Winds of Change
jodyle1
Chapter nine
The tree canopy loomed overhead, an ominous green blanket shielding the night sky beyond from Inuyasha's view. The emptiness inside was suffocating; ever-present, it pressed in on him and threatened to eradicate him from this life. Not entirely aware of his surroundings, he was mumbling quietly to the unresponsive forrest. Always the same words: "Why, Kikyou? I can protect you. Don't go. Why? Three moons had passed since Kikyou had disappeared into the darkness, and Inuyasha hadn't moved since, he still lay in a crumpled pile on the ground, his fire-rat haori torn and ripped, his off-white hair dirty and unkept. His stomach growled dejectedly with neglect, but he didn't hear it through the dull ache of abandonment and desertion.
Why had everyone left him? He had always ignorantly blamed it on his lineage, his being a Hanyou. He hated the world with a passionate fury. Had he chosen to be a Hanyou? Was it even partially his fault? If people could accept the deformed and disabled, then why not him? What made him different? He had always struggled to understand why he was born in such a deplorable manner; with betrayal, deceit and hate overshadowing his birth, how could anyone not loathe him?
Perhaps his life would have been less horrendous had his mother never died. Indeed, before meeting Kikyou, his mother was the only being to have accepted him and love him unconditionally. When she had died, he was lost and alone, a child abandoned by his own kin wandering through the harsh world. Yes, he had despised the entire world, seeking power to gain acceptance and respect, until he found Kikyou that is.
She had shown him compassion and trust, taught him that there was a place for him in the world, a place a he belonged. In her, he found love of a different kind, the rare kind that humans and demons alike traversed the globe in search of. But his unexpected happiness wasn't to last, as Kikyou was ripped away from him cruelly in a few short seconds.
On that same night fifty years later, he was freed by Kagome, who so resembled Kikyou. She had made him believe that purity and good do exist, and reminded him of everything he had learned from Kikyou. He supposed that he had always seen her through the burdensome shadow of Kikyou, believing her to be his beloved in a different form, his second chance at a wholesome life. But it wasn't to be, as she too was taken away, by his own foolish decision no less. But he did not regret his choice. Kagome he could live without, after all she was just a copy, a mere clone, of his Kikyou. However if he knew that Kikyou no longer roamed the Earth, regardless of whether she was beside him or not, he would not be able to survive. With her, there was hope for his future; slim, delicate, faint hope, but hope.
He had to have her back, but how? She would not return to him willingly for fear she may kill him. But surely something could be done, there had to be a way; there was always a way. Inuyasha though back to the cause of Kikyou's hatred of him. Naraku. Why did everything circle back to Naraku?! He was the cause for every evil thing that had happening, beginning with Kikyou's death! Inuyasha's youki began to stir, growing with each unspoken word that passed through his mind, spurred on by his fiery rage. It was Naraku's fault that Kikyou and he could not be together! Naraku's fault that everyone deserted him! Naraku was a Hanyou also, so why wasn't he alone and suffering?! Tormented by his own bleak existence?!
A sudden wind whipped through the trees as Inuyasha stood from the ground, standing defiantly in a stance that could only lead to one thing: Death. Death to the Hanyou who had destroyed the goodness in his life and left him but an empty shell of what he should be. His field of vision gained a transparent crimson tinge, and the rusted metallic taste of blood coated his tongue. With a new purpose and renewed vigor, Inuyasha swiftly sprinted through the forrest with vengeance in his heart and bloodlust on his mind.