I present my readers this new fanfiction! I'm quite proud of it X).
The idea for this story came from a desire to develop hanyos' situation in society in a story. Then the fanfic took control and even if it's still here, it isn't the main topic of the story anymore.
I do not own Inuyasha or its character, only my Oc.
While I searched through fanfiction, I didn't see any fanfic bearing a likeness to mine, so it only made me want to write this story even more. Of course I didn't search everywhere. is a huge thing for little old me, but still.
I also warn my readers that for this fanfic, my chapters' lengths will be a bit random. That one has more or less 4000 words, but that doesn't mean the next one will also have 4000 words.
Sorry for the big introduction. Enjoy this first chapter. This one is a bit angsty, but I find it normal. Rin and my Oc don't have the best of situation.
Anyway, enjoy!
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Chapter one
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The night had fallen upon the little village, the people sleeping peacefully in their beds.
Hikaru eyed the fishes innocently swimming in the village's pound.
She was hungry. She hadn't had anything to eat for one whole month and needed sustenance.
At the prospect of food her stomach rumbled loudly and the little female willed it to hush.
Her mother's words rang clearly into her mind, warning her to stay clear of any human settlement, to never steal from them and to find her sustenance in the forest.
Stealing was bad, because it made her no better than those bandits who robbed travellers.
No better than the bandits who killed her mother.
But winter had barred the forest of any animals she could hunt (there was no way she could bring down a lynx or a stag – heck, even a deer was out of her reach) and killed any berries or fruits she might have feed off.
Roots could only take her so far.
White furry ears twitching in every direction in case someone came, Hikaru stepped near the pound and as fast as she could snatched a fish in her little clawed hands.
Smiling, she turned to walk back in the shelter the forest provided only to freeze when she caught a sound behind her.
Jumping away instinctually, Hikaru whirled around to come nose to nose with a young girl.
Dark brown and ice blue met, the first curious and the second wary.
Instinctively Hikaru took a step back, ready to flee.
The human girl only blinked and continued to stare at her in wonder.
Her neutrality unsettled Hikaru like nothing else ever did. Wherever, whenever she was seen, humans screamed and demons sneered. Both would try to kill her.
Yet this girl only stared at her.
This moment, seemingly frozen in time, was broken when Hikaru's ears twitched, picking another sound.
Footsteps, loud and heavy.
Tensing immediately, knowing what those footsteps implied, Hikaru swiftly disappeared behind the bushes, escaping.
She heard gruff voices followed by yells, probably insults.
She halted in her running when she heard something she would recognise everywhere.
Beating.
But why? Dark brown eyes flashed into her mind and she frowned. This didn't make sense, why would they beat this girl? She wasn't the one stealing their fishes.
The weirdest thing was that she couldn't hear anything apart from the –sickening- sounds of fists and feet hitting flesh. Usually people, moreover the younger ones, would cry or call for their relatives.
Yet Hikaru couldn't hear the faintest of whimper (and she prided herself with her sense of smell and hearing).
Sighing, knowing her damn curiosity wouldn't let her rest until she went to the bottom of the story, the hanyo girl turned back to retrace her steps, a little voice in her head warning her that curiosity had already cost her much, too much.
Staying under a bush to hide herself, she dared a peak and her eyes widened in reflex.
How? How could they harm one of their own so violently? And the girl wasn't saying anything at all! Was she mute?
She felt despite herself bile rise from her throat, tears prick at the corners of her eyes and her stomach constrict painfully.
Why?
She froze when dark brown eyes slitted open to stare at her through the feet kicking her body.
Hikaru tensed, ready to flee full speed before the girl could even utter a sound. But the human didn't say anything.
This wasn't how humans were supposed to behave. She shouldn't be here!
Finally the men retreated to their hut with a few warning to not attempt to steal again.
Hikaru willed herself to move away to the safety the forest provided, as cold as it was now.
But her eyes stayed glued to the prone form of the little girl.
