The Town Beyond The Horizon

Donuas isn't a main character so don't harm yourself trying to say his name. Just pronounce it 'dough-new-us'.
Aiosheou: pronounce it as 'I-owe-shoe'
I own Warren Raven, Donuas, General Gornyu, Orchid Raven, Haikka, Damilo, Theresa, Eric, and any extras.
Inuyasha and co. are purely Rumiko Takahashi's, as you all know.

Sorry for the awful piratey dialogue of Warren and Donuas, but I was trying to make them sound a little like Kaede's villagers.
If you read this fic can you please not read Reflections In Your Tears, my other Inu fanfic, because it may sound the same. If you do anyway, please don't comment saying the plot is the same because it isn't!
Below is the dictionary!

TAINTED: I redefine the meaning of tainted in this fic. A 'tainted couple' means a couple that has at least one half-demon in it, or involves a demon loving a human. Get it? Tainted blood?
HANYOU: Half-demon
MIKO: Priestess

Chapter Two
Tainted

The forest, Warren found, was pleasant that morning. After all, the storm had long since stopped and now the sun played across thousands of water droplets slowly being shed by their wearers.
Peaceful…

Her cart all but spoiled the tranquillity. It clattered to and fro, the horses before her weren't exactly the prettiest things around, and the cart was old – it creaked with every pothole in the pitiful road leading to the village Aiosheou.

Warren shut her eyes; shutting out all of the beauties nature offered her. None of it mattered, not anything mattered, except preventing that same disaster…
"Mother!" Orchid giggling. The sun washing through the flowing tent flap. Haikka raising Orchid on his shoulders, grinning. The love that flowed between the young couple. Warren's happiness at seeing her daughter settling down…

A lone tear traced its way down Warren's face. Orchid, her one and only daughter – her only child – had been gone for decades. But her ghost still haunted Warren's dreams, still made her wake sweaty yet cold in the middle of the night.

"Lady Warren!"
Upon hearing this cry, Warren tugged on the reins – causing the horses to let out cries of displeasure. They tossed their heads from side to side, refusing to stop, but eventually came to a chaotic halt.

Warren peered over the edge of her cart, her wrinkly face creased in annoyance – her beady eyes narrowed. She stared at the human before her, and then nodded, respectfully. He was one of her own – a villager that she'd raised since he was a boy. His name was Donuas.

Not only that, he was a scout – someone she sent out to search for potential villagers she could steal away to her haven. Of course Sanctuary was about a day's trek away from here, but on her cart Warren could make it back in around three hours.

She herself was on a business trip. She was going to try and buy a hanyou child from a village in the north. They were planning to kill her, and Warren felt she had to do something. There was always this urge to protect. To stop what happened to her daughter and to Haikka… she had to stop it happening again…

Donuas was panting beneath her. He'd been running and his cheeks were pink with fatigue. "Lady Warren," he said again. Then, suddenly filling with energy, he turned and jabbed furiously in a certain direction, pointing. "Over yonder," he gasped out, "There be a tainted couple taking shelter within Angel's Blessin',"

Warren shifted to a comfortable position and leaned back on her wooden bench, frowning down at the man. "'Angel's Blessing'?" she repeated, "The cove beside Heaven's Falls?"

"Aye," Donuas nodded, sucking in deep breaths. He bent over and placed his hands on his knees, gasping for oxygen as if he were drowning in air. "Using the cove for its purpose – shelter from the storm, Miss. He be draping her arm around her, Miss – I believe them to be together."

Warren raised an eyebrow elegantly, leaning down to stare at Donuas' face. He wasn't lying to her. "Hm. They still be asleep?" she quizzed, cupping her chin with one hand.

