The After

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or its characters.

A/N: I know, I know, I know. What's she thinking? Starting another story when she's got two already in progress and so many unfinished? Blasphemy! But I can't help myself, y'all. I have a conspiracy-crazed husband that unintentionally inspired me for this story and I had to get it out to you all.

This is a bit darker than anything I usually write. There is rape, murder and more disturbing scenes in this first chapter and I can't guarantee that it'll get any lighter from here. You have been warned. I only hope that you all will give it a chance.

Italicized chapters are memories. Italicized words or sentences in a regular chapter are thoughts.

For as long as anyone could remember, humans and demons had been at war.

There were legends, old tales passed down between families, that spoke of a time of peace; A time when Man and Demon walked together in harmony and were prosperous. But that's all they were now: legends. In this day and age, humans and demons were mortal enemies for no other reason than that they craved to be in control. Demons- gifted with supernatural abilities such as speed and strength, some able to harness their energies to do magical, terrifying things, capable of living centuries at a time without aging a day- believed themselves to be the better race. Humans contained the same mindset, but were often underestimated for their mortality. A young race, frail and dead within a few decades if they managed to live past all of the disease and injury their kind were so susceptible to, humans believed demons to be unnatural, untrustworthy, dangerous. It wasn't until humans began to outnumber the demons that they decided to attempt to overthrow them.

There were a handful of humans that had power against the demons. They were called spiritualists. They contained powers that could purify demons into nothing but piles of ash. When the war began, their numbers dwindled. In the last decade, there were only a few thousand in the world left. In the last five years, human forces had retreated, choosing to stay within the safety of their own lands, lands that were constantly protected by a barrier created from the holy power of hundreds of spiritualists. For the last five years, the humans were safe inside their sphere, just outside of the demons' reach.

Or so they had thought.

The Beginning; Kagome's Story

She was standing in her kitchen when she heard it.

Kagome Akitoki, 21-year-old wife to Hojo Akitoki was a quiet, content little housewife. She was young, yes, and she hadn't furthered her schooling so many of her friends had after high school, but she was happy. She was married to her loving, high school sweetheart, Hojo, and they had a two-year old son, Isamu, that she loved dearly. Hojo went to school at night and worked at his mother's practice during the day. He was studying to be doctor, like his mother was, so that he could take control of the Akitoki family medical center when she retired. Kagome was a home-maker. She took care of their son, kept the house spotless, and made sure that dinner was on the table every night when he finally came home.

Because of his busy schedule, it was normal that Kagome was left home alone with Isamu. Today, however, her son was across town with her mother who had insisted on taking him to the zoo for the afternoon. Kagome hadn't minded. She had plenty around the house that needed to get done. It might help that the distracting whirlwind that was her son wasn't on her heels, halting her progress like he usually did.

Kagome had no idea that today would not go as planned.

She set the soapy dish that she had been scrubbing back into the sink carefully, her ears straining to pick up the sound again. Her home was silent, save for the soft music that was playing in the living room. She felt a breeze roll past her through her open windows, windows that she had just opened so she could enjoy the spring weather while she worked. Her nose wrinkled a bit when the soft wind carried the scent of smoke into her home.

Kagome frowned and reached for the drying cloth tucked into the apron at her waist, drying her hands slowly as she stepped away from the sink and toward her sliding glass door that led to her backyard.

Then she heard it again.

A loud rumbling noise, almost like thunder. Walking a bit faster, she rushed outside, leaving the door open as she looked around. On either side, her neighbors had stepped out as well, each looking around in confusion. At least she had not been the only one to hear it. The sound was strange on such a calm, bright day as this one. Where was it coming from? Kagome heard a soft ringing coming from her pocket and jumped.

With a gasp, she realized that her phone was ringing. She reached hurriedly into her pocket and pulled it out, swiping her thumb along the screen to answer the call, not bothering to look at the I.D.

"H-hello?" she said softly, moving to walk backward toward her house, still looking around at her neighbors who were eyeing the skies curiously.

"Kagome!"

Kagome's eyes widened a bit with recognition.

"Inuyasha? What's wrong?"

Inuyasha was Hojo's best friend. They had all grown up together and gone to the same schools since they were children. They had all been as close as family, a group of oddballs in their picket-fence community. Kagome and Hojo had both been raised by single mothers, something that earned them pity and isolation in school, but it was nothing compared to what Inuyasha had been through.

He was something that was rarely seen in their country, especially during times like this. He was a half-demon, born from a demon father and a human mother. From what he had told them, his father had been killed during the war and the protection he had provided gone with him. His mother had to escape with him back into human territory before they were killed. They stirred up quite a bit of trouble when they showed up within the barrier, but after authorities realized that Inuyasha was only half-demon, and that he was able to cross (at the cost of being temporarily purified, making human) they allowed him to stay. He was, after all, a child, and being raised by a human mother. That didn't sit well with everyone though. His instant isolation and resentment in their community made him the perfect addition to Kagome and Hojo's little group. From the day Inuyasha had come to their school, they had all been attached at the hip. It wasn't until recently that Inuyasha had stopped coming to visit as often. Kagome suspected it had something to do with his girlfriend, Kikyou, a dear friend of Kagome's. The two were inseparable from the moment they had started dating.

That being said, she was more than a little surprised that Inuyasha would call her out of the blue, and sounding so distressed as well.

"Kagome, you need to get out of the city! Hurry- take Isamu and drive as fast as you can-"

"Wait, what?" Kagome interrupted, her heart racing at his words, her body instantly flooded with panic. "Inuyasha, slow down-"

Just then, another rumble sounded, this one much closer and louder. Kagome cried out when the ground beneath her shook and her neighbors around her screamed in fear. She gripped her doorway with one white-knuckled hand, the other clutching her phone to her ear as she stared wide-eyed over her shoulder.

"Dammit, Kagome, just listen to me!" Inuyasha said, his voice more frightened than she had ever heard it. "Take Isamu and go! I'll find Hojo just get out of here before-"

Kagome gasped in horror when her eyes locked on a pillar of smoke rising from just a few houses down from her own. The smoke, however, wasn't what terrified her. From the smoke, she could make out the shapes of hundreds of creatures flying out in all directions. Demons. She looked around, faintly hearing Inuyasha's voice trying to urge her to run, but all she could see was chaos. Her neighbors began to shriek, running around wildly, some even rushing into her yard and pushing past her to escape. The sky, previously so bright and sunny, was growing dark as an ominous gray cloud rolled in, and with it, more demons fell from the sky like bombs.

She didn't understand. The barrier was supposed to keep the demons out. There was no way it could have fallen unless...

...Unless the spiritualists were all dead.

She gaped up at the sky, a hand over her mouth as she watched it blacken with the terrifying dark clouds, blocking out the sunlight as though they were alive. Snakes, dragons, birds and hellcats, were all darting across the sky and falling to the earth, landing with loud, rumbling noises like thunder that continued to shake the ground. Fear, wild and paralyzing struck her to her very core. She hurried into her house, carefully locking the glass door behind her and rushing to a small drawer in her kitchen, digging through it with shaking hands.

Finally, her fingers wrapped around a thin stack of paper, just about the length of her forearm and as wide as her palm. She felt the traces of her grandfather's spiritual power in them when she touched them and she sighed in relief, rushing to slap them against her doors and windows. She was so busy and terrified that she could hardly register anything else.

"KAGOME!"

Kagome gasped, just remembering that Inuyasha was still on the phone. She swallowed, trying to get her voice to work past the knot of fear that ached in her throat. She fought to recall what Inuyasha had been telling her to do. Her heart clenched with a whole new fear as a painful realization struck her. She slowly made her way to her living room, staring out the open window at the cars whizzing by and the people running and screaming around her home. She stood in front of her door, putting a hand to her forehead.

"Isamu isn't here," she whispered, tears pouring down her cheeks. "He-he's with my mother. At the zoo. Oh, gods, Inuyasha, my baby-!"

Her voice had turned to a scream when her front door suddenly burst inward, a warm blast sending her flat onto her back on her wooden floor. The air knocked out of her lungs, Kagome looked up, gasping as a tall, male figure stepped into her home. He looked extremely human, save for his pointed ears and glistening fangs as he smirked down at her. She clutched her phone to her ear, the other hand gripping desperately to the ofuda that she had been about to press onto the door that was now nothing but splinters. She heard Inuyasha's voice shouting in her ear, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the glowing blue orbs that were shining just in front of her, staring down at her with a malicious glint.

"Kagome, please, you have to get out of there!"

"Inuyasha..." she whispered, just as the figure stepped closer, her overhead lights shining on the intruder's handsome face.

She gasped when she noticed his attire, the red and gold uniform of the demon colonies. He had a dark brown tail that swished behind him as he approached her, a low chuckle rumbling in his throat. Kagome felt despair wash over her for a brief moment before a steely resolve hardened her gaze.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha's voice was soft, but she could still pick up the fear in it. "Is someone there with you?"

Kagome met her attacker's eyes evenly and she felt her lip curling into an angry grimace as he eyed her. She swallowed, gripping the ofuda in her hand even tighter as she glared at the demon before she finally managed to speak the last three words she would ever say as a free woman.

"Find my son."

Instantly, the phone was ripped from her hands and the back of the male's hand met her cheek, sending her rolling onto her side, a short scream flying from her lips and the taste of blood exploding on her tongue. She could barely make out Inuyasha's voice on the phone before it was crushed in the demon's hands.

Blinking past the dazed feeling in her head, she remembered the ofuda in her hand and she threw it desperately at the demon before her. She heard him yelp in pain, and cover his face as the paper attached itself to his eyes and nose. Kagome was just barely able to pick up the scent of burning flesh before she scrambled to her feet, and made to run past him to her car. She had just made it to her doorway before she was able to take in the horror that awaited her outside.

Humans running about like ants in the rain, demons, some in their true forms, others walking around as humanoids, all clad in the red and gold of the demon colonies strolling about leisurely as though nothing was amiss. She watched a car spin out of control down the road before it crashed into a tree, the sound of crunching metal grating on her ears. Smoke began to rise from the hood of the car and she watched a man topple out of the driver's side door, crumpling onto the ground and crawling away, his face stained with crimson that was steadily flowing from his forehead. Normally, she would have moved to help him, but the only thing on her mind at the moment was getting to her son.

She wished she had put on pants that morning instead of the ridiculous, long, flowy skirt that she was now stumbling over as she made her way toward her own car. She gasped when she tripped, landing painfully onto one knee, her hands caught the rest of her fall, palms scraping painfully against the concrete of her driveway. She was pushing herself back onto her feet when she felt something sharp scrape agains the back of her neck before a hand fisted in her long, curly black hair that she had left loose down her back. She gasped when the hand tugged a bit and she was pulled back against a hard, heaving chest.

"Think that pathetic charm can hurt me, huh?"

Kagome cried out at the gravelly voice that spoke in her ear, hot breath fanning against the sensitive shell. She squirmed, her hands reaching back and clawing at the demon's hand with both of her own in an attempt at escape. This only seemed to amuse him though. He chuckled and with a hard yank, pulled her to her feet, to which she stumbled and toppled backward, landing painfully onto her rear.

Kagome let another scream at the pain to the back of her skull as her hair was pulled violently. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and her entire body shook with unbridled panic. But despite her fear for herself, another, much more pressing fear was present at the forefront of her mind.

"Please, I have a son!" she begged, feeling the demon dragging her backward toward her house. "Please, just let me go!"

The demon said nothing, continuing to drag her by her hair, her legs out ahead of her, kicking wildly. She screamed, eyes looking around her desperately, searching for help anywhere. To her utter despair, she saw men and women around her, neighbors she had come to know and some she had only ever seen in passing also being dragged around cruelly. Some were taken back into their houses, some out into the street. Kagome saw a violet-haired demon in its humanoid form with a child tucked into the crook of its arm, walking calmly out of a house even as the mother of the child screamed inside, begging for her child.

Kagome let out a blood-curdling scream when the demon threw the child, no more than an infant into the street where cars were still driving about wildly. She clawed with a renewed vigor when she heard the child's cry, and saw it reaching out with tiny hands toward the very demon that had thrown it down.

The air left her lungs when she saw a car zoom past, striking the child and sending bright, fresh blood across the asphalt, permanently silencing the child's cries.

"NO!" the mother howled from inside her house. "HARU! NO!"

Isamu... Kagome began to shriek in her captor's hold, just as he dragged her over the threshold of her home and down the hallway. She kicked desperately, her hands reaching out to grab at anything that could get her free. She knocked over end tables, vases and picture frames crashing to the floor as they passed, but he continued walking as though her struggle was no more effective than a fly crashing into a closed window. Just as the demon turned to enter her guest bedroom, dragging her along behind him, she reached out for the doorway, her nails breaking against the wood, leaving bloody trails on her white walls. Her desperation multiplied when she watched him kick the door closed, trapping them alone inside.

"No!" she cried out when she felt another hand grip the top of her right arm, tugging her to her feet and spinning her toward the bed. "NO!"

She was pushed roughly onto the bed, bouncing a bit before she tried to crawl away from the male, her eyes locked on the open window just on the other side of the bed. Before she could even get onto her feet, clawed hands gripped her ankles and tugged her backward. Kagome's eyes filled with new tears and she gripped blindly at the sheets of the bed her fingers filled with a sharp stabbing pain, her blood staining the light pink fabric. She was helpless against the inhuman strength of the demon behind her.

She was flipped onto her back and Kagome screamed again, her throat quickly becoming raw. The demon reached down, hands fisting in her long, lavender skirt to pull it off of her, leaving her long, pale legs bare. He took hold of her thighs, roughly spreading them apart despite her struggle and nestled himself between them.

"Please!" she begged, trying to sit up and scoot away. "Please don't!"

"Be quiet, wench!"