She wasn't moving.
Was she dead?
Curiosity and fear collided within her, but a certain empathy born from experience shared won over and Hikaru neared cautiously the still unmoving figure.
Her ears twitched, picking up a heartbeat. Apparently the child was unconscious. She was unconscious but alive.
Hikaru put a hand on her wrist -Alive and really cold-.
She unfortunately was not much taller than the human child but still managed to drag her onto her back.
Still wondering why she was doing this, the hanyo girl retraced the human's scent back to a little hut on the outskirt of the village.
Stepping inside, Hikaru twisted a bit to lay down the girl on her futon.
Spreading the covers on the now shivering body, she sat back on her haunches, hesitating.
Undecided, she looked around. The hut was built directly from the ground, no wood separating the feet from the dusty earth. There was only one close to bare room and Hikaru could spy at least three holes in the roof.
The hanyo girl sighed. She could almost hear her mother rant about the poor state of the little hut
Hikaru sighed again. There was no way she could walk away without feeling incredibly guilty.
When the little girl awoke, she blinked in surprise when she saw a fire crackle, two fishes busy roasting over it, and the usually stones and branch littered floor cleaned up, leaving an almost soft ground to walk on.
She tensed a bit when someone entered, only to relax when she saw Hikaru step into the tiny hut.
"Oh, you're awake." The hanyo girl noticed, putting down her load of wood to tend to the fire "Come and eat, you must be hungry."
The girl still said nothing, not even nodding as she got up to kneel beside the fire.
She took the fish and ate in silence. Hikaru sat stiffly on the opposite side, uncomfortable.
She could remember cries, shouts, insults and threats, but never before had someone looked at her with that kind of look. It was so…neutral, she couldn't find anything else to describe how this little girl was observing her.
The silence continued for a while, heavy, particles of dust hanging in the air.
Deciding enough was enough, Hikaru got up and dusted herself. She had already stayed here for a more than reasonable length of time and she had to go before the villagers noticed her and gave chase.
Huffing at her stupid curiosity, the hanyo girl turned to walk away.
A warm hand latched onto her wrist, gripping hard.
Surprised, Hikaru turned wide ice blue eyes to the human girl.
Pleading honeyed brown eyes held her gaze.
The girl didn't speak, but only someone blind could have missed the screamed message.
Please don't leave me!
Eyes widening even further, Hikaru froze as emotions she had so painfully locked away flood her for the second time.
Fear, hesitation, anxiousness, confusion…wonder?
"Why?" Hikaru hated hearing her voice so meek. In but a few minutes this girl had destroyed every defences she had built around herself.
Was she that feeble?
The human's eyes continued to plead, but her mouth never opened.
Hikaru felt herself crumbling despite her attempts to harden herself.
Sighing deeply, the hanyo girl admitted defeat and sat back down.
She knew this wasn't a good idea. The villagers were bound to notice her presence sooner or later.
Her place wasn't in a human village.
Her morose thoughts were abruptly put aside when the girl smiled.
Hikaru's eyes widened even further and her mouth hung open.
A flash of memory, a third flood of unwanted emotions.
The soft smile of a woman, a warm embrace, safety, soothing comfort.
Hikaru felt tears run down her cheeks but didn't bother rubbing them away.
The human girl was still smiling.
Why? Why!
More confused than ever, Hikaru could only continue to stare at the happy girl.
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Hikaru's ears twitched nervously.
This isn't normal
She watched the little girl skip happily in front of her, from time to time stopping to pick up an early flower to add to her bouquet.
Hikaru's ears twitched again. Everything was wrong. She wasn't supposed to be here. With the withdrawing of the snow she should have gone back to the forest. In her situation not moving constantly could mean her death, or at the very least big problems.
And the way the villagers were treating the girl wasn't helping.
Hikaru didn't want to accompany the girl to the village, but her recently increasing curiosity practically forced her to follow her from a distance, and she saw.
