InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Dog Gods & Mortals (new version) ❯ Prologue

DISCLAIMER: I'll make this short and sweet. `Inuyasha' and all character involved belong to Rumiko Takahashi and not to me. Any questions? No? Good, now on with the story.

 

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

 

This story has been posted before, under the same name. I was forced to remove it, due to complaints, but as you can see it is now rewritten and reposted, and hopefully I will not have the same problems with this version. For those of you who read my original version, this one has seen some changes in parts, and while the main plot of the story is unchanged I would still recommend rereading the entire story to avoid being confused.

 

This is an AU set in world inspired by ancient Greece. I will be basing the world around what I know of this time and culture, but I am not an expert on it and am not planning on doing much in the way of additional research, so I hope you forgive me if I make mistakes in that regard.

 

Prologue

 

In the beginning, there was nothing, only the darkness and the void. How long this lasted for no one knew, for no one was alive to see this. However, destiny would not allow the universe to remain as nothing forever, and so after unknown eons had passed the first Gods were born and with them the light and the world was created.

 

At first there were four gods, whose names were Taisho, Izayoi, Tsukuyomaru and Yura. Together they joined their powers to bring life to the previously barren Earth, and so was the beginning of the plants and the animals. They were pleased with these, but soon decided that they would like the Earth to have more intelligent creatures as well, and so the first mortals were born. Naturally, the mortals began to worship the Gods that had created them and the world around them, and it was not long before temples and shrines began to arise.

 

Now the Gods having populated the Earth were happy, and decided that now that things were going well it was time for them to see to their own needs. All the Gods decided that to better run and watch over the Earth, that they should take on certain elements which they would be responsible for representing. Taisho being a strong believer in order and justice, became the God of Law. He also decided that law and order was something that Gods should conform to as well, and so created a set of laws which hence forward all Gods would have to obey or suffer the consequences. For Izayoi, who's greatest joys came from watching and helping mortals fall in love, there was no question what she would represent and quickly took upon herself the role of Goddess of Love and Marriage. And speaking of love, Taisho and Izayoi had by this stage fallen deeply in love with each other. Because of this, and because they had already become the leaders of the Gods, they also became the King and Queen of the Gods.

 

Tsukuyomaru's favourite part of the world was the night sky, and the quiet that befell the earth at this time, and so he happily took upon the role as God of the Night. But it was Yura whose choice was strangest of all. Never feeling as if she fit in among the other Gods, Yura decided that she would descend into the Underworld and become the Queen of that realm. As time went by she grew to love and adore the dead, and as such never regretted her choice.

 

As time went by, other Gods arose to join the first four. Some Gods were born, while others still were created. Taisho and Izayoi had three sons - Sesshomaru, Inuyasha and Shippo -while Tsukuyomaru, though he had no wife created a daughter - Shiori - from his own blood. Other Gods emerged from the Earth and the universe itself, each taking on their own responsibilities and watching over the Earth. Although there were conflicts between the Gods, and these conflicts often brought about disaster for all, for the most part the Gods were content to watch of the Earth and the mortals who lived on it in peace.

 

And so the millenniums pasted by more or less calmly, and many of the Gods felt that this was the way it would be forever. But as they should have remembered, destiny sometimes had a habit of changing things around.

 

###

 

Several millenniums later

 

Palace of Taisho and Izayoi, Realm of the Gods

 

Inuyasha could not believe this! That damn Wolf God and his lousy stories were ruining his life. He'd been ruining his life for centuries now, ever since the two of them were `children'; too young to have taken up their calling as Gods. And now, Koga's latest story had landed Inuyasha here in front of his parents, who just happened to be the King and Queen of the Gods, and were currently as pissed off as he had ever seen them.

 

“For the thousandth time, I didn't touch Koga's fucking tracking wolf!” Inuyasha insisted. It was true, he hadn't. Although now, after nearly an hour of trying to explain this to his sovereigns and parents, he was wishing he had. Hell, he wished he had roasted both of the fucking beasts over a fire.

 

Taisho sighed, tired of this conversation. “Inuyasha, by this stage whether you did or didn't is irrelevant. This silly feud between you and Koga has gone or for far too long and, to be frank, the rest of the Gods are sick of it. By all the stars in heaven, you're both over six hundred years old. Act like it!”