Donuas nodded and a wry smile crept across his face. "They be the hanyou and miko that dominate these parts, Miss. Those rumours… we be told they were friends, but it appears–"

"They are alone?" Warren interrupted.
Donuas blinked twice, then he nodded. "Aye, m'lady. And sleepin'. What's the plan?"
Warren smiled mischievously. "There be no plan, Donuas. You know I act on impulse." She paused, then smiled generally. "You've done well,"

Donuas bowed.
Warren nodded, then climbed down the ladder to the ground. "Go forth to Aiosheou and buy the hanyou child," She threw a bag of coins at him, which he caught with ease.

Warren pointed at him. "Do not take no for an answer. Whatever the price, be sure to bring that child back to Sanctuary – understand?"

"Understood, Miss." Donuas nodded.
Warren looked around, and then grimaced. "So, Angel's Blessing, eh?"
Donuas smiled and nodded. "Aye, m'lady." With that, he turned to go.

Warren looked away into the forest trees, deep in thought. "Donuas…"
He froze. "Yes, Miss?"
Warren frowned. "This couple. Be they young?"

Donuas opened his mouth, then shut it. He sighed, without turning to face her. "You know, Miss. They always are. They be teenagers. He be the same age as Lord Haikka–"

Donuas didn't finish. He realised too late that he'd said the wrong thing. He clamped his mouth shut and shook his head, angry with himself. "Forgive me, Miss. I spoke out of turn."
But there was no reply, no snapping tone, no being reminded not to mention Lord Haikka again.
Donuas frowned. "Miss…?"

He turned, but Lady Warren was already gone.

They were asleep, just as Donuas had said. Their upper bodies were jutting out slightly from the cove, the girl lying on her right side and the boy curled up behind her – his arm draped over her waist affectionately.

The startling thing was that the boy had long silver hair, not to mention canine ears atop his head. It wasn't unusual for Warren because she'd never seen a teenager with snow-white hair; it was unusual because she had seen someone with that hair. He'd been called Haikka.

Warren stepped forward, not one to sneak. She knew her steps would go unheard, her presence would remain unnoticed.

As she got closer, she saw the boy was smiling – dreaming wistfully; it seemed he dreamt of a future he didn't think he could have, but could close his eyes to see.
Warren pulled herself out of his head. She knew she shouldn't spy, but her morals told her better.

It was far more dangerous not to know what other people were thinking – others would contradict her, but she knew better.
For months she had kept out of Haikka's head and when she had seen what was behind that veil it had been too late.

Too late for Orchid, that is.
And this boy… this new boy – the hanyou – he looked so much like Haikka that it made anger boil in the pit of Warren's stomach.
She knew then, what she had to do.

Warren's powers didn't just extend to reading people's minds. She had telekinesis on her side…
Because Warren was a new kind of witch. Not one who danced and chanted and sang about nature. She was one with powers.

And with a flick of her wrist, the hanyou was gone. Well, who was to say telekinesis couldn't develop into teleportation? A cliché but Warren found it very useful.

Next she surveyed the girl… and felt a stabbing pain in her heart. Distantly, upon seeing the boy, she had known what to expect. But she hadn't actually thought that–
She crouched down next to the sleeping girl and felt her insides knot up.

She endured it as her punishment. Her punishment of letting Haikka take Orchid down to the woods that day. If she had somehow stopped him…
"Orchid…" she whispered, feeling the bitterness overwhelm her.

Hatefully, she glared at the girl who resembled her daughter. She snapped her fingers. Kagome disappeared.
Warren slowly stood up, the weight of her years seeming to increase gravity. She frowned and snapped her fingers again.

With a blur of light as her location switched, Warren sighed. And then, she was no longer by a gushing waterfall. She was standing beside her cart. And she knew the tainted couple were inside.
Warren clambered to the top of her cart, sat on her bench once more and pulled on the reins.

The horses came back to life. She made a U-turn, directing the horses to head the way they'd come. They neighed in acceptance, wheels beginning to groan as their hooves punished the ground they stepped on.
Warren's heart felt heavy – even though she was going home.

She held her head high, facing the blinding sunlight.
"Sanctuary, here we come."