House of the Shooting Star

Chapter Two

Darkness was beginning to hang over the lands like a blanket, comforting and warm. In fact, the night was strangely warm for this time of year even though there was a slight breeze. The sounds of daylight had already faded in memory, including the screams of his earlier "victims". Now, sounds of the night echoed in his sensitive ears as well as the crackling of the small fire before him. Normally, he wouldn't worry about such things. They were beneath his kind.

But not beneath hers.

Looking up from the suddenly fascinating leaf that lay next to his foot, he glanced at her from across the small campsite. At first, he'd had no idea what kind of creature she was. Her clothes were unlike anything he'd ever seen. Actually, he couldn't say that. They resembled those of the foreigner he'd bought his hakama from. She wore black boots that he was sure were close to falling apart, a large hunting knife secured against he leg beneath the straps holding the boots on her feet. Coming out of the black boots just below her knees were a pair of the strange hakama he wore, but unlike his brown ones hers were a deep forest green and slashed with what looked to be a mixture of claws, swords, and thorns. She also wore a belt, one that was strangely intricate for one such as her, and he barely noticed a small chain leading from the belt and into her pocket. Her top, which assumed had been white at one time, was very strange indeed. For instead of hanging loosely like most clothing did, it was like a second skin with a simple silver design across the top. The top itself was strange too, for it hung off her shoulders. It was horribly stained, nearly tan with dirt and his eyes narrowed when he saw several stains that looked to be old blood.

'The blood is hers, that much is certain. But although it is still not fully dried, I cannot smell an actual injury on the girl.'

Over the top was another shirt, this one not really having a purpose since it was completely sheer and ripped to shreds. Underneath all her clothes, he could clearly see she was very lean. Not skinny, but lean, and every muscle seemed to be tense as she sat there before him in the light of the small fire. At her side was a small pack, and he had to wonder if she actually thought she could survive off the rations she had stowed in there. He would have been able to, as a youkai, but she was simple ningen. For her to live off so little would be impossible. She wasn't unarmed, which was clear when he'd first come upon her. At her hip was a katana tied to her belt, looking extremely old and mistreated. A bow and quiver were beside her pack, looking to be in much better shape than the katana. A sharp movement on her part made him narrow his eyes, but he relaxed again when he saw that she was simply staring at something on her hand.

'A ring...' He could see the silver shining from where he sat. But it was then that he was drawn to her face for the first time.

A long, slender neck lead to a face in the shape of a heart, dirt and gore hiding her undoubtedly pale complection. She had full, pouting lips that would look strange on most youkai, but they were no less attractive. An elegant nose, one that suggested nobility in her blood, was smudged with a thick line of dried blood. But when he reached her eyes, he fought a very strong gasp.

It was well known that ningen, aristocracy or not, possessed relatively normally eye colors of mostly browns unless they were barbarians or foreigners like the man he'd gotten his possessions from. But this girl, who looked nothing like a barbarian in any way, had eyes of such a shocking color that he had thought his own eyes were deceiving him. But they weren't, and couldn't help but be quite shocked. Eyes that should have been brown due to her species were instead a fierce sapphire blue, glittering in the light of the fire and framed by her long, thick eyelashes. They were as dark as her onyx hair, which hung in a very loose braid that was slung over her left shoulder. Long bangs grew almost wild, but seemed to suit her as they framed her face.

She was...acceptable for a ningen. Though if anyone ever heard him admit that, he'd cut out his own tongue.

"Why?" Her question, no more like demand, cut through his studying like a polished blade and he stiffened as he sat upright against the tree behind him. Her voice was soft, but no less demanding. So demanding in fact that it set his ire ablaze.

"Do you honestly have the audacity to ask me such after I saved your worthless life?" She visibly winced at his harsh tone, but narrowed her eyes all the same. Eyes that were still focused on her ring and not him.

"I was merely asking a question."

"Why question that which has saved you?"

"Why question my question?" He wanted to smirk at her as she sat up straighter, a strange spark lighting up her eyes.

"Because you are a mere ningen. Why should I not question your question when you are questioning a creature far above you?" To this, her answer was not of words. Instead, her gaze finally left her ring and he was stilled when the power of her gaze was fully aimed at him. Her eyes spoke so much more than she ever could, their strange blue depths speaking to him even across the distance.

