Half-caste

My Future

Inuyasha noticed his next-door neighbor watching him from her window again. She did this a lot, just sat there watching him but she never uttered a word to him. Although that could have been because the last time she did he threatened to rip her tongue out.

" So Inu you up for the job?" Inuyasha swung his head around to be met by a dark icy stare. He remained silent not sure what to say. His silence caused the group of demons to start muttering. The leader hushed them all moving his dark eyes over to the girl at the window.

" Who's the bitch?"

Inuyasha shrugged with indifference, " I don't know. Just the bitch that lives next door."

The leaders glare hardened moving his gaze back to Inuyasha, " Why is she watching us half breed?"

Inuyasha's gaze remained stoic over the leader. Most full demons couldn't look Naraku in the eye without fear overwhelming them. Inuyasha however had nothing to loose, he faced everything with the same daring as if it was his last day to live. Sometimes he wished it were. " I don't know. She watches me sometimes."

Naraku snarled, " Does she know about our dealings? If you betray me hanyou it will be you life!"

" No she's always watched me."

Naraku's face twisted into a malicious sneer. " You have a human admirer do you?" The rest of the demons laughed callously.

" No she's just scared."

Naraku laughed bitterly, " No of course a human wouldn't like a worthless hanyou like yourself. No one wants a worthless half breed."

Inuyasha growled deep in his throat. He'd been told that for so long he didn't know why it still bothered him. His mother always told him not to listen to the mockings of the others. But how could he ignore something that was said so often? " Are we going to get down to business or just talk about little old me all day?"

Again Naraku replied with a scornful laugh, " Have it your way young hanyou. The job is easy. Just give them the stuff, get the money then get out of there."

" How much do I get for this?"

" 100 000 yen." Inuyasha remained silent for a moment. If they were offering him that sort of money then the goods must be worth a lot. A lot of people would be after him if they found out what he had, but then again danger was just part of the job. He agreed eventually concluding that he needed the money. His rent was five weeks overdue and if he didn't pay soon he'd be out on the streets. After nodding his agreement Naraku handed him a black duffel bag. " Take this to the old warehouse on Shikon Ave at 6pm today. Don't be late, our customers hate to be kept waiting."

" Keh I'll be there." Naraku nodded. Inuyasha was the best delivery boy there was. He was in and out without a suspicious look his way. The only problem with him was that the clients often questioned a hanyou. Naraku knew Inuyasha wouldn't betray him though. He had nothing else to go to, this was his only option. When Inuyasha was just thirteen Naraku recruited him to work as a delivery boy. He was cheaper then most people and did the job twice as well. The job had given Inuyasha enough money to rent a house and buy food. If he wanted to maintain this he had to keep doing jobs for Naraku.

Naraku moved his gaze away from Inuyasha and back to the other demons. With the parting words of, "Don't' fail me Inuyasha," he left.

" I never do"

Inuyasha looked back over to the window to see the girl still watching him. He wondered why she did it. Was it because she was scared or frightened of him or was there some other reason? She didn't look frightened, she showed an emotion he didn't recognize. He growled to himself wondering why he was even thinking about this. He slung the duffel bag over his shoulder and walked back into his house. Slamming the door he kicked a few beer bottles away, some smashing as they hit the wall. He checked the clock at the top of the fridge. It was 1pm, which meant he still had four and a half hours until he had to go do the job.

He dumped the duffel bag on his lumpy couch, which also doubled as his bed. Going to the fridge he started to dig through it for something edible. All he could find was a six-pack of beer, some left over ramen and what looked like cheese. He picked it up with his claws and sniffed it carefully. He immediately held it at arms length and walked it to the bin. He silently wondered how long cheese would have to be left in a fridge before it turned into a green furry hairball. After disposing of it he went back to the fridge and grabbed a beer and the half eaten ramen. He moved the duffel bag to the opposite side of the couch and sat down. Flicking on the TV he slouched back into the couch with his ramen resting on his stomach, his beer in his left hand and the remote in his right. Taking leisurely sips he watched some news reports. Most were on the legislation and the war bubbling under the surface of Japan. It was all bullshit to him. The government had control over all media so of course nothing on TV would go against them. He flicked through numerous channels before deciding to watch a sitcom. Eating the cold ramen and sipping on his beer Inuyasha drifted off into a sound sleep.

" I believe the latest legislation has been proven extremely successful as the number of crimes has decreased dramatically. The number of demons as well as humans retained in police custody has also been reduced by 3 since the start of this act."

"Bullshit…" murmured Inuyasha in his sleep. He rolled over lazily but hit feet hit something. He grabbed the bag idly saying, " What the fuck." Suddenly realization hit him as he drowsiness left him immediately. " Shit!" he cussed getting up and grabbing the bag. He looked to the clock. Five minutes till he was meant to make the delivery.