Oh yes, she saw. She saw how the women would sneer, the children taunt and the men simply look the other way.
Seeing behaviours like those, Hikaru could easily hate humans. The only thing keeping her from crossing the thin line between disgust, dislike and real hate was the memory of her mother's smile.
Her mother was one of the strongest, worthiest female Hikaru knew. The woman had singlehandedly raised her –and raised her well-, alone, without any help. Hikaru saw her stand high when people looked down on her for birthing her. She still had a twinkle in her eyes when she spoke of her mate, Hikaru's father.
Hikaru crushed down the warmth unfurling in her chest at the thought of her mother. She was dead and wouldn't come back. There was no use to think about it.
The hanyo girl pushed away the memories of the woman, along with the ones in which she begged and cried for the kamis to give her mother back when she was ripped from her in a far corner of her mind, concentrating back to the human girl in front of her.
How could the girl still smile? She was badly treated, and yet she was happily skipping ahead of her, collecting flower!
How? How!
She felt the need to shake the girl, badly. She wanted to scream at her, to see that she wasn't as happy as she pretended to be.
It shouldn't be possible!
A little white flower was trusted in front of her and Hikaru blinked.
She looked up to see the little girl smiling brightly at her.
As tears built up despite herself at the corners of her eyes, Hikaru realised she despised the tsunamis of emotions since she met this girl.
For a moment, she wanted to hate her, to really hate this girl that made her feel things she hadn't felt for decades now.
But those bright brown eyes prevented her more efficiently than any other means.
The only thing Hikaru was able to do was to cry.
She felt little arms surround her shoulders but didn't react. She suddenly felt so tired.
The little girl did nothing but continue to hug her, watching with compassionate eyes as Hikaru, after months of stress, finally broke down.
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Snow came and went, spring soon winning over the land as green replaced white. The atmosphere began to heat up slightly, wind bringing rains for the fields and the burgeoning plants.
The little human girl was still very confusing for Hikaru. The villagers treated her worse than the dirt under their feet, but she continued to smile. Children taunted her, underlining the fact that she was ugly, poor, resourceless, without any family, and she still went on her way with a skip in her steps. She seemed to hold no grudge against anyone.
She found joys in the simplest of things, like a little flower, a colourful insect or a funny shaped cloud. The first times Hikaru enquired about her well-being after a fall or an accident, she would be delighted and after the few ones that followed, she would smile softly, as if to thank her for her concern.
Hikaru, after months of somewhat reluctant cohabitation, found herself more puzzled and more lost about the little human girl than ever. Sometimes she couldn't help but think someone like her shouldn't exist.
Yet, here she was, trusting her like they had been friends for a long time
Yes, Hikaru couldn't say she understood the girl, but her strange behaviour had awakened something in her.
Curiosity.
She could remember through a hazy mist of early memories, her days as a very young pup. She was running everywhere, questioning her mother about everything, wanting to know all there was to know. The day her mother died had marked the end of her naïve thoughts and the beginning of ones set on surviving and surviving only.
But now, after living with this peculiar human girl for some time now, Hikaru couldn't help but feel somewhat inquisitive.
By now the hanyo girl was almost sure the girl had nothing. No parents, no family at all, no land to cultivate and no animals to raise. She had no income so no money, her kimono was ragged, old and torn, her feet were bare and Hikaru could perfectly see the scratches and bruises covering her little body.
Yet the girl was still smiling.
Said human girl, who until now had been skipping a bit ahead of her, suddenly turned back to her, her head tilted to the side.
Realising she had been falling behind, Hikaru hurried her step back to her place a few feet behind the girl, nodding to her that it was okay to continue.
She blinked when the human girl sent her a big smile.
Something fluttered in Hikaru's chest, something warm and brief.
The hanyo girl's lips' corners twitched uncontrollably.
The human girl's smile widened.
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Hikaru frowned down at her flower crown, which looked more like an inform mass of flowers and grass than a crown.
