InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inuyasha the puppy MST'd ❯ Of puppies and penmanship ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: zabchan

Inuyasha as a puppy

I feel really bad for not knowing the author, (it's not me) but I will find out durnit!

MST'd by Zab Wise, assisted by Erin Daily as Kagome and Danielle Perram as Miroku.

Inuyasha and co. belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Blue is commentary, black is original text.

“Inuyasha!” The word of my mother drifted on the breeze like petals falling from a sakura tree.

Shippo: wow…when'd Inuyasha become a poet?

Inuyasha: roses are red, violets are blue, shut up now, OR I'll beat the stuffing outta you!

I raised my head to the sound of her voice, my ears pivoting on my head to capture the noise.

Kagome: “capture the noise?” who is he CardCaptor Sakura?

Shippo: does that make me Kero?

Again I heard her call my name and I glanced in the direction of our immoderate home,

Miroku: it's a democrat house. Get it? Immoderate…

Sango: stop while you're a head

Shippo: `cause your acting like an ass! Heheheheheheheh

clutching my favored ball

Miroku: it's the left one.

Shippo: no, the right one.

Inuyasha: I treat them both with equal dignity thank you.

to my chest. Without a second thought, I stood from my crouch and dashed barefoot over the bridge to the garden veranda where my mother, in a brightly colored kimono, patiently waited. My mother Izayoi was a beautiful woman by all standards. Her fair face was framed by her flowing ebony hair, which cascaded down her back to far past her waist. She never tied it back or even pinned it up, but left it lying against the red, pink, and green floral pattern of her kimono. Her deep brown eyes glittered with the light of stars

Sango: Since when are stars brown?

and she glowed with an unexplainable gentleness, with hands like the wind,

Shippo: Hands like the wind what's that supposed to mean?

Miroku; It means she makes you blow-itai! Don't kill me Inuyasha! All in good fun right?

Inuyasha: Grrrr don't make me have you feel my hands >flexes claws<

Miroku: um…violence is not the answer?

and she had all the poise and grace of an empress. She smelled of sakura trees and spring showers, and her voice was like a ray of sunlight on a summer breeze. I knew her by sight, by sound and scent, and I knew her by heart. With a smile, she knelt and took the ball from my hands.

Kagome: sounds like incest to me!

Shippo, Miroku and Sango: @.@

Inuyasha: >blech<

“Inuyasha, you haven't finished your hiragana.” I frowned and grabbed for the ball, which she held, out of my reach. “But, Mother! I wanna play!”

Miroku: yes momma, play with me.

Sango: that's low even for you

Miroku: I try hard to keep you guessing love.>boink< itai!

She furrowed her brow in disappointment, but laughed a bit as she stood. “Inuyasha, your hiragana is important. If you don't want to go to school then you will work at home. Also, we will have company this afternoon, so you must be on your best behavior.” I grasped fistfuls of her kimono and tugged. “Mother!” “No, Inuyasha. Come now, there's work to be done.”

Miroku: yeah, “work” to be done.

Holding the ball with one hand, she firmly took hold of one of my silver dog-like ears, which were positioned near the top of my skull, and pulled me to the house. Calmly opening the shoji and dragging me inside, she set me down at my desk and stood over me, one hand on her

Kagome: don't say it!

Miroku: aww, I was on a roll.

Hip the ball resting against the other, tapping her foot ever so slightly. I glared at her over my shoulder, hands in my lap. Well, she may have been cultured and loving, but she was still my mother. She lifted her eyebrows. “Get to work. You can play once you're finished.” She spun on her heel and left the room, sliding the fusuma open and disappearing into the kitchen. I reluctantly turned to stare defeated at the washi before me. I had tried school, but hadn't stayed long. I was the class exile, mocked and scoffed at because of what I was, not by choice. Some would yank at my ears, throw stones or kick dirt at me, while others cowered at the sight of my piercing fangs and my razor claws like I was going to rip their living heart out of their chest and swallow it whole.

Sesshomaru: that's rather tasty actually.

Kagome:>blech< hey, how'd you get here anyway?

Sesshomaru: the author thought the MST needed someone else who could be perverted other than Miroku. And who can make violent comments as well.

Many days I would come home with cuts on my face and bruises on my arms, or on some occasions, I would be sent home with a good slap upside the head and a suspension for breaking another child's arm.

Miroku: he likes it rough.

Kagome: ano? They had suspensions in those days?

Inuyasha: What? Don't you get strung up by your heels over a river for doing something bad?

