Origins of the pinky swear
Three years later
Keeping myself alive was proving more difficult than I thought possible, well I should have known better, the world holds no sympathy for beings like me. Those first nights I just slept in the open or in a tree, but apparently that was a bad idea. At night the demons came out and a little hanyou like me was the perfect meal. Of course I was stronger and faster than a human and if it came down to it I could hold my own against a weak demon.
But that rarely happened, first demons could sense aura's and thereby compare their strength with mine so there was no way a weak demon would attack me no matter how stupid some of them were and even if they did weaker demons always hunt in packs. So staying hidden at nightfall was the best option, I sought my shelter in little caves or holes I dug for myself between the roots of trees, also I realized that I couldn't stay in one place for a long time. I made a habit of staying somewhere for three or four days before I moved on.
The longer I spend time in the same area, the stronger my scent grew and demons became curious if they smelled something like me, it's not every day you come across a half demon. Of course this was just a safety precaution, but I'm better safe than sorry. Right now I found shelter in a cave behind a waterfall, which meant I could stay there a little while longer than usual because the water masked my scent for a great deal.
I was out hunting, I had sniffed out a couple of rabbits and was now chasing them in the forest, after a while I caught them and ate them raw. At first I was a bit disgusted by this way of feeding, but once I surrendered to my youkai instincts it felt better, it also helped me escape the pain I still felt in my heart. Youkai didn't have feelings, so they didn't have to deal with sadness and loneliness. Yeah I was lonely, my youkai side was perfectly at ease with my new way of living, but my human side craved for human contact ... a friend.
Which was stupid, I know all too well humans and half-breeds can't be friends, in the past in a moment of weakness I went into a village to steal some food. Maybe I thought that they'd feel a little compassion for a child wandering alone in the world, yeah as if. As soon as I set one foot in the village the women and children started to scream, while their husbands and fathers grabbed for their pitchforks.
Stupid weak humans, I should have taken them all out, yeah I could do that I was strong enough to defeat several humans, I had thought about it you know to just kill them all. But I couldn't the moment the idea crossed my mind I looked into the eye of a woman protectively shielding her child behind her back. It reminded me of her, my mom, she wouldn't want me to hurt those people, I know that much, so I ran for it.
I avoided humans since then, I despised them, they were weak beings. I longed to be a full demon, I would be strong and unafraid, I wouldn't have to deal with loneliness and the pain in my chest. Everyone would fear me respect me, no one would ever push me around ever again, nothing could hurt me again.
Yeah as if that would happen, I washed the rabbit-blood from my hands and my face in the river and climbed back in the cave. It was somewhere in the spring so it wasn't too cold out, I've very nearly froze to death in the winter, for the simple reason that I did not know how to make a fire. That was also the reason why I ate my prey raw, I've tried but failed every time. Normally a father would learn a son such things as hunt, make a fire, make a camp, I always wondered what it would be like to have a father, if maybe my mother would have lived longer if he was with her.
I knew I had a brother somewhere out there, my mom told me about him, Sesshomaru, but he was a full demon and so he wouldn't care for a half breed such as myself. I closed my eyes and dozed off, hoping that at least for one night, I could have a nightmare free sleep, but I knew that was far from impossible.
The next day I was out hunting again, it was past midday and I was fishing in the river, I had actually fun trying to teach myself how to fish in the beginning. I would chase the fish around until either him or I was too tired to anymore, usually it was me who gave up first. Now I had pretty much gotten the hang of it, I had caught two fishes already, but they were small so I decided to catch another one, I was waiting in the water standing as still as I could until one of them came too close. With one quick sweep I flung it out of the water.
"ah stupid fish" I laughed, clubbed the fish on the head so it would be out of its suffering and ate them whole. I started to return to my cave to rest a bit, I didn't sleep too well last night, not because of the nightmares, well yeah that had something to do with it. But also because this place has one too much demons running around at night, they were attracted to the river, I had to remind that for later, stay away from the river.
Stupid I should have known, guess I can't stay here for much longer still I decided that I would stay here for at least one night, the demons didn't know I was there, so I didn't have much to fear. It was slowly getting dark already, suddenly I hear a loud growl coming up ahead. I hid inside the trees to see what all the commotion was about.
