So, I wrote something based on this head cannon I have where Inuyasha is actually very smart, but no one in his life has ever given him a chance to prove himself because he's a half demon. This story idea is also heavily based on the psychological phenomenon of feral children.

This is only the second piece I do in a long time, but I hope it meets expectations! I will try to update this series once weekly and will post its updates on a scheduled time. I'm currently in the process of moving back home for the summer and starting my new summer job at a vet clinic, so once that's settled I'll post more info.

I've been editing this for the past 6 hours so I apologize for any grammar mistakes. (My s/o who was supposed to proofread it for me decided that 4000+ was too many words, so I really sincerely apologize for any mistakes!)

Feral: Chapter 1
Rating: T

Kagome let out a groan as she stretched and leaned back in her chair. She'd spent the entire day looking at her computer screen answering emails and working on her current research project. Unfortunately, it wasn't going anywhere, and she was afraid she'd have to flunk the project altogether—thus was the life of a psychology professor at a highly competitive university. She wasn't sure what she'd do if she couldn't find another research thesis soon or she'd run out of funding and get in trouble with the department advisor.

The raven-haired woman glanced outside the window next to her desk and realized that it had gotten dark outside since the last time she checked.

Crap, I've stayed here way too late again she thought to herself.

Unhurriedly, she saved her work and turned off her monitor. As she was packing her bags to head out, she realized that she'd have to walk home since her usual ride had already left hours ago. Kouga, another of the psychology professors usually drove her home after work since the beginning of the semester. She thought he was a lovely fellow, but was a little pushy at times. Needless to say, she was grateful for everything he did for her so she didn't press her luck and tell him to tone it down for fear she would hurt him.

As she stepped out of the building where her workplace stood, the fresh crisp air of the night filled her lungs and she breathed a sigh of relief. The young professor had been spending too much time cooped up inside her office, she felt like she would lose it one of these days.

The complete silence of the area was making her skin crawl. The street lamps gave off their weak rays of light and made her feel as if she was being watched as in a horror movie. There was no one in sight, the campus grounds deserted compared to during the day, bustling with busy students rushing to their classes.

The worst part was that her path home was only dimly lit, being a little woodsy off-road on the side of campus. The leafy gravel road made it hard to see where to put her footing, which often led her to trip a few times before making it to her final destination. As she made her way there, the words of her coworkers rang into her head.

"Hey, did you hear? Apparently, the campus police tried to arrest a student last night. He was acting off. I'm thinking he was probably on drugs or something because apparently, he was barking at the officers and growled at them when they tried to approach him. You know what's the worst part? He got away! Supposedly, he jumped up on a dumpster and then onto the roof of the science building! I'd avoid walking at night alone if I were you, especially until that weirdo gets caught!" she had overheard from a professor working in the sociology department tell her friend.

But, she was almost off of school grounds now, so she was safe, right? If only life was that easy...

It wasn't even a few minutes later when she heard some rustling sounds coming from the bushes ahead of her. She mentally kicked herself at her own childish fears and turned around quickly to face the source of the sound. Kagome was a grown woman and she wouldn't let some childish gossip make her run home with her tail between her legs.

That didn't stop the cold sweat from rolling down her back or the sides of her rounded face. Her heart accelerated as if it followed the rhythm of a melody played in affrettando.

The pounding in her ears stopped as did her breathing when a strange shadow emerged and walked—no, crawled towards her. It was almost dog-like in appearance and the figure was on all fours. All that was missing was a wagging tail and a long snout. She was no longer certain if what was coming towards her was a figment of her imagination, or that she was truly seeing it. The ground rustled around its footing and a low rumble permeated from the figure. Maybe all those days stuck at work were really starting to take a toll on her.

The figure, now only a few meters in front of her sat still. It had white hair, a man-like appearance, but there was something odd about it. Tiny twitching triangular appendages adorned his crown and focused on her every movement. He was dressed in very few clothes, wearing a simple tattered cloth hung loosely around his hips. Sure, it was a strange choice of style, but nothing compared to what the man was doing–audibly sniffing the air in her direction as if he really was a dog.

