Under the Pale Autumn Moon

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Inuyasha continued to have his bewildered look playing across his face as he stared at the cook, the annoying little rat child, and his cousin. The three named people continued to sit on the ground and look up at him with odd looks on their faces.

Inuyasha finally threw his arms up into the air, "Why the hell are you still in my room?"

Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and even Kagome jumped and looked at Inuyasha. Growling like a dog, Inuyasha pointed an evil glare at the three occupants who were standing/sitting amid the broken shards of glass.

"Ok. Let me say this in a way you might understand. Get. Out. Of. My. Room. Now!" Inuyasha picked up Shippou and flung him out the door, Miroku and Sango exchanged looks and then left as well, muttering about Inuyasha and not enough coffee.

Kagome watched them go with mild interest. She turned to Inuyasha with a smile, "Ok, I told you about me being a miko, now you have to tell me something!"

"Oh great," Inuyasha said sarcastically, "What, pray tell, is it that you could possibly want to know?"

"Why are you a hanyou?" she asked, Inuyasha's eyes widened in shock and then he grunted, flopping down onto his bed and staring up at the ceiling, a pained expression dancing across his face.

Kagome bit her bottom lip, she hadn't meant to make Inuyasha feel uneasy, and certainly not pain, and she lowered her gaze and turned to seep through the floor.

"It only happened about a month ago." Kagome jumped and looked at Inuyasha, who was staring at his now transformed claws, smiling sadly he flexed the claws, allowing the nails to trace his palm lightly, "I wasn't always this way."

Kagome looked at him sadly and then sat herself at the foot of the bed. Not saying a word, in case he didn't want to tell her much.

Inuyasha didn't shift his gaze, kept staring at the same spot on the ceiling, "believe it or not, I used to be fully human."

Turning back to his human form he stared at the dull human nails, blinking his amethyst eyes he smiled the same small and sad smile, "I was normal."

Kagome blinked but still sad nothing.

"I lived a normal life with my two parents and I was happy," he closed his eyes as if trying to push the painful memories back, "But that all changed one day."

"What happened?" Kagome whispered silently.

"I met a youkai," Inuyasha stated as if it were the most simple thing in the world, "of course, I didn't know he was at the time."

He sat up now and looked at the wall with the peeling paint, "I pissed him off somehow, I don't know, maybe he just was in a bad mood, but when I got home I saw him sitting on my roof, damn it, at the time I had no idea why the hell he was up there, he said something about the roof being the perfect home."

Kagome suddenly got a feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Anyways, I ran inside my house and found my parents gone. Just gone. Nothing was left behind, it was a totally empty house," he rubbed his head irritably, "I ran back outside and asked the bastard youkai what the hell he did, and he only said 'you shouldn't mess with the best' and I was about to call the police when he made a deal with me."

"A deal?"

"He said if I did something for him I'd bring my parents back."

"And what did you do?"

"Do? Kagome, what else COULD I do? I wanted my parents to be safe, so being the fool that I am, I agreed."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, he brought my parents back, but they weren't the same. My father was cold and icy, and my mother, my mother was the worst, she didn't speak, she didn't eat, and I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't breathe. She just wasn't alive anymore."

"I wanted to back out of the deal, seeing my parents that way was too much," he clenched his fist, "but that bastard. He didn't like people backing out of deals, so he punished me."

"...By turning you into a hanyou?"

"Yeah." He said sadly, "when I came to, my parents were gone, and I ran, I ran as far as I could, I only wanted to be human again. And when I awoke. Lo and behold, I was human, and I was happy. But then I turned back, and that's how I discovered I could give myself a sealing spell. I called Sango the next day and she took me in."

Kagome and Inuyasha sat in silence for a while until Kagome said, "I'm sorry."

"I don't want your pity, bitch, I don't even know why the hell I told you all that."

"Maybe because we're kindred spirits," Kagome said softly, Inuyasha looked at her, sighed and got up to leave.

Kagome sat as Kikyo in the garden, watching the roses sadly, she heard foot steps behind her and she looked back only to see Miroku standing over her.

"Why, if it isn't you Kikyo-San, why may I ask are you residing in Sango-Sama's rose garden?"

Kikyo smiled sadly, "Roses bring back painful memories."

"Yeah that explains a lot."

Kikyo rolled her eyes, "I suppose not."

"Well, if I could rearrange the alphabet I'd put 'U' and 'I' next to each other."

Kikyo raised an eyebrow and rose from her bench, "That was worst than the angel pick up line."

Miroku shrugged, "Do your legs hurt?"

"Huh?"

"Because you've been running through my mind all day."

"That was even worst!"

"I'm just trying to make you smile Lady Kikyo, you would look better," Miroku turned and walked back into the house, seemingly oblivious.

Kikyo scowled at his retreating back but sat back down in a huff on the bench, staring at the white roses painfully.

A few minutes later another person sat next to her on the bench, thinking it was Miroku she scowled deeper and turned, "Leave me alone you hentai."

Chuckling made her realize that it was Inuyasha sitting near her, he smiled at her but she could see sadness in his eyes, 'Must still be sad about telling me about what happened.' She thought sadly.

Trying her best to smile she fiddled with a petal of the rose, "Good afternoon."

"Had better," he replied but watched her look at the rose gardens, "What are you doing here?"

Kikyo closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, "Your house has lovely roses, I am sorry for intruding."

"No, it's fine I was just wondering."

Sighing lightly Kikyo looked at the roses; fingering the soft, velvety petals gingerly she soon became lost in the smell of the roses. True, Kouga had given her roses many times before, and afterwards she'd been too depressed to even look at roses without burning them. But now, she felt a sudden calm sitting in the rose patch, or maybe it was because of a certain hanyou?