Demon Mistress Mariko

By Asteria

Disclaimer: Any and all recognizable characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi. Mariko Matsuki is property of me.

Chapter One: Rumors

"It's a poison ring," she said. "Ladies wore them, in the Italian Renaissance. If they wanted to kill someone subtly, they would put a little poison inside- this part opens, see? - and when their target wasn't looking, they would empty the poison into their wine."

"What's inside?"

"I don't know. Something small and hard. Listen, you can hear it rattle. But I don't know what it is. The ring doesn't open anymore."

"There are rumors," said Kaede, "that someone is summoning youkai and using them to do their bidding."

"So?" said InuYasha, more interested in his noodles than any stupid rumors.

"So, he- or she- may possess a Shikon shard."

The hanyou jumped to his feet, food forgotten.

"So what are we waiting for?!" he yelled, grabbing Kagome by the wrist and heading for the door.

"InuYasha!" Kagome yelled, exasperated. "It's the middle of the night. We can head out in the morning."

"And besides," added Miroku, "if this person can control youkai, it might be better to have a plan."

InuYasha grumbled and sat back down. He hated when his companions were right. Belatedly, he realized he was still holding Kagome's hand. He dropped it, blushing.

"Well, said Miroku, stretching, "if we're going to get an early start, we should get to bed." His arm draped itself around Sango's shoulders. "Would you like to join me?" he asked, fixing the youkai hunter with a winning smile.

WHAM!

Sango's fist impacted with the face of the perverted priest.

"Maybe... another night," he groaned, before Sango's foot connected with his head, helping him into unconsciousness.

The Next Morning...

"We should be careful," said Kagome. "This person can enslave youkai. That puts Shippo and Myouga in danger."

"I can handle danger," said Shippo. "I fought the Thunder Brothers."

Kagome and InuYasha shared a look.

"Still, you have to be careful. We don't know what this person can do. Where is Myouga, anyway? He should have said something by now."

Elsewhere...

Her already wide green eyes grew even wider as she listened to her newest servant, the flea-youkai Myouga. He stood on the back of her hand, which she had raised to eye level so that she might see him better. An old silver ring glimmered on her finger.

"You may go, Myouga," she said.

The flea-youkai hopped off her hand and vanished.

/I can't believe it/ she thought. /She wasn't the worst, but she'll do, for a start. Let's see... the fox-youkai she travels with should be no trouble at all; the monk... if Myouga speaks truly, the monk will be no trouble at all to lure away; the hunter could be dangerous, I'll let one of my youkai handle her; that leaves the hanyou, he could be a problem, I may not be able to fully control him. Well, I always liked a challenge./

This concludes the first chapter of my first InuYasha fanfic. It's going to get much darker and angstier in later chapters, there will be a lot of violence and blood and possibly some sexual situations, nothing really explicit and I'm still undecided on whether I'm going to put those in. There will be some brighter moments, but this is mostly a darkfic. Expect lots of pain and bleeding and death and I'm really starting to sound like a Mazoku aren't I so I'll stop now. Please review. Arigatou gozaimas.