Who in the Kami's great name was this ningen girl?

"If you're so far above one such as I, then why would you save me?" At his, his eyes narrowed. She had backed him into a corner, one that he had expected but not one that he had hoped for. Honestly, he didn't know why. He should have let her be sliced apart by her attackers and the left to rot on the forest floor. It would mean one less disgusting ningen to pollute the lands of his forefathers.

But he was saved when a single sound, inaudible to her inferior ningen hearing, echoed within his pointed ears.

'So, she has more attackers than she or I had originally thought.' Before he himself could ready himself, he noticed that she'd stiffened drastically, her eyes narrowed as she seemingly stared at nothing. He noticed her hand had somehow found its way to the hilt of her sword with barely a movement at all. How was she able to know they were surrounded? Surely she couldn't have heard them! Could she sense them somehow?

'I shall question her should she survive.' No sooner than he'd finished his thought did numerous forms erupt from the shadows around them, all armed and all youkai. He barely noticed her leap up from her spot, drawing her sword in a swift movement before slicing into the nearest youkai with an almost fluid grace.

Soon the sounds of metal on metal echoed throughout the forest, shrieks and shouts adding on. Sesshoumaru grimaced as one especially foul smelling youkai came too close for comfort, before simply sinking his claws into the creature's back and releasing his bright green toxins into the youkai's bloodstream. Its shrieks of pain were immediate as it collapsed onto the ground. Sesshoumaru didn't even spare it a glance before moving onto the next youkai, this one stronger than the last and in a near ningen form. It was a female, completely covered in fur. But that didn't stop him as he simply ducked below her sword and sliced open her abdomen with his poisonous claws. As she fell, two more just like her came at him from both sides and he didn't even blink as he skewered them both in mid-step.

Across the way, he could hear and sometimes see the girl fighting on. Her shouts rang out above the shrieks and howls, the smell of her nervousness reaching him even through the nearly overwhelming metallic stench of blood. As he removed his claws from the abdomens of the two beast-like youkai, he realized that the rest of the attackers were not anywhere near him. But instead they surrounded her, attacking her in waves as she fended them off desperately.

Desperation. It shined in her blue orbs, rang out in her shouts, and nearly deafened him when she finally sustained her first injury as a neko youkai slashed his claws along her ribs. He could leave her now, as he should have originally. Leave her to die at the hands of those who obviously wanted her dead. But he couldn't move as he watched her decapitate the neko youkai who had landed the blow to her ribs, the spray of blood splattering across her clothes and face. He narrowed his eyes, hearing her cry out again as another set of claws raked across her skin only this time across her upper thigh.

'Bloody Hell...' He mentally sighed as he leapt into the air and forced some of his youki into his two first fingers on his left hand, seeing the telling green glow out of the corner of his eye as he simply made a slashing motion in midair. From his fingers flew a glowing ribbon of his poison formed into a youki weapon. He heard the shrieks of nearly ten youkai resound in the air as the whip flew right through them as though they were water. She was still on her feet, fending off a rather large boar youkai with her katana holding off its heavy axe. How the mistreated blade withstood the pressure, he didn't know. He brought his right arm down in a slashing motion at the same time as his left, unleashing two whips of neon green light upon the youkai mass. He could finally see her fully, all but the boar now focused on him. There were only ten, but they looked to be the strongest of the bunch, if not the dumbest. Big, stinking piles of flesh with simple clothing that barely covered anything. Weapons the size of small children.

Easy pickings.

He snorted quietly as he brought down both whips in a cross and slice through not only the youkai surrounding her, but the boar youkai she'd been fending off. Shrieks and ripping could be heard as they all fell, their bodies melting away just as all the others had. He narrowed his eyes as the smell of melting flesh reached his nose, but then turned to the ningen female when he smelt something else for the first time since the fight had begun.

Terror. Her terror.

She stood with her arms limp at her sides, her katana barely held in her hand. Her feet were apart and he saw why when he caught a glimpse of the muscles in her legs twitching. How long had she'd been running when he'd found her? He smelt the blood of numerous youkai on her as well as the blood coming from the two wounds she'd sustained, both of which looked deep from where he stood. Her shirt was nearly solid crimson now and a small puddle of blood had begun to appear beneath her., making his eyes narrow. A ningen would not be able to lose much more blood than she already had. Her hair that had been in a loose braid was now free and cascading down her back and to her upper thighs, covered in blood. For some reason all the blood, all the gore, looked startlingly wrong on the girl.

