Summary: [AU] To put it simply: the world is in chaos. What else is new? Demons run amuck and the humans hide in fear behind a wall made of concrete re-enforced with a miko barrier. Kagome feels lost in a sea of people. But when she's taken hostage by a rouge half-demon with moon-kissed hair and a molten gaze, she finds a cause worth fighting for and a home in the most unlikely of places

AN: Hey everyone! I'm baaaaaacckk. This story has been rattling around in my head for some time now and I finally found the time to write it. I'm still tinkering around with my other story Homeless heart, but I think I might just end up deleting it. I had a bunch of good ideas for it in my head, yet when I try to write them all out they don't work very well so...who knows.

Anyway, this story will be a doozy. Its gonna be long. Theres gonna be romance. Theres gonna be fighting (I mean its set in the middle of a war there better be some fighting, for Kami's sake.) Theres a bunch of stuff thats going on. But I wanted to write a Prologue first to see if anyone was interested and thought I should continue with it. Give me feedback on what you think! I always love to hear what you guys have to say.

I have rated this story T...for now. That subject may be cause for change later.

WorldsBestBetaReader:Yourgoldeneyes

Song inspiration for this chapter: Daughter—Run

This Shining Armor Of Mine

Prologue.

She hated herself a little more each time.

Creeping balls of feet cushioned her weight as she slipped over the ground, muffling the sound. A quiver of arrows jostled on her back, knocking around noisily much to her annoyance. Her hand was clamped around a longbow.

Every morning she did this. Every morning she snuck, she ducked and hid like a phantom. Every morning, like clockwork, she awoke before the rest of the field agents in her devision, sneaking past the captains quarters and heading outside towards The Wall. It was routine now, merely felt as if another part of her morning duties. Like brushing her teeth or making her bed.

Only this was grounds for getting kicked out of her division. And she hated herself more and more each time she did it.

Why? she wondered as she flattened her back into a building while simultaneously poking her head around a corner to scout for the morning patrol. Why did she do this? Why did she feel it necessary to risk her beloved spot in Aramitama? Was this really worth it? What could she possibly gain?

She snapped her neck to the left and then right, darting a look this way and that before advancing, making extra sure to keep her head and chin low.

This particular morning the sky was grey and the sun was still considering weather to rise and tint the sky in a wash of breath stealing colors, or hide itself behind the overcast that had rolled in late the night before. A thick fog hovered above the grassy outer-lands of the city, which she graciously used as cover. Quickly running from the edge of the last building she brought the hood of her jacket farther down on her forehead, shielding eyes which were shifting around quickly.

Tall-grasses bent as she brushed them apart, continuing to run. Her breath came out in short pants, creating small puffs of air which hovered in the morning haze before quickly dispersing. Her boots squelched on the muddy ground underfoot.

The world was quiet now. Only the morning song of twittering birds filled the air. Everything else was silent. And why wouldn't it be? she found herself asking, skipping over a small log. Without the noise pollution of masses of cars, airplanes, trains or buses, the world had fallen silent as it had been when it was new.

"The world has a balance." The echoing words of her mother bounced around in her head.

She pushed past the last of the tall-grasses that swayed somberly in the grey morning winds.

"And it always finds a way to righten itself towards that balance."

She stopped, allowing a brief moment to pant loudly, unafraid of being overheard. No one was around to hear the sound out here. All that stood before her was a few hundred feet of soggy grass and a looming wall. The Wall. It's large concrete panels formidable and damn near impenetrable. She knew this because many had tried. All had failed.

With a gulp of air the made her already burning chest and raw throat ache, she slipped the longbow over her spare shoulder, slipping its bowstring over her head expertly and securing it across her chest. She was really glad that she hadn't needed to use it today.

The young woman moved forward, head tipped up towards. She pressed her lips in a thin line of determination.

Two steps and she felt it; a small twinge of electricity zapping up the length of her spine. She didn't rear from it—she welcomed it. Basked in it, even. It wasn't painful or hurtful on her body. If anything, her body wanted more of it. Craved it.