Kagome's regained the movement of her muscles as her heart still raced as she took a few steps back, praying she wouldn't trip on anything as she blindly backed up. She was trying her best to stabilize her breathing and not hyperventilate. The raven-haired woman's ragged breaths had the creature's attention and its golden orbs fixed on her brown ones. His ears perked, ready to captivate any sound the frightened teacher was emitting.

The professor had read somewhere that animals could smell fear and was certain that this thing could probably sense her terror. The dribbling beads of sweat rolling off her face and shoulders down her back would make sure of that.

The man never broke eye-contact with her while he crouched lower as if to give himself leverage. The muscles in his face, shoulders, and back tense as he dropped his back-end lower than it was. Not even a split second later, he pounced right on her, white hair flowing in the wind behind him, snatching the purse she had slung over her shoulders. The young professor gasped and instinctively clutched her bag while swinging her arm towards his head with her free arm.

A loud thwack resonated in the quiet woodsy path as her limb made contact with the dog ears. A whine proceeded by a growling noise were emitted from the white-haired man as he took a few steps back away from her. White, pearlescent canines were visible as the beast curled back its lips, threatening the trembling feminine figure.

Kagome gasped as she realized that hot, crimson blood dribble down her arms. The stupid creature had drawn blood with its dagger-sharp claws.

"What do you want, you freak?" she shrieked out while rummaging inside of her bag for something to defend herself with.

The man stared directly at her with almost pitiful eyes. He said nothing, peering at her as if a wild animal was seizing up their pray. He sniffed the air a few more times into her direction.

"Is this what you want?" she blurted out as she waved a plastic container with the ham and cheese sandwich she had forgotten to eat for dinner.

The dog man's ears perked up and he readied himself to lunge towards her again. Panicking and not knowing how to react to the situation, she thrust her free arm out with an open palm to show he shouldn't come closer. Kagome gently threw the piece of food and it flew in a low arc just to drop at the feet of the stranger.

The creature did not waste a second more before taking hold of the plastic container as he tried to break it free of its contents. Grunts and growls could be heard from his vicinity. After a few minutes of fiddling with the container, he had resorted to claw his way through it as he tore into the sandwich.

The raven-haired woman took this chance to back away slowly from the man by a few centimeters would she have to defend herself again. She simply couldn't understand her brain's reasoning as to why she hadn't taken off running the moment the opportunity arose; he mesmerized her. The beast's white hair flowed behind him majestically and looked almost like a fantastical beast her mother would read to her about during her bedtime stories. His features carved onto his face with perfection, a feudal Japanese painting having come to life.

It had not taken long before the dog-eared figure finished his dinner and glanced back into her direction.

"Look, I'm not sure what you want, but I'm going home. I'm certain I'm hallucinating all of this, so you're more than welcome to follow me back to my place," the petite woman said mostly to herself.

At this point, she was certain that she had just eaten something bad back at the office and simply needed to sleep this strange event off. There was no way she'd spent her evening feeding what looked like a man with animal-like features.

Kagome walked away without looking back over her shoulder, but the figure behind her tailed her all the way back home.

Kagome dropped her bag in the entrance and sloppily removed her shoes. She proceeded to flick on the light switch to the kitchen. Tomorrow was Saturday, so she didn't have to come into work if she didn't want to. She made her way towards the sink in the illuminated room and grabbed herself a glass of water.

Golden eyes met milk chocolate ones as she glanced in the doorway's direction, where her new imaginary friend stood, seemingly lost.

"Look, I'm not sure why you're not answering, but you can sleep on the couch. I have more leftovers in the fridge if you want some. Make yourself at home."

By this point, she was certain she'd officially hit insanity, so she was just making a game of whatever her sleep-deprived brain was making her hallucinate.

Without even looking back, she waved at him and left the kitchen to make her way towards her bedroom. She locked the door for extra precaution and changed out of her work attire. Kagome slipped on a pair of kitten printed pajamas and crawled under the soft duvet cover of her bed.

