#fangsofdestruction

Kohaku was patrolling the area as he was making sure that no demons dared approach the village not too far away, his eyes scanning around before he senses the presence of one that suddenly ambushed him.

He quickly dodged their strikes before he would then use his improved Kusarigama that he got from the blacksmith Totōsai as he was traveling with Kirara to fight demons, as he was fighting, he couldn’t shake the presence of another near the area where he was as it seemed much stronger than the demon he was currently dealing with.

He continued to dodge each strike and delivered some of his own, slashing at it with his weapon as the demon screeched in both anger and pain before it would give a mighty swing!

It then moved its long tail before connecting with the slayer’s torso, landing a few of his ribs as he grits his teeth, knocking him back as he grasps his bearings quickly.

He can’t lower his guard, he must protect the village and its inhabitants! He dodged another strike as he slashes the creature’s legs, trying to make it exhausted of energy. The slayer then swung the sickle part of his weapon as the chain wrapped around before beheading the demon where it once stood, letting out another loud screech before silence fell.

Kohaku gripped his torso with his left hand as he needs to seek aid before things turn disastrous, he couldn’t shake off the ominous presence he was sensing so he remained where he was, gripping his kusarigama before scanning the land for the source.

He was unaware who or what was truly there.

Cold water felt good. Set by the riverbank, knees against the sand, the hanyō was splashing his face with the cool dampness. He couldn't even think of himself as a human, even now. It was only going to take an hour of sunlight, even less if it remained clear like this, before his hair was silver again. Unnatural gold eyes, claws, fangs.

...Ears.

Still a hanyō, even though Inuyasha looked as naturally human as any real human right now. His temperature was higher than usual, that was nothing new during these nights. He'd yet to meet a human that got sick as easily as he did. Thank any deity that be he wasn't sick right now. Just a slight temperature, being alone like this, Inuyasha was fairly sure he wouldn't get sick. This night was already difficult to deal with on its own, without being sick. Without having to wait for yōkai blood to surge again, and fight off the illness within two days or so.

A body that felt heavy. He was shorter, and feeling heavy had nothing to do with how softer figured he'd become. Even before all of that, Inuyasha always had felt heavy when forced into pure humanity. Muscles that were as strong as a strong human man's, not the inhuman strength of a hanyō. When you were taken away from what you knew, feeling so heavy was natural.

Inuyasha had accepted his own humanity. Didn't mean he liked being biologically human, even if it were only for one night of the month.

A brief stare into his own reflection, the water cupped in his hands. His mother's eyes, and hair. One deep inhaled through the nose, the discernible lack of scents, before splashing water in his face just one more time. Preparations to keep moving, before every single muscle tensed.

A hand instinctively on the hilt of Tessaiga.

Give them the impression he didn't know as much as he knew, let their footsteps come to a stop, before he sprung up, dark hair flying when he whipped his body around. Jaw slightly agape, eyes widening moderately.

Shit.

"So... found me, huh?" Like his older brother would be stupid enough to believe anything else. "Been a while." Feet firm in place. No backing down. "Guess you know my night of the month now." Tugging at the scabbard, Inuyasha prepared himself. Not offensively, but defensively.

The natural barrier against yōkai could keep him safe... for a short time. He'd have to figure something out, if Sesshōmaru decided he was going to do something. Every moment felt so tense, he could feel his own muscles aching, a feeling that never occurred when things were his normal. Not from this.

"What the hell d'ya want?"

When was the last time they'd actually been face to face? Years now, and the occasions they passed by each other, it had never been while he was human.

"Just spit the bullshit you've got to say out."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Durin flails as he crashes through the trees. How many times had he tried jumping to get a handle on his wings? Too many. The cuts and bruises of the day's practice were written on his body, and he was grateful he had a sturdy alchemically made one instead of a flimsy human one.

Snow just started to fall like ashes, carrying a bloodcurdling stillness with it. What was once a village had now been reduced to a tear in the landscape—collapsed houses, fire and smoke thinning the air for the living, and bodies were strewn all around. Torn, bloodied, bruised, and broken.

