Chapter I ~ Dangerous Road

It was the season of the falling leaves. On a steep mountain path deep in the mountains of Akaishi, a cool breeze blew, softly tousling the mysteriously long white locks of the great dog youkai; the great Sesshomaru-sama. He led a small company behind him, consisting of a three-foot tall youkai by the name of Jaken, a two-headed dragon youkai called Ah-Un and sitting astride it; a human girl; Rin. As they followed their lord over ridges and fjords, most times in silence, other times in half ill-humored jest and half childish mischief, the company journeyed on into the beyond.

As night came on, the girl became drowsy and the company made camp. Overhead, the last quarter moon shone weakly through the top tree boughs, devoured by the animated orange glow of the fire. Sesshomaru carried Rin from the back of Ah-un to the fireside, and, being sure not to wake her, arranged her body to fit comfortably into the soft bed of grass and leaves. As a youkai he had no need for sleep, instead he left Jaken to keep watch as he wandered the surrounding forest.

This scent… Naraku?

He deftly lifted his head and drew in a deep breath of night air. The scent repulsed, yet at the same time intrigued him. How could something so insidious exist? The thought tormented him. It had only been a decade or so since the last battle at the sacred burial ground of his late father, the once great dog youkai; Inu Taisho. As his thoughts meandered along the maze of memories past, the corners of his mouth drew into a frown. He had, once again, failed to exterminate Naraku; a hanyou and a disgrace to all living things in this world. His displeasure made him rigid.

Chichioya… You asked me once, "Do you have someone to protect?"

Sesshomaru sneered at his own weakness. In contradiction to what he had pride-fully thought of himself at the time his father had asked him that question, he now knew he had a different answer.

Rin… How ridiculous. This Sesshomaru, once the honorable son of Inu Taisho, has now fallen for the sake of a human girl.

His thoughts were interrupted by the startled cry of that very human girl. Immediately, he turned back running towards camp. Upon his arrival, he saw the cause of Rin's alarm; a low-class youkai with the head of a skull and the body of a serpent.

"Arrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaack!" it screamed as its gruesome body lunged forward, nearly missing Rin's foot. With one swift flick of Sesshomaru's poisonous whip, the youkai was severed in half, from its head to the tip of the tail, vanishing into tiny particles of luminescent light. The ordeal was over.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin cried, running to his side and clutching at his sleeve. He shrugged away from her, brushing her off with an indifference as cold as ice. Beneath his chilly exterior he really did care that she was safe, but was too afraid of the consequences to show it. He knew she was used to his disposition, so it didn't much matter. Did it?

Rin went back to her place by the fire, bent her head in reverence, and said, apologetically, "Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru." She was answered by silence. Jaken hit her on the back of the head with his staff.

"This Rin begs forgiveness!" she exclaimed zealously, fully prostrating herself, showing her disgust at her own weakness. Jaken nodded his approval while Sesshomaru stared down unemotionally at Rin. She'd grown to a tolerable age of twenty, but still lacked sufficient skills in the martial arts to defend herself.

He nodded once, turned, and left the camp once again. Cloaked in the shadows of the night he wandered to regain his peace of mind. He meditated.

Dawn was near; the faintest light shimmered on the horizon. Birds began to sing their first-light tunes. Somewhere close by a herd of deer grazed by a trickling stream. Brown, bronze and crimson leaves stirred at his feet. The morning frost crept over the vegetation about him, crackling and popping when his feet touched the ground as he walked further and further away from the camp. Uneasiness was in everything about him; inside him. A time of peril would soon come.