Holding on by a Thread

Rated: T for Inu's potty mouth

Inu/Kag AU (Two-shot that may turn into a full fic!)

This fic was inspired by Artiste's prompt for a red thread AU and I just HAD to do it!

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, go away copyright claims!


"And this, my dear Kagome, is called 'The Red Thread of Fate'! Why, this has been passed down our family through generations! It's one of the few created centuries ago!"

Kagome groans. "Really, Gramps? That's just a rolled-up ball of yarn!"

Mr. Higurashi gapes aghast at his granddaughter. "Do not say such foolery! This ancient thread is guaranteed to help those who are far or lost to find their soulmate!"

"Uh-huh. Sure." Kagome rolls her eyes, one hand petting the fat cat reclining in her lap, the other 'marveling' at the red ball of cloth. "And I suppose the Shikon no Tama existed, too?"

"Of course! That story is—," He pauses and glares at the unimpressed fifteen-year-old. "Hmph! If it's just a 'ball of yarn', then why would we keep it for generations, hmm?"

"Because your great great great great great grandfather was quite the prankster of his time, I assume." Kagome replies snidely.

"W-why, young lady, that is—!" He starts, but a woman's voice interrupts his tirade.

"Father, where are you? We promised Souta we'd take him and his friends out to that new park they opened up." Ms. Higurashi enters the threshold and smiles at them both. "Oh, hello Kagome! Is father giving you your present?"

"Nope, just giving Buyo some yarn." Kagome chuckles as she drops the ball onto her cat's stomach. He bats at it, but is suddenly startled by something, and darts out of the girl's lap. "Ah, Buyo! What on Earth…"

"It's the power of the thread, I tell you! It even spooked the cat!" Grandpa Higurashi quickly stands, pointing at the cross-legged youngster.

"Grandpa, Buyo is spooked by the old well, too. Does that have some kind of magical power, too?" She questions.

"Of course it does!" He snaps back. She sighs in reply, and her mother decides to stop the argument.

"Father, come on now, leave her be. She's going to be the birthday girl!"

"Mm, fine! But don't say I didn't warn you." He shakes a gnarled finger at the teen and leaves the room with his daughter.

Kagome hums and looks at the wad of thread. "Well, guess it's just you and me, oh great fate-sealing yarn."

A door shuts from the down the hall, and she assumes her family is gone now. She stands and picks up the wound thread and mumbles to herself, "Maybe I can make something with this, or sew it onto a plain dress?" She sighs. "Oh well, who knows."

And with that, she heads upstairs to her room to practice some math homework, cause the girl can't get a break from quizzes, even on her birthday.


"Myoga, will you just leave me alone?! Haven't you heard that this is my forest? You're practically trespassing." Inuyasha leaps into his favorite tree, trying to ignore the old flea. "I don't care if Sesshomaru has some 'willing' woman to marry me off to so I can go live in the Western Lands. He's despised me for years, why on Earth does he care now?"

"My lord, please! Sesshomaru-sama has come at an impasse and needs you to save face for the sake of the land's honor and— ack!" The old flea is tossed back off his lord's shoulder.

"So what?! All of a sudden, the damned filthy half-breed can go and have a family, all to 'save face'?! What kinda desperate attempt is this? They've really gotta be sinking low if they're asking me to join the family." He huffs, a low growl never leaving his throat.

"But sire, think of the positives! You'd no longer be alone, or lonely, or—" Myoga is smashed onto Inuyasha's knee in reprimand.

"Who the Hell said I'm lonely?!" The hanyou shouts.

"My… Apologies… M'lord." He strains out of his squashed form. He pops back to his original shape and takes a hasty retreat back onto the far end of the branch. "I'll… leave you be, for now."

"Good, that's how I like it." Inuyasha seethes through clenched teeth.

And he did like it. He liked not having to deal with people everywhere, and if he wanted "company", he would go help out the village that lies on the outskirts of his forest. He's been around these parts for over a century, maybe longer, and he's saved their asses more than he can count. One winter was really bad, and while the adults could handle their minor illnesses, the children were not so lucky. They likely would have had to dig a lot of small graves if it weren't for him.

