Disclaimer: Yeah I'm back….yay….so tired but I live on, fight another day to conquer all who oppose me…I need sleep after this, lol I'm freaking crazy….oh well that's why ya'll love me right….right…? I don't own Inu and co.
A Child's Innocence- Prologue
It was cold and dark in the cramped little room. In the middle of the tiny chamber lay a little boy, no older than 7, with long white hair that looked silver in the moonlight with two small triangles poking out of the thick hair. He wore dirty small clothing, ripped here and there. He looked as though he hadn't bathed in a few days or eaten for that matter either.
He shivered loneliness and fear overcoming him once again and pulled his knees tighter to his chest. He was curled in the fetal position on the hard floor, golden eyes staring off into space in the darkness.
It was a truly small room, about the size of a good sized closet. Bare, with only a few furnishings, a small futon with a teddy bear hidden among the folds of the blanket, and a broken night light shattered on the floor. Surprisingly, there was a tiny window high upon the wall, not that it helped, it did more bad than good, casting eerie shadows everywhere to make any child scared out of their minds to be alone in this room. If he hadn't been feeling so miserable and depressed he probably would've been scared out of his mind by now, clawing his way out of the room, claustrophobia making him irrational like the other nights before. But he just wanted to be away from this man and his cruel words and actions, back with his mother…
But no, she had left him; she had joined his father in death instead of staying with him, protecting him from the hideous dark side of the world as a mother should. She had died, slowly and painfully from a disease eating her away from the inside last year.
Humans, all they did was leave you alone to die, left you feeling the loneliness creep up and choke you. They only made matters worse. They could never be trusted, they only make you hurt. And he was half of that.
Only half, a half breed, not one or the other, not accepted by either side of his heritage, an abomination, a freak as the man and almost every other person he came in contact with had reminded him repeatedly.
He had a brother once; he had been full youkai though. He had never had understood him or his situation, not that he cared, he hated him. He left him here to rot in this hell; in fact, he had helped him get there in the first place. After his father died he had only supported him and his mother by honoring his father's will, barely. But when mother died however, he refused to take care of him, a lowly half breed. He had taken the child support and left while Inu Yasha was dragged off by social services.
Shows how thick blood can be.
He didn't live in the best of neighborhoods now, which did nothing to help him against his step-father. The neighbors didn't care what happened to him. They were to busy with their own lives and as long as the manager got his rent he didn't ask questions. His step-father was also a known dealer in these parts; again no one paid any attention to it. He didn't know if the social services knew that they'd given him up to this kind of a man, in this kind of place. But apparently they hadn't bothered to do a thorough background check on him… or maybe they had…but didn't care. After, he was a half breed.
He stared at the wall, eyes gleaming with sadness and tears as he tried and think of anything he had done or said to make them hate him so, to make his step-father hurt him repeatedly, physically and mentally.
He couldn't recall anything being too terrible; he had asked to attend school, to be around others like him. The only reply he received was his step-father reminding him that there was no one else as disgusting like him out there. He had enforced his words by back handing him a few times around the room, had to make a point right?
He had laid there and played dead and retreated to his bedroom after his step-father was done. Usually his step-father got bored if he stopped moving long enough. He would leave him battered and bruised on the ground and find some more alcohol and enjoy some late night television with it afterwards.
With his demon blood all brusies, cuts and whatever injury he had would be gone by morning without a trace. This made him hit harder and more frequently, just to test his blood. It didn't used to hurt; he used to only be slapped across the cheek. But he had made the mistake of yelling at him one night while he was in his drunken stupor. He had told his step-father that he was stronger than him and no matter what he did wouldn't hurt because he was just a human. So, naturally, he hit harder. He stopped slapping, used fists and didn't hold back. And while later on when he grew up it wouldn't have had as much effect on him now but, he was still only a child.
That's just when they didn't have company.
There were certain nights were his step-father had guests come over to pay him a visit. Women in short enough skirts that there's not even a point in wearing them, they covered almost nothing. Shirts so see through that left nothing to the imagination with heels to make them look more attractive, but only served to make them look their part more, like whores. On those nights he was strictly forbidden from leaving his room.
Like he'd want to, after smelling the horrible stench of toxins and alcohol coming off their bodies in waves made him sick to his stomach. Only for it to be amplified after they'd disappear into his step-fathers room, off to have obnoxiously loud sex, next door, with paper thin walls and a dogs hearing. The smells and sounds combined where enough to make him vomit every time.
He would never get used to it.
Taking a slow steadying breath through his mouth and swallowing, he perked one of his puppy ears and listen for the sounds of that disgusting man. He had fallen asleep in front of the TV again, snoring loud enough to wake the dead.
His stomach growled. Maybe he could sneak down and get some food…? He shook his head. And risk him waking? No way. He tried clearing his mind to not think about it but it didn't help the clawing hunger in his stomach. He may be a hanyou but he wasn't able to go without food for to long periods of time, he would still die of starvation, just more slowly than a human.
