Disclaimer: Like any of you people would report me…ok ok. I don't own InuYasha.
I really don't think you want to listen to me babble so…
On with the story."Criminal?" I asked. "What are you talking about Yugi?"
Yugi turned to me. "Mushigo Catarie. Wanted for the murder of his parents then denial and escape." He said if reading the wanted sign.
I gasped. What?
Nasuku stepped forward. "Mushi, care to explain?"
Mushi shook his head and took a couple of steps back. He threw one arm to the side. "I didn't do it! I don't give a damn if no one will believe me!" He turned to run but Yugi grabbed him by the arms.
I walked up to Mushi who was now struggling against Yugi, desperately trying to get away. "Mushi?" I said softly. He stopped struggling and stared at me. His eyes were glazed over with tears ready to fall. "Why don't you tell us what happened? We can't help if we don't know what happened. Please stop trying to run and tell us." Yugi tilted his head down as the tears fell down his cheeks and let his body relax. Yugi let him go and he fell to his knees. I kneeled next to him and waited.
Mushi began his story… (Flashback)
"Mushigo you terrible child!" A woman shouted. "Learn to do as I tell you!"
A young Mushi about thirteen cried as his mother yelled at him again. She always did. It seemed he could nothing right. She asked him to pick some herbs and he had picked too little, so she yelled at him.
"Get out of my sight! I do not wish to see you for the rest of the day. Find your own food you will get none from here." The woman said and turned away from Mushi. He ran out of the house and onto a nearby hill. He always came here after she threw him out; almost every night.
Mushi hugged his knees to his chest and stared at the sunset behind the village. His family lived outside of the village for some reason, well he knew there was a reason, but his parents would never tell him.
After the sun went down Mushi got up from the hill and snuck into the nearby forest. He walked until he came to a certain tree. He stopped and jumped into it. At the top he found his guitar and pulled it out. He played and sung until his fingers bled and his throat hurt as always.
Finally he placed the guitar back in its place and climbed from the tree. He sat down and leaned against the tree. He looked at the sky through the trees. "Why do you torture me?" He shouted at the sky. "I have done nothing wrong! What have I done to deserve this punishment? Some unknown sin or something?" Mushi's eyes began to water. He hugged his knees to his chest and cried into them. "I wish it would all stop." He sobbed.
A week later when he was sent to the village to buy some things his wish came true. He was walking back to his home when he smelled it. Blood. His parents. He dropped the basket of things and ran to the house. He was about to enter when he heard voices. He flattened himself to a tree downwind and listened.
"They should have given us the money." Someone said.
"Yah, yah then they wouldn't of had to pay with there lives." Another said then laughed.
A more laid back sounding one spoke next. "Don't they have a boy? Shouldn't we worry about him?"
"Nah." Replied the first.
"Now where are those drugs? Here pretty drugs?" Said the second one. Mushi's world came crashing down around him. His parents were drug dealers? No they couldn't have been. Then he thought back to all the times his parents looked a little out of it and what kind of herbs and supplies he had gathered. It all pointed to his first thought. His parents were drug dealers.
The demons came out of his home. Blood all over them. There was a wolf, weasel, and kitsune. Mushi didn't recognize them. He waited until they were out of sight and ran into his now destroyed home. There on the ground lay his mother and father. He kneeled beside them and checked their pulses. His father was dead but there was a slight heartbeat coming from his mother. He quickly tried to stop the bleeding he grabbed cloth after cloth and wrapped it around her wounds. He didn't really like his mother but he never wished for her to die. He loved her.
In the end his efforts were in vain. His mother died. Mushi stood up and looked at his parents' bodies. He was now covered in blood from head to toe.
Just then a couple of village people walked in having smelled the blood and coming to investigate. There they saw Mushi covered in blood standing over his parents dead bodies. They all knew how Mushi was treated and came to the simplest and easiest conclusion. Mushi had snapped.
A couple of strong demons ran forth and seized him. Mushi didn't fight against them, but instead let them drag him the short distance to his family's closest friend's home…the lord and lady's palace of the North. The village men threw Mushi down in front of the Lord and Lady. Slowly he raised his now cold and angry green eyes to meet their gazes. The Lady grabbed her eight-year-old son, Yugi, and hugged his head to her chest so he couldn't see.
