So here is chapter 1 of 'Age of the youkai'. It is darker than what is normal but I read some dark fics recently and it is nowhere near as them, and the first 7 chapters or so should be alright, it is after that they begin to darken, Of course I have not written them yet so I cannot say for certain. Anyway enjoy this, and REVIEW!

Summary: Demons are the slaves of humans, that is the way it had always been – right? But Sesshoumaru, former Lord of the Western Lands, the killing perfection remembers a time when it was not always so. He remembers the time when it was the demons who ruled, and the humans who were the underlings. And as a slave to this naive 14 year old girl named Kagome Higurashi he may just be able to manipulate her to releasing him so he can take back what is rightfully his and raise demons back to their former glory. The humans have had their time of supremacy, 250 years of it. They think it is the time of the ningen but they are wrong, their Lord was back now and ready for war, this was the rise of the youkai.

Kagome Higurashi, child miko has a dream. She has a dream that one day Humans will not live in hate for youkai and that youkai will not live as slaves in fear of humans. Kagome has a dream that one day the world will be balanced and youkai and humans can coexist without the need for a war. Kagome Higurashi has hope and prays the one day her dreams will not exist solely within her mind and become reality.

The price of responsibility and Duty

Kagome hated responsibility; she really, really, hated responsibility and for good reason. Well maybe it was more that she hated her responsibilities. A little made you feel grown up and trustworthy and respected and it did have that effect on her too for a while. She had enjoyed it at first, and she took on more of it, eager for the sense of triumph and the praise she would receive when she had proven herself in time to be capable of it.

But in truth, it got to her in a bad way, especially once she was known to be capable of huge amounts of responsibility. Once you are capable of a little, they bundle more upon you and your pride prevents you from turning it down and backing out of it until you were cracking under the pressure. So now she just felt oppressed, oh yes that was indeed the word, oppresses. All the responsibility restricted her, gave her boundaries she did not want. She wanted to be free to do what she wanted, to run around and climb trees and get muddy and be a child, something she was never granted. More than anything, she wanted the freedom to be able to make mistakes. But she was never allowed to make a mistake.

Everything she always did had to be perfect, because if it wasn't, it would spell disaster, she knew this well. It had been drilled into her endlessly ever since she was a child – a child, when you are 14 surely you are a child. But it was strange, she could not even remember her childhood, and wondered whether she had even ever had one. Ever since she was a little girl she had had so much responsibility, being a miko did that to you.

You had to be powerful, weakness was not an option and everything was considered a weakness. Everything from her small stature to her huge heart and her wearing her emotions of her sleeve was considered weakness. What is more you had to be ready for anything at all times, and she had trouble functioning first thing in the morning. And that was why she was sent to the elderly but kind Keade to train to be a priestess when she was only eleven years old.

Her powers had only started to manifest, but miko training takes years and you must start early. She had been trained for three years in an unfamiliar village away from her family and friends. She was Keade's only student and she treated the lost child who fit in with nobody like her own daughter. Kagome drank up the compassion like one starved, but Keade was not her mother. In fact she could hardly remember what her mother was like, she had lost her mind to a sickness long ago and although still cared for her family, was more like a child needing looking after than the responsible mother. No, not even her own mother had responsibility even more, it all fell to Kagome, such were the vagaries of life, and it was not fair.

She had been forced to cut ties with those who were closest to her if just to lessen the hurt and loneliness. She remembered it had hurt so much she had asked 'why' to all who would listen and all who would care. The answers were never good enough; it was because there was no one in her village to train her miko powers so she had to move away when she was but a young child. She had said she would rather stay – she did not want to be a miko, especially not if it cost her friend and her home, she wanted to stay with her family, where she belonged. Alas though this was not to be, and when she asked 'why' yet again, over and over, the answer she would receive she had learned would always be the same.

It is part of the responsibility of being a priestess, a destiny the Kamis had laid before her for some unknown reason. It was a fate she did not want or appreciate, though a fate many would kill for, and they were jealous. Kagome told them not to be but they would not listen and they shunned her because they had a normal life, the only thing Kagome had ever wanted, but she was stuck with the destiny everyone else desired. Apparently it was a great honour to have this power and with great power came great responsibility, she knew this. But she did not want the responsibility and was ready to sacrifice the power in order to be free of it. No matter how great she had the potential to make that power within her become.

