The Color of Blood by Simply Hopeless (FF)/ Assassin's Kiss (AFF)/ Devil_n_Blue (MMPH)/ Hopeless_Blue_Kiss (AO3). I am 1 writer w/ 4 usernames on 4 sites.
Warning: Language, Major Character Death, Het, Abuse, Angst, Rape, slight AU/AR, Pregnancy, WAFF, Violence, and Work In Progress. These things may happen now or later as the story progresses. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own or make any profit from the animes/mangas 'Inuyasha' or 'Rurouni Kenshin' and/or own any of the characters from it. Inuyasha is the sole property of Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Media. And Rurouni Kenshin is the sole property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Viz Media. I am, however, the sole author of this fanfic. So please do not steal my story. It's happened before.
Author's Note: Hello Simply Hopeless here and I have this new story I had been wanted to write since 2:00 a.m. so here I am, finally finished. I know unusual title but I like it. Anyway this is an Inuyasha and Rurouni Kenshin Crossover. I hope you enjoy and look forward to your comments.
Important: I will be revamping/reediting a lot of my earlier stories and this is one of them. I want to iron out any confusion and/or plot holes that previous readers experienced the first time I published this. Also, I want to reacquaint myself with my stories that I haven't touched in a long time. Finally, I want to enhance the plotline that I had already developed. Since some and/or all of these chapters have been previously published, I will be updating this story, this year until my birthday, every Friday until the original story is finished and/or when I get to the point where I need to add new story material. The new update date will be listed at the end of the chapter. I honestly do hope you guys enjoy this story and look forward to any positive reviews you may have in this pursuit to better your reading experience with me. Thank you and enjoy.
Chapter One
She couldn't hear it. She couldn't hear the screams and desperate pleas for mercy that ripped through the Higurashi residence. The raven-haired teen was what one would call a deep sleeper. Both her mother and her traveling companions had scolded her constantly for that fact but that didn't stop her from sleeping blissfully on.
Her dreams were full to the brim with a certain dog-eared, short-tempered hanyou to realize the dire situation brewing around her. She just shifted in her sleep to find another cool spot before she buried her face further into the pillow she was hugging. At one point she had entertained ideas of getting a body pillow with a certain someone's face painted onto it; but the embarrassment and the questions that were sure to follow when the real person found such an item hugged closely to her form had stilled her impulse.
"Inuyasha…" she breathed, a small smile creeping towards her lips. Her smooth brow then furrowed in thought as she tried to answer a question in her dream before she softly chuckled it away.
How could she possibly notice that someone was trespassing in her home? How could she sense that some corruptive being was slowly ripping away the lives of the slumbering residents one by one? That blood caked claws were slicing through tender flesh as easily as a warm knife through butter. Surely if she knew she would have done more than drool on her pillow and imagine her and this Inuyasha person in different lovey dovey scenarios.
DOWN THE HALLWAY
"Inuyasha why are you doing this to me," a little boy whimpered as he clutched his arm. He was backing slowly towards his bedroom door and with one quick burst he was out the door. Through the hallway and down the steps, he could hear his bare feet slapping against the ground as easily as he heard the hanyou's. He had to get out of there… he knew it with everything in him.
His friend… or who he had thought was his friend up until then was sure to kill him if he didn't. He had to run… had to escape. His fingers stretched eagerly for the doorknob of the front door but he came to a screeching halt.
There in front of him was his mother. She stared blankly up at him and the ceiling with lifeless brown eyes. He could just imagine the soft gasp of surprise she made before the hanyou drove his claws into her belly.
"W… why is he… is he doing this to… to us?" he hiccupped still rooted to his spot. He could slowly feel a shadow envelope him as the hanyou stood behind him. He whirled around to look accusingly at the demon before him. "Inu… Inuya—" but his words were cut short as he slumped against the ground.
Blood splattered against the ground as a pink tongue darted out to lick the blood from razor sharp claws. "Mmmm," was the closest thing he had come to talking since he arrived here. He smiled down at his handiwork of the boy's clawed up chest, blood soaking his pajamas and the ground under him.
There was only one person left now and red eyes gravitated up to the stairs where the sleeping girl laid. He walked slowly up the steps as if he had all day now. His bloody fingers ran across the wall marking it as if it had been one of many cruel masterpieces that night.
He walked silently towards her room and opened the door slowly to gaze out on the slumbering girl. Chest rising and falling as he slept he could just imagine how easily he could stop that movement with a quick movement of his own.
