DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: This author has no financial or non-financial relation nor do they possess any right to "Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale" franchise. Full ownership of all characters is the sole intellectual property of Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter One
Long ago, there was an incident. Well….not so much an incident as a nuclear war which devastated the planet and killed off most of humanity. But that's not really what's important here. While most humans did die, the ones who lived adapted to survive. Their long, twisted ladders of DNA laughing in the face of every scientist that had once declared super human abilities impossible.
So, in consideration of all of that, you'd think people would be more understanding. Given that mankind lived in a post-apocalyptic world where radioactivity made 80% of the population manifest abilities, you'd think that it wouldn't matter if someone was different. You'd think they'd be kinder to one another and accepting of people. Especially if certain people, by themselves, were strong enough to protect your region from the other asshole regions which caused this mess in the first place. That they'd flock to someone who most likely would be the candidate like his father before him. You think they'd be understanding if - at the ripe age of three - someone accidentally killed said extremely powerful father because they couldn't control their powers.
You'd think that, right?
Wrong.
Humanity might've survived but people still sucked. Those who weren't blessed with a purely humanlike appearance were treated like second class citizens. Especially if they were powerful and showed promise. Those weaker mortals exerted the only power they had in an attempt to control the things they feared. Inuyasha remembered sitting on the bleachers waiting for someone, anyone to pick him to be on their team but he was always someone's unwanted last player. The one the team got stuck with. The weird kid. The freak. This trend continued into adolescence. Sure, he'd gotten into the academy on merit. Didn't even need to take any tests to prove he was worthy of being there to compete for the top twenty spots. Still, despite having top marks academically, no one wanted to sit with him at lunch. No one invited him to the birthday parties. He'd been rejected whenever he applied for club memberships. Everyone had made it very clear he was unwanted.
Life was a whole lot shittier now that his mother died. Now he wasn't a freak only his mother loved. Now he was an orphaned freak who was going to spend the next three weeks alone in the dorm. Not even the cleaning staff was going to be there. The kitchens weren't going to be open. And he didn't have money to order take out much less have food delivered. He had been left with nothing. Nothing at…
"Is this seat taken?" a tall ebony haired boy seemingly out of nowhere- his oddly covered hand gesturing at the two empty chairs. So stunned was Inuyasha that anyone was talking to him that he said possibly the most pathetic, desperate statement of his life. The words sounded so hopeful. So excited. So…unlike him.
"No. Not at all. You can sit there..."
A small piece of Inuyasha's soul curled up and died as the good looking teen pulled back the chair only to pick it up and placed it at a different table where two young rather pretty girls sat waiting.
"If you want..."
As they all three glanced back at him, Inuyasha averted his eyes and tried his best to ignore the accompanying whispers. He needed to focus on making his own upcoming holiday plans. After all, he did have one last present from his mother. She'd wrapped it and mailed it to the academy right before the accident. Most likely it was something stupid like socks and underwear. Snack food. Soap. The question became where he could get a tree or whether he'd need to make one. After all, there had to be a tree. No matter what was in that parcel. His mother always made sure she had a tree up for when he came home and he had a present which needed a tree. He needed a tree...
Setting his jaw, Inuyasha reached up to wipe away the single traitorous tear under the guise of pushing his bangs away from his face. This was not the time to start crying.
"Looks like we have an extra chair and need an extra person," a girl's soft voice offered sweetly from a freakishly close distance, "Do you want to sit with us?"
It took Inuyasha a minute to clear his mind and by the time he did, the girl who'd been whispering about him at that table was already holding out a napkin.
"I don't need your pity," Inuyasha snapped hatefully as he glared up at her and blocked the tendril of power that reached out to calm him down, "Or your help. I had something in my eye is all."
The warm tendril probed for a moment as the two maintained eye contact. And then the girl hummed in what seemed like an approving yet suspicious manner while her sweet smile widened.
"My friend has some eye drops if you need them," the girl offered as she remained standing with the napkin outstretched, "Everyone gets dry eyes in the winter."
"I said I don't need your pity…"
"And I said we have one chair too many. We also have an offer for you if you'll hear us out," the girl interrupted in that abrasively saccharine tone, "You do know the selection process is starting in the spring, right?"
Inuyasha did know. Training for the damn thing was the only activity keeping him sane at the moment. Really, given the fact that he already prequalified for candidacy based on his stats from strength to stamina to pain tolerance, he didn't need to train at…
"Well, we need a fourth. Miroku," she paused and waved at the young man who had taken the chair in the first place, "Has been watching you in the gymnasium and thinks you'd make a great addition to our team. We want to offer you that position."
