InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Grim Girl ❯ The Egress, then Goodbye ( Chapter 1 )

I am Flutterby Lullaby, and this is Grim Girl, my first story on Media Miner. It’s a chapter ahead over at FF, so go check it out there, if you want!

Enjoy!

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I was a demon lord, ruler of all the Western Lands. I had loyalty and power over thousands of demons, and, inadvertently, the humans who lived there as well. Daimyo believed they had control over those lands; how foolish. I, Sesshomaru, knew so much better.

But that was 500 years ago. In what modern humans call the Sengoku period of Japan. Today I blend in with those that I once hated with such passion I would not suffer their presence alive. Such is the way for demons now. 500 years ago, I believed my empire would last forever. I had built it so much greater than my father before me. My power was virtually limitless, and none contested me.

But now... now!

The Egress came. Some prophets had predicted it, but no one, human or demon, believed it was possible that demons would begin to die; begin to fade. It started first with the waning of magic. Newer, weaker demons died first, of course. They could not stand to the dissapation of the magic that fueled their strength and power. Priestesses and monks–spiritual power did not die, however. Their strength was holy, in nature, not magical. What demons that could stand to the desurgance of magic could not stand to the humans spiritual might. Eventually, magic grew less and less, and demons grew few and fewer. Only those of us too powerful to be overcome by holy men or magic depletion survived The Egress. We fell into hiding, hardly better than they now.

I hate them more and more. Humans have control, now. Control in their great numbers. Billions. Billions of humans inhabited the wide planet. Only a handful of the demons remained. I remember an old fox demon once searched the world trying to find our kind. He had found only short of 4,000. He confirmed I was one of only three demon he could find in Japan.

In my long years, I eventually decided to find the others in my land. I suppose I was lonely in a way, bitter. Traveling Japan brought old memories, and sour thoughts. When I succeeded in finding one of my kind, whatever I could have hoped would happen didn't–the demon I found had gone insane, years ago. She lived on the outskirts of Kyoto, feasting on the flesh of any wildlife she could find, or stragglers who dared venture into her territory.

When I journeyed into her land, she was soon to come to me. Laughing and giggling, she proceeded to attack me, her hair becoming sharp as swords, and flying wildly about her mangy face. Such a demon as her was pathetic against me–or at least, what I was. But I maintained a human appearance for many years now, sealing my fearsome youki away. So many years had it been, even, that my power arose from the bonds I had controlled it in sleepily, empowering me minimally.

I attempted to strike her, disgusted at my own weakness. Only my claws had grown, and the poison that usually tracked through them was not there. My speed, my strength; neither improved dramatically. I used my claws against her knife-hair. I lost soon, however. Her hair cut into my side, deeply, slicing through my body. It was a pain I had not felt in centuries. But more blows came, cuts across my chest, face, arms; it was relentless. In deep agony, I fell against a great pine.

The bitch struck only twice more: once to sever my left arm, and the other to drive through my heart.
So now there was only two demons left in Japan.

I watched my body, mangled and grotesque, from more of a different vantage then I had ever expected: from above, as if I floated midair. As if I was dead, as I knew I must be. The demoness guffawed at her victory, and scuttled over to me. Sniffing around my head, she licked my bloody cheek. I shuddered, and she screamed, smoke pouring from her mouth. She opened her jaw wide, clawing at her tongue. A great burn obscured it, and appeared to be eating away at the smoldering tissue.

I afforded a thin smile. So poison ran though my veins once more. I knew no beast of the forest would desecrate my body now.

The demoness' scream died into a long, low moan. The poison kept swallowing her tongue, and after much shaking and pathetic pandemonium, she finally bayed sharply, and tore it out. Keening, she hurried away.

And I stayed, unsure of what to do. I sat next to my body, studying it. It had been long since I had looked at my own face. I had grown so disgusted at my human appearance, I found it hard to stare at directly.
My hair was still dark, but streaks of white had begun to glimmer in it. The faint markings proving my aristocratic lineage. I reached to touch my own face, hesitant on whether I would push though it, or some sort of catastrophe would happen. But I hoped it would slide right into my body. Although, looking at its sorry condition, was it worth it?