The old village miko, Kaede, was extremely worried about what to do for the children, because even she was running low on herbs during this harsh of a winter, and tea can't solve everything. Food was running low, too. Thankfully, it was towards the end of the winter, but she didn't think the kids could last that long. Imagine her surprise one cold morning when she found a heap of ingredients, all wrapped up in old baskets and aged cloth. Upon untying a basket, she finds a scrap of paper, likely as old as herself, lying on top of the fresh ingredients. She read the scraggly and poorly written, but legible, words to herself and softly gasped.

It was a recipe.

After that winter, he came by one day to trade for some vegetables, and more than half the village bowed and thanked him nonstop as he walked through to the small 'marketing' area. He was going to trade firewood for food when the man in front of him straight up gave him two whole bags of rice, free of charge. The man kept praising and thanking him for his 'elixir', and Inuyasha didn't have the heart to tell anyone it was just an old family recipe.

He 'avoided' the area for a bit after that. He still checked up on them, when few were around, but he didn't like the constant stares he received, even if they were all with good thoughts in mind.

Even still, while not having people despise him left and right was kinda nice, he knew none of them genuinely liked him. Maybe the old hag took a small liking to him for his 'good deeds', but he didn't have anyone close to him. Last person like that was his mother, and she died long ago.

Sometimes, he wonders what it'd be like… Ugh, no! He shakes his head back and forth to rid of his train of thought. He was constantly pushing the thought out of his mind; he didn't do mushy stuff like that! But after a while, as he was about to close his eyes for the night, not even bothering to head back to his hidden cave he called home, he wondered what it'd be like…

To be loved again.


Her alarm brings her out of her odd dream. Originally it had started out weird, like usual, more or less a nightmare of her quiz today, but then it suddenly changed to a calm and peaceful forest, high up above the trees. The stars and moon lit the whole sky, and she was honestly disappointed to be awoken from that serene scene.

She yawns and stretches, her pink tank top riding up above the band of her bright green shorts. She swings her legs over the side of her bed and reaches to itch the side of her head when she feels something soft brush her cheek. Perplexed, she glances at her hand. Wrapped around her pinky in a perfect knot is that red thread from yesterday.

"Ugh, Souta probably thought this'd be funny." She mutters tiredly. She goes to pull out the knot, but it doesn't budge. "Dang, he really knows his knots…"

She spots some scissors on her desk and gets up to grab them. She puts them around the knot and… snip! Wait.

Snip!

Snipsnipsnipsnipsnipsnipsni—

"SOUTAAAA!"

"What is it, Sis?" The third grader quickly rushes into her room, not heeding the anger in her voice.

"What is this? What'd you do?! I can't cut it!" She screams, showing him her pinky finger angrily.

"What are you talking about, 'Gome? I didn't do that! Why can't you just cut it?" He replies meekly.

"I tried! It won't come off! Help me!"

He nods and moves to help untie the knot. He touches the tip and yelps. "It stung me!"

"What? What do you mean it stung you, it's thread!"

"I don't know, it just shocked me when I touched it!"

"Quit being a brat and help me!"

"I can't! Here, I'll go get Mom or something. Be right back!" He darts out of her room before she can stop him.

"Argh, Souta! Wait!" She begins to run after him when she notices the string leading out of her room and down the stairs. "Huh?"

Curiously, she begins to follow it. It leads right out her backdoor, across the shrine grounds (and at this point she's wondering just how long this piece of string is), past the sacred tree, and disappears into the well house.

"The well house? What's in here?" She opens the door. The thread leads up and over the lip of the old well. She mutters under her breath, "Alright, even Souta is too scared to go near the well…"

But that begs the question, who did it? For some reason, she felt that her answer would lie at the end of this thread… That was down the well…

Surely she's dreaming.

And if it's a dream, then… Screw it.

She leaps down the stairs and before she can change her mind, swings herself over the edge of the well and falls.


