Chapter Five: Demon Blood
By: Ddoskocil
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Thank's for the reviews of chapter 4. I'm glad you liked it. As to updating more, it's just not possible right now. I'm working full time and going to school full time. I'll update every weekend, barring important school work.
Anywho...enjoy this chapter!
"Where are they?" Inu-Yasha yelled for the fourth time as he paced the main room in the large public shrine. Miroku and Sango sat near by and watched him. Shippo was curled up next to Kirara, both sleeping soundly.
"Well?" Inu-Yasha yelled at the two humans. Miroku sighed.
"I'm sure Kagome is fine. She is with your sister after all." Inu-Yasha glared at the monk, his eyes shooting daggers.
"Don't you trust your own sister?" a voice said from the door. Inu-Yasha wiped around, glaring at his sister as she entered the room.
"Here she is, Inu-Yasha. Just as I promised," the demon remarked as she stepped aside to make way for Kagome. Inu-Yasha was in front of her in two steps.
"Are you okay? Did she do anything to you?" he insisted.
"Inu-Yasha," Kan-Tama chided.
"I'm fine, Inu-Yasha. We just talked a little," Kagome replied, more than slightly taken aback by Inu-Yasha's reaction. He grabbed her by the arm and looked her over carefully, not quite convinced that Kagome was truly unscathed by spending time with his sister. Then he turned to his sister.
"What they heck do you think you were doing?" he yelled, his face turning red. It turned even redder and his ears twitched when her noticed Kan-Tama had her back to him.
"I'm sure you are all hungry," she asked the group in front of her. At their collective nod, she looked over her shoulder at Inu-Yasha. "Oh, Inu-Yasha, go get some firewood, would you?" Inu-Yasha narrowed his eyes and grumbled, but he went any way. As he left, her heard his sister talking to his companions and was suddenly glad to be leaving.
He walked slowly to the woodpile as memories flooded him. He grow up at his father's shrine, his sister always talking care of him, but it had been hard for both of them, he knew. Things had never been easy when his mother was alive, but with her death came new problems to face. His sister tried so hard, but she never took the place of his mother.
Flashback
Seven year-old Inu-Yasha cradled his ball as he cried in the corner. He heard Kan-Tama come up behind him, but he didn't turn to her. He wanted her to pick him up, but he knew better than to ask her. She would just tell him that he was big now and didn't need to be picked up anymore.
He wished his mother were still alive. She would have picked him up and held him until his tears were gone.
"What's wrong, Inu-Yasha?" his sister asked as she kneeled down next to him. She sounded more annoyed than sympathetic.
"They keep calling me 'half-breed'," Inu-Yasha sniffed. "And they pull on my ears and laugh at me. And when the adults come by, they call the kids away and whisper about me. Why don't they like me, Kan-Tama?" He turned in time to see her stand and cross her arms over her chest.
"You're different, Inu-Yasha. People don't like what's different." She paused as she stared at nothing, and Inu-Yasha wondered what she was thinking about. He decided not to ask.
"Anyway, why do you let them do that to you?" she continued. "You are half demon as well as half human. Do not taint Father's blood with cowardly acts." She turned to leave, but Inu-Yasha grabbed on to the bottom of her kimono.
"Please, Kan-Tama, help me," he begged. She pealed him off of her leg and held him by the shoulders.
"Inu-Yasha, you must help yourself. If you can't do that, stay in the shrine." She let go of him and walked away, much to Inu-Yasha's despair. He sat back down and held his ball tighter, wishing with every fiber of his small body that his mother were still alive.
"Why did you have to die?' he whispered.
End Flashback
Inu-Yasha stood at the foot of the woodpile, a single tear falling down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away in disgust. He stood by himself for a while, watching the last rays of the sun sink beneath the horizon and the pinks of sunset fade into the deep blue of night. He heard Kagome coming up behind him as the moon began to rise.
"Inu-Yasha" she whispered at his back. He twitched an ear backward toward her before he looked over his shoulder and mumbled, "go away" under his breath. Kagome sighed and hung her head in defeat. She turned to leave him alone.
"Kagome?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks."
Kagome smiled and nodded, happy that whatever she did had helped her friend. As she walked back toward the shrine house, she passed Kan-Tama. The demon nodded at the young girl, but Kagome did not see her. As the young girl passed by, the demon stepped out of the shadows.
"What do you want, Kan-Tama?" Inu-Yasha asked angrily. He bent and began collecting wood, piling it high in his arms. When his arms were full he swung around to go back to the shrine, but Kan-Tama blocked his way.
"Hey, do ya mind?" Inu-Yasha barked.
"Do you still intend to become a full demon?" she asked bluntly, her arms folded over her chest as she blocked his way. Inu-Yasha just stared at her, jaw slack. His eyes turned cold as his mind took hold of the question.
"What do you care?" he asked angrily as he tried to push past her. But Kan-Tama stood her ground. Frustrated, Inu-Yasha dropped the wood he was carrying and sat, his arms stubbornly crossed across his chest in a mirror of his sister. Kan-Tama half smiled as she joined her brother on the ground.
"I care immensely," she replied as she studied her youngest brother. His face was screwed in a frown and his arms were still crossed over his chest.
"Feh."
"Inu-Yasha" she sighed as she watched him. "Do you know why you carry Tetsusaiga?"
"Yeah," his face was pained as he answered and Kan-Tama could guess as to why. She closed her eyes, sharing her brother's pain because she knew what it was like to loss total control of everything.
"Did I ever tell you how my mother died, Yasha?"
"What do I care? And don't call me that anymore. I'm not a kid ya'know."
"She was powerful and feared nothing," Kan-Tama continued, ignoring Inu-Yasha's response.
"Yeah, well, demons are like that," he replied.
"Do you truly not know? My mother was no demon, Inu-Yasha. She was a half demon." He turned to her, slightly interested. "She was wonderful. She let nothing stand in her way, demon or human. And she was happy. She never wanted to be full demon or full human."
"What happened?"
"She was killed by a monster. By a demon who needed to prove her own worth."
"Did you avenge her?" Inu-Yasha asked.
"It was me, Inu-Yasha. I killed her in my haste to prove that I was a worthy demon."
Inu-Yasha recoiled from his sister in horror, but the moment passed quickly. He sniffed at her as his curiosity built, sniffing out the scents of human on her.
"I guess I never noticed before," he replied offhandedly.
"Up until that moment, Inu-Yasha, I wanted nothing more than to be a full demon. But after than horrible day, I never wanted that kind of power again. I finally realized what being a full demon meant, and I decided that I never wanted that. Before he died, I begged Father to help me." She pulled an amulet out of her kimono and showed it to Inu-Yasha without removing it. Inu-Yasha merely glanced at it, not interested in her trinket.
"It keeps the demon blood coursing through my veins at peace. With this around my neck, I can never hurt another again.
"I never wanted that life for you, Inu-Yasha. I live in fear of my own powers. I never wanted that for you." she whispered.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Inu-Yasha replied loudly as he stood. He took a step toward the house, but Kan-Tama was on her feet and had him by the arm before he could take a second step.
"Lemma go," he shouted as he spun around, trying to remove him arm from his sister's death grip.
"Sit, Inu-Yasha," she replied calmly. "I am not finished with you."
"Yeah, well I'm done talkin' with you. Just leav'me alone, Kan-Tama." He roughly pulled his arm out of her grasp and stomped away, leaving her the job of retreating the fallen firewood. Kan-Tama sighed as she bent to pick up a few logs.
"Oh, Inu-Yasha, will you ever forgive me?" she whispered to his fading back.