Of course she did not have 'great power' yet, she was not an adult yet, she was a child, when she became 16 she would be asked to return to Keade to complete her training. For now all she had learnt was to control her miko powers, not to hone them to attack, though she was capable of healing. She had been eager to learn how to heal, she had a huge heart and liked to help people, and in the back of her mind was the already feeble and faint hope that she may be able to help her mother whom she had lost years ago.

She only needed to know how to attack with her miko powers Keade had told her, to fend off demons – but that was just something passed down through the generations. There were no great threats from demons, not anymore at least, and she refused to hurt or degrade them anymore than they were already anyway. Still, it was just more and more of that wretched responsibility. She sighed as she confronted the horrific scene before her, like most phrases that were used entirely too often, the word was beginning to sound empty.

Now she was fourteen and she was returning home, a junior priestess to have yet more responsibility heaped upon her, it was relentless and unforgiving. Anybody else her age would be considered a young child, free to play and study schoolwork and do whatever they wanted. She stopped being a child and ten when she was told she was a miko. She had to study hard at school so that when she turned eleven she could move away and concentrate on meditation and healing and focusing of aura so she could become a successful priestess.

She had never been given a choice over these things in life. When had she ever been given a choice over something in her own life? She had been sacrificed to hand over her life to fate and destiny and responsibility, unable to even reach out and grasp it back. It was her life yes, but she kept feeling as though it was being lived for her. She had just sat back and let things happen to her because her parents wished it. They wanted her to study hard in school so she did. They wanted her to become a priestess and bring honour to the family and village, she did so. But this... it was just too much... not now when she wanted a break from it all... she could not be handling this!

Damn the whole family! She was fourteen! Admittedly she would be fifteen in a few days, but she was still a kid, mentally and physically, she was a child! She knew this and therefore wondered why her parents the ones who brought her into the world in the first place could not see this too, and she wondered why it was so forbidden! She could not ever make a mistake because her powers protected people and healed them. She had learned to hold her tongue because she needed respect before making her views known. She never volunteered for things, knowing there was some other obligation she had to fill.

Duty – that was another word she hated, although not as much. Being a miko meant you had the ability to help the sick and injured, and that gave you the duty and obligation to help them. Kagome Higurashi understood honour and its importance to her even if she was too modest to allow it to affect her pride. She had too much honour to turn down responsibility handed to her, but duty was something else. She knew that you must never turn away from duty, whether you want it handed to you or not. Kagome got to thinking about this new problem before her, for that is what it was to her, although at that time she had no idea just how much of a problem it was. Was this responsibility, or was it duty, or both, either way, now she was honour bound to it.

Here she came to face the brunt of her ire. Everybody had slaves, it was not uncommon, and not only reserved for the higher classes either, there were plenty of demons to go around. Most adults only had one, and sometimes there were only a couple per family. Some of the richer population had several, but then rich people had to have several of everything. She was not rich, just a 14 year old girl living on her own to be forced to mature faster so she would train at a faster rate once she turned 16 and returned to Keade.

Kagome Higurashi was one of the rare few who did not approve of the keeping of slaves. Yet disappointment always came to the minority, especially when you were but a kid and did not know anybody with the tremendous power to help you. It meant you could not make a difference; the war was lost before it began. Slaves were people too, with feelings and emotions and thoughts and dreams and it was not her or anybody else's place to crush them or replace them with ambitions only of pleasing their master or mistress. Nobody knew of her views, because she had long ago learnt to hold her tongue when confronted with the whole world as an opponent. In fact, the first to learn of her views would be her slave.

This is what had gotten Kagome so angry. Sometimes slaves were given as a present on some rich snob's 16th or 18th or 21st birthday. You were not meant to have one as a kid, unless it was a family one. She was a miko though and that made a difference, at least, that is what everyone who gave a rat's arse would soon be telling her. Here she was, treated by her father like one of those rich snob's she detested and ridiculed at every chance she got. That was the one thing she hated above all else – even more than the slave trade – becoming something she hated. It was even worse than pretending to be someone she was not, thought she hated having to live under a false pretence too, but she had been doing that for four years now and it had gotten easier.

