All's Fair in Love and War

Chapter Twenty Four

Wonderland

The attractions seemed to stretch on for miles. He stepped out of Kagome's mom's car and surveyed the once empty field ahead of him. This place was huge. He couldn't even see the horizon anymore, just an ongoing field of lights, rides, and people. He had to blink a couple times just to verify that this was actually real. Kagome tugged at is sleeve. "Inu Yasha! Let's go! It's already started!" She ran ahead and he followed soon after, carrying a small bouncing Shippou.

The attractions seemed to stretch on for miles. He stepped out of Kagome's mom's car and surveyed the once empty field ahead of him. This place was huge. He couldn't even see the horizon anymore, just an ongoing field of lights, rides, and people. He had to blink a couple times just to verify that this was actually . Kagome tugged at is sleeve. "Inu Yasha! Let's go! It's already started!" She ran ahead and he followed soon after, carrying a small bouncing Shippou.

He read the sign that stretched across the entrance. It read 'Wonderland'. He couldn't help but remember that movie he saw with his mother once about a girl who jumped into a rabbit hole and it took her to another world. He laughed as he remembered how he once jumped into a ditch at a construction site once thinking that it would take him to a different world with card soldiers, men in top hats, and fat queens. He didn't get to visit a different world, though he did sprain his ankle.

"Hey, isn't there a fee for entrance?" he asked, noticing no payment booths of any kind.

"Nope, it's free." she said. Which is good for them, because he wouldn't have paid anyways.

She ran back to him and grabbed his hand. He looked down at her and his eyebrow raised a little. "Um, just so we don't get lost." she said. "I'd hate to lose you. It'd be a pain to look for you this crowd . Hold onto Shippou tight, kay?" He nodded and squeezed her hand. It was warm. The warm ball of Shippou on his shoulder used two tiny hands to grip onto Inu Yasha's shirt.

"Which ride do you want to go on?" she asked. He looked around. There were Merry-go-Rounds, carousels, ferris wheels, roller coasters, and flying chair rides. It all looked good in his opinion.

"You-you want me to pick? You can go first. I don't mind." She nodded and smiled, and urged him to pick one. "Umm..." He looked around a second time and a large handsomely lighted ferris wheel caught his eye. "That." he said and pointed at it.

"Oh yay, I like ferris wheels." said Kagome. They stood in line for the ferris wheel and chatted. "I'm excited about the ferris wheel but what I REALLY want to see is the show." said Kagome.

"Show? What show?" he asked.

"The magic show, silly!" she said, as if she expected him to know this kind of stuff. "I can't wait to see what Kieuseru will do this time."

"Kieuseru?" he asked.

"Yes, Kieuseru." she said. "I'm surprised you haven't heard of him before. He is a well known sorcerer, and owner of this fair. He is the one who started it ten years ago."

"That's funny." he said. "I've not heard his name even."

"That would probably be due to your upbringing. Since your mom died so long ago, she probably never introduced you to parts of your demon heritage. You have so much to learn." she said and sighed. "He is well known, but not particularly to humans …"

He raised an eyebrow. "By that I mean demons, and people like that." she said, catching his confusion.

"Then how come you know about him?" he asked, the thought suddenly striking him.

"Inu Yasha ..." she said slowly and softly, as if she thought that if her voice were any louder he would turn around and run for his life. "Would it startle you to know that nobody you see around you is-"

"You two!" a man at the stairs to the ferris wheel shouted. "You guys coming or not!" They turned their heads and ran towards the ferris wheel, uttering their apologies before sitting in the dangling cabin.

"Heh, he looked angry." said Inu Yasha.

"I would be too. We were really holding up the line." he said. Both sat in silence, only occasionly disturbed by Shippou's cries of 'Look at this!' or 'Everything looks so tiny.'

"They all look like ants." said Kagome softly. "I like being high up like this."

"It's nice." he agreed.

"It makes me feel like I'm flying." she said and her eyes glazed over, the way a persons will often do when they are lost in thought. "Everything looks so tiny from up here, and it's like I'm flying. I wish I could do that. It would be so nice. If I could fly then I could just fly away from everything. How convenient would that be?" She turned to him. "I'm sorry for rambling. But the idea of flying has always appealed to me."

