Disclaimer: I only own the characters I made up and this fic. I don't want to own YYH because I couldn't possibly come up with such a brilliant story line. Flames R accepted, as long as you tell me the reason for the flame.

As always, with all new fics, tell me if you like this fic or not! If you don't like it, I'll probably get discouraged and take it down.

Chapter One: An intruder

The smell of blood and decay was thick in the air. The sweat of the people that still battled mingled with this nauseating smell. It was surprising that anyone was able to stand this scent and continue to fight on. Amidst the center of this stood the fox prince, Youko Kurama. His silky silver hair was streaked with blood. He scowled. This battle had been raging on for over two decades. Skilled though his people were, the kitsune population was getting smaller. It hadn't been that large to begin with, and now this war was severely depleting his population. The enemies they fought against—the humans—had one thing to their advantage: their large number. The kitsune population had to recruit demons from other races to help them—even the lowest of the Makai rank was drawn into this to fight back against the humans.

And there was nothing he could do about it. Since this war had gone on for so long, nobody remembered how this war had started. Now people killed each other to avenge the deaths of their family members. Instead of this war being fought for a purpose, it was being fought with hatred and anger. Each side hated the opposing side with a passion. It was going to be very difficult to deprive a demon the right to quench their blood lust.

Youko was sick of it; he wanted this all to stop. He enjoyed a kill as much as the next demon, but there was no longer a point to it. The joy of the hunt and then the kill was gone. Now he only fought because he had to. He sighed with relief as the humans retreated.

"We'll be back!" the human leader screamed at Youko's father. "And don't think we've given up—we still out number you!"

Youko fixed a helpless gaze onto his father, Keaton. Keaton was a powerful demon—he had lived for close to a thousand years, which meant he was the oldest member of this kitsune clan. This made him king because he was obviously wise from the years he had lived. But he was getting tired of this fighting as well as his son. He was tired of living all together. After everything he had seen, he felt that the life he now lived wasn't worth it. The only reason he hadn't allowed himself to fall victim to a human's attack was because his son was still alive. He had yet to pass over the task of ruling over their diminishing population.

"Son," Keaton called.

Youko came, studying his father carefully. Keaton didn't seem to carry too many cuts. Of course the kitsune were able to heal the flesh wounds easily, but it was the mortal wounds that took longer to heal. His robes were singed, the silk melted to his skin from the flamethrowers the humans had used. His silver hair that Youko had inherited was caked with dried blood.

"Hai." the fox prince replied, afraid to ask if his father was ok. He took one look into the taller demon's sapphire eyes and knew the answer. The demon didn't have much longer to live. At last, he was unable to take it. "You can't die, Father! Where did those worthless humans harm you?" His golden eyes scanned his father's muscular form, searching frantically for a wound that would prove fatal.

Keaton smiled faintly. "You'll know without me telling you." The smile melted into a grimace of pain. "Help me walk." He hobbled towards his son.

Youko glanced down at the man's legs. They seemed fine, no blood or anything…yet his balance was completely off…and he seemed exhausted…but today's battle had been very short compared to the others…which meant… but it couldn't possibly be! "Father… your tail… has it—" He couldn't complete his sentence. The very thought of a kitsune's tail being cut off was too horrible to think about.

"Yes. I had an extensive number of ningen that surrounded me." He winced and clung to his son's shoulders. "The ones before me kept me from protecting my rear which left my tail vulnerable." He flashed him a brave smile. "I'll be fine…for the time being."

"But—"

"No buts. Get me home before I die here."

"Get some antibiotics!" Youko demanded, calling to the nurses that surrounded him.

"Sir, what happened to Lord Keaton?" one of the nurses asked nervously.

"His…t-tail has been cut off." It took an effort to finish this sentence as well. He did his best to ignore the nurse's frightened look.

"His tail, sir? B-but that means…"

"I know what it means! Get those antibiotics. Now."

The nurse bowed and darted off, getting the things.

"Youko. Come here. I want to tell you something."

Youko inched moved quickly towards his father. "What can I get you? The pain killers and antibiotics will be brought shortly."

"Forget those. I'm too old to live anyway."

The fox prince nodded in understanding. In truth, his father didn't look a day older than twenty. He wanted to argue with the king and tell him that he could still fight. When a kyubi no youko lost a tail, it left them off balanced. The fur on it was sensitive, able to sense movements in the air currents that gave them an advantage. But it served to keep their vast amount of Reiki under control as well. With his extra Reiki gone and his balance gone as well, there was no way he would be able to fight…much less survive under this war condition.

"You are my son and the only heir to the throne."

Youko did his best to fight back a grimace. He knew where this was going. It was a scary thought. He had lived for only 300 years. There was no way he'd have enough knowledge to rule the kitsune clan. "Hai…" he murmured.

"I'm turning my duties over to you. I'm tired of this war, you see. I think a young mind will put fresh ideas into stopping this nonsense."

"I don't know if I can do this…I'm so young."

