Inuyasha: Lords of the Night

Chapter One: Saikaidō Kyūshū

It was an unusual night, the wind blowing through the rock face in high pitched shrills that left the skin tingling for all the wrong reasons. Red dusted the darkened sky above, mingling in the gray storm clouds overhead. The ground beneath his feet was slushy and wet from the dwindling storm moving away from his home. That, however, was not the unsettling part, as his homeland was always dark and gloomy. Lifting his eyes to the next rock, he jumped, gripped it, and swung up onto the ledge, mindful not to slip on the icy wet surface. His current path was the forbidden crevice that sat above his home.

Glancing over his shoulder, he could still make out the tall structure through the dense fog, and he snorted. The great building sat hundreds of feet below and to the south. In truth, he would rather be sitting in his room instead of investigating the disruption that lay just above his assent. For some reason, this great and powerful demon that inhabited the mountains of the region was disturbed. He needed to find the answer before all in his lands were in danger. If it weren't for the fact that in every direction sat a human village, or that his father had promised a truce with said humans, he really would not have cared. However, over the years, he had become accustomed to their presence, and their annoying ruckus, that it was now his duty to oversee peace. Despite the fact that his father accepted peace with the humans, too many years had passed since then, that humans seemed to have forgotten about their neighbors' presence. He himself had yet to meet one face to face, and even not having met them in person, their stench was one to be desired.

Once again he glanced over at the muddy, dark and gloomy lands that were his home, and now his to run and govern since his father's death. Not that peace had preserved any of what was left of the war-torn lands. His mind wandered once again as he continued to climb recklessly. Not once during his short life span, had he known anything but the dreary dark that lingered. He had been born here and raised here with their clan, or what was left of them. Not a single image of green grass, like those he read about in scrolls, or sun-drenched fields, filled his mind, and he longed to see all of it. He snorted again and began climbing towards the demons lair. He reached his hand up and cursed as it slipped on the slick stone, and he quickly corrected his mistake and launched himself upward with a burst of energy.

Silently, he closed his eyes and took a few slow draws of breath to calm his unsettled mind. Not sure what was more upsetting to him, either the rage that flowed from the demon above or the strange storm that had passed over. His whole body stung from the energy both were emitting, threatening to sear his flesh from his bones if he were not careful, and he cursed at his weakness. Even though demons had fought for hundreds of years, leaving devastation in its wake, it seemed that now the humans picked up the horrid past time. Humans were much weaker than his kind, not having the healing abilities that the demons did, thus many bones or corpses scattered fields and pits on the other side of the mountains. Now reports flooded in all the time about mounds of earth that he was told were burials for the humans. Rotting flesh could be smelt on the air, but the humans seemed to learn quickly. His two close friends told him stories about the humans. Those stories always raised his curiosity which could be devastating if he were ever to act upon that curiosity and explore. One of his closest friends was now his trusted general of whatever army was left after his father's mad reign, and his adviser, who was more a figure of wisdom and council.

He opened his eyes once again after his stomach finally settled from its tightening after a particularly foul scent of human remains had flooded his nose. That was his weakness. Any powerful smell seemed to unsettle his stomach recently, which annoyed him to no end, and with no answers as to why or how to quell the stench, he had to endure them. 'Stupid humans.' He thought silently.

Another piercing shriek assaulted his hearing and his blood froze in his body. He pressed himself against the rocks and stilled instantly as the rage and bloodshed rushed over him in waves. He was about to turn and head back home, forgoing this insane trek of doom, when a shadow loomed over him and he swallowed holding his breath. His eyes closed instinctively.