 

Inuyasha growled slightly under his breath, but didn't dare say anything out loud. Granted, his father had a point, but why was he the only one getting chewed out when Koga was every bit as much to blame as he was. The damn Wolf God started things at least half of the time. Then again, Koga wasn't the son of the King and Queen, and as such wasn't expected to be as dignified as Inuyasha's parents clearly wanted him to be. Inuyasha just knew his parents wished he was more like his older brother Sesshomaru; the always dignified, but cold hearted bastard. Why Shippo, the menace he called his younger brother, wasn't expected to live up to the same standards he would never understand.

 

“It's not just this feud with Koga either, Inuyasha,” Izayoi spoke up. Her voice sounded more disappointed than anything and Inuyasha could barely suppress the desire to wince. As always, his father's anger didn't affect him any where near as much as his mother's disappointment in him. “You have been neglecting your duties as the God of Protection more and more these last few decades. You haven't even been down to the earth in over a year now. Koga goes down every few days, and joins in with Mortal hunting parties.”

 

“Koga goes down because he likes hunting and killing things!” Inuyasha snapped, enraged that Koga was getting points for engaging in activities solely to fulfil his love for blood and gore. “It has nothing to do with his duties as God of the Hunt.”

 

“Now Inuyasha,” Izayoi said, still sounding disappointed. “You don't know what Koga's thinking. The fact of the matter is that this is not about him; this is about you and your responsibilities.”

 

“If this isn't about him, why do you have to keep bringing him up?!”

 

“Inuyasha,” Taisho interrupted, his voice leaving no room for argument. “Your mother and I have come to a decision. In order for you to fully reconnect with your followers and get back into the habit of fulfilling your duties, we wish for you to go down and live on the earth for a few years.”

 

“WHAT????” Inuyasha couldn't believe this. No God had ever been forced to live on the earth before. Sure, they visited it all the time (okay, so his mother was right that he hadn't been there much lately, but he had gone down there plenty in the past), but they'd certainly never lived there!

 

“Your Temple in the village of Ergos is actually rather well suited to house the presence of a God. For some reason, when the Temple was first constructed, they actually built a chamber that was meant to be used by you if you ever came to visit, and the current priests and priestesses there have maintained it until this day.”

 

Inuyasha frowned. “I don't remember…”

 

Taisho continued as if he hadn't heard, “Ergos was the first village to properly start worshipping you, if memory serves, and to this day you remain the village's patron God. So it is only fitting that you show recognition for the village's devotion to you by spending your time on earth in there.”

 

“But I don't…”

 

“Now, as late as it is, I'm sure your priests and priestesses there are getting ready to retire for the night. If you turn up now, it will no doubt excite them and keep them from their sleep tonight. You know how important sleep is to Mortals. It'll be better for you to stay in the heavens tonight, and go down to earth tomorrow morning. Since Gods rarely visit their temples in physical form, and you basically never do, this will likely cause something of a stir, but I'm sure you can handle the excitement.”

 

Inuyasha ground his teeth together, realising there was no way to change his father's mind about this. “How long do I have to stay down there?” He managed to spit out.

 

“Let's say ten years for now, we might bring that back for discussion after you've been down there a while.”

 

“TEN YEARS?!”

 

“That will be all, Inuyasha,” Taisho said calmly. Inuyasha stood there sputtering for a few minutes before turning on his heels and storming out of the audience hall.

 

“You know he was likely right about Koga,” Izayoi said quietly once their second son was out of hearing range. “That boy is getting out of control.”

 

Taisho sighed. “We'll keep an eye on him, but we have no proof that Koga's really done anything wrong. We can't exactly blame him for taking pride in being a good hunter.”

 

“He doesn't seem to care about being a good hunter, it seems he cares about being a good killer,” Izayoi said, truly concerned. “You know as well as I that he wanted Sesshomaru's position as the God of War.”

 

“We'll keep an eye on him,” Taisho repeated.

 

Izayoi sighed, but let the subject drop. “I still think we should have told Inuyasha the other reason we're sending him down to earth. Don't you think he has the right to know about Kanna's prophecy?”

 

“Dearest,” Taisho said with a smile. “Knowing how stubborn our son is, if we told him he would likely go out of his way just to prove us wrong. I believe it is better he does this without knowing what Kanna has foreseen. Besides, I think he'll have more fun figuring it out on his own. I know I did.”

 

“Well…,” Izayoi said slowly, accepting what he husband was saying. “I guess you're right. I had more fun that way too.”

 

###

 

Same day

 

City of Lorinth, Earth

 

Kagome sighed as she looked longingly at the temple across the street from where she was standing. Kagome knew a temple was a strange thing to be staring at longingly, but Kagome wasn't exactly a normal girl anyway, and besides she had her reasons. More than anything Kagome wanted to be a priestess in that temple, but that was impossible as long as the current High Priest and his views continued to rule there.