Again, the back of the male's hand met her cheek and she fell back onto the bed, stars blinking past her eyes in the wake of his attack. She laid there, her head turned to the side as his claws tore through the large, billowy, white blouse that she had been wearing. She heard him grunt in distaste, but she couldn't make herself move. Her senses had been scattered with his strike, and she was still trying to make sense of what was happening.

"Not the prettiest thing," she heard him growl before the bed shifted and she realized that he was above her, his arms and legs caging her in. "But you'll do."

Kagome looked up at him from the corner of her eye, realizing with complete horror that his uniform was gone, and that he was completely naked above her. Fresh tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and her lip trembled pitifully as he dipped his head to breathe in deeply at her throat. She felt a claw flick at the material of her panties before he gripped them in his fist and tore them away from her, quickly doing the same to her bra.

"Please," she whispered brokenly. "P-please don't do this..."

She heard his chuckle, then she gasped in pain when she felt something large pushing its way inside of her from between her legs. She closed her eyes and shook her head weakly when it kept pushing, stretching her farther and pressing deeper, causing her to whimper from the pain of it. She lifted shaking arms to push at his chest in a final attempt to get him away from her, only to have him grip her wrists and pin them above her head roughly.

"Enjoy this, bitch," he growled against her ear, making her entire body shudder with disgust. "None of the others will be as gentle as I."

"Don't-"

Her head thrown back, eyes screwed tightly shut, she screamed as he began to plunder her. His hips thrusting toward her with inhuman speed, his hands gripping her wrists with bruising force and his breath fanning across her neck as he breathed raggedly. Kagome squirmed and twisted, her legs kicking at the mattress beneath her, feeling as though she was being torn in two as he pumped in and out of her.

Never had she been with anyone but her husband. Never had she thought that something like this could happen to her. She felt like this had to be a dream, or nightmare, that it couldn't actually be happening. If it weren't for the pain between her thighs and the constant stabbing feeling in her womb, she might have believed it was.

"Please..." she begged, her voice cracking and sore from her screams.

"That's it," he growled, nipping at her earlobe and thrusting faster and harder. "Beg me for it."

"...stop," her voice going weaker as the pain made black spots appear before her eyes.

She gasped in surprise when she felt him pull out of her, tears of relief leaking from the corners of her eyes before she felt his hands on her hips, pulling her down to the edge of the bed where he turned her over onto her stomach, her legs hanging off of the bed with her toes brushing against the carpeted floor. Instantly, he was behind her, the skin of his thighs hot against he back of her own.

"No, no, no, no, no..." she sobbed into the mattress, her hands fisting into the sheets as she weakly tried to stand.

A scalding hand pressed against the small of her back, shoving her forward onto the bed and holding her in place as he prodded at her raw pussy with his shaft. Kagome barely had time to breathe in before he shoved himself inside roughly, burying himself to the hilt inside of her. Her mouth fell open, but no sound came out. There was so much pain... She didn't want to feel it anymore.

She heard him growl as he continued to slap his hips against her backside, his clawed hands holding onto her hips and shoving her even deeper onto him as he moved. Kagome's hands rested limply on either side of her head, her eyes staring ahead, wide and unseeing as he had his way with her. She could just make out the sounds of the hell that was unleashed outside of her home- the screams, the crashes, the howls of victory from the demons that assaulted the neighborhood that had been so safe just hours before- but it all sounded so far away now. Like she was at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Maybe she was. Maybe she was dying, and the sounds were behind her, getting further and further away.

"I-I'm gonna cum inside you," the demon panted against her ear.

Kagome's eyes watered with fresh tears and she faintly heard her voice pleading, begging that he didn't. Was this all that was left for her? Now that the demons had finally invaded, was this her fate? Was she to live out her life as their plaything, never knowing what became of her son and husband? If that was it, then she didn't want to live to watch it unfold. She closed her eyes, feeling dirty and worthless as the demon continued his assault, his length swelling painfully inside of her just as she felt hot, burning liquid stream inside of her. She felt him shudder before he collapsed on top of her, his bare chest flush against her back, his breath puffing against the crook of her neck as he laid there, spent.

Hojo... Isamu... forgive me...

A/N: I know, it's waaaaay different than what I usually write. But I think it has serious potential. It's got a serious Red Dawn feel to it so far, which is one of my favorite movies! And for my faithful readers, I promise that another story will not mean that I have abandoned T.O.I.L. or Devoted. I just have more stuff to keep my creative juices flowing now. If I get writer's block on one story, I can work on a different one. And hey, maybe that'll get me to write more for the others, too?

Just let me know what y'all think! Reviews are my drug, and I am afraid I am going through serious withdrawals, my lovelies.

-sesshylovr