We probably should have mentioned this before, but the prelude and prologue are both in different times, in chronologic order of course, but there is a span of time between the prelude and prologue. This might help the seeming OOC of the prelude make a bit of sense, and such and so.
I would also like to point out that we're trying to make this as canon as possible, and if you don't know the basic story from the anime, it shall be written in here at a later time.
Now on, with the disclaimer!
Disclaimer: Over owns the Inuyasha guruship, the idea for the pairing, the popularity domain, and the OOC censorship. JF owns the bulk of the fic idea, the t-shirts, paraphernalia, etc., and the plot shovership. Everything else is owned by others.
Toran sat on a rock beside her siblings, lost in thought as she had been for the past few hundred years. As usual, her mind wandered around her master, then the Inu no Taisho, and Sesshoumaru.
Karan growled beside her, staring into the fire. "I hate this. No matter what we conquer anymore, I can't quit thinking about our failure in the east."
"That's because that is our only failure," Toran snapped, pulled out of her thoughts.
And it was true. The panther demons had never lost in such a way before or after that battle centuries ago. There had been close calls, there have been unbelievable victories, but never a lost, never a complete failure. They had always gotten what they set their eyes on and claws in.
"It wasn't that bad, sis," Shunran tried to reassure her, mentally wincing at the memory.
"Who do you think you're kidding, Shunran? It was a total failure," Shuuran gave him a cold look, juvenile though it was.
The one male panther growled at his little sister, ready to stand to fight her. Shuuran started back at him.
"Shuuran… Shunran…" Karan warned. Toran's moods had become more and more dangerous with each passing decade, and the other two sometimes made the moods turn near fatal, and Karan had been dangerously close to Toran the last few times these moods came up.
The brother and sister didn't pay attention, and with only the briefest of signs, started fast on each other.
The eldest sibling stood, not even noting the two siblings' bickering. "We're going to the east again. And this time, we shall win against those dogs!"
Shuuran and Shunran stopped fighting, Shuuran's jaw loosening from the arm that was tweaking one of her ears.
"T-Toran?" Karan looked up at her, seeing the determined fire in her eyes. "But what can we do against the Inu no Taisho? If the master couldn't beat him, then what can we-"
She was cut off from an icy glare by her sister.
But Toran did indeed know the reason she wanted to return.
Sesshoumaru . . .
She held back a growl just thinking of him now.
"We will find a way to beat him. But right now, we gather the tribe to ready ourselves."
"Sis, think reasonably. The Inu no Taisho can kill any number of our panthers easily. His three swords would see to that," Shunran tried to show his sister the path of sanity once more, but she seemed to be completely consumed by her confidence.
"Then we will steal his swords!" she declared. "Not only will he not be able to use them against us, but we would be able to use them against him and those mangy dogs!"
Shunran sweatdropped. That was certainly not what he was aiming for, and if anything, seemed ever so more dangerous than just trying to invade once more.
"We don't even know where he is, Toran," Shuuran piped up, trying to help her brother. "He could've died for all we know."
"Died? The Inu no Taisho die?" Toran laughed at the thought, a creepy, cynical laugh.
"Stronger youkai have died before," Karan piped up.
"Stronger youkai have died due to their age. The Inu no Taisho is still in his prime, and I shall be the one to kill him!" Toran smiled, near crazy.
"What about his son then? Sesshoumaru or whatever? He's also very strong." Shuuran gave her a serious look, being the only one to understand that there had been something between them.
Toran instantly lost her crazed look, replaced with a look of pure loathing. "Sesshoumaru will die first."
The others were silent, seeing that there was no stopping her.
She jabbed her finger at the trees, several pairs of glowing green eyes visible. "Now, everyone prepare to leave for our revenge on the Inu no Taisho and all his kin!"
Sesshoumaru had never been quite the type of youkai to simple do nothing as he thought, so he was enjoying his favorite pastime of simply wandering, Jaken following at his heels. His thoughts swirled over many topics: How was his worthless hanyou brother wasting his time nowadays? When would Jaken quit following him? Why did he have Tenseiga? How could his father possibly have lost to a youkai like Ryuukossei?
Stewing on none too long, he walked through the domain of Musashi tirelessly, ignoring Jaken's complaints.
It wasn't until he reached a human road did he stop.
The bodily remains of mortals were sprawled about the road, all throats cut and bleeding onto the dirt rutted path. Several of the bodies belonged to women, and had been killed in disgraceful positions. There were several bodies of children as well, though it seemed that whatever had been done to the women had not been repeated to the younger generation.
Sesshoumaru laid but the most briefest glance at the scene. He had came upon visages like this many times before, and he had ignored them all. He navigated the bloody road, avoiding stepping on the corpses.
"Please . . . help . . ."
Sesshoumaru paused his process, and looked for the source of the voice, and soon located a small girl child, not yet dead. Thelittle one was well on her way, even so.
He locked eyes with her desperate brown ones for a moment as she reached out a hand for his assistance.
"You want my help, girl?"
"Yes . . . please . . ." The blood from her wound stained the earth around her red as she visibly weakened, setting her chin on the floor with her eyes shimmering.