Kagome: that wasn't what I meant by a suspension…-_-`

I was forbidden to return to school when I had near shattered a child's rib cage and snapped his legs for insulting my mother and threatening to smash my skull with a rock. I could care less about going back anyway. `This is so unfair,' I thought angrily to myself, `Why did Sesshomaru get to do whatever he wanted

Miroku: gets to do WHATEVER he wanted…

and I get stuck in here

Miroku: stuck!

writing hiragana?' My older brother Sesshomaru, who was two hundred eight years old - two hundred two years older than myself - was in fact my half-brother.

Sesshomaru: Good boy Inuyasha, two hundred and eight minus two hundred is eight. Here's a doggy treat.

Inuyasha: *-_- grrr

He was a full-blood demon, for both his mother and father were demons, while my mother was human. My older brother was, at times, a charming gentleman, and at other moments, a shrewd villain. His voice was always calm, but haunting, and he often displayed the scent of the land after rain.

Kagome: I always thought the land smelled like smashed worms after a storm.

Inuyasha: that's exactly what I meant.

Miroku: he must be a hit at parties.

His ears were positioned like a human's, but were pointed at the tips, and he often had a cynical and carnal look in his golden eyes. Beneath each eye was a pair of crimson stripes, and upon his brow was a blue crescent moon. He kept his mid-thigh-length silver hair well, sitting silently for hours on end to comb out the tangles with his claws. Sesshomaru had one feature that I never quite understood - a large cotton-like mass of rose-ashen that he would sling over his right shoulder.

Kagome: arg, I'm being crushed beneath the weight of all these adjectives!

Sesshomaru: how many times do I have to tell you people it's my tail!

Kagome: then why doesn't it turn into a tail when you transform?

Sesshomaru: that's not for a lady to know.

He used it for a variety of tasks, such as a cushion, or blanket, or even a third hand that could skillfully wrap around objects of all sizes and hold them in a fast grip.

Miroku: ohh I want one!

Sango: your normal hands get you into enough trouble as it is.

Even after observing his true demon form, which is a

Inuyasha: …a stripper at diamonds!

Miroku: …a cross dressing hula girl.

Sango: …a cat with fleas.

tremendous silver dog with scarlet eyes, a tail like a typhoon, and teeth like one hundred swords, I couldn't decide on what the strange bulk actually was. Yet for all of our differences, we shared many similar qualities.

We both

Kagome: …are hits among the ladies?

Shippo: …are big enormous jerk faces!

Kouga: …reek of Dogturds.

Inuyasha: Grrr why are YOU here?

Kouga: Because you're boring. Next question.

bore the charming golden eyes and beautiful silver hair of our father, as well as great physical strength, agility and speed. Our basic senses were also improved by hundreds of degrees. Even as a half-demon, my eyes could see into the darkness of a cloud-covered night and through the shadows of a dim cavern, though in the dark, images would only appear before me in shades of grey. My hypersensitive ears could hear the faintest sounds, like a silent rock whistling toward me,

Sango: if a rock is silent than how can it whistle?

or the noiseless steps of a tiny insect over the grass, and narrow them down to a single vector. My sense of smell was fine to the scents that surrounded me and I could pick up every individual aroma for miles around, especially that of blood. Our father Sugimi Inu no Taishou was a demon among demons, once the ruler of all the Western Lands - or so I'm told - and his greatness was proclaimed by the kakemono decorating the walls and ikebana resting on the tokonoma across the room. His particular class of demon was a dog demon.

Sesshomaru: no shit sherlock

Sesshomaru described Father as the image of a warlord with all the power and supremacy of an emperor. His fine hair was tied into a ponytail that reached to his knees, and his intense golden eyes peered out from under his silver bangs, framed by a pair of violet stripes on each cheek and a navy crescent moon on his forehead. He often carried a heavy cloak of ivory fur fastened to his shoulders by two pieces of riveted golden armor, and a katana at his left hip. Mother said that Father spoke like the ocean, deep and mysterious, and he smelled of leather and steel, but he was as gentle as a falling leaf on any autumn morning.

Sesshomaru: wow. This is so interesting, I could just…zzzzzz

Miroku: my mind has defiantly started to wander.

Sango: and so have your hands! >smash<

Miroku: >from under a boulder< g-gomen…ne..sai.