That's when he realized why she was suddenly terrified.

Her katana dropped the the ground as she sank to her knees, her hands held up in front of her face. Red with blood and the right one shaking from wielding the katana, she simply stared at them with wide eyes. He had seen this before, had experienced it before, but not to this degree. She seemed close to losing her mind, and he realized that although she wielded a katana and a bow, she was not a killer. It hit him then, the reason why the blood and gore looked so wrong on her.

This girl was not meant to kill.

He could hear her already ragged breaths become harsher as her eyes widened and her whole body began to shake. He narrowed his eyes as she looked down and attempted to wipe the blood from her shirt, becoming even more terrified when her hands merely smeared more on. Small, keening cries echoed quietly in her throat as her attempts to clean herself became more and more desperate. He had to stop this, before she opened her wounds any further.

"Wench." She didn't acknowledge him, but instead to rub with even more fervor.

"Girl." Again, she ignored him. But he listened harder and discovered she was beginning to mumble to herself.

"Gomenasai...gomen...haha-ue...gomen...I didn't want to..."

"Ningen!" But she ignored him once again, rocking back and forth as she smeared her blood all over her shirt. He could smell salt now as she began to shake her head as well. He could smell her blood heavier now is her movements forced more out through the gashes on her ribs. "Girl stop this nonsense now."

"Gomenasai...gomenasai...gomenasai...gomenasai!!!" He backed away as she turned and screamed to the skies, her body suddenly surrounded by a strange blue glow. The glow grew brighter the harder she sobbed and just before he had to look away, he saw her reaching towards the heavens with a crestfallen look on her face. The light died as he was able to look at her once more, taking the strange girl with it.

She was gone, disappeared without a trace.

His hair stood on end, tingles racing across his skin, and an almost electric surge ran through his body. His inner youkai awoke from its slumber, the image of a large white dog looking around in interest as it lay upon the ground appearing in his mind's eye. There was only thing that could possibly get that kind of reaction.

The girl, strange and completely abnormal, had been a miko.

He looked to the skies, his curiosity suddenly thirsty for knowledge for the first time in many years. The youkai court was expecting him home in a matter of days, for he had already been gone far too long for their tastes. But he narrowed his eyes at that thought and snorted lightly. They had no control over him anymore, they had barely had any to begin with. His so called "father" could handle the lands on his own for awhile. Besides, that would mean more freedom for him.

With his mind set, Sesshoumaru turned and walked into the dark woods without looking back at the still melting corpses that would be gone by morning.

Miles away, the blue light reappeared with the shaken miko kneeling in the middle of it once more. On the shores of the moonlit river, the light died again and she was left alone with tears running down her cheeks. Blood still stained her clothes, but beneath the ripped areas, there were no wounds. Her rib area was no longer gushing the blood it had been only moments before. Her belongings had somehow replaced themselves at their rightful places on her back and hip. But she simply discarded them in an almost mechanical fashion, her eyes remaining locked in place as she stared into space. As she pulled off her clothes, she visibly winced at the amount of damage they'd sustained. That and the fact that her skin was caked with the gore and blood of numerous youkai made her stomach turn.

Once stripped completely bare, she stepped into the slowly flowing river and hissed at the cold. But seeing as she had really no idea where she was, she had no hopes of finding a hot spring. She'd just have to deal with what she had. As she smoothly walked out into the water, anyone watching her would be able to see several things out of place on one such as her. First, unlike most ningen in this age, beneath the blood and dirt that coated her body, she was extremely fair skinned. Second, upon the pale skin of her back was what looked like one large, very complex tattoo in black ink that was semi visible from beneath her dark curtain of hair. Many would look upon it, if they ever got the chance, and call her a troubled youth even in those days.

But then there were those who knew its true purpose. A seal of power. A seal of memories.

