five hundreds years ago, japan was divided into four main segments: the north, the south, the east and the west. and within each perimeter of the four segments, the land was split into many different, separated regions that was dominated and protected and governed over by its respective daiyokai, or commonly referred to as the great demon. sakura ruled the regions of the west. she was a feudal lord that oversaw the human’s politics in general, and at the same time, she was a widely respected, feared and powerful daiyokai that protected her territory in the west. unlike akura ou or tomoe — the most well known daiyokais that lived in the same era as sakura, whose name was notorious of bloodshed, sakura was acknowledged as one of the pacific daiyokais in her time by both gods and humans, and matter-of-factly, she was loved and praised by her worshippers and followers, which sakura often referred to as the sa clan ( the sa in sakura ).
as her name suggested, her recognisable traits in terms of appearance were her cherry blossom themed kimono, and the significant diamond shaped seal on her forehead. power and combat ability wise, her power/magic originated from the life energy of tree-related elements, it mostly revolved around plant manipulation and healing and contrary to popular belief, her magic was rather weak and limited compared to magic-reliant yokais, daiyokais ( tomoe for example ), her combat style however was brutal. despite her physics being notably petite and delicate, her close quarter combat prowess was unmatched and must not, by any means and by all means, be underestimated. she did not possess any form of weapons, the furthest to an exclusive equipment that she had was a pair of armguard. but most of the time, she fought with her bare fists and relied solely on her skills, with the rare exception of magic sometimes. she was a master of martial art, a one woman army herself and a formidable equal to akura ou. although similar in style to the demon king akura ou, sakura was not a blood-thirsty daiyokai like many feared, sakura did not have a violent tendency and she would prefer not to initiate battle, as stated before, she was a passive and indifferent daiyokai.
prior to her relocation to the shrine of mikage, sakura fell in love and was married to the tengu monarch of the tengu mountain situated in the north west a.k.a mount Kurama nowadays — ichirou. it was love at first sight. during this period, for some reasons, there had been riots broken out between yokais, lesser yokais and humans which occurred along the borders of her territory, and strangely near to the tengu mountain. as the lord of the west and the ruling feudal lord, it was sakura’s duty to put down the rebel force immediately and to assuage the people’s dismay of the yokai outbreak. she met ichirou at the last battle against the prolonged insurgency. he was severely injured, barely conscious and almost beyond saving when sakura marched into the last stronghold of the revolt, recognised the tengu easily, she rescued him from the hand of the rebellion and brought him back to her castle for further treatment. after a month or so, with the assistance of sakura’s superb healing magic and tengu’s privileged ability to regenerate at lightning speed, ichirou was fully recovered from his injury and was ready to depart. however, the tengu monarch did not leave, disregarding the senators of the tengu mount’s request. he stayed for the sole reason of falling in love with the daiyokai of the west, and she to him too, their love was beautiful and gentle like the lazy wind of autumn, he was gentle and she was soft, soon, the west celebrated the birth of its lord’s first daughter.
however, tragedy came like a whirlwind and took away both her husband and her daughter. it was when sakura was expectant with their second child. in spite of keeping in touch with his trusted subordinates on the mountain and managing the mountain affairs from afar, the tengu mountain could not be without its monarch present, just like the west could not be without its daiyokai. they had to part. their daughter, as the daiyokai of the west’s first born and the absolute monarch of the tengu mountain’s first born, she was the heiress to the throne of the west and the sovereignty of the tengu mountain, therefore, the senators of the tengu mountain threatened requested an urgent audience with the monarch for the right of her heirship. ichirou had no choice but to bring their daughter with him. while he was away, war commenced in the west. the tengu army, under the senators of the tengu mountain’s command, joined force with the yokai from the south, the north and the east started raiding sakura’s territory and, when sakura wasn’t available to secure the sa clan and to defend her land simultaneously, the tengu assassins sent by one of the senators massacred the sa clan. land lost, and her people one by one either fell victim to the barbarism of the savage yokais or sold to slavery to the other daiyokais. her h enraged, the seal on her forehead broke and the true power of the daiyokai of the west was first shown to the prying eyes of the world, surpassing all borders of reality and limitation, sakura’s wrath completely wiped out the entire army of the joined force by herself. the land of the west quickly became barren from a land once of wealth and joy, trees rotted and flowers wilted without its daiyokai’s power. all signs of life eradicated. forsaken by the feudal lord. sakura was on her warpath to the tengu mountain, death followed her every steps, life decayed at her presence, the daiyokai of the west wore the haori of the grim reaper one more time as she once had long ago.
the tengu were no match to the monstrous daiyokai of the west. easily broken through the defense, she went on a killing spree, spiraled into lunacy while she searched for her husband and her daughter like a mad woman. one after another, the tengu fell, she ran as far as her feet could carry her, blood spilled and swallowed her whole, drenching her and the tengu mountain in a river of blood and death. lost her mind in the thick stench of blood and the smell of death, desperate for her husband’s gentle hug and her daughter innocent smile, and there, the lifeless body of her husband and her daughter greeted her. her world stopped spinning all at once, falling on her knees, and she could see only black and white. shaking in an overwhelming sorrow. the unbreakable daiyokai of the west broke down for the first time. bathed in the river of blood and drowned in agony, no tears left to mourn, she stayed still like a statue, holding the corpses of her husband and her daughter tight, the daiyokai’s heart was shattered into million of pieces. and she was fading, dying, once more returned to ashes. as life slipped through her fingers like sand, sakura used the last of her power to convert the body of her family into the thousand years sakura tree, a forever reminder of the crime the tengu had committed against the daiyokai of the west, and a final memento of her happiness, her blood family. last breath was left wordless, no prayers were said for her, her body perished into cherry blossom petals, blown away in the crying wind.
but her soul did not rest. it carried the anger, the sorrow, the hatred with it, heaven wouldn’t accept her and neither would hell, and so, she became a vengeful spirit that wandered in the realm of the living. however, her lament eventually reached mikage’s ears on one of his trips to the land of the west after the disaster that had befallen the land, he listened to her story in her cry, mikage then decided to collect the petals of the withered daiyokai of the west, he yearned for the daiyokai of the west to learn love again purely out of his genuine compassion and sympathy, using his power as the land god to nurture the dead soul from the wilted petals, the sakura tree blossomed once again in the shrine of mikage, the daiyokai of the west was reborn as a free soul. mikage did not keep her at the shrine and encouraged her to grow into what she once was, but she chose to stay by mikage’s side instead and became his familiar willingly.
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