He did not have a single malign thought toward humans, but sought to protect them and their mortal lives. I had never met our father. He was killed in battle against a demon named Ryukossei when I was only an infant, but everywhere you turned you were reminded of his once majestic presence. Sesshomaru, on the other hand, had known him his whole life and was crushed by Father's death, most likely because Father's passing was associated to his relationship with Mother. My brother bore no such love for my mother or me because of our `dirty blood' as he called it.

Kagome: Mudblood! Mudblood! Sorry, random Harry Potter moment.

Kouga: Harry Pot-ter?

Shippo: would that be like, if Inuyasha took up ceramics?

Inuyasha: I'm not that hairy! >mumbles< and for your information I'm pretty damn good at terra cotta.

He honored Father and worshiped the ground that he walked on and respected his wishes, which is the only reason that he had ever considered speaking with us. Father's last command was for Sesshomaru to protect my mother and me. Mother never spoke of the fight in which Father perished. I imagine that she found it too painful, but my brother had often told it to me as a tale of pride and glory, recounting the events and the spectacular scenes of the battle. The raging fires blazed all around Father, who was poised as strong and unbending as a mountain before his enemy, though in his chest and arms arrows were embedded. The orange and amber glow of the flames cast a golden heat over his body, shimmering in his hair and reflecting in his unbridled gaze. Father stood between Ryukossei and my mother like a wall of stone, his katana held out to the side, the fires glinting off the blade. Mother fearfully peered out from underneath his crimson haori

Kouga: >as Inu's father< Izayoi! This isn't the time for that!

Sango: >as his mother< but this could be our last chance…

Miroku: oh Sango! I'm so proud of you! You're becoming so nicely corrupted!

that had been draped over her head. Holding her new child in her arms,

Kouga: Ewww and the Dogturd was right there and everything? No wonder he had issues…

and her voice filled with fear and distress, she asked Father, “What should we name him?” Why she asked in the middle of a battle, I'll never know. Father, a melancholy smile playing upon his lips, replied with the title, “Inuyasha.”

Shippo: your dad was kinda redundant wasn't he? I mean, Inuyasha, dog demon. Duh.

Inuyasha: I got all my `smarts' from my mother.

Sesshomaru: not to mention all your `stupids'.

Shippo: and your issues.

Inuyasha: Kagome, make `um stop pickin' on me!

Kagome: There, there Inuyasha.

Without removing his fixed and intense stare from Ryukossei, he then said to Sesshomaru, “Protect your brother and Izayoi.” With his last words, he told my mother to run, and he rushed head long at Ryukossei, katana steadied to take off the enemy's head.

Kagome: maidenhead!

Everyone: huh?

Kagome: you know, Romeo and Juliet? Maidenheads? Shakespeare?

Everyone: >crickets chirp<

Kagome: never mind.

Sango: Kagome-chan? Just leave the perverted stuff to the guys.

Being the eldest son, Sesshomaru was left the fortune of ruling the Western Lands, and lived in a fortress high in the mountains where Father had grown up, occasionally visiting to make sure that Mother and I were still alive, but never staying for more than a day. A long time comrade of my father, a bloodsucking flea demon named Myoga, had often visited our home since Father's passing. He claimed to be guarding the tomb of my father and with it, Father's magnificent sword Tetsusaiga. Myoga declared many times that my father had left the great blade in my possession though I had not once seen it. The Tetsusaiga was fabled to kill one hundred demons in a single stroke, used to protect the mortal lives of humans. Yet for all of the wonderful tales of power and superiority, I was convinced that the sword was just that - a story. In this era, breeding occurred between humans and demons, neither rare nor frequent.

Kouga: Kagome, we could make it more frequent.

Kagome: huh?

Inuyasha: you wolf bastard! I'll rip both your heads off!

However, the children of these couples were doomed to live a terrible life of alienation as I had so commonly experienced.

Kagome: Inuyasha, does that mean we can't…you know…

Inuyasha: I never said that…rrrooww. >^o^<

Sango: I need to learn to remember to turn off my imagination before I come around you guys.

I had a clear idea that my life would follow along those lines for as long as I walked the earth, which would be an extremely long time considering that for every year that passes, a demon ages only a minuscule fraction compared to that which a human would. Time, to a demon, doesn't matter and age isn't a barrier. Sesshomaru, even if his two hundredth year is long past, looks as though he's merely nineteen. My father was probably pushing seven hundred when he died, yet he was the vision of a man in his late twenties. Immortality they call it. Long life was mostly granted by the ability to quickly repair wounds. Even a normally fatal injury could be fully healed within two to three days and not even leave a scar. I took the brush in one clawed hand and dipped the tip into the black ink. My mother couldn't smell the ink on the same level as I could, and she would never know how it sickened me, a powerful scent that could drop me unconscious if there was enough of it. It had happened once or twice when I was a pup.

