Prologue: Peace

War. Why does it occur? Who initiates it? What are the underlying causes – greed, whims and wishes, or sheer need?

War, for gaining new territory or defending one’s own, is nothing uncommon. The past has had many examples, whose impacts continued to the present and shall continue to show its effect even in the future.

Feudal era and the periods before had witnessed a countless number of wars, where humans fought for their need and greed in their realm and demons waged greater territorial wars often involving humans as well.

Lord Inu no Taisho was standing on the large balcony of his castle, overlooking a vast part of his western territory, where humans and demons co-existed under his kind yet stern leadership. A kind ruler who had equal sympathy for humans and demons was respected by one and all. The wolves and the birds of paradise, of the eastern mountains never meddled with the affairs of the west; neither did the northern wolf tribe. The dog demon lord had a cordial relationship with the dragons of the south as well.

Yet, yet there arose a necessity for war.

“Fighting for mortals – pathetic,” said a young Sesshoumaru, fearless of his father – whom mortals and demons feared alike and only spoke with on their knees.

The father wasn’t surprised of his son’s behavior. He could hardly give him enough time. His mother had dissent for humans and had always looked down upon them. Who else could have taught him the need to consider everyone’s existence, even if it were only a powerless mortal?

One day you will understand, son...one day you will definitely understand... The lord didn’t speak out his thoughts but he steeled his mind to the task at hand and pushed the tutoring of his son to the back of his mind for the moment.

“My lord, lord Sesshoumaru seems very displeased with your decision to go to the battle.”

The small flea, Myoga, ever present on the lord’s shoulders, unless, of course, there was an approaching danger, when he’d flee, repeated in the demon lord’s ears.

He was the ruler of the west and being that it was his duty to fight against the invasion of demons from another territory. He didn’t bother whether it was only the humans who were being slaughtered by the superior demons, all he knew was that everyone looked up to him as their leader and trusted him with their lives, and he would do anything within his power to repay their trust.

The armory held numerous weapons – halberds, naginatas, swords and spears – but he chose only one, the demon sword, Sounga.

He would get two more swords made, for the sole purpose of protection of the weak, by the master sword crafter, Totosai in future, but for the present Sounga would have to do.

Besides the sword, he also took with him the Meido Seiki, a stone pendant which can open the path to the netherworld and summon hell hounds or even send his foes to the eternal fire.

The battle cries struck his ears distinctly from the borders where his appointed demons were stationed to disable any aerial threat. His decision was made. The once trusted allies had turned foes, for utterly selfish reasons. Negotiations were carried out but they were unsuccessful.

A world is not for one race to live in. Every race has a right to live and breed. Thus for the sole purpose of equal benefits, war became inevitable.

*****

“My lord, it’s an honor to fight in the ranks of your army.” The armored human, on his knees faked his gratitude.

“It’s an equal honor for me to fight by your side, human general.” Inu no Taisho expressed his gratitude straight from the heart with no hidden lies or deceptions whatsoever.

Humans had often failed to differentiate the good demons from the evil ones. Not necessarily would all demons be evil and deceptive. But the humans out of fear and distrust often lost their power to judge. Takemaru, kneeling in front of Inu no Taisho always misjudged demons. To him all demons were evil.

“You shall lead the human half of the army, your archers shall take down as many flying threats as possible. And do not worry my friend, Takemaru,” the dog demon lord looked up to the hovering dark clouds above. “Victory shall definitely fall on us.”

“Most certainly, my lord,” another demon kneeled before him and said.

“Oh, if it isn’t my favorite wolf, Ryokhan,” Inu no Taisho instantly greeted the kneeled wolf demon.

“Those lizards will pay for what they’ve done in this land.” The wolf demon’s eyes lit up with ferocity even though from inside he was afraid to fight. But no one could let up an opportunity to fight in Inu no Taisho’s army, so he joined the battle along with some low class demon friends of his.

“The enemy is approaching!!”

Countless humans and demons were slaughtered; the river flowing by the battlefield had turned red with the amount of blood. The question as to what was more in amount – the blood or water – in the river could very well be asked. Such was the nature of the battle.

Luckily for the inhabitants of the western lands, Inu no Taisho had won. He needed help though; apart from his own and the human army, he had to summon countless hell hounds to fend off the dragons. But until the dragon god himself appeared, the war wasn’t over. It took every bit of the Kami’s power to defeat and seal away the entire race of dragons. Some escaped though but the majority was sealed away. Most importantly the tremendously powerful dragon brothers were sealed away.

At least for the next century they would be sleeping. But who knows? The seal might even break before time. With advancing time, the powers of demons become greater, and some even attain greater powers than Kamis themselves. The only catch being their life span, a demon could live up to many centuries but they weren’t immortal. They could lose their lives to war and disease. Nothing holds a guarantee in the world.

Nothing indeed...

Who would’ve thought Lord Inu no Taisho would visit the castle of Takemaru’s lord and stay a night there at the mortal lord’s behest? Who could’ve thought he’d meet Lady Izayoi, Takemaru’s desired woman, and would fall in love with her? Who could’ve foreseen a similar feeling rise in the heart of Lady Izayoi? Such is life. Both fell in love with each other and before long had even made love. It was a crime in demon rules for a demon to mate with a human. But the irreparable damage was done.

The lady mother, as referred to by the demons, was only married out of necessity by Inu no Taisho. There was never love between them. But at their wedding night, when they were left to themselves, they did make love if only to give a much needed heir to the throne.

But their relationship had never blossomed. Perhaps, Inu no Taisho needed someone whom he could love... And there was Lady Izayoi. None could suppress their urge to be with each other.

It was the beginning of the end for the dog demon lord. He had angered countless demons with his action and humans were also beginning to distrust him. Needless to say, Takemaru, who always disliked demons, hated the demon lord more than ever before; his hatred only grew with time and one day he’d take his revenge.

Izayoi was grounded in her castle. The lord had gone against his general’s or minister’s (both titles being Takemaru’s) arrangements but it was too late. The slur was already on their family; the army of the lord was now with Takemaru and would obey no one but him, not in the least a “tainted woman’s” father.

Inu no Taisho, although wounded from his fierce battle with Ryukotsusei –a serious threat to humans – whom he had defeated and sealed away, went to rescue his mistress who was about to give birth to their child.

Multiplying his wounds were the sharp arrows of the castle guards and soldiers that had pierced through his armor. When he reached his human mistress, she was already dead. Takemaru had killed her.

Swinging the heaven’s Tenseiga, forged by Totosai, the demon lord granted Lady Izayoi a new life.

The entire castle was up in flames by then. The demon lord made yet another decision. This time he gave away his only chance of living. He took one last look at his new born son and shrouded his mistress with the robe of fire-rat, known to protect the owner from fire. And before bidding them farewell, he named his son Inuyasha.

Takemaru knew he wouldn’t be able to defeat the demon lord and thus he had taken the suicidal step of burning down the entire castle. No matter how strong Inu no Taisho was he couldn’t have withstood fire; Takemaru’s plan was flawless. The castle was destroyed and so were the insiders.

Countless battles were fought all over the land but no supreme power could rise. Sesshoumaru was the lord of the west but a half-demon, Naraku would be born, who with the assistance of the shikon jewel would become the strongest but due to his evil, unforgivable deeds and in turn arousal of resentment among his victims, would eventually perish at the hands of them. The evil shikon no tama would in turn disappear from the plane of mortals and demons bringing complete peace and harmony to the once war-stricken world.

But peace is fragile, it doesn’t last long.