The full moon shone bright in the sky over the forest near Kaede's village, over the Goshinboku, over the young woman that rested against its old but ever strong roots. A night of undisturbed peace was rare in these times of hardship, as the people of this era unknowingly rested idly at the beginning of a great war. The cool night air of summer's end wisped through the trees and the gentle fireflies danced along blades of grass as the young priestess of the Shikon no Tama's spilled tears onto the roots of Goshinboku. She was one being that knew not of a peaceful night since her decision to remain in Sengoku Jida. The raven haired woman, wiped at her eyes frantically wanting nothing more than to regain control of herself. Her tears were not worth him. They had never been worth him. She knew that now, and yet she could not halt her crying. It had been five years since the beginning of her nightmare.
She was young and in love. Wasn't that the down fall of most women? Kagome had been more than positive that her life would be complete in Sengoku Jida with Inuyasha. She didn't belong in the modern era anymore. Nothing was the same when she returned. Her way of thinking, her morals, her values…they had all changed in her adventures in search of the Shikon shards with her companions and their fight against the evil hanyou Naraku. So she returned to the past to live out the rest of her life in peace with her new family and her love. For the first year they had been living a casual routine life. Kagome trained with Kaede so she may become a proper priestess and take over as the villiage's miko. She also trained with Sango before she became pregnant with her twins in the art of hand to hand fighting. Daily chores and chit chatting with the other women around the village and taking care of the children, Sango and Kagome rarely saw combat anymore. Along with helping out around the village Miroku, Inuyasha, Shippo, and Kohaku, whenever he came around, would take requests to exterminate demons from neighboring villages and bring in more income for the village. Eventually she and Inuysha had gotten married and before long Kagome became pregnant with their first child. Oh everyone had been so excited for the happy couple and Inuyasha had never been so proud in his life. He stayed closer to home along with Miroku as the twins had just been born. Becoming pregnant had been an almost wonderful occasion. She would only regret that her child had never had a chance to be born.
Kagome finally lifted her head, her eyes too dry to cry anymore. She let out a shaky sigh as she steadied herself using the Goshinboku. The sleeves of her sleeping yukata were torn, exposing the fresh bruises that laced her pale skin. She barely had strength in her legs and the bottoms of her feet were lined with cuts from the brutal forest floor. Another sigh escaped her lips as she soon sat back down against the tree. She had worn herself out running from him. It took the use of just about all her miko powers to fight him off without killing him; yeah the trick was always to not kill him. Never had she thought Inuyasha would grow to hate her so much. Truthfully the woman hated herself too. She would normally let him do as he pleased to her, she deserved it after all. But when it got to intense, when she looked into his eyes and saw not an ounce of love but instead the intent to kill, her instincts took over and she fought back. She didn't want to die by his hand. Deep in her heart, she wished he could forgive her. She hoped that if she stayed alive long enough he might see the truth that she had not meant to kill their child. He may never love her again but she would see through to the fact that he would one day understand.
Kagome closed her cloudy gray eyes slowly. There weren't too many youkai that dared pass through these forests as a threat, and she figured Inuyasha would eventually pass by and drag her back to the village before dawn. Their feuding only went on during the night, during the day he at least tolerated her so none would suspect anything abuse to be happening. As sleep began to consume her, the exhausted miko felt a gentle touch against her cheek. Her eyes shot open and she began to flare her miko no chi against the assumed threat.
"A-ah!..."
The gentle voice exclaimed softly and drew his hand to his chest. As her vision focused, Kagome gasped. A child, probably no more than ten or eleven, scooted away from her ready to run. His hair was the color of a red flame, long in the front brushing just by his collar bone and gradually shortened towards the back reaching a few inches about the nape of his neck. His arms adorned two solid black bands around his biceps, and were the same around his ankles. His skin tanned and masked with dirt, she could assume he was without a home or lost being in such a state. He wore a pair of black hakama bottoms cut off at the knees and sandals. But what startled Kagome the most were his eyes, they were black. Just black, he had no sclera, cornea, or iris… to set apart the parts of his eyes.
"Wait, wait. I'm sorry you just startled me." She spoke softly, a light chuckle escaping as she straightened up. Even with all her years with Inuyasha she still managed to be the same warm hearted Kagome. She patted the spot next to her. "You can still stay here if you want."
The boy looked at her for a second, and then stood. He didn't leave, but it looked as if he wanted to be ready to bolt if need be. Kagome couldn't sense any ill intent from him so she stayed in her comfortable position. "You know it's not nice to sneak up on strangers. I could have really hurt you." She sighed. No answer. "Um, well what are you doing out here. These forests are relatively safe but you shouldn't wander on your own at this time of night." Yet still she got no response. The boy merely stood still as a statue, staring off into the distance of the forest. Kagome's pressed her lips together, forming a line as she thought.
