This story is somewhat set in the future and mixed with the feudal era. More details will be announced during chapters or at the end of them, or they will be described within the chapter itself. This is my first Inuyasha fanfic, please be nice because I have a lot of doubts towards this story and I hope you will like it!
This is meant to be a brief summary of the plot:
She is unaware of her real name, she only calls herself 40681 (of course, it's Kagome), because those numbers are imprinted on the back of her right arm to her shoulder and are the only pieces of evidence she has to prove her identity. On the way, she meets a fugitive, InuYasha, who is a hanyou. Together, along with friends who they encounter during their short mission to find some shards of a sacred jewel that most people and demons are after.
This is an AU fic, and Inuyasha and Kagome! Miroku and Sango etc will appear soon.
I do not own InuYasha.
Enjoy and please R&R, thank you!
Chapter 01
The Stranger
She had found him lying in the deserted alley where she goes to find a scrap to eat everyday. He was lying up against the wall, bloody, scarred, and bruised. Splodges of thick, dried blood stained his red, baggy haori (sp?),where a hole surrounded with many gashes and cuts settled. Breathing heavily, he didn't open his eyes except dawdle forwards towards her, but instead, tripping up and falling head first on the dirty ground. What had intrigued her curious side was the way how he looked; surely out-of-date in a way, she had to admit. He was young, had a long mane of smooth black hair that was matted and tangled all over the place, and he also two side locks framing his sharp, chiselled face delicately. His bloody arms came out and lifted himself up from the ground, and then, she went forward.
I wonder what time period he leapt out from. No-one dresses like that anymore….What if he's a demon? They're common around these parts…. No…. he looks human enough…
Cradling his head in her lap over her skirt, she silently stared down at him longingly, clearly wondering what had happened to him. He was seriously injured. Then, heaving him up with an arm draped over her shoulder; she grabbed his waist and walked him out from the alleyway slowly. From time to time as they walked, she gave him a worried sideways glance. "Don't worry sir, we're almost there." She told him reassuringly, trying to get him standing once his legs and bare feet seemed to have keeled over a little.
The man hung limp over the young girl's shoulder and groaned under his breath, before raising his free arm, he gently rubbed his temples while his closed eyes were completely covered by the shadows of his fringe that hung down messily.
"………Are you alright?" She asked him nervously, after realising that he hadn't seemed to have opened his eyes yet ever since she had found him a couple of minutes back there. No reply except from a short grunt that emitted from his blood-covered lips.
Finally, as she managed to arrive at her destination, which was an upturned almost derelict house, she kicked the front door open and walked him in. The house was damp, and dim. The furniture seemed a little grimy; nevertheless she set him on one of her dusty settees and tucked his legs up when they fell down over the sides, then, she left him there and disappeared into a doorway, before emerging back out carrying an approximately cracked white container filled with warm water and a floating cloth on top. She placed it on the ground, and slowly, brushed back the man's bangs before dipping the cloth into the water and squeezing excess water out once she finished and applied it over the hole on the chest. The stranger hissed sharply and writhed a little, before settling down once the heat gradually cooled down.
The girl instantly took the cloth off him once realising his painful reaction and then dipped the blood-soaked clothed in the water, the once clear liquor becoming a murky, inky bright scarlet in colour. She let the cloth cool down for a while, before reapplying it over him and then, once the stranger did nothing, she done the same again, and again, for the rest of the night. The dimly lit candle on the bedside table was beginning to melt down slowly as the time passed. The flame danced and leapt around, sending their shadows to the brown walls – she looked up, and it looked as if she was performing surgery on him or something, and she giggled softly. By the time she was finished, it was already midnight. She had done a good job cleaning him free of blood even though she didn't dare to take off his clothing; sure, the wounds once mopped away revealed its true ugly form, but now that she could see what had happened to the man who was still lying on top of the sofa, as if in deep, blissful sleep judging by the way he never seemed to have at least opened his eyes and look at her.
He had been shot, once, twice. At his chest just missing his heart thankfully, and in the right kneecap. The gash wounds had been made by samurai swords, the blade thin and deadly, must've swished down on him unsuspectingly judging by how thin they were on his skin, like swift paper cuts except they were longer in length. However nothing had damaged his young face; she had wiped away smudges of blood that danced over his pale features and couldn't help but wonder who he was. She had never seen him before in her neighbourhood. She didn't know why he was in the alleyway all battered up like that. Was he bad road? Shrugging, she returned the basin of dirty water clotted with his blood and kept it there, noting to herself to clean it out tomorrow – she was too tired. She walked back to the living room. Her stomach grumbled as she stared at the emptied bins outside from the window view; she had missed out on dinner tonight.
Cursing silently under her breath, she brought out her long, trailing red blanket out from her cupboard and draped it over the stranger's flat body. She blew out the candle on the table beside the sofa, then leapt onto the broken couch opposite – the less comfy one in the house and took off her brown boots. Then she gathered herself and huddled into a ball, shivering once the cold night's air penetrated throughout her body, and she tried to get into a deep slumber. She tossed and turned many times, either her mind was too preoccupied to sleep because she kept pondering about the man who did seem out cold, or trying to get into a comfortable position for her body to relax, and eventually, she managed to at least close her eyes, without moving for a couple of minutes as she lay sprawled over on her stomach.
