EDIT: Here's the revised version of the first chapter. I'm still not completely happy with it, but I think it's much better than the crap I had up here before. As promised, chapter eleven will be up soon. -Naomi

Disclaimer: At least let me dream... -sobs-

Inevitable

Chapter One

Inuyasha

The young boy sighed. He leaned against the back of a tree as he tried to relax. He had once again been forced from another home. His thoughts went back to the reason he'd had to leave.

There had been something killing off the livestock in the village he'd previously resided in. The villagers, being unable to find the reason for the destruction immediately threw the blame on him. He remembered them saying something about the curse of his demon blood. Yes, the said child did have demon blood flowing through his veins; however the boy was only a half demon. The young hanyou, Inuyasha.

Ever since his mother had been killed, he'd been out on his own, wandering from village to village begging for food and shelter. Occasionally, a villager somewhere would pity the child and give him some scraps or something else to eat. This, though, being only a rare occasion, he'd learned to fish and hunt small game on his own.

At this latest village, he'd been allowed to stay within the actual 'village limits' and be provided food, as long as he worked for his stay. He'd been happy beyond words. His joy was short-lived, however, when he'd been chased away after the villagers had tried to kill him and put an end to the "curse".

He hugged his knees to his chest and his eyes closed. He wasn't asleep. Now, he couldn't fall asleep. To sleep would mean certain death for the boy. He had to stay alert. His ears drooped as waves of sadness began to wash over him. These thoughts were not alien to the boy in the least. They made him think about his mother.

'Mother...'

It'd not even been a year since her death. It was still fresh in his mind. He refused, however, to give in to tears. In the short time he'd been on his own, he had learned that exposing too many emotions caused weakness. Weakness would mean your death. Had the occupants of his mother's village simply put up with him because he was the son of the princess?

"Keh. Probably."

It must have been true. They'd never been completely nice to him, nor had they been outright wicked to the child. That had changed the moment of her death. They treated him worse than they would their own cattle. They hadn't even let him come to his own mother's funeral—some saying that such an unholy being couldn't attend; she'd go straight to hell if her worst sin appeared when her soul was trying to be laid to rest.

He had simply waited until the ceremony was over to finally go and visit the grave of his mother. Unknown to the villagers of the village, she'd been buried in the exact spot that she had taken him to play on occasion. How ironic…

"Damn them!" he growled and punched his small fist into the bark of the tree.

So that he wouldn't push himself even closer to edge of crying, he immediately switched his thoughts to something else. He converted all of his sorrow for his mother to anger and hatred at everyone that had helped to change his life into his own personal hell. They'd never leave him alone, would they? No matter where he went, there would be no one else to love him or care for him. There had only been his mother, but now she was gone, and along with it went his childish naïveté and optimistic outlook on life.

His head snapped to the left when he heard a noise. His ears twitched in apprehension and he took a tentative sniff of the air around him. He tensed and his eyes went wide. The villagers were still following him! Hadn't he gone through enough? He hadn't even done anything to them! He had to leave fast; they were going to find him very soon if he didn't.

CRACK!

A rock whizzed by his head. How had they come up behind him without him noticing? He looked down to see that a pair of boys under the tree that looked to be a little older than him. The slightly chubby boy threw another rock at him, but this time he was prepared and moved quickly out of the way.

"Father! We found it! Come quickly!" two boys called simultaneously.

His eyes shot up when he heard more than just one pair of feet running towards the tree he was in. Now he was as desperate as ever to make an immediate escape. An arrow shot seemingly out of nowhere and grazed his shoulder. He hissed in pain. That, combined with the rock that met his skull in the village earlier, did nothing to help him think clearer. He was on the verge of panic.

"Leave me alone!" he yelled down, disoriented.

"You think us to be stupid, demon?" a man that held a crude bow and arrow set called up to him. They'd all made there way into the clearing now.

"We know of your curse on our crops! You even killed our livestock! After we let you stay in our village for so long…" another man accused.

"I didn't do anything! If I had wanted to kill something, don't you think I would've tried to kill you instead!" There was some murmuring amongst the group as they considered this.

His tiny bubble of hope burst when the first boy from before spoke. "You think that we will once again fall for your trickery?" He turned to the man behind him. "Do you not see what he is trying to do, Father? First our crops and livestock, and now he wishes to be allowed back into the village to curse or kill us as well!"

Now the other boy spoke. "Exactly! Will that not leave the women and children completely vulnerable to his evil deeds?"

The man's eyes widened as he realized the "truths" that his sons had bestowed upon him. He then turned to the rest of the men and placed his hands on his boys' shoulders. "Do you hear that, men? How could we have been so blind? We might've allowed this murderer back into our village! We must take care of this vile beast before he can get to any of the other villages as well!"

While all this was going on, Inuyasha realized that no one was paying him any attention. He clumsily, yet surprisingly quietly, hopped onto a nearby branch of a neighboring tree. He continued in this fashion until he had reached a point where he could no longer hear or smell the crazed villagers.

He dropped to the ground and the base of a tree, his tiny muscles screaming for rest. "Stupid humans…" He didn't even have the energy to hop into the tree's lowest branch. He was too tired, too sore. He raised a small clawed hand up to where his head hurt the most. He wasn't too much surprised when his hand met something wet. He pulled his hand away to see it partially covered in blood. A stray thought crossed his mind then. 'Hope it doesn't get infected…' It was then that the urge to sleep washed over him. Whether from blood loss, or pure exhaustion, he didn't care; he was too sleepy now to fight against it. He was too out of it to even notice that he was exposing weakness—what he had vowed never to express. "What did I ever do?" was his last thought before he finally slipped away from the real world and into peaceful oblivion…

Well there ya have it. Is it better than the first time? Let me know with a...REVIEW! Nice reviews earn mo0fins! Don't you love 'em? They're homemade! If you wish to flame, know that they are appreciated as well--I'm using them to toast Kikyou and Kouga...mostly Kikyou.-insert evil laugh here-