To this day, she still had no idea why most of her powers and memories were locked away by the seal. Had she'd done some wrong, even though that was completely against all she knew? Had she'd seen something she wasn't meant to see? If not one of those, then what was the reason? She questioned it more than often, and she momentarily questioned the reason as she lowered herself into the water so it reached her chin. She grimaced visibly with a hiss when she saw the water become murky and red with the gore that was upon her body. She moved stiffly, reaching behind her and lifting her dirtied onyx locks over her shoulder to reveal yet another few oddities about her.

Carved at the base of her neck, so faintly that it was only visible from up close, was a star. Just a plain five-point star, but inside the "lines" of the star were different swirling patterns. It looked to be done with a very small blade, intentionally, so that the marking would be hard to see or decipher by those who didn't know of it. It was a marking of status, of power, and of secrecy. More than often, those found with the mark by the government were exterminated on sight. But another scar, another odd thing, lay upon the skin of her back.

But unlike the star, it wasn't a scar she'd intentionally wanted. There was a matching scar on her front as well. She frowned when she touched the one on her front, knowing just how ugly it was even in just the moonlight. It lay directly over the area where her heart was, not fine and barely noticeable like the star. But luckily it was small, thanks to the herbs she'd placed on it, and wasn't as bad as it could have been. An arrow, so close to the heart that it was a miracle she'd survived.

'It's a miracle she survived as well.' She snorted disdainfully before leaning over and letting most of her hair dip into the slowly flowing water, gently picking out bits of branches, leaves, and youkai innards. She felt her stomach turn quite a bit as she pulled a rather slimy piece from her hair, biting back a small whine as she threw it downstream.

Once her stomach settled again, she felt the hot coal of regret sink down in her gut once more. Never, in her short existence, had she'd slain any creature. At least, not intentionally. There was a time when she'd slain a weak rat youkai when it had charged her. In an effort to save her own life, she screamed and fallen on her back, thrusting the blade of her katana up and effectively slicing the creature right down the middle. For weeks afterward she was inconsolable, always praying in the shrine and begging for forgiveness that the others insisted she didn't need.

The others. They were truly so different from her. Where as she couldn't handle killing a low level youkai, her comrades could kill many of them with one attack. They were all so strong having trained since the age of five. Fighting had become their life for the most part, and because of this, they'd secluded themselves away from the rest of the world to their own village hidden high in the mountains. Not for themselves, but for the rest of the world. They only knew the way of the warrior, and battles were their life. Their were never without a weapon, never without a strategy. They were elite, they were unique, and they were assassins.

She sighed as she finally decided her hair was particle free and she flipped it back over her shoulder before leaning back to let it rinse completely in the water. She looked at the stars above her, sadness in her eyes even though her face was blissfully blank. She was so different from those she knew, afraid to harm another living thing and mediocre at best with a sword. She was more than often shunned by them, only having a few precious friends outside her tiny family. She'd always thanked the Kami for her family. For not only were they kind and gentle like her behind their warrior ways, they were the reason she wasn't as tormented as she should have been.

But she frowned at that thought and sat up, not at all wanting to think about her heritage.

As she set about shoving her thoughts aside and resuming the task of rinsing her body clean of blood, a young man sprinted through the corridors of a castle, his silver flowing behind him. He wore a plain pair of black hakama, his feet bare unlike most in the castle, and a startlingly bright red haori that stood out against the plain stone walls of the castle.

"Inuyasha-sama! You mustn't run inside the castle! Your sensei will have my head if..."

"Keh! Shut your yap Myoga! Chichi-ue wants me to come see him in the study and I bet it has something to do with that rat bastard Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha had a mischievous grin on his features, his fluffy ears upright and alert.

Compared to Sesshoumaru, he was still an infant. But Inuyasha had grown since that day so long ago in the courtyard, and his memories if that day were becoming fuzzy with time. He now bore the appearance of a fifteen year old, tall and lean even though he still only reached his sibling's jaw. But Inuyasha could bet that he was taller than Sesshoumaru remembered. After all, it had been nearly a decade since the two had come face to face. In an effort to increase the speed and effectiveness of his training, their father had sent Inuyasha off to live in a sort of demonic monastery. After a decade, Inuyasha had finally sprinted through the gates of his home and was welcomed back by his father with a cheerful chuckle. But when he'd stopped and looked around, the only other remaining member of his family wasn't present.

"Sesshoumaru-sama is away on one of his trips Inuyasha-sama!"

"How long has he been gone?"