There were two lizard demons sniffing around my cave, they were weak demons, I've taken their kind out before, they were very curious demons with a taste for human flesh, only pathetic beings like humans were weak enough to be their prey. The ones I had killed in the past actually had me confused with a human, stupid youkai, they defiantly deserved what was coming for them.
"hey! What do you think you are doing?" I yelled at them, I wanted a little excitement plus I could use this opportunity to work on my fighting skills.
"look another one, you keep searching I'll take this one" hell no they thought I was human too? Damn I should have known though, I don't exactly look like a human and they can't smell as well as I can, but still the dog ears on my head should've been a giveaway.
"bring it on" I flexed my claws a bit and bared my fang. The foolish demon came at me head on, I jumped up and with one clean sweep I cut it's head off. "well that wasn't much of a fight, you wanna try?" I turned around and faced the other demon who was sniffing out my cave.
"filthy creature how dare you!!" this one was a little bit smarter than the other one, it kept its distance and started to circle me searching for an opening. It came at me but changed tactics, he swept its tail at me, having the element of surprise it knocked me off my feet and I landed on my back. The demon was going in for the kill, but it seemed to forget I was not human, I let him bite my arm, knowing that the robe of the fire rat would protect me from its fangs, besides now he was close enough for me to finish.
I slit it's throat, with a final cry of agony it fell death on top of me, covering me with filthy demon blood.
"get off of me!" I pushed to bleeding carcass of my body and plunged myself in the river once again, once most of the blood was cleaned off I entered my cave and realized what they were searching for. Stupid human, in the corner of the cave sat a little human girl trembling with fear and exhaustion.
"are they gone?" she wept, ah crap, as if my night couldn't get any worse.
"what the hell are you doing here?" I snapped.
"I'm sorry … the demons were chasing me I just sought a place to hide I didn't know it belonged to you" she cried some more.
"well it does" I looked outside, damn the sun has set already and with the amount of demon blood splattered near the hiding place every demon who has any sense of smell would be all over the place. I peeked out and already saw smaller demons eating quickly before the bigger ones came. Crap, she can't leave this place, not until morning at least, not that I care what happens to her, it's just that they'd follow her scent right back at me, damn I knew I should have found another place for tonight.
"thank you for saving me" the girl came closer to me, isn't she afraid, I slaughtered two demons right in front of her.
"I didn't do it for you, they were in my way"
"still, thank you, what's your name?" she smiled at me, weird little girl, doesn't she know not to trust strangers?
"you have no need for that kind of information, just sit as far away from me as you can don't talk to me and as soon as the sun's up, get the hell out of here!" I yelled at her.
"you're mean" she stated, she threw me an angry look, "why don't you just kick me out now?"
"do you want to go outside? Thanks to you every demon in a 5 mile radius will be all over this place" I sat down on the opposite side that she was sitting and tried to stare her down. Because of the little light the full moon allowed inside I couldn't quite see what she looked like, I could tell she had dark long hair and dark angry eyes that stared right back at me, I smirked, she isn't afraid of me ... interesting.
Don't get any ideas Inuyasha, she's just 'friendly' until she doesn't need you anymore, I'll bet as soon as dawn breaks she'll start calling me names and run as far away from me as she can, or something along those lines, they always do.
"why are you so angry at me anyway, I haven't done anything wrong and I thanked you" she looked the other way, why does she continue to talk?
"will you just shut up, stupid little human" this girl's working on my last nerves.
"no, stupid little demon" she barked right back.
"I swear I'll kick your little ass right out of here if you don't shut it, maybe the monsters outside have more patience with you" as on cue one of the bigger demons arrived and release a load roar, I knew it didn't mean anything menacing, just a warning, get out let me eat and I won't harm you. But the little girl didn't get that message, she trembled in fear and started sobbing again, she clamped her hands over her ears in a feeble attempt to shut the sounds out.
"will yah stop it with the tears already? It's annoying as hell" I never did like seeing women cry, it brought back too much painfull memories.
"hey I keep my mouth shut only fair that you do too" she demanded, that was it, the little thing thinks she can throw orders at me? I'll show her.
"that's it you pathetic human" I walked up to her and flexed my claws trying to scare her, it didn't have that effect on her, she got up and faced me head on.