Sesshoumaru scoffed. "Why should I help a weak mortal like you? You humans do not interest me."
Any hope that was in the girl's eyes died.
Sesshoumaru walked on and returned to his musings, with a hand unconsiously on his Tenseiga.
"Lord Sesshoumaru?" Jaken, having stayed behind during his 'conversation' with the human girl, came back up to his side, looking up at him.
Sesshoumaru withheld a sigh. "Yes, Jaken?"
"There have been rumors from the west, my lord."
"And?"
"It's about the . . ." The little toad twiddled his thumbs, nervous about bringing up the topic. "The panther tribe . . ."
"Yes?"
"The rumors say they are in the east attacking your father's peop-"
There was silence as Sesshoumaru stared at the sky, looking at a small green object that had only started flying through the air.
"So you have finally come back . . ." Sesshoumaru said softly.
With that, he turned to walk, somewhat hoping that Jaken would not be able to locate him once again.
The squeal that broke out through the still silence of the night cut through the empty clearing like a hot knife through butter, the owner of the cry trying valiantly to escape the young panther that held him.
"Now tell me before I slit your throat," Shuuran hissed, an evil glint in her eyes. Her companions looked on from a little distance, their claws also bloodied from the many demons they had already interrogated.
The fox youkai squirmed as he felt her claws dig into his neck, knowing that if he didn't speak she would kill him as if he were nothing. "Th-The Inu no Taisho is . . ." He choked a bit as his head was jerked up.
"Where?" Toran had joined in, getting impatient as she grasped his hair. "Where the hell did that coward run to?"
The kitsune promptly spit in her face. "The late Inu no Taisho is no coward."
"Late? You mean the Inu no Taisho is dead?" The evil glint sapped away as it was replaced by anger. Before the fox could reply, she snapped its neck, brutally.
Torandropped the body and stared at the others. "If the Inu no Taisho is dead, then we shall go after the son."
"Shouldn't we wait to see if there is another youkai that is leading the dogs?"
"No. It will be Sesshoumaru, I am sure of it. And he will be mine!"
Shuuran flinched.
"Sis, don't you think you're being a little irrational here?" Shunran, the ever cool-headed one, tried to bring his sister back into the right. "What about your plan to take the swords from the Inu no Taisho?"
"If the Inu no Taisho is truly dead, then Sesshoumaru will have the swords. While we might not have been a match for the Inu no Taisho, we will surely be able to defeat Sesshoumaru!"
"Sis, are you sure about that? We don't really know how strong Sesshoumaru is. The last time we fought, he wasn't on the battlefield."
"Sesshoumaru is not strong enough to take us on. And I will make sure of that." Toran clenched her fist tightly in front of her face, remembering what he had done. "We'll take the swords from him instead and defeat the dog line once and for all!"
"How do you propose we do that, Toran?" Karan walked up to join in the argument. "It's not as if he'll just hand them over on a platter."
"I never said it would be easy, Karan, but without those swords, Sesshoumaru will be nothing." Toran looked at each of her siblings in turn, making sure they wouldn't back out of this. "Then even Shuuran alone would be able to take him down."
Shuuran pouted for a moment. "Hey! I did just as much as all of you during the last battle with those dogs!"
"Shuuran, that was a compliment," Toran said, momentarily focusing on something besides revenge. "Now, we find Sesshoumaru."
"Sis." Karan put her hands on her hips, giving her sister a serious look. "You just killed the only lead we had on any of the dogs. How the hell are we supposed to find him now?"
Toran blinked at her sister for a second, then cleared her throat slightly. "We merely need to find another lead. It shouldn't be too hard to find. We're close to Musashi's domain as we speak, the place where the Inu no Taisho once lived."
Shunran groaned. "We have been searching without rest for days! We smell like the dogs and look dun colored! Can't we rest?"
Toran started to protest, but a wind caused the smell of them to drift past her nose and crinkle it. It was true. They did smell like the dogs, and filthy ones at that. This was likely due to their choices in youkai to interrogate, which had happened to mainly be canines.
She quickly covered her nose, eyes twitching from the smell. "Alright. We'll go our separate ways to bathe and rest, but we all meet back here in two days."
"Yes!" the others quickly piped, happy to finally have convinced their leader. "Two days!"
Within seconds, the rest of the panthers were out of sight.
Toran vaguely wondered why they wanted to be out of her view so badly, but it was quickly dismissed as the stench entered her nose again. She shuddered and made her way to find a place to bathe the smell of dog away. Sesshoumaru could wait for at least two days, especially with such a smell hanging her like a noose.
And that's it for this week. Maybe more tomorrow . . . maaaaybe . . . Anyway, for those who read this, please review! July's getting oh so depressed!
I'm not getting depressed, just a bit feeling left out. You would too, if your main babies had only three reviews! So that's it for now. Next chapter: Bathing, and other comfy delights! Beware a short story for after this coming maybe sometime. There is surely an opportunity!
Maybe written by her, for I am not so low. Myeh. So yes, either today or next week we'll have another chapter. Byezies!