"Nearly a month M'lord!"

'Keh, baka probably found a woman to entertain him for once.' Inwardly, Inuyasha laughed his head off. Not in half a century had he'd known Sesshoumaru to indulge in a woman, and beyond that length of time, he discovered Sesshoumaru had kept females at the bottom of his list of priorities. Sure, his older sibling may not be inexperienced by any means, but Inuyasha didn't understand how someone of Sesshoumaru's looks and power didn't indulge once in a while. He, Inuyasha, was still too young by their father's standards and therefore had reasons for avoiding females. But at this point, Inuyasha was beginning to question his sibling's sexual preferences.

Again, Inuyasha mentally laughed his fool head off even as he slowed to a walk and stopped completely as he came face to face with the grand oak doors of his father's study and knocked.

"Enter." Inuyasha thrust the door open with enthusiasm that made the Inu no Taisho chuckle as he scanned over a scroll in he'd just pulled from its place on the high shelves. "You're very...excitable today my son."

"Keh, I'm just bored." It was true. Lessons ruled his everyday life now, and most people within the castle walls avoided his presence even to this day. Unfortunately for him, the few servants or guards that were actually social with him were away on other duties. So he'd been sitting slouched against the frame of the window his room, watching the bustling business of the courtyard all day.

"Ah, I see. Well then, I may as well tell you why you were summoned then." The Inu no Taisho put the scroll back in its place gently before turning to face his second born son with a slightly exasperated look on his face. "I need you to do something for me Inuyasha."

"It's about Sesshoumaru, isn't it?" Inuyasha wanted to chuckle when he saw the look on his father's face. Even though it was a rather brutal and angry dispute, it was sometimes so funny that Inuyasha couldn't help but be amused.

"Yes, unfortunately. The wretch has not returned on the day he told us he would and the council is...wary. They wish for someone to retrieve him to put the unease in our lands at rest. Apparently the people seem to be more comfortable when your sibling is here." Inuyasha frowned at the tone in his father's voice but brushed it off after dealing with it so long.

"So...I'm guessing you want me to go. Right?" The Inu no Taisho nodded with a sigh, looking away from his second born sun and out the large window.

"Yes. At the current time, I cannot afford to spare a single soldier. Rebellion parties are popping up everywhere even though we've eliminated the biggest threat." At this, Inuyasha's ears perked up.

"The biggest threat? I didn't think we had any sort of threat." The elder inu looked relieved to change the subject from Sesshoumaru as he turned and walked towards the large desk at the far end of the generous study.

"We've had our share of rebel parties for some time now, but none have really brought any sort of threat to the table before the House of the Shooting Star."

"House of the Shooting Star? That name doesn't even ring a bell in my mind."

"That's because you've never had to concern yourself over matters such as this. But that house was a growing threat from the beginning, all its members being youkai taijiya and various spiritual men and women. Their leader was a woman, strange as that may be, and she was the strongest miko in nearly a thousand years. Her power enabled her to destroy a taiyoukai with minimal effort. She trained younger mikos to use their powers, as well as young monks. They were a threat like no other, and we were forced to exterminate them all."

"Wait...all? What do you mean by all? Why not just take out the leader and her council?"

"We leveled their hidden village and burned all who survived the battle. None survived, not even a single child." There was a sadness in the Inu no Taisho's tone that didn't escape Inuyasha's notice. But nevertheless, the anger burned in his gut.

"Why?! How could you waste life so easily like that? Chichi-ue, there is nothing, nothing, honorable in something such as that! If I learned anything from my sensei, it was that honor comes before everything else!" He watched the older inu's face go blank and cold as he spoke, but found he didn't care. For all the respect he had for his father, Inuyasha could not see how one person could order the elimination of so many lives, young and old.

"I did what was needed. Nothing more."

"Bullshit! You wasted life needlessly! How could you do something so heartless?! And you call Sesshoumaru 'cold'! What you was uncalled for!" Upon hearing his eldest son's name, the Inu no Taisho turned and leveled his youngest with a glare Inuyasha had never seen before on his father's face.

"Speak not of that abomination to me! Now go, retrieve him before the council does something rash! Be gone from my sight! Now!" Inuyasha didn't need to be told twice and left the room in a blur of red with a growl that clearly told his father what he thought of him at that moment.