Sesshomaru: just when you think the author finally got back on track with the plot, bam! Ramble fest continues.

I had quickly learnt not to stick my nose into the tiny pot, or otherwise face the circumstances of passing out followed by a killer migraine when I awoke.

Kouga: whoa, what exactly did they put in that ink?

Sesshomaru: bad trip, eh Inu?

Pausing with the brush held above the washi, I flipped open the text from which I studied and followed, reading over the lesson verse and quietly speaking the words as I wrote them. “Fukai fukai mori no oku ni ima mo kitto okizari ni shita kokoro kakushite'ru yo.

Kagome: anyone else have the feeling the author made up the text?

Miroku: sounds like a passage from the illustrated Kama Sutra if I'm not mistaken.

Kagome: eeww! I can't believe-

Inuyasha, Kouga, Sesshomaru: Hey we wanna see!

Kouga: Don't get any ideas with MY woman Dogface.

Inuyasha: Sesshomaru? Who in the hell are you thinking of, reading that book? Jaken? RIN? >sounds of fluffy choking Inu<

Sesshomaru: that's no one's business but mine. >stealing book< I bet Rin would like that. In a couple years…

Sagasu hodo no chikara mo naku tsukarehateta hito bito wa eien no yami ni kieru. Chisai mama nara kitto ima demo mieta ka na.” Dunking the brush into the ink once again, I wrote out the next verse of the ballad. “Boku-tachi wa ikiru hodo ni nakushite'ku sukoshi zutsu. Itsuwari ya uso wo matoi tachisukumu koe mo naku.” Translated, the words said, “I'm sure that the heart I left behind still lies hidden in the deep, deep forest. Exhausted, without the strength to search, people vanish into infinite darkness.

Miroku: hey Sango, wanna explore the infinite darkness? Or at least where the sun doesn't shine?

Sango: I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.

If it's so small, I wonder if I can see it even now.

Inuyasha: that's what SHE said, right Kouga?

Kouga: >snicker< to Sesshomaru!

Sesshomaru: oh, now I'm your enemy.

Kouga: just making fun of Dogface over there gets old after a while. And you smell just as dog as he does.

As we live on we lose a little bit more.

Miroku: can't hold it that long eh Inuyasha?

Kagome: hey he can't help that he's out of practice!

Everyone: X.X, @.@, >.<, =.=*,

Inuyasha: way to stick up for your man Kagome.

Kouga: cause her man don't stick UP for her! LOL.

Shrouded in falsehoods and lies, we stand frozen to the spot, unable to cry out.”

Miroku: >darkly< Sango never had that problem with me.

It was a section of a poem called Fukai Mori. It spoke of a lost soul who wandered through a lonely forest until they came across a wonderful friend who helped them find peace once more.

Kouga: Kagome can I help you find peace?

Inuyasha: hey!

Miroku: you know, there is a branch off of Buddhism that promotes meditation through orgasm.

Sango: I'm not even gonna ask how you know that.

Kagome: wait, aren't almost all Buddhist monks male? So how could you…>blush< never mind.

Sango: Houshi-sama! You're bi?!

Miroku: some would call it equal opportunity. > All males in room start fleeing toward door< Joke! Joke! Men just don't curve right for me. >Males settle nervously back to their places. <

I leaned back in my chair, already feeling bored with my writing. Setting the brush next to the washi, I gazed around the room with a listless sigh. Father had built my mother this beautiful summer home near the river as a gift for her and their soon-to-be child. The sitting room was lavishly decorated with sumi-e of water lilies floating gently on the stream and cranes dipping their beaks into the shallow water near yards of rich blossoms. Kakemono graced the walls, with picturesque poetry of waterfalls, mist-filled valleys, and the reflections of swans against ponds in the light of early sunrise. Handcrafted porcelain jomon with illustrations of monks climbing the steps to Buddhist temples, geta on their feet, and earthenware jars with pictures of women performing bugaku proudly sat upon the shelves and tables, displaying bouquets of colourful flowers from our gardens.

Shippo: what's bugaku?

Miroku: >Smirk.< use your imagination.

Sango: Houshi-sama, I just don't get it. You're a monk. How could you be so perverted and a frickin' MONK?