He heard him snort, startled into the land of the living, as he got up from his old, used and worn out lazy boy chair and walked into the kitchen, dropping the empty beer bottle in his hand to the ground to get another. He heard shuffling around and his mumbling. With each passing second the shuffling turned into banging and his step-father's irritated voice had a steady increase of volume.
Oh no…He heard him start yelling incoherently about one thing or another and bounded towards Inu Yasha's room. The door was practically ripped off its hinges as the man loomed in the doorway.
"Boy!" he bellowed in his face, a red tint on his cheeks and eyes narrowed in distain. It was going to be a long night…He reached out and dragged him out by his arm, nearly pulling it out of his socket in the process, into the dimly lit family room.
He squeezed his eyes shut, Please go away, leave me alone…don't hit me…he was shaken rather hardly and if he had been human, he surly would've gotten whiplash. "Look at me when I'm talking to you boy! I'm so sick and tired of your shit you good for nothing half breed…" His rant continued on the same for 20 minuets longer, his voice increasing with every sentence until he decided violence would better appease his anger.
Inu Yasha fell to the floor, out of breath, ribs screaming for air as tried to inhale, which only made it worse. He was on him in no time flat, giving the child all he had, punching left and right. No, not again…he thought desperately, tears stinging his eyes, his body hurting every where.
"You gonna cry boy, you gonna cry! Is that it?" he sent a blow to the cheek, "a big, mighty, strong demon like you gonna lie down and cry?" More blows to the face and stomach as he kept up with his taunting, degrading the poor child more and more with every hit.
He was starting to feel light headed and dizzy, wanting to just fall asleep and he looked up as he felt hands around his throat. He stared at the man above him and the hands tightened around his neck. Eyes squinting as blackness started to creep at the edges of his vision; he realized he was going to die. This human was going to kill him...
No! His eyes snapped open and turned red. He grabbed the hands at his throat and ripped them off and threw him across the room. Through the red haze he saw the man get up and he ran at him and delivered punches of his own. He started ripping and tearing at his skin, unsatisfied with the pain brought by his punches, and with a demented satisfaction he smiled at the blood on the floor, listening to the man scream in agony.
He lifted his hand again to strike him once more but stopped, he looked at him sprawled on the floor whimpering in pain. He was no better than him, eyes changing back and forth from gold to red he stood there arm raised staring at the man who had brought him hell since the horrible day he was told his mother was dead.
Mother…She wouldn't be proud to see what he had done, she would've been disgusted, scared of him…Completely horrified by the thought he ran, ran out of the apartment, out of the building, as far away as possible disappearing in the night.
He didn't recognize anything, any streets or buildings as he raced by, even if they were familiar, they all looked like blurs of color to him. All he heard was the pounding of his heart and his quick sharp breaths for air over the bustle of the city, he could still see everything in a redish sort of hue and he didn't dare stop. He was too afraid he'd lose control again and take it out on an innocent victim.
But his adrenalin was starting to wear out and he was steadily losing his strength to move on. Not to mention he hadn't been fed in quiet a while, but still the fear was haunting him, he had to move forward…stumbling across the street he was very nearly ran right over by a car and he decided he had to find somewhere to rest. But where? He didn't have anywhere to run to, no one would take in one of his kind and forget about his step-father. He might even already be dead.
His blood stopped cold at the thought. He was a murder, a cold blooded killer. He was responsible for another person's death…He shook his head; he couldn't think about that now ha had other things he needed to worry about at the moment, like where he was going.
He stopped exhaustion really starting to affect him, his eyes half closed as he leaned down, hands on knees, and tried to stop his head from spinning lack of sleep, food and the wear on his emotions. He stood up carefully and looked around, up ahead was a shrine. A holy sanctuary…would they turn him away?
Only one way to find out.
He jogged up the street to the steps that lead to the shrine and looked up. Just his luck. He could barely see the shrine over the steps, he sighed. He started his long, painful climb to where he hoped he could finally rest. When he reached the top he collapsed heavily to the ground, he had no more energy to move. He stared at the cobblestone beneath him, there was still the redish hue in his vision, it stubbornly refused to go away, his demon side refused to be put back.
Eyes glazed over he didn't notice the light on the front porch turn on, or hear the front door open or the soft footsteps drawing closer. What he did notice though was a soft, comforting voice call out to him. And when he looked up he saw a dark haired angel with blue eyes bathed in light looking down at him with concern.
"Are you ok?"
The red hue cleared.
A/N: UGGGGGH! Finally done! Omg my back hurts….yeah I'm a mean person…poor Inu Yasha….he's so abused but yay, happy end of chapter, it shall be a lot nicer in the future
Special thanks to clueless2u, you rock.
And yeah review, lemme know what you think.
3 DemonChild