Dream
"Hurry dear, into the pot!"
A woman quickly hurried her daughter through a trap door underneath the rug of the living room and locked it behind them once they entered a dark cellar. The little girl was clutching a doll tightly in her small hands, as the woman began to fumble around in her pockets; she took out a small candle and lit it.
"In here." The woman guided the little girl, who was blinking at her in confusion as she led her to a huge pot that stood amongst several others. "Come on, get inside."
The little girl shrank back once the woman took off the lid. "No, I don't want to go in there; it's dark and scary."
"You will! This is an order from your mother, will you obey me, or will you not?" The woman snapped regretfully as the girl shrank back once more. "Look, I know it's dark and smelly, but you have to survive, in order to - "
There was a loud thud upstairs.
"Quickly now!" And without further ado, the woman lifted the little girl who squealed in her grip, and she placed her inside the pot gently. "Argh! It's all wet!" the girl shrieked helplessly as her dress began to cling to her skin.
"It's only water, now stay there, until I come back, do not come out from there, okay?"
"Alright."
The lid was replaced back over the pot, and the girl was encased in darkness.
Dream EndThe bright morning sun glimmered through the part of the blinds that did not cover the window, casting a thin, trailing healthy glow on her face, and grumbling slightly; she rubbed her eyes free of sleep and opened them groggily, adjusting them to suit the intense light. Her body felt unbearably weak, and she moved her head to look at the stranger who was on the couch, only to see nothing there. She jerked upright in shock and gasped. "Hey – where'd he go?"
After several minutes of looking around frantically in her house for him; a short muffled grunt was heard from the corner, behind the sofa she had been sleeping on had averted her attention from her search in the kitchen. She ran over, to see his form on the ground, clutching over the hole on his chest. He winced in agony and writhed on the ground, and as she came over to investigate; golden eyes flared and glared at her sharpish and she stepped back.
"W-Who are you?" She screeched at him.
Where did that other guy go? Who is this man? He has such long silver hair….. and his pupils are no ordinary colour…. He must be…. A demon! Shit. I'm helpless…. He's going to eat me up for sure!
"Who are you?" He demanded; his voice sounded rich and was brimming with confidence; so deep and alluring to her ears, that she almost felt as though her heart had done a leapt. He hadn't stopped flinching yet.
The stranger moved his head back to her and eyed her up and down. The girl looked not much more than an average teenager; she was wearing a light green skirt that just went past her thighs, a white vest top that covered her flat stomach and black, knee length socks. He narrowed his eyes at her once he realised that she looked a little pale, and thin. She had dull, brown eyes and black hair that tumbled down past her shoulders.
Human…
"I asked you a question first!" The girl warned, trying to sound threatening to the silver-haired man.
"My name is none of your business." Then he got up, and brushed his kimono free of dust and flicked his hair out of his eyes.
That haori….. it's the same. He…. He must've eaten that guy I took home with me overnight!
"Kyyyaaaaa! Take this, demon! Begone!" The girl shrieked, and she grabbed a cranky wooden stool, and threw it at him pathetically.
He merely lifted up his sleeve, and the stool broke. It crumbled down to pieces at his feet, and tears welled up in her eyes.
NOOOO! Don't eat me! I'm too young to die just yet!
The demon inspected this girl carefully. "I have no intention to eat you – if that's what you're thinking, wench." He grabbed the girl roughly by her bare arm and dragged her over to him. "What I'm interested in…. is your pretty little face…." He smirked at her, showing his sharp canines and she felt her teeth tremble. His sharp claws dug painfully into her skin.
The girl gulped. "…H-Huh?"
Then she realised some two white triangles poking out from the top of his head at each side.
Ears….. They look sooo fluffy…. And kawaiineh…. Can't resist….. He's a…. He's a….. Cutie!
After realising that she was staring up at his head for quite a long time, the demon turned his attention to her left arm, where a hardly visible series of numbers were imprinted onto her bare flesh. "That number………"
"I-It's my name…. 40681…." She was still distracted by his ears that seem to wiggle at the slightest sensitive touch of the dust that floated around their talking space.
"That's not a name, wench. By the looks of you, you're just a mortal." He spoke gruffly, as he shoved her away from him, a hand still over his chest to stop it from bleeding further, although blood was already trailing down his fingertips.
"That IS my name." She replied truthfully, before looking away.
"You… are an orphan, huh?" The man said as he noticed that the girl called '40681' had gone a little quiet.
She nodded briefly – at least, that was what she had assumed. Orphans didn't have the right to get a name, or then that would mean that the person who had given them a new name owned them. 40681 never had parents for as long as she could remember – when she was about eight years old, the only thing she could remember was when she was being dragged into a white room screaming and protesting, wearing a plain sleeveless white dress, before the people there had forced her to lie on a bed, where a whirring machine was heard. They unzipped the back of her dress to reveal the small of her back. Sobbing and biting down hard on the pillow as the dreaded sharp tip of a blade came crashing down; it hard drove down onto her tender skin on the small of her back and slowly carved down the numbers she had carried ever since on, covered by her top. Blood splattered over the cool tip of the blade as they raised it back up from her skin.