Miroku: simple. Japanese Buddhism doesn't require their monks to be chaste. In fact, many convents encourage marriage or the temporary release and comfort of a courtesan. Alcohol is also treated thusly, and consumed freely. The theory being that with humanly temptations met and overcome, The Man of the Cloth, his mind so unburdened can then turn his now free mind to more important ponderings. Such as the workings and spirituality of society, the unification of the world's karma, and why the toast always lands butterside down.

Shippo: @.@

Kouga: I wanna be a monk.

Zabuton solemnly sat on the tatami around the low table, the afternoon sun shining through the intricate window frame to illuminate the bonsai settled in the center.

Wicks of incense steadily burned, ingraining the room with the scents of sagebrush and cloudburst, and the lulling melody from my mother's music box gently rang out. My ears perked and turned toward the sound of my mother quietly singing in the kitchen. The smell of tsukudani and gohan drifted through the fusuma and rushed my sharp senses.

Kagome: I still can't wrap my mind around the fact he speaks so well and with such eloquence at AGE EIGHT!

I looked over my shoulder, my long, silver hair tickling my cheek. No doubt that she was preparing a luncheon for her guests that afternoon - the lords and ladies of the village across the river. The banquets were common where nobles would gather to feast and play patrician sports. I was welcomed into the games only because of my title as a young lord and because I was my mother's son. In any other case, I probably would have been pushed to the fringes of the group due to my demon heritage. However, Sesshomaru, who had a certain dislike of humankind for as long as I can remember, usually secluded himself in the forest, or wordlessly sat in the shadows, even if he was invited to the gathering. I hesitantly frowned and turned away, reaching for the brush to continue my practice. It wasn't long before the guests began to show, wandering into the house with my mother to greet them with a bow. They casually strolled around the sitting room while waiting for the other aristocrats to arrive for the luncheon, gazing at the tokonoma, or poring over the kakemono. One lord, his hair tied into a topknot and with squinty eyes looking out from underneath bushy black eyebrows, stopped to ruffle my hair, and flick one of my ears with an empty smile of mixed affection and detest. I glared up at him from the washi, an aggravated growl resonating from deep in my chest.

He merely chuckled under his breath and spun on his heel to engage in some useless diplomatic conversation with another nobleman. I never was one for social talk, and I was particularly irritated by the gatherings that my mother held. In only six years, I had discovered that the ones like me were better off left in the dark, on the outside of the crowds. Humans did not welcome us nor were we accepted by demons, because demons deplored human blood and humans feared demon blood. Thus, we were stuck in between.

Miroku: there's that `stuck' again!

Inuyasha: why am I suddenly taking in the royal `we'?

Shippo: you must mean `we' as in all your other personalties.

Inuyasha: grr.

Only a very few of either group embraced and respected us for whom we were and not what we were - those such as my mother and my father. As the remaining company arrived and they found their places on the zabuton around the dinner table, Mother called me to the kitchen to help her carry out the large trays of food. Balancing one heavy platter on one hand, I took hold of the other with my opposite palm and carefully made my way into the sitting room where I set the trays to the tatami, and one by one, set a dish of tsukudani, sushi and gohan, and a cup before each of the nobles, while my mother handed out pairs of chopsticks, and poured green tea into each of the cups. The lords and ladies thanked us as I sat near my mother, a dish in my hands. As they ate, they talked of random topics that I didn't pay much attention to, but every now and then, a statement would catch my notice and I would twitch my ears to better hear what was being said. The lord that had interrupted my writing snorted at the unusual rotating and hitching movements of my ears. “That's awful, Izayoi. Your son is more a dog than he is a boy.” I glanced up with a growl, furrowing my brow at the man. “Nonsense,” Mother declared simply, “He is as much a boy as any.”

Kouga: >as Inu's mom< he's as much a Man as a boy. Whoo-oo!

Kagome: as much a Rock Star as a man!!!!!

Miroku, Kouga, Sesshomaru, Shippo, Sango: @.@

Inuyasha: >preen<

Sango: that just sounded SO Wrong.

I looked up at her,

my features easing. In the eyes of a human, demons are the summit of all that is evil. True, not all demons are created equal, but we're all bad to some extent. It's just how we are.

Kagome: >as Jessica Rabbit< I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way.

