Lost Dogs
An "Inuyasha" Fanfiction by
Nicole G.
Authors Note: I'm not one to cling to the canon of a series as if it were a security blanket when writing my fics. I relish in creating original characters and seeing what I can do with them to mess with those of canon. If you can't handle some severe canon mauling, stop reading now. This fic focuses on an OC named Akima, and Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha and the others may make an appearance, but I doubt it, because most of the fic takes place before Inuyasha is even born. They'll be in the sequel I'm planning though.
Also, I'm warning you now that I sometimes write rather short chapters. For example, this chapter's about 1 and 1/2 MSWorks pages long, while chapter two is four, and chapter three is only about 1 and 1/4 pages. it fluctuates. There'll probably be a few really long chapters, seperated out by shorter ones. Basically, when the setting/scene changes, I start a new chapter.
Ah, and I didn't know Sesshoumaru's fathers name. I've seen several different ones used in fanfics. I used the one that seems to occur most often. InuTaisho.
Chapter One: Perpetually Unnerving
The warm, salty sea air tickled Akima's sensitive nose and blew her shoulder length, red-brown hair in a wild veil around her head as she stood upon the lonely cliff, staring out over the see at the mainland in the distance. She knew to whom those lands belonged, her father was a close friend of the Lord of the Western lands, InuTaisho, but she had never visited them. In fact, Akima had never left the Isle of the Moon. Most of her pack hadn't. They were a strange breed, the inu youkai of the isle, and did not blend well on the mainland as other inu did. They were of a more wild breed, more closely related to wolves or coyote than most of them would care to admit than other inu were. Having been isolated on the Isle for so many centuries, they had grown physically different from their cousins on mainland Japan. Smaller, yet swifter, they were more suited to guerilla-type warfare and spy operations than the all-out battles that their larger cousins engaged in, but they were no weaklings. Akima, though, was strange even amongst the inu of the Isle. Her mothers coyote blood left her with abilities no other inu possessed.
Coyotes are tricksters by nature you see. For one, they have three "natural" forms. There is the human one, which many prefer, the "natural" form akin to those of inu, and a second "natural" form wherein they look not like youkai at all, but regular coyotes. This third form was by far the most useful, for in it they not only lacked demonic appearance, but their demonic auras were nearly invisible to all but the most powerful youkai. In addition, unlike other youkai, the transition from one form to another was almost instantaneous. If you blink, you miss it.
Of course, Coyote have their weaknesses as well. Despite their swiftness and adaptability, they are not as large as inu in their comparable natural forms, nor are they as numerous. Coyote have a nasty habit of shunning other creatures and going off on their own. As a result, their numbers are steadily dwindling, and any power they might have once had has vanished. It is no longer unusual for them to take inu, or more commonly wolves, as mates, if they mate at all, and their bloodlines have become so thin and muddled with other canine breeds so as to be almost unrecognizable.
Akima's mother was one of those rare, pure-blooded coyote youkai, so Akima's coyote blood is just as strong, if not stronger, than her inu half. None of her uniquely coyote abilities were lost, yet she has the strength of an inu.
"Akima," the familiar voice of her father pulled her from her reverie, and Akima turned her pale, blue-grey eyes towards him, but remained silent. He had a worried look on his face, as if he would like to be anywhere but where he was at that very moment. She turned her face back towards the sea, but watched him out of the corner of her eye, waiting for him to speak.
"It is becoming clear to me, that any hopes I may have held for producing a male heir are futile," he began. Akima's breath caught in her throat. Here it comes, she thought. The whole courts been talking about fixing me up with someone, and now one of his mainland allies or somebody has come forward with son…
"Tsume-"
"No," Akima said firmly before he could even continue. She knew where this was going. Tsume was a high-ranking inu under her father, and she knew he'd had his eye on her for some time, but she wanted nothing to do with him.
"Tsume approached me and asked about mating with you..."
"I said no," Akima snapped, refusing to look at him.
"Akima, be reasonable. Tsume is strong. He-"
"No," she reiterated.
"Why not?"
"Because I 'm not going to mate with someone I can't even stand to be in the same room with. Tsume cannot be trusted. He's a vile, spineless-"
"That is enough," her father snapped. "Akima, I'm trying to be reasonable with you. You're a very... indepentent... woman and I understand that, but the time has come for you to settle down with someone. If you cannot find someone yourself, I have no choice but to find someone for you. If I'm killed, I need to know that you'll be taken care of."
She turned to face her father then, and there was a coldness in her gaze he had never seen before.
"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," she said quietly. "As you well know. Is this you talking, or your advisors?"
He was silent for a moment, not sure of how to respond. Akima just stared icily back at him, unblinking.
"My advisors are just that, Akima. Advisors. I take their suggestions into account, but in the end I make my own decisions. I know you are strong Akima, believe me I do. But no matter how capable you or I know you are to rule, no one else does. You do not have their confidence, and that is just as important as any skill in battle or diplomacy."
"Because Tsume is so much more likable," Akima spat.
"He is-"
"Exactly. He's a male, and that's all that matters, right? So long as it's male, you don't care who I'm with." She bowed slightly and excused herself then, vanishing into the palace, leaving her father standing alone on the cliff to decide how to deal with his headstrong daughter.
A/N: FYI, Sesshoumaru shows up for the first time in chapter six.
Next Chapter: We meet Sessh's mother and father, and Akima gets into a shouting match over her dislke of Tsume