If she did the math correctly, she'd only slept 20 hours combined throughout her work week which was enough to make her lose her marbles she decided.

It was about time she went to bed.

Light rays peeked into the cracks of the closed curtains, enough to stir the woman of her slumber. Her body wasn't accustomed to sleeping more than a few sporadic hours at a time, explaining why she was up so early on a Saturday.

The woman rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and slowly removed the covers, inviting the cold air to wrap itself around her cold limbs. As she peered to the side, she noticed the white strands of hair splayed all over the bed, its owner slowly grunting as the source of the heat was being peeled away from his body.

She shrieked and jumped out of bed. The figure slowly came to and gave her the most dumbfounded look she had ever seen.

A million thoughts a second were going through her still sleep laden brain.
First, the man had not been a figment of her imagination. He was truly there. Second, the man was nearly naked and had crawled with her into bed. She was so out of it, never hearing the soft padding of his barren feet make his way into her bedroom over the course of the night. Wait a second-

"How did you get in here? I locked the door," she barked at him while pointing her index finger in his direction hastily.

The dog ears folded back as the woman yelled at him. The creature backed away a few centimeters from her accusatory tone but stopped there and stood his ground. He let out a few guttural growls and barred his sharp canines towards her, not scaring her in the slightest. It seemed he didn't like to get woken up from his sleep.

"Look, you can't just come into my bedroom," she retorted and stomped towards the hallway to get some fresh air and process what had just occurred. Kagome slammed the door behind her as she exited her own bedroom.

This was just all too much for her to deal with at the moment.

She ambled down the hall and descended the flight of stairs towards the dining area. What waited for her in the kitchen was a sight she would never have envisioned if it were not directly in front of her. Packaging, leftover garbage, and various pieces of food decorated her grey kitchen titles everywhere she glanced—nearly every piece of food in her kitchen was devoured and their remnants, littering the floor.

She couldn't take it anymore. The sight had exasperated her. Kagome beeline towards the nearest chair at the dining room table and sank into it. Every muscle and fiber in her petite body seemed to weigh a ton at that exact moment. She rested her forehead directly onto the cold wooden surface and folded her arms in front of her. Her breathing hitched and slowly, tears rolled down her plump cheeks. After a few seconds of quiet tears, they crescendoed into sobs that racked her tiny frame. Between her work, her failing research project and now this, she wasn't sure just how much more she could take of this crap. It was all too much; her world was crashing around her.

Little did she know; the smell of the salty tears had attracted a certain half-demon to the kitchen. The man took a few tentative steps towards the crying figure, crouched down on all fours in a strange makeshift sitting position and whined softly. This was enough to get the woman's attention and to get her to open her dark brown eyes. She turned to face in his direction while still resting one cheek on the table and looked at his disheveled face. She unfolded her arms and extended her right one towards the top of his head, seeking comfort from the small triangular appendages. They reminded her so much of her childhood cat Buyo's.

The stranger seemed taken aback at the sign of affection and backed away a few steps. What could this woman be up to, anyway? Weren't humans supposed to be chasing him with pitchforks and constantly yelling at him? What was this raven-haired woman trying to do to him?

She approached her hand slowly in his direction, letting him give her a sniff before resting her open palm atop his soft mane. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, letting out what seemed nearly like a purr. This was the closest the two had gotten since their encounter and the only time she didn't find herself yelling at him.

"Who are you? What are you even?" she muttered to herself, stroking the soft fur that adorned his ears.

It was enough self-pitying and sulking. She had to make the best out of her situation since she was stronger than that. Kagome's mother had always told her to carry out what she had started, so she knew that she couldn't simply give up. She'd have to make do with what she was served and that was that.

The woman took her hand away from his soft head and pointed towards herself, "My name is Kagome. Ka-go-me."

