InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Keeper of Humanity ❯ Preface ( Chapter -1 )

The small girl pushed herself carefully through the bushes, careful not to get too many cuts or scratches. She knew good and well that she was not supposed to be there, but nobody had told her what was happening, and she wanted to know. She had to know.

She paused for a moment as three or four men ran by, back in the direction of the village. Once their voices had vanished into the distance, she began moving forward again.

Vaguely in the distance she heard shouts and screams, and could only assume that that was what she was searching for—where everything was that everyone was trying to keep hidden.

She, agonizingly slow, inched herself forward towards the series of shouts and screams she was searching for.

She didn't know where she was aiming to go, but when she reached a clearing filled with people, she was sure she was in the right spot. Though, when she took a closer look, she noticed that not all of them were human. Some of them, not even humanoid.

Quickly, she scanned the clearing for familiar faces. She spotted her father first, his sword drawn. She was about to call out to him when his sword clashed with the extended nails of what looked to be another man.

His opponent was a tall man with long silver hair and a crescent moon tattoo on his forehead. He wore traditional looking clothing with armor, and on his shoulder was a giant fluff that fell all the way to the ground. His golden eyes had a cocky glint to them, though not dangerously so. Just enough to look like self-proclaimed superiority.

Her father swung his sword recklessly, hoping to at least make a scratch the strange man, his opponent, but no sooner than he had swung, the other man had pulled one of his two swords out of its sheath and lazily blocked the other man's careless swing.

Her father's face quickly changed from determination to shock at the strength of his opponent despite the fact that the silver-haired man wasn't even trying.

Before her father had time to react, his opponent had swung his own sword away from the force of her father's and slashed it straight through his abdomen, cutting him clean in two.

The small girl gasped and let out a small sob. Her father had just been murdered in front of her. Her eyes quickly, and against her will scanned the clearing searching for other familiar faces. She had quickly located her mother's head, but her body was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes fell upon some of her neighbors as she watched them fighting a losing battle against the demons. Most of them fell within the few seconds she kept her eyes on each one. The last person her eyes fell upon was her older sister. She was fighting a demon with a baboon cloak on, which completely obscured all of his features. Despite this obvious handicap, he was certainly an excellent fighter. And for her sister to be going up against such an opponent, she was certainly holding her ground.

The two of them went at it for quite some time, neither falling, nor faltering. They were so engaged in their battle that neither of them noticed when a purple-ish orb flew from between them. Nobody else on the battlefield seemed to notice it either.

Deeming it incredibly important, just unnoticed at the moment, she dashed into the clearing, making a beeline for the orb. She went unnoticed by most of the demons, though some had seen her, then seen what she was after, and lunged at her. She did her best to dodge the attacks thrown at her, though it proved difficult to dodge the demon's attacks while making sure she didn't trip over any of the far too many human and demon corpses alike.

She came within mere feet of the orb, and dove for it. She held it tight to her chest refusing to let it go regardless of however many injuries she could and, no doubt would obtain. She was even aware that this one silly, little, thoughtless action could lead to her imminent death. Still, however, she clutched to the tiny purple jewel with all the strength she could muster.

She felt something hard hit her in the back of her head, and was now aware of her own warm blood running down the back of her cranium. Her vision had left her, but only momentarily, swiftly returning just in time to see another demon bring his foot down on her leg, slamming it into the ground. She screamed out in pain, though not one warrior looked her way—screams of pain and agony had been normal for so long, that they were quite simple for the stronger warriors to merely ignore and continue with their business.

She keeled over, though refusing to let go of the gem, and brought her legs, if it were possible, closer to her body. Tears ran rapidly down her cheeks from the pain. The demons around her didn't bother killing her. They only kicked her and beat her, knowing, though, that it would eventually lead to her death.

She was watching her sister fight valiantly, cherishing it as her last moments, but just as her vision was about to completely give out on her, her sister turned her head in shock to face the child, giving her opponent just the opportunity he needed to strike a fatal blow to the older girl.

Her sister had fallen. The last of her family was dead. And she wasn't long for this world either, she was sure.

Her eyelids were becoming heavier and heavier with every passing second, and she was sure death was upon her, but to her amazement, a boy, only a few years older than her, it seemed, had placed himself between her and the demons. She could have sworn that she saw nearly every one of the demons be sucked into his hand, but she didn't rely too heavily on her mind in this state, and only discarded what she thought she had seen. She decided to ponder it another day if God would allow, and let her heavy eyelids close.