Vampire Hunter D Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Eternity ❯ A Battle in the Background ( Chapter 1 )

Chiyoko Kurosawa ran for her life. They were behind her, and they were closing in at an alarming rate. Even with her enhanced speed, she was not going to win this footrace. As she ran, Chiyoko gritted her teeth in resignation. She knew what she had to do… she had to fight.

Drawing her twin blades from their sheath on her back, Chiyoko spun to face her attackers. The male was the faster of the two, so she focused her attention on him first.

The male, whose name she had learned was Yukio, sprang at her. Their swords crashed, and Chiyoko spun right, slashing downward. Yukio blocked her and sent an elbow into her chin. Chiyoko took a step back and blocked an attempted decapitation by Yukio's female companion, Kei, who had just arrived. As she fought both enemies, Chiyoko's mind tried to decipher exactly why these two demons were so hard to defeat, and why D, her supposed partner in all of this, was not there.

"You say they killed half an entire village… in five minutes?" Chiyoko glanced warily at D. Dhampire like her, D was just as sullen as she, but unlike him she did not care to repeat herself.

"I do say. And they did. I went to the village as soon as I found out. They left no trace, but one of the survivors told me they went into the mountains. And if I've got even that much of a lead, I'll find them," she nearly growled.

D sighed. "Sometimes, Chiyoko, I wonder about you. All this anger, this rage toward the pureblooded of our line, and any pure demons. Why are you so hostile?"

The wind blew lightly, covering D's moon-pale face with his dark hair. Chiyoko could not see his eyes in the dying sunlight, and it made her feel more at ease. She had never been at ease with anyone after her parent's death, and especially not this mysterious man-demon beside her. Taking a deep, steadying breath, Chiyoko told D the shortest version of her history she could.

"The pure of our race stole from me. They stole the lives of my father and mother. My father Akira was a vampire from Tokyo, a pureblood, but my mother Mia was only a . Mother was taken first… she was weak, human. Then, several years later, they returned for my father. I couldn't fight them then, I was too young and could not even lift a sword above my head. I trained every day for many years until my swords felt like feathers. I killed my first vampire on a warm summer evening like this, and it helped. Only a little relief, but it helped… so I will continue to slay them until there are no more to slay."

When she had finished, Chiyoko turned to D. "We'll wait until the sun rises, then we'll find them together," she said. D only nodded, but that was enough. It seemed like everything in her life was only just enough.

As her mind returned to her present situation, Chiyoko was increasingly aware of her inability to fight the two demons for much longer. Yukio had clawed her with his razor sharp fingernails several times, and the cuts were bleeding profusely. To add to her injuries, Kei had shocked the dhampire girl with lightning that had seemed to come from her fingertips. Charred and bloody, Chiyoko was on the verge of giving up. And in the exact moment of her indecision, D appeared.

Like a black wind, D cut across her field of vision, his cross-like sword shining in the midday sun. Yukio must have sensed the attack coming, for he sprang back just as D swung his weapon. Kei was not so lucky; in fact, Kei was not lucky at all. D's blade made a second rotation, and this one caught Kei squarely under the chin, severing her head from her writhing body.

The next thing Chiyoko knew, D was at her side, gripping her elbow. Yukio was not done with them, though, and he charged D, a scream ripping past his lips.

"You will pay for Kei's death, half-demons! I shall wipe you from the earth!"

D let go of Chiyoko and roughly pushed her to the left, while he rolled right. Yukio's thin blade barely missed his shoulder, and D looked up in time to see the demon raise his sword high.

"Goodbye," Yukio whispered with an evil grin gracing his lips. Then he plunged his sword into D's heart.

Or he would have, if Chiyoko hadn't stuck one of her swords into Yukio's gut.

With a yowl, Yukio retaliated, claws imbedding in Chiyoko's neck and tearing three jagged lines in her olive skin. She yelled, and D swung his sword at Yukio's arm. The demon let go of Chiyoko, D's blade singing past him, and pulled the sword from his body. He stepped back, a hand to his stomach, and glared at the two demon hunters before him.

"Mark my words, half demons," he snarled, "You shall not live long. My master will see to that." Then the demon Yukio, having lost his partner and nearly his life, fled.

Chiyoko, her wounds already healing, stood on wobbly legs. She opened her tired eyes and turned her head to D, who was wiping the blood from his sword.

"Let me have your sword," D said in his silken baritone.

Chiyoko was hesitant to give up one of her weapons, but D grabbed it anyway, wrenching the blade from her grasp. Carefully, he wiped the demon blood from her sword as well, and then handed the hilt back to her.

Chiyoko smiled at the dhampire, silently thanking him. Her eyes slowly traveled from D to the lifeless body of Kei. She noticed something shining in the blood that was pooling around the demon. What in hell? She thought to herself. Chiyoko, ever curious, walked over to the body.

She reached a cautious hand toward the gleaming object. Eyes closed, Chiyoko grasped something tiny and oddly sharp between her index finger and thumb. When she opened her eyes, she found herself holding a shard of some kind of jewel. It was pink, and glowing… and it made her feel strangely powerful. Like her wounds had completely healed. Like they had never been there in the first place.

Chiyoko gasped and dropped the shard, her pain instantly returning, and she cried out.

D was at her side in a flash. He saw what she was making such a fuss over, and picked the sliver of jewel from the ground. He placed it in a pocket of his coat, then dragged Chiyoko to her feet. "Come, girl… we must follow Yukio to his master. It would seem he would most likely control the jewel this fragment is from."

Without another word, D walked toward the west, following Yukio's fading scent.

Chiyoko, still dazed from the shard, had to run to catch up.