stone he had ever attempted to smash.  He felt each strike of his hammer in his aching old hands.  Each strike brought a new shudder of pain through the very morrow of his bones.  Lord Osokoto had requested that cave be fully dug out in the next passing week, or else all their wages would be "forgotten about".  This angered Gasaka greatly, he had worked for far too long on this blasted hole in the ground for his wages to be taken only because some lord had a stick jammed inside his ass to far.  Osokoto said he needed the ore that was sure to be inside the cave for his new army he was building.  It was rumored he was planning to take Dai-su by the next crop season.  Many drank Osokoto's health, but few actually knew of the deadline.  Only supervisors had been, "privileged", with this valuable information.    Gasaka shuddered again as his stone hammer finally gave a bit of way into the hard rock before him.  A small chunk of it had fallen to the ground with a small thud.

            Gasaka looked down at the chunk with contempt and for some reason chuckled.  'I'll never finish this cave in time for Osokoto.  I'm done here, no sense in breaking the rest of my bones for some war that I probably won't live to see,' he thought.  He dropped his hammer, heaving out a sigh.  Gasaka was nearly sixty years of age.  He was quite old to be doing such hard labor.  He was quite old for anyone, for that matter.  He had a straggly beard that hung down to his wrinkled, bare chest.  He was muscular, but his aging skin's wrinkles only helped to hide it.  His beaten pants were covered in dust and soot, much like his ragged sandals.

            He began to move away when something in his mind turned over.  He knew that if he kept digging, he would find something of worth.  He had to. 

            "I'll keep it for myself," he thought.  "Then we'll see who really deserves to reap the rewards eh?"

            He bent over to pick up his hammer again when he saw something in the wall.  It was quite near to the floor, perhaps even touching it.  It was a black wood of some sort.  It felt hard, he observed, as he knocked his finger on it.  It was a cone shape, with a rounded end.  It wasn't a perfect cone however.  In fact, it reminded him of something.  He thought for a moment, rubbing his greasy fingers through his coarse beard.  A scabbard!  That was it.  He grabbed his hammer with a little more purpose now, lifting it as quickly as his body could manage and swinging it horizontally in to the wall with all of his might.  To his surprise, the wall cracked and split into two perfect halves, right over the scabbard.  The walls fell with a thud to each side, revealing the sheathed katana on the ground before him and a larger room out in front.  His eyes widened as he admired the un-effected beauty of the item.  Its black scabbard was perfect, elegant and long.  It held not the slightest scratch or even dirt smudge.  The red hand-guard was dull, but perfectly crafted.  The entire hilt was beautiful to him.  The dull golden pommel connected to the weaved silk on the handle.  He reached down to caress the scabbard when he saw a piece of rock fall from the top of the new room, which smacked hard on the floor.  A bright light filled the room and a rush of air as the top of the cavern was opened through this hole.  A tunnel of light illuminated a figure in the corner.

            Gasaka's eyes widened as he stared in disbelief at what he saw.  His hand slipped from around the scabbard of the katana as he backed up against a wall.  His jaw was shaking.  In the corner of the newly opened room, a lifeless figure was sitting up against the wall.  A large sword was jutting out from his chest.  Gasaka had seen many dead men in tombs in his time, but this one scared him.  It looked as if he had died recently.  His flesh was in tact.  In fact, his flesh was perfect.  His hair, only slightly dirty was still full and vibrant along the man's chest.  The figure's clothes were not as well off as his body, however.  He obviously had once worn quite a work of art as his kimono, however it was ripped through and through.  Pieces of his pants were scattered over his mostly bare legs.  The only thing that seemed to stay was a large furry something hanging over the man's shoulder.  It looked to be some sort of boa.