"Well, how about your name. Mine is Kagome."
Again no response, but the boy did turn his head towards her. His face was hard to read as most people could be calculated by the gaze in their eyes. But his were just endless pools of black. The child stepped down off the root he was standing on and kneeled down. He drew his finger across the dirt forming characters similar to Japanese but was slightly different. Kagome's brows rose in interest as she could only read one of the symbols, but recognized the language. "Chen," She spoke and the boy raised his head to look at her. "Chen." She spoke again and a smiled tugged at the lad's mouth. Well it looked like that semester of Chinese back in high school paid for something. But, what was he doing in Japan? It didn't seem like he knew how to speak the language but understood.
"Well it's nice to meet you Chen. What are you doing so far away from home? Are you lost?"
All she received was a blank stare and slowly the boy cocked his head to the side. Perhaps he didn't know the language as well as she thought. "Do you have an Okaasan?" She scooted out of her spot and moved closer to the boy. Slowly she reached out and caressed his cheek. She hoped through the motherly action she would bring understanding. "Okaasan." She repeated, with a warm smile. She felt a bit of pain as she remembered what would have been. Tears formed in her eyes as she drew Chen to her chest, hugging him softly and combing her fingers through his hair. Perhaps she had broken in some ways. She had always been emotional, but never like this. It was something Chen could sense. He could feel that this woman had a great deal of pain in her heart, strangling the purity of her light. That light had called out to him as he had been wandering through the forest. He was a long way from home, but her light even if it was small and dying brought him warmth. The same warmth he had felt with his mother. And that's when he understood what she was saying.
"Okaasan." He spoke softly, his accent heavy coating his words but it was understandable. He closed his eyes and allowed the woman to cry as she cradled him. He decided she would do fine. He could not return to where he came from, so he would stay with her. He could sense no danger, even if she was a miko. The scents of youkai were strong on her, but not death. She lived amongst them, he could conclude that much.
It wasn't until Kagome fell into slumber that Chen pulled back from her hold. She was completely spent and it was a surprise she didn't pass out sooner. The boy took this time to examine her more closely. She reeked off sadness and pain. He could scent the foul play from being brutally mounted by what was probably her husband. But it was off because he scented a mix of human and youkai. A hanyou perhaps? Well that was interesting in the most infuriating of ways. He traced the bruises along her arms and scowled. Regardless of half or full youkai blood, they all should have the same instinct to protect their loved ones not harm. The boy stood up and lifted the woman, carrying her back to the base of the tree. Regardless of looking young, he was a youkai and so he had the strength of a fully grown human male. He sat down by her, leaning against her as he closed his eyes to rest for the night.
As morning came, Kagome's eyes fluttered open at the sound of foot steps. As her vision came into focus she was pleasantly surprised to see that it was not Inuyasha, but Chen. A soft smile graced her weary features as she watched him gut some fish with his claws. He wasn't very skilled but she could see he was trying hard. He even gathered some dry sticks to cook them. "Chen,"
The red head looked up from his job and looked at the woman. "Okaasan." He greeted, with a small smile then looked back to the fish. Kagome tilted her head in confusion unsure if he was referring to her. She suddenly remembered crying in front of him and she gasped softly. "Oh, no Chen…I'm not..." She began tearing up yet again. Damn her she needed to learn to keep it together. As she berated herself for being so emotional and weak, Chen came up to her and wiped her cheeks with his thumb. She felt like she was getting lost in those endless black eyes but she felt comforted as well. They were a bit scary, being so endless but they did hold emotions. They just need to be found. The woman sniffed a little but smiled once more, and slipped her arms around the boy's neck. The tan boy was so warm, he was like a heater.
The hug ended when Chen pulled away. He pointed to the fish, and Kagome nodded. "Right, I'll cook it right up. Thank you for catching them."
It seemed like Chen knew a bit about humans, as was prepared for her to cook rather than eat it raw. "Hm, I'll need to start a fire though."
As soon a she spoke, Chen stood up and walked over to the pit. Fire was one word he recognized very well. The boy smirked and inhaled a short breath before spitting into the pit. It was not saliva he spat however, but a flame that easily consumed the bundle of sticks. Kagaome stared at him, then the fire, then back to the cockily grinned Chen. "Oh so you're an elemental youkai?" She questions. As expected he didn't understand what she said, so she just assumed she was correct. After all what else could spit fire like that. "Well that's useful. Alright let's get cooking."