The Lord's face twisted in anger. "Stand boy!" He shouted at Mushi. He slowly stood and stared at the lord. "How dare you!" He spat. "Killing your own parents!" Mushi diverted his eyes. For the time being he had gone mute. At this point he couldn't speak or show any emotion. "Don't you have anything to say boy?"
Mushi stared at the lord. He had something to say. "My lord, my parents were drug dealers. They were not killed by me but by three demons that were going on about my parents owing them money." He bowed. "I did not kill my parents."
The lord's face turned a redder shade. "You expect me to believe that lie? You're covered in their blood from head to toe! Some villagers found you standing over their bodies! Drug dealers! Feh!" The Lord turned to his guards. "Take him down to the dungeons and keep him there until he is ready to speak the truth!"
So Mushi was dragged down to the dungeons. Weeks went by and Mushi didn't say anything. They tried starving him with no prevail. Then they moved to torture. They whipped him, beat him, and did any horrible thing they could think of to him. Mushi took it all in. This was his punishment for his wish. Finally they gave up. They left him to rot in the dungeons. Until the Lady came down one night.
"You didn't kill them did you?" She asked. Mushi just stared at her. She looked around then produced a key from her kimono. "Take the back exit. Climb the wall and go west. They won't notice you're gone until it's too late." She said and unlocked to door. She walked in and helped Mushi stand.
"Why are you helping me?" He asked.
"Because just by looking at you I can tell you're not a murderer. Just a confused boy who is being punished for a crime he did not commit." She replied and helped him up the dungeon stairs. "Now do as I told." She said in a gentle tone. She kissed his forehead. "Stay safe." And with that she left him.
Mushi stood there for a minute. She had just treated him like her own son without a second thought. She was like the mother he never had. Mushi smiled and did as she had said. He snuck out the back and head west. There he changed his attitude, and became cheerful and happy. Then he joined Lord Sesshomaru's army and was finally accepted.
(End flashback.)
Mushi was now shaking with his sobs. I couldn't take it any longer. I embraced him. Yugi and Nasuku knew I was a girl and would understand the instinct to comfort, and Mushi was in such a state that he would care. I held him and he cried into my chest.
Yugi stared at Mushi dumbstruck. "M-my mother helped y-you escape?" He asked.
Mushi couldn't respond, and instead kept sobbing. "Yugi? Will you shut up?" I said. "Leave him be for now."
Nasuku put his hand on Yugi's shoulder. "He's right. Just leave him. He's been keeping this to himself for a very long time."
After a while Mushi stopped crying. He pushed himself to his feet and rubbed his eyes. I stood as well and made sure he was all right. When Mushi felt up to it he spoke. "I didn't kill my parents. I would never do such a thing. I loved them. They were all I had." He said.
Yugi looked like a complete idiot. He stared at Mushi then me. "W-what?"
"He didn't do it." I said simply. "And he doesn't lie. I've seen the scars from the torture. They're all over his back. So many of them it's sickening." I told Nasuku more than Yugi.
Mushi nodded. "They still hurt at times." He said. "They never let me forget."
Yugi backed up and fell on his butt. "A lie? Heh heh. Who would of thought?" He said as if he had gone nuts. I left Mushi's side and walked over to Nasuku.
"I think you should take him to hot springs nearby and let him soak in them. It'll help him a lot." I told him. Nasuku nodded.
He walked over to Mushi and put his arm on his shoulders. "Come on Mush." He said and led Mushi away.
I turned to a still confused Yugi. "Would you close your mouth? You looked like an idiot." I said.
"Well I sure as hell feel like one." Yugi said and ran a hand down his face. "Great, I try to fit in and have people like me and I act like a jackass."
I rolled my eyes. "Get over it." I told him. "Mushi needed to get it out of him. It was eating him away on the inside. It did him good to tell us."
Yugi looked at me. "So did I do good or bad?" He asked.
"Neither." I said and walked away leaving behind an even more confused prince of the north.
Poor Mushi huh? Well now you guys know where those scars came from in the Chapter 12. Well I'm tired and ready to sleep. Night.
Review please. (No yelling at me.)