            Gasaka inched forward toward the body.  Each of his steps were light, but he was overdoing his attempt at stealth.  Rocks were sliding and cracking beneath his feet.  He winced each time he made a sound until he was standing inches from the pommel of the sword in the man's chest.  This sword was not as attractive as the katana but it had an unusual charm to it.  The pommel was a flat golden disk with two long pieces of cloth hanging from the end.  The handle was a dark silk wrapped around a more rectangular angle of a handle.  The hand-guard was a flat rectangular disk that was not very wide.  It only spanned past the width of the blade an inch or so.  The hilt was not as intricate or even similar to the katana.  Gasaka gulped, and reach down toward the hilt of the sword.  It's blade was a little less then an inch thick in the middle, from the view on the side of it.  From the top, it seemed the flat of the blade got somewhat wider as it went up.  Not by a lot, but just enough to be noticeable.  He put his hand around the handle, his face already sweating hard.  He began to pull on it, expecting it to be difficult to remove.  It slid out a lot easier then he thought, however.  As it came out he realized the blade wasn't in as deep as he had thought.  The blade did widen as it went up until it came back to a sharp point near the top.  He sword was surprisingly light.  Almost after making such delicate measurements, Gasaka began feeling sick to his stomach.  His head began to swim, thoughts and images fleeting past his vision.  He couldn't make them out but a dull red glow began to crowd his vision.  He felt the sword burning in his hand, and the sword itself seemed to be getting consumed with a larger, brighter red aura.  He dropped it, though for some reason, a voice in his head said not to.  He gasped as knelt down, putting his hands on his knees and breathing hard.  Sweat rolled down over his forehead and onto the floor.  He heard a groan and the sound of dirt being kicked up.  His eyes widened, and his head rose.  He dared not to look behind him for a moment, but he soon did.  His breathing stopped and his heart throbbed as he saw the man stand.  He was holding his head and looking at the ground.  His face could not be seen quite clearly.  Gasaka then noticed something he hadn't before.  Strange purple markings where slashed across the man's cheeks, like some sort of face paint.  His hands were strange, too.  Sharp, longer looking nails were at the end of each finger.  What made him notice this was the fact that they were slowly disappearing from the man's figure.  Gasaka shook his head in disbelief and began to back up when the man looked up and stared at him.  The figure had deep yellow eyes.  The eyes were tired looking, but bright nonetheless. 

The man opened his mouth and stammered quietly, "W..Who are you?" He looked around and added silently in a rhetorical question, "Where am I?"

Gasaka quickly replied, bowing his head and body low, "Gasaka…I'm Gasaka."

The figure looked at Gasaka quizzically for a moment before looking at the two weapons on the ground.  He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out for a moment.  He looked down and said quietly as if he were unsure of himself.  "I'm Setsukoro…I think.  I can't remember anything but this name, and these two swords."  He nodded to the larger one, "Toukijin," then to the smaller one.  He seemed to stare at the smaller one for a moment.  "Tenseiga…"

Gasaka looked at the two swords then he began to cry.  He wept and fell to his knees.  Had he really been so lucky?  He had found two of three of the fabled demon swords!  Both Toukijin and Tenseiga lay here, within his grasp.  Not only that but a man who seemed to own them was with them.  Alive to boot.  He would be a very rich man some day, and he could spend it gratefully.  Grateful that he decided to use his old muscles one last time, and at the right time it seemed. 

The man seemed to be studying Gasaka during his thoughts and walked up to him.  He placed a hand on Gasaka's shoulder and shook him gently.  He smiled at Gasaka who only looked at him in surprise.

"Thank you, Gasaka.  Unfortunately, you won't be getting rich off me.  I can see the gold in your eyes.  I need to find answers to my questions.  I have so many to ask," he said, his heart heavy.  His eyes looked toward the ground and he thought, "I know not who I am.  I feel… Empty."

Gasaka quickly interrupted the man's thoughts by rubbing his head and blurting quickly, "Rich!? Aww, well, I wasn't plannin' on getting rich sonny. I uh…Hey! Where are you going?"  He watched as the man picked up both of the swords in a hand, each by the hilt and began walking from the cave, toward the entrance.

"Hey! Wait!"  Gasaka quickly ran after him coming up beside him and falling into stride with him.  He whistled for a few seconds before eyeing the man in a sidelong glance.

