>Of Kyuuketsuki & Dekigokoro by Lady Symoné

Akumu (Nightmare)

Hey everyone! How y'all doing tonight? Well, I am doing pretty darn good! I actually feel really bad, because I should be working on my other four stories, but this idea refused to leave!

Now, I know a lot of people are like *EYE ROLL* and thinking 'tell me again why we need another vampire story?' But don't give up on this story yet! I have put so much research into this new story of mine, and I've only gotten through this chapter and about 1/3 of the next.

This story will be different because I am using real facts and information to make it seem more realistic. In the next chapter I'm posting, you'll really see it. So please, no flames! I'm perfectly fine if you don't like it, but please say it in a way that won't hurt my feelings. I'm not saying lie, because I like honesty, but it's all really about the way one phrases things. As I have mentioned before, constructive criticism is always a welcome thing.

Next is the title and chapter titles. They are indeed Japanese (duh) but they are traditional Kanji. So if they look a bit different that might be why. Kanji is much different than the newer slang Japanese. If you didn't catch this already, the title means "Sudden Impulse."

Other important info: All the demons from InuYasha will be vampires in this story, should their character come into play. Kagome is six years old, and quite smart for her age (mentioned in next chapter). This will not be like traditional vampire stories. There will be quite a few tweaks here and there (mostly in future chapters). Sesshoumaru IS NOT in love with her in this chapter! He's not interested...yet. :)

So, I think that's all...yep! Wow, I right veeeerry long author's notes. Sorry! Anyway, enjoy my latest baby!

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, so don't even ask.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter One: Akumu (Nightmare)

******

"Actions lie louder than words."

--Carolyn Wells

******

The snow blasted the young girl in the face, tearing viciously at every inch of her exposed skin. A single tear slowly ran down her cheek, only to be frozen there moments later. She had lost her mother in the blizzard and now had to find her way back home, alone. A sob escaped her throat. Finding her way back to the apartment in this weather was like searching for a needle in a haystack, or for one exact fish in the ocean-- near impossible.

"Mommy..." She softly cried. "Mommy! Mommy, where are you? Daddy? Souta!" She was now screaming, but there was no response of any kind. Nothing but the howling wind. It ripped the words from her mouth and flung them into the endless snow-covered scenery around her.

The girl swung around when she heard the distinct sound of snow crunching. She looked around wildly, desperate to find the source of the sudden noise. Just as she turned her head to the side, the same noise occurred on her opposite side. Her neck quickly rotated. The girl's black hair fell out from under her pink hat and indiscriminately whipped around her face.

With each turn of her body, the sound was always heard behind her.

"W-who's there? Hello?" The girl was positive the panic-stricken throbbing of her heart was drowning out any answer that may have ensued. The crunching was getting steadily louder and more frequent.

Driven by feral fear, the girl ran. She pushed any object she happened to run into out of her way. She didn't even open her eyes to see where she was going. All that crossed her mind was to find her family and get home; perhaps have a warm cup of cocoa, and watch movies with her little brother while her parents made dinner. Tears poured from her tightly clamped eyelids. This is all just a dream! She mentally screamed at herself. Just a dream!

__________________________________________________

A squeal escaped the girl when she tumbled forward. Instead of getting up and running again, like the many times before, she merely curled into a fetal position and cried.

The girl reluctantly opened her watery eyes and looked down, when she felt something warm and wet seeping through her pants. Not being able to see very well in the storm, the girl touched the offending substance and curiously brought it to eye level. Even though it was dark, she could still see quite easily the substance was indeed a liquid. It was a shiny crimson color against her pale fingers. Rubbing it between said appendages, the young girl also found out it was sticky.

What is this stuff? She thought, staring at it intently. Catching a faint metallic odor, the girl's hand froze. This...it can't be. Although, it looks so much like...I think it is! She audibly gasped, horror growing by the second. I think this is... it's blood!

