Author's Corner

Hmm…, yes well, I found out that frustration can help me write fic.'s too. Of course, the down side to this is, it kinda turns out to be a little dark and quite different. I am still pressed for time, so I am putting up only the first of two chapters. I need to check the second one, and it should be up either by tomorrow or the day after.

No character deaths.

(This is a 2 chapter, One-Shot).

Disclaimer: You can put your standard disclaimer here. (It's definitely better than what I usually say.)

Warning: (Rated M); Mature Content (for chapter 2). 'Read at your discretion.'

Side Note: If anyone is wondering why I haven't been reviewing lately, it's most probably because I haven't read the newest chapters. I am still struggling with my project work. I don't want to leave reviews just for the sake of leaving one. If your story is on my 'Story Alert List', then I'm still reading them, or at least I am hoping to read them. I can however, wish you all the best on your stories.


The Hunt

Kikyo stood beside the small stream, letting the pale moonlight bathe her in its unearthly light, her expression solemn and cold, like her heart and her soul. She was alone. That was nothing new. It certainly wasn't an unfamiliar feeling. But still the fact was that, she was alone. Her raven hair waved like a hand of black behind her, daring anything to approach. If anything did, the hand of black would remain, but the rest of what it was connected to, would become a hand of death. She saw no difference now. Demons, humans, they were both the same to her. And if either crossed her path, she would kill them.

Her past?

That did not matter anymore. There was too much pain back then. Too much suffering. It wasn't worth it. All had abandoned her, even Inu… No! She wasn't going to even think of that name. It disgusted her. Not he, but it, was a part of her past. The Shikon No Tama, that was part of her past as well. It had ruined her life when she was alive, then it had haunted her when she was the walking dead, and then… before it disappeared, it placed on her, one last curse. A final taunt of sorts. A final blow that would scar her for life.

Life.

That had been the curse. But no, not just any life. It had given her the life of an immortal. A life that was no more a life, but an existence, till the end of time, if there was such a thing. It too had been a part of her past, but its' affects would remain with her forever, haunting her, even though it had disappeared from this world. Her past was horrible. Her past… was the dirt beneath her feet.

Her future?

There was nothing that she could compare her future to, since she knew nothing about it. But every time her future turned into the present, she found that she did not like it. And when the future, turned present, finally turned into the past, she hated it. It was again dirt beneath her feet.

She gently tilted her head up to the sight of the full moon. The moon was beautiful. It would always remain beautiful. After all, it never touched this earth. If it had, it too would have turned ugly. She was sure of that. Anything that touched this earth, would feel pain, and in one way or another, turn ugly.

Was she ugly?

No. She could never be ugly. Her milky white skin, her perfect features, her long black hair and so many other things, permanently prevented her from ever being placed under the word 'ugly'. She was perfect. But, being perfect had its price. It made her ugly in the eyes of others, and an object of lust and desire in others. She did not much care about what others said. But, she was not deaf either. The jealous remarks, the filthy comments meant to win her over; they all fell on her ears. Demons and humans, they were the same to her. She rarely ever stayed at a village or even went near one. She was wild now.

Was she free?

Yes. She was completely free. There was nothing that could hold her back or trap her now. She had power. Great power. Her power ensured her freedom. But, her power attracted unwanted attention. She was a price to be won by many. She was even a prey to be captured by others. But they had all failed though. She had killed them all. Without mercy. She had… enjoyed it. Seeing demons and humans alike, writhing in pain when her power burned through their skin, killing them slowly and painfully. She felt alive then.

Pain?

She had felt it in her past. Hated it. But now, she craved it. Pain not on herself, but on others. They would beg for mercy; she could feel her heart beating. They would beg for life; she could feel her soul living. None ever escaped her. They would all fall. One by one. If they did escape, she would hunt them down. Like animals. That's what they were, so why not treat them as such? All prey had fallen, except one.

Did she make a mistake with that one?

Yes, she did. She found the wrong prey. It deserved to be killed. It had after all destroyed a village, purely because of rage. She had relished the opportunity to fight something as powerful as that. When she had arrived at the scene, it had fled. She had hunted it down. But it was in this process, that she realized that it hadn't fled, but merely just left. She had made a mistake. Her prey realized she was following it. She had met it head on. She had made a mistake. Before she knew how, the hunter had become the hunted. Prey, had turned vicious predator.