That left the dog-boy cocking his head sideways and blinking a few times at her strange gestures. He whined at the loss of contact. He thought it actually felt kind of nice. Bizarre, of course, since he'd experienced nothing like it before, but nice.

"C' mon, I'm sure you can speak. Say it. Ka-go-me," she insisted once more, pointing towards her face.

After a few more silent seconds passed by, the man attempted to make a rumbling noise at the back of his mouth. A gruff "Kah," was muttered from his mouth, fangs seemingly in the way of his poor attempt at human speech.

"Yes, that's right! Very good! You're getting there," she cooed, treating him like a child. What in the world was she doing? What in the world had she gotten herself into?

The higher-pitched feminine voice had the white-haired man more at ease. It was better than getting yelled at. Maybe he could get used to this.

"Look, I have work to do and I have to clean the disaster you've made in the kitchen. If you could stay out of trouble while I accomplish all of this, that would be wonderful. I'll put the TV on for you or something, okay?" Kagome explained as she pushed herself up from the kitchen chair.

She stared at her laptop cradled in her lap while she was wrapped up by a fuzzy blanket on the couch, working alongside her new companion. He hadn't attempted to say anything since this morning and was glued to the TV since she had turned it on. He was still wearing the torn piece of cloth around his waist, so she figured she should probably do something about it sooner than later.

As countless thoughts muddled her brain, Kagome was certain she had heard of similar phenomena of children who had grown alongside animals while not being exposed to humans from her colleagues. She was wondering if this was the case for this strange man she picked up. He had nearly no human tendencies or mannerisms and he didn't speak. Above everything else though, she wondered why this man looked part animals. To her knowledge, there had never been a documented case about anything similar before. It shouldn't even be something that was biologically possible.

What if she could use him for her next research project? She could have just made a very important discovery in the cognitive behavioral development field. He wouldn't mind being her guinea pig, right?

Kagome pondered this idea while doing more research on the subject. After a few clicks and searches on papers found from her university's library website, she discovered that when children were isolated from humans for so long, they end up with a delay in their development. This also meant that the longer it was until someone discovered them, the less likely the effects were reversible to rehabilitate the cognitive ability of the children. She didn't know how long it had been since this strange man splayed across on her living room floor had been without human contact.

The professor spent a few more hours looking up as much information as she could to aid in her documentation of the potential feral man that seemed to have made her home into his. Feral children tended to be apprehensive of humans at first, but with enough coaxing, could become comfortable with a select few. Once again, she noted that this fearful behaviour was amplified if the separation with humankind was over a greater period of time. There might be little she was able to do to get him to become comfortable with her, but she'd try her best.

This development had the professor ecstatic. Although she now had a strange man living alongside her, she'd found herself a new research project which might save her line of work at the university. She didn't want to tell her coworkers yet for fear they would judge her, or worse, try to cash in on her discovery. She'd be the one to get the credit for this discovery. Too many times had the others taken credit for her own work, trying to appear better in the eyes of the psychology field and the university. Kagome also knew that this field of research was considered somewhat taboo, so she'd have to tread carefully on the manner in which she presented her findings and who she'd let into her close circle to help.

She had a lot of work on her plate and Kagome realised she would have to record her newfound test subject's and hers' interactions together. Kagome also knew that language acquisition was something she'd struggle to help her companion develop, perhaps never even reaching his language skills to that of a normal level for an adult. She wouldn't let this get her down though; she'd see this project though.

The woman's reverie was broken when a very gruff voice coming from the man crouched onto the ground now staring at her emitted the word, "Kagome."

She stared at him in incredulously. He had just spoken. He shouldn't have been able to. Not this early on, anyway, according to the piles of studies she had spent her afternoon reading.

Excitedly, she replied while pointing to herself, "Yes, yes that's me!"

He answered her enthusiasm with a toothy grin and turned back to watch the dancing pictures appearing on the screen in front of him.

The young woman hastily created a new folder on her laptop screen and named it "Inu", dog, with just a few clicks.

She was in for a wild ride.