It had been so long since Kagome had enjoyed herself so freely. As she cooked she chatted happily to Chen. The boy didn't really understand much but nodded politely and let her enjoy herself. She had been turned into lifeless shell of the girl she used to be with Inuyasha. In the mornings with him she walked on eggshells to not upset him as she prepared breakfast. There was no talking, no smiling, and just barely a civil morning greeting between the two. Chen was a nice change, and he was helpful too. When the fish had finished cooking, she gave Chen two and she took two. They ate in a comfortable silence enjoying the cool morning air as the world began to wake. She wished this light hearted feeling would last forever. It was only as they were finishing up the last of breakfast, the one and only Inuyasha dropped down into the clearing. Chen tensed up, the hanyou was strong very strong, but what bothered him was how quickly Kagome had sunk into despair at the sight of him. The two had been so lost in their world they hadn't even sensed him coming. Kagome dropped her gaze to the floor. "Morning Inuyasha."
The hanyou narrowed his eyes at the woman. "Where you trying to kill me last night wench!" He growled. His skin was still burning from that barrier the miko had thrown up at the last second. It had only been the last few times they got into it and she used her miko no chi and he felt such ruthlessness in it. Years ago had see used it on him, it would have been a light burning or a tingle because it recognized him as an ally. "tch, I should just leave your worthless ass out here. At least then you can be useful as someone's breakfast…Come wench its time to go before Sango chews me out for not knowing where you are."
As Inuyasha stepped forward to grab Kagome's arm, Chen stood in his path. Kagome looked up in shock and panic. "Chen, don't." She called out, but the words faded on her tongue. He didn't understand Japanese, what was she supposed to tell him, what could she tell him? Inuyasha raised his brow at the boy, "Still like picking up stray's don't you wench?"
Chen scrunched his nose up as the hanyou spoke. He was a disgusting man. He reeked of alcohol, women other than Kagome, and blood. But it was the scent of Kagome on him that angered him most. And then like he had done when making the fire, Chen spat out several flames by Inuyasha's feet as a warning to stay away from Kagome. Inuyasha growled in pain. Even as small as the flames were the heat was intense and nothing like he'd felt before. He jumped back quickly and then lunged forward for the boy, grabbing him up by his neck. "Stay out of this kid." He warned, uncaringly throwing the boy across the clearing and into a tree. He threw him with such force that the tree snapped on top of the young youkai.
"Chen!" Kagome called, standing up quickly to run to the boy's side. Inuysaha cut her off however. He grabbed her arm with unneeded force, twisting it as he dragged her away from the Goshinboku. "We're leaving wench, we don't have time for that brat." Inuyasha spat bitterly. Why should he let Kagome tend to a child when she couldn't even manage to give him one? As the thoughts rolled in his mind about that terrible day, Inuyasha's eyes gleamed red. Stopping suddenly, he threw Kagome to the ground and stomped down on the arm he had been twisting. The woman could only scream and beg him to ease the pressure on her surely broken arm. She clawed at his foot trying to force him off it. When he did it was only to kick her ruthlessly. His foot slammed into her ribs and stomach each time. He looked down at her emotionlessly. He didn't even seem like he was just enjoying it, and truthfully he wasn't. He hated hurting her. He hated her. He wished she didn't exist so that he wouldn't have to feel so conflicted all the time. He wished he didn't have to deal with disappointment time and time again in his miserable life. And Kagome just took it each time, which only made her more worthless. She wasn't the Kagome he fell in love with so why should he have to care for her, look after her, put faith in her.
Kagome was lost. She felt the pain but didn't feel it at the same time. Tears welled in her eyes and all she could think about was Chen. His body crushed under the trunk of that tree. Her heart was tearing and that hurt more than anything else.
"Okaasan!"
Kagome's eyes widened as the familiar accented voice echoed in her ears. She managed to find the strength to turn to look in the direction it came from. There he stood, his shoulder was bleeding but he stood ready to fight the hanyou. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the boy. His blood boiling, "What did you just say brat…" That word, how dare that boy utter that word in front of him. With a speed the boy could not register Inuyasha once again had in the air by his neck. He extended his claws, ready to impale the boy through the chest. "Kagome, has no children." He uttered darkly as he squeezed the boy's neck. Chen smirked; he had been expecting this and had a plan. Taking as deep a breath as he could Chen set Inuyasha's arm on fire as he exhaled.
Inuyasha screamed and dropped the boy as his arm was consumed in flames. Even with the protection of the fire rat hakama, the flames burned through to his skin. He dropped to the ground trying to put it out with the dirt but the flames still burned. Kagome watched in both amazement and horror as her husband howled in pain and ran off to go jump in the nearest river or lake. Chen grunted, shrugged off his victory as if it were nothing and hurried over to Kagome.
"Okaasan." He said softly, touching her cheek gently. She opened her mouth to speak but only coughed up blood as the pain surged through her body. Confused and unsure what to do, Chen gathered the women into his arms. With a soft sigh, the boy closed his eyes and focused his energy before taking to the sky with one powerful jump.