As he stomped towards his chambers, Inuyasha could only hope that Sesshoumaru wouldn't be too hard to find.

Unfortunately for Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru was making sure that he was nearly impossible to be found. Unlike most youkai, taiyoukai or not, he was taught how to conceal his aura and scent at a young age by a youkai from a country on the mainland. Keeping to the trees, he made sure he left no tracks and moved with such speed that no one, ningen nor youkai, could see him. One goal was on his mind and was determined to reach that goal.

Even if it was a goal he would have normally frowned at.

The girl. After she'd disappeared there was a lasting trace of power that had sent tingles through his skin and stirred his nearly dormant beast. It was enough to make his curiosity crave knowledge more than it had in a century. She was a miko, more powerful in those moments than any miko he'd heard of in centuries. With every bit of his instincts, he knew she could easily purify a youkai of his caliber if she concentrated. But from what he'd seen, her powers were fueled by her emotions and completely untrained.

She was volatile.

She was powerful, untrained, and dangerous to any youkai who was around her when her powers came to the surface. As he flew on, he realized that power like hers could be a force to be feared by his kind if harnessed. So why follow her then to study the power and the girl it was housed in? Why not kill her and eliminate a threat to his kind? Strangely enough, Sesshoumaru found with a frown that he couldn't answer that. He was without a real reason other than to eliminate his curiosity, and it irritated him far more than he cared to admit, even to himself.

In fact, it was quite aggravating to think about. He, a youkai who prided himself in having complete control of himself, was suddenly lacking control in the area of his curiosity. He was letting something as simple as curiosity rule him, and he hated it. But on the other, he found he couldn't help it. How, after so many years of weakling mikos with barely enough power to seal an oni, could a miko with enough power to purify a taiyoukai suddenly appear from seemingly nowhere? Why had she'd been alone? Why had she looked so terrified after killing her enemy when others like her smiled in victory?

Why was he so curious about the girl in particular?

Sesshoumaru let out a small, irritated growl as he leapt from a thick branch and into the night sky, searching out the girl's distinctive aura as his eyes skimmed the land beneath him. The reason was simple; the girl was an enigma on her own. Her clothing, her power, and her eyes. Those eyes, sapphire eyes that glittered in the firelight with a strength her tiny form belittled. Those eyes were not of a ningen, for ningen of Japan had varying colors of browns. Had her father been foreign? The eyes, clothes, and subtle foreign differences in her face from a normal Japanese female suggested such a thing. But if her father had been foreign, where was he know?

He snorted at himself, finding that he was thinking far too much about a single female, a ningen female at that. It was ridiculous, and it had to stop. Now. When he found her, he would interrogate her about her strange power and that would be the end of it. His curiosity would be appeased and he would return to the western palace.

The palace.

He let out something akin to a snarl at the thought of his prison. He loathed that place, the memories of his life far too chocking there along with scents of his disgusting father, half breed sibling, and his father's ningen wife. The council hounded him at every turn, urging him to overtake his father and secure the western provinces. The servants dropped things in his presence, afraid of his wrath through their respect of him. It was more than enough to drive him insane. He felt like a trapped animal in that place, and a trapped animal became dangerous after extended amounts of time caged.

Sesshoumaru had passed the point of being dangerous.

When training recently, he'd blacked out only to come back and find that the dojo was sorely in need of repair. It was not like him, and it was beneath him. It made him scoff. So, to rid himself of that hindrance, he'd left on one of his "jaunts" as the council liked to say. He loved to escape the prison known as his ancestral home. He loved to be surrounded by nothing but the wilderness with no company other than animals and the occasional oni he simply eliminated with his youki whip.

He loved the freedom he felt while in the wilderness.

Sesshoumaru had one love, and it would remain that way. It was not power as many thought, not battle, and certainly not his family. His only love was freedom, and it was sorely lacking in his aristocratic life. His freedom was everything, it was what kept him sane. Without his freedom, Sesshoumaru became nothing but a beast ruled only by joy, anger, and lust. A purely instinctual creature. A danger to himself and anything around him. He needed his freedom, and as he leapt from another branch and even higher into the skies than before, Sesshoumaru let his eyes slip closed and his cold mask slide off as a calm smile etched its way across his face and he soaked in the utter peace of everything around him. Using his youki, he stayed suspended there, all thoughts of the mysterious girl gone from his mind.