"It does seem cool." he said, imagining himself with giant angel wings. Actually, that was really cool! The closest thing he had to flight was his long and powerful jump. He supposed that that didn't really qualify for flying. It was more like leaping with grace.

"Really?" she asked. "I told that to someone once and they told me to buy an airline ticket."

He chuckled softly. "That's rude." he said. She nodded in agreement. "I think it's a perfectly good daydream." She smiled and turned around to watch the little ants on the ground scurry from place to place.

After a moment's silence Inu Yasha spoke, "Kagome?" he said shyly.

"Yes?" She turned to him.

"Um … earlier you- you said that, um, no one around here is something. So, I was just wondering … No one around here is-"

Kagome laughed softly and pulled a stray tendril of hair away from her face. She leaned over towards Inu Yasha and sighed as she rested her head ever so lightly against his small shoulder. She grabbed his hand and laced her fingers inbetween his and shook it. For a second she watched as she pulled his hand up and then let her arm drop, and both his and her hands plopped on his lap. She sighed again before replying. "Human."

And he was too shocked to speak. And he wasn't sure if it was because of the information or her head against his shoulder and her hand inside of his.

"Chicken nuggets, please."

"Will that be all?"

"Yes, sir."

"Your total is three hundred yen."

Kagome reached into her pocket and pulled out a five hundred yen coin. The man behind the counter handed her a basket of breaded chicken and two hundred yen coins. "Thank you." she said and took the food. Shippou leaned forward on Inu Yasha's shoulder, nearly drooling.

"Chicken chicken chicken!" he chanted. Kagome took out a peice and handed it to him, watching as he contently nibbled at it. "Yummy!" he said and grinned right before licking his chops.

The two teens did not order food. And they weren't in need of it either because they had eaten before when Shippou was busy playing a game.

Kagome sighed and giggled. "What is it Kagome?" asked Inu Yasha, curious as to what it was she was laughing at.

"Oh, nothing, it's just so cute the way he eats!" Inu Yasha squinted an eye. Since when was eating cute? Never mind. "Let's get seats, before all the good ones are taken. I wanna be as close to the stage as possible." She took his hand and Inu Yasha tottered after her. They had managed to find decent seats, around six rows back. They took their seats and Shippou sat on one of Inu Yasha's shoulders.

The stage lights dimmed and a faint red spotlight shone on the empty middle of the stage. Inu Yasha strained his eyes, trying to see something. There was something up on that stage. It was kind of blurry, but it was definitely there. Pretty soon he could make out the outline of a man, appearing on the stage. And in the blink of an eye, there, in the middle of the stage where there was nothing once before, he stood.

His hair was long and dark. It came an inch or two below the nape of his neck and his scraggly bangs came down to his eye brow. He was wearing a dark vest and matching pants. There was something off about him, however. Something that Inu Yasha couldn't exactly put his finger on. He squinted and blinked a couple times and that's when he realized.

This man had no color. His skin was almost white, with the smallest hint of gray. And his hair was the darkest of grays, almost black. The only thing Inu Yasha could identify with the slightest hint of color was the man's eyes. They were a deep violet color. They were so dark that he nearly confused it with a black. His lips smiled, but his eyes did not. He looked happy on the stage, but something looked missing, incomplete about this man. His eyes looked sad and lonely.

Inu Yasha noticed that throughout the show, he often looked down. When he didn't, he rarely glanced over at the crowd. Though the show was magnificent. One man escaped from a brick coffin. One man was put in a basket where many swords were shoved through, but he escaped unscathed. Kieuseru performed that whole disappearing act several times. He enjoyed it, to say the least.

"That was so cool!" Kagome squealed. "I liked the one with the guy and the swords. And Kieuseru is awesome. He kind of flickers through out the whole show. It was actually kind of neat." Inu Yasha nodded. "Should we go on another ride now?" she asked. Shippou gave a list of different rides he wanted to go on.

"And the carousel and the tea cup ride and the race cars and the bean sack throwy thing..." Kagome grabbed him off Inu Yasha's shoulder and walked out through the crowd.

