Chapter 1

"Come on, I thought you wanted to see the shrine?" a voice tore through the silence; the girl jumped and looked over at the dark haired woman standing a little way up the steps.

"Sorry mother," She looked up the steps to the top of the hill for a moment before walking up the first few steps until she was level with her.

"Miyuki, you keep spacing out, are you alright?" the woman said as she continued to walk up the steps that lead up to the shrine.

"I'm fine, I was just admiring the view," Miyuki muttered, that hadn't been the first time she had asked me that. Every few seconds it was are you alright; you're not too tired are you? She hated this feeling, it's like she was being continually watched, and she always wished that she could be like a normal girl with normal health. Ever since she was three years old when she was diagnosed with an unknown and untreatable disease that was mutating all her cells in a way that the doctors have never seen before, she was made to take everything easy but sometimes something inside of her makes her just want to run forever, cast all her fears away and become truly free like the birds that fly above her head.

They walked up the stairs and when they reached the top, her mother was bent over panting whilst she, "the unhealthy one" stood tall, but that was because the tests done on her required a great deal of stamina and perseverance to get through so she was really fit even though she had never been allowed to exercise.

"Miyuki, you should have a little rest here you must be exhausted," she said, her eyes closed not noticing that Miyuki was walking away from her. She walked around the bare shrine grounds and her eyes were drawn to an ancient tree that stood proudly overlooking the whole of the top of the hill and the area surrounding it, a patch of its dark bark was missing showing the pale wood underneath; even trees have their scars. A ghostly figure with dog appeared suddenly, his eyes closed and his head bowed, asleep; she could make out an arrow that kept him sealed to the tree.

"That's the sacred tree, there's a legend that a demon was sealed on that tree for 50 years until a priestess pulled the arrow from him," a voice said from behind her. Miyuki turned to see a young man of around twenty years old dressed in the traditional dress of a shrine keeper, she looked back at the tree and placed a hand on its scar.

"An Inu half demon..." she muttered quietly, his eyes widened in shock and he took a step back.

"H...how did you know?" his voice higher in surprise and fear, she shrugged. Miyuki couldn't tell the man that she could see the demon that he was talking about he would probably thing that she was possessed and try and exorcise her, Miyuki couldn't bear for something like that to happen again, firstly is embarrassing and secondly it's insulting with the priest shouting curses at her, and it's not as if her mother would stop the priest either. He shook his head as if trying to clear it and walked away towards her mother who had finally realised that Miyuki was not at her side, she was panicking searching everywhere for her. All she had to do was look up the she could have easily seen her but no, of course that wouldn't occur to her. The man talked to her for a moment before pointing in Miyuki's direction and she knew that her mother had asked him if he had seen her.

"MIYUKI, How dare you run off like that!" she shouted after she had run up to her, she grabbed her shoulders to stop her from walking away.

"I didn't run, I walked! If you had opened your eyes for one moment then you would have noticed me straight away!" Miyuki growled, "By the way this is a place of worship keep your voice down!" Her mouth flopped open and closed like a wet fish's before she finally made up her mind on closing it, she looked away trying and failing to conceal the hurt expression on her face. Miyuki sighed; she was always making faces like that even though she only told her off for doing things wrong, just like you would to a child. She walked away, knowing that her mother would follow her although for once in her life Miyuki wish that she would just leave her alone, "I'm old enough to know what's good and bad for my health."

Miyuki saw the shrine caretaker walk out of a small building that was a little distance away from the shrine but when she walked up to him to ask what it was, he firmly told her to stay away from it, he pulled her away back to the shrine. Needless to say this piqued her curiosity, Miyuki made a mental note of the location of the building before turning back to see a woman come out of the house the other side of the shrine grounds.

"Would you like some lunch, I always make too much so there is enough for everyone," the woman smiled kindly however her eyes held certain sadness and once or twice Miyuki caught her glancing over at the small building that she had been forbidden to go near.