I glared back at the man. So if he could see my demon side, why couldn't he see the half-human heart that beat inside my chest? His eyes met mine and he lowered his eyebrows at my offended gaze. “What are you staring at, dog boy?” I growled in my throat and narrowed my eyes threateningly. I could spontaneously hear his heart skip a beat and begin racing with anxiety. I could smell fear in him and saw how he tried to hide his trembling hands in his lap. A nervous bead of sweat slid down his face as he attempted to retain his intimidating stare. “That's enough, Inuyasha,” my mother said so hushed that the others had surely not heard her, “Take your bowl to the wash basin and go outside.” I glanced in her direction and spotted a small grin in the shadows of her face. Silently, I wondered to myself if she thought the man's fear funny. Of course, what grown man is afraid of a six-year-old child?

Sesshomaru: unless the child in question has discovered the chocolate covered coffee beans. Then you have ample reason to fear.

Kagome: I was wondering where those disappeared to.

Sesshomaru: So it was you who Rin got those from?!!! You owe me fifteen hours of sleep!!!

I hesitantly got to my feet and made for the kitchen, setting my dish in the washbasin, standing high upon my toes. Quietly, I opened the shoji and stepped out onto the veranda, closing the sliding panel behind me. Pausing only for a moment to clear my head of the familiar feelings of resentment, I crouched and with a push of my strong legs, leapt from the veranda. While Father had built the home in which we lived, Mother had grown the gardens in which I played. She had cared for the gardens like they were children, cultivating only a bare lawn into a brilliant courtyard. A shaded path paved with silvery stones wove its way underneath a wooden arch decorated with blooming vines, passing a small pond where marbled amber, silver and ebony coy fish swam underneath few blushing lilies floating atop the water, and around a misty-coloured fountain that bubbled water like crystals from the mouth of a dragon and let it trickle down its scales and over the large orb of glass that the dragon coiled itself around, the ball reflecting the noonday sunlight across the water like silver and gold ribbons.

Kouga: this is boring. Hey Dogturd, wanna arm wrestle?

Kagome: you would say that wouldn't you?

Inuyasha: let's go wolf mongrel! Grrr

The walkway made a straight run through terraces of flowers of all colours, like a crack in a sunlit diamond, leading to an arching white bridge, overshadowed by a weeping willow tree, that crossed the clear waters of the gently flowing river, and continued to slip amongst the trees until it disappeared into the dusk of the forest. And this was only our backyard. The front yard was much plainer, with only a few small gardens of colourful blossoms and a lone pair of sakura trees framing our home, and a modest dirt walkway that stopped at the foot of the stairs. Moving down the path with leaps and bounds, I softly landed on the top of the fountain dragon's head without a touch of difficulty, and crouching upon its brow, reached my cupped palms down to its mouth to scoop a few handfuls of the sweet water into my mouth. I paused as I caught sight of my reflection dancing on the surface of the rippling water and reluctantly dropped down to the lip of the fountain. I looked into my own eyes, watching as strands of silver hair fell across my shoulders, watching as the ears atop my head bent to the sounds that encircled me, the leaves rustling in the wind, the birds distantly chirping their melodies, the tiny creatures that scurried along in the grass and across the stones.

Miroku: I have to admit, I too, despite much training with patience and meditation find myself growing very very bored. Hey Sango? I'll arm wrestle you too.

Sango: you're on Houshi-sama!

Kagome: I'm bored too. Shippo? Want to learn how to play Go Fish?

Shippo: sounds yummy!

I was different, I knew. Honestly, I understood that while I had features of a human, I also had characteristics of a demon. With unusually coloured eyes with slitted pupils, the triangular ears of a shibainu, and the claws and fangs of a demon, I must have been a sight to behold.

Kagome: Oui! You already descibed yourself in the beginning!

Even in the things that I did, my demon half shone through as clear as a ray of sunlight through a pane of glass. “Inuyasha!” my mother called. I looked up at the sound of her voice and slipped from the rim of the fountain, rushing down the path. When I came upon the open courtyard of our backyard, some of the noblemen were rebounding my ball across the large circle in which they stood. My ears perked with anticipation

Miroku: not just his ears heh heh

and I darted into the center of the ring, leaping for the ball as it flew over my head.

Sesshomaru: jump boy, jump! Good inu!

My fingers brushed the ball and one of the aristocrat men in a blue kimono knocked it back with a blow of his knee. He grinned at me and I chased it across the circle, bumping into the man who caught it. The men were chuckling and the women, who watched from outside the circle, were snickering as I jumped up to the ball. The nobleman - the one who seemed intent on ruining my day - snarled vocally to me,

Shippo: is there an invocal way to snarl?

Inuyasha: darn jedi mind tricks!