"Come on Inu Yasha." she said and he followed.

They sat on the park bench, eyes drooping, as they watched Shippou play on a see saw with another boy. "That kid's batteries just never run out do they?" said Kagome wearily.

"He is full demon." said Inu Yasha. "You must be pretty tired." he said. Kagome nodded and put her head on his shoulder.

"I'm really tired, Yasha." she said drowzily, her mouth unwilling to form his complete name, and closed her eyes.

They had found this small circle of a park in the center of the carnival. And after the carousel, and the tea cup ride, and the race cars, and the bean sack throwy thing, and the merry-go-round, they finally convinced Shippou to let them stop and rest. They had a great time, but were now thoroughly exhausted.

His eyes wandered to the center of the park. A stone angel's back, wings outspread, met his eyes. He had to wonder what the hell it was doing there. This was a children's recreational are right?

Kagome let a small sigh escape as she nestled closer to Inu Yasha's chest. He kept his hands to himself. He liked the way she fit so perfectly on him. Something about it made him remember some cheesy metaphor about people fitting together like two pieces of a puzzle.

"Hey Kagome?" he asked.

"Hm?" she mumbled.

"What did you mean earlier, when you said that nobody here is human?" he asked, almost shakily. He wanted to know the whole entire carnival but he couldn't find the strength to ask her. Something about the information made him feel uneasy on one hand, but somehow, being at this carnival …

He had never felt more at home.

But when she said that everybody at the carnival was not human or at least not fully human) she meant everyone, right? And that included her. But ... what was she?

"Well..." she said drowsily, as she picked her head up. "See that boy over there?" she said. He looked over and saw the boy Shippou was with on the see saw. "He's a bear demon." she said and lifted her head from his shoulder, rubbing her eyes.

"And that woman over there? She is a dragon." Inu Yasha raised an eyebrow and looked over at the woman. She wore a scarf over her head and he noticed that in the light, her skin had a pale green tint to it. "The horn on the back of a dragons head can never go away, even when they transform, so she wears a scarf." He nodded.

"Oh." he said, taking it all in. This shouldn't be too hard for him to hear, after all, he wasn't human either. "I thought stuff like this was only in fairytales?"

"Hm, oh no, they're as real as demons like you Inu Yasha." she said. "Less common of course, and not as open to share what they are. Then again … I don't suppose hiding the fact you are half demon is an option?"

"No … it isn't." he said softly, before quickly changing the subject. "What about him?" he said, pointing to a man in a purple tuxedo.

"Vampire." she said.

"I thought they had real pale skin." he said. He pulled his legs up and sat cross legged, facing her. She did the same.

"The malnourished ones do." she replied and tilted her head to the side.

Note to self: Stay away from vampire man.

"I didn't know stuff like this even existed anymore."he said

I didn't know stuff like this even anymore." he said.

"Inhumanity is a dying race of people. Most were killed years ago. Dragons were killed for their horns, which contain a huge amount of magic, vampires were killed for their fangs, demons would be killed for their pelts." she said and cleared her throat. "Sorcerers were murdered because of assumed association with Satan. The hunters and the huntees became established and soon, all inhumans were forced to go into hiding and keep human forms to survive."

He turned his head to the side. "That's why you hardly ever see any half demons, they don't have the power to assume a fully human form." she told him. "Most are killed." she admitted bitterly. "The ones that survive it through birth and childhood don't live long."

He swallowed and continued. "That ... is the strangest thing I've ever heard." he said, staring dumbly at her. And to think all this time he assumed anyone without dog ears was human. "I never knew there were so many." he said.

"Well, considering that this is all there is out of the entire Japan, it's not that much." she said. He guessed that there was at least three hundred people here. Out of seventy million, that's not so many. Not so many at all.

Author's notes

YOKU equals greed (Hence his role in last chapter.)

