Tainted Innocence: An Inuyasha Fanfic / Written by Hikari Arrow

----------: Scene change

/ Italics / : Thinking

------CHAPTER i--------

"Mama, Mama!"

A tiny child with glistening amber eyes ran frantically towards an ebony-haired young woman walking out of the secluded prep school's front doors, looking extremely surprised as the girl grabbed her around the knees, sobbing.

"Chi-chan! What are you doing here!" the woman exclaimed, bending down to her daughter's level and embracing her properly, dropping her book bag. "I told you to wait at the school for me today... you know better than to come all this way by yourself," she said more calmly, gently rubbing the back of the child's head, smoothing out the now frayed long silver hair that had come out from under a large pink headband.

Chi sniffed, burying her face into her mother's chest. "They were doing it again, Mama...why are they always so mean to me?"

Taking in a short breath, the woman noticed stains and smudges all over Chi's yellow and white play dress, as well as on her disheveled headband, which she now noticed was torn and damp. As withdrawn as the girl already was, she knew these were not merely the result of rough play.

"Oh, Chi..." she sighed, pressing her hand gently on top of the girl's head, against the dampness of the headband. "What happened this time?"

The girl sniffed again, pulling back slightly from her mother and removing one arm from her to rub her eyes, which were now red and puffy. "I was waitin' for you like you said, cause you were gonna be late..." she said chokingly. "And Teacher wasn't around... so those boys came over and started laughing at me again and teasin' me, and then one of them grabbed my headband--"

The woman cringed, her grip on the child tightening slightly, and fresh tears poured from Chi's eyes as she continued. "That's when they started shovin' me and throwing dirt at me, and the boy stomped on my headband and threw it in the fountain...and they kept calling me names, and... and--"

"That's enough," the woman said sternly, and embraced her daughter tightly again as the sobs returned. "It's okay now...I'm here..."

Listening painfully to the ebbing sound, she felt like crying herself... or punching the living daylights out of someone. After all the trouble of finding a nice, secluded--and rather expensive day-school...after the countless teacher conferences and confidentiality meetings with nurses and principals... calls to and from parents and the concerned remarks... She finally thought her daughter could live normally for once, so everyone could appreciate her for the sweet, shy but brilliant four-year-old that she was.

/I guess I was wrong...again.../ she thought painfully, but was brought back to the present at the sound of her daughter's sudden cease of crying.

"Mama...can I ask you something?" the girl asked timidly.

The woman looked down at her child, her young eyes wide and questioning, and as golden as ever. The mother smiled tentatively. "What is it, honey?" she inquired softly.

The girl looked down for a moment, as though deep in thought. "It's just... this one name they keep calling me... I don't understand it..."

The woman's jaw clenched as she awaited fearfully, but was struck silent as the girl spoke:

"Mama, what's...a half-breed?"

---------------------------------------------

Later that evening, across town in a secluded neighborhood that was lush with trees and elegant European houses, a blond woman sat kneeling in her front garden, her blonde hair held back with a purple bandana as she pruned a small but blooming rose bush. Hearing the creak of the iron front gate opening, she glanced down the pathway to see the child and her mother coming up towards the house. Smiling, she stood up and brushed the dirt off of her faded jeans, taking off her gardening gloves as the small girl came bounding up to her.

"Angel-sama!" The girl cried cheerfully, hugging her exuberantly around the knees as she had her mother. But her expression was much happier than it had been as she grinned widely up at the woman, jumping up and down with excitement. "Guess what, guess what? We went shopping today!"

"I see, so that's why you're so late coming home..." the woman replied sweetly, her sea blue eyes shining as she smiled back at the girl, putting a hand on her shoulder and glancing over at her mother. "Did you and your mama have a fun time, then?"

Her tired smile fading slightly, the woman looked down at the ground as she clenched the many bags she was now carrying. "Well, Chi had fun," she said, hitching her smile back as she looked up at the woman again.

Angel caught the look in the woman's eyes even as she tried to hide it. "I see..." she said again softly, then looked down at the grinning little girl. "Hey Chi, there's some fresh takoyaki in the kitchen; why don't you go have a snack while I help your mama with all this stuff she has, 'kay?"

The child's smile widened, and she let go of the woman quickly. "Yay! Thank you, Angel-sama!" she cried gleefully as she ran towards the large oak front door of the two story house, pulling it open and leaving it standing wide as she rushed in.

