And then there were none

Author: essenceofthedark

Warning: shounen ai, depressive start, fluff ending  that's guaranteed ., and… um the death of certain characters will occur… but I won't go into some horrid descriptions as I might have done (or are going to do) at some other time, I'm just not in the mood for that… One-shot.

Pairing: Inuyasha/Hojo

Author's note: I can't get this pairing out of my head, seriously, they're even cuter than Sess/Miro or Inu/Miro and hotter than Nara/Sess (and that's saying alot… they're my fave bishies from Inuyasha…) or Sess/Inu, why it ain't more popular than it is, is a mystery to me…

Oh and I'm sorry that I haven't been updating my stories for a while, my beta reader has been reeeaaally lazy lately… Hidden love is soon to be updated with one chapter and if only my beta-reader would hurry up more will be updated shortly, I promise I won't stop bothering her about it until she has corrected something more…

Music I listened to while writing this fic: ummm… songs from the Celtic Circle 1&2, "I need some sleep" by Eels, "Little Drop of Poison" by Tom Waits and "People just ain't no good" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds from Shrek 2.

Disclaimer: I do definitely not own Inuyasha, as I'm sure I've said before… Oh and I do not own the book "And then there were none" by Agatha Christie… I haven't even read the book (I want to though, it sounds good), I'm just borrowing the title. The story have no relation to the book either.

I sat under the sakura-tree. Eyes closed. The gently scent were overlapping all other smells, something I was grateful of. For a few blessed moments I could pretend that everything was as it had always been, that nothing had changed, but as we all know, dreams only works for so long, and then you have to face reality again. Not that that made it any better.

Opening my eyes, I see nothing but destruction and rotting things around me. Dying trees, dying flowers. Everything that were beautiful before, were now long gone, just as… the others. I closed my eyes again. The destruction all around me was hurting my eyes. The only thing alive, left in the area, was me and the sakura-tree.

I clearly remembered what had happened; I had been in a minor clash with Naraku again, which had left me with a deep gash in my chest. The same night Naraku and all his hordes of demons, weak and strong, attacked the village. And that was the last thing I remembered before my world went black. I was later told by Kaedebabaao that it had been my friends that had knocked me out, preventing me from getting into a fight while I was still hurt. They had assumed they would make it out of it by themselves. I knew that I shouldn't have gotten so close with Kagome, or anyone else for that matter; it would only hurt them and me in the end.

Anyway, when I had awakened from the world of the unconscious it had been too late. Kagome, Kouga and Sango were already dead, and so was Shippo. The others died only moments later. Kagome had been killed by one of Kikyo's magical arrows and Kouga had been killed by her too, while trying to protect Kagome. Baka no ookamio. I would have cursed him for not being able to protect Kagome when she needed it the most, but who was I to do such a thing when I, after all, hadn't been able to do so either?

Sango had been sucked into Miroku's kazaanao when he, after Naraku having hurt his right hand, had lost control over it. I could still remember seeing him standing in the middle of the chaos with a blank expression, his brain having shut down from the shock and the grief of seeing his beloved yokaio-slayer being sucked into his own hand, never to be seen again. Naraku had been sucked into the kazaana too, as had Kikyo a few moments later. I had awakened just before he lost control over it; unfortunately by then it was too late to do something.

Miroku, who had been oblivious to all this had been devoured by his own hand after a while. Shippo had been killed by some minor demons, which grieved me more than I thought possible. He might have been a much-too-genkio, insufferable brat when still alive, but he had been, after all, just a kid.

My older brother had been killed while protecting his adopted ningeno daughter with her and Jaken following their master only moments later.

In my rage I had killed the remaining demons, but whatever I did, I could not bring them back, and nothing had been able to make the empty feeling, which was still lingering after them, go away. Thinking about this I could feel tears welling up in my eyes,again!Unconsciously I had started to finger the chain with the now whole shikon no tamao, a bad habit I had picked up by now.After the fight I had found it lying in the grass, whole for the first time since Kagome had destroyed it with one of her arrows. I had made it into a necklace in memory of all my friends, vowing never to forget them or everything they had taught me about life and love.

