Wind, Fire, and Fate
By: OmniSentinel

Chapter 1: Youkai embers

Naraku's shrouded fortress remained hidden from all curious travelers, beyond the fortified stonewalls. The evil hanyou summoned his obedient youkai, Kagura. She entered his dimly lit chamber and stood before him. Naraku had his back turned, and he stared up at the night sky, lost in thought. His eyes widened, sensing Kagura behind him, and he unfolded his legs and stood up, turning to face her. Kagura wasn't sure what her master was thinking, but she knew that he only summoned her when he had knowledge on where a jewel shard was.

"Kagura…" he said in a stern tone, while glaring at her, "…I want you to travel to the southern lands, I have been informed that there are two jewel shards in that region, and I want you to retrieve them." Naraku commanded.

Kagura nodded in agreement, and felt that there was something he wasn't telling her, "Is there anything else?" she asked.

Naraku turned his back and looked back up at the night sky, "…there is one more thing. It is my belief that there is already a large number of youkai after the shards, if you encounter any opposition, I want you to deal with them accordingly. Is that understood?" he asked, the wind sorceress nodded once more and left the room.

Three days later…a horde of youkai began advancing towards a large farming village, the ground shook as they charged forward. A small group of villagers harvesting the seasonal crops dropped what they were doing and noticed the large dust cloud a few hundred yards away. One of the farmers began shouting, warning everyone. The small group of farmers ran towards their village and went into hiding. Only a handful of men remained outside, all yielding crudely made swords, they were ready to defend their families to the death.

Sweat ran down the face of one of the men, as he looked on at the horde of different youkai, "There are so many of them, how are we going to stop them?" he asked his nearby friend.

"I don't know, but I don't want to be here." Replied his trembling friend. Just as the situation grew more intense, a shadow loomed overhead. The small group of lightly armed men looked up, a young man hovered above the heavens. The flying man stopped above them and looked down, giving a coy smile.

"If I were you guys, I'd run back to your families!" shouted the young man. The group of men looked at each other, uncertain of what to do. "I said, RUN BACK TO YOUR FAMILIES!" shouted the young man. The horde of youkai drew so close that the men bounced up and down, as the ground shook violently. Without further thought, the men ran back to the village and locked themselves inside of their houses.

The young man descended down towards the earth and landed softly on the ground, not disturbing the blades of grass. He stood proud, staring the rampaging youkai, and pulled back his long black hair. With a simple wave of his hand, a towering wall of fire shoot up behind him, and the youkai slowed down, apparently confused.

"Brainless bastards! Don't you know that you should bow down before a far more superior youkai?" shouted the young man, who announced that he was indeed a demon. He glared angrily at the horde of youkai and gritted his teeth, as they glared back at him, "Hear my name, and tremble before it, because it's the last time you mongrels will live to hear it! I am…" pausing for half a second, the youkai horde burst into flames, they all shouted and writhed in pain as the intense heat seared their flesh. Their skin blistered and turned a crimson red, as it burned away with a relentless fury. "…Kaijin"

The smell of burning flesh traveled towards the small village, and the wall of fire died down. The villagers cautiously came out of their houses and walked towards the young man. Kaijin stood in the middle of the dead demons and began breaking open the carcasses, searching for something amidst the charred torsos', when one of the village men approached him from behind.

In a nervous tone he spoke to Kaijin, "E-Excuse me young man…we'd like to thank you for stopping those demons. We want show you our gratitude by inviting you to our humble village for a feast…" asked the villager, but the young man not once replied, he just continued picking through the blackened remains, curious the villager asked, "a-are you looking for something?"

Kaijin stopped, and turned his head, "As a matter of a fact I am. One of these wretched creatures has something valuable, but I'm not sure which one has it…" before he could say anymore on the subject, one of the charred youkai began to regenerate, grabbing a nearby girl. Kaijin quickly stood up, now knowing which one had the shard.

The villagers moved away from the girl and youkai, and pleaded that the young man help her, he walked over coolly and before the youkai could fully regenerate, punched it behind the skull, making a large hole in its head. He pulled his fist out and plunged it into the youkai's back. It squirmed, as he searched around inside of it, until finally finding what he was looking for. He pulled his hand out and held a bloody jewel shard in his hand. The youkai burst into a smoldering pile of ash and was blown away by the gentle breeze.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the girl, she hugged Kaijin and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He froze, surprised by the gesture, and pushed her away.

"Why did you do that?" he asked. All the villagers gave him a confused look, as he hid the shard in the palm of his hand. Not wanting to look arrogant, he apologized, "I'm sorry, I'm not used to human contact." He looked down at the ground and apologized to the young girl, "I'm so sorry, I've never been kissed…it was unexpected." He said in a melancholy tone.

The young girl approached him again and bent down slightly, trying to catch a glimpse of his eyes. "You shouldn't apologize, I should be the one apologizing to you. I should've asked your permission first." She said while smiling. The majority of the villagers walked back towards the village, gathering wood and food, for the banquet they wanted to give Kaijin.

"I didn't catch your name, could you please tell it to me?" she asked.

Kaijin pulled back his long hair and raised his head, revealing his fiery red eyes, "my name is Kaijin, and as you can plainly tell, I'm a youkai. And I apologize in advance, if I seem distant, but most humans would rather take my head, than thank me." He replied.

"Not all of us are like that…" she said, suddenly she said something completely unexpected, as she stared at him shyly "…y-you're quite handsome, and you have the most beautiful eyes that I've ever seen."

Kaijin's face lit up, "what? No girl has ever said that to me, what's your name, if I may be so bold as to ask."

She smiled and placed her hand on his cheek, "its Sachi…" she unexpectedly grabbed his wrist and pulled him behind her, "…come on! We should get back to the village, you have to meet everyone!" she smiled.

Ten miles away, not to far from the village, Kagura sensed the nearby jewel shards. The wind sorceress could smell the stench of burnt flesh in the air, and she remained motionless, thinking to herself, "…I sense the shards nearby…but I also detect the presence of another demon. This could be a problem." She sank into the shadows and disappeared, planning to investigate later at night.

…End chapter.