The boy stepped backwards, nearly tripping over his own feet.
We all hate you.
The ears on his head twitched once and flattened against his skull.
You disgust me. You disgust everyone.
His large round eyes flashed golden and then hid behind a shadow cast by his silvery bangs.
That's why she's gone, that's why your mother left.
He whimpered and clenched his fists, drawing red from moonsliver scrapes in his palm.
You are a mistake. A problem. A burden. You should never have been born.
Tears pooled in his eyes and fell down, leaving twin streaks that led down to wet spots on his thin white shirt.
You're weak, Inu Yasha, so weak.
And then they all stepped out of the shadows, one by one, their faces angular and full of loathing. Their eyes narrowed to slits, dark pupils glaring at him. He stepped backwards again, almost frozen with fear. He turned and ran away from them. He didn't know where he was going, he didn't know how many there were, how many were following him. But he heard them chasing him, and he knew what they wanted. They wanted to hurt him, and he didn't know why.
Golden eyes shot open and he scrambled messily to his feet, dashing through the forest. His small feet padded through the snow, the tiny and quickly fading footprints offering the only evidence that he was ever there. The tall thick trees cast long shadows on the white snow and he effortlessly ran between the trunks. His quick sharp breathing, uneven and pained, stabbed through the complete silence of the night like a knife. He could feel them on his trail, he could hear the thumping of their feet behind him, he could almost smell them.
A rock on the ground painfully jammed his toes and he fell down and crashed into the cold white snow. He gasped for air, and clawed at the snow in front of him, trying to pull himself farther away from them, from the people chasing him. He couldn't move anymore, his body worn out from the running. His fingers curled and uncurled scraping snow into his palms and balling it in his hand. The cold snow melted into a small pool in front of his face and his warm breath melted the ice. They weren't chasing him anymore. He sat and looked over his shoulder. They never were chasing him.
He fell into the snow and curled himself into a small ball, whimpering. In the days following his mother's death, he'd been haunted by these nightmares. It was becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between reality, and dreams. The creatures in his dreams were beginning to follow him everywhere, not only through the darkest corridors of his mind, but past the door to his waking world. They must know that the worst nightmares are those that are born of insecurity.
The cold ice on his fingers was numbing him, slowly, until his fingers felt almost warm. Tiny flakes continued to fall from the sky, landing on his warm body and melting on the white shirt he had on, dampening it. He hated the winter. "Mommy..." he whimpered. Why did she leave him? Was it really because he was disgusting? Daddy was gone too. Both of them had left him. Who would take care of him now? He felt his body sinking into the snow. He was tingling with a strange warmth, and his thoughts were becoming as light and distant as the snow flurries that fell on his body. He wanted to be with his parents too. Was that where he was going? His eyes shut slowly and he curled himself in tighter.
He felt arms around him. Warm soft arms. "Inu Yasha ..." They were pulling him in, holding him tightly, encasing him in their warmth. He clenched the woman's kimono with his tiny hand, nuzzling his head against her chest.
"My beautiful little boy ..." Her voice was soft and barely above a whisper, but as melodic and beautiful to him as a song. He felt her hands on his cheek, gently stroking his face with her elegant fingers. He tried to open his eyes, but found that he couldn't. He was so tired.
"Don't go ..." He mumbled sleepily. Her hand stroked his hair back, and pressed his ears against his head. He felt so warm within her grasp.
He felt her kiss his forehead softly. The arms held him tighter. "Whenever you need me, I'll be here." she whispered to him, her breath like a warm wind, tickling his ears.
She pulled something out of her kimono and laid it over his body. He tried to reach out for her, to hold her tighter, as if his hold would keep her with him. "Mommy ..." he mumbled. She was leaving.
He could feel her go.
His eyes opened slowly as the wind whistled and whipped his hair across his face. The red haori laying across his body kept him warm, like a sheild that let no cold reach his skin. He sat and looked up at the sky through the bare tree branches and smiled. He pulled it tighter around him, breathing in his mother's scent. It hugged around his small body and he stuck his tiny fingers in the folds.
He rose to his feet, on wobbly legs and looked at his surroundings, at the seemingly endless tree trunks, and the shadows that creeped across the floor, striping it awkwardly. He didn't know where he was, but it was okay. He didn't have anywhere to be. He picked a direction at random and traveled in that direction, his bare feet taking him further in search of a home.
"Whenever you need me, Inu Yasha, I'll be here."