Chapter Four -- In Your Eyes
The sun crested the hills to the West, ducking behind the buildings as if afraid of the ever-descending darkness. Its last rays of golden sunshine washed almost lovingly over the city, basking all of it's inhabitants in the dying light. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the last punch was thrown, his movements seemed agonizingly slow.
In an instant, time flowed normally again, and he found that he had missed.
No sooner had he realized this then he felt a great force collide with his skull, knocking him backwards. He shook his head, struggling to retain his balance while he fought to clear his suddenly hazy vision. He was hit again in the stomach before he had time to recover, and would have doubled over if his arms hadn't been grabbed from behind.
He immediately tried to pull away from the two holding him, but one of his ribs was definitely broken -- it shifted sickeningly within him, causing him to catch his breath quickly, leaving no more room for struggle. His opponent grinned, planting his fist once again into Inuyasha's stomach. His vision went hazy, and white spots danced in front of his eyes before blackening almost completely.
No -- he was still conscience. His head had slumped forwards, allowing his hair to obscure his vision -- hair that was now inky black, as opposed to pure white.
No.. no, not now.. why now..? I can't.. protect her.. like this..!
"Not so tough now, are you?" The largest of the bunch, now sporting an impressive pair of scratches along his cheek, spat at the ground in contempt. "I dunno what the hell you are, but it sure looks like you're not half as good as I thought you were." His brown-eyed gaze shifted back to the bodies of his former companions, and he shook his head, obviously disgusted at the sight. He turned his gaze back to the now-captive -- and now human -- Inuyasha, and met his eyes for the first time.
In this man's eyes was something Inuyasha had been introduced to at a very young age -- insanity. It burned within him, setting his spirit afire and raging in his soul; it was a smoldering anger, like the kind you see in wounded animals. Someone had hurt this man, badly, and deeply.
Inuyasha wished only to take his pain, and double it.
They stayed like that for a moment, each meeting the other's eyes, each sizing the other up like wary beasts, and each coming to a conclusion.
The man turned away; towards Kagome. She shrank back against the wall at his approach, fear filling her wide blue eyes. Those eyes had gone from shocked to horrified to pained to relieved and back to horrified in a span of seconds, and now, faced with this threat once again, she lashed out. Her hand flashed across his face in a blur, a few flecks of blood trailing from the wounds Inuyasha had already inflicted.
He laughed at her.
Something snapped within her, and she tried again, this time planting four dainty knuckles right into the square of his jaw.
His head whipped to the side and snaked back, blood already spouting from his lip as he turned to glare at her. She cradled her abused hand between her left arm and her chest, tears forming at how much it hurt -- but she wouldn't let them overflow, not again.
"Well, well. You do have some fire in you, don'tcha?" He stopped talking, looking faintly surprised, then put a hand to his cheek in confusion. "That actually hurt, you little whore.." He tossed off the insult absently, as if he wasn't even paying attention.
"Don't touch me.." She warned him acidly, though her voice quavered ever so slightly.
"Sweetie.. you underestimate me." His meaning was lost on her, perhaps; but not on her companion. Her frightened gaze was drawn to Inuyasha as he snarled, trying once again to break free of his human restraints.
His eyes met hers.
Violet to blue, a flurry of emotions and understanding passed between them. Silently, they fought their individual battles, oblivious to what went on around them -- until Kagome's unnamed attacker slammed her into the wall, pinning her small body there with his own.
Blue eyes pleaded.
Inuyasha! Help me!
Violet eyes turned away.
Kagome.. I can't! Kagome..!
His lips ground against hers, tongue entering her mouth as she opened it to scream. She choked, turning her face away, fighting for breath as he kissed her again, one hand roughly cupping her chin. He was completely pressed up against her now, nearly crushing her to the wall behind them, and she could -- she could feel him against her, a promise of what was to come next, after he got tired of kissing her, of prodding her body with his hands, rough fingers sliding under her torn and ragged shirt and digging into the waistband of her shorts --
She pushed away from him with a strength borne of fear and desperation, her feet actually leaving the ground as she threw herself over his arm, one foot bracing against the wall. She stretched out her hand to the silent figure, reaching as far as she could --
But he held her back, laughing, arms wrapping around her waist and hauling her towards him again, turning his back on the silent boy behind him.
"It's just you and me, sweetheart.." Behind him, the two men holding Inuyasha exchanged glances. Sure, they robbed convenience stores and mugged late-night strollers in the park -- they'd even had a few scenes like this before, with more than one woman at a time -- but this was different. There was something else stirring here, something that made pinpricks of fear cat-paw up their spines, that made their eyes dart nervously around before one of them finally laughed at the absurdity of it all. His companion joined him, the low sound reassuring them. They laughed in earnest, now, watching their friend ravage the girl, as they had so many times before.
