InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fire Meets Ice ❯ The Escape ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my own original characters and storyline.

`Thoughts'"Speech" *dream*

Fire Meets Ice

Chapter 1: The Escape

"You had better be ready by now Miss Kaene", the servant said knocking at her door. Inside she lay sobbing on the large bed she called her own. Turning over to stare up at the sky painted on her ceiling, she began to wonder if she would ever be able to see the real thing again.

~Flashback~

It was fifteen years ago when she had last seen the sky, and she had been lounging in her favorite tree, basking in the sun peeking through the leaves, it was a beautiful spring day. Suddenly, some men sprung out of the brush and spotted her. She quickly tried to flee, leaping from bough to bough as fast as she could, not even looking back. However, it was hopeless, they had been too fast, and as soon as they spotted her, they had shot her with a sedative dart, and before she new it, she was passed out and falling to the ground.

The last thing she heard was one of the hunters saying, "Well we should get a pretty-penny from Lord Byoshin for this one, he'll have lots of fun with her."

When she woke up, she had been in a lavish room in the lord's palace. She looked around and noticed all of the exquisite furniture in the room. There was an oak bureau, with gold inlay, a warm fireplace, many cozy-looking armchairs, and of course, the plush king-sized bed she was laying on. Then something else drew her attention, the bars on the windows, she then turned her attention to the door, solid steel. She was a prisoner. Never being known for her calm nature, she was enraged, and being a fire-panther, knew just how to deal with it. Suddenly, the whole room was up in flames, and she was standing right in the middle enjoying every minute of it. At least until some men burst into the room and hit her with another dart.

This time when she woke up, she wasn't in such a pleasant situation, if the other one could even be considered pleasant. She was laying one a bed in another room, this one making the first seem like a peasant's hut, however she was chained to the bed in a most unpleasant way. Her hands and feet were chained to the four corners of the bed, and there was absolutely no way out of them, because even if she wanted to burn them, there was some sort of seal on her powers that she couldn't remove. Then he came in, the slime ball that dared to call himself "lord". He had little hair, a figure like a basketball, and a disgustingly ruddy complexion. This combined with the grotesque nature of his face made him an utterly repulsive sight to behold. However, possibly the worst thing about him was the fact that he was wearing nothing more than a robe. She knew what was going to happen, and held her eyes shut, wanting it to be over as soon as possible. The "lord" quickly got done with his business, being that he couldn't have taken very long anyways, and left her in her battered, exhausted state, for the maids to attend to later. That was the beginning of her dismal existence for the next fifteen years.

~End Flashback~

And now that cycle was about to start again. The servant at the door was becoming impatient, so Kaene slipped on her disgustingly scanty uniform for her "sessions" with the lord and prepared to go through hell again for the next half hour. The uniform consisted of long black gloves that went up to her shoulder, skimpy, bikini-like bottoms, and a black and maroon lace corset.

Then, while being escorted to the lord's chambers, which she now did without a fight because all that would earn her was a tranquilizer and excruciating headache, something wonderful happened, the castle was being stormed. Suddenly, a large boulder launched by a catapult crashed through the wall right in front of her, and in the confusion, she ditched the servant, using her feline quickness to escape before he noticed anything.

After making it back to her room in about thirty seconds flat, she gathered up her old cloths, which had been left with her, simply because nobody thought that would do any harm, she made a run for it, leaping out a newly broken wall, and quickly sprinting towards the advancing lines. Spotting her, they thought she might be a secret weapon of the lord and quickly diverted an entire section of the army to stop her. Noting this she stopped in place and began to gather the strength needed to stop the approaching soldier.

"Whirlwind of Flames!" she exclaimed as she released the torrent of fire, sending it hurtling at the army. When the smoke had cleared all that was left was a large pile of ashes where the army, five-thousand strong, had once been.

"Whoops, I guess it was strong enough…I've really gotta stop overdoin' it like that," Kaene stated while running of into the woods, not even pausing to look back at the living hell she left behind.

A few hours later, she felt that a fifty mile gap would be adequate, so she decided to stop and rest near a pond in an area of forest that was familiar to her from her days before captivity. She decided to clean off and change into her old clothes, so she stripped down and sank into the cool water. She sat there reflecting on her days of captivity, and then tilted her head back to gaze up at the sky, the real sky, not that fake mural that her room had been decorated with, but a wide blue expanse that went on a long as she could see, only being broken by the boughs of the trees, bright with summer greenery. She was finally free again, and she could hardly believe it.