The human girl smiled. If she was able to Hikaru was sure she would have been giggling.
Hikaru froze, ears pinned down in her hair, when the little girl shuffled nearer, her knees touching hers.
Little hands took the 'crown' from her hands, fingers brushing against each other's.
Hikaru's ice blue eyes widened in fear and hesitation, years old reflex pleading, screaming to flee warring against new, confusing ones.
The human girl dismantled Hikaru's sad work before beginning a new crown.
Slowly, she took a few flowers with a blade of grass long enough, and showed how to continue.
She handed back the work and Hikaru hesitated a few seconds before taking it back.
She began working again, only to freeze once more when the girl gently took her hands in hers, guiding her fingers.
Hikaru shuddered violently, but didn't move any further.
Together, they finished the crown of chrysanthemum and with a smile the human girl placed it on top of Hikaru's head, careful of the girl's soft ears.
The triangular white and pink appendages twitched, guarded blue eyes boring into warm brown ones.
The human girl offered another bright smile.
Hikaru's lips curved into her own tentative one. A gentle wind blew on the two, playing with the girls' night and moon coloured hair before passing a gentle hand over the grass and returning to the blue sky.
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Hikaru crawled under a thick bush, her ears periodically twitching.
Her little nose quivered and ice blue eyes zeroed on a rabbit busy eating the grass in a little covered clearing.
The hanyo girl crouched down, her muscles tightening in preparation.
Hikaru lengthened her breathing, counting her heartbeat, waiting for the moment to strike.
The ear of the rabbit twitched and she pounced.
The hanyo girl tackled the furry animal to the ground and quickly broke his neck. After making sure her prey was definitively dead, Hikaru allowed a smile to stretch her lips. She and the girl would have meat for dinner tonight! With the villagers hunting around the village, animals were a rare dish for the two since the human girl couldn't travel too far from her home. Hikaru would have gone alone on a hunting trip but each time the girl would stare at her with a kicked puppy look. Hikaru simply couldn't resist those eyes.
Pleased with herself, she took the rabbit by its ears and began her trek back to the little hut she and the girl shared.
She was nearing the edge of the forest when she heard shuffles and harsh voices.
It was probably those mean boys from the village. They were a few years older than the girl and would bully every younger child they could get their hands on.
Usually Hikaru would have walked straight past them, not giving them any second glances. They just weren't worth her attention. They were too young to be a threat yet.
But today her nose picked up a particular scent mixed with the boys' grime and sweat (a really disgusting in Hikaru's opinion).
Spring wildflowers.
Something clenched in Hikaru's stomach and before she even registered what she was doing she had put her prey down and neared the source of the commotion.
The thing inside her that had clenched earlier froze when she recognised the girl in the middle of them.
Hikaru knew the girl was an easy prey for the boys, being always alone without anyone to back her up. Hikaru had seen her getting home with bruises and even sometime limping slightly.
She had never commented on them, and the girl had never asked for attention. But now, seeing her surrounded and kicked to the ground, Hikaru couldn't keep in the growl that ripped out of her throat.
It was a foreign sound to her ears, but a voice whispered to her mind, chanting foreign words that resonated strangely within her.
Ancient but new. Familiar but strange. She couldn't even make out words, only intents and urges.
Hikaru didn't question the voice further, preferring to act before the girl's condition worsened.
In an instant she was in front of the leader and pushed him back with all her might, sending the taller boy sprawling several metres away.
"Leave her alone!" Hikaru threatened, the growl still present in her voice.
The boys stayed frozen for about two seconds before one of them stuttered:
"D-d-d-d-demon!"
The world triggered screams and they all hightailed out of there, not even looking back and calling for their parents.
When Hikaru was sure they were gone she turned to see if the girl was alright.
Only to receive her in her arms.
The girl's own limbs surrounded her waist and the little human burrowed her head in Hikaru's shoulder, holding on tight.