I raised myself and started to walk through the abandoned village that had once been so full of life and joy. Lots of children had been playing around on grassy fields while the adults had been going on with their daily lives. That was all gone now; I was the only one left. After the fight, all of the remaining villagers had moved away because the demon blood had spoiled most of the soil around it, which meant that they wouldn't be able to live here anymore. Looking at all the empty houses made me even more depressed, it reminded me of all the good times spent here; arguing with Kagome, getting into fights with Miroku and chasing after Shippo when he had done or said something to upset me.

Being here all alone, not one living soul had showed up here after the slaughtering of demons, was beginning to slowly tear away my last shreds of sanity. I had the feeling of being torn up from inside-out from sitting idle around with nothing to do.

Slowly I had started to wonder if I might take the offer Kagome's okasano had made me when I had gone to her time for the last time to tell her, Kagome's grandfather and her little brother what had happened. She had cried, as well as Sota, but she had still been kind enough as to welcome me into their home. "You're welcome to stay at our house if you want." That's what she had said. I had of course thanked1 her for the offer, but refused it nonetheless. I didn't want to bother them too much, after all they were Kagome's family and I barely knew them at all. But as time went I found a wish deep inside to just leave this place behind for ever, but I didn't feel like going out in the world only to meet more prejudices just because I'm a hanyouo. So the only way to get away from all of this was, as I saw it, to take her offer. There I would at least have a sanctuary, a free-place, in case the world became too harsh.

And so I found myself standing at the Higurashi-shrine a couple of days later. Feeling a bit nervous I walked up the stairs to the door before knocking on it. What if they took back their offer or if they were blaming me for the loss of their granddaughter/daughter/sister? They most likely would, but still I would have to try.

Soon I could hear footsteps from the inside and a second or two later the door was opened by Sota. At first he just stared at me as if seeing me for the first time. Then something unexpected happened. He threw himself at me hugging me around my waist, sobbing into my fire-red clothes. When I got over the shock of this sudden outburst of emotion, I started to slowly stroke his back awkwardly while trying to comfort the boy a little. I must admit I'm not used to scenes like this, but having learned a little from Kagome I did my best to make it better. Eventually the boy went out of tears and looked up at me, his eyes still wet and red-rimmed from crying.

"I've missed you" was all he said before tugging at my clothes, signalling to me that he wanted me to follow him inside. "Yeah, good to see you again, kid" I said, feeling a little better already. "I miss neechano, too" he said after a while, smiling weakly.

"Me too kid, me too" was the only answer I could give, tears threatening to well up in my eyes again and my voice getting thick.

"Inuyasha!" a woman's voice came suddenly from somewhere ahead of me and I looked up from the boy to see a woman in her early forty's with short brown hair standing before me. I momentarily recognized her as Kagome's okasan. I grunted a response, feeling my own self returning little by little in the company of these people that didn't know me at all, yet still treated me like one of their own. Hanyou or no hanyou. To my relief they weren't behaving as if I were responsible for the death of their dearest, I had enough with me blaming myself for it.

One week had passed after me agreeing to stay at the Higurashi shrine and I already felt as if I had never lived in another place, or more correctly; in another time. Of course, I had still not left the property, causing havoc in this place were the last thing I wanted to do. But I had gotten used to all the weird sounds and Sota had explained to me about cars and such as well as he could. Still, I felt restless after having sat idle for a week, so I decided that I would finally go outside today. Just to have a look around, I had to do so sometime anyway, and today was a day just as good as another.

I had no idea what to expect of peoples reactions to me, or my ears to be more correct. Would they start a fight? Or would they back away in fear or just whisper behind my back? Would they ignore me? I was pretty much sure that they wouldn't just accept it just like Kagome did. No one else than her and my friends had, and the most of them were used to yokai from before on, and Kagome had been, despite her appearance sometimes, one of the most accepting persons I had ever met. I would never get my hopes so high as to believe I would ever find anyone like them again.

As I walked down the streets of…whatever the name of this place was, people were staring at me. Some seemed to be shocked out of their minds, while some looked at me with a mix of disgust and curiosity, some seemed afraid and some people laughed and thought that my ears was just a trick. I could hear someone talking about me and something they called "circus", whatever that might be. The majority of those I encountered were afraid or disgusted of me though, some tried to hide it, but the horrid stench of fear and disgust never left them. When I encountered those people I felt a strong urge to run away from them; I was tired of being looked upon with fear or disgust, just because I was different.