When she was done soaking, she got out and got dressed. Her outfit was composed of flat, black, knee-high boots with a red flame design at the toe and top, paired with a flexible short black skirt, and a black lace-up top, steel, plated for protection, also with red flames on it. Her long blonde hair reached down to mid back when down, but was now pulled back in a ponytail for practicality. She also had her demon features, black panther ears and a tail, and a red diamond marking on her forehead.

"Wow, that was really relaxing, but now I really need to do something worthwhile, so I had better get moving…I wonder if my cave's still that same as I left it…"

She got to thinking about what to do now, and decided that first she had to go and retrieve her sword, the Utanorekka, along with all of her other fighting gear because it was dangerous out in the wilderness, and though she had her fire powers, they might not even be enough for some situations. So she set off towards her lair to retrieve her weapons and assure herself that everything was as she left it.

On her way there, Kaene had numerous encounters with weak demons, which she took great delight in reducing to a pile of embers with her varying degrees of fire attacks, ranging from the tiny Flaming Bits attack all the way up to the slightly weakened form of the whirlwind attack, needed to defeat the peskier beasts that wouldn't seem to burn, like the lightening birds, whose thick hide made them impervious to all of her other attacks, much to her annoyance.

After many slight battles that had greatly helped her to get back into the groove of fighting, she finally reached the base of the mountain which housed her lair. It was an old cave, partway up the slope, which you could only find if you were looking for it, thanks to an old sorcerer who owed her a favor. She leapt into the cave and quickly found her weapons, in as good of shape as ever. She had daggers, poles of all materials, short swords, long swords, whips, and any other weapon of the time you could imagine. The even greater fact was that she had mastered them all. However what she was really proud of was her crowning glory of all her weaponry, the Utanorekka. It was a sword that she had inherited from her mother, while on her deathbed. Kaene had always admired her mother's battle prowess, and was especially enamored with her legendary sword. With one swipe, it could release a full fledged firestorm, incinerating anything in its path. The wielder, along with mastering swordsmanship, had to master fire-magic in order to properly control the power. Being a fire panther only made this task slightly easier, and Kaene still had to train for decades to properly control the overwhelming flames.

When she was properly convinced that nothing was amiss in her lair, she went back to her sleeping chambers, and took a nap to relieve her of the enormous stress that the sudden changes in her life had caused. She dreamt a very strange dream that night…

******************

*She was at a beautiful oasis. There was a waterfall that seemed as if it was made of crystal, falling smoothly into the large lake. Barely disturbing the pristine water as it continuously flowed on and on with a calming rumbling. Many different colorful butterflies were fluttering around gracefully, their wings shimmering like gemstones. Then there was him, a tall figure that she could just barely make out through the mist of the lake. He was on the opposite bank, merely standing there with a calm look on his face. The breeze was slightly blowing his long, shimmering silver hair. His bright golden eyes seemed to draw her to him and she leapt across the pond in a single bound. Into his waiting arms which seemed to smother her with care and compassion, then all too soon, she awoke.*

******************

"Who was that…and what was that feeling I had while I was in his arms…it reminded me of what my mother said it was like when father was still alive…what was it that she said it was…oh yeah `love'."

`I wonder if that demon is whom I was meant to be with. I'm not completely sure I ever want anything to do with men again. I'm not sure I could ever think of one the way mother thought about father. No, I shouldn't let that stop me, I may not be able to love him, but I at least have to meet him, maybe he'll be able to heal these scars I have…'

After that dream, Kaene knew what her new purpose in life was to be, she had to find that demon. She had never had so vivid a dream before, so she knew that this one had to mean something.

Little did she know that the owner of those strong, caring arms had just awoken from the same dream, except from his own point of view. He had seen the female demon jump into his arms, and even though it was merely a dream, he could feel the love she had for him. However, pushing it to the back of his mind, he continued on with his travels. They were pointless in nature, but he knew nothing better to do, now that he was all alone. Rin had long since left his side to go and start a family of her own, and he had killed Jakken a while ago out of pure annoyance. Yes, he, the great Sesshomaru, sonof one of the greatest dog-demons of all history, longed for companionship. Though he would never admit this out loud, he really wished that that demon from his dream existed because in that brief moment of his holding her, he finally felt complete, and if just for that moment he was content.

`Why, why am I like this, I'm no ordinary creature that has need for things such as simple companionship, so why do I feel like something's missing. Maybe if I meet this demon from my dream I'll be cured of this feeling, but… No I can't allow myself to think weak sentimental thoughts like this! I must just push it to the back of my mind and continue on!'

~That's all for now!~