The girl then noticed a pool of blood around her legs. The lower half of her pants were soaking in the thick liquid, staining the denim a sickening red-orange color. She fought down her gag reflex and scrambled away. The heavy smell sat in her nostrils, nearly choking her.

"Ka-Kagome..." The girl barely heard the faint whisper of her name. It seemed to be coming from an unusually shaped mass of snow. A mass that...moved?

Despite her fear, the girl called Kagome dropped to her knees and began to claw at the snow. It was not long before she realized it wasn't a lump of snow at all. It was a person.

A strangled scream escaped her throat.

"Daddy..." she said. "Daddy, what happened to you? Where are Mommy and Souta?" It was then that she saw two other masses of snow, one being smaller than the others. "No...no!" She buried her face into her hands. She didn't care if they were covered in her father's blood or if it was permeating her already snow-soaked clothing. This was no dream.

"Kagome..." She looked at her father's blue face. He was shivering violently.

"Hold on Daddy," she replied, covering his large form with hers. "I'll save you! Just hold still. I'll save you...I'll save you."

"No!" Her father cried out in a raspy voice. "You have to get away from here! Quick before she finds you too! Go!"

"Who Daddy? Who are you talking about? Who is she?" She winced when her father suddenly grabbed her arm and held it tightly.

"Listen, Kagome! You've got to leave! Now, before-" He stopped talking to cough. The girl screamed when blood spewed out of his mouth, and splattered across her face. She watched in pure terror as her father's eyes grew wide and his breathing more labored. "Go..." he rasped. "Get away. At least I can still save you...my little...hime (Princess)..."

__________________________________________________

"Daddy?" She gently shook his shoulders. "Daddy? Daddy, wake up! We've got to save Mommy and Souta! Daddy!" She tried shaking his shoulders harder, but no matter what she did, the glassy look in his eyes remained. The little girl sobbed. She was tired, hungry, unbearably cold, and forlorn.

__________________________________________________

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now what would a little girl like yourself be doing out here, all alone, in this blizzard? Didn't your parents ever tell you it's dangerous for children to wander off?" The girl watched with big eyes as a tall woman stepped into the small snow-swept clearing. From what she could make out, the woman was dressed in all black. Her skin was a deathly pale color, which only served to make her bright red lips and luminescent eyes stand out even more. Her hair was a deep brown color, nearly black, and done up in a bun. The girl could have sworn the woman's eyes flashed red for a moment.

"I-I can't leave," The young girl stuttered. "My Daddy...he won't wake up. No matter what I do."

"Is that so?" The woman gracefully walked towards her. A chill ran down the girl's spine, and she was sure it wasn't because of the temperature. The mysterious woman didn't seem to have any problem seeing through the snow, nor with the freezing cold.

She leaned over the little girl, placing her hand on the child's back, and inspected the body.

"Honey," the woman said, licking her full lips, "I'm afraid your father is dead."

Any warmth the girl had maintained vanished in that moment, as the full blunt of the woman's words sank in. Her father, dead? It wasn't possible! I was just talking to him! The girl thought wildly. He can't be dead! He just called me his princess! The girl buried her face into her father's bloodstained shirt.

"No! Daddy, come back!" The woman stepped back, and watched the heart-wrenching scene with well-practiced apathy. After all...it was just another human. She licked her lips again, and slowly leaned down to the little girl's ear.

"He is dead. But...I know a way you can see him, and your mother and brother again." The girl ceased crying and looked at the woman. She didn't' think to question how the woman knew her mother and brother had been attacked.

"R-really? I can see Daddy again?" She sniffed. The woman nodded. She carefully brushed the girl's hair from her young neck.

"Yes," The woman said, comfortingly. "I can send you to see him. It won't take long, and it won't even hurt."

The girl looked down, and studied her father's broad chest; the chest she had always laid her head upon when she was tired, or had a bad day. The thought of him and the rest of her family being gone forever was unbearable. She blinked in confusion when she saw the collar of his dress shirt. It had a substantially greater amount of blood on it than any other part of his body. She slowly peeled the fabric away.