My hand–satisfyingly clawed–collided against my cheek. However, although my hand wouldn't pass through my flesh, I found I couldn't feel it. I looked up at the tree tops. A steady wind rustled them but I felt no movement in my hair or clothes, nor saw any motion.

“So I am dead?” I pondered. And although my mouth moved, and I could feel my own throat hum, no voice reached my ears. The hesitant chirping of the birds, before startled by the short-lived battled, I could.

I sighed soundlessly, and leaned against the ground, wishing for the first time in my life I could smell damp wood, or hear my own malcontent. Anything would be better than this half-existence.
My heart–or what was my heart–clenched at the thought. There was something worse: purgatory. Hell. Two times in my life had I ever felt fear. This third time shook me. Eternal damnation.

Could I believe that I was truly dead? I wished suddenly for Tenseiga, my father's useless "gift" of a weapon. I had kept it once at my palace in the West; however, when I left my lands, I left the useless scrap as well. I wondered if it would have protected me. No matter. I was incorporal, obviously. I could not lift the sword to return my life.

I turned my thoughts to my fate. Would I remain as a ghost, and wander the earth for eternity? I had never followed human religion; I knew of it, but I thought it useless faith from mortals to try and cope with their own limited life. I wondered if I would be faced with Enma now. Or would I be reincarnated as something? Perhaps I would be judged before Osiris, or Jesus, or any number of mortal Messiahs. I found myself wishing I had seen all of the world; that I had a son, whom I could have raised. I felt more embitterened then ever.

It would be dusk until I was retrieved.

I heard a crashing in the brush. I turned my head, pleased I could hear it clearly–far more than the rustle of leaves or the call of the birds. Eventually I moved on the other side of the tree my body leaned against, sickened by my own bloating corpse. I had spent the day watching the wildlife that crept around my body, and pondering my situation. They were all fearful to draw too near, however. Even flies and ants would not dare to touch my body. I entertained that even the pine would shudder away if it could.

The wild creature burst through the foliage, finally. I was surprised. A human girl bent over, huffing as she clasped her knees, her dark head bobbing. I saw her clearly, as well. The environment around her, however, appeared slightly out of focus, as if I were viewing it constantly out of the corner of my eye.
“Oh...” She shot straight suddenly. “Oh, ew, gross.” She held her hand over her nose, and glanced around. I almost smiled at the though of her screaming and running away in terror from my quickly deteriorating corpse. The thought faded when I realized she would run screaming straight to the police. They would notice something inhuman about me; but more importantly, they would desecrate my body; cut me apart, dissect my organs, all in the name of their petty science. I could not be explained by science.

She spotted my body. The reaction I had been expecting, however, was lacking. “Oh, there you are." She shuddered a little. "Gruesome. Someone really tore you up, huh?” She approached my body, adding another hand to her nose as the smell of my body apparently grew more poignant. I was stiff with shock. She was expecting this? Did she plan this, my death? Was she also a demon? Wild explanations flew through my head as she drew closer.

She squatted in front of me, delicately balancing on a gnarled root. I could only see a portion of her, however, so whatever she was doing to me, I couldn't see. I started to move around the tree.

“Hey!” I froze. “You're not here!” From my vantage point, I saw her rise quickly. “Spirit! Yoo-hoo! Please come here!” I must have shifted, because she suddenly turned and gave me a very sunny smile. I stood there, forcing emptiness on my face as she grinned. Inside, I thought if she claimed to be my child's mother I couldn't be more shocked than now.

“Hi there! Hiding's rude, you know. Well, my name is Rin, and I'll be your Grim Reaper.”

I was wrong.

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And, there we go! Short, I know. But it pleases me. Don't expect every chapter to be in first person. This is the only one that I foresee.

Expect the next chapter next Friday.

Peace.