The night was once again silent, leaving only the sound of a breeze as it ran through the trees and grass. The breeze also seemed to find its way through the long, silver hair of a young demon lord, who was on his way to seek revenge on a half-demon that had foolishly insulted his honor. The demon lord stopped as a peculiar scent trailed across the night air.
His small, impish toad servant following close behind had not realized that his lord had stopped. He continued to walk with his eyes closed and mouth wide open in a long yawn, which resulted in him falling to the ground as he ran into the back of his lord’s leg. Concerned for the sudden stop his lord had taken, the little imp questioned him from the ground. “My lord, what is it?”
Without turning to face his servant, the demon lord replied, “The scent of blood is in the winds.”
“Blood?” the imp asked questioningly. The demon lord inhaled the air again, trying to find some reason as to why this scent held some sort of familiarity to him. Perhaps whosever blood it was could give him answers to the person whom he was seeking. The demon lord now set a new course to discover where, and who, this scent was coming from.
The young demon lord followed the scent through the thick of the woods until he came to an open field, his toad imp servant once again following close behind. The field seemed bare; no presence of any living person or demon, yet the scent still held strong. The bones of a two- horned demon lay in the dirt, still untouched by wandering scavengers who had not yet come across them. They lay in the path of the demon lord but he did not walk around them, he simply lifted his feet and continued. The little imp, however, did not notice them as he was occupied by asking his lord another question.
“My lord, may I ask what it is we are doing?” The little imp then tripped into the dirt and grass headfirst. Wondering what he had tripped on, the imp turned his head to discover the demon’s corpse. The imp let out a little shriek of surprise of a corpse at his feet.
Ignoring his servant’s cry, the demon lord looked around once again at his surroundings. “Naraku was here.” His thoughts went to the half demon that the young lord was so intent on finding; the half demon that had offended his honor.
“So, was he the one that killed this demon?” the imp asked, but received no reply as the demon lord continued to where the scent of blood descended. The demon lord carried with him two swords. Toukijin, a cursed sword that he managed to overpower to take into his possession. This sword was capable of slashing through the flesh of his enemies, even without making direct contact. And the other, Tenseiga; a sword bestowed to him by his father, a great demon lord of the west. It was made from the fang of his father and held the ability to save the lives of a hundred souls if used by a person with a merciful heart.
However, this young Lord seemed to be anything but Merciful.
The Tenseiga began to pulse with each step the demon lord took towards the scent, indicating that the soul of the deceased still lingered close by. In the distance, he could see the figure of a body lying in the grass. As he approached, the body became more visible. He stopped in front of it and examined the body.
It appeared to be a corpse of a young demon woman, whose stomach had been torn through, leaving only a gaping hole drenched in blood. “This girl met her end by Naraku’s hand. Her blood swirls with the scent of him.” he thought. He wondered if she had known him or if she had just been a random victim for his enjoyment.
The imp servant finally caught up with the demon lord and looked down at the dead girl before them. His face turned into one of disgust as he saw her wounded flesh. “Ewww… That looks like it hurt. Naraku must have done this, huh Lord Sesshomaru?"
The girl was dead, but her soul remained, waiting to be taken to the spirit world. The Tenseiga pulsed at his side, beckoning him to revive the girl that lay before them. The sound of clanking chains emerged as two small demons appeared, only visible to Lord Sesshomaru. They began to wrap the chains around the girl’s soul, prepared to take her to the spirit world. He gazed upon her face. It held no familiarity to him, but her scent made him wonder otherwise. How could someone he never met before seem so familiar to him?
Sesshomaru reached his right hand to his side and grasped the Tenseiga as it pulsed again. The little imp noticed this and asked, “Lord Sesshomaru, are you going to revive this girl? Do you know her?” Sesshomaru made no reply and it made the imp wonder if this was another experiment he was doing with the Tenseiga, just as he had done for his young ward.
Sesshomaru held the Tenseiga in his hand and stroked at the small demons that were preparing the girl’s soul for the spirit world. With that one strike, the small demons seemed to evaporate into the air, releasing the chains from her soul. The girl’s eyes opened wide as her back arched and she breathed in new life. She was alive again, but the stress from her lingering wound left her unconscious, leaving her to wonder in the darkness for a little while longer.
Sesshomaru knelt down and scooped the unconscious woman into his right arm, calling for his two-headed Dragon, A-Un, to come to his side. With one hand, Sesshomaru placed the woman on the dragon’s saddle alongside his sleeping ward.
The little imp looked confused as he watched his lord place the girl on the saddle. He wanted to know why he was doing this. “Lord Sesshomaru, are you taking her with us? Why are you doing this?”
Sesshomaru gave no reply. He did not have to explain the manner of his actions to his servants or to anyone. Sesshomaru continued onward to his previous path. Whoever this woman was, he would wait for her to awaken. She would have to give him knowledge of Naraku… as well as her own.