“You should have been killed at birth, half-breed.” He intentionally struck it out of the ring with his hand and it went bouncing across the bridge. I gave chase, my arms held out in front of me, ready to snatch up the leaping orb.

kagome: does that sound dirty to anyone else?

Miroku: kagome-sama, leave the naughty jokes to me ok?

Kagome: sigh. I just want to keep up with everybody.

Inuyasha: don't worry love, you always keep up with me.

Shippo: >sings< gonna celebrate, up all night long!

Sango: houshi-sama! You have corrupted him!

As I crouched to pick up the ball, the statement was still resounding in my ears and I inquiringly turned to face the nobles on the opposite side of the bridge as they left their circle to head for home. I creased my brow in uncertainty, considering the nobleman's statement. “Half-breed?” Dropping the ball, I rushed to my mother's arms and, looking up at her, I asked, “Mother, what's a half-breed?”

Sesshomaru: well, its when a demon lord gets wasted and looks in the phone book under `h' for `hooker'.

Inuyasha: IF THERE IS A GOOD AND JUST FANFIC AUTHOR OUT THERE LET ME KICK THIS BASTARD'S ASS TO SHREDS!

Zab the Manga Artist: I drew a comic with you doing just that, but I'm afraid you only get to beat the crap out of Fluffy after you knock up Kagome. And have puppies-I mean, kids.

Inuyasha: Kagome, I have a favor to ask of you…

Tears began to form in her eyes and a stray drop fell down her cheek. I furrowed my forehead. She was crying. I hated it when she cried. At first I thought that I was my fault that she was weeping, but instead she was crying for me, and what she knew my life would be like - a life of pushed away and neglected. From the very first moment I was on my own, I would be hunted like an animal by demons and humans alike out of suspicion, fear, and at times, hatred. My mother turned to sit cross-legged on the veranda looking out to the river with me in her lap, her arms holding me to her heart, the way she always did. In the silence, I put together a definition of what a `half-breed' was - always a part of humans and demons but never of them. My mother broke the peace. “The new moon will be tonight.” I glanced down at my knees at her words. I detested the new moon with a raging passion,

Kagome: >as the moon< what'd I do?

for it was the night that I became of full-human blood as all half-demon did, mind the night that they do is always different depending on the individual. For a length of several hours, I lost my supernatural strength and demonic powers, having them replaced with the bitter taste of defenselessness and frailty.

Inuyasha: surprisingly, curry tastes very similar.

It was every half-demon's worst nightmare and greatest secret. Should an enemy find out what night this transformation is set on, a half-demon would be killed without a doubt. “I hate the new moon,” I grumbled under my breath.

Sesshomaru: yes, I believe we have established this.

My mother nodded. “I know, but it can't be helped.” A growl of frustration came from my chest and she bent over my head to look into my eyes with a loving smile, her hair falling from her shoulders and dancing across her knees. “You can stay in my room tonight. How does that sound?” I reluctantly looked up at her with a halfhearted grin. “Good.” She smiled and planted a caring kiss on one of my ears. For a time we sat, watching the water pass us by, watching the fireflies light up the lilies as the sun began to sink over the western hills, leaving streaks of gold and red in the sky, until the first glittering stars began to appear in the east. I tugged at her sleeve as panic crept into the pit of my stomach, my voice whispered with misgiving. “Mother...” I didn't have to speak another word for her to understand my plight, and she carefully unfolded her legs

Miroku: whoa!!! Inuyasha! Way to get what you want in a hurry!

Kouga: what, no foreplay?

and stood. I clung to her haori like I would fall to sudden death if I let my grip ease. Like a ghost in the darkness, my transformation haunted me one night every month, the darkness holding me tightly, binding me like chains, until the sun rose up in the morning and I restored to my natural countenance along with all my dormant power. I gazed emptily through the designs of the window frame as I sat against the wall, holding my knees to my chest, watching with paranoia as the sky grew black and the first night of the new cycle began. I trembled and stared blankly ahead at the opposite wall as I felt my transmutation begin. The stinging cramps of my blood

Kagome: I knew it was `your time of the month'!

altering in my veins seemed to crawl from the hollow of my chest through every limb, every fiber of my body. My claws slowly pulled back into my fingers, the cutting edges becoming flat and dull, and my fangs lingeringly drew into my gums, losing their bite. I squeezed my eyes shut against the prickling sensation of my ears moving down the sides of my head and changing into a smaller pair that resembled a human's, and the sounds around me disappeared into the deaf silence. Tears began to well in my eyes as everything that I had previously seen in great detail vanished into darkness, chased by the fleeing scents of the world. Though I couldn't see, I was aware that my previously silver hair had discoloured to jet ebony and my eyes from gold to a deep violet.