"So what do you say, my dear? Do you want to see your family again?" The little girl felt the woman's breath on her exposed neck. It wasn't warm, like her mother's. It was cold, like the woman's hands. Everything about her seemed unnaturally cold.

The girl froze when she saw where the blood was seeping from. Two holes, both the size of a pencil lay, embedded in the soft flesh. Blood still poured freely from the wounds. Her heart palpitated uncontrollably. Her breath came in short pants, as if she couldn't catch her breath. Her hands started to shake, and a thin sheen of sweat covered her face, despite the weather. A strange dizziness overcame her, and the desire to throw up was becoming overwhelming. What's happening to me? She mentally screamed. (Classic symtoms of a panic attack.)

The woman smirked against the young girl's neck. She was already showing signs of panic. This was just the way she liked them-- scared. It had been so long since she had one under the age of thirty. She could feel the girl's blood racing through her jugular veins (Yes, there are more than one). The woman licked her lips in anticipation, as she moved her head closer to the girl's neck.

"I shall save you from your loneliness, child," she whispered. "I'll make it so you never have to suffer again." The girl whimpered in response. The woman felt her fangs lengthen and she pressed them to the girl's skin. The tips easily broke the first thin layer.

The little girl wanted to thrash when she felt something penetrating the nape of her neck, but her body wasn't responding to any of her mental orders.

__________________________________________________

Just as the girl found the strength to scream, the woman's weight was suddenly dislodged. She groggily looked around to see the woman in a heap on the snow, a few feet away from her. A flash of silver was seen in the corner of her eye. What was that? She wondered.

As if the gods had heard her question, a man stepped out from seemingly nowhere. He was tall-- even more so than her father-- and had the most beautiful hair. It looked as if it were gray, but when the snow reflected light from the moon on his tresses, she could easily see they were really argent.

His eyes were amber-colored and burned into her memory with intensity like she'd never experienced before. He continued to stare at her, until a feminine groan was heard.

The both looked to see the woman was now on her feet. She hissed at the man and bore her fangs at him. He remained unfazed, but the little girl whimpered once more and hid her face in her father's shirt. He looked at her, before returning his gaze to the obviously enraged woman.

"Leave, Kagura." He said. His voice was smooth and deep, but completely devoid of any kind of emotion. "You have had your full share of Consummation (Why this name was picked instead of 'feeding' will be explained later) tonight. Leave-- go back to Naraku and scheme the downfall of humans, or whatever it is pathetic animals such as yourself do when you manage some tangible of grasp on you cravings."

The woman called Kagura hissed at the man again, and slunk towards him.

"What the hell are you doing here, Sesshoumaru? I saw her first!" The girl looked from Kagura to the man. So his name is Sesshoumaru... she thought. I wonder. Is he anything like the woman? Does he have fangs too?

"I don't believe that is any of your business, Kagura. I have never felt the need to give a newsflash every time I decide to do something. Especially to vermin, such as yourself." Kagura snarled at his condescending response.

"Why save her? She's just a human! Her family is already dead; it's not like anyone is going to miss her!"

"They're not dead!"

Both adults turned to look at the young girl who had shouted.

She really had no idea what she was doing, but when that woman had said her family was dead, the words just slipped out. It didn't feel right. For some reason, the girl called Kagome felt like it wasn't true. She felt like not everything was as it seemed. The man continued to stare at the girl before once more turning his gaze away.

"It was nothing more than a dekigokoro-- a mere sudden impulse. She may die tomorrow, or in sixty years-- it matters not to me. However," he narrowed his eyes at Kagura, "if I know one thing now...it is that she will not die on this night." The girl's eyes widened even more. "Now leave, before I am forced to eradicate your pathetic existence from the face of this earth."

The woman scoffed and crouched into a fighting position.

"As if you could kill me! I am the daughter of Naraku, and as such, I shall be treated with the proper respect!" The man's eyes narrowed even further, if such were possible.