But apparently, the world thought he’d basked long enough.

The tranquility died as fast as it had come as a female’s scream echoed through the night. Sesshoumaru’s eyes snapped open, revealing glowing golden orbs to the world as he flipped and flew towards the ground once more. His feet never even seemed to hit the branch beneath him before he was off at a run with youkai speed that made him no more than a blur. As he ran, he inhaled deeply of the night air, trying to discern the scent of the female. But he could find no scent and no aura.

‘I shall have to follow the screams and shouts then.’ Springing off another branch, he leapt towards the newest shout of anger and cleared the treetops, looking down into a clearing just a few yards away.

It wasn’t the female he’d intended it to be, but she was intriguing nonetheless. She was a lone ningen, facing off against a female tiger youkai. The youkai was little more of a threat than an oni, with fur covering her entire body beneath the sparse leather clothing. She wore armor made of dragon scales that fit her like a second skin with pink guards on her shoulders, knees, and abdomen. Her long brown hair was secured in a high ponytail that was coming loose from her fighting the angry tigress. She had a warrior’s gleam in her eye, a graceful balance in her stance as she blocking the youkai’s claws with her blood-soaked katana, and a muscular body that was relatively unheard of in ningen women.

She was a warrior through and through, and it showed in every aspect of her.

He continued watching from the sky, gauging whether or not he should aid her, when she rolled to her left as the tigress dove at her and grabbed what looked like a giant boomerang. That’s when he realized what she was.

‘A taijiya...’ She swung it above her head using one arm, a hard feat for any normal ningen, before running at the unprepared tigress and swinging her giant weapon in a long arc.

“Hiraikotsu!” The bone boomerang hit the tigress with such force that even though he was suspended in the sky watching, Sesshoumaru heard the crack of the female youkai’s skull and all the rest of her bones as the boomerang split her down the middle. The tigress’ screams echoed in the night as the female taijiya got into a low defensive stance, her eyes searching for anymore tiger youkai that would attack her for killing one of their own. But as the two halves of the female youkai’s body came to rest upon the ground, the taijiya relaxed and realized there was no longer a threat.

Suddenly, she was a normal ningen again.

Her limbs began to quake and her breaths came out in ragged puffs as she slid to her knees, barely keeping herself up with her giant weapon. Her katana lay abandoned a few feet away, the blood on the blade gleaming sinisterly in the moonlight. All the warrior’s glory that she’d shown was suddenly gone, leaving a teenage ningen trembling in her wake. She looked about seventeen years of age, right at the top of her prime.

‘Ningen...to have such little time that seventeen seasons is considered their ‘prime’. Pitiful.’ He, after nearly four centuries of life, was in his prime and looked about nineteen in ningen appearance. How he would have loathed to have been born ningen, with a life-span so short that one doesn’t have enough time to grasp most subjects the world had to offer. To only grope at things in desperation to have a fruitful life in the short years one was granted. Ningen life was so short, so rushed.

Where as his was slow, routine, and, as he suddenly realized, empty.

Suddenly, he heard the ningen female’s harsh intake of breath as she stiffened. Her hands grasped her weapon once more and the warrior female returned.

“I know you’re their youkai! Show yourself!” So, she had sensed his youki somehow. Interesting, for he felt no spiritual power coming from the young female. With his curiosity awakened, Sesshoumaru let himself descend into the clearing, landing gracefully and soundlessly only a few feet in front of the girl. She looked up with startled brown eyes, fear showing for the first time when she studied him. Clearly, she knew what she was dealing with. They stayed like that, studying each other for some time, both just as curious as the other was. It was Sesshoumaru that spoke first.

“Girl, why is one such as you traveling alone? I thought it was the way of the taijiya to travel in groups.” She had jumped when he’d first spoke, his deep voice sending shivers across her skin. But as he asked his question, her expression darkened and her grip on her weapon tightened almost painfully as she gritted her teeth and swallowed before speaking.

“I am all that is left of my people. The rest were slain in a cowardly attack on our hidden village.” This surprised him greatly, but not enough for him to allow it to show. A taijiya village being destroyed? It was completely unheard of!