He had an odd dream. Usually he sleeps so light he doesn't dream at all, but this time, he was somewhere very strange. It was like he was looking through someone else's eyes. A room, but not like any room he's ever seen, that's for sure.

He sits up from his reclining position against the trunk of what the villagers call a 'Goshinboku'. He moves to pop his neck when he notices something on his right hand. A red thread tied around his pinky finger.

It takes his groggy mind a moment to understand what exactly is wrapped around his finger, and as his eyes follow the path of the thread somewhere down into the forest, one thought enters his mind.

The fuck?

He snaps out of his stupor and tries to cut the string with his claw. He tries again and again and again and—

"Alright, what the Hell?!" He snarls at the innocent thread so desperately clinging to his hand. Suddenly, he feels a tug.

And then a stronger one.

Somewhere not too far, a voice reaches his keen ears.

"I know you're out there! Come out already!"

Gathering his wits and wondering what a young girl would be doing in his forest yelling at this hour in the morning, he leaps from the tree towards the voice.

A moment later, he lands outside of the clearing of the Bone Eater's Well, the woven red following the whole way.

He spots a girl and sputters, her revealing clothes something he's not used to seeing. He notices the thread move again as she does, and his eyes track the movement to her own pinky finger.

Bingo.

"Oi!" He jumps out of the tree and lands in front of the girl.

"AH! GET AWAY!" She attempts to push him, but he doesn't budge.

"Do you know somethin' about this piece of thread?!" He shoves his finger in her face, and her blue eyes widen.

"How did you… Did you pull this prank?!" She shrieks, holding up her own finger. "I can't get the stupid thing off!"

"Neither can I, woman! What're you yelling at me for?" He barks.

"Well, what are you yelling at ME for?! I didn't do it! I came here looking for the person who did!" She yells back.

"It wasn't me! I was asleep!"

"I was, too!" She argues.

It's at this point when they glance down at their respective pinkies that they notice the length of the thread.

What once stretched nearly a mile was now only maybe a foot in length.

"You can't get it off, can you?" She mumbles dejectedly.

He looks at her questioningly, and shakes his head no. "You?"

"Not at all."

They stand there quiet for a moment, contemplating their situation.

"Well, this is gonna be a strange day... Either way…" She straightens up and quickly nods her head with a small smile. "Sorry for yelling at you, you seem like you're telling the truth. I'm Kagome."

Her smile stirs something in his chest, and he grunts in acknowledgement. "Don't worry 'bout it… Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha? Hm, now that's a name I've never heard before." She giggles.

He's not sure whether to blush or be insulted.

She looks around, and she shoots him another dazzling smile. "So, what exactly is this place? We're not in Tokyo, are we?"

"I… I dunno what that is." He stutters. Even the villagers never smile at him like this, usually just mutual nods… What's with this girl?!

"Huh, I guess not then." She attempts to wander when she's halted by his hand, or, more so, by the thread attached to it. "Uh, that's strange. It stretched really far earlier, why won't it now?"

"Not sure, but I saw it change length when I ran over here. It's gotta be magical in some way, I guess." He growls under his breath as a thought enters his mind. "I pray to whatever Kami there is that this isn't a damned curse."

Kagome frowns. "I don't think so. I'm pretty sure this is the same thread that my grandfather gave to me for my birthday today, but it was just a wadded-up piece of string just last night. I woke up with it tied around my little finger."

He cocks a brow at that. "And, no one tied it?"

She shakes her head. "Not that I know of, at least. I know my little brother didn't do it, he was just as freaked out as I was!"

He rubs his chin for a moment, and his head pops up with an idea. "I think I know someone who can help us with this problem." He points with his free hand behind her towards a path in a grove of trees. "There's an old miko in a village just a ways from here, she'll probably help us out. Maybe a spell or something."

"That's great and all, but I think we have another problem…" She mumbles softly, tugging to try and stretch the string again.

"And just what might that be?" He sighs, his face void of emotion.

"I have to use the bathroom…" She softly shrugs.

Maybe this is a curse.


A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter!