Learning to live.
By: HopePoe26
Disclaimer: Inuyasha is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. I, certainly couldn't do this type of work myself.
Summary: Another A/U where Inuyasha is a hanyou brought up as a demon exterminator in Kagome's time. He doesn't know much of his heritage and when he makes a mistake at trying to hit Special Agent Sesshoumaru of the youkai reserve, he finds that things are not exactly like he imagined it. Personally, I had thought this up as a S/I story with bits and pieces of a one-sided Kagome/IY romance. Hope you like it.
Part I.
It was wonderful. This dream was wonderful. The feeling of sand on his bare feet and the sun on his bare back was wonderful. Everything was wonderful except that this paradise into which he was dreaming he was in did not exist. In fact, right now; as he began to realize that he wasn't at 'home' but on a hard bench in a stuffy classroom he realized that as he raised his head towards the teacher staring sternly back at him, that he had fallen asleep on his advanced physics class. He groaned inwardly. Waited for the teacher to berate him as usual and was amazed to see that though the teacher did frown at him, he did not yell. That was heavily unusual. It made his ears twitch… his puppy ears that is… he then realized… there was youki in the room, he could almost taste it… why hadn't he known so before?
He turned around and found the youki in form of a very big dragon who was about to swallow him and the whole class whole. He felt smaller, weaker, and he couldn't even move. He gazed at his hands and found them to be too small… and now he was in a different setting, one he knew too well. It was his house, or what was left of it, he saw a big two tailed dragon destroying the town he lived in and no one but he could see him. It was hiding from the humans that hunted him meanwhile others tried to quell the fire as it raged and consumed anything that stood in front of it.
To others it seemed more likely that he had set the fire. Which was why his mother was fighting it too, saying she would never give up her son. And he wondered in his tiny three year old mind if his mom could see the dragon as well. Before he could cry out though, his mother was consumed in flames and he was blown away from her remains.
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
And he woke to find a cat licking his face for all it was worth. He wondered what had he dreamt of his mother now of all times. He had been told that his mother had died at a fire, but he had not remembered seeing the demon as his mother's murderer before tonight. In fact, he didn't remember anything like that. He looked at the watch on his make-shift bed stand and cursed. It was half-past eleven. He was late. Very late.
She knew she shouldn't mind. After all, he was her brother for all purposes, but Inuyasha was never late unless – unless something wrong had happened to him… NO! Stop IT Sango – she thought as she checked her watch again and sighed – Inuyasha was strong. Nothing was wrong with him and nothing would ever be wrong with him. And as she had just convinced herself of the matter, in came Inuyasha thru the door and sat in front of her at the small café, his puppy ears drooping in embarrassment.
"GOD! You made me so worried!" – she hissed at him.
"I'm sorry, onee-san I overslept." – he said in his most humble voice and she knew then that he had had another nightmare.
"Your mother again?" – she whispered and he nodded. His white bangs hid his saddened eyes and it took the waitress's cough to bring them back to reality.
"Are you ready to order in?" – they nodded.
Once their coffee was served and Sango was almost over with her omelet, she looked at Inuyasha and said…
"I'm going back to China tomorrow."
"WhAt?!" – he said and though he tried very hard not to raise his voice, a few heads turned to them.
She glared at him. "Our mother is sick and I need to be there before she passes away with the family secrets. You know that!"
"I'm sorry. I had forgotten. So, when will you be back?"
"In a month."
He nodded.
"It bothers you, doesn't it?"
"It's just that I don't like you going anywhere without me Sango. We live in different cities as it is and now you're moving to a different country. I… I'm not sure what would happen and I worry a lot over you." – he said in a hushed voice.
She smiled and gently took his hand into hers. She comforted him and when it was time for her to leave, he felt heavy deep within his heart; but he knew that Sango was strong and she'd be fine.
Late at night, he walked the dull streets with confidence. Like a ninja, he moved thru the dark alleys with ease and grace. He made no sound as he stalked around his prey. His puppy ears – normally hidden from view – were alert and out of the bag, so to speak. Then his trained eyes caught something else… another demon? Why? The moon showed him the back of the demon and he was startled to see it had a tail. A brown bushy tail and the demon wore what seemed like fur with a leather vest. Very gauche – he thought – as if someone had asked for his fashion advice. Tch. He shook his head to clear himself from unwanted thoughts. Because he had been paying attention to the fashion-less demon, he forgot to keep an eye on the other demon, and he cursed when the one he was following ran.
