Wow, our second installment already started and it is not even the next day here yet. Thank you, our two first reviewers, especially misikoblossom! Well, on to the show, right, Over?

I feel like a member of the three stooges, only there are only two of us.

Err, right. Disclaimer time!

Neither of us own Inuyasha. That is something Rumiko Takahashi has the creative prowess to make and claim. Over is the originator of the Sesshoumaru/Toran pairing, as well as the contributor of much of the Inuyasha information, while JulyFlame is the one able to claim most of this fic as her idea. We both alternate writing, with Over starting.

Toran lay over her master's corpse, devastated at the loss. "No . . . master . . ." Her voice shook terribly as she tried to hold back any less than youkai emotions. "Master . . ."

Out of all the remaining panther demons, she was the only one protecting the cadaver. All the others were tending to wounds, both their own and others. The carcasses of the other youkai were already being encroached upon by carrion feeders. She was doing her best to keep the same from happening to the master's body, which was marinating in its blood and bile.

The suffocating mist rose from the crimson battlefield, engulfing everything. From it came two figures, one taller than the other, immerging first. It was none other than the Inu no Taisho himself, eyes narrowed slightly.

"You!" Toran hissed, her attention taken from the body finally. "You did this!"

The leader of the dogs coldly stared at her, watching carefully from the corner of his eye as the red headed panther stumbled into view, clutching a wound on her arm and panting. "You would have been wiser to stay in the west. No one will inflict any harm on the people living under my protection."

"Why should we have stayed in the west when-" Toran stopped, as a figure departed from the obscurity from the mist.

It was none other than Sesshoumaru himself, staring straight at her.

"Why do you protect a cadaver? The carrion creatures are not easily satiated by only regular youkai bodies when this is available. They are likely to start feasting on the wounded, your wounded, without being allowed access to it."

"Se-Sesshoumaru . . ." She stood slowly, her presence still enough to fend off the lower creatures as they swooped low over her head. "Why . . . why are you here?"

"As the heir of the Western Lands it is expected that I am present when the lands are in peril from the likes of you," he said, coolly.

Seeing his coldness towards her in his father's presence, her countenance flared instantly. "You think we'll let you two get away with this!"

"Toran . . ." Karan called over to her, looking rather worn out as she looked up at her older sister. "Come on, we gotta find Shuuran and Shunran and get out of here."

"Shuuran and Shunran can wait, Karan. Stay here with me. These mutts should not be allowed near the master's body."

"What would we want with the body of a dead panther?" The older daiyoukai looked at his son. "Do you have any interest in a panther rug?"

There was the briefest acidic look in the younger youkai's eyes that flashed against everyone nearby.

"But… Shuuran and Shunran…" Karan looked nervously at the Inu no Taisho, Sesshoumaru, Toran, and the dead body. Despite her weak protest, she stayed close.

Toran gave one last cold glance back at her master's corpse, hate boiling in her chest. "Alright, Karan. We'll go look for them." She held her hand out to make her ice weapon appear, gripping it tightly. "As soon as I avenge the master!"

She hurled her weapon at the older dog, yelling in anger as she charged him.

"Hn." The Inu no Taisho didn't even move, brushing his hand so that it hit the handle of the spear enough to hit it away. "Sesshoumaru, handle this nuisance."

Sesshoumaru quickly lunged at the panther demon, tightly gripping a wrist. For the briefest moment their eyes met as his slid to look at the Inu no Taisho. His grip immediately went from firm to painfully strong.

Toran bared her fangs at the dog, holding back a hiss of anger. If this was how he was going to act in the presence of his father, she wouldn't hold back anything either. Planting her feet firmly in the ground, she ripped one hand away, grabbing his shoulder and forcing her powers through her fingers, glazing him with ice.

Karan gasped. "Toran!" The younger demon rushed to her sister, who wasn't removing her hand from the dog youkai.

She was immediately glared down by the two squabbling demons, stopping her from coming to aid her sister.

Toran turned her fierce stare back on Sesshoumaru, hissing through her words. "I'll never forgive you or your father for this. You'll both die if it's the last thing I do."

Sesshoumaru stared solemnly back at her. "Then someday I will make your last action start in Hell." With a powerful body movement, he broke free of the glazing of ice that had linked him once more, but only temporarily, to Toran.

"Tooooraaaan!"

She looked over her shoulder as she leaped back and away from Sesshoumaru, seeing Shuuran running towards her. One of the canines was chasing her, and because she was the youngest and her powers were not yet developed, she could not get it away from her.

The canine was quickly frozen solid through, locked forever in time, in a predatory run with his jaws open wide. The panther demon tribe would never allow the canine to be thawed.

"Nee-san!" The girl quickly hugged her oldest siblings legs, still terrified. Karan quickly ran over to the two, also scared out of her young mind.

"Toran, we need to get out of here!"

"First I-" Toran looked back, towards where the two canines had stood. They had both left, the shroud of mist and the predatory canine allowing for their unnoticed departure.

"Alright then, we'll leave," she told her two sisters. And quietly, she said to her self, barely voiced, "I will find you Sesshoumaru. No matter where you go in these eastern lands."

She straightened herself upwards and looked at the corpse. "Make sure that someone comes to bring the leader's body back with us. But for now, we look for Shuuran."

Well that was fun, despite the discovery that JF has no friggin' idea how to play any kind of card game, not even Solitaire. Anyway, we hope you enjoyed the prologue and the actual story will begin next time. Which might actually be today, and if not today, in a week or so.

Yea, our updating schedule will likely be odd, but probably sensible. And cards have nothing to do with this, Over. So basically, it seems our installments will hopefully get larger in size every time we write, and also hopefully will have less bad starts for me since some one enjoys writing such hard paragraphs to follow up!

Which then allows me to say that JF honestly is not very good at connecting the dots other people set for her, such as what to have Sesshoumaru do after Toran attacks. But enough of this, you shouldn't be forced to bare our (or mostly her) blabbering.

I don't blather…. Um, anyways, hope you enjoyed!

Which was already said. No. End. Bye.