"what are you gonna do huh? Kill me? eat me? go ahead I'm not scared of you" I don't know why but I found the sight of her rather amusing, her head was barely sticking above my shoulder, she was just this little human girl, she wasn't even afraid of me, I smirked at this "what are you laughing at jerk?" she yelled again.
"you're not scared of me are you" I got closer to her, so she had to back away a bit, she was startled at first at our close proximity but quickly got over it, she pushed my chest, trying to put more distance between us.
"why should I? you're not half as scary as you think you are you know, I don't get scared that easily" again a loud roar was heard outside, seems like someone else didn't get the message either. She clamped her hands over her ears trying to block the sound out again and whimpered a bit.
"not scared huh?" I mocked her.
"of you? No?" I had to give it to the girl she's a brave one.
"don't worry so much, as soon as the carcasses are devoured they'll leave" I sat down again, leaning my back against a large boulder. She sat down close beside me.
"what did I say, get away from me !" I pushed her back a bit.
"you're hurt" she whispered, she pointed to my ear, she reached over to it I hissed when she touched the bump, I must have hit a rock or something when that thing tripped me.
"why are you touching me?" I snapped and flinched away when she reached again to my ear.
"sorry I just wanted to help"
"I don't need your help" I snapped again, hypocrite human.
"oh, alright" she moved a bit away from me.
"now go sit over there and for the love of god shut up" in fact I wasn't even half as annoyed as I sounded, I enjoyed the company actually, I just knew that when a human showed kindness to me I had to be on my toes, it's just unnatural.
"please, could I just sit here next to you, I promise I won't say a word, you won't even know I'm here" she was scared of those monsters outside, damn I want to say yes, I really do I remember the times I ran for my life and wished for someone stronger to protect me. But there is one crucial difference here, she's human, she belongs in a village, she's not alone.
I don't feel a single shred of pity for her. The world is a cruel place, the weak die, the strong survive. Being scared doesn't help you anywhere. This girl probably ran away from home in some silly argument, thinking she'd be better off on her own, she probably has a father and mother maybe a sister or brother that are worried sick about her. A healthy dose of fear should be good for her, it'd learn her to appreciate the things she has in life.
"listen I don't care about any of that, just stay away from me, in the morning go back where ever it is you came from, because you won't survive out here on your own" she just stared at me and said nothing, then after a while she scooted away from me, not as far as I would have wanted but still it's better than nothing, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
I couldn't sleep that night, how could I? Enemies everywhere. She wasn't really sleeping either, I could hear it from the ritme of her heartbeat and her steady breathing that she was awake. She laid with her face away from me staring into the nothingness of the cave, I didn't hear her whimper or sob, but I knew she was crying from the smell of salt her tears left behind.
It made me feel a little guilty though. When the first rays of sunlight came over the horizon she got up and walked past me, she didn't make eye contact with me. she had set about five steps outside and turned back at me, she had brown eyes, filled with sadness beyond compare, her little smile just seemed to amplify to the amount of sadness that housed in the little girl.
"my name is Kagome, you don't have to tell me yours since we're not friends, but still I'm glad I met you" she turned and walked away, her eyes where puffy because of all her crying, her hair was the darkest shade of black you could imagine but when the sunlight touched it, it gave of a dark blue color. From her clothes I could see she'd have to be the daughter of a peasant or something.
Don't follow her, don't follow her, ah crap. As soon as she disappeared in the forest I trailed behind her. Keeping my distance and hiding myself in the trees, I watched her wiping away furiously the tears that were streaming across her face, while whispering something to herself.
"I can do this, I can do this" she stopped for a moment when she reached the end of the trees and just watched the houses of the village, then she looked back as if suspecting someone to follow her, strange girl. She sighed and walked on at a deadly slow pace, I watched her stop in front a few gravestones for a moment then she disappeared inside the village.
She's gone, I watched from the tree top for a couple of moments before going off on my own wondering how it would be like to have a family, I forgot what it felt like. Suddenly I felt the loneliness again, I didn't realize it wasn't there haunting me a few moments ago as if that girl, Kagome, had to power to drive it off.
Better this way, it's though enough surviving on my own I don't need some girl holding me back. I was lost in my own thoughts, thinking about the girl smirking when I remembered the ferocious look in her eyes as if she'd eat me if she could, sure she annoyed the hell out of me, but still …
I heard a scream sounding clearly from the village, I saw a few men chasing someone.
what the hell is going on ?!