"If you're sure then we would love to," mother answered and ushered her inside the house. There was something about that house that felt almost dead, like someone had just up and left, leaving the house to mourn the loss of a friend or family member. There was a pair of girl's shoes that looked like they hadn't been worn in a long time, an umbrella lay forgotten in its stand and a coat hanging up on the wall looked like it had been attacked by moths. The young man led them into the kitchen diner and showed up to the table; they sat in silence around it as the woman pottered away around the kitchen making food.

"SOTA, come here for a moment," the woman called from the kitchen, the man got up and helped her. After they had laid the table with a feast of many foods they sat down opposite Miyuki and her mother.

"I'm sorry my son was so firm on you when you went near the small building but it's in dire need of repair and is unsafe. We use it as a store room that was why Sota was in there," she said with a smile that once again didn't reach her eyes, hairs rose on the back of her neck as Miyuki saw the lie in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it," she deadpanned as she waited for her hosts to eat, Miyuki's mother was already eating and making very loud noises of content.

"Is the food not to your liking!" Sota asked Miyuki, she sighed before meeting his eyes.

"I thought it was polite to wait for the hosts to start eating first," she said no emotion shown on her face, even though she could feel embarrassment welling up inside of her when he stared at her for a moment before bursting in to false sounding laughter that made her skin crawl.

"Forgive me," he said after he received a couple of odd looks from their mothers; as he picked up his chopsticks and started eating, Miyuki's mother was now eating silently, to Miyuki's relief. Sota's mother kept staring at her and she started to feel uncomfortable, her eyes seemed to bore into Miyuki as if she was trying to unravel her secrets. She ate a small amount before excusing herself, Miyuki had to literally plead with her mother to stay and finish her meal; she looked unhappy but sat back down and picked up her bowl. Miyuki could feel everyone's eyes follow her as she went outside and disappeared out of view; she walked slowly not to attract any unwanted interest in her activities.

As soon as Miyuki knew that they couldn't see her, she ran to the small building, went inside closing the door behind her and looked inside. There down some steps in the middle of the small hall was a well, it stood open and as Miyuki walked up to it she felt a strange aura seeping out of it as if something was calling to her from the bottom. There was something familiar about the well however she couldn't put her finger on why she felt like that.

Suddenly a bark covered hand flew out of the well, grabbed her ankle tightly and yanked it from under her; she fell back and smashed her head against the bottom step with a sickening crunch. In a daze she was vaguely aware of being pulled into the well; just before she reached the bottom, a light shone around her as she carried on travelling downwards. The pressure on her ankle told her that the hand was still gripping her and Miyuki could tell that the hand would not be letting her go anytime soon. Then she burst out of the unnatural light into what looked like the bottom of the well that she had just fallen down, the chipped stones of the foundations and the wooden panelling of the walls were exactly the same except newer looking. She was hauled out into the blinding sunlight; her eyes screwed shut against the glare, she was then dragged and pulled upside into the air by her ankle.

After a few moments her eyes got used to the sudden change in light; she opened her eyes and saw what was holding her; a gasp of terror escaped her lips and her eyes widened. The creature was in the shape of a tree with vines hanging from its branches, the bulging eyes on its blood stained trunk, were bloodshot with lust and they seemed to scream its intense hunger at her. Miyuki's vision altered slightly and she saw what was at the end of the other vines, she wasn't the only one that had been caught; in fact she was only the latest in a long line. The bodies of its other victims were hung up like trophies; mummified, shrunken, lifeless; she realised then that this tree had the characteristics of a spider, sucking its victim's life force as food; just by looking at the corpses she could tell that not all of its victims were human. Strange creatures of humanoid shape but with tails or spines hung beside her, which meant...this monster tree, hunted...demons. Bile rose up her throat and she vomited the small lunch she had eaten a few moments before all over the floor beneath her; the putrid scent burnt her throat and caused her to throw up anything left in her stomach.

