The truth was that he had hurt someone before.
He didn't remember it.
But it haunted him every day.
It had been the same day that they'd found out he was using narcotics.
He'd been on them for two years already. He'd missed a lot of school. But Kaede hadn't found out until just then.
Her house was on the edge of town, in a rundown neighborhood. They had no television, and definitely not a phone. The mailbox had been all but forgotten. They had been all but forgotten...
When Kaede had seen Inuyasha beginning to insert a needle into the crook of his elbow when he thought she wasn't home, she freaked out on him, slapped it away.
He'd already gone too long without the drug and was having a painful withdrawal from it. So the animal inside of him went ballistic.
She'd been lucky only to lose an eye, and a lot of blood, instead of her entire life. The neighbors, fearing for their own lives, called the authorities. By the time they'd arrived, Inuyasha was with his Kikyo again. They were both transported to the hospital. And his remaining family was called.
Kaede bore no ill will to Inuyasha. She even felt partly responsible. She worked, even at her age, to the bone in order to provide for the both of them, so she hadn't been home very often. She felt horrible about leaving him alone all that time, and hadn't even known he'd been that depressed.
But she couldn't take care of him anymore. Not with how frail she was.
The only one from Inuyasha's family to show up at the hospital was Sesshoumaru's mother. She said nothing at all to him, only brought him home. When her father and grandfather saw the black-haired teenager, they almost went into an apopletic rage.
With all the years of her life in her voice, she promptly told them to shut the hell up and behave. And they did. Grumbling, of course.
She'd shown Inuyasha to the room his father had once occupied and left him to his own devices, which involved him laying in bed, tossing and turning and clutching his head and arms in painful acts of withdrawal. Blood was drawn and spotted the white sheets.
Sesshoumaru had been called away from his studies by his mother, and they had sat down and spoken in low tones the entire night. When morning came, he visited his younger brother in the dark room.
Inuyasha was crouched on the bed, hugging one leg to his chest. His wide eyes glinted gold from the light in the hallway.
"You look like a wild animal," Sesshoumaru commented, his voice loud in the stillness. Inuyasha flinched and clutched his head. "What a disgrace." He turned to his mother. "I will only consent since it was you that asked this of me, mother. But I will not treat him like a china doll."
She bowed her head and then went about her business. Sesshoumaru returned his attention to the boy on the bed that was threatening to crush his own skull between his fists.
"Get up and let's go."
Inuyasha picked his head up and looked at him.
"Did you think you were staying here? No. Now get up, we're leaving. You interrupted the writing of an essay."
Inuyasha slid his legs off of the bed and stood up, glaring at him.
"Is that anger I see? Don't like being told what to do?" He scoffed. "Get over it, and get over it soon."
Sesshoumaru left him, not even bothering to make sure he was being followed.
He didn't understand why Inuyasha had eventually shuffled along behind him, angry but obedient. He still didn't understand.