Bare feet padded across the carpet before they stopped by her bed. His red eyes missed nothing. Not the dark lashes brushing against her cheeks as she murmured in her sleep or the way her black hair fanned across her pillow like liquid ink.
Most of her sleeping face was currently buried against the familiar comfort of the pillow she hugged so tightly. Her body, which naturally curled up slightly when she slept, curled up even further until her knees brushed her abdomen. It was as if she unconsciously believed that if she hid her face and curled up into an insignificant ball than she could somehow isolate herself from the feeling of someone watching her hungrily from the sidelines. Kagome wanted to recapture the feeling of safety and peace that she couldn't always get when she was traveling road with her Feudal companions. But something was off and her body began to naturally tense, preparing itself.
The pillow was soon snatched out of her hands at his annoyance. He wanted to see the look of pain written on her face as he killed her. Not this… this pillow.
Kagome's eyes flew suddenly open and she sat up straight. She glanced over to where her pillow was before noticing the familiar pants leg of her traveling companion. Her eyes gravitated to his eyes but she was unable to see him clearly with her lights off. She couldn't see in the dark as well as the hanyou could.
"Y… you scared me Inuyasha." The dark haired girl rubbed at her eyes blurrily with one hand while she reached to turn on the bedroom light with the other. And what she saw next made her feel like she had been punched in the guts.
There was still fresh blood that was branching across Inuyasha's wrists before disappearing inside his fire rat kimono. He made a guttural growl before he leapt onto her bed and right on top of her. She ripped away at her bed sheets and comforter not caring if his claws grazed against her.
"Inuyasha please…" she whimpered trying to push Inuyasha off of her but he grabbed her wrists and put them over her head with one hand. There was no point it seemed in reasoning with him as he growled at her.
One claw was already raking across her stomach so that she couldn't help but wince in pain. Tears welling up in her eyes she wondered why he was taking his time in killing her. Because it was plain to see now that he was trying to kill her.
He took his bloody fingers now coated with her blood and brushed them against her cheeks, through her hair and down her side. She whimpered piteously as he crushed his lips against hers drinking up her sounds of protests as he raked his claws deeper into her flesh.
When he relinquished her lips he moved to her shoulder feeling out her pulse with his lips. Her heart was jumping around erratically, which was what he had hoped for but he wanted more.
"Killed them," he managed to say before smiling in satisfaction against her shoulder absorbing her shudder into his own skin.
"Killed who?" she gasped. 'Sango… Miroku… Shippo… or could it be…' she trailed off not wanting to think of it. She squeezed her eyes shut and try to take deep breaths.
"Kill them," he lifted his head and look at her intensely before waving his hand loftily around the house.
She didn't know what shocked her more, the fangs sinking into her shoulder just then or the declaration he was able to make even in his transformed form.
"No it can't… it can't be," she said hoarsely trying to deny as best as she could but she couldn't. She knew deep down that what he was trying to say was that he slaughtered her family. Killed her mother… brother… grandpa… all of them and it was his entire fault… his entire fault.
And with that she began to pulse. Her anger, her pain, betrayal… everything she felt roiled up inside her and spilled over her in a wave of miko energy just as Inuyasha tried to stab his claws through her throat. She was unable to feel such a devastating blow as her miko energy consumed him.
"Nnnnnnoooooooo," she screamed. And just before he dissolved into nothing she saw his red eyes turn back to their normal golden color. His eyes filled, for the first time in a long time, with tears.
"Goodbye," he sighed and with that he was gone and she was alone again. She looked around her room that felt more than a little empty now. The aftershock of her miko energy vibrated through her room. She looked dully at her stomach, covered in scratches before she pressed fingertips across her bruised lips.
She ran blindly, her tears blurring her vision so badly that she easily tripped over something in the hallway. As she got to her feet she nearly bit her tongue as she saw her grandfather's head severed from his shoulders. His body was a foot away with hands still clutching charms.
"Looks what he's done to us," she cried out and hugged the head to her chest before carrying it back to its' owner. She said a quick prayer over his remains before closing his eyes.
Slowly she managed to navigate down the stairs ignoring torn up furniture and bloody walls. She only came to a stop when she came to her front door. Carefully she dragged both her mother and brother's body against the wall and sat them up before praying over their bodies and closing their eyes.
Her stomach simply churned at the task but she did her task numbly. Then walking towards the kitchen she lit the stove before placing a cooking book over it to catch fire. Backing away with her eyes dancing from the reflection of the flames she walked out the kitchen and out the backyard knowing that soon her house would be burning down.