Their first day together had passed by in a flash. That meant that she still had tomorrow to work with him before having to return to work. Or, she could find a way to sneak him into the university. He looked young enough to pass for a student. But, she wasn't convinced she'd be able to as there was still something off about him.

It was when dinner time rolled around that she realized she'd have her work cut out for her. She'd reprimanded the man several times as he tried to snatch the steak and peppers frying over the stove while she was preparing the rice.

"Stop, or you won't get any dinner. Sit down at the table and wait until it's ready," the woman scolded as she smacked his arm away with the rice ladle.

His ears drooped slightly, but he looked at her confusingly. As the woman attempted to drag him to the chair and get him to sit, he growled every time she tried to lay a hand on his arm. His claws extended out, signifying his displeasure at the touch she was offering him.

He's just not ready yet, Kagome told herself as she made her way to the table.
She sat down in a chair at the dinner table and pointed to the one adjacent of her, "Sit."

To her surprise, he made his way over to her location and sat quietly in the designated seat. As she returned towards her kitchenette, he had his eyes tracking her every movement as she fumbled around the stove to prepare the enticing dinner. There was no way he'd let that woman eat all the deliciously smelling food all to herself he told himself indignantly.

When she returned along with a dish full to the brim with steaming hot rice topped with beef and peppers, her companion's ears perked up. He greedily reached out his arm to grab the bowl of food. She tried to hand him some chopsticks, but it was just too late. The man had already proceeded to dunk his entire face within the food and was nearly inhaling it.

She tried several times to get his attention away from his meal but to no avail. Sighing and knowing that there was nothing that could be done, she hoped that he could at least learn a thing or two from this interaction and watch her in action. Kagome pulled out her laptop and jotted a few notes before putting it away to eat her portion of the meal. The professor proceeded to eat her own dinner, picking up the food at a normal pace along with the proper tool, visibly chewing between bites, setting off a proper example to the odd man sitting across from her.

It was only after the half-demon had licked his plate clean when he noticed the woman sitting across from him eating food in a manner he'd never seen before. He could swear she wasn't hungry by the speed she was eating it. Wasn't she afraid that someone would come along and steal it from her? He gazed at her intently.

"Are you still hungry? I've got more prepared still, so I'll go make you another plate. Just sit tight," she answered the curious man as she grabbed his plate. The white-haired man growled at her as she removed his plate, but she made nothing of it. He hadn't tried to attack her once since she had fed him the previous night.

When she returned with the dish towering with food once more, the white-haired man stared at her impatiently. Kagome handed him the chopsticks beforehand this time and then followed it by handing him the bowl. She observed him under severe scrutiny as he was holding the pair in one hand while balancing the bowl in the other.

He laid down the eating utensils on the table and brought the bowl to his face to repeat the animalistic eating process all over again. The professor noted this behaviour as well while hoping that she could eventually break through to him and teach him to eat like a normal human being.

After they finished dinner, the dishes cleaned and dried, the young woman decided it was time to take on her next challenge: getting the feral boy to take a bath. She was certain he hadn't taken one in a while as he didn't particularly smell good while being covered in soot and dirt from head to toe. She also had to do something about his attire. Perhaps tomorrow was a good day to go shopping for him, or at the very least, dress him in something appropriate so he could leave the house alongside her.

The professor made her way to the bathroom upstairs next to her bedroom. She had no idea how this whole ordeal would go down as she wasn't aware if the boy even remotely had attempted to bathe before. Kagome blushed madly as she realised that she might even have to wash him herself as he probably didn't know how. She never expected that the first man she'd bring home and see naked would be an experience remotely close to this.

A pair of curious golden eyes watched her silently in the bathroom's doorway as she bent over the tub and turned the warm water on, sticking her hand under the flowing water to verify the temperature. The last thing she wanted to do was to burn the dog-man half to death and have him run away from her home forever.

When she turned back around to call over the curious figure that had been standing behind her just a few seconds ago, she noticed he was nowhere in sight.

Oh boy, this would not be an enjoyable evening.