Introduction – The Crimson Winter
A raging fire blazed across the thick snow, melting away at the frozen blankets that covered the mountains. Red, orange and yellow embers danced ferociously, grasping at whatever it could reach, engulfing anything it touched in its hot embrace. All the while the cold winter air flew around in a vicious tantrum, its chilling temperature contradicting the burning flames of the ever spreading fire.
Pained cries echoed all around as houses burned, breaking apart, slowly disintegrating into nothing but black ashes.
Many ran, old and young, struggling to find an exit from the fire that had trapped them. Dead bodies littered the surroundings, their blood staining the once pure blank snow, a deep crimson.
One woman stood at the helm of the chaos, her purple locks swaying in the harsh wind, clothes raggedly torn exposing the cuts and bruises that adorned her pale skin. Her appearance screamed of lethargy yet her eyes were wide and alive, ruby red orbs shining with a fire that rivaled the one around her. And as her breathing steadied she conjured a fearsome blizzard, covering her surroundings in the process and extinguishing the fire that encased her. The woman was deathly calm amidst the chaos, eyes cold as she stared at the culprit behind the raging inferno.
A maniacal laugh escaped the man who wielded the fire.
"You have done enough Hanzo" the woman called out, her ice cold fear seeping out of her causing the temperature around them to drop lower than anymore possible.
"Enough?" Hanzo chuckled darkly, "Until my hands are stained with the blood of your family and until this entire clan is no more, it will never be enough Setsura! Your blood will be the first to satisfy my thirst!"
The man named Hanzo attacked in a blind rage, the fire that was slowly dissipating coming back to life pushing the ice maiden back.
Setsura groaned as she felt the heavy force of the fire countering her own element, the heat melting away at her ice. She was growing weaker by the second and she didn't know just how much longer she could keep this up, but she needed to, at least just long enough for whoever else was still alive to escape.
She gave out a pained moan, as she pushed the aching pain that crept all over her body onto the back of her mind. She stood upright, hand waving in frantic motions as her fear intensified, calling out for her cold element to come forth. The fire flew back, the cold air becoming whip like as it made contact with the ground in which Hanzo stood on causing the said man to jump in surprise. Setsura took this opportunity and sent a spiraling wave of icicles towards him. The attack was powerful enough to knock the antagonist down, his skin adorned with deep cuts as blood dropped from his wounds to the ground in a sickening pool cascading around him.
Setsura moved closer, caution at her every step as she stared at the bleeding man, who despite his threatening injuries sported a sadistic, ear splitting grin, his bloody gum and blood stained teeth on show and a twinkle in his eyes. The snow maiden's hands clenched into fists at the over flowing confidence she received from her enemy. With a wave of her fist Hanzo was sucked into the snowy ground, his body submerged into the snow as it thickened around him, forming a glass case of ice rendering him immobile, yet he still smiled.
An uneasy feeling swept across her, not satisfied with the fact that she had captured him, and although Setsura herself was not one for taking lives she couldn't help the boiling of her blood and the nagging urge to kill the man before her, justice needed to be served somewhat. Her conscious told her to spare his pathetic life, to pay for the consequences of his crime yet she wanted to kill him off cleanly, a quick escape but she knew it was the best probable solution, sparing a man who only knew destruction wasn't something she was willing to risk.
With a determined resolve she summoned a spear of ice, the tip of the weapon so pointedly sharp it reflected the ongoing embers around them.
Setsura frowned as she gave Hanzo one last look before bringing her arm up in preparation for a certain death when suddenly a loud scream reached her ears, a scream so terrifying that it had sent cold shivers to the yuki-onna.
Setsura didn't want to turn around, refusing to acknowledge what she might find but the sickening grin that lit up Hanzo's face had her whipping her neck around as she came face to face with her biggest nightmare.
Her child stood clutching a small teddy bear, terror all over the young girls face. Setsura felt her blood run cold, the kind of cold that froze her movements and increased her heart rate as she stood watching her child cry out in pain and fright as the flames tried to claw at her.
Never had Setsura been more afraid than now. The fear of losing her daughter, the very thought of it accompanied by the dark chuckle that Hanzo gave out made something in her snap. Terror was replaced with a determined rage as Setsura ran as fast she could towards the crying girl, her arms wrapping around her small child as a tornado of snow encased them, pushing away the fire.
Hanzo broke the glass ice that trapped him as he struggled to push himself back up with the wounds the snow woman had inflicted. Nonetheless he pushed his body upward, wanting to see this tragedy in a clearer view, his smile becoming more twisted by the second as his flames doubled in power, licking the Yuki-Onna's skin as she pushed away her child from the burning flames, making a pathway of ice for her to escape through. Hanzo frowned as the young girl ran and made move for his flames to reach her when Setsura pushed herself in the way taking the blast of fire head on, burning her skin. Her screams echoed out but she wasn't screaming for her, she was screaming for her daughter, her cries reaching her the younger girl.
