Michiomaru walked the streets of Tokyo, his keen youkai senses searching for someone. As he rounded a corner, he saw who he was looking for. What looked like a young man was leaning against a brick wall, watching the people passing by with a glint in his eye. Michiomaru could smell the fact that he was a youkai, and his eyes caught sight of a charm necklace he wore, disguising his features to look human.
As Michiomaru walked by, he grabbed the young man's arm and pulled him around the corner into an alley. The young man started to yell at him, but stopped when he saw Michiomaru's face.
"Kentaro," the snake youkai said. "Take away the ninjen pretense at once. I don't do deals with ninjen."
Kentaro glared at him, and then removed his necklace. His hair became white, and his skin became very dark. His eyes were purple, and he had purple markings on his eyelids. If he had chosen to have them, large black bat wings would have been mounted from his shoulders, but he kept them hidden.
"How are you here, Michiomaru?" he hissed. "I thought that inu sealed you up."
"Do you really think that mesuinu could keep me sealed forever? You are a very foolish koumori [bat], Kentaro. And you will address me as sama."
Kentaro pursed his lips; he wasn't fond of being called a fool. But he knew better than to challenge Michiomaru.
"So you live," he said. "What that supposed to mean to me?"
"It means, Kentaro, that you are under my service again. Just because I was sealed up for two hundred years doesn't mean you're free. Remember, you pledged your life to me, and I can do anything I want with it."
Kentaro's purple eyes narrowed, his hatred for Michiomaru obvious. "What do you want me to do, Michiomaru-sama?" he asked, spitting out the name as if it hurt to say it. Michiomaru smirked and stepped up close to Kentaro, his green eyes burning into Kentaro's purple ones.
"I want you to seek and destroy the inu taiyoukai known as Takara."
* * *
Takara walked through the school halls, trying desperately to focus her mind on something other than Michiomaru. Her ears caught the sound of a scuffle, and she walked around the corner, curious as to what it was.
Three boys were pushing around a little freshman girl with long black hair, messy bangs, and a hat. Takara could smell youkai blood in her, but it was very faint. The girl was mostly human.
One of the boys tripped her, and her hat fell off of her head, revealing dog ears perched at the top of her head behind her bangs. There was a gasp from everyone who could see her.
"What type of a freak are you?" one of the boys yelled. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her feet, and then pushed her back against the wall. Takara stepped forward, grabbed his arm, and pulled him away from her, spinning him around to look him in the eye.
"Leave her alone," she hissed. She allowed her eyes to flash gold for a second, and the boy's eyes got wide.
"Another freak!" he exclaimed. He started to swing his other arm at her, and with lightening reflexes, she grabbed his wrist.
"Don't make me hurt you," she said. "Take your friends and get out of here."
His eyes narrowed. "Why don't you make me, freak?"
She hissed at him, flashing her fangs in his face. She smelled his fear as he tore his arms from her grasp and ran, his buddies close behind him. She watched them run, and then turned her attention to the girl in front of her. She looked terrified, and Takara smiled at her.
"Do not be afraid, demi-youkai [partial youkai]," she said in a whisper only loud enough for the two of them to hear. "I am like you."
She flashed her eyes gold again, and the girl nearly fainted from relief.
"Arigato [thank you]," she said softly. Takara looked around at the people who were still watching them.
"Come, let's go somewhere else," she suggested. The girl picked her hat up off of the ground, and placed it back on her head, covering her dog ears. Takara led her into the library, and found a vacant table to sit at.
"What is your name?" she asked the girl.
"I am Rei," she replied. "I just recently started attending this school."
Takara nodded. "My name is Takara. You are an inu youkai?"
Rei nodded. "My grandfather was a hanyou, and his otousan was a pure youkai. I don't have any charms to alter my appearance. I wear contacts to change my eye color, and this hat to cover my ears. I'm not very powerful though."
"There's nothing wrong with being a demi-youkai. The majority of the world's youkai nowadays are demi because of so much ninjen contact. I am also an inu youkai, though I have no ninjen blood in me."
Rei's eyes widened in admiration. "You're pure youkai?"
Takara smiled. "Yes. I would be glad to teach you how to use your powers. Even a demi-youkai has powers, and if you knew how to use them, I think you'd be a bit more confident in yourself."
Her face fell again. "Oh I couldn't. I'd feel too bad about hurting anyone."
"You don't have to hurt anyone, Rei-chan. I didn't hurt the boys who were messing with you. I just scared them. Being able to use your youkai powers doesn't mean you go around hurting people and being mean. It just means you have power that, when the time comes, you can use."
Rei looked down at the table and thought for a few moments.
"Takara?"
"Yes?"
"Teach me."