"Setsukoro huh?  You walk proud Setsukoro, maybe you were once a great person huh?" he asked quietly, admiring the man's stature.  Setsukoro was obviously a well-built man, athletically built too. Not one of those meatheads you see packed in 3 tons of armor.  He had well built arms, legs and body.  His muscles weren't overly beefy, but he was just toned.  In reality, he was slim in fact.  He walked slowly, each foot passing perfectly in front of the other.  He walked on the balls of his feet and Gasaka knew almost instantaneously the man was quick.  His face was void of any emotion for the moment, but his eyes showed he was thinking deeply of something.  They neared and exited the mouth of the cave without speaking.  Gasaka motioned Setsukoro to follow him to the right, though the wide path kept going straight to a visibly nearby town.  They didn't go a few steps before a

-thwap- was heard.  Gasaka stared in horror at the arrow that was jutting from the tree in front of him.  It had missed him by inches.  He shivered and looked to his left.  Setsukoro did not falter at the sound of the arrow however, and quickly moved out of sight.

            "Gasaka-sama…" said a mockingly kind voice.  A man on horse back strode into the clearing in front of Gasaka. He was the Captain of Militia at the mining town.  Gasaka remembered his name was Tsubi, from a recent bar encounter with the rude man.  He wasn't very young, but not old either.  He had well built arms and wore loose fitting clothing around his slightly muscular physic.  A small bow was in his hand and a quiver of arrows at his side.  He looked at Gasaka with contempt, though his smile told Gasaka he wasn't here just to tell him to head back to village.

            "Who was your friend, dear Gasaka?  I saw him exit the cave with you, but where is he now?" Tsubi asked each question with a sneer, though a small bit of laughter was added to each spit of a word.  "Do you think your little partner in crime could make off with Osokoto's goods.  I saw the swords, Gasaka.  They'd be worth a lot, wouldn't they?"  Tsubi edged forward toward Gasaka who only backed up against the wall sweating hard again.  His eyes were fearful, yet his face stayed as stone and did not quiver.

            Tsubi drew his bow up, notching an arrow and began to draw back the string of his bow.

            "This is the last you'll steal from Osokoto, when I find those swords, I'll-" he was cut off mid sentence.  A blade had been hurled through the air with such precision that it struck the bow right where the arrow met its notch.  The sword pinned both the bow and arrow to a tree to the left of Tusbi.  The blade was so sharp and thrown with such force that it slid in to the tree and weapons up to its hilt.

            Tsubi fell off his horse, which immediately ran away, neighing as it went.  He stared in horror at the sword and slowly to his right.  There between to large trees he saw the figure from earlier.  The young man with the long dirty silver hair stood there, looking bewildered at his own hand.  Setsukoro closed his eyes, and lowered his hand.  He opened them again, staring at Tsubi, his face calm.

            "There's one of your swords," he said.  With a burst of speed unknown to himself, he ended up in front of Tsubi.  His figure was but a blur as it moved, placing Setsukoro's face inches from Tsubi's. 

            Setsokoro blankly looked at Tsubi and frowned.  "You'll have to kill me for the other," he said flatly.  Tsubi rocked back with Setsukoro's last words deepening in his mind.  He looked down, then back to Setsukoro, still bewildered.  His hand slid down into his boot, and pulled slowly from it his extra knife.  He flicked his wrist and moved his arm up, slashing at the man's exposed throat as quickly as he could.  Or so he would have liked to have done.  At the moment the he hand began his motion to slash out, his wrist had been grabbed forcefully.  The touch on his wrist was delicate, but so much pain was throbbing through it, he was nearing a state of shock.  This man was inhumanly strong.

            Setsukoro looked at the man with a twinge of pity but said nothing, having broken the man's wrist.  He had done so many extraordinary things in the past few minutes that he wanted to think about them.  He looked down but felt the man in his grip watching him frightfully.