She then took her place by the god tree and waited patiently for it to burn. "Earth to earth… ashes to ashes… dust to dust," she breathed watching silently, her legs tucked up against her.
Not until she heard the distant sirens of the fire department did she get up and make her way to the well house. Not bothering to look where she was going she once again tripped and fell.
Down the rest of the stairs she went, her knees scrapping up against the stone floor. Her stomach couldn't take anymore and the sudden violent jolt was enough to make her release her contents on the floor.
She stared at the ground for a while through tear filled eyes before she wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her pajamas her face scrunching up in disgust. But it wasn't safe yet to just lie there and feel her present injuries. She had to leave now. Go back to the feudal era… anywhere that might offer her a safe haven away from what she just did… seen…
"Kami please take me away from this all," she prayed silently to herself before she got up and jumped into the well. Quickly she was enveloped in the soft purple lights of the time portal. When everything had dulled out and she felt herself firmly driven to the new time she stared blankly at the wall.
'What if I just… What if I just stay in here? Forever and ever to starve to death then die.
She mulled over that for a while but decided that she wanted a quick death, not one that was drawn out. So she managed to climb up the wall with bloody fingers before swinging one leg over the rim of the well. She hoisted the rest of herself over it. Tumbling down onto the ground she finally allowed herself for the tears that had wanted to rack her body for some time now.
Warm, salty tears blazed a trail through blood and grime before rolling down the curves of her face. Her heart thumped hollowly in her chest, throbbing with the anguish that she was feeling now.
Her chest rose and fell in rapid succession as she tried to keep enough air in her lungs not to pass out as she sobbed. She closed her eyes against the dawning world. She wanted to damn it to hell for shining when she was in so much pain. It should have looked just like she felt. Bleak, empty, bleeding the color of blood and pain…
She began to curl up, her face pressed against her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She rocked gently back and forth trying her best to swallow that sobs that still squeeze pass trembling lips. She did this until she had rocked herself to sleep.
It wasn't until two hours later that she was jolted awake by someone's inquiring voice. "Trespasser why are you here?" spoke a sharp voice as a sword was quickly pointed at her throat.
Kagome darted wide eyes towards the person who interrupted her. Sitting up straight she unconsciously ran a hand through her hair pulling out a scrunchie she had tied it up with. Slipping the pink scrunchie on her wrist she looked at him with sadden brown eyes. 'I am nobody and I am here to die,' she thought to herself.
The silence seemed to stretch between them as she kept herself silent. She toyed with a frayed piece of her pajama top before darting her eyes back towards him.
"I am the Battousai and who, may I ask, are you?" He pressed the tip of his sword against her throat hoping that she would be willing to talk now.
"Someone who would welcome death willingly right now," she was barely able to gasp out before she eagerly leaned into the swords tip feeling the soft pinch of the sword cutting the tender flesh of her neck. She closed her eyes willing kami to make this as quick a death as possible. "Please will you—"
"Kill you?" he questioned his amethyst eyes narrowing.
"Yes," she nodded her head, her eyes still closed. She could already feel a trickle of her blood tickling down the soft curves of her neck before being absorbed in her already bloody shirt. "I deserve to die."
"What is your name?" he demanded forcing her to open her eyes and take a good look at this man. A mane of red hair was tied back on top of his head to reveal the soft, milk white curve of his nape. She had to admit she had never seen as beautiful as his, not even the golden orbs of Inuyasha's could compare to this man's lavender ones.
"Kagome," she mumbled reproachfully. "Now are you going to kill me or not?"
"Who said I was going to kill you in the first place?"
"But you are the Battousai. You are the manslayer!" she grabbed the hand that was already sheathing his sword. "You should have no qualms about killing."
"But I do. Now and forever," he slowly peeled away her hand from his wrist before allowing his sword to strike home in its sheath.
"Well then if you won't then I will find someone who will," she smiled slowly to herself as she looked down at her hands. And with that she got to her feet and began to run off in the direction of a battle.
Her black hair flapped like a banner behind her as she tried to swallow down the bile in her throat. Legs pumping as bare feet slapped against bare grass. She ignored the slight chill of the night's air before she tipped her head skyward.
"IF YOU'RE LISTENING INUYASHA WHETHER YOUR IN HELL OR HEAVEN… I'M GOING TO JOIN YOU!" she yelled her battle cry mingling with the others far off. 'Join you and the others…'
To be continued…