A Means To An End
By
Khit
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However I do own this story, and the plot of it, please, do not plagiarize. Remember plagiarizing is not plagiarizing if you have my permission and if the story is clearly stated that it is written by me. :D
Hanyou
That's all I am. A hanyou. A filthy half breed. My whole life was spent in the shadows, cowering in fear from the intimidating inu youkai that lived in the kingdom. Although my father was the king, the ningen blood that ran through my veins prevented me from being accepted.
I would have given anything to be a full youkai like my father and brother. I would have traded all the wealth in the world if It would have granted me this deep desire.
So, naturally, when I heard of the shikon jewel, I was intrigued. A jewel that could grant any wish to its carrier. For others, it was an item of power, of wealth. For me, it was a means of escape from the miserable life that I was held captive in…
I suppose that if I had looked at it from a very practical point of view I would have thought it was stupid. But the thought of becoming a full demon plagued my mind. It corrupted my every thought during the day and it filled my dreams at night.
Youkai…
Youkai…
Youkai…
YOUKAI!
It ran through my head like a repetitive mantra. It's what drove me to pursue the priestess in the first place.
The day I met Kagome was a very odd one. For in fact, I did not find her. She found me. I was sitting in a tree, looking at the landscape, trying to decide which direction to follow, when a sweet voice called up to me from the base of the tree.
"Ano…Ohayo gozaimasu, may I ask what you are doing in the branches of the Goshinboku?"
I squinted down at the figure below me. It was a girl, about seventeen years of age, dressed in an uncommon green miko outfit. One arm cradled a basket of various herbs, flowers and some fruit, while the other calmly held onto a sleek bow made of cherry wood.
The air blew around her, pulling strands of her ebony hair from the white ribbon at the base of her neck. Her brown eyes glinted in the sunlight as she glanced at me.
"Feh, I can mind my own business, why can't you mind yours?"
Her mouth twitched into a frown as she placed her basket of herbs onto the grass beside the tree. I watched her with steady eyes, ready to jump at the first sign of her drawing her bow. I expected her to shoot me, hell, my own brother ran at me every five seconds with his sword saying he needed practice and that he didn't feel like killing anything useful. Well, nineteen years later and I'm still here, I'm sure you can guess just how good Sesshoumaru is getting. The thought brought a small smile to my lips.
Only then did I realize that I had drifted off for at least fifteen minutes. I glanced down to look at the strange yet annoying girl when I noticed she wasn't anywhere to be seen. I smirked, I guess she's just another whiny girl who runs away once she gets scared. The bark beneath me groaned under protest and I glanced down to the branch below me.
"Hello!"
I sat back against the trunk in shock. The girl, the MIKO, was straddling the branch below me while wiping imaginary sweat from her brow.
My mouth still wide open I watched her as she scaled the rest of the way up and flipped gracefully onto the branch the I was on.
"Wha, What are you doing!" The words came sputtering out of my mouth as I saw her retie the white ribbon that held her hair together.
"Well, I figured since you won't come down, I'll come up." She gave me a bright smile and I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks. Why the hell am I blushing?
She reached into the large arms of her outfit and pulled out two apples. Whistling a soft tune under her breath she handed one to me like it was the most natural act ever. I turned the sweet fruit in my hand staring at it as if it was poisoned.
She glanced up curiously as she bit into her apple. Tilting her head to the side she asked, "What? You don't like apples?". Bits of apple flew from her mouth and landed on her lap. She carelessly brushed them off. Shrugging modestly she reached into her shirt once again and pulled out an apricot and held it out to me. Once again I stared at the fruit in her hand as if it was the strangest thing on earth.
"What! You don't like apricots either! They're my favourite fruit, how come you don't like them? Well I guess you don't have to eat it if you don't want to, more food for me!"
She returned to happily munching on her apple. Scraping the tips on my claws on the apple I was suddenly reminded why I was so shocked in the first place.
"Why…why did you give me the fruit?"
She looked at me and grinned. "Well I haven't seen you around before, I figured you were a traveler, and you were kinda snippy so I thought you were hungry and tired." And then, at the worst time ever, my stomach growled.
She laughed brightly and I found myself loving the sound of it. "Go on, take it, I've plenty more down in the basket."
Blushing heavily I took the apricot and took a bite. The juice poured into my mouth and I greedily gobbled the rest of it up, I'd forgotten how long it had been since I had eaten.
She laughed again and pointed to the apple that I set down on the branch.
After I ate that too we sat in the afternoon sun in silence.
"Thank you."
She looked at me in surprise. "For what?"
"For giving me the fruit…not many people would have been as kind as you. Especially to me."
She looked at me oddly, "Why wouldn't people be nice to you?"
I looked at her incredulously, "Because I'm a hanyou, a half demon, a filthy creature, something that's not worthy enough to be alive, haven't you noticed that I'm not exactly human!"
She looked at me with observing eyes and said calmly, "I know you're not human, I'd be a bad miko if I didn't. But, I don't think it should matter whether or not you're a full youkai or not."
"It doesn't matter to you that I'm a hanyou?"
She looked at me with a passive expression, then she smiled so bright that I thought I would be blinded, "No, it doesn't"
We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the branch like we had been friends forever.
That was the day that I became friends with Kagome Higurashi.
Yay, there's the first chapter! Hope you guys will review it!