"I'm doing it alone," Inuyasha huffed as he snagged the napkin out of her hand and tossed it away, "Like I said, I don't need your pity."
"Well we need you," the girl insisted as she folded her arms across her chest, "We're powerful on our own defense wise but we need another offensive member to even our stats."
"Sucks to be you then," Inuyasha scoffed hatefully before letting his power flare when a second warm tendril began trying to probe for a weakness, "Stop trying to fucking get inside my head. That trick won't work on me."
"Look, I'm sorry for trying to feel you out but we're short on time. Break starts Monday," the girl sighed apologetically, "I've heard you're from the Capital. So am I. If you decide you're interested, I can give you my number and address…"
"I don't want your number or your address," Inuyasha ground out as he picked up his tray, "If you're really so desperate , there's a whole cafeteria here filled with assholes who'd probably love to be…"
"Again we don't want them. We. Want. You," the girl huffed - her sapphire eyes flashing dangerously, "What about that is so hard to understand?"
"Well for starters none of you have even looked my way much less talked to me before," Inuyasha damn near snarled, "Do you even know my name?"
"Inuyasha, I literally sit next to you in biology class," the girl sighed dourly, "That's me saying hi to you every morning and asking you how you're doing. Do you even know my name?"
Blushing faintly, Inuyasha would admit the girl looked vaguely familiar but he honestly didn't remember ever talking to her a day in his life. Wouldn't have been able to pick her out in a crowd. Although, to be fair, mother died three weeks into the semester and everything after had blurred together into a hellish soup. He went to class. Went to the gym. Did his homework. Went to bed. Running on fine-tuned autopilot trying to get by and not fail out. Mother would have been so disappointed if…
"My name is Kagome. Ka-go-me," the girl finally sighed before gesturing over at the two individuals watching these events unfold, "That's Miroku and Sango. Our team right now is defense heavy. Sango is our only offensive member but she's limited. Miroku is our short range defensive member. I am our long range defensive member. Just so you know, I'm an empath but I can manifest weapons, barriers and make things go boom."
"Ah yes, 'making things go boom.' Textbook defensive strategy," Inuyasha mocked scathingly, "Again, I don't need your pity. I…"
"You are from the Capital, right?" the girl asked as her blue eyes pleaded with him to reconsider, "Come by over break and I'll show you why my stats are defense orien…"
"I'm staying here over break so you can shove your offer right up your ass," Inuyasha hissed hatefully before realizing he'd given too much away. For a moment, he continued glaring at the girl then he turned and left the cafeteria. The next day Kagome noticed Inuyasha wasn't in biology. Which was weird. What was even stranger was the fact that the teacher didn't even call out Inuyasha's name in roll call. Another day went by and again Inuyasha wasn't present. The third day was what broke the camel's back and after a short blunt conversation with the teacher, Kagome learned exactly why Inuyasha was staying here over the break. Why he hadn't put in the effort and learned her name. Why he was so certain she approached him out of pity.
It also gave her an idea.
"People are going to start thinking you're adopting orphans, Kagome," Sango sighed heavily as she continued folding her clothes and placing them in neat piles to better pack them later, "You can't keep inviting random people home for the holidays. It was bad enough when you did that to Miroku. Now we're stuck with him."
Straightening up, Sango's mouth fell partially open before she let out a soft swear.
"That's why he wanted Inuyasha. That son of a..."
"To be fair to Miroku, none of us knew Inuyasha was orphaned before now," Kagome pointed out as she inspected her nails and wrinkled her nose, "Miroku just wants to win and you have to admit with Inuyasha, we're pretty much guaranteed a spot next year."
"Yes because that's what you really why you invited him home with us," Sango sighed heavily - placing her white cotton shirt in the pile before adding in a very good imitation of her friend's voice, "I can feel him from here Sango. He's just so sad."
"Since when is it a crime to want people to be less sad?" Kagome huffed defensively as she maneuvered to pull her pajama clad legs up against her chest.
"Its not a crime. Know what is? Murder. Which he's done..."
"The news people I think were unfair because his dad was top ranked and they wanted a story. Inuyasha was like...three or something at the time. Don't really think he did that on purpose," Kagome scoffed dismissively before sighing and shaking her head, "Besides, since then, he's kept his nose clean. I don't think it'll be an issue."