            Tsubi watched the man in horror as something inside his mind seemed to click.  He backed up against the tree as much as he could.  He tried to say something but his breath was being caught in his throat.  He was about to get it out when he felt a cold steel shoved into his neck.  His head fell to the side and he saw Gasaka standing there, a small knife in his grasp.  The very knife that had entered Tsubi's throat.

            Tsubi continued to try and get the word into the cool morning air.  Gurgling was heard within him, but he was able to mouth something to the two standing next to him, "Se..Sessho..maru.."  After that the man passed, his eyes seeming to dull, like small rocks.  His head and body limped and his gaze was blank.  These words held no meaning to Setsukoro, but he felt a twinge of something, inside him.

            Gasaka looked at the man strangely for a minute.  "Thank goodness he's dead! Come on Setsu ma' boy, we got to get going."

            Setsukoro looked at the man, even more pity swelling in his heart, but he did as was suggested and followed after Gasaka.  He grabbed Toukjin's hilt on his way by.  Rather then stop to pull it out, he let it idly cut through the tree to get an angle to slide out.  He did this without breaking stride, marveled at just how sharp the blade was.

            Gasaka and Setsukoro ran many miles, stopping only periodically for rest.  Setsokoro only asked of the current times.  He asked about the people, the wars, the demons, and the legends.  The only that really intrigued him was of the two swords he carried with him.  It was said a great demon lord owned both at one time.  Gasaka forgot the name, but he said the demon was one of the strongest ever.  He said the demon had a will that none could match, and a strong hatred for humans.  What interested Setsukoro was that the demon revived a human girl with the very sword that was laying by his side now, Tenseiga.  It was said that he had finally cared for someone.  That someone was a human.  It's said that the demon attempted to kill his loved one, but could not.  He ran away, not to be seen again. 

            In time they finally reaches a small wooded area in the great hills of the eastern mountains.  His home was in front of a vast, dark lake.  The immediate area around his house was quite grassy, and obviously had a good rich soil.  The house was a small wooden structure, with only a few sliding doors in the front and a smoke stack behind.  A small hut sat in the corner of the clearing that Setsukoro could only guess was a meat locker of some sort.  He walked stiffly behind Gasaka and watched the old man carefully.  For some reason he felt a strange trust in the old man.  He smiles to himself and walked along till they reached his porch.

            "I would hate to intrude on you Gasaka-sama, I will sleep outdoors tonight," said Setsukoro politely.

            "Gah, I can't be havin' that young one.  I insist you come inside," Gasaka replied quickly, then added with a wink, "And meet my granddaughter. Heh heh."

            Setsukoro blinked but nodded slowly, then bowed his head to Gasaka and followed him inside of the house.  The house was well lit in certain areas, the hallways were darker then the main rooms.  A few doors lined the hallway they were standing in.  To his immediate left and right were open doors leading to large rooms.  The right seemed to be a kitchen and the left perhaps an altar room.

            "Lilia! Grandpa is home!"

            A voice rang out from somewhere with in the house, "Grandpa!"  The voice was innocent, but sounded like a melody to Setsukoro's ears.  It were as if the birds were singing to him that day.  Out of a door in down the hallway, a girl in her mid teens stepped out.  Her face was bright and curved perfectly, like some sort of godly statue.  Her deep brown eyes gave a small twinkle from the candle near the door.  She had sweeping black hair past her shoulders.  On her head was a small towel.  Wrapped around her chest and down was a larger towel.

            She smiled at Gasaka and said, "Was just taking a dip in the hot spring Grandpa!" She paused a moment as she saw the figure behind Gasaka, who was Setsukoro.  "Who is that Grandpa?"

            Gasaka moved aside for Lilia to see Setsukoro better.  She took a small step back, her face flushing through and through.  She looked down smiling.

            "I'm Lilia…"

            Setsukoro brought his hands together in front of his chest and bowed slightly, smiling warmly at her.  She was beautiful; a feeling he couldn't explain was swelling within him.  "I am Setsukoro."  His face flushed somewhat as he saw her smile broadly.