All of them deceased.

In the middle of it, knelt in a pool of blood that wasn’t hers, the vampiress slowly came to. Barefoot and dressed in rags. Blood dried dark against her skin, cracked along her knuckles and caked under those nails, now back to normal. The taste of her victims still lingered on her tongue, sitting warm in her belly and going so far as to bless her skin with the tiniest rush of colour.

It wasn’t often she overfed like this, in fact, it wasn’t often she was fed at all… which resulted in the vampiress descending into a feral state.

Slowly, the world pieced itself together around her. Breath came in shallow pulls and awareness kicked in. Looking down at her own hands, Astaria could only recall the fire and the screams and perhaps being shot at a few times, maimed even more… but she was already dead and this small village didn’t have the silver that it took to kill her.

A puddle of blood soaked into the ground, turning into this light pink hue that wasn’t entirely frozen just yet. Someone’s toy lay in it… Ah. She’s killed the children too, hadn’t she?

And as the dawn of clarity came upon her, so did guilt. It wasn’t often felt, but… she’s never really killed in this scale before. The faint sound of steps crunching snow underfoot called to her attention, and almost like a spring, Astaria stood up to face off against whoever it was. One look at the man and she could already tell he wasn’t human. But he did make her hackles stand on end.

You’re dangerous.

 “...Stand back. I have no qualms with you.” Astaria spoke up. Normally, she’d have claimed to have arrived and found the village like that. Except everything about her, from those white curls covered in blood and grime and her lips still sticky with evidence of her doing, there was no denying her sins.

There were tears, too. From the guilt, from the shame… and now, the fear.

"Shame indeed."

Callous and disheartened, all that was left was to bask in the unyielding warmth of the mountain springs in solitude. It required no further debacle or empathic pleasantries to assuage the seemingly traitorous revelation among subjects that fell under his reign.

Opposition is always to be expected but to keep decorum among overlords of strength, skill, and temper can be dauntingly exhausting; particularly should it have been a week-long discourse with yet a common ground to stand.

Conflict is inevitable but combat is optional. Touga would have rather suffered through hours of constant disagreement and pettiness than have the need to wield blades among comrades and potential threats that would eventually lead to an injunction.

Another day of thought perhaps?

Touga gathered himself to proper robes and kept his armor dangling careless over his arm, which was latter received by the palace staff as he entered the quarters of their not-so humble abode. He thanked them; warm and gracious as he always does. Pardoning himself almost flirtatiously as he had been reprimanded by his wife for being too keen with commoners.

The sun had bid it's shy greeting behind amaranthine skies and the silence of the sleeping world. None but the soft creaking of wooden floor kept the daiyoukai company as he turned through corners and peered through the barely closed door that kept every reason of his existence.

"Are you awake, my little one?" Barely a whisper. "Papa's home."

  Now this。。。 wasn’t what Mukuro was expecting, she’s turned this particular corner dozens of times before, or at least, she’s pretty sure she has。 Not only was she now faced with a mansion she hadn’t come across before now, but there was something。。。 odd about the place。 It wasn’t the same sort of。。。 vibe that she got with the human abodes, this one was more powerful, if she had to describe it。 But this was the way she was directed to go, but what started as a bit of a stake-out assassin job now turned to。。。 well, whatever the hell is happening now。

  Mukuro was on high alert as she’d begin to traverse a little deeper into the compound, and over time the sense became more and more familiar to her。 They were yōkai, like her。 Which now made her even more curious as to how she only found out about this now。

♛  “I agree, as I am not sure what constitutes a dad joke. To disallow others to tell jokes based on their title is a nonsense thing. By this , you would tell lord jokes and what of king jokes- would I also not tell those?”  Yomi had to think about this. “Humans make up such odd things, I cannot see myself grasping the ideas.  And not to mention, either one of us telling a joke while holding the stations we do, it is near unseemly to say the least.”