Nippon(Japan)

The Feudal Era

"Damn it all!"

There was a massive upheaval of ground as a grand blade struck and caused the earth to tear about while the shockwave ripped forward from the impact point. At least five waves surged forth at the black shadow, but even then, the howling energy winds failed to make any injury to the creature.

With his dog-like ears upon the top of his head, the white haired man wielding the massive fang-blade roared in anger before resuming his run. "How the hell could that thing survive the Wound of Wind like that!" he muttered while trying to catch up with his companions. Already, he could heard the infant cries of a child, which made him even more worried that he'd not been able to fight away the being that hunted them. Golden yellow eyes flashing to his sword, he leapt up just in time, for a mass of shadowy blades flared from the ground in attempt to impale him.

"You wann'a play rough!" he cried while turning about and bringing up his sword to aim at the black creature. "Fine! Let's see how you handle the full power of Tetsusaiga!"

Air billowed around the fang-blade even as the shadow rose into the air after the animalistic young man. It seemed to roar in sadistic delight as blades surged forward from its body, and a hollow voice came forth into the air. "You cannot kill hate itself, hanyou!"

"Blast Dragon Wave!"

The winds exploded roaring forth as a massive dragon-headed tornado. For a moment, the part-spirit man gave a smile as his foe appeared to be torn apart by the powerful attack that was the greatest power of the Tetsusaiga. Ground was reduced to a massive cloud of dust, and with the amount of debris that now clattered to the earth, the wave must have destroyed its target.

His smile vanished into a horrified gasp, however, as the shadow came forward out of the dust cloud and still came at him, body formed into uncountable amounts of blades. With a grunt, the hanyou brought his sword about and fired off another wind blast, one that finally impacted against the shadow and caused it to fall back. "You can be hurt!" he cried even as he descended back down to the earth. The moment his feet touched ground, he was off again, sheathing his sword into the scabbard at his left side. There was a spark of light around the blade as it transformed into a normal katana, revealing even more to the uninformed of its powerful magic nature.

"Do you truly think that you," came that same, cold and hollow voice. "You, who are filled with anger, can kill Hatred itself!"

He continued running, trying to ignore the shadowy creature. "I know that I've killed worse than you, demon!" he replied sharply. The shadow was quickly approaching again, and without the time to draw his sword, the hanyou used the claws on his hands to lightly cut open the top of his left arm, and flung the blood out at the creature. "Flying Blood Blade Claw!"

With the cry and motion, the blood on his claws flew out as bright red blades, slamming into the shadow and again causing it to slow momentarily. The hanyou took the chance to jump forward, spanning a distance of almost ten meters in a single leap. He wasn't far now from his own goal, but he could only hope that and those he hurried to met could escape in time.

There. Standing near an ancient well was his quarry. A young woman, looking about nineteen years of age, dressed in a silken kimono, waited for him. Fastened to a necklace around her neck was a glowing lilac jewel sphere, but there seemed to be a piece missing from it. In her arms was an infant, who bore the hanyou's own white hair and doggish ears. The child, as he had thought, was the source of the cries. He smiled faintly while gently stroking the baby's head, then looked to the woman with concern. "Are you sure this is the only way?"

There were tears, he now saw, in her eyes, but she nodded. "He can't stay here with us," the young woman replied. Her eyes glanced to the sword, but the thought died even as it formed. "So long as he's in my time, Ikari can't touch him, nor will the Jewel of Souls be complete."

"Meaning that the youkai can't claim the power it truly grants," the hanyou finished. He sighed, but knew that this was the only way to safeguard everything. "How do we know when he will end up?"

She shook her head. They both knew that, using the Jewel for this purpose, there was no way to know when their child would enter the other side of the well. It was all too possible that, because of the Jewel, he wouldn't even appear in the well, but somewhere else. It was a risk they had to take.

The roars pealed in the air, and the hanyou quickly drew his sword even as the baby began to cry again. With a glance back to the child and the young woman, he growled. "We don't have much time!" he yelled. "Get him out of here!"

She hesitated, then nodded and vaulted over the side of the well. She could heard a painful scream from above, and then, there was only laughter. A cruel hollow laughter, and she knew that her beloved was dead. As the bottom of the well approached, a burst of light opened before them. She almost thought that she could survive herself to raise her son, but then, her arms opened as she felt something stab into her back. Her own descent ended, but her child continued and was engulfed by the opening in time, leaving him at least to be safe from the horror that hunted them.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, even as she was pulled back up out of the well and slammed to the ground. The last thing she saw was the cold empty eyes looking down at her, and then, nothing.


Seattle, Washington

1987

There was an odd silence in the night. The moon hung full in the sky, and not a single cloud dared to pass over it. Even then, it was seemingly peaceful.

But then, the streetlights flickered while a pin-point of light formed on the doorstep of a two-story house. The light expanded out, burning the white paint of the front door, then collapsed in to reveal the tightly wrapped bundle that was the white haired infant.

"What was that noise?"

The door opened, revealing a woman in her mid-twenties. She looked about, then heard the cries to look down and see the infant child. She bent down quickly, gently picked up the bundle, then looked about for any sign of who could have left this poor baby on their doorstep like this.

"Ryan!" she called while looking back into the house. "Ryan, come here!"

In response, a brunette man stepped over and looked down on the child. "What in the world?"

"Someone just left this baby on our doorstep," the woman replied. "Where do you think they went?"

The man narrowed his eyes as he felt the infant's ears, and gave a raised brow when he discovered that these ears were real. "What kind of baby is this?" he muttered while brushing aside the baby's hair to find there were no human ears where there should have been. "Dog ears on his head, no ears where they should be, and he appeared out of nowhere."

The woman nodded, then noticed the baby's eyes opening to reveal the large sunset golden irises in his eyes. He yawned, and as result gave a sound that was much like that of a newborn puppy. The woman gave a small smile before turning and walking into the house. "He's all alone," she began, glancing to her husband with expecting eyes. "And we've been trying for children for a while now with no luck yet."

The man frowned. Something seemed so odd about all this, and the fact that this baby most definitely wasn't normal didn't help the situation. "Grace, we don't know where he came from. Hell, just look at those ears of his. He's obviously not remotely near normal. We-"

He stopped when the baby gazed at him, giving a look that seemed to be able to melt hearts in an instant. With a sigh, he smiled and then slowly nodded. "Alright. We'll go out tomorrow and get things taken care of legally." He then gently rubbed the infant's head, getting a small yelp from the child like the kind a pleased puppy would give. "I just wonder how we're going to explain how different he is."