            She came closer and observed his physique then his face and hair.  She realized how handsome he was and felt herself blush harder.  She then noticed his long sweeping silver hair.  Which was dirtier then anything on God's creation!  She pushed Gasaka hard on the shoulder.

            "Grandpa!  Setsu-kun's hair is horrendous!  The least you could do for the man was wash it!" She yelled hardly at him many times, just because he was such a ditz.  She had never seen him act so foolish before, until now.  Gasaka rubbed the back of his head, chuckling half-heartedly.

            Setsukoro said quietly, trying to calm her, "Please, Lilia he didn't mean to do such a thi-" he was cut off as she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the open door she had came out from.  She had a determined look on her face and pulled him into the room as fast as she could.  She closed the door behind them and gently pushed Setsukoro toward the water.  Setsukoro looked bewildered and had a goofy smile on his face.

            "Please, Lilia… You don't have to do this.. I.." he stopped when she noticed her glare trained on him.  He sighed and undressed himself quickly without a though.  Lilia blushed hard and turned her head, but watched peeked at him through fingers that were placed to cover her eyes.  Setsukoro eased himself into the water and sighed, feeling the warmth rush over his body quickly.  He laid his head back against the wall, but soon had to turn it when Lilia stood making a rotation with her finger.  He did as he was told and soon heard her slipping in the water behind him. He felt Lilia's hands sliding over his hair and she giggled quietly.

            "Your hair is so pretty, Setsu-kun!"  She said this quite excitedly.  He blushed knowing she was going to call him such a foolish thing only moments after meeting.  He couldn't help but realize that somewhere inside, he enjoyed it.  He heard the scraping of wood and a rushing of water as she filled a bucket.  She poured the water slowly over his head, still giggling.  She began to rub her hands through his hair again, cleaning all the dirt from the long silvery strands.  He sighed, wanting to lie back and fall asleep but she pushed his back up from its dozing point.

            "You can rest soon, Setsu-kun," said Lilia, smiling gently, her face not loosing the large blush.  She took some sweet smelling gel and poured it over his hair and began to swish it around in his hair before rinsing it clean again.  She stood slowly, and began to back up.  Setsukoro, not knowing what he was doing turned around to see where she had gone when it hit him.  An astonished look crossed his face as he saw her naked standing at the edge of the spring.  He turned quickly, looking down, his face as red as hers now.  He tried not to think of it but couldn't get her body out of his mind.  The perfect, slightly athletic body that she had amazed him.  She seemed to be void of any body fat.  He was again reminded of a statue of some goddess.   He couldn't get the view of her nakedness out of his mind.     

            He stammered quietly, "I'm..Sorry Lilia.  I did not mean to..Look."  He looked down but was surprised when she only giggled.

            "It's alright…Setsu-kun," she replied with a sweet tone.  She wouldn't admit that she was completely embarrassed, but she wondered if he had liked the sight?  What was she thinking!?  Was she becoming that perverted?  She was only seventeen after all.  She shouldn't be thinking like that.  She walked to the door, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her on the way.  She silently slipped out of the door, closing it, and made her way to her room at the end of the hall.

            Setsukoro leaned back in the hot spring, his face still flushed with red.  He stared at the ceiling for quite some time.  He looked down beside him at the ragged clothes next to the spring.  He also looked at the two swords lying there.  He admired them both before looking back at the ceiling.  He closed his eyes and felt the large fluffy boa on his shoulder again.  He looked at it strangely.  Had it not come off with his clothing?  He tugged at it, and it would only ruffle.  It would not come free.  It seemed to be pulling on his skin as he tugged at it, somewhere behind him.  He thought it was strange that he had this thing actually attached to his body.  Lilia didn't seem to mind.  He sat back again, thinking. Lilia….

            Setsukoro was sleeping inside the spring when near his slumbering body Tenseiga lay, sheathed on the floor.  The scabbard seemed to whisper, and a sound like a heartbeat sounded off the damp floor.  Sesshomaru…You are seen to me.  You do not remember, do you?  You are not a reincarnation.  You are my son.