" Shit, I'll never make it," he grumbled running out of his house and bounding down the street. He pumped his legs as hard as he could, using all of his muscles to their peak. The factory was at least fifteen minutes away. So at the least he would be ten minutes late. He swore loudly at his bad fortune. If he was late Naraku was likely to kill him in cold blood, or worse let him live without any money. This motivation made Inuyasha push himself more. He was fast, but he wasn't fast enough to get there in time.

He arrived at the building five minutes late. He didn't stop cursing the whole way there. Walking into the deserted building he looked around for the client. One light lit the center of the room but other than that it was surrounded by darkness. He didn't need to eyes to see though. He could still smell a strong scent so it was likely that they were still here. Inuyasha walked to the middle of the deserted room gripping the duffel bag tightly.

" Your late," came a deep voice from the darkness surrounding Inuyasha. Inuyasha bowed humbly in an apology.

" I had something to take care of." The voice was quite for a second. Suddenly another voice sounded.

" Have you got the goods?" Inuyasha was on high alert. There was more than one person here and from what he could tell they were wolf demons. They travel in packs so this lead Inuyasha to assume that there were at least six demons here.

" Yeah, but I need the money first," he replied boldly. Laughter surrounded him. Inuyasha's ears continually twitched with the noise. Out from the shadows came a young female wolf demon. She wore all black with her red hair tied back in a tight ponytail. Her green eyes were flashing dangerously.

" You're a bold one aren't you?" Inuyasha didn't answer. " What? Don't you want to play doggy?" Inuyasha growled deep in his throat.

A deep voice broke off her taunts." Ayame, just get it over with." The girl looked into the shadows and nodded. She held out her own duffle bag. Inuyasha looked at it but didn't make a move to take it.

The girl sighed, " Fine have a look then." She unzipped it to reveal numerous bundles of notes. " Now your turn hanyou." Inuyasha unzipped his own bag and showed it to the girl. " Good." She zipped her bag up and threw it to Inuyasha. He did the same with his own. " Great doing business with you." With that she left back into the darkness. Inuyasha heard rustling as they all went to leave. Inuyasha took this as his queue to leave as well. Tucking the bag under his arm he left the building and started to walk casually down the street.

He'd made it a block before he started to hear footsteps behind him. They were right behind him matching his pace. He didn't like that at all. He tried to speed up but so did they. By the sound of it there were five of them, medium build, probably male. They were definitely demon although he couldn't tell what sort.

Suddenly one yelled out to him. He stopped and looked around quickly for an escape but he couldn't see one. Once they were right behind him Inuyasha decided to just take them head on. He'd been in fights against more than ten humans before and still come out the victor. Then again he couldn't exactly compare that to five fully-grown youkai.

Deciding to take a chance Inuyasha quickly spun around punching one in the face. He went flying to the ground but before Inuyasha had a chance to celebrate one of the other ones had tackled him to the ground. Inuyasha snarled looking up at the cat demon sitting on his chest. Inuyasha saw him retract his fist and was immediately alert. He quickly moved his head to the side and retaliated by punching the demon off him. He got up quickly in a fighting stance. "Oh shit." He looked around to see an assortment of demons sneering at him. Suddenly Inuyasha felt his knees buckle as the cat demon pulled him to the floor by his legs. Sharp nails spawned out of the tips of the youkai's fingers. Inuyasha quickly dodged backwards to avoid being sliced. The cat demon just kept coming for him until he was backed against an alley wall. Inuyasha looked up the wall to see a windowsill just above his head. Just as the youkai attacked Inuyasha grabbed hold of this and flung himself upwards. He landed on the other side of the cat and swiftly kicked him into the wall. The youkai fell down unconscious.

Inuyasha looked back at the rest of the youkai. " Who wants to take me on next?!" he yelled defiantly. An Inu youkai stepped forward. Inuyasha watched him distastefully, " Fine." Inuyasha made the first move throwing a punch at him. He easily dodged but this didn't stop Inuyasha. He made another swipe at him but this time when the Inu youkai dodged but also returned the gesture. Inuyasha went flying back into the cement ground. He rubbed his head painfully. Abruptly two youkai held him down as the Inu youkai grabbed the duffel bag. Inuyasha struggled vainly against them. If he lost Naraku's money he was sure to pay big time.

The Inu youkai started to walk away while the two youkai still held Inuyasha down. Inuyasha started to yell after him, calling him malicious names. As he got smaller and smaller Inuyasha felt a burst of energy as he threw one of the youkai that was holding him to the side of the alley. Quickly the other punched Inuyasha hard. He could see little white dots starting to blur his vision. He felt the weigh of the youkai leave his arm. " This is your future half breed." As unconsciousness took over Inuyasha he saw a white blur pass his vision. In the end he found that he had to agree with the youkai. This was his future.