Kagome: apparently human is higher on the electromagnetic spectrum than demon.

Everyone: huh?

Kagome: never mind.

And all at once it was over.

Sesshomaru: he can't go nearly as long human.

The transformation had been completed in an agonizing thirty seconds that slipped by like infinite hours of torment. I rocked back and forth, wanting to cry out, wanting to call for my mother to hold me in her arms and protect me against the fear that clutched my heart like she had done in times past, a few defying whimpers escaping my lips. But instead, I unsteadily got to my feet and started across the room for her futon, holding my hands in front of me to reduce the risk of me running into something. Still, I ground my hand against the sharp corner of a desk and I yanked my fingers to my mouth with a hiss, tasting blood. This body was so fragile. My blood didn't even taste good. In fact, it was rather flat and wooden.

Kouga: that's not the only thing wooden!

Miroku: you do me proud young padawan.

I whipped my head around at a low and unmistakable foreboding growl of one of the nocturnal beasts that lurked the black timberland outside of our home, and hesitated in fear, my breath catching in my throat. As the sound arose again, I leapt onto my mother's futon, landing square on top of her. “Mother!” She tiredly sat up and looked at me.

Kouga: >as inu's mom< Not now Inuyasha! I'm still recovering from last time!

Sango: ouch, that either means he's really good or really bad.

Kagome: my lips are sealed.

Miroku: and that's bad news for Inuyasha…

Sango: hentai houshi-sama>boink<

Miroku: boink?

Sango: my fist is tired from hitting you so much this episode, give me a break

“What is it, Inuyasha?” “Everything! There's something in the forest and my hand hurts because I cut it on your desk and it's dark and I can't see and I hate the stupid new moon!” I cried, all in a single breath. My mother hugged me to her, gently stroking my hair with one hand, soothing my

kouga: …wooden!

Shippo: …favorite ball!

Miroku: …ego. >as inu< I'll do better next time mama!

Kouga: >as inu's mom< don't let me down again inuyasha!

Miroku: >as inu< I'll try and measure up next time!

whimpering. “Shh. It's okay. You'll be fine.” She reluctantly let me go and crawled out from under the covers. “I'll get you a lamp. Wait right there, okay?” I nodded and sniffled. Seconds later, I had to shut my eyes against the brilliance that filled the room. My mother sat on her futon and took me in her arms, wiping my tears away. “There. Is that better?” I nodded and rubbed my nose on her sleeve

Kagome: egad! You know how much those things cost! Use a tissue inuyasha!

After a moment of silence, I glanced up to her face, my eyes glossy, and she gazed at me affectionately. I always knew that she loved me for who I was and never what I looked like, but I could see it in her eyes that she enjoyed the short time that she could look into my human eyes, even if she knew that being human was the one thing that I never wanted to experience. Because she was a human, I suppose she had always wanted a human son or daughter, but instead, she was blessed with a disobedient and untamed half-demon. But even if I was of demon blood, I was still a child, her child, and I meant everything in the world to her as she meant everything in the world to me. Listening to the comforting sound of her beautiful lullabying voice and feeling secure in her sheltering arms as she gently rocked me, I drifted away on the melody like a leaf on the wind, and I fell into a restless slumber.

Sesshomaru: finally! It's over!

Zab the Manga Artist: and what did we learn today class?

Sango: the importance of learning how to indent.

Kagome: they don't seem much on the concept of a paragraph do they?
Miroku: I learned that inuyasha has many many issues. Wait, I already knew that.

Kouga: I wanna be a monk.

Sesshomaru: I wanna hurl.

Shippo: I learned how to play Go Fish!

Erin the Treble: I learned that I have a long way to go on my long and difficult anime apprenticeship.

Zab the Manga Artist: >in cloak and hood< you have much to learn on your path to the dark side Erin-chan.

Danielle of the French Pointy Sword Thingie: I learned way more about Inuyasha's love life than I wanted to. Ahh, who am I kidding? I love it!

Zab the Manga artist: and I learned that Danielle makes for a very scary Miroku.

Kagome: I learned that there is such a thing as too much description.

Everyone: amen.

Miroku: anyone up for strip twister?

Zab the Manga Artist: only if we can stab Kikyo with the spinner.

Everyone: amen.

~Fin~