Unknown child in the Red Snow
Chapter Two

He stood silently in front of the gravestone. Her beautiful name chiseled into the large headstone, beneath it, written clearly, it said: "Our beloved Miko, our friend, daughter, and lover of our village."

What hurt him the most was that they mentioned nothing of him or his father. Nothing of 'good wife' or 'loving mother'. No, nothing like that, that would disgrace the Miko that was once his mother. In a way, he was slightly relieved that his name wasn't mentioned, that they didn't mention she had a son. Obviously no one liked him, and it would just disgrace his mother, make her less respected, even in death.

It had been exactly one year since his mother's death, and he'd come to pay his respects.

A snowball flew through the air and hit him smack dab on the left cheek, it splattering on contact and running down his already numb face. He didn't move, he was in the middle of a prayer to his mother in hopes that she was finally happy, having found dad wherever they were.

"Youkai!" a child his age yelled up to him, "Get away from our Miko!"

Inu-yasha didn't turn. He continued to whisper his prayers, he wasn't a youkai, anyways, and he was just a normal human like everyone else. Well, not normal human, but he was a human, and one thought always plagued his mind 'why are they mean to their own kind?'

The child gasped, "A hanyou?"

There was that word again, why didn't he ever understand that? He frowned deeply and finished his prayers with a simple goodbye to his mother and a promise to return next year. He moved slowly, his footsteps barely leaving footprints in the soft blanket of snow as he looked at the child coldly.

"Why do you interrupt me as I pay my respects?" Inu-yasha hissed at the child, who quivered in fear and backed up a step, inu-yasha cracked his knuckles with a sense of hostility. He wasn't going to hurt the people of his village, he wasn't that cruel, though, just scaring them would be fine.

The child whimpered in fear as Inu-yasha sneered and then lowered his hand, "I won't shed blood so close to my mother's grave."

And he calmly walked away, not wanting to displease his mother.

---

Inu-yasha walked through the village towards the forest; his limbs were frozen, preventing him from just running. Though he was only a young child, his attitude made him appear that he'd suffered through a thousand winters. People stared and whispered, which he picked up perfectly with his demonic hearing. Children threw snowballs before their parent's shooed them into their house, and parents shot meaningful glares as the elders prevented them from running towards the hanyou, and the elders thought of some spell that would prevent youkai attacks.

Inu-yasha felt his ears flatten to his skull, how could people treat a small human boy like this? It was scary, and the fact that his mother wasn't around made him sadden even more.

He yawned softly, and picked up his hand to rub his eyes, with his hand raising he watched in fascination as people flinched and turned away, awaiting his deadly claws to dig through them.

He blinked.

At times he felt as helpless as the child he is, and at other times he wanted to find some way to not be human anymore and become a youkai so that people would respect him.

He never understood this village, they always treated him with disdain, but never tried to kill him, just hurt him a bit.

Walking towards the end of the village, he soon realized he was being followed. Followed by the men of the village. He started to walk faster. His little legs carrying him towards the towering trees, making it appear he didn't notice the followers.

The following men picked up speed as well and soon the whole company, Inu- yasha included, were at a full blown run through the forest, shouts shot through the forest like a wild fire as Inu-yasha's little lungs wheezed and gasped for air, his brow was beginning to sweat and his hair was flying out behind him. His red haori was fairly easy to pick up in the dead forest, surrounded by snow and dead trees.

He groaned silently to himself, he knew where he was headed. Towards that stupid cliff with the river at the bottom. It turns out it had taken a month for his bones to heal and he did not want to go through that again, that was the hardest month he'd ever faced, defending himself when he couldn't move his legs. That had been a challenge.

Stopping at the cliff's face, he gulped loudly, the sound bouncing off the cliff's wall.

The villagers formed a wall around Inu-yasha and he turned around slowly. His tiny voice was cold yet held the child's sadness, "Why do you hurt me?"

"What were you doing in the village, hanyou?" the villagers answered his question with a question that didn't really answer the question in the first place.

"I was paying my respects."

"HA!" the village leader stepped forward with a rusty sword, "a hanyou, a half-breed, a piece of scum, something lower than the dirt it stands on paying respect?"

Inu-yasha blinked, "What?"

"You're a piece of disgusting vermin. You sicken all who sees you, you are a disgrace to society!" a younger man then the village leader said, wielding a pitchfork.

Inu-yasha's eyes watered slightly, "What's a hanyou?"

The villagers laughed then. But it wasn't the kind of 'ha ha' laugh you share with your best friend when they crack a joke and every one's having a good time. This was the kind of laugh that excluded someone, when the laugh was pointed at them and their ignorance for being naïve. The villagers had big booming laughs hat echoed along the cliff's face, making it appear that laughter as all around the poor little hanyou.

Finally, the villagers got a hold of themselves, "You mean to tell us you don't know what you are?"

Inu-yasha blinked, "aren't I h-human, sir?"

More laughter.

But this time it echoed louder and lasted longer.

Inu-yasha fought the anger that was rising within him and glared at the villager's feet, not able to meet their eyes.

"You are a half-breed, you stupid boy, half demon half human, the worst thing on this Earth," the villager spat.

Inu-yasha stayed silent as he watched the villagers joke among themselves about the stupidity of some demons.

But how as he supposed to know? He was but a child.

An unknown child that was cared by no one.

The laughter was really getting to Inu-yasha. His eyes were alit with a hidden fire, "Shut up." His voice was venomous, like when he declared he was to become a demon.

The men seemed to not notice, "Shut up."

Still nothing.

Inu-yasha snarled, showing his fangs and his golden eyes narrowed in anger. Lifting a hand, he cracked his knuckles and smirked.

He didn't remember what happened much, because everything seemed to black out at that point and when he came too, he was in a sea of blood, dead bodies surrounded him, the blood seeping into his haori.

He stared in shock, the over-powering smell of dead bodies and death hung in the air, and it was sickening him, he ran, ran faster than he ever had before.

Before the village disappeared into the horizon he looked back mournfully.

"I'm sorry mother, looks like I won't be able to come next year," he whispered and ran far away, he had to get away from the village, before the women realized all the men were dead.

Dead by his claws.

And no matter how hard he tried; the smell of their blood remained on his claws for years to come.