"All done. You may go now, 40681." They had said, and some of them grabbed her from her upper arms and lifted her up from the bed, her face filled with much expression; only pain was etched on her face as endless tears flew down over her face uncontrollably.
What had happened to that horrible Home? Oh yes, it was burned to the ground by vandalizing thugs and the workers were split up so she had the chance to run away. 40681 immediately got the thought out from her head and concentrated back on the male. "Who are you again?" She asked in return. She was trying to be careful not to get on his angry side. Even if he had said that he wouldn't eat her, she still didn't trust his words.
Never trust a demon.
He turned away slightly, avoiding her gaze. Then the pain swam through him again and he doubled over onto the floor, whereas 40681 ran to the rescue and picked him up. She helped him over to the bed and made him lie there while she went back to the kitchen to retrieve back the basin. The demon hissed in agony again, and 40681 glanced over to him. She thought why he looked so troubled – before realising that the sun was shining onto his face and glaring at him, she teetered over and moved the broken wardrobe over the window and blocked out all possible light that would be a nuisance to him while he rested. She tipped the blood down the sink and watched as the swirling bubbles pop and disappear down the drain, making a loud gurgling noise. Then she refilled it with cold water first, and went towards her bath where she switched on the shower and poured hot water in. Until it reached almost the top she switched it off and turned the taps.
Again, she drained the wound of blood after several minutes with the same cloth silently – this time she felt extremely uncomfortable because the demon had now initiated to stare at her while she worked away. Then again, he frowned slightly and looked back to his left right side, away from 40681.
He despised humans. Especially females.
He had been hunted down and almost killed by a female for he a crime he committed during his long lifetime on earth. He moved his golden eyes back to 40681, thinking that he should kill her right now – but since it was morning, he would be extremely vulnerable and an accident could occur even if he was stronger than her or not. The poor girl looked utterly defenceless, weak, poor and fragile. She hadn't put up much of a fight back then, and would never survive one either. He manoeuvred his fingers and the bones cracked as he bent them into the killing position.
Sure, he had a meal before he was hunted down and shot, then left to die in the alleyway, but the way she encouraged him to bite down on the soft, smooth skin of her neck by the way she dabbed at his wound carefully; her fingers continuously and unconsciously swept over his chest and a shiver ran up his spine. "Is this your home?" He asked her, trying to spark up a friendly conversation between them before he'll attack her unsuspectingly.
40681 smiled a little. "Not really, I just come here to sleep. After I ran away from the Home, I found this hideout. No-one's found me ever since." She replied proudly, looking around the place.
"Except me." The demon added, smirking to her.
"Yeah…. Can you keep this a secret? Between the both of us, please?" She pleaded him gently.
He frowned again. The girl had begun to put on a sympathetic face on, and he had no choice but to nod. The girl sure was good with her persuading abilities. The demon didn't feel sorry for her, but added that to his 'reasons for killing her once she heals me completely' list. Then, before he could say something to her, his senses tingled.
"Get down!" The demon immediately rolled off the bed towards her and landed on top of her. 40681 shrieked loudly but were hushed by his palm that clamped tightly over her open mouth once a gunshot was heard in the building. 40681 blinked; what was happening? Why was the demon looking around their surroundings suspiciously? Why hadn't he got up from her yet? He was crushing her underneath with his body – she wheezed helplessly, and then, he realised and rolled off her, where she finally choked out some breath. Immediately he told her to 'shut up' and she kept quiet.
"Stay there." The demon told her, and then, to her surprise, he took off his red haori and draped it over him, covering him completely from head to toe, before he advanced to the small crack at the door stealthily and peeked through the keyhole. Suddenly he ran back to 40681 who was still lying on the floor on her back too stunned to move, and he lifted her up abruptly. "Come on, let's go, they're coming!"
"Who's coming?" She questioned as him, the blanket still enclosed over him, led her by the hand around the house, searching for another exit.
"Never mind, just tell me where the other exit is – if there is one!" He barked at her.
40681 raised a shaky finger at the kitchen, and before they could reach the back door in the kitchen, 40681 yelped. "Wait! I forgot Little Bobo!" Then she shook her hand out of Yami's and delved into the wardrobe near the front door. He watched her fish through her things, before running to her side, telling her to hurry up.
"Got her!" 40681 presented him with a battered old doll, with a broken eye, untidy crown curls, several broken fingers and empty blank spots on her face, wearing a patchwork dress.
He raised an eyebrow. "WHAT? We don't have time to take a stupid little doll with us!"
She glared at him. "She's been with me ever since!"
"Alright, alright, let's just go now!" He grabbed her again, and before they could reach the kitchen, the front door was kicked open, and there stood a group of three wearing black uniforms completed with masks, carrying guns and even blades in their belts.
"You can't run away from us, Inuyasha! Hand over the shards of the Shikon no Tama that you stole from us!"
