InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tale of the Twins ❯ Chapter One: Dying Out ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter One

Growing Up

Naraku paused when he heard the sound of a shriek. That was Shuarra Meitsuki—he was certain of it. Pestering her older brother again. Did she ever stop? Meitsuki never seemed to tire of aggravating Kuraimaru. And he always retaliated, without fail, hence the scream of terror.

He listened to the sound of her footsteps. She came practically flying down the corridor, with a transformed Kuraimaru hot on her heels. She leaped at Naraku, running behind him. “Don't let him kill me!” she screamed. Her twin growled. She yelped and climbed up Naraku, as if he were a tree. He sighed deeply. He had grown used to this over the years, but it didn't mean he could tolerate it well. She clung to his shoulder, halfway slipping. Luckily, she didn't have claws. She found purchase and pulled herself up, hanging her torso over his shoulder for balance. “Aniki-chan is scary!”

“What did she do now?” Naraku wondered, halfway to himself.

Kuraimaru transformed back, glaring at his sister angrily, with a look so akin to Sesshomaru's that it was humorous. “Shuarra Meitsuki broke my door.”

“You pushed me!” she cried, pointing at him accusingly.

Naraku felt a wave of Kuraimaru's anger wash over him. They had learned, as he had grown up, that it wasn't so much that he could manipulate others as shove his emotions onto others, forcing them to feel what he was feeling. “Stop it, Kuraimaru,” he said. The boy blinked, not even aware of having done so. He nodded and the feeling recessed. “Did you push her?”

“She wouldn't leave my room.”

“I wanted Kurai-kun to play with me!” Shuarra whined.

“I wanted to be left alone,” he hissed testily.

Shuarra moped. “But, aniki-chan…”

“I want both of you to apologize to each other. Right now,” Naraku said.

Thirty-seven years for one human year was really too much. Sesshomaru said that that was about the ratio of what he had aged. These kids were growing up a bit faster. It was the Edo Period now, and the kids had grown up at about 27 years for every one. They were full-blooded youkai, because of the dominant bloodlines, but they aged a bit faster with Naraku being a hanyou. Sesshomaru had said that they should be grateful. Naraku thought he might drown himself. It really was too much sometimes. 27 years of the age of 7 really was far too much.

Kuraimaru looked from Naraku back to Shuarra. She was a perfect shadow of him, all except for her eyes. Rin had somehow managed to put up her hair, though. “I have nothing to apologize for.”
“You chased me! And pushed me! And yelled at me!” Meitsuki complained.

“And you came into my room, without knocking, and wouldn't go away.”

“Apologize. Now,” Naraku said.

Shuarra nodded. “I apologize, aniki-chan, for annoying you so much that you got angry at Shuarra Meitsuki!”

“Accept,” Naraku instructed. He hoped that Kuraimaru would just accept it, and he wouldn't have to reprimand him further. His hope was short-lived.

“I accept your apology for what it is worth,” the boy muttered. He really was too smart for his own good. Where was Sesshomaru? He was really the only one Kuraimaru obeyed on a regular basis.

“That isn't good enough,” Naraku informed him.

“She's not sorry.”

I don't care if she's not sorry! “Pretend she is.”

Kuraimaru's eyes narrowed. “Why don't you have her pretend to be sorry?” he demanded. He looked away, then back at his sister. “Aneki-chan, I am sorry that you were frightened that I was going to kill you. And also that I pushed you through the paper door.” Note that he made no mention of chasing her down the hallway.

She leaped off of Naraku's shoulder, sailed through the air, and fell on her brother, knocking them both to the floor. She wrapped her arms around him. He looked disgusted. “I accept, big brother!”

He pushed her away. “Don't touch me.”

She smiled, cocking her head to the side. “Accept my apology, and I won't!”
“I don't believe you.”

She grabbed him again. “Then I'm gonna give you a big kiss! I love you, aniki-chan!” She went to kiss his cheek.

He recoiled and stepped away, one hand outstretched to keep his sister away. “Fine, I accept!”

She spun around in a circle joyously. “Yay! Kurai-kun, come play outside with me!” She grabbed on to his wrist and proceeded to drag her older brother through the palace. She stopped when she saw Sesshomaru. He had been gone the past few days, and she had missed her “mother.” They had grown up not knowing exactly what to call Sesshomaru, so they often called him “Sesshy.” Rin thought it was adorable, and occasionally did the same thing. He had taken to glaring at her when she did, which never bothered her in the least.

Shuarra Meitsuki dropped her brother's wrist and flew at Sesshomaru, wrapping her arms around his legs. “Sesshy-kuuuun!” she squealed with glee. “Shuarra Meitsuki missed you so much!” She looked up at him, smiling. “I love you, Sesshy.”

He rested his hand on the top of her head. Sesshomaru had trouble saying “I love you.” Everyone had sort of accepted it, and knew that he just couldn't say it aloud, but his actions were what really mattered.

Shaurra Meitsuki suddenly pulled away. “We're going outside!” She grabbed a hold of her brother again and drug him off. He complained the whole way, in his quiet, smartass sort of way.

Naraku approached Sesshomaru and walked beside him. “Something is troubling you. What is it?”

Sesshomaru glanced at him sidelong. “So many of the youkai are disappearing. They're not even being killed. They're simply dying out--vanishing.”

“Is that why you've been gone for so long?”

Sesshomaru nodded. “Before Kikyou died, she told me that most of us—most of the youkai—would probably die out. She said it had to do with the way the world was changing.”

“The Western influence?”

He looked at Naraku. “It's deeper than that, I think. But it's influencing it.”

“Why? How?”

Sesshomaru shook his head. “I'm not certain.” He was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Kikyou had died over one hundred years ago. Her false body had finally given out. It didn't seem to have bothered her, though. Sesshomaru had chanced by her at the time, and she had told him this—that the world was changing. And if they could not change with it, they would die. “This happened once before.”

“Hm?”

“I was a child at the time, so I don't really remember. But it was on the mainland, far to the west. In Europe.”

Naraku blinked. “There were youkai in Europe?”

He nodded. “It seemed as though the early Christians eradicated them, and all memory of them, and the farther the religion spread, the fewer youkai were alive.”

“Do you think something as simple as religion has anything to do with it?”

Sesshomaru shook his head. “It's not so much the religion as the fanatical beliefs. In the Feudal Era, humans hated us, but they didn't hunt us down unless a youkai was causing trouble for them. The Christians, however, kill them all.” He looked at him. “Some youkai, without the existence of others of their clan or mate, simply die off. The humans are believing that when they are killed by a youkai now… Not that they are dying protecting their families, but that they are dying protecting their souls.”

Naraku considered this for a moment. “I see. You're saying that these Christians stop at nothing to kill them. But what do you mean that they `disappear?'”

Japan still hung tenaciously to traditional beliefs, and so, there were still more youkai here than elsewhere. But, still… It was getting bad, and youkai were afraid to be here as well. Some of them were crossing back to the mainland, through Asia, and down to unexplored regions of Africa. Would it be safer if they made that journey, too? The journey itself was dangerous, but the destination was one of the safer places in the world. “I think they're running,” Sesshomaru said quietly. “I think they're running for their lives.”

Aniki--brother

Aneki--sister