 

The temple of Inuyasha in Lorinth would not accept priestesses into its ranks. The High Priest was very vocal in his denouncements that to do so would be blasphemy.

 

Kagome came from a long line of priests on her father's side of the family. Granted, they weren't the greatest priests ever, but they were dedicated to their line of work. Her grandfather was a priest, as her father had been until fever had taken him to the underworld four years ago. Her family was not one that dedicated itself to one God, but allowed each family member the opportunity to find for himself or herself the God they felt most drawn to. Kagome had been raised practically since birth to carry on that tradition and become a priestess herself one day.

 

Kagome was actually more than a want-a-be priestess though; she also possessed the powers of a seer. Granted her powers were not very strong, certainly not strong enough for her to ever use her powers as an actual career choice, but as her family had repeatedly pointed out to her, they did make her that much more desirable as a priestess. In fact, her family were so convinced that Kagome would grow up to become a powerful priestess that they had failed to arrange a marriage for her like most of the girls she had grown up with. Not that she was complaining, most of those same girls had ended up marrying real brutes. But this did mean that if she did not become a priestess that it would likely be rather hard by this stage for her to find a husband of her own. Most girls married around fifteen, while Kagome was already almost sixteen and still unattached.

 

Then again, for as long as she could remember, Kagome had felt that she didn't want to be married. She wanted to grow up to become a priestess of Inuyasha and dedicate her life solely to his service. No other life would do as far as Kagome was concerned. The very first vision that Kagome could remember having, was of herself as a young woman, dressed in a bright red priestess robe, serving Inuyasha as his devoted priestess. Her grandfather had laughed lightly when Kagome had told him this, as he stated that priestess wore white, but Kagome knew what she had seen. She had kept that dream in her heart for years, waiting for the day when it would come true.

 

But then her dream had turned to ashes, that day when she had been informed that a new High Priest had taken over the Temple of Inuyasha and declared that forever more the temple would have only priests. Kagome had been heartbroken, and could not understand how this could happen. She knew her vision had been a real one.

 

That had been almost a year ago now, and her mother and grandfather had been trying to convince her that life went on, and that she shouldn't let this ruin her dream of becoming a priestess. There were plenty of other temples in Lorinth that had priestess and that she should apply for a position at one of them. And while Kagome did go to look around the other temples to make her family happy, it just wasn't the same. For so long she had wanted to be a priestess of the God of Protection, and she knew in her heart that no other God would do. Her family understood where she was coming from, Kagome knew, and they would not try to push her into a life she did not want. But what kind of life could she have now, now that the one thing she had always dreamed of becoming was bared to her? Kagome wished she knew.

 

With a deep sigh and longing and regret, Kagome unwillingly turned away from the temple and started back towards her family's home.

 

 

Author's Notes:

 

In ancient Greece it was common for the male head of a family to arrange marriages for the girls in said family at about five years old. The girls would be married off at fifteen. Often times, her husband would be thirty or so.

 

Gods (complete listing here, in future chapters, only Gods mentioned in chapter will be listed)

 

Taisho: King of the Gods, God of Law; husband of Izayoi; father of Sesshomaru, Inuyasha and Shippo

Izayoi: Queen of the Gods, Goddess of Love and Marriage; wife of Taisho; mother of Sesshomaru, Inuyasha and Shippo

Sesshomaru: God of War; son of Taisho and Izayoi; elder brother of Inuyasha and Shippo

Inuyasha: God of Protection; son of Taisho and Izayoi; younger brother of Sesshomaru; elder brother of Shippo; Best Friend of Jinenji

Shippo: God of Mischief; son of Taisho and Izayoi; younger brother of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha

Koga: God of the Hunt

Ginta / Hakaku: Koga's tracking wolves

Jinenji: God of Gardening; Best Friend of Inuyasha

Jaken: God of Scribes and Record Keeping

Yura: Queen of the Underworld (aka, Goddess of the Dead)

Hiten: God of Lightening; slightly elder twin brother of Manten

Manten: God of Thunder; slightly younger twin brother of Hiten

Kagura: Goddess of the Sky and the Wind; elder sister of Kanna

Kanna: Goddess of Seers; younger sister of Kagura

Tsukuyomaru: God of the Night; father of Shiori

Shiori: Goddess of Weaving; daughter of Tsukuyomaru

Totousai: Smith of the Gods

Mushin: God of Wine