InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Breeder's Choice ❯ The Mutt ( Chapter 1 )

This is a strange AU. It's filled with animal injustice, the truth behind humanity, and a whole bunch of other things that just might offend. I guess I should explain it all…

(Full) Summary: It is a strange future. Demons are kept as pets in the human realm, and most are treated like show dogs or slaves. They are sold off, kept in cages or bonds, and there is some serious tension between the demon world and human one. Of course, demons can do about it, because they are held captive by the abusive humans. Our story begins with Kagome, a normal school girl, and Inuyasha, the mistreated half-breed…

Breeder's Choice

Chapter One: The Mutt

Our story begins with Kagome Higurashi.

Kagome is a nice normal girl. She lived with her mother, grandfather, and brother at the shrine in the city. She went to the high school and kept herself occupied with plenty of extracurricular activities. She was happy with her normal life, and was even happier when Hojo asked her out. So of course she said yes and now her normal life was twice as pleasant.

So it was unexpected when her life took a wrong turn.

It was a pleasant day out, one of those nice summery days that made you wish school would never start. Kagome was fluttering around with Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi as they progressed through the festival their city was holding with a comfortable attitude, giggling over the sights and gorging themselves on junk food.

Kagome gave a little twirl as they walked past another vendor and beamed at her friends.

“This is great!” she shouted.

“Something tells me we gave Kagome too much sugar,” Eri whispered.

Yuka and Ayumi laughed and turned to Kagome, offering her smiles.

“What else can we do?” Eri asked.

“There's a show or something up ahead,” Yuka pointed to the sign.

“Let's go check it out,” Kagome giggled.

They ran towards what looked like a large steel barn house or something like that. But within five feet of it they stopped as they heard the voice resounding off the metal walls.

“YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!”

They glanced at each other then peeked into the contraption, leaning over each other to get a better look.

“WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!”

It was not hard to see who was shouting. She was a petite girl wearing all black, brown hair pulled back in a long ponytail. She was staring down a man who suddenly seemed much smaller than her, her fists clenched; she looked ready to punch someone out. A boy stood behind her, half-cowering, half-attempting to keep her voice down.

And they were all surrounded by demons.

The man said something quietly, as if he were afraid of the girl before him.

“YOU'RE KEEPING THEM IN FUCKING CAGES!!”

It was true. The demons were living in cages, but that was natural. Plenty of people kept demons in cages.

The boy touched her shoulder carefully, and she threw him off, advancing on the man.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?”

The man shook his head and said very clearly and distinctly, “I suggest you call off your friend, or I'll call up mine.”

“Sango-chan,” they heard the boy whisper uncertainly, “You were already-”

She turned abruptly, scaring the boy, who jumped out of her way. “Whatever. Do what you want. It'll just bite you in the ass anyway. Come on, Miroku.”

She huffed off. The boy, Miroku, bowed quickly.

“I apologize for my friend. Please excuse her.”

He ran off after her, an arm outstretched to comfort her. They brushed past the four girls gruffly.

“What was that about?” Eri asked. “Doesn't she know yokai are supposed to be kept in cages?”

Yuka shrugged. “It's the only way to keep us safe.”

Kagome leaned in, gazing around at the demons behind metal.

“They're… for sale?” she whispered.

“Of course!” Ayumi nodded, “Don't you pay attention?”

“Well… I didn't know they were treated like…”

“Animals?”

They glanced up. The girl Sango was glowering over them, her arms crossed.

“They're tortured and abused,” she growled, “It's worse than animals.”

“Otherwise they'd be out killing,” Ayumi noted crossly.

“I know that they've brainwashed you this far, but you must have some self-thought. That's straight out of the propaganda-”

“It's common sense,” Kagome's friend hissed. “Would you rather have those creatures out after you, or don't you feel safe with them under control?”

Sango was a good foot taller than Ayumi, and she moved closer, leaning over her, angrily.

“You are-”

“Sango!”

She turned on her heel, now facing Miroku.

“What?” she snapped.

“You ran off,” he said nervously, “You shouldn't get into anymore trouble.”

She frowned and glanced back at the girls, letting out a sigh. “Fine. I'm not having any luck anyway.”

She stalked off.

Ayumi hmphed.

“Wow, Ayumi,” Eri said, “I didn't know you were such a strong advocate for yokai-captivity.”

Kagome stopped paying attention. She stepped into the metal house and glanced at all the demons. There were so many of them, and they all just glared at her… She back-stepped instinctively and bowed her head.

“I hope that woman didn't scare you off.”

She jumped and turned, letting out a sigh of relief. It was just the man Sango had been fighting with, probably the proprietor.

“Is there something I can help you with?” he asked.

“Uh, I was just-”

“Come on, Kagome,” Yuka grabbed her arm and pulled her along, “Let's check it out.”

“Oh, no, it's-”

“Yeah!” Eri followed, “It can't be that bad.”

Ayumi marched ahead of them. “We don't have to buy or anything; we can just look.”

Kagome found herself being dragged along. She glanced around uncertainly.

`They're all staring at me…'

A piercing glare, a thousand of them, just looking on…

She closed her eyes and let herself be pulled along.

Why weren't her friends bothered like she was?

They stopped walking and she opened her eyes. They were all staring curiously at random yokai, reading the information cards on the side of the cage.

She moved past her friends, avoiding the gaze of the yokai. She just kept walking, as if it would lead her out of there. Closing her eyes again, she began to walk faster, but she could still feel the ever-intense gaze of the demons, a knife into her being…

Kagome stopped.

She'd moved past everything, past most of the cages, and now she was facing one, with a single silver-haired yokai inside. He was cramped inside, curled up like a dog. He looked at her with golden eyes, dog-ears twitching angrily, and she saw the ire rise in his face.

“And just what are you looking at?”

She jumped back, holding out her hands.

“I-I'm sorry. I didn't-”

“Shut it,” he growled, “I don't care.”

Kagome felt someone behind her, and she half-glanced, barely able to keep her eyes off the demon in the cage.

“You don't want that one,” the man said off-handedly, “He's only a half-breed.”

“What did you say, bastard?” the demon shouted.

`A hanyou?' she thought.

“Kagome where are you?” she heard her friends call.

“He's just a lousy mutt,” the man continued, “An ornery dog.”

The hanyou attempted to jump forward, and ended up knocking his head against the iron bars.

The man gripped her arm tightly and pushed her hastily. “You should go back to your friends.”

Kagome nodded, not really paying attention. She turned slowly to return to her friends, and then made the biggest mistake of her life.

She took a last glance behind her, and her eyes met the half-demon's. Their gazes held for a moment too long, until her friend yanked her out of her daze.

All that night, Kagome would attempt to sleep, but all she would see was the anger in the hanyou's face, and feel the glares of the yokai around her.

Kagome Higurashi would not get much sleep that night.

Authoress Notes:

I don't know if I painted the proper picture or not. Lots of people, when they write an AU, they usually start off with Sango and Kagome as friends, but on the surface they don't have too much in common. So they probably would have to take a bit of time to really become friends.

I'm sure you have no idea who that hanyou is (#cough#sarcasm#cough#).

I actually got the idea for this because someone wrote a story on mediaminer called Breeder's World. I don't think it had anything to do with this.

The beginning might've moved too fast for my taste, but it got the point across. You know at fairs here they always have livestock or something like that for show; I kind of imagined it like that for the yokai.

((P.S. I cannot stop listening to Commissioning a Symphony in C. It's addicting.))