“How did you survive then, girl, when the best male warriors did not?” She snorted and stood, her legs suddenly having strength in them again.

“Despite what the rest of the world thinks, female taijiya are just as capable as the men. I was the strongest of my village, but I was injured several days before the attack and practically bedridden. As the intruders attacked, my only sibling hid me in an underground storage to save me. My younger brother and father perished, along with the rest of the village. Taijiya, houshi, and miko alike were all slain. Even the strongest of all, our leader Shizuka of the Higurashi Clan, was slain. The House of the Shooting Star was destroyed and our legacy was lost.” Something about what the girl said made bells ring in his mind, but he pushed that aside and asked a question about the last part of her explanation.

“You said something about a legacy. What is this legacy?” She looked at him then, her gaze intense and serious.

“A power so great that when placed into the wrong hands, it could destroy us all, youkai and ningen alike.”

“What happened to this ‘power’? Was it housed somewhere in the village?” She shook her head at him with a soft laugh.

“This power was not housed like other powers you may be thinking of. It took a ningen host, a female, in ever generation. We only recently discovered who possessed it, and she was a disappointment to the other villagers. She was my best friend though, and I knew her potential. I don’t know what happened to her, the ‘Guardian of the Shooting Star Legacy’, but what I do know is this; that power will prolong the life of the guardian and sometimes protect them. She may very well still be alive out there. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll be walking through a village and catch a glimpse of sapphire blue eyes hidden behind onyx bangs.”

Sesshoumaru felt the world stop then.

The girl which he’d saved only just that day, the girl which had looked so strange and foreign, and the girl this taijiya spoke of...they were the same person. A girl destined to guard a sacred power that could be used for great evil. He now knew why she was so somber and quiet when he’d seen her. To lose her whole village, family and friends, was something no creature should have to experience. But unfortunately in the world they lived in now, it was all too common.

Again, Sesshoumaru felt the craving for freedom. Freedom from the disgusting world of twisted aristocracy and decimated villages.

“Forgive the rambles of this lowly ningen female, My Lord. For I know you are a lord, your markings say as much. But I have to wonder...can this lowly female make a request?” He watched her as she spoke and could tell it was difficult for her to talk in such a way. So, seeing her pride burning in her eyes, he nodded for her to continue.

“May I travel with you My Lord? I am a taijiya willing to lay her services in your hands, to come at your call to fight battles you find unworthy of your time. I can tend to wounds using herbs and old remedies, and I can be a companion for a lone one such as yourself. I ask this because I have never traveled on my own and if I’m to ever find Kagome, I need to know where I have been and where I should search. Onegai, I need your assistance My Lord.” He studied her as she spoked and took the name of the previously unnamed female into his mind and kept it there. She was sincere, smart in her wording, and obviously sincere.

“I do not require companionship. But I allow you to travel with me.” She looked relieved, though she hid it well, and she nodded at him before gathering up her katana cleaning it with the sash at her waist before sliding it into its place through the sash just used to clean it.

Sesshoumaru turned and began walking, hearing the female’s footsteps behind him. He was now intent on not returning to the castle, for one such as himself should not be seen with ningen company. He didn’t know the true reason for allowing her to follow him, one who hated ningen with a passion like no other. But he didn’t ponder on it anymore and he blended into the forest once more, setting a pace comfortable for the female behind him.

Oh how his curiosity made him a laughable excuse for a taiyoukai. All this for a lone ningen female, who he now knew as Kagome, and the mysterious, dangerous, power hidden away in her petite form.

A/N:

Holy crap and a half...this has taken me forever!!! . I blame my horrid writer’s block. It loves to tease me. One minute, I have inspiration flying out of my brain and then bam! Block! ARGH! But supposedly my mom got me a book that helps people get rid of writer’s block so meh...that might help. But anywho...please tell me what you think. And yes people, this is still a Sesshoumaru and Kagome fic. But I may throw in a twist involving Sango. Just to warn you, even though I love Sango and my nickname is actually “Sango”, she may end up being a heavily disliked character in this story. I’m not exactly sure. And once again, there’s probably oodles of mistakes, but I’m still lacking a beta reader. So yes...review me people! I love to hear your thoughts on my writing! Ja ne!

-Blue

P.S.

Only one more week until Christmas Break! Thank GOD!!!! XD