Unknown Child in the Red Snow
Chapter One

The little footsteps were muffled slightly by the soft snow surrounding the house. The child making the footsteps giggled happily as he ran away from an older woman who was smiling as she tried to catch her son.

"Can't catch me mommy!" the child giggled again and hoped over a large log in the middle of the yard. He stuck out his tongue happily as he turned to look at her. He failed to notice that there was a tree root in front of him and ended up falling face first into the snow.

The mother smiled and laughed softly at her son's clumsiness. She walked briskly over to him and wrapped an extra haori around him. The child pouted and looked up at his mom. "Mom I don't need this."

"Yes you do Inu-yasha," the woman whispered as she hugged her small child, "you'll catch a chill if you don't."

The child, Inu-yasha, sighed and then shivered, "Ok, maybe you're right."

Inu-yasha's mother grabbed his hand and started to walk back to the house, "Come on dear, you need to go to sleep."

"All right mommy."

---

Inu-yasha skipped along the village, his little hakama and haori were causing him to trip every so often when the hakama reached below his feet.

Inu-yasha paused when he heard little squeals of laughter and saw five children playing happily with each other.

Inu-yasha smiled, he wanted to play too. He walked over to them and they all stopped their game to stare at them. The cold glares they were giving them made the cold winter air feel like a summer breeze. He gulped and looked around nervously. "Can I play?"

The children sneered at Inu-yasha, making his ears droop sadly. The tallest child, obviously the leader stood up and walked over to Inu-yasha. He towered above Inu-yasha. Inu-yasha watched, his eyes widened, as the boy brought down a fist and punched him in the cheek.

"Stupid hanyou!" the child hissed and punched him again.

The punches didn't hurt much, but he felt tears coming to his eyes as the other children joined in the beating.

The five left with accomplished feelings and large smile on their faces as they abandoned a collapsed Inu-yasha in the snow-covered ground, now stained a deep red.

He lifted his head, his eyes blurred with tears, his face contorted with pain. "Hanyou?" he whispered, confused with the term. What was a hanyou?

Inu-yasha walked home, tears still falling down his cheeks. He looked up as his mother came into view. He ran to her and threw his arms around her waist, finding comfort in her arms. Trying to wipe the tears away before his mother saw them, Inu-yasha nuzzled up to his mother.

"Inu-yasha?" Inu-yasha looked up as his mother kneeled down and stroked her child's cheeks, "What happened?"

Inu-yasha hated it when his mother worried so he gulped, "I fell down."

Even though he said this, his mother began to cry, tears falling down her cheeks as she hugged him to her.

"What's wrong mommy? All I did was fall down," the hanyou whispered as his mother continued to sob.

"I only fell..."

---

Inu-yasha awoke with a start and stared around the room. He felt a cold shiver run down his spin as he searched for him mother. He felt a sickening feeling growing in the pit of his stomach, but he ignored it as he came to his mother's room.

Opening the door slowly he peered inside and was surprised to see that there was no one in the room. The bed looked as if it was never slept in. Inu-yasha blinked in confusion and inhaled his mother's scent. It was old.

She hadn't been in the room for at least two hours.

He raised a confused eyebrow as he journeyed down the hall, searching desperately for his mother.

His sniffing brought him outside, and he saw his mother running in the garden.

He watched as his mother run in a panic, she glanced over her shoulder, and Inu-yasha could smell her tears.

Inu-yasha began to run after her, but watched in horror as five demons appeared in front of his mother and performed various attacks on the woman.

Inu-yasha's eyes widened.

The tallest demon smirked, "Pathetic human."

Inu-yasha hid behind a bush as the demons all retreated back into the forest that surrounded the house.

Inu-yasha sat in shock.

The stench of blood filled his nose and his little child eyes widened as he bolted towards his mother.

"MOM!"

The woman looked up, her face smeared with her own blood. "Oh Inu-yasha, my little boy."

"Mommy," the hanyou whispered as he collapsed in front of her.

"Inu-yasha, run please," Inu-yasha began to cry realizing that her life was slipping away.

"No, I won't!" the hanyou cried his eyes pained and sad, "I won't leave you alone!"

"Inu-yasha," his mother closed her eyes sadly, "I can't protect you anymore!"

"Mom." Inu-yasha shook his head, "Please don't die!"