He stopped in one of the roofs he had jumped to and took up his bow and arrow to try and hit his main mark but only managed to pin the other demon on its tail.
Kouga growled as Ayame giggled while examining his butt and his tail as well. Whoever had thrown the arrow was going to pay. A lot. But as he gritted his teeth – feeling on edge – he wondered why he could never catch his own fish without someone interfering.
"YEOW!!"
He was sure that everyone in the whole city had heard him. How embarrassing.
"There now… see the arrow is gone!" – Ayame said as she tried to stifle her laughter.
"Ayame if you continue to laugh at me, I will never take you seriously again… you HEAR ME!" – He threatened but knew it was useless as soon as a snort reached his ears. He saw Ginta at the door with a tall inu-youkai. His brow twitched and he felt that this was truly hell.
"Uh… Kouga?"
"Yeah?" – he said as he tried to stop his growl from ever coming out of his mouth.
"Totosai wants to see you in his office. He said it was very important to your case." – then he turned around and motioned for the white haired demon to follow him.
Later as he stood next to Ayame as she relayed the extent of his injury to their Commander in Chief, he bristled. Not only was he seemingly weak, but now he was supposed to take Sesshoumaru – a hunter long ago retired – with him on his mission. This was turning out to be a VERY bad day.
Inuyasha nodded every once in a while looking as if he was listening to Kagome when he was really not listening. It wasn't as if he didn't like Kagome, but usually she talked so much of not anything at all. Just mundane things that should've interested him if he were a regular teenager, but he wasn't. He could never forget what he did the night before or why he really did it. But, as he continued to half listen to his friend, he wondered why this new interest in humans. Youkai didn't often have any interest in killing humans as the world had changed a lot since the last time they confronted each other. Yet… there were clues that wouldn't piece themselves together.
From what he had learnt in the news, most of the killings were of people with some sort of criminal history ranging from embezzlement to outright murder. The police – despite the fact that most of the citizens of Japan were happy of these occurrences – were trying to find out who were responsible for this. They claimed that a murderer despite whoever was the victim, was still a murderer. So, they were trying to prevent more from happening, only that they didn't seem to know how to stop it.
"Inuyasha are you listening to me?" – a sweet voice crossed the threshold of his rambling thoughts.
"Huh?" – he turned to look at his friend and found her looking a bit crossed.
"I asked you if you were listening to me. I was also asking if you would like to eat over at my house tonight. Mama won't mind at all." – she said and he could've sworn she was blushing a little.
"Uhm… sure." – wondering if after spending three hours in the Higurashi household, he would have time to finish his homework and go on his night rounds before going to sleep at 2AM.
Sesshoumaru looked at his watch and sighed. Whoever this hunter was, he didn't appear very early into the night. He looked across the street to see the young wolf playing with a cell phone. He might've been really old and all that, but he wasn't stupid as to where technology was concerned. And even if he knew the value of a cell phone, he hated those things.
Around midnight, he sniffed the air and narrowed his eyes. He couldn't believe it! This hunter was not human! Why had the wolf not mentioned this?! He saw the hunter skulking around an old house that reeked of death. What was so interesting about this house to him? Without turning to look for Kouga, he stealthily crossed the alley leading to the old house and went after the hunter.
Inuyasha found to his disgust that the youkai he was hunting for, had disappeared. He frowned and was about to go when he saw a shadow to the left.
"Who's there?" – he said.
"I'd like to know who you are instead." – said the deep voice.
And all Inuyasha saw was a tall man with long white hair that reached his calves and wondered briefly why was it that this person looked so familiar to him. Could it be that he were that very old demon he had known once? No. He was older than him, but he was not that ancient from what he could tell from his looks. The demon showed himself to the light and Inuyasha found his breath taken away from him. This demon… was beautiful in an ethereal sort of way. And before he could do something else, his vision went blurry and then all that was left was darkness.
Sesshoumaru berated the wolf demon with a glare that said it all. And Kouga couldn't fault him for it. He felt very guilty at the moment. But he hadn't been able to stop himself from hitting the young hanyou. It wasn't so much that the hanyou had been able to best him and that he wanted revenge, it was more or less that it had been an accident. Now they were inside the demon lord's apartment. Kouga didn't know why but at the glare, Kouga realized that he should leave the two of them alone for a moment. If only for the sake of escaping a beating.
