InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love and Vengence ❯ Fated Meetings ( Chapter 1 )

~~~~~Anessa~~~~~

As Anessa walked along a dusty dirt road in the northern feudal era she tossed back her elbow length jet-black thick wavy hair. As she did this she looked around with her smokey grey eyes. She wore a red corset and a red silk skirt with slits up to her mid-thigh. The skirt had silver embroidery along the belt line and it sat at her hips. Anessa wore silver ankle boots with a three inch heel. She ran her fingers through her hair and stopped walking. She sat down at a nearby river to eat the lunch that she had packed.

As she ate Anessa looked around her and watched the world pass bye she breathed in the air. “Artemis what have I done to have such a destiny like this?” she looked down and felt the grass with her hand. She thought of her mother and father and their murder... and how she was left unable to stop it. She could still picture that horrible day as if it had been that morning.

No I will not dwell in the past, not anymore she thought to herself as she repacked her uneaten lunch. "Where do I go from here," she asked the world around her. Then she thought of the village that had taken her in nearly five years ago. I left them so suddenly, without even a simple goodbye. And they were so kind to take in a young 13 year old fire witch. I should return and explain myself. And see if they will repeat their act of kindness. And with that the now seventeen year old year old walked into the wood towards the place that was closest to what one would call home.

~~~~~Eden~~~~~

On the western end of feudal Japan, the half cat demon, Eden, walked alone with her head down. She had traveled all night in a direction that led to nowhere in particular. Her hair was, down to her lower back, a black hue so dark in appeared blue in the sunlight. Eden wore black leather pants that sat at her hips and a long sleeved dark blue top. It was an empire waist and the sleeves were a sheer material.

"I've been walking aimlessly for hours. And still I have no place to go," she said to the trees as she glanced at her surroundings through her stormy, ice cold blue eyes. She thought for a second 'Why am I the way I am. So sad, violent, and untrusting. I can't trust anyone unless they earn it... and that’s on rare occasion.' The half cat demon walked to the edge of a nearby lake and watched a lonely fish try and find its school...and family.

Family

The word reminded her of the family she had never known. Abandoned at birth, Eden was left to face the world alone. And the world had been cruel, as there was no place for half demons in either worlds, human or demon. Her lacking parents were why she shut everyone out.

Except for that one village. Eden sighed.

Then it caught up with her. "The village!" she exclaimed, scaring the poor fish. I'll return there and see if they can help me find my way again. And so she set off in the direction of comfort.

~~~~~Hope~~~~~

Hope was walking from the far east of Japan. Or at least she was until she heard the footsteps of another following her. Her dog like ears swiveled on her head in the direction of the sound. The half dog demon swirled around and stop dead in front of the demon that was following her.

"If you have any sense of self preservation you'll scatter...NOW!" she yelled as she reached for her sword, Heruken. Before she could unseath the massive weapon, the demon disappeared.

She sighed, the day had very uneventful and this encounter had made it even more anticlimactic. Hope sighed again thinking about the irony of her life... and name. Hope, she scoffed at the thought that her mother had seen any hope in her eyes. So much for hope in the life of one with no future.

So much for family as well. They died years ago. But hope refused to think about her horrendous past.

There was one spot in her life that wasn't covered in darkness. So, clad in her red leather halter top and skinny black leather pants, the half-dog demon headed off to that special village.

~~~~~~Mystic Falls Village~~~~~~

Entering the village was the easy part of this adventure for these girls. The hard part came once they looked inside.

Anessa stood in horror at the sight before her. Entering the village was like entering a modern day horror film. Carefully stepping around the bodies of the fallen, she slowly made her way towards her dearest friend’s home. She prayed to her goddess Artemis that Marni was still alive. To Anessa’s dismay her friend was among the dead now. She silently cried as she walked towards the center village.

Eden looked over the faces of the villagers that once had lived in harmony. She looked away from each familiar face only to meet the forever blind eyes of another. In her heart she wanted to run, but Eden refused to let herself leave these people deserted. She walked to the center of the village to try and find someone alive.