The woman looked sadly at her son, before reaching out a bloodied hand and running her hand down his cheek weakly, "Just like your father..."

Inu-yasha sobbed as the hand fell from his cheek and resided in the blood covered snow.

Inu-yasha stared in a stunned silence. He reached out a hesitant hand and lifted his mother's chin to look at her face.

Inu-yasha felt another sob rack his lungs as he closed his eyes and opened them again, trying to wake up from this nightmare.

Inu-yasha used his hand to close his mother's eyelids and stood up. Tears running down his cheeks he clenched his fists until blood seeped through his closed fist.

---

Inu-yasha awoke to whispers all around him. Cracking open an eye he realized that villagers were all staring at Inu-yasha's bloodied hands and face and his dead mother.

Inu-yasha stood up, "Thank kami! There were demons! They attacked my mom!"

The villagers ignored him as his hanyou hearing picked up the sounds of the whispers he caught 'stupid hanyou.' 'Murder'. 'Miko.'

Inu-yasha looked up in confusion as the village leader kicked him in the stomach, "You idiot hanyou! Thanks to you we no longer have a village miko! How will we be protected by youkai if we don't have a miko!"

"What?" Inu-yasha felt anger rising in him, "You think I'd kill my own mother!?"

"You'd kill anyone you please, hanyou, it's the way of youkai!" the village leader kicked him in the stomach again.

"But I-"

"Hanyou!" the village leader barked, "You have no say in this matter, you killed your mother, and our miko! Get out of this village and never return!"

The hanyou whimpered and ran into the forest. His pounding footsteps leaving little footprints of blood.

---

Inu-yasha sat in a tree in the forest. He'd come upon it when he'd run away from the village. The forest was small, yet it had a huge tree right next to a funny looking well.

It was pretty and modest forest. He liked it.

And it was right next to a village. He didn't dare go there though, for fear of being attacked or hurt. Plus, he no longer had anyone to protect him.

The only family member he had left was his older brother, but he didn't know where he was. He wished he could find his brother, though he was mean to him, at least he could protect them.

The hanyou quickly wiped away the tears falling down his cheeks as he made a sound that sounded like a 'Feh' and fell asleep in the tree.

---

Inu-yasha was awoken by a large energy attack hitting the limp of the tree he'd been residing in. he jumped out of the tree and turned in mid-air, his seven year old self confused by the sudden attack.

A demon stood above him, sneering.

"You're a hanyou aren't you? I can smell the human blood within you!" the demon growled his body overpowering the hanyou's as he stepped on him.

The hanyou whimpered in pain and began to run. The demon, glad for this action, began to run after him, but was soon surprised when the hanyou picked up speed and rose ahead.

The demon snarled then grew a wicked look, they were nearing a cliff, and the stupid hanyou would have to let him beat him. That was his favorite pass time, beating people weaker than him.

Inu-yasha, too, was aware of the cliff coming up but his little child mind didn't have time to think of something as he jumped off the cliff, free falling. Maybe if he were lucky he'd die and see his mom and dad again.

The demon blinked in surprise, snarled and left, not wanting to see a suicidal child.

Inu-yasha felt tears in his eyes again, "It hurts."

He whispered it but it sounded like a thousand shouts. It hurt, the wind pushing against him, and running into his sensitive ears, causing them to fall back against his skull, it really, really hurt.

And he was positive it would hurt even more once he reached the end of the fall. He closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable.

But instead, he came in contact with water. The impact only broke his legs, which would heal in about a weak.

He sniffed and gasped for air as his head broke the surface. He couldn't swim, and even if he could, he couldn't move his legs anyway! He threw his arms around furiously as he grasped a rock in the middle of the river. Holding onto it for dear life.

And then all went black.

---

Inu-yasha opened his bleary eyes and looked around. He felt a trickle on the side of his skull, he fingered it. Blood.

He fond himself washed up on shore with broken legs and a bleeding head. He must have hit some rocks as he washed up on shore.

Part of him was happy and the other part was sad.

He looked up at the sky, his eyes no longer holding the childhood innocence. His eyes were cold and dark, wild and uncaring.

He snarled at nothing, "Someday, I'll be a full demon, and you'll all be sorry!"

He punched a rock next to him and smirked evilly as the rock collapsed into pebbles.

"And I'll kill all who get in my way."