THE SECRET'S OUT!The cats out of the wet paper bag I put it in! (How could I do that?) Kagome is indeed not human. But you wont learn more about her till later ... later whenI figure out what she really is. o ... o

INU KUN, THE LEMON LADY. Lime content next chapter! Its heavy to me at least. Then again I only have written twoor threekisses in my whole time writing. I try to avoid them, but some things cant be avoided, sigh. I fucking hate writing romance ... gr. It's so embarrasing. Well, it's necessary for the story. :groan:

REVIEW RESPONSES

LukeShaehl- You:points: You're that guy who told Sleepwalking Chicken that you weren't gonna read her story anymore because one of the characters was bisexual! I may not care about much, but I love that story, so if you cant read it because of some stupid homophobe thing then harumph to you good sir. YOU don't know what you're missing out on.

LukeShaehl
2005-07-03
ch 24, signed

Hmm, the only thing I don't like about this story is how Inuyasha is pansy and way to nice. It's nothing like the actual Inuyasha character and there really isn't any basis for it in your story either. If anything he should be even more rude, short-tempered, closed off and jaded than he is in the show. Plus, being fifteen he should definately be able to take care of his father by now. In the anime, he was only somewhere between 16 and 18 I believe and he was already killing demons and hunting Naraku. So one drunken human shouldn't be able to overpower him.

Anyways, your review was … bothersome. It was nothing more than an uneducated and unsupported ramble that actually holds NO truth WHATSOEVER.

Let me clarify, AU and OOC mean that my characters don't have to resemble the ones created by Rumiko Takahashi. So, in summation, anime Inu Yasha and AFILAW Inu Yasha are NOT THE SAME PERSON. Okay? Got it? I don't give a crap about what the hell the ANIME Inu Yasha does or how many stupid demons he kills because you know what? That's irrelevant and I already know plenty about the original Inu Yasha. This story is different!

So, Inu Yasha is a pansy huh? And of course YOU should know more about MY characters and MY story more than I do right? And of course that makes sense. He's only been beaten to near death on several occasions and grown up with a man who not only treats him with disrespect and hate, but also enjoys inflicting physical PAIN on him. Oh yeah, not to mention the man is his FATHER. Geez, the fucking pansy, I can't believe he hasn't just moved on.

Of course, the fact he is weak physically has absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that he's been nearly STARVED for months at a time and is lucky to find a decent meal every once in a while. God, the little runt, I cant believe he isn't just going to go and stab his father to death with the kitchen knife! Yeah, right, because he ACTUALLY holds the ability to do something like that.

And yes, he SHOULD be angry and jaded and rude and mean to everyone, because that's what happens to EVERY SINGLE FUCKING HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET when they get teased or mistreated. Just so you know, not every one reacts the same way to pain. Some people run from it, some cut off emotion, and some people try to act mean like original Inu Yasha so that they might scare people away from them because they would rather be hated than made fun of.

But MY Inu Yasha is not like that. AFILAW Inu Yasha is a more fragile boy you see? He was raised only knowing that he was worth nothing. And in his mind, he almost kind of thinks he deserves the horrible treatment he gets. Unlike the angry Inu Yasha in the show, he is more of a sad person. In fact he feels horribly uncomfortable being angry. Havent you noticed the treatment he gets when he tries to rebel? He gets hurt WORSE so no duh he's going to try to submit as much as possible.

Anyways, the moral of the rant is this. You. Know. Nothing. About. MY. Characters. So don't you judge them!

:giggles: Hee hee! I yelled! I feel better now:runs off giggling and throwing flowers: Whe! Sorry for sounding mean. I just cant stand when people say 'well, Inu Yasha in the anime does THIS AND blah blah blah!' Damned people can't understand what AU and OOC means. Geezis.

Kaostheory- Well, flashbacks are necessary for this story so if you don't like them then I really suggest you don't read. There'll be a lot more to come. And I can not relay the names of the parents due to the fact that I may need to keep them secret for further plot uses.

Sleepwalking Chicken- Sacre blu! XP You just reminded me of something I have to do! Gasps! It wont happen till the very end of the story, but theres a part I need to write. I luff you! Myehe. I have a real cool idea for BG fanart ... more Naraku arts of course ... cause I luff him too. :hugs him:

Invisible1withnofaith- Whooooaaa… :head spins: If I could make swirly eyes, I would do just that.

Next chapter: Kieuseru

:Wink, wink: