Lone Wolf
I stand alone…
By Crystal Arrow
Disclaimer- You will notice that there are a lot of original characters in this story, along with the characters from Inuyasha. Please get it through your thick skull that I don't own any of the Inuyasha characters, but all of the original characters, which I am hoping you're able to discern on your own.
Chapter Seven: A New Future
For days Aiko traveled alone, masking her scent, hiding her trail, and training herself. Training herself to be stronger, and how to master her own abilities. After much practice, she found that she had a very valuable ability, not rare, but hard to perfect. At will, Aiko could transform from demon, to wolf, to human even. By hiding her yokai blood, she could actually return to her human self the same in every aspect but the pain she felt in knowing she wasn't human, it was just a mask. And like this she traveled, never encountering more then mere animals or low-life demons that had no mind of their own. She avoided contact with people, for fear of being shunned, for though she knew little of what daily life was like in the feudal era of Japan, she knew that as a demon, she would never fit into a human population, in the past or the future.
Things carried on this way for a few months, traveling, training, fighting, and staying invisible. And over this course of time, she slowly began to collect something very powerful, though she did not know it consciously. These powerful objects were none other than fragments of the shikon jewel. Now, many know that demons are attracted to its power, however, Aiko doesn't. She thought nothing of the fact that as she collected more of the small jewel fragments more demons that possessed them tended to attack her. She just thought it a coincidence and continued on her way to nowhere.
That is until one day, her life once again found purpose. It began like any other day, she woke up, she ate some fruit she might find around her, train for a bit, then just start walking. However, on this autumn day something different happened. On this day, she chose to walk as a human for once, just this once, so that maybe, just maybe, she might be able to talk to some people if she met them. Little did she know, that her decision to walk as a human that day would save an entire village from destruction by a shard possessing ogre.
Aiko had been walking for several hours already that day, and was beginning to tire when she heard screaming in the distance. Because she had chosen not to walk as a demon that day, she had come dangerously close to a village which was now under attack that she would before have passed by long before she ever knew a village was there and even if she did know, have avoided it. But now, she was closer than a mile to the village and despite her weaker human hearing, and she could easily hear the screams of terror coming from the village. She subconsciously turned towards the village and began walking towards the village instead of past it. Damn myself and my weak heart!! Aiko thought as she began to pick up her pace. Soon enough she was at a full run approaching the village. The leg flaps of the kimono she had acquired a while back from an abandoned caravan came open as she ran at nearly demon speed to the village ahead. As she reached the village, she halted. The site before was unlike anything she had ever seen before. A once peaceful rice-harvesting village lay in shambles dead bodies lay strewn across the fields, makeshift weapons strewn around them, and a huge ogre that towered above even the trees in the center of the field roaring hideously a barely understandable message. "Give me the shikon jewel!!! I know it is somewhere near, bring it to me!!!"
Aiko stood in shock on the edge of the clearing. Jewel, I have a jewel, is he destroying this village because of me? Aiko brought the small collective fragment she had gathered over her time in the feudal era and looked down upon it as it shimmered and glimmered in the mid-day sun, oblivious to the evil around it. She recalled how when she had first gotten them, they had been black, but upon her touch, they had turned white and pure, then joined with the other shards she had collected. They had been evil, but turned pure with her touch…. That was her only comfort that she was not just another evil demon. However, now, because of the jewel, the village was in ruins. I will not stand for this! I don't care how strong that bad ass demon is, or what the villagers will think of me, but I will not simply stand aside while he destroys them all!
As she came to this conclusion, she saw what appeared to be an old miko approach the ogre. She raised her hands as if in a peace offering and shouted out in a strong yet feeble voice. "What is it that ye want, ogre?"
The ogre stood tall and glared down at the tiny woman. Her hair had long gone gray, and she stood barely over four feet tall, thin and petite. In comparison to the ogre, she was a perfect fit under his pinky. With a growl, the ogre responded to the old miko's question, "I have already said what I want, I want the shikon jewel!"
"I am afraid you must be mistaken ogre, for there are no jewels in this here village, especially not one with so grand a name as the Shikon no tama."
"IT IS HERE!" he roared in response as he raised his hand to strike her, the miko was hidden under the shadow of the ogre's hand yet still standing tall when a voice interrupted ever so rudely.
