Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters, nor am I being paid for this work.
A/N: Story is rated M for language, violence and sexual situations. This chapter is mostly language.
Demons: Chapter one
The leaves around him swayed with the breeze. Rough bark bit into his back while he sat high up in the crux of the ancient tree. His foot tapped impatiently.
Where was she!
He'd only left her minutes ago, a deliberate punishment to her constant disregard. Let her walk home alone, he wasn't going to stand by and take her abuse.
He scowled down at the temple's entrance. He didn't like being in this time; There were too many caustic scents and sounds. He lost track of Kagome just a block after he left her, the heavy smell of car exhaust muddling his senses. It was petty of him to leave her behind, but with his face still stinging from a recent 'Oswari!' he was somehow too disinterested to care. The soft, bare ground of his time allowed some merciful give when the enchantment slammed him face first into the dirt, but here the concrete streets were not as forgiving.
True, he often spoke without thinking, and sometimes he came off sounding insulting or arrogant, but that was no reason for her to abuse the power of that damn subduing spell.
A crescent moon rose high above, darkness falling thick around him. He scented the air and found no sign of her. This time didn't have demons to worry about; Surely she was safe walking the five blocks to her house.
So, why wasn't she here yet?
Inuyasha jumped down from his tree and walked under the arch atop the temple stairs. Cars sped along the street below, but few people walked past. None of them were Kagome. He scented the air again, sneezing from a nose full of toxic, chemical smells. There was no trace of her on the breeze and he began to worry.
It took only moments to cover the ground from the temple to the cracked concrete where he'd left her. Again no sign, except the dying whisper of her scent, already a half an hour old; Right around the time he took off. On all fours he searched the area to trace her scent trail, but there was nothing except the older traces from the direction they had come. She hadn't double-backed.
He growled in frustrated confusion. It was as if she'd vanished into the very air. His fist came down on the concrete, creating another spider's web of cracks.
A garbage bin shuddered in the adjacent alleyway. His sharpened eye sight zeroed in. In the darkness he saw the outline of a small person cowering by the wall. Faster than human eyes, he was there, lifting the street urchin up by the collar. The poor boy's feet dangling a foot off the ground. The kid couldn't be older than ten, maybe eleven.
"Where is she?" The hanyou growled, giving the frightened boy a hard shake.
He whimpered in response, but something behind his eyes said that Inuyasha wasn't the only thing he was afraid of. Remembering that humans of this era were not used to seeing demons, Inuyasha tried to be a bit calmer.
"There was a girl here, not long ago. Dark hair, white and green clothing. What happened to her?"
Gulping for air, the urchin seemed to find his voice, "No way, man! I'm not telling you nothin'. They'll kill me!"
Forgetting his intentions to remain calm, Inuyahsa brought the boy in until the tip of his grubby nose was almost touching the hanyou's. His eyes flashed deadly gold. "I'll kill you if you don't."
The boy weighed his options, and came up empty either way. "It was a van. White, all scuffed up. I saw the guys that grabbed her. They were definitely Frakie's guys."
"Fran-kee?" Inuyasha struggled with the foreign name.
"Guy's an American. Came here to peddle the flesh trade. American business men pay top dollar for young girls. Find 'um exotic and shit. Frankie, he's got guys workin' for him. They scout out young girls they think the customers 'ill like. They find a girl walkin' alone, they snatch her."
The hanyou felt his stomach turn. He'd been wrong before, these men had to be demons. Humans wouldn't do this. Would they? The image of Kagome pinned under the weight of some sweating, fat shogun appeared all too clear in his mind. He swore he could even smell her tears.
"Where do they take these girls?" His voice was beginning to break on panic.
"Downtown, the slums. They got a house they take new girls. Tony, that's Frankie's right hand man, he likes to break the girls himself." The silver haired man seemed confused by his words, so he tried a different way. "See, the customers, they don't like to think they're raping some young kid. Think they're too upper class or some shit. And these girls aren't exactly in this business willingly, so they got to be trained. Got to be broken first."
The meaning began to dawn in Inuyasha's mind. His Kagome was far too spirited to just lie back and accept such a fate. She'd fight, and be punished until she finally stopped fighting. She'd probably be dead by then.
How much time had passed? How fast did these things happen? He had to hurry.
"You will show me the way." he told the boy.
"Fuck, no, man! You're fuckin' crazy. Those guys 'ill kill you and then come after me for helpin' you."
"I wasn't asking. I was telling." He flung the boy onto his back, carrying him like he usually carried Kagome. "Which way?"
"Ah, shit," the kid whispered. "I'm so fuckin' dead." He pointed out in front of them, leading back into the city. The hanyou took off in that direction.