"Don't forget your shoes, Chi-chan!" The blond woman called out kindly, then turned back to the other woman, who walked up to the porch and sat down on the stone steps, almost throwing the bags down on them.

Angel's eyes softened as her kind smile faded. "Another bad day already?"

The woman just sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest and leaning on them, her hair falling out of her loose ponytail as she just stared out into space. "God, I don't know how much longer I can deal with those people..." she said, barely audible, as Angel came over and sat down next to her, taking off her bandana.

They both just sat there quietly for a moment, as the cool air from the house drifted around them and mixed with the warm, summer evening wind, blowing the strands of their hair about and making it quite comfortable.

"I thought you had already dealt with the parents of those kids," Angel said knowingly, glancing over at the multiple bags. "It must have been really horrible this time."

"Actually, it wasn't the worst one," the woman admitted, still staring out at the lush yard and not able to look her friend in the eye. "The time that boy actually punched her for biting him--"

"And as I recall you punched the father and broke his nose," Angel pointed out.

"Well, he deserved it!" she yelled, finally turning to her friend. "What kind of man raises his son to hit innocent little girls!"

"Well, she did bite him.."

"It's not like he was bleeding...much," the woman shot back, glaring at the ground, still remembering the incident. "Anyway, that's not really the reason this time..."

"What was it then?" Angel asked softly. "I mean, you don't normally go all out this much, even from that time," she said, referring to the aforementioned incident and glancing at the stuffed bags again.

The dark haired woman looked away again, her dark eyes glistening. "It was... something she said to me---after she had run all the way to my classes from school of course," she added tiredly.

Angel tried to discern the look on her face. "What was it that she said?" she asked tentatively.

The woman glared down at the steps, at the hem of her long cotton skirt that rustled in the breeze, her throat and her heart tightened.

"She...she asked me... what a half-breed was."

The woman could no longer keep the tears back as Angel's own eyes widened in sadness and understanding.

"Kagome..."

-----------------------------------------------

"Kagome...Kagome!"

"Ugnh...Sota?" Kagome squinted out of one eye, looking out at her brother, and not awake enough to yell at him for being in her room so late. "What are you doing in here...?"

But she suddenly noticed a strong, lingering scent coming from her open window, and the harried expression on her little brother's face as he pushed her again, forcing her awake.

"Sis, it's the shrine...the shrine, it's..." he gasped, apparently out of breath.

Gasping, Kagome leaped out of bed, forcing her window open wider... which was strangely hot for being the middle of winter. She stuck her head out and got a face full of smoke and drifting soot. Coughing, her eyes watered as she squinted to see, but Sota tried to pull her away by her arm.

"Come on, Sis! We've gotta get out! Mom and Gramps are outside...we need to leave before the house burns down too!"

He managed to drag her to the front door, but once they were outside she managed to wrench herself from his grip and pushed him away, locking the front door so he couldn't get back in.

"Kagome, no! What are you doing?" he yelled, pounding on the door.

"The house isn't on fire, okay! Go to Mom and Grandpa!" She shouted behind her. Through all the rush she had forgotten the shards... still sitting in their jar on her messy desk. Rushing back in and grabbing them hurriedly, she then ran back down and towards the back door instead, avoiding Sota's cries.

/There's still something I have to do...I don't want you to follow me.../ she said to herself, gasping for breath as she fought to see through the smoke, ashes singing her skin and hair as she ran towards a small shed that was separate from the shrine but still somehow caught in the flames.

She flung open the door to the well's entrance and just barely missed getting hit by a piece smoldering beam that dropped to the floor. Barely being able to breathe, let alone see through the flames, she started blindly toward the well, carefully navigating through the fiery gaps. Her hands and bare feet singeing from the flying embers and smoldering debris that littered the floor, she clasped the small jar tightly in her hand, ignoring the stinging burns.

/I have to give these back to him... I promised I would if anything happened...If I only hadn't just found out yesterday.../

Her eyes stinging and watery, she coughed out the smoke that was entering her lungs as she finally reached the rim of the well. /Why I'm choosing now of all times to do this...but if the well burns down, I won't ever be able to get these there...or even see him again... I have to tell him--/

But even her thoughts were cut off as she heard a loud cracking sound. Ready to jump down, she looked up to see the ceiling's main support bean engulfed in flames and breaking in half. Suddenly frozen, she just watched as it began to fall, a fiery mass of wood and roof coming down upon her, the heat singing the ends of her hair as the flames licked her neck and scalp...

When she came to, she realized she was outside. Gazing up at a starry sky blanketed by smoke, her vision was blurred as more stars appeared as she sat up, looking around her in a daze.