"Hey, ugly!!" the voice shouted. The ogre's head shot up as he quickly scanned the surrounding area for the owner of the voice. He was rewarded with a view of a human girl standing on the edge of the clearing, hands on her hips, she dressed in a plain blue kimono with a green obi. Long waving black hair surrounded her, piercing green eyes staring him down.
"What did you say?" the ogre asked in disbelief.
" I said, 'HEY UGLY!!'" The girl yelled in answer.
"GGRRR, you would be smart to watch you're tongue wench!"
"No, I think you would be smart to take your hand away from the old woman and get the fuck out of this village." The girl said this in absolute calm, almost mocking the monster before her.
"I WILL LEAVE WHEN I HAVE WHAT I CAME FOR, NOW BE SILE……"
"Is this what you want?" The girl, Aiko asked, holding the jewel fragment up for him to see. The ogre fell silent mid-sentence, his eyes drawn to the sparkling galore of the jewel held up between Aiko's slender fingers. His eyes seemed to sparkle, the hope and desire he had for the jewel reflecting outwards through his eyes.
"Give it to me!" He yelled snapping out of his stupor, outstretching his hand for it.
"Ha! Not in your lifetime!!" Aiko mocked, tossing the jewel into the air, and expertly catching it and stashing it within her obi.
The ogre stepped forth a few steps, growling once more. "I said give it to me you fucking bitch!"
"My, my, aren't we greedy, and quite rude!" Aiko continued mocking him, shaking her finger at him. "I may be a bitch, but I most certainly do not 'fuck' anything as you put it so sincerely in you last statement."
"Stupid human!" The ogre stepped closer, the old miko now standing clearly several yards behind him, and the survivors of the village safe in the distance and off the ogre's mind.
Aiko laughed, holding her head and stomach in glee. "You have to be the stupidest beast I've come across thus far!" Great, this is going just according to my plans! "Me, human!!?" Aiko laughed harder.
"Do not mock me, human!" The ogre closed the distance in a charge in which he picked Aiko up and then slammed her into a tree. As he removed his hand, Aiko fell to the ground, winded. " Now give me the jewel!"
Aiko stood slowly, gasping for air. She could feel a few crushed ribs, and she could taste the bit of blood in her throat, some of the broken ribs had pierced her lungs. Guess I took the mocking a bit too far. Hehe. Aiko stood up straight and glared up at the beast towering over her. " Well, now you've done it, now you've gone and pissed me off!"
"And what are you going to do, weakling!?" The ogre growled.
"Why, kill you of course!" Aiko stated as though she was the one towering over the ogre.
The said ogre was shocked into laughter. "You? A measly human, kill me? Bwahhahahh!"
"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you." Aiko interrupted.
" And why not? A human like you could never possibly even hope to kill me!"
"You're stupider than I first thought. Who ever said I was human?" With that, Aiko transformed into her humanoid demon form, the light blue stripes returning to her cheeks, and her tail practically sprouting out from behind her. Her already long hair grew and fangs came in instead of her canines. Last of all, the sign of the star and moon returned to her forehead. "Still laughing?"
The ogre fell silent. A snarl came unto his lips. "That doesn't mean you can defeat me, bitch."
All laughter and mocking had left Aiko as she glared up at the Ogre. "Yes it does." The ogre growled then lunged at Aiko. Everything was over in a flash. Aiko landed behind the ogre, her claws extended before her. They stood for a second that way, then the ogre collapsed forwards, blood flooding from a gash across his throat. With a flick of her wrist, the blood was gone from her long slender hands. She stared down at the ogre's carcass without emotion before turning to make her way back into the forest from whence she came.
"Wait, child!"
Aiko turned around to stare down upon the tiny miko of the village that lie in shambles. " My lady yokai, we thank ye for you help." Aiko continued to stare down at the woman. "Would you allow us to repay your kindness, milady?"
"I need not your kindness, but to be on my way."
"Then you lie, for it plain as day in your eyes you desire it."
"I don't know what you mea……." Aiko was cut sort as the tiny miko somehow managed the knock her unconscious, she fell to the ground with a soft thud, her world closing in around her.
Author's note: Look at that, I actually updated, and I put cliffhanger! Nice! Sorry I haven't updated in forever. I can't promise I'll update more; I have a lot of time constraints. But I can say I'll try! And thanks to everyone who reviews, it really makes me want to keep writing! Thanks!
Crystal Arrow