Life on the city streets had made Kiyo a skeptical boy. Only eleven, he'd seen and done some dark things. His crimes ran mostly in the theft department, only enough to stay alive, but the back alleys and street subjected all its inhabitants to a violent life. Most of the urban inhabitants never knew such corruption existed in their peaceful city.
The Higurashi family certainly never made any mention of such condemnable acts existing behind the backdrop of quite urban life. Inuyasha never imagined Kagome's time was so dangerous. Unlike the feudal era, they were no demons, no wars, no famine; He never suspected what other putridfications had been born in their places.
He followed the boy's directions and took note as the tall stone structures began to thin and crumble the farther they traveled. New scents filled the air, each as horrid as the last. The scent of decaying garbage was the most prevalent. Rats scurried freely in alleyways, dumpsters over flowed with refuse. Some buildings held distinctly chemical smells. When he questioned the boy he received strange answers. The boy called these buildings "drug houses".
"We're almost there," Kiyo yelled over the whistling of wind in his ears. This strange man ran faster than anyone he had ever met. The long silver hair and fuzzy ears were strange as well. He'd never seen anyone, in the city or the suburbs, that looked like this guy. The intense look in his eyes had Kiyo convinced at first that he was some raver junkie. One of those club kids who dressed up in elaborate costumes and decorated their bodies with layers of accessories. Or maybe one of those furrries, people who got off by dressing up like an animal. That had to be it.
"Oy, Boy. You sure know a lot about this bastard and his business. Why?"
"I'm an orphan, living on the street. Some times I run errands for Frankie to make some cash. Plus, it's the only way," he paused for a moment. "It's the only way to see my sister. She was taken 'bout three months ago. I heard she's one of Tony's favorites, so he don't let her got to work for the clients. He..." Kiyo had to swallow the taste of bile in his throat at the thought of what his sister endured. "He keeps her to himself. She's only fourteen," he finished in a horrified whisper.
Inuyasha felt his anger flair. His mind couldn't comprehend the repugnance of the situation. Young girls barely out of puberty made sex slaves at the whim of some sick bastard's greed. He ran faster, till the air burned in his lungs. He couldn't let anything happen to Kagome. He'd die before he let one of those filthy men lay a hand one her.
It came as a cold shock to realize that in a way, they already had. They had been able to take her because he wasn't there. He left her alone and failed in his promise to always protect her.
Never again.
"That the one, right up there."
Inuyasha was broken out of his thoughts. His eyes followed the direction of Kiyo's out stretched hand. It led to a three story building, blackened by age. Several windows were broken, but all had thick bars caging them. Two men lounged on the front stoop, smoking cigarettes. Each had some strange shiny object pushed into the waist band of their pants.
Inuyasha stopped in the alley way across from the house. He wanted to gag from the stench. The air was thick with human sweat and sex. It was laced with strange chemical agents, some vaguely medicinal. Most likely some manner of sedative.
"I don't know these guys," Kiyo motioned the two men guarding the door. "But all Frankie's guys got pieces. You'll never get in, an if you do, you'll never get out alive."
The hanyou looked down at the boy. His eyes pled for Inuyasha not to go. The hanyou turned away, to face the front of the dark building. "Your sister."
Kiyo looked at his back, puzzled.
"What's your sister's name?"
"Saiyo."
"Wait here. I'll come back."
Kiyo watched horrified as the strange man with the pale hair stepped across the street, and walked right up to the front steps. The two guards merely laughed as they eyed him up and down.
"What the fuck is this?" One man sneered, showing a mouth full of yellow teeth. "Yo, buddy, it ain't Halloween and you ain't trick 'er treaten', so I suggest you fuck off."
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. These men were human and that posed a problem. He was not in the business of killing humans.
"Didn't you hear me," the man with the ugly teeth was starting to get angry. "I said get the fuck outta here before I have ta beat ya to death for being a goddamn moron. Can you fuckin' believe this guy?" He motioned to his companion, who merely studied Inuyasha with open animosity.
"Where's Kagome?" He kept his voice flat, and deceptively calm.
The man flicked his cigarette to the ground, growling in anger. "I see. You're one of them guys. Looking for some free pussy. Look we don't service your kind here. Fuckin' freak."
Now those words Inuyasha had heard before. In a moment he was on the man, rendering him unconscious with a blow that nearly took his head off. His companion was quicker to reach for his weapon. Inuyasha turned in time to feel the burning heat of something grazing his shoulder. He grabbed the wound, surprised by how intensely the pain radiated from such a small injury. His hand curled around the barrel of the man's weapon before the man could fire again while he used the other to cold cock the man upside his head. The thug slumped bonelessly on the stairs.
Pounding of footsteps from inside headed his way. He quickly unsheathed Tessaiga and rushed into the darkness of the building.
A/N: Reviews are always appreciated. Let me know what you think.