Kagome's Messed Up Cinderella Story by Kokoro

Chapter 1

            As a child I was always hiding; my charmed bracelet allowed me to hide my scent, my ears, and my tail. I hide because of my blood. In a world of ningen and youkai, which both hate each other; having the blood of both is worse than being a full youkai to ningen, and a full ningen to youkai. I am a neko hanyou in the western inu youkai kingdom.

            My Okaa-san, an inu hanyou, had been born in this kingdom; but she left and when she returned years later, she was carrying me, when I was three years old in ningen years, to hide us from the latest hanyou hunt in the north. The young Lord of the west kingdom led every hanyou hunt in the four kingdoms.

            He had started the hunts one hundred and fifty years ago, when my Okaa-san was just becoming an adult. No one knew my family was hanyous and we intended to keep it that way. Any hanyous caught would be sent to the Lord to be executed or exiled to China. The young Lord, Lord Sesshomaru, was cold and cruel to hanyous. I once had the unpleasant luck to see him find a hanyou in the village.

            I was leaving my shop for the day and as soon as I saw him, I threw myself back into the cover of my shop and my back hit the wall that held my tools for finishing my works. The young man had begged for mercy. This only made Lord Sesshomaru angrier, and he beheaded the poor man with a flick of his katana. I had desperately wanted to go save the man; but being kind to hanyous was just as bad as being one; and if he found out about my family, Lord Sesshomaru would kill them. Above all, I had to protect my family.