"LET GO OF ME!" a desperate scream tore from her throat as she struggled to reach up to the vine so that she could try and tear it off of her ankle; however every time she got close to it the tree shook the vine causing her to fall back down. Miyuki tried over and over again and before she knew it the moon had risen and was shining in the sky in all is splendour. She fell back limply as a wave of dizziness washed over her, hunger and exhaustion weakened her, Miyuki stared at her surroundings with barely open eyes, and the forest blurred as the tree swung round and started crawling down a path. The woods around them were silent; it was like all the animals were waiting with bated breath for something to happen, something that also kept everything quiet through fear.

SNAP! A twig broke the sound ripping through the silence. The tree span round and Miyuki saw a shape moving through the undergrowth towards their position. The figure's eyes golden eyes flash fiercely in the darkness, the shadow walked out of the concealing darkness of the forest and he strode over to the tree which seemed to cower back in fear.

The figures face was beautiful and had a crescent moon marking on his forehead, his skin was as pale as snow; he was dressed in a white kimono with old style armour covering his chest and shoulder. On his other shoulder he sported a huge ruffle of snow coloured fur. But the two things that caught her attention the most were his eyes and his hair; his straight silver hair was long, travelling down his back and stopped halfway down his thigh. However all of this beauty seemed to draw attention away from his eyes, in them she saw sadness, regret and hatred and it terrified her to see how such a beautiful being's eyes were so heartbreaking. The tree tightened its grip on her ankle, breaking it causing her to scream in agony; the figures eyes widened in surprise as he realised that she was still alive, he reached down and pulled a sword from its hilt. In one blow he sliced the tree in half and blood fountained out of it, covering her from head to toe, it fell hitting the ground. The only thing was that she was under the half that was falling; a gasp slipped from her mouth just before she connected with the ground. The last thing Miyuki remembered was the tree falling slowly towards her as she dived into oblivion.

Something tight was wrapped around Miyuki's throbbing head, her ankle felt numb and heavy. She could hear the crackle of a fire next to her, its warmth kissed her face comforting her; a rustle of clothing told of a person sat across from her.

She opened her eyes slowly, trying to keep her eyes in focus as they were punched by the light of the fire; as she tried to sit up she heard a deep throaty growl.

"Don't get up!" the figure across from Miyuki barked. She had to obey that commanding voice and gently laid down again before studying him. His golden eyes were focused on the fire; his beautiful long hair seemed to have spread out around him encircling him in silver. She suddenly noticed that he was top less, his chest sported a well formed six pack and his trousers were fastened below his hips. She blushed slightly at that glorious, erotic sight, but then a thought occurred to her and her blush deepened, Miyuki was no longer covered in blood; which meant that whilst she was sleeping he... bathed her, she pulled the cover over her. It was only then that Miyuki realised that the cloth that was covering her, keeping her warm, was actually his top. Its musty smell enticed her and lulled her off into dreams about the golden eyed stranger.

It was morning when she woke; the new sun just shining above the trees. The fire had burnt itself out sometime in the night, leaving charred lumps of wood in the middle of a scolded circle; and when she looked around she realised that she was alone, the stranger had disappeared.

The throbbing in Miyuki's head had dulled and she was able to sit up without it swimming, she looked down and knew from the state that her ankle was in she wouldn't be able to put any pressure on it. She stood using a nearby tree as support, She spotted a stick nearby that was the ideal length and thickness and picked it up. Using the stick as a clutch she was able to start moving; she left the clearing behind her and hobbled in the direction the wind blew.

Around midday the scent of smoke hung in the air and Miyuki followed it in the hope of either finding a village or meeting another person. The canopy of the forest blocked out most of the light and the thick undergrowth threatened to trip her up. Every now and then she would make it to a clearing where she would rest for a few moments before going on her way again. Before she knew it the sun had gone down and the moon was shining in the sky, her breath came out as pants as her lungs screamed for air. Miyuki was hit by a dizzy spelland crashed to her knees, her head felt as if it had shattered and lava was being forced into it. The air around her burned and she lost consciousness.