Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Sengoku Otogizoushi - InuYasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. InuYasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan, Viz Media, ShoPro Entertainment, and Shounen; while Yu Yu Hakusho belongs to Togashi Yoshihiro, Shueisha, Viz Media, and Shounen. No profit or money of any kind is made from this fan-created crossover.

Allied Promises
Chapter One

Present-Day Tokyo

"And here is the Goshinboku," Kagome said, gesturing behind her as her tour of grade-school children stopped in front of her.

The large tree swayed in the wind, almost as if on cue, and many of its blossoms fell around them. The children tried their hardest not to show any outward signs of their amusement or joy, but it showed through their grins. Kagome allowed herself to smile as well as she brushed back her long black hair, the sleeve of her white haori falling back from her slender arms and revealing a smooth white scar that was obviously branded on the young woman. It caught her notice and her smile turned sad.

"Please... I love him Kagome-chan." Those words seemed to echo in her mind whenever she noticed it. She would always be amazed at how the smallest things could put the most awesome and extraordinary events into motion. First the jewel, then a scarred over brand.

Her little brother caught her attention, bringing her mind back into the present. Souta looked so concerned and so much older than the seventeen-year-old he was in reality. She gave him a reassuring smile before turning back to the children in front of her.

"Do you all remember the time-traveling miko that I told you about at the Hone no Kui-Ide?" She paused and waited for them to confirm that they did remember. "And I did promise to tell you what happened after that... And I left off at her returning to the past and the life she left behind after being away for three years. Well, while she was gone much had changed..."

1558, Japan

Sango, in repentance to Sesshoumaru for a horrible deed she nearly committed in the battle against Naraku, had spent the last year training Kohaku at their old village. He knew of the feelings between Rin and Kohaku, and he wanted the young boy able to protect his charge. So Sango trained him. For quite a few months, they rebuilt their village. To build up his strength and endurance, and for his own repentance for his own dark deeds. The best way to repent was to rebuild what one had destroyed and to live a second chance.

People slowly trickled in to the rebuilt village. Life returned and grew with each passing month. Sango found herself with a few more apprentices who wanted to learn how to fight. It was all she would teach them as she never taught them the ways of youkai slaying. She had too many as friends and family to ever teach another how to kill them, though she did give others the tools to kill those who would come after them.

And there was one she knew needed to die.

News had come to Kohaku and her about a youkai who was eating humans. It did not sit well with her. Her father's words from when she was younger about such a youkai caused a cold fear to travel up her spine.

"Only the most powerful youkai need to eat humans. They will look human, they will speak our language, and they may even know our ways. But they are youkai to be feared because only humans give them the strength and subsistence necessary to live. They hold enough strength that they could destroy the world in a fit of anger..."

She left Kohaku behind at the village when she left to track down the youkai. She knew it was likely that she would die, but Kohaku would know where she went and after whom, and if she didn't return in two weeks, he was to go find Inuyasha and Miroku to tell them what happened.

Just like her younger days, she traveled with only Kirara. It was extremely nostalgic, especially with all the people now living at her old village. Sango looked back only once at the village before hopping onto Kirara's back and searching out her human-eating youkai.

Three days later, further north than she had been in a long while, she found him.

He was tall, most likely taller than Sesshoumaru, and covered in tattoos. It was more than obvious that those tattoos were signs of his power and species -- a Toushin. Not someone just anyone could take down. He straightened his shoulders, and she watched as he used his forearm to wipe off his mouth, or so it appeared given that he was facing away from her. In typical long-haired pretty youkai fashion, he brushed back the long silver locks of hair before turning to face her.

The tattoos she saw on his shoulders covered his chest as well. He cracked his knuckles and her eyes took in how his muscles moved fluidly with his skin. It was beyond obvious he was someone she could not kill or take down, not with how fit he was physically nor with how oppressive his youki was. Yet she was not raised to back down from a fight.

Sango slid off Kirara's back, her right hand grasping the familiar strap of hiraiikotsu still on her back. "The human villages nearby are getting upset with your eating habits," she said. She kept her voice clear of her fear and focused on her job. "Apparently, they don't like being used for food."

He smirked and crossed his arms. "Funny. Youkai don't like being used for weapons either." He tilted his head toward her, or rather her weapon, instead of to Kirara at her side.

She stiffened which only made his smirk turn into a grin. "So, slayer. How are we gonna do this? A good old-fashioned fight to the death where I try to crush you and you try to hit me with your weapon?"

"No," she said after only a moment's pause. "You're a Toushin, it'll hardly be a fight. I won't kill you so long as you cut back on your...eating habits."

"Now why would I do that?"

Her hand dropped from her weapon and she shrugged. "If you keep on eating the way you have been, there won't be any more humans for you to feast on. I'm sure you can figure out what happens then, Toushin."

"So worried about me, slayer..." His face took on a decidedly perverted look that she recognized from so much time spent around Miroku. "I'm beginning to think like so many other human women, you can't resist my looks."

She rolled her eyes before mounting Kirara again. "Please, I've seen better. Don't make me come after you again." Kirara turned and leaped into the air before the youkai could respond.

He had never been left behind before. Usually, he was the one doing the leaving. He grinned and took in the air and auras around him. A slayer that did not kill him... He could not help but be intrigued.

Sango did not have to seek him out again. Instead, he came looking for her.