Chap 1
Koga and the others were lying asleep in a cave when they heard the scream. Koga and his wolves woke up instantly, but Hakkaku and Ginta didn't even stir. 'I'll have to leave them this time…' he thought. So he and the wolves set off in the direction from which they had heard the scream. 'That didn't sound like a demon… it was definitely a human.'
They hadn't gone far before they found her. She was a small girl. Only about ten years old. She was laying there, a bloody mass on the road. Koga went closer, and turned her so that her face was facing upwards. He studied her wounds. You couldn't tell right away that she was a girl due to all the scratches on her face. Then his eyes fell on her chest. The stinking demon had ripped her little heart out.
So, Koga lifted her off the ground, and they went off to the nearest village which was not far away to find her parents. When Koga stepped into the village, all the villagers stopped talking, and those close to their homes rushed their children inside. Some of them, mostly women, screamed at the sight of the little girl. Koga just ignored them, and walked to the centre of the market place, and lay the girl down.
"Who are the parents of this child?" he called. No answer. "Anyone?"
An old lady came running out of the crowd, her face covered in tears. "Kyoko! What has this filthy demon done to you?" She ran up to the corps and wept. As he watched all this, Koga was thinking. 'Hmm… what kinda demon would do such a thing… a crow demon? No… couldn't be… there's something fishy about this…' Then Koga walked over the body and examined it closely. The old woman stood up and barred his way.
"You'll not come a step closer to Kyoko!" she yelled.
But Koga just ignored her and went even closer to examine the body. The old woman ran at him, fists clenched, and when Koga didn't stop, she punched him. The blow merely stopped Koga for a second or two.
"Don't go blaming me for this you old hag! I didn't do anything to your little Kyoko." Koga said in frustration.
"What's done this to her then?" asked the old woman curiously.
"Don't you think I'd have told you if I knew? Now get out of the way so I can examine the corps!"
The old woman got out of the way this time, and Koga walked over to the dead girl's body. He turned over. There was a wound there too. It looked as though some kind of bird had tried to pick her up. There were rips in her shirt, and the scratches didn't like claws of any demon that lived on land. Koga was sure. Some sort of bird demon had tried to pick her up with his talons and failed, and had feasted on her hear at the spot. But why had it not eaten her flesh?
"What has the girl been doing?" Koga asked.
At first, the old woman was taken aback, but quickly answered. "Early this morning, Kyoko went to look for something to use for making a fire in the desert."
'Hmm... what kind of demon lives in the desert, and doesn't eat the flesh, and only the heart?' Koga's thoughts were disturbed when a several villagers screamed. Koga looked up and saw a pack of large hyena demons approaching, and ran towards them to head them off.
The hyena demons were big, and were strong. But Koga beat them easily with his pack of wolves. When all seven of the hyenas were dead, Koga wondered why the demons had come all the way into the village. They usually stayed and ate scraps that were left in the desert terrains.