"Run! Run Tsurara! Runnn!"
Tsurara ran as fast as she could, the tears falling from her eyes cascading down to the floor as snowflakes. She wanted to turn around, back to her mother but then it would be all in vain. At her tender age of 5 she an undeniable sense and maturity to know what was going on, and the fact that she knew what was going on only brought her more pain. Oh what she would give to be oblivious to everything.
She shut her eyes as she ran blindly into the mountain of trees, the snow heavily falling around her. The soft pit pattering of paws caused her eyes to blink wide open and she gave a soft smile as she looked to her left only to find Cerberus by her side. The tiger gave a soft roar as he ran ahead, tail wagging, telling her to hop on to which she did. Jumping on Cerberus gave her the speed she needed to get far away from the disaster that had ensued but her relief was cut short when a woman suddenly appeared before her. Tsurara frowned, golden eyes shining with familiarity as she gazed at the woman that stood in her way.
Jorogumo gave the smaller girl a nasty stare, her spider like arms moving in anticipation, fingernails sharp and ready to embed itself into Tsurara's porcelain skin.
"Nowhere else to run, princess..." Jorogumo mocked, her raspy voice sending shivers all over Tsurara's body.
It would have been a lie if Tsurara had said that she wasn't afraid because she was beyond terrified.
Though as if sensing her fear Cerberus snarled at the enemy before them, canines on show as he ground his sharp teeth, snapping them close, threatening Jorogumo to try and make a move.
Jorogumo hissed at the beast clearly not happy with the challenge and she decided to waste no more time, her arms shooting out as dark webs appeared, trying to capture the young yuki-onna and her loyal beast. But as if on luck Tsurara was quick enough to conjure a thin layer of ice, acting as a shield but breaking on impact as it clashed with the webs. Tsurara wasn't strong enough, at least not for someone like Jorogumo, she was just a child after all. Her chances of survival were slim to none.
The sudden demotivated feeling surged through her body and it was then that Cerberus suddenly pulled her off his back, placing her on the cold ground. Cerberus gave one more snarl before turning to Tsurara, the white tiger's dark blue eyes looking into the younger girl's yellow ones, as he communicated his will to her.
Tsurara understood what her friend had been trying to convey and she shook her head. She didn't want to leave anymore behind. Her stubbornness caused the tiger to growl at her, growling as he came forward, the loud menacing sound shaking Tsurara out of her wits as she stood on her feet. More tears erupted from Tsurara's eyes and Cerberus momentarily stopped, giving a soft whimper before shaking his head, his canines on show again as he gave one more growl, pushing Tsurara into the trees once again as her feet started to run. She glanced back, fear swelling through her as Cerberus attacked Jorogumo, his teeth latching onto the woman's neck, drawing blood and a painful scream before the trees finally blocked her view.
Amidst the thundering snow storm she ran, feet exhausted and spirit completely crushed. But she had to get away from here, past the mountains and the never ending trees, past the merciless snowy terrain and into green land, where the sakura's buds bloomed under the illuminating night sky and where the lord of the pandemonium ruled.
She had no choice but to get away from the place she called her home and into uncharted territory, by herself, all alone.
"A man of the night and day resides far beyond our borders, Nura Rihan, he will protect you my child, find him... find them..." that had been her mother's dying words. And she would do just what her mother had said.
Hidden in the moving clouds, was the bright full moon, who had witnessed the bloody massacre that unfolded below. She glowed against the night sky, her heavenly light caressing the lifeless bodies that lay before her as she could do nothing but watch and listen to the silent cries of a small raven-haired girl with skin as pale as snow.
n.a/ edited version of the original introduction.
A/N. I apologise now for the grammar/spelling mistakes that will no doubt be appearing here and there, but I will try to make sure to try not to make too many mistakes hehe. This is my first try at a fanfic and I'm hoping that I'll be able to commit to it. Anyways this idea came up when I was reading some Nurarihyon No mago fanfics and I wanted to try writing one so here I am. This is like the introduction or a backstory that will hopefully set the whole thing into motion so sorry if it's a bit short.
Also just a disclaimer – it's been a while since I've finished Nurarihyon No mago and re-read it so naturally I know that some of the information that I put in this story may contradict the canon story plot but for the sake of the story please just bear with me, I'll try to be as accurate as possible and write it so that it is fairly close to the actual Nurarihyon No Mago story plot but of course it will not fully follow the canon plot , for example I have killed of Setsura, as much as it pains me to do so because Setsura is probably one of favourite characters, her death needed to happen in my story as it is pretty much the focal point of the whole thing, but she will make appearances here and there, I might just plop her in as a ghost hahaha. My OC's are purely fictional too, I might have gone and searched up Japanese deities/demons to use as a references but my accuracy when it comes to these things are awful so please go easy on me. I hope you all enjoy! Please leave a review~