In the end I came to a huge building with lots of young people standing in the front yard. I looked around and most of the kids seemed to be engaged in conversations with each others, ignoring me, or that is; until someone gave a shout of either disgust or fear or perhaps curiosity. Then everyone seemed to flock around me, not too close in case I was some dangerous beast from a fairy tale. Under their gazes I started to feel a bit nervous and uncomfortable and I started to fidget a little when whispers started to go through the mass of people. They were too many for me to separate them, but my imagination of what they were saying was enough. Starting to back slowly away from them, I stopped when a boy with dark brown hair stepped forward and came over to me as if I weren't an unusual sight at all.

Stunned by this, I just stood there dumbfounded and staring at him, barely noticing that he was quite good-looking. For a few moments we were just staring at each other before he started to speak, low enough that the others couldn't hear what he said.

"Anata ga Higurashisama no tomodachi, neo?" he said with a huge smile in his face, only a little saddened from talking of the now dead girl.

"Ano… haio… Do I know you?" I asked confused, cocking my head to one side, trying to figure out why he smelled so familiar when I was pretty sure I had never seen him before2.

He laughed a sad little laugh that made something inside me cringe; for some reason did I not want him to be so sad.

"No I doubt you've ever seen me before, but I've seen you a couple of times at the Higurashi's" was his answer, no wonder he smelled so familiar, his smell had surely lingered a bit at the Higurashishrine for me to pick up later. "Oh…" was all I said, making it his turn to cock his head.

"Neeo, you aren't lost are you? If you are I can accompany you back to the Higurashishrine" was the next thing he said, changing the topic abruptly, though I can't blame him for not wanting to talk much about Kagome. I shook my head smiling weakly, thinking to myself that it would take more than this city to make me get lost.

"Iie, that's not necessary. I'm new here in town, so I'm just looking around…" I started and trailed off, hoping he wouldn't ask where I was from since I had no idea what to answer if he did. Luckily for me, some sort of bell rang and all the students started to walk towards the building as if it had been some signal commanding them to get inside.

"That's good" he said as he started to walk after the others and away from me. "I have school to attend to, and I would have had to miss some classes if I were to follow you. I guess I'll see you later, eh?" and with that he darted after the others, but I could still hear the questions thrown at him from the others. "Who was he?", "Do you know him" and "Are those ears real?" were the most frequent ones, but he didn't answer a single question, he just kept walking into the building.

Intrigued by this guy who didn't seem to be the slightest bit bothered by me ears, I decided to sit in a tree outside the building, which I had now identified as "the school" Kagome had always talked about, waiting for the school day to end and watching him throughout the breaks. At a certain point he came and sat under the tree I was sitting in, eating what seemed to be lunch. As he ate I watched him intently, sitting totally still so he wouldn't discover me. He was eating slow and just nibbled at his food as if he had no appetite at all. Eventually the bell sounded again and he got up from where he was sitting and walked into the school again.

It was perhaps not the most exiting thing to do, sit and watch and wait a whole day, but everything about this boy intrigued me in a strange way, so I was content just to sit and watch him.

When school was finished for the day I started to follow him, making sure he didn't see me, not thinking for one minute that what I did was close to stalking. Eventually there was just us two in the whole street, all the other people from school had shorter ways to their homes or they had to walk other paths to get there. Suddenly without warning he just stopped and turned around, barely giving me time to hide behind a tree standing beside the road.

"You can show yourself now." He called out softly. He knew that I was here? How? I pondered as I stepped forward to reveal myself.

"N-nanio? You knew I was here all along?" I questioned softly. Good thing that I had gone to the future after all, I had really become sloppy after the death of my friends, in the warring states erao I would have been as good as dead already.

"Yeah, I kinda figured. You see your shadow? You weren't able to hide it well enough, not even when you sat in the tree outside school" I blushed. He had known that I was there all the time. Silence grew between us, not an awkward one, but a companionable one. We stood there, ningen and hanyou in the middle of a modern street, just looking at each other before he eventually broke the silence.