Sango closed her eyes and sighed.
"Kagome, he's dangerous. Why do you think no one else wants him on their team?"
"Because he didn't want to be on a team," Kagome clipped back defensively - wrapping her arms around her knees and glaring, "Honestly Sango, what's your issue?"
"Strange men coming to our home for the holidays is my issue," Sango snapped heatedly, "Miroku was one thing. We went to primary with him. Inuyasha though...Kagome we don't know anything about him other than what's on his public register."
"All the more reason to invite him. Since we want him on our team, it will be nice to get to know him over the holidays, don't you think?" Kagome asked sweetly. A moment passed then two and then Sango began slapping at her arms like she was fighting against invisible spider webs.
"I'm not even doing anything Sango," Kagome groaned in frustration and rolled her eyes, "You're agreeing with me all on your own."
A moment went by then two.
"He already said he was coming?" Sango finally sighed and with a very innocent smile, Kagome nodded. Another moment. The smile cracked and turned into a cringe.
"Well he said he'd think about it. I told him if he wanted to come, for him to just meet us in front of the school," she amended, "If I didn't know better I'd say he's an empath too but that wasn't on his register."
"Did his mother have abilities?"
"Register didn't say..."
All in all Inuyasha felt rather stupid to have believed that girl when she offered. It was too good to be true. But at the prospect of being alone and having to fend for himself for three weeks, he'd impulsively agreed - mistaking her sweet smile for sincerity. As punishment for his foolishness, now he was standing outside the empty school by himself with a suitcase. The sun had gone down about an hour ago and the arrival of dusk had ushered out the rest of the student body. Sure, there were still a few stragglers but it was clear that he'd been tricked.
Which was fine. Wasn't the first time someone tried to hurt him like this and it wouldn't be the last. Besides, contrary to what he'd believed when the lying traitorous bitch offered, it wasn't like he didn't have a place to go for the holidays. Apparently one of the chemistry teachers hadn't realized his old friend's son had gotten into the school and upon coming to said realization, offered to let said son stay with him over break. The geezer smelled awful, was headed towards dementia and his best known ability was pyromania but staying with a senile old man beat the hell out of living off stale Doritos in a dorm room.
This was fine.
Not ideal but fine.
This…
"THERE HE IS! Oh, thank god. HEY! HEY! INUYASHA! OVER HERE!" the last voice he expected suddenly echoed off the cold brick walls and into his sensitive albeit covered ears, "HEY!"
Slowly and awkwardly turning towards the source of the sound, Inuyasha absolutely hated himself for the sheer amount of relief that coursed through his system at the sight of them.
"You came back," he breathed before clearing his throat and amending with all the restrained anger he could manage, "Took you long enough. Where the hell have you been?!"
"I'm so sorry. We've…we've been waiting… at the train station," Kagome panted heavily as she bent over and fanned herself, "But then… I remembered…I said to meet us…here so…so we…we…is it hot out here?"
"How do you expect to enter the selection without stamina?" Inuyasha teased as he shrugged his shoulders to adjust his heavy coat, "Doing great so far convincing me to join you three. Poor memory. Can't run…."
"Well if that's how you feel about it, you can stay here," the extra woman huffed pettily as she shouldered her monstrous backpack and glared. Inuyasha paled but didn't take back his insult. Instead, he waited for the axe to fall and flexed his fingers around the handle of his hand me down suitcase. To be fair to the girl, he had never actually had any friends before and therefore wasn't quite sure what the protocol was for things like this. Even if they wanted him to explain himself, he wasn't about to beg or apologize. As mother always said, if someone had an issue with who he was that was their loss not his. He'd done just fine in his own. Would do just fine on his own. He didn't need them. He…
It was the taller boy with dark ebony hair, the one who had first taken the chairs, that broke the tension. After all, who hadn't spent their lives constantly interpreting everything everybody said as a negative reaction to the the things they say and the person they were? Sango took the joke personally when it was clearly this boy's way of expressing his understandable agitation and visible relief that they'd come back for him. Inuyasha was unnerved that his first real interaction with them had been met with hostility yet was seemingly resigned to accept the sudden but inevitable betrayal with as much pride as he could muster. Kagome…
Kagome needed to calm down and soon. Sango knew better than to make an awkward situation worse. Kagome could absorb energy all day long but if her own emotions were running high and she didn't have the opportunity to let off some steam…
"Shall we go board the train then?" Miroku offered awkwardly as he nodded towards the train station, "It's supposed to start snowing soon and I'd very much like to be inside when it does."