She did not want a demon of her own at all, it was just so wrong; she did not even know what to do with one. She did everything she needed to herself; and wanted to look after herself, that was the one bit of responsibility she appreciated, she had duty to her own needs. Those three years with Keade give her that knowledge. Kagome could look after herself, but she was fine and loaded with that one task. What she did not need was some demon to follow her around she had to look out for and provide for as well.

Now here she was, seething and nervous. "Daddy, why is there a demon in the living room?" And why oh why does he have my name printed on a necklace like a frickin' collar? She used her best puppy dog eyes and whiney voice to elicit a suitable answer. She doubted she would get a good answer though, her father was a very dense person as good as his intentions may be, and they were misunderstood. This was what happens when you send your daughter away at such a young age so they develop a very vital stage away from you. You forget who they are and what their ideas are, and end up knowing nothing about them.

"This is your welcome home present, Kagome love," her father answered, giving her a hug, acting as if this was the best thing a father could do for his daughter, and it was had she been anyone else. "And it's a happy 15th, a week in advance." Kagome returned the hug purely out of courtesy because she had not seen much of him for the past three years. Yep, that was pretty much along the lines of an answer she had been expecting so she was not exactly surprised. Still it hurt that he knew so little about her that he would be as openly cruel as to purchase a slave and then just to rub in the salt – hand him over to her!

This was his twisted idea of a present? Was this some sort of sick joke? She was after all living in some sort of sick world, so it figured. This was not a present, it was a frickin' nightmare! Did her father know absolutely nothing about her? She despised the keeping of demons as slaves or pets. She did not know what to do with a slave; she didn't need this responsibility on top of everything else she had to keep track of as the miko of the village. She loved her father but Kami in heaven; he was making her life hell!

"Listen, Kagome honey, I've got to go out of town for a few weeks, that's why I gave you your present early. I'm sorry for leaving you alone, with your mum and grandpa on holiday and your brother studying abroad at school. Listen to me, mum and grandpa promised to be back for your birthday, and Souta will be coming home for a couple of weeks from then too. Look after the house for me while I'm gone; get the demon to do it, that's what it's for after all. Take care of yourself honey, I love you, goodbye."

Him going was no big news to her, it was not as if it didn't happen at least three times a year and for extended periods too, lasting up to three months. Well she lived on her own anyway, her father was so often away for her to say she lived with him, and everyone knew it, it was more like they occasionally slept under the same roof and ate the same food at the same table. But because she was not supposed to be living by herself as she was single, a woman and underage anyway, it was said she lived with her father. But she did not, he was away too often, she lived by herself, and she was fine with that, she was a miko, she was meant to be solitary.

With those few words that was it, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, kissed her forehead, and he was gone, again. Kami only knew how long her only mentally stable parental figure would be gone for this time. He said he loved her and then just left her standing there all alone with a bloody demon standing in the living room of the hut to look after. He was not that bad to look at if she was honest. He was tall, muscled, had long silver hair and beautiful markings on his face; magenta stripes on his cheeks, purple eyelids and a blue crescent moon on his forehead. But that was all besides the point, he was a demon slave.

Kagome guessed she may as well make peace with him, she had just been staring at him for at least a minute dumbstruck, and he'd done the same. She couldn't just 'free' him, he would not believe her word, and there was no traditional thing she could give him as truth that she knew of. There probably was something she could do, she just did not know what it was, she knew so little of demon slavery, and she had not bothered to learn seeming as she planned on never purchasing one. She would just have to give him her trust and kindness and then perhaps he would not be so much of a bother after all, perhaps he would even be a friend for her. She had never been lonely before, but she had to be optimistic, it was all she had left.

Somewhere in between her loving father and his twisted idea of present seeming as h knew nothing about her landed her in this predicament. Somewhere in between being a miko and a child gave her a sense of honour and she made sure to prise herself on her two ideals she hated. Somewhere in between those said hated ideals, responsibility and duty, was this demon to look after. This was going to be hard and awkward.

Did she mention she hated all this responsibility piled upon her?