They were still laughing as they died.
There was no warning, really -- the faint stirrings of a breeze, maybe, or the low growl that started from somewhere, sounding like nothing more than a Harley in the distance, but before either man could comprehend it, their hearts were ripped from their bodies to lay twitching on the pavement, still beating, weakly pumping blood to parts no longer attached.
As two still-warm bodies fell forwards, a bloodied, clawed hand reached out from the darkness, snagging the only surviving man's collar and tugging him backwards. Startled, he let go of Kagome, who promptly dropped to the ground in a miserable, sobbing heap. He was slammed against a door with such force that his shoulder blades cracked, and he was sure he felt something snap.
He opened his mouth, and in that instant a searing pain tore through his cheek. Blood poured from the ragged edge of his mouth, swarming into his throat and effectively preventing him from screaming. As he choked, another burning pain made itself known in his hands, at the wrist, then his forearms, at the elbow. He looked down, totally unprepared for the sight that greeted him. Both of his arms were gone.
"You.." The one word was growled, and two sets of narrowed eyes -- one in pain, the other in fury -- met each other for the second time that night, in completely different circumstances than before. It was clear, now, who was the victim and who was not, and as dark brown eyes met pure red ones, this stoic predator suddenly knew the meaning of fear. For swimming there within those burning red eyes was a dangerous spark that he'd never seen before; an insanity and rage that his own wounded soul could never hope to match. The creature before him looked like a wounded animal, hurt and angry, with the last vestiges of shattered innocence writhing in his gaze.
If eyes were windows to the soul, this was one that had just been hurt beyond repair.
They came to an understanding, then, silently and swiftly. We're the same, brown eyes laughed. In a haze of pain and rapidly darkening senses, his eyes laughed. This impersonal rage, this helpless pain -- we feel the same, don't we?
Face contorted with fury, Inuyasha began to tear out his heart.
*
She was only out for a few seconds, but it felt like hours had gone by when she finally lifted her head from the pavement. Dazed blue/green eyes took in the scene before her, and she could do nothing but stare dumbly at the struggling figures before her.
Or rather, one figure was struggling; the other figure was the cause of said struggling.
Inuyasha was taking immense pleasure in this man's pain -- it was as if his aura sang, a dark song of glee and power caused by the intoxicating smell of blood. It swirled around him, sending a chill up her spine and icy stab of fear into her already bruised heart. She recognized it, this power that swirled around him. It was not the comforting presence in her mind, but rather the prickly feeling of imminent danger that nagged at her whenever a demon was near.
In this moment, Inuyasha felt like a Youkai, no different from all the others.
"Inuyasha, stop! Stop, stop it!" She couldn't think of anything else to say. "Please, sto--" She choked, her throat raw from screaming so much earlier. She tried to scramble to her feet, stumbled, went down on her hands and knees. "Please.. I just want to get out of here! Inuyasha!"
He blinked, suddenly unsure. There was something more important then bloodshed, here, something he should remember --
Kagome.
He whipped his head around to look at her, the blood-red color draining from his eyes to be replaced by a dusty violet, sharp with confusion and pain. He stood like that for a moment, white-haired and violet-eyed, and then turned back to the whimpering man before him. In one deft stroke, he ended the tortured life, and let what was left of the body slump to the ground. Feeling an odd wrenching sensation, he looked down at his hands.
Human hands, covered in human blood.
He stared at them for a long moment, then raised his eyes to meet Kagome's. She looked past him, vacantly, something trembling within her. He took a step, then another, then knelt in front of her.
Their eyes met, once again.
She lurched forwards, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. There she cried, softly, but not at all delicately. Silent sobs wracked her body as she trembled, gasping for breath.
He caught her in a gentle embrace, unthinkingly smoothing her hair with his hand. The ebony strands were stained with blood almost immediately -- and what unnerved him more was that it could barely be seen. Unlike the stains on her other clothing, which stood out brilliantly among the pale colors, her hair remained the same as ever. The blood was there, but it couldn't be seen.
He didn't know why that angered him more than what had just been attempted.
"Please.." She whispered, sounding almost broken. He picked her up, wincing more than slightly as his ribs protested -- strenuously, at that. He carried her, nonetheless.
Her house wasn't far; he could see it the minute he rounded the corner. It was well into the night, now; few people were on the streets, and those who were paid no attention to the strange couple -- a street brawler and his drunk girlfriend, they thought. Just another whore who got too high to walk on her own.
Another Note from Mowi -- Yes, I will explain things in later chapters; settle down. u.u