Much to poor Miroku's dismay, Inuyasha took this statement as his signal to go back inside.
"Where are you going?" he laughed awkwardly as he took a few steps closer and patted the silver hair boy's shoulder, "The station is that way."
"I was told to stay here."
The statement was as harsh and cold as the winter wind biting at their cheeks.
"It's not her invitation to take away," Miroku reassured him - casting a suspiciously nervous look at the young Kagome who looked a hair away from passing out, "And we've already purchased your ticket. It would be a shame for it to go to waste."
"I didn't ask you to buy…"
"Is it hot out here?" Kagome repeated miserably as she began shedding her hat and gloves, "It's hot, right?"
Before he could make a snarky comment, the words were stolen straight from his tongue. Inuyasha watched with morbid fascination as the girl began glowing an ever-deepening shade of pink and the ice on the ground began melting beneath her feet.
"It's really, really…"
"You two go ahead. It's my turn to take it anyway," Sango sighed heavily as she grabbed Kagome's discarded yellow backpack and effortlessly tossed it to Miroku.
"What do you mean take it? Why is she pink?" Inuyasha asked as the girl's fingertips started doing a very good imitation of a sparkler, "And what the fuck is that?!"
"Sango is going to let Kagome release some of the energy into her. We'll explain more on the train," Miroku sighed as he awkwardly tugged on Inuyasha's coat to signal he needed to move, "But right now, it would be in our best interest to move."
"Wait, move?" Inuyasha breathed incredulously as he continued watching the nuclear level meltdown taking place, "Is she gunna like… explode or something?"
"Or something," Miroku chuckled darkly as he gave his new very disturbed companion a firm push that accomplished absolutely nothing, "Come along."
"Fuck this," Inuyasha chuckled darkly as he side stepped the guy who set the pieces in motion to have him standing next to someone who could no better control her powers than he could sometimes, "What game are you assholes…"
Before Inuyasha could finish his statement, 'something' whipped his long hair over his shoulders with such force that the blast nearly caused him to stumble.
"What. The literal…"
"Well that happened," Sango coughed out irritably as she released the shaking girl in her arms and began brushing off the dust that had been redistributed by the blast, "We better not miss that stupid train over this. Come..."
"No. No. Someone is going to explain what the…"
"Inuyasha I promise we will explain more on the train," Miroku shushed him urgently, "For the moment, it is imperative that we remain calm and that we get on said train."
"I ain't doing shit until someone explains how an empath managed to explode," Inuyasha insisted heatedly as he took a step back and glared at the sweaty hot mess of a person who seemed perfectly normal up until now, "That wasn't normal. Someone explain. Now. Or else I'm not going..."
"Kagome harnesses the emotions she takes in and can use that energy to attack or defend," Sango offered with a heavy sigh, "However, if she takes in too much and doesn't release it, she does that."
As involuntarily hyped up and voluntarily angry as Sango was, there was something in Inuyasha's expression as he was given this explanation. Pain. Sympathy. Uncomfortable understanding. And resignation. Almost to the point where he looked like a man sentenced to death. Before Sango could question this further, the sounds of Kagome getting to her feet managed to grab everyone's attention.
"M'fine. We go…on train. 'Kay?" Kagome slurred miserably as she tried to stagger forward. One step. Two and then she crumpled into Inuyasha's surprisingly strong arms. Honestly this twist surprised the others for more reasons than one. First off, they hadn't even realized he'd moved until he was already cradling Kagome in his arms. Second, despite Inuyasha looking like he wanted to die, Kagome actually breathed a sigh of relief and pressed her cheek against her savior's broad shoulder. Like he was somehow calming her down with his presence alone. Given that she couldn't stop herself from feeding or releasing in the state that she was in, that could only mean one thing.
"You're an empath?" Miroku breathed incredulously, "My god man. Are there any abilities you don't…"
"Where'd you get the idea that I'm an empath?" Inuyasha snorted evasively before he adjusted his hold and nodded towards the train station, "Shouldn't we get going?"
For a moment, the boy set and reset his jaw before sighing and following his strange new acquaintance towards the train. Miroku was, of course, planning to revisit the issue once they were comfortably situated. Maybe even later this evening when they arrived at the shrine. They had weeks after all and Inuyasha literally had nowhere else to go.