The hanyo girl froze, muscles tightening in reflex, preparing to flee.
Hikaru's heartbeat sped up but the girl forced it to slow down and after a few moments lifted her own arms to the girl's shoulders.
Memories rushed to her. An embrace, warm and comfortable. Safety and belonging.
Hikaru held on a tiny bit tighter.
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Once again Hikaru was following the girl in the woods, her ears twitching from time to time in case someone had decided to follow them.
Life hadn't improved after the hanyo had rescued the girl from those bullies, far from it. On the contrary people were even more against her since new rumours about the girl having made a pact with a demon began circulating. Yes, now bullies left her mostly alone, but Hikaru was afraid the adults, who were way bigger threats, would act against her new friend.
Friend…it was a word Hikaru had chosen, echo of a distant past where her mother was alive.
The word didn't fully describe the emotions and instincts slowly and shyly awakening within her, but for now it was the best she had.
A sound reached her ears and Hikaru froze, trying to determine if it was a threat. Now in tune with her somewhat reluctant companion, the girl stopped and turned to her with a curious look.
The bushes rustled and two rabbits darted directly past the two bewildered girls to the other side of the path.
Hikaru blinked and shared a glance with the human girl, both surprised by such an unusual behaviour.
Curious, the human girl directed her steps to the place the animals had come from.
Hikaru's ears dropped when she saw what she was doing. It could be dangerous! What was she thinking?
But the hanyo knew the girl could be stubborn, so Hikaru followed.
Soon they could see a clearing, and Hikaru halted when she saw who was in it.
Fear gripped her heard like an icy fist.
Malevolent intentions, flashes of claws and fangs, red eyes glowing in the darkness, derisive laughter as she scrambles through a thick underbrushes in a desperate attempt to escape.
Hikaru caught the girl's hand in a tight clutch. Brown eyes turned her way and the hanyo shook frantically her head, ice blue eyes conveying panic and willing the human to turn away.
But the girl only smiled and took her hand out of Hikaru's grasp.
She walked to the edge of the clearing, curiosity mingling with anticipation.
When the demon turned to her, fangs glinting threateningly and eyes glowing red, the girl gasped before taking a step back. Hikaru had to clench tightly her hand against her mouth to restrain the scream that menaced to tore through.
She distinctively felt faint when the girl stepped into the clearing.
The demon growled threateningly, though it wasn't as fiercely as the first time. The girl, still not looking away from him, reached for her bamboo and put it down on the ground before retreating.
Hikaru received her in her arms, intense relief to know she was out of reach from those claws. She hugged the girl tightly and even if she was surprised, the girl hugged back, simply happy.
Ice blue eyes looked up to see the demon's gaze, now a golden amber colour, had turned from the bamboo to them.
Immediately her white ears flattened in response to the cold glare he sent her way. Her grip on the girl tightened even more, almost bruising, and Hikaru pulled her friend away, praying that the demon wouldn't pursue them to kill them.
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I hope you liked it. Don't hesitate to review to tell me what you think!
I will try to keep Sesshomaru (yes, it is Sesshomaru, in case someone had doubts) as in character as possible. But I warn my readers that a few changes will occur in this fanfic as the story to develop. Don't worry it will not happen suddenly.
For those who might have problems, perhaps this few points will help you.
Sesshomaru is a lord, so he has to be a strategist. Therefore, even if he will never admit it out loud, he can recognise when he made an error.
Sesshomaru is extremely prideful, but he isn't stupid, he will not forever stubbornly refusing a fact (even if the times he takes to accept it can be quite long).
Let's face it, Sesshomaru has the best poker face everyone has ever seen, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't feel anything. So when I'll describe his emotions, try to remind yourself that outwardly he still has the same stony face. I will write it if there is any facial changes.
Lastly, Sesshomaru is an incredibly difficult character to write about. So I apologise if anyone in the future thinks I don't portray him well enough. It is simply my point of view.
Until next week =)