"Why are you following me?" he asked suddenly, surprising me.

"Ano, I don't know, guess I'm a bit curious about you miraio ning.. ano… I… I… mean…" I trailed off, how was I gonna explain this?

"Ah, I see…" he said not disturbed at all over the words I had used.

"What? You know that…" I couldn't finish my question before he interrupted me.

"That you're from the past? Yes, I've heard you and Higurashisama talk about it" he said matter-of-factly, walking towards me until he stood very close to me3. Suddenly he stretched up his hands and started to pet my ears. To my own surprise, it felt good actually, he was careful as not to rub them too hard and he was kind of massaging them, running his fingers over them in small circles.

"A-and you're not scared of me?" I managed to stutter out, a bit taken aback by this ear-petting and the fact that he seemed to know so much about me.

"No, why should I be? Would you harm me?" he asked innocently as he tilted his head to one side and looked cutely up at me.

"I-iieo but…" I started not sure if he knew what I was.

"But what?"

"I'm a hanyou…" I closed my eyes awaiting his reaction. I thought for sure that he would be disgusted of me and dart away or something.

"And…?" I opened my eyes surprised. I heard no malice in his words, nor did I hear any hatred or prejudice.

"And what?"

"What more?"

"Isn't that enough reason to be frightened? Most people in my own time were frightened of me… and you mirai ningen aren't used to yokai at all…" I said a bit more aggressively than I had intended, but couldn't he understand that I was a hybrid, a creature that deserved no more than what happened to it? I wasn't the right person to befriend; all you would receive was death or sorrow.

"You've still got to give me a good reason to be scared" He whispered as he leaned against me, nuzzling his face in my chest. Unused to this feeling I got, I didn't quite know what to do. In the end I decided to just stand like that, letting him pet my ears, which was in fact very enjoyable. I closed my eyes and just concentrated on the tingling in my ears where he had touched them. It felt so good.

Suddenly I felt something soft and wet pressing against my lips and my eyes fluttered open in surprise, only to find the boy kissing me.

"N-nani? I backed off drying off his salvia as I looked at him shocked. He seemed to be just as shocked as me at his actions, and a little sad and hurt that I had backed away from him. I felt sorry for him, I shouldn't have backed away like that. He must think that I had rejected him.

"I-I'm sorry if I did something wrong…" he started to say as I could see his eyes beginning to water.

"I-iie, that's not it" I said hurriedly. 'Please don't cry' I thought as I closed the distance between us, giving him a hug. "I was just surprised, that's all…" I murmured against his ear, making him shiver and finding myself craving for more of his kisses. Finding myself wanting to just stay like this for forever. He pulled away a little, enough so he could look up at me again.

"R-really?" he asked hopefully. "I-it's not just something you're saying?" I could also hear the doubt in his voice. Suddenly finding me willing to do everything in my power to make this boy happy I nodded and leaned down for another just as sweet kiss. When we had to part for lack of breath I said, panting slightly;

"You still haven't told me your name" He drew me in for another tight hug before answering, running his finger through my hair.

"It's Hojo"

Owari

oBabaa – old woman or old witch, baka no ookami – stupid wolf, kazaana – wind tunnel, yokai – demon(s), genki – (in this case) energetic, ningen – human(s), shikon no tama – jewel of the four souls, okasan – mother, hanyou – half demon, neechan – (big) sister or older sister, anata ga Higurashisama no tomodachi, ne? – you're miss Higurashi's friend, right, ano… hai – umm… yes, nee – say, nani – what, warring states era – the Japanese's name on feudal Japan, mirai – future, iie – no, owari – the end.

1Inuyasha seems ooc here, but I don't think he is, after all; he IS grieving the loss of his friends and I know that I would be behaving ooc if I lost everything that mattered to me in just a few hours.

2I'm not sure if Inuyasha ever meets Hojokun, but in my story they have never met, is that clear? Good!

3This is building on my little theory that Hojo knows more about what's going on than he lets on…

Well that's it! I think it's very sweet at the writing moment, but the clock is shoving 01:00 AM, so who knows how crappy this turned out to be? It's hard to say… Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Oyasumi nasai (good night)!