"I wasn't much older than you when my father died. I didn't have a choice either. You must take this. I think that you may be able to stop this worthless battle. You can compromise with the ningen if you must."

"I can never compromise with such disgusting creatures! They killed you! They will pay for their disrespect!"

Keaton sighed. "That's the kind of thoughts that had kept this war active. Do what you must to stop this. Do you want your children to know war?"

"No…I'd rather know that they could live in peace without fear of the outside world."

"Good. Then find a way to stop this. And, while you're king, you need to find a mate to produce an heir incase you lose your life as well."

Youko blinked, contemplating over the options. The females that were left were beautiful because of their specie, but he had known them since he was a child. "A mate? But none of the females are to my liking."

Keaton laughed but it was cut short. He winced from the sharp pain he felt in his back. The pain from the severed tail ran up his spine and met at his head, causing it to pound painfully. "You'll find someone. Don't worry."

The nurses came at this moment, pushing Youko away from his dying father.

The full moon was up. Youko sat on the edge of a high cliff, his hair tossing with the breeze. His amber eyes were fixed on the moon. It was a sign of rebirth…but whenever he saw it, he only saw it as the rebirth of a new generation of killers. More death…

'How can this cycle end? I hate to have to consult these ningen face to face. I can't trust them. I'm positive that they'll kill me or maim me when my back is turned. That's what they did to my father.' He frowned. 'So how can I end this madness?'

"Intruder! There's an intruder in our territory!"

Youko looked behind him, watching a demon run towards him. "Ryu? What kind of intruder is it?"

Ryu was from a very rare and powerful demon specie. He was a dragon spirit. This meant he was able to use 3 forms instead of a regular demon's 2. He had a human, demon, and dragon form. He was currently in his demon form. Features from both his dragon and human form mixed together to create a person who was very easy on the eyes. His eyes were a radiant hue of blue. His hair was cropped short, the raven curls contrasting against his milky white skin. His build was muscular, but he moved fluidly—just like his third form moved when in flight.

Ryu bowed before his friend in a quick greeting. "We're uncertain. It smells human. I sought your help in deciding what to do with it."

The fox demon stood up. "This is something you should take to…" He trailed off. He almost said for Ryu to consult his father on this. His golden eyes focused on the ground in shame. It was a shameful thing to mourn over the loss of a deceased person—it was an unspoken law of his kind. He was sure his father didn't want him to show his weaknesses by visibly lamenting over his death.

The dragon spirit smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry for your loss, but I have heard he passed his rule on to you. You'll do fine." He reached out to clap Youko's shoulder.

"This is our intruder. It says that it wants to talk about ending this war…" The fox demon that guarded the intruder snorted. "Feh…as if a human could even have the intelligence to comprehend such a thing!"

"I'm not an 'it'! I'm a she!"

"A she?" Youko winced. "You are familiar with our laws. You cannot harm a female unless they've injured you first. Now untie her unless I say otherwise."

"But sir, she's a human!"

"Human or no, Maki, the law still applies."

Maki scowled. He grumbled something under his breath but untied the girl. He yanked the hooded cloak off of her. "Speak, or I'll kill you." He ignored Youko's glare.

The girl raised her eyes to Youko. "My mistress wants to talk to the ruler here."

Youko gazed at the girl for a moment without answering. He took in every aspect about her, committing her image to his memory. She was maybe about sixteen. She was beautiful, her amethyst eyes glimmering with anger at her treatment, and her azure hair tied into a ponytail. He was shocked. There was no way such a worthless group could create such a lovely being! He nodded slowly. "I'm the ruler."

"My mistress wants to talk to you about this war. She's decided that it needs to end. I'm sure you're tired of all this, too."

"You're joking. Why would a human want peace?" The dragon smirked. "What level of authority do you have with your people? And give me your name."

"I'm the mistress's closest friend—I fight by her side and risk my life for her. My name's Botan." She glared at Ryu. "Who are you?"

"I'm a dragon spirit. My name is Ryu." He caught Botan's confused look. "I understand that my specie isn't that of Youko's, but he is my friend. I've been adopted into this clan so he is my king as well. I fight by his side."

Youko watched the two argue and throw questions at one another. He held up a hand to stop Ryu from speaking further. "Look. We need to stop this, not start another battle against each other." He focused his attention more fully on Botan. "I understand your intentions for coming here. But why have you come here? If your people truly wanted this battle to end, I would expect your mistress to come here on her own terms. I see this as a trap. Forgive me if I am incorrect, but if you were in my position, I believe you would say and do the same things I have."

Ryu nodded his agreement. His sapphire eyes glittered with excitement. "Then what do we do with her? Do we give her back? Kill her?"

O.O I left a cliffie! Please don't hurt me!

Well, this is a new fic, like I said, so if you want I'll take it down. Flames are discouraging. If you flame, give me an open-minded reason for it.

If you review, I'll recognize you in the next chapter. If you've read my other fics, then you're familiar with how I do it, k? Pretty please review and tell me what you think!