It was a giant monster, but… it was beautiful. Its power; incredible. Her powers had failed on it, so of course it was incredible. She had wounded it, but it seemed unfazed. With a roar, it had ripped through the giant trees that she hard sent it hurtling into.

Was she scared?

Yes. It was an unfamiliar feeling to her. She had never felt fear before. Never. But the creatures' roar alone, had sent her spine tingling. She froze. She had dared to look up at its eyes. She saw death in them. She felt fear claim her. She had turned and run.

Was that a mistake as well?

Yes! It was a big mistake. By her actions, she had accepted her role as prey. The creature understood it as well. It was the hunter, and it relished the chance to hunt down and kill its prey. The tables had turned quickly. So quickly, that one would never have expected it. She had run through the wild forest full of gargantuan trees that blocked the sunlight, only allowing a few rays to seep in here and there. It was very ominous looking. She hadn't realized that when she was the hunter. But now that she was the hunted, everything seemed a lot clearer. It all felt… real.

She could hear trees crashing and being thrashed about behind her. The creature was big. The trees served as unintended barriers between her and the hunter. The old ones survived and stood strong, like they had been doing for centuries. But their young, not even a century old, fell under the might and muscle of the hunter. If they weren't felled with the impact of its speed and strength, then they were crushed or bitten through. But, they formed some sort of failing barrier between the creature and the woman. They provided a chance at survival.

She tripped and fell. The fear, it immediately descended upon her in unreal quantities. Before she could even react, she was already on her feet and running. This was strange for her as well. She never ran away. Not from anything.

Why was she running away now?

That was a good question. The answer however, eluded her. Why was she running? Then the answer came to her. To escape. From what? From the creature. Why? It was going to kill her. That thought had not played about in her head for a long time. She had not had anything to worry about in the past. Her power saw to that did it not? But now, her powers had failed, and finally… Finally she had come across something that could actually end her life. It could end her immortality. It had, the power, to erase her existence. It could turn her into nothing but a mere memory.

The crashing and thunderous sound got closer. She picked up her speed again, from whence it had slowed because of the thoughts that had been playing about in her head. Concentrating on the path in front of her, she found that she could not only see things more clearly, but feel it too. Another crash; she felt a heart beating, no not beating, it was pounding in her chest. Another thunderous echoing roar; she felt her soul living, no not living, it was burning with life inside her. She felt… alive.

Did the revelation startle her?

Yes! It almost made her loose her footing again. There was no pain, but still, she felt alive? It was stranger than all the other feelings that had come upon her in such a short time. Was she actually fighting, or in this case, fleeing, just to stay alive? She realized she was. She was actually unprepared to face death. She had always been prepared before, even though death had been wary of her powers and stayed well away from her. She had been prepared for it a long time ago. At first death had come, taken her, then released her, then eluded her before finally fleeing from her; finally afraid of her. But now, it was back. It was not in the least afraid of her. In fact, it seemed to be taunting her. It had come back with a vengeance. It was more than confident that it could claim her again, and she could not disagree. The possibility was very real. But still, she felt very alive.

Sweat dripped down the side of her face. Her haori was already soaked. She was panting now, heavily. Her breaths were becoming shorter. She was finding it harder and harder to take in air. Her body was exhausted. Suddenly there was an explosion of demonic power behind her, sending shockwaves through the earth, causing her to stumble and fall to the green earth. The sounds of trees being crushed disappeared under the sound of them literally exploding. Even the oldest of the trees couldn't withstand the amount of power, and three of them fell, slowly, until they shook the earth further as the collided with the ground.

The tremors continued, and she lay flat on the ground, covering her head with her hands. There were still parts of trees flying about and landing all around her. Fear smacked her hard. She was on her feet again, as the tremors lessened, and the earth stopped trembling in fear of the demon's power. She was not alone, she realized. All the creatures that dared to live in such a dark forest, had instantly fled, unable to withstand the demon energy rippling through the air. It appeared that even the sun hid with fear.

Is that possible?

No, it was not. She knew something was wrong. She dared to look up. What little air she had left inside her, immediately left in a rush. The creature was sailing through the air above her, it's gigantic form blocking what little light was allowed into the forest, destroying the trees that stood in the way of the path its' body was taking. She fell on her knees as more trees collapsed on her left and her right. Another explosion and the earth shook once again, more trees fell as a result of the earth rising under the shockwave. The beautiful monster had landed several hundred yards directly in front of her. Another deafening roar resounded through the forest.