"Higurashi-san, Higurashi-san!" she heard a woman's voice cry frantically, followed by her own coughing. "Are you alright!"

Kagome felt her head, and her scalp stung from the fresh burns and bare spots she touched. "Yeah, I guess," she was barely able to say, her mouth and throat still filled with soot. "Wait...what happened?"

"You almost got killed, Kagome...! What were you doing in there! Your family was worried sick about you!"

/In there.../ she thought, her mind still blurry, but then she felt something sting on her right hand, and looked down to see the remains of the shattered jar and the few jewel shards, all covered in her own blood.

"The well!" She cried, coughing out a tiny fleck of blood, and tried to stand, but she felt a hard snap as her right ankle gave way underneath her. Tears flowing out in pain and because of the smoke--which didn't seem to be that strong anymore, she fell to her knees and clenched the ground with her fist, her bloodied hand still holding the jewel shards. "I have to go to the well..."

She felt a hand on her back as the familiar voice spoke again. "Kagome... the well isn't there anymore," the voice said softly. "It's gone. The ceiling collapsed from catching on fire and it was destroyed from the weight... now it's just ashes."

Kagome's vision finally cleared slightly, and she could see it now... they were sitting in front of what used to be the entrance to the well... now it was only a pile of rubble and smoldering ashes. She could just now hear the sirens of the fire truck and the shouting of volunteers and firemen putting out the last of the flames at the main shrine.

"No..." she whispered, her voice breaking as she stared at the smoking heap, feeling no magical force whatsoever, tears streaming down her face as it sunk in.

"NOOOOOO!"

--------------------------------------------

Kagome opened her eyes and looked up at the familiar dark ceiling, feeling the dampness on her face and hair, and even on the pillow beneath her.

/Great, so it wasn't just in the dream/ she sulked to herself, and turned over on her side, facing the open door that led to the second story hallway. /Stupid memories.../

Suddenly alert, she heard the creaking sound of footsteps as she felt a lingering presence just outside her room. But she wasn't very surprised to see the tiny outline of her silver haired daughter as she tiptoed through the doorway.

"I'm not sleeping, you know," she whispered, halfway smiling, but Chi continued to step lightly as she walked over to her mother's bed. "What are you doing up this late, anyway?"

"I knew you weren't sleepin'... I heard you wake up," Chi whispered back, and climbed carefully under the covers as Kagome moved over to give her more room. "I just don't wanna wake up Angel-sama, she's sleeping."

Kagome scoffed slightly. "For once... she hardly ever sleeps at night. I wonder why..." she drifted off, closing her eyes as Chi snuggled close to her.

"Mama... I heard you crying again. Did you dream about Papa?"

Kagome's throat clenched as she hugged her daughter closer. "Sort of...but lets just try and go back to sleep, okay?"

Chi clenched the bed sheets with one tiny fist, burying the side of her face into the warm pillow. "How come you never talk about Papa, Mama? Do you hate him?"

"Mmm..." Kagome hesitated, feigning sleepiness. "Chi... go to sleep, honey..."

"Mama... do you hate me?"

Kagome's eyes shot open, and she pushed herself up on her elbows, looking down, dumbstruck, at the tiny girl. She still had her face partially buried, but was just staring off into the darkness sadly, her golden eyes beginning to glisten.

"Of course not!" Kagome exclaimed in surprise. "Why would you think that!"

Chi sat up listlessly and looked at her mother, who blanched slightly. "Because you get sad sometimes when you look at me... 'cause I know you're thinking about him... and how you always say I look just like him... and--"

Sensing more tears about to come on, Kagome slowly reached over and hugged Chi tightly, resting her hand on top of her silver head again. "Oh Chi... I don't hate your Papa... I just... really, really miss him," she said especially soft, as she rested her head on Chi's. "And seeing you makes me remember him, and how grateful I am to him..."

"Mama...you're crying again..."

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Kagome apologized, pulling back and wiping away the tears with one hand.

/Inuyasha... I hated you so much after it happened... but now, I'm so grateful to have someone to remind me of you each and every day... because she's more your daughter than I ever would have hoped.../

"Mama..." Chi curled up into her mother's lap like a puppy, resting her head against her chest. Smiling, Kagome just put her hand back on her daughter's head, rubbing gently between the two, tiny silver dog ears.

"Chi..."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any related characters except for my own original ones --like Chi-- Please give a review; thanks! --Hikari-san