Cats and dogs (Happy Year of the Snake, everyone)

Western Country, Dog Yokai territory.

Snow fell thick and fast in great, feathery flakes, blanketing the world in white.

The silver-clad mountain forests looked especially enchanting through the wind and snow, like an ink-wash landscape painting.

A bitter north wind swept across the land. A small squad of Dog Yokai who had yet to take human form followed their humanoid squad leader through the snowy mountain forests, leaving a trail of footprints in the pristine snow.

"Everyone, take a break."

Stopping at a routine patrol checkpoint, Tōga pulled the coat formed from his own fur tighter around himself and gazed into the distance through the swirling snow.

This was the border between the Dog Yokai and the Leopard Cat clans. A vast, claw-shaped rift divided the mountain range in two.

Potent yokai energy permeated the air above the scorched earth within the rift.

Even though their owners had long since departed, two powerful wills still clashed and fought there. The intertwining currents formed miniature storms that swept down the snow from above.

Ordinary low-level yokai could not even enter safely.

Any part of their body that touched the energy would instantly be crushed and repelled, bursting like an overinflated balloon.

"Awooo."

A low howl sounded beside him. Tōga, whose youthful appearance resembled that of a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy, withdrew his gaze and looked at the Dog Yokai beside him, whose dark-red fur stirred as his nostrils twitched.

"Leave them alone, Red Evil Ogre," Tōga replied calmly.

Dog Yokai noses were far keener and more sensitive than their eyes.

Without deliberate interference, powerful Dog Yokai could catch scents carried on the wind from dozens of kilometers away.

Even low-level Dog Yokai who had yet to take human form could easily detect a particular scent within a kilometer or two.

Tōga, whose innate gifts surpassed those of ordinary Dog Yokai in every respect, had long since noticed the Leopard Cat patrol prowling on the opposite side. Like his own squad, they were on patrol, led by a Leopard Cat girl with long, ice-blue hair.

Her frigid aura was colder than the snow itself.

Winter Orchid, was it? She counted as a formidable fighter, but unfortunately, she had little room left to grow.

That was Tōga's assessment.

As someone who had watched [Inuyasha] before transmigrating, Tōga knew who he was. He also knew that in the original story, "he" had died of exhaustion-an ending that looked very much like the plot demanding his death.

Naturally, he also knew something about the Leopard Cat clan's four future commanders and their great yokai leader, Leopard Cat Lord Oyakata.

But none of that mattered to Tōga now. They would be defeated by him in the future anyway, and now that he had been reborn as the future King Tōga, the Dog General, they would lose even sooner and more miserably!

He did not know whether his extraordinary gifts came from combining human and yokai potential, but he could feel his strength increasing every day.

Tōga could not even imagine how his future self was supposed to lose-surely an enemy from the heavens would not pop out once he was invincible beneath them?

"Meooow!"

Hearing the taunting cries of the Leopard Cats across the divide, the Dog Yokai answered, refusing to be outdone.

"Awooo!"

The challenges rising back and forth made even the long, snow-white tail draped around Tōga's neck twitch with awkward embarrassment.

Red Evil Ogre, who had been his utterly loyal subordinate in the original story, even bounded to the front and kept howling "Awooo! Awooo!" at the Leopard Cats, hurling abuse with considerable passion.

The Leopard Cats refused to back down, their answering "Meooow! Meooow!" carrying the distinctive shrillness of their kind.

For a moment, the dogs and cats seemed evenly matched, each side having found a worthy opponent.

But Tōga, who understood what they were shouting, thought they were a perfect pair of bumbling idiots.

These yokai had never been schooled by the [Zuan People] of later generations. One side shouted "Idiot!" and the other shot back, "Moron!"

They repeated themselves endlessly, without the slightest creativity, until Tōga's attention began to wander.

With the natural barrier of yokai energy left by the two clans' great yokai standing between them, these Jaken-level little yokai could do little more than glare daggers across the divide, trade a few threats, and finally go their separate ways.

Tōga had plenty of time to recall how the war between the Dog Yokai and the Leopard Cats had begun.

The Western Country lay roughly in the Island Country's Kansai region. Oyakata, leader of the Leopard Cat clan, had been the first clan chief to reach the rank of great yokai.

At the time, the yokai of the Western Country had no unified leader, and Oyakata had brought them all under his rule through brutally forceful measures.

The universal laws of yokai society-the strong devoured the weak, and the weak submitted to the strong-had cowed the Western Country's yokai beneath Oyakata's iron claws.

But his oppressive policies had stirred discontent among many yokai races. Some began to migrate, while others started fighting back in secret.

At first, their resistance was limited. After all, a great yokai could casually annihilate any yokai race in the Western Country.

With such an overwhelming disparity in strength, the races that remained either bowed completely beneath the Leopard Cat clan or were truly stubborn enough to court death.

Initially, Oyakata paid little attention to the other yokai's resistance. For yokai, fighting and killing were as ordinary as eating and drinking.

It was good for the Leopard Cats under him to get some combat experience.

Then a new king arose among the Dog Yokai, tearing the Western Country in two just like the claw marks before Tōga.

Half belonged to the cats, and half to the dogs.

Once the daily exchange of challenges ended, Winter Orchid led her squad away, thoroughly satisfied.

Tōga led his squad of snarling Dog Yokai onward toward the next checkpoint.

The biting north wind howled ever harder, until even the Dog Yokai, with their fur and yokai power, struggled to endure it.

In that frozen world, even the trees beside the path revealed their barest forms.

Their naked branches stretched freely, like stark silhouettes against the snow-covered mountains.

After Tōga's squad crossed three more peaks, the setting sun cast its final red glow across the white earth, lending it an especially magnificent beauty.

Tōga and his squad had also reached their destination-an outpost within their territory-where they relieved another Dog Yokai squad for a half-month stint on guard duty.

"Qitian, anything unusual?"

During the handover, Tōga asked the young Dog Yokai before him, who was already beginning to look burly.

"Same as always."

The Dog Yokai named Qitian wrapped his tail snugly around his neck and glanced a few times at the wind and snow outside the outpost, a hint of regret in his voice.

"I've been alive for over a dozen years, and this is the first time I've seen weather this bitterly cold. Looks like our big battle with the Leopard Cat clan will have to wait until spring next year."

"But watch out for small-scale raids, Tōga."

At that, Qitian grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp fangs. "When the big battle starts, your big brother here will take you along to twist those Leopard Cat brats' heads off!"

Tōga said nothing. He simply smiled and quietly watched Qitian and the others plunge into the snowstorm until they vanished from sight.

"Awooo."

Red Evil Ogre called from behind him. Tōga answered, then turned and walked into the cave that served as their outpost.