When he went back to the labyrinth the next day, he didn't find the little old man. He looked and looked, even to the point of memorizing the layouts of the buildings. Still nothing.
He hadn't eaten anything since then. He was shaking with weakness but he couldn't summon up an appetite. Anger heightened, he wandered the city, kicking things around. Rocks. Cans. Sticks. He almost came close to kicking a cat, but it jumped away and hissed. It looked like it had been used to abuse.
He should have been in school, but the last thin thread attaching him to that place had been severed.
He had crossed the entire city in a zigzag and was getting into the rather questionable section on the outskirts of the other side. If you wanted to call it anything, it looked like...
A woman in a rather sheer dress over her voluptuous body was staring at him from underneath an awning.
"Well, now, child, you're a little too early for the fun," she said, a smile gracing her features, which were made up in black eyeshadow and red lipstain.
"Where am I?" he asked, unconsciously backing away.
A hand clapped onto his shoulder and he turned his head so fast he almost got whiplash. A man in a suit and top hat was grinning at him from under a slick moustache.
"Skipping school to come peep at the ladies, are we?" he asked, laughing. Then he furrowed his brows. "That hair of yours..." He took a few strands of it in his fingers. "It's quite beautiful." His eyes locked with Inuyasha's, which were bloodshot from lack of sleep. The boy was trembling now, not just with hunger. Those black eyes were staring at him, scrutinizing. "Would you consider working for us, boy? Pure work, of course, nothing dirty."
"Master, you're not trying to scope out a kid, are you? Do you really think you'll get away with that?" grinned the woman in the doorway, leaning against the frame.
"I was only joking," said the man, smiling. But something in his eyes told Inuyasha he wasn't.
He grabbed his hair back and ran.
He wasn't followed. And by the end of three turns and an alley, he was exhausted again. He leaned against the stone wall and breathed deeply.
"Well, well. An elementary school dropout."
His heart froze. He slowly turned.
There was a different woman standing in a doorway he had not noticed before. She was dressed in a plain white kimono, perhaps the undergarments for one, actually. Her feet were bare. Her dark hair was long and wavy and reached mid-bicep.
Her eyes were a brilliant red.
He shrunk against the wall.
She frowned at him before tossing a bag outside into the garbage bins.
"You should run along home before someone turns you into a child porn star," she said, turning around.
"Wait...!" he gasped. She paused and looked at him.
He had seen something when she had thrown the bag. The sleeve of her kimono rode up her forearm, revealing her pale skin to him.
There had been countless scars lined in rows on her flesh. And tiny holes were in the crook of her elbow. From needles.
He went up to her, breathless. "Where can I get some?"
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Get some of what? Sex? Beat it, kid, I'm not interested in children."
He gestured to her arm. She pulled up her sleeve.
"Knives? Needles?"
He nodded at the latter.
She fingered the bruised skin, deep in thought. She was wondering why this kid was interested in this stuff. Then she noticed the glint in his eyes. That gold.
"You've met Kikyo, haven't you?"
He looked up into her bright red eyes. She had no pupils. Could she truly see him?
"Kikyo?"
"The Other Red one. The Scarlet Thread. Love in a Mist. It has many names on the streets. But it's original name was Kikyo." She brought her hand up to touch his face. Her claws were gentle on his cheek as she lifted his head up. "Your eyes are gold when light shines directly on them. That's the sign that you're a user."
He pulled his face away, scowling. "That means you don't use it. Your eyes are scarlet."
"I don't use Kikyo, no," she said, sighing. "I don't need love. I need freedom." She gestured at her arm again. "This is another drug." She appraised him again. "I know where you can get Kikyo, though. But how on earth are you going to pay for it?"
He just looked at her.
"Enlighten me," she said again.
Gold bore into crimson. He said nothing.
"You're amusing," she said finally after a long silence. "Remember this saying and this time and place." She recited something in another language, probably English, and then told him of a hideout, which really was back in that nasty labyrinth near the marketplace.
When he turned to leave, she called him back.
"If you ever have to resort to selling your body to pay for it, come back here. I could probably pull some strings for you. Maybe get you some pure work until you're of age."
He stood up straight and then bowed the top half of his body. Caught off-guard by how polite he was, she dipped her head in return, and then watched him leave.
"He's targeting kids now?" she questioned the air. "Children?" she asked again. She shook her head and fingered the cuts on her arms. "That child... I feel that he is going to be that man's downfall."
She turned to go back inside, a wild grin on her face. "Finally. Maybe then I'll be truly free."