Another step and another rippling electroshock. Stronger this time, stronger the closer she got. She merely swallowed, heading towards the metal set of stairs located parallel against The Wall. She placed both hands on the cold rails, climbing up and up and up. Another step, another zap.

This she knew. This feeling, this sensation—this was familiar. This was home. Her fingertips buzzed with a similar force, practically clawing to be free and become one with with the power she faced. The zaps dulled once she reached the top of the staircase, immense energy flowing through her like an old time friend welcoming her back. Almost like a hug. Her lips twitched with a grin.

The Wall had two stone-like towers on either side of her, but she ignored them both. No one patrolled out here so early in the morning. They didn't attack this early so it wasn't necessary. There were cameras pointed out toward the world beyond, eyes constantly watching behind a computer screen which relayed the image from some unknown building in the city. They needn't be pointed at the wall itself. She was safe here.

She lifted her head, grinning plainly as the sun finally showed itself off, setting the land on fire with brightness. She stood above it all, level with the highest trees, feeling as though all she had to do to skim the clouds with her fingertips was raise her hand. She overlooked the spectacle, crouching on the very edge of the wall that separated her from everything she never knew. Daringly, she dangled a booted foot over the edge, gazing out with the same awe she felt well up inside of her every morning. Come rain or shine, come hell or high-water, she would come just to see this.

Sprawled before her lay a land now dominated, once again, by the planet. Trees as far as they eye could see took up most of it, though very far away she could see the snowcapped mountain she had yet to learn the name of. And right before that was a city, now falling into the hands of nature. She'd been told that the city had once been dubbed Tokyo, and that it had been a booming metropolis before the Fifty Year War.

"Beautiful," she whispered, lowering her hood. A flood of black hair tumbled out from underneath the fabric, rolling down to the mid of her back. A stray strand whipped its way in front of her face, lashing out with the breeze.

She narrowed her unusually colored eyes, vision focusing like a zoom lens, trying to commit everything to memory. The blue sky. The decrepit city. The mountain peek. Everything, all of it. She drank it in, nearly drowning herself with it all.

A piece of herself, a small, childish piece liked to pretend that the city wasn't dead—that it was very much alive and well. She like to think about what everything would've been like had the Fifty Year War never happened. Liked to imagine the planet still turning, cities still thriving. Liked to think of what her grandfather might've been like. What her friends might've been like. Her brother.

She swallowed shakily, gripping the edge of the wall as if it were a lifeline of hope.

Her mother; what might her mother've been like? Would she had been as sad and brokenhearted as she was now? Or…or would everything be different?

What would she herself be like? she wondered.

Her head did a full three-sixty, turning all the way around, similar in fashion to a curious owl. When her gaze landed on the new city built behind the protective square of The Wall, her eyes dulled of their excitement just as the morning bell was rung.

"Time to go," she grumbled, standing. She gazed out past the concrete wall once more, adjusting her bow.

A flash of red and possibly silver suddenly came from somewhere off to her left, right out of the very corner of her eye, before it vanished just as quickly as it had materialized. Her hands paused and she turned her head to look for it, finding nothing on closer inspection, only the trees and the city and the mountain range. Nothing new. But she could've sworn she saw something between the gaps of the treetops, like the starting glint from a fire; the first flicker born from a match scraping against a matchbox.

Another moment passed and she shrugged it off entirely, moving her attention back towards the landscape. She only allowed herself a few more seconds before she turned, climbing back down the metal stairs and making a beeline for the long-grasses, spiriting back towards the dormitories before anyone woke up and found her gone.

She would be back again the next morning, and the one after that, more bits of hatred for herself piling onto what she already had. She hated herself for going to The Wall alone, keeping it a secret from her family and even her friends. But this little piece of freedom was hers, to keep close to her heart when it was late into the night and she felt alone. This was something no one could take away from her.

And she would continue to do it—continue to sit and stare out from her perch on the edge of the concrete wall she hated and adored so much, beguiled by the world beyond her world.

Kagome would do it, hating herself a little more each time.