Sesshoumaru had known who he was. Otherwise he wouldn't have said half-breed. Inuyasha knew his mother wasn't one of the White Ones. She had been Normal. Like him.
No, not like him. But like him.
He noticed, finally, when the guard let go, that they had walked through a pair of wrought iron gates, which slammed shut with an echoing metallic clang behind him. He stared at them a few minutes more before walking away.
His thoughts were in such a frenzy that he wound up thinking about nothing at all as he trudged through the evening and the deepening puddles. The rain wasn't letting up. He was thoroughly wet with the warm rain and his clothes sagged and stuck uncomfortably against his skin. His shoes squelched noisily as he walked.
When he started to go to the part of town that was busy even in this weather, he pulled his black hood up over his head, let his bangs cover his eyes, and became a walking shadow.
Even under umbrellas, where their view was obscured, people avoided him. Even as androgynous as he looked, with his black hair in two clumps hanging down his chest, no one even thought to ask this possible girl if she needed help.
Suddenly and unexpectedly his eyes grew wet and hot with something that was not rain. He bit his lip and took off running.
Running made him into something not human. He felt like the rain and the wind rushing through the city. It wasn't release, but it was pretty damn close.
An hour later he came to the very spot that the marketplace had been before. It was only a weekend thing, and depending on the season it was either rather large or rather small.
Now it was just an empty square. How he even knew it was where the bazaar had been, he didn't know. He just knew.
He went to the center and stood there, letting hot tears fall down his face to mix with the rain until it was neither fresh nor salt water. He didn't even realize he was crying anymore. They were silent, broken-minded tears.
"Hey, kid."
He'd never forget that voice, which was old and raspy, or those words. So simple. So ambiguous. Two words; a wheezing breath, a bridge between the teeth, and then a tap of the tongue on the roof of the mouth.
He turned to see a short, shriveled man peering up at him. Rain glistened on his bald head, which was the exact color of olives.
Inuyasha normally would have avoided him and gotten the hell out of there, but he was so spaced out that he just stared blankly into those large eyes. Besides, there was a fleeting thought that bubbled into his brain that this guy was probably a reject, too.
"You look a little lost," the man said.
"I know where I am," Inuyasha said absently.
"In here," the man said, putting one small finger against his own temple.
"Oh. There." Inuyasha's mouth would not stop spewing words. He wasn't even thinking them. "Yes, I am lost there." Then one hand clenched over his chest. "And here."
"We are the same then," said the man, sighing. "Two lost spirits in the rain."
They stood together, staring up at the clouds.
"You are not afraid," started the man again, "to stand beneath a storm?"
"No. There's no lightning. Just rain."
"Lightning strikes unexpectedly."
"Just like words..." Inuyasha whispered. He glanced at the man. "Why are you talking to me?"
"Why are you responding?" the man asked cryptically.
The boy felt a smile grace his face.
"Would you like to get out of the rain and somewhere dry?" the man asked, then started walking without waiting for an answer.
Inuyasha watched him go, a niggle in his heart and mind, like an ache, a bad ache. But he ignored it and followed.
They left the courtyard and went in between two buildings. The way quickly turned into a maze of old houses and abandoned workplaces. He saw the man turn a corner but when he ran a little to catch up, he'd lost him.
His mind started to wake up as he looked around himself. He was lost. He'd never wandered here. And what the hell was he doing following a stranger? Had he forgotten everything he'd learned from his teachers, and Kaede?
He saw movement out of the corner of his eye but he was too slow for the little old man, who struck like a bee. And stung like one too. He felt a horrible pain in his leg and then something being forced into his bloodstream.
"Sorry, kid," said a voice. As Inuyasha stumbled and caught himself on a building. He looked back to the man, who had disappeared.
"Shit," Inuyasha cursed, feeling absolutely idiotic. One man pays attention to him and then he loses all his inhibitions?
Whatever had just been shot into his system was incredibly hot. It burned as it cycled through his veins. He lost control of his legs and fell to the ground. The fire consumed his stomach, his heart, his brain. Everything was red.
Sunsets, roses, blood, fire, rust, melted crayons, scarlet paint, crimson thread.
And suddenly he wasn't afraid anymore. He hugged himself, smiling. His eyes sparkled gold.
He was lying in the mud between two abandoned buildings, practically in the garbage. But that needle had released something inside of him that had never made him feel more cherished and loved in his entire life.
Inuyasha was eleven years old when he first embraced Kikyo.