Was she going to die?

She did not know, but it seemed the mostly likely outcome. Kneeling with her hands on the earth to support her, she tilted her head upwards, to see the creature turn to face her, death smiling at her from behind it. The creature would come to her first, and death would follow.

Was she just going to sit there and accept that fate?

No! No, she was not! She attacked it again, The creature fell, but like before, if only a little more slowly, it stood up again. Death laughed at her expense. She had seen death before, but she had never thought it could appear in the form of a creature as beautiful as this. It was covered in long swaying snow white fur, that shined a hazy gold where ever the patches of sunlight hit it. A thicker, somewhat dirtier snow colored length of fur, spread from underneath its' chest to go over its right shoulder to meet again, after stretching a good distance across its body in an angle to the left. It ears were uncommonly shaped. It was built on muscles, that bulged even as it breathed. Its eyes were a crimson red, thicker than blood. It was… an Inu demon.

A dog demon?

Yes! A giant white, dog demon. As she panted, it looked at her intently. She too was mesmerized by its blood eyes. Coming out of her stupor, she was about to attack it again, when a bright light covered its body, almost blinding her with its intensity. Feeling the demon energy, not subside, but rather restrict itself, she slowly opened her eyes. The demon had disappeared.

But then, why could she still feel its dominating aura?

A sparkle of some kind appeared in her vision. She slowly lowered her head from the skies, where only moments ago a dog demon's eyes had been looking at her, to a small form in the distance. Her eyes widened. In the distance, stood a man. No, not a man, but a demon who had assumed the shape of man. She was not running now, but her breath still left her again. Death had never looked this beautiful before.

But could the word 'beautiful' be associated to a male?

He had long silvery white hair that hung up-to well below his waist, perhaps even up-to his knee. He was tall, clad in expensive looking white cloth, with a yellow and purple sash around his waist. His skin was flawless, paler than hers, but somehow brighter. He had amazing eyes. They were gold, and as intense as the sun. What looked like magenta stripes, two of them on each side, streaked across the sides of his face. His eyelids were of a similar shade, but more towards red. He had a crescent moon on his forehead. A thick fury pelt rushed over his right shoulder to sway behind him. He really was beautiful. Death had found what she thought was the perfect male specimen that could look beautiful and still look man enough. He really was beautiful. But wait!

Has she not seen him somewhere before?

She hated her past. So it took a while for her to remember. And when she did, she felt… nothing. She had only seen him once, with a little girl. A human girl. She hadn't got a good look at him then, but she was sure that the demon standing in front of her was him. He was that things, half brother. The Lord of the Western Lands. He had his arm back. And he had grown to become even more powerful. She was well aware of who his father had been, so it did not come as much of a surprise that the son would take after him. 'Sesshoumaru' was his name.

He was nothing like his half brother. He was calm and collected. In fact he seemed a bit too calm, and it unnerved her. It was as if he had total confidence that he could do what ever he wanted to her. The thought made her stand and take a few steps back, fear swimming around her again.

She almost gasped when his eyes flashed crimson a few times. The monster may have gone, but the predator, the predator was still there. She watched as he pulled out his sword, with its sheath, and dropped it onto the ground.

What was he doing?

She did not know. And she thought that she really did not want to know either. She made a mistake. She attacked him again. But he had disappeared. Suddenly she felt hot breath on her neck, and his aura unmasked itself behind her. She froze again.

"That was a foolish thing to do, priestess." he rasped into her ear, sending more shivers down her body.

There was slight movement, and she found herself in a one armed embrace. His nose moving up and down along the back of her neck, like he was taking in her scent.

"Umm… nice…" his voice like silk, came out again.

She squirmed in his grasp, but to no avail. It seemed that fear had settled in on her permanently. She could not find her powers. It was like she did not have them anymore. She was left defenseless, and completely at his mercy.

Mercy?

It was something that she did not give others. Was there a reason to assume that he would deal with her in the same way? No, he was a demon after all. There was a blur of movement. She found herself backed into a tree, facing him, her feet barely touching the ground as he held her up by the neck. She gasped once again, when he lowered his face to her neck and took in her scent.

His hot breath… was more than enough to ruin her concentration…

To Be Continued…

You've been warned; The next chapter has Mature content. (now don't tell me I didn't say so, coz I've said it twice). Hmph!