"I am."

With those final words, he brought his clawed fingers to eye-level. They glowed an eerie green, and hissed as snowflakes collided with them. In one graceful arc, he lashed his hand to the left, before bringing it down upon the woman. She gasped and attempted to dodge his attack. The girl closed her eyes in fear.

There was silence, before a shrill scream pierced the dark night. The little girl could not help but look to see what happened. The sight was less than appealing.

The woman was clutching the left side of her face, as blood spurted from between her tapered fingers. She continued to howl in pain as the man stoically flicked his fingers free of the dark red liquid. He glanced at the girl over his shoulder. Strange human, he thought. She doesn't smell of fear.

"Cease that incessant baying of yours, woman!" He said to Kagura. "If you leave now, I will graciously spare your life."

The woman shot the man a look of pure venom, before making an impossible jump from where she was into the sky. The man watched her, calculating her every movement. When he was sure Kagura was gone for good, he assessed the young girl he had saved.

He noticed she was very young, even by human standards-- perhaps six or seven years old at the most. Her hair was thick and dark; when it caught the light, it looked almost blue. Her eyes were what caught him, though. They were the most unusual color; navy or midnight blue perhaps. Sesshoumaru had seen his fair share of irises, varying from red, green, yellow, and even multicolored. But, for some reason...he thought...her eyes captivate me. For a child, they are so deep.

He took a step towards the small human child. She was shivering, but didn't seem to notice. Her blue orbs were trained upon his golden ones. What should he do with her now? I've already Consummated tonight, he mused.

__________________________________________________

A shot rang out through nightfall. The man jumped back and gave a warning growl in his throat. His response was another gunfire. He cast one last look back at the girl, before elegantly taking his leave. He jumped up, and disappeared into the snow.

"Damn blood-sucking vampires. Tsk, and it even got away."

The girl saw yet another adult. It was another woman, except she was dressed in a ribbed turtleneck, dress trousers, a fur-lined trench coat, and a fedora-- all in pristine white. The hair beneath the hat was black and in a low ponytail. She held a still-smoldering cigarette in one hand, and what looked like a high-powered rifle in the other. She looked down on the young child.

"So girl, you going to thank me or what?"

"For what?" she managed to squeak out. The woman smiled and took a suck on her cigarette.

"For saving your life just then." She blew the smoke out, only to have it swept away in the fierce wind. "You were just about vampire bait."

"V-vampire?" the girl asked incredulously. "What are you talking about? A-are you a vampire too?"

"Like hell I am!" The woman snorted. "Now, get up. You're no use to me if you catch hypothermia and die."

"No! I can't!"

"And why the hell not?" The woman retorted, obviously miffed at being told 'no.'

"I can't leave my family!" The woman sighed and flicked the butt of her cigarette onto the ground. She pulled a silver cell phone out of her pocket and quickly dialed a number.

"Hey, Aogiri, it's Rouren. Yeah, I'm gonna' need the EMT down here, stat." She sighed again, "No, just some vampires causing some kind of shit. Anyway, there are three bodies down here. It looks like two of them might still be alive. Thanks, see you soon." She flipped the top down. "There will be people here soon to take care of your family, now come on."

She stopped in her tracks when she noticed the child wasn't following her. She swung around.

"Look, little girl, I'm just doing this to save your life! If you want to stay here and meet the same unfortunate end as your father, be my guest! Your death will stay on my conscience for about...oh I don't know...two weeks, tops. Do you wanna' to live?"

The girl looked back at her family, then at the woman. She shakily nodded her head.

"Good, them come with me." The woman once again stalked off, this time followed by a somber little shadow.

__________________________________________________

Well, I hoped you liked it! Trust me, it's gonna' get so much better when the action comes 'round. In the next chapter, Kagome is still rather young, only a few years later, maybe. By the third or fourth chapter, she will be 18 or 19, which is the final age for her.