Hope stood here in shock; she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She muttered to herself “How can this be. I…” she didn't want to finish her sentence afraid that her awful memories that happened to her family to revisit. She slowly walked towards the kind girl who had first welcomed her to her village. She looked at the small girl; she had an peaceful expression on her face even though her body was mangled into pretzel like shape. Not wanting to feel anymore of this sorrow, Hope turned towards the center square praying that just this once that her name would come true for her.

As the girls saw each other, each of them gave the others death glares.

“Are you two responsible for the murder of this kind village?!” Anessa asked, hoarse from crying.

“I've nothing to do with it” Eden fired back coolly, “but I bet that mutt over there probably did it” she said turning her gaze towards Hope.

“Why you stupid feline, I'll end you!” Hope said, her claws already glowing a dangerous blue.

“Really you think you can beat me with that sword?” Eden shot back sarcastically while pulling out her Japanese fan

“Humph! What about your puny fan, that's not going to injure me!”

Anessa standing not too far away thought they were only kidding around. Finally after they're bickering they started to attack each other each getting wounded once. Anessa seeing that they weren't just playing. She decided to step in; “Guys we need to work together to solve this problem not go at each other’s throats!”

Hope and Eden paused and turned to Anessa. “You know she's right we need to go for the stomach” Eden said.

“Guys you know what I mean. We need to stop arguing and fighting! I want to know what happened to this place.”

“Fine” Hope put took a step away for Eden as the cat put her fan away.
“Fine my name is Eden and I'm leaving. Goodbye.”

“Eden, wait get your butt over here!” Anessa cried

“Oh and who are you to stop me?” came the reply.
“You know she's right.” Hope said agreeing, turning on her heels to leave just was Eden was.

“I'm a fire witch and I'll vanquish your ass if you don't get back here!” Anessa said, in a threatening voice that she rarely ever used.

“And I'm half cat demon and I'll rip you into pieces,” Eden said with as much force, “I've no business here anymore.” She left Hope already several paces ahead of her.

“Either of you get back here, or I swear to Artemis I’ll…!”

“Really do what you want”, Eden said unconvinced, as she turned around to face Anessa. Hope froze in her tracks

“You wouldn't… would you?” she asked, slightly afraid of the power the witch might have.

“Maybe, maybe not I can always blow you up instead”, she said with a smirk “and same goes for you Eden.”

Hope met Anessa's gaze her muscles she flexed her claws and, in a second, was right in front of her. “You really think I would let you do that? I'll kill you before you’d have the chance,” she smiled.

“Whatever, besides now is not the time for fighting. We need to bury these fallen people and then find out who did this,” she walked towards the nearest body, and the other two followed. After bodies were buried the trio stared at each other. Exhausted, Hope asked “Now what?”

“I think we should travel in a group at least until we figure out who killed these people and why,” Anessa suggested not wanting to be left alone again.

“How do you expect us to work together?” asked the remaining two girls

“You can't make us go against our will” Hope said angrily.

Anessa switched tactics, “I can with a simple spell, and I’ve got a perfect one in mind!”

“Some good witch you are” Hope snuck in at the last minute.

“I never said I was a good witch but thank you for noticing.” came the all to perky reply from the witch.

“Fine I'll go but only for a while!” Eden said.
“I will too. And by the way my name’s Hope and I don't like you” she said mockingly to Anessa, “but I'll go just to torture you.”

“I'm used to people tormenting me, starting when my parents were murdered”

Hope fought back “Well try being possessed and killing your own parents against your free will!”

“I was tied to a wall, forced to watch my parents die, in flames no less, only to be released just as it was too late to save them!” Anessa broke down in sobs.

“Arguing isn’t going to get us anywhere so just calm let” Eden said stepping in between the argument, thinking to herself ‘At least you had parents’. Then she turned to the witch; “We never did learn your name. What is it?”

“Anessa,” she replied as the witch finished wiping her tears away.

“Well Anessa, let’s get going before it gets too late to leave. Come on Hope,” Eden wrapped her arm around Anessa’s shoulders in a way that reminded the witch of her now deceased friend Marni.