The door closed softly and Sesshoumaru sighed. He could not understand why but he felt so suddenly enamored with the young hanyou. As the hanyou lay on his bed, he found himself wanting the boy. Wanting him in ways he had never wanted others before. Why was this happening now? The desire to mate someone had never come so sudden and definite as it did now. He heard the boy groan in pain and knew that he'd wake up soon.
He found how the hanyou woke up endearing. First those cute little and furry puppy ears on top of a silver haired-head moved from side to side as if tracking any movement that should've been deemed dangerous. And then – very abruptly – his eyes opened and Sesshoumaru could now see clearly the golden orbs of the hanyou and he was sure this was prime inu-youkai blood.
"Where am I?" – the boy asked as he tried to move around but found himself unable to lift himself up due to the fact that his limbs felt like lead.
"Don't move too much. The healer went a bit far with the sleeping potion. It'll be awhile for you to move." – Sesshoumaru said in a tone that brook no argument. Inuyasha frowned.
"You didn't answer my question. And why would I need a sleeping potion from a healer?"
"You're in my home in Kyoto. The bastard wolf that I work with hit you really hard to leave a lesion. It could've turned fatal should I had not called a healer to help you out."
"Ah. I thank you for your hospitality, however; I guess my next question should be as to Why am I here? At all." – Sesshoumaru somehow found the pout that the young man had was truly endearing.
"Do you know who you are?" – Sesshoumaru asked deliberately sidestepping his last question with a question of his own.
"I am Inuyasha, a demon slayer hunting for a demon who's been killing humans. I was hunting him the day before but your friend stepped in my sight before I could capture him and I hit him instead. I thought he had died as the arrow I shot was filled with holy water." – he said with an air of boredom. "However now that I have answered your question, you will answer mine."
"Ah… I think I should be a little more precise in asking questions. What I meant was that if you knew what species you are."
"I'm a hanyou. Half demon half human. I'm aware of my appearance but other than that I don't see why you need to know if I know that I'm a monstrosity to those that are around us."
"YOU ARE NOT A MONSTROSITY!" – Sesshoumaru lashed out at Inuyasha in sudden anger. With an effort he calmed himself as he turned to the side not looking at Inuyasha. He however didn't notice Inuyasha's wary eyes that stared at him distrustfully.
"What I meant to say is that if you know of your heritage, then I don't understand why you hunt your own kin to kill them. Did you know that there is a special agency of demons that holds control over those rogue youkai that don't want to stay hidden? I had known that there were a couple of demon slayers still around, but I had not known that they had a hanyou in their midst's aiding them to kill those few of us that remain." – he turned to look back at the young man lying on the bed and found to his surprise that the boy looked mutinous. Like he didn't believed what he was saying. What was his story that made him hate demons?
"A special agency? What a load of crap. I don't see why demons wouldn't try to slaughter humans, it is after all in their nature to be savages. How demons still run amok humans is beyond me though I acknowledge the use of some very good magic spells used for hiding, it is still something that I hope someday it will become of no use. I was trained to be a demon slayer and I'm a demon slayer at heart and soul. Now when I finally am able to leave this place I will hold true my thanks to you for taking care of me, but otherwise I will not come to you for anything else."
Sesshoumaru frowned. He wished he could make him change his mind, but it was obvious that the young man was not going to crack easily.
"Is this where you live? It looks too small and too dangerous to live in." – said Sesshoumaru whilst looking at the apartment's obvious precarious bases.
"Yes this is where I live. It suits my purposes and satisfies all my needs. I suppose I cannot ask you to not speak of this place, but I know that you are not that evil-minded that should I not agree with you, you will not hold that in contempt and have me sent to an early grave." – and with that he struck his hand out in what was obviously meant to be a handshake.
Sesshoumaru shook his hand but did not let go. He knew that if he let go too easily he might not see this handsome creature again and he wished it to be so that he could see him again but he did not know how it could come to be without actually demanding the young man to do so preying over the fact that the young man owed him.
"We will see each other again." – is what he finally said and Inuyasha smiled creepily and said…
"Well yes I suppose that if I have to pay you back we will, but other than that, no; we will not meet again." – and with that he let go of Sesshoumaru's grasp and left him standing alone on the sidewalk.