InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Dogs and Demons ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

A/N: I posted this on fanfiction.net quite awhile ago, then sort of forgot about it. I know, I know, bad author! But, I thought I'd post it here and see what kind of response I get. Unlike before, I have a much better understanding of where I want to go with it, so it's much more likely that, with a little encouragement, I'll finish it. *hint, hint*

Warnings: There's some Kikyo bashing. I don't particularly like Kikyo, and I kind made her out to be sort of a super-dense, psycho bitch on a mission. Sorry all you Kik fans out there! However, I promise that all bashing is basically limited to the prologue. I may be evil, but at least I'm humane, ne? Plus, there's some language. I, being the enlightened woman that I am, try to use profanity in moderation and only for the benefit of character development. If you can't handle it, I'm sorry to say that you'll just have to skip on to purer pastures. Let's keep an open mind, people.

Disclaimer: After intense therapy, lots of hugs, and a chocolate bar the size of my head, I've come to terms with the fact that I will never and should never own Inuyasha or any of its characters. Le sob.

Okay, enough with my blabbering. On with the story!

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Of Dogs and Demons

Prologue

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Sengoku Jidai

“INUYASHA!”

Inuyasha turned towards the voice screaming his name, still slurping up his noodles. He had just started eating. Why did everyone try to kill him at meal time? Couldn't they wait until, say, midday? Wasn't that a much better time to start a fight? If it was his choice, all fights would start right after lunch, when he was full of food and energy. Leave it to homicidal maniacs to ruin perfectly good meal…

“Inuyasha! How could you? I thought you loved me? How could you betray me like this? We were going to get married and have lots of children—“

He sighed and turned back around.

Kikyo…he thought, shaking his head. She just didn't get it. Wasn't she supposed to be some mythical ice bitch? Capable of purifying any youkai by the sheer frigidity of her glare? She was suppose to be cool, calm, and collected, not crazy, clueless, and controlling. At least that what he'd heard before he'd actually come to this village.

At first, they'd been enemies, which wasn't too surprising considering that he'd met every friend he'd ever had on the opposite end of the battlefield. She was the protector the shikon jewel; he was the half demon who wanted to steal the jewel. Not what he'd call the right environment for romance to blossom. But, somehow, they had slowly become friends. Given the time, he might've fallen for the quiet miko. Until one fateful day over three moon cycles ago, she up and decided instead of letting Inuyasha have the jewel to become a full demon, (his life long wish and reason for his jewel lust) she'd wish him human and they could become husband and wife or some mushy crap like that. That pretty much put an end to their tentative relationship. Not that Kikyo seemed to notice. In fact, it only seemed to fuel her fantasies.

Why him?

He snorted and gave his noodles a stir with his chopsticks. Not that Inuyasha wanted to be a bachelor for the rest of his life. Far from it, actually. He'd be damned if ever told another soul, though. So what if he might want to settle down one day? Wasn't that what all men wanted? It's not like he had much to compare to. His parents were long dead. His brother, who seemed more than willing to relieve him of his head, would as soon as grow wings out his pompous ass before he divulged in something as frivolous as having a conversation with his little half brother. Besides, Sesshomaru seemed almost entirely oblivious to the opposite sex (or anything that breathed, for that matter). That left him with the only other male that he'd known in his life: Miroku. Feh, like he'd take after his example! Women may tolerate his lewd behavior with slaps and giggles. Had Inuyasha tried to molest any village girls in such a matter, he'd be sure to receive a nice escort out of town—complete with torches and pitchforks. And why would he take advice from a man so obviously confused himself? To Inuyasha, it seemed incredibly simple: you love someone, you tell them. Or, at the very least, you refrain from groping everything that walks in the presence of that said someone. Everyone knew, with the exception of the pair themselves, that Sango, the taijiya, and Miroku were both desperately in love. It was only a matter of time before the bumbled their way into each other's arms. Even though that day would be bittersweet for Inuyasha—watching Miroku get clobbered by Hiraikotsu was just far too much fun.

He was happy for his friends, in his own aloof and brutal way, (Not that he'd tell them though. Hell, he wouldn't even admit that they were his friends.) but he couldn't help but be jealous. Sango and Miroku had found a strong, loving partner in each other, even if they hadn't figured that out quite yet. And what did he get? The psycho miko bitch.

Rapture.

“—Are you even listening to me?” she shrieked, cutting off his internal monologue.

“Nope.” He replied, unbothered, slurping up another mouthful of noodles.

“Oh, I see. I'm just not as interesting as that hussy exterminator!”

He would've laughed if it had been someone else. He didn't have a clue why that miko bitch would insinuate that he and Sango were involved. Him and Sango? Feh! What next? Kouga and Kagura? A wave of canine protectiveness flow through his veins. He clenched his fist around his chopsticks.

No one insulted his friends. No one.

“Sango is not a hussy!” he barked, dropping his bowl with a harsh thud, whipping around to face her. The miko in question stood in the doorway, one hand clenched around her bow and the other around the shikon jewel around her neck, looking at him in an unpleasant manor.

“And now you're protecting your whore! Honestly, Inuyasha! Did you think I wouldn't find out that you were being unfaithful to me?”

“For the last time, we're not together! Get it into your thick head, baka!” he spat. He braced himself, ready to avoid any arrows or hissy fits. However, instead of bursting out into tears or drawing back on her bow, her eyes softened.

“I know you love me, Inu-koi! You can't fool me! You think you're protecting me by pushing me away.” She cooed, running up to him and latching herself around his torso. “You don't have to worry, Inu. I won't leave you! I know that exterminator meant nothing to you. I forgive you.”

“Get off me, you crazy bitch!” he yelled, trying his hardest to wiggle out of her death grip.

“It's alright, Inu-bunny! You don't have to pretend to be tough with me. After all, as soon as we wish you human, we'll be husband and wife.”

“I don't want to be human! I never did and never will!”

He pushed her off him with all his might, spending her flying to the floor. She looked up at him with previously absent tears forming in her eyes.

“Surely you don't mean that, `Yasha? How could we possibly get married if you're still a half demon?”

He inwardly flinched at her words. That's right. He thought. No one wants a hanyou.

“I'll never be your husband, you wench! I couldn't think of a worse fate than spending the rest of my life with you. The only reason I was ever nice to you is because I wanted the jewel! You're just an ugly, self-serving wench!”

She lowered her head, trying to hide the tears spewing down her cheeks.

“You...you dog!”

“Oh, I'm so insulted! Seeing as I'm half dog demon, genius!”

“I was going to use this for us, but you've given me no other choice…” she said in a cool voice that made Inuyasha shiver. She snatched the jewel from around her neck and held it in her hands, studying it like she'd never seen it before. Suddenly, Inuyasha didn't feel so angry anymore. In fact, he suddenly felt very, very scared.

“I thought that you were good, Inuyasha. I thought that you genuinely cared for me. Now I see what you really are.” She looked up at him with vengeful eyes. “And I'm going to make sure you and everyone you care for suffers for what you did!”

He snorted, opening his mouth to throw another cheeky insult her way to cover up the fear that was dumping into the bottom of his stomach, only to shut it quickly. The world seemed to shift right in front of his eyes. Everything grew bigger and duller, as if a gray cast had taken over everything all of a sudden. He growled low in his chest.

“Kikyo? What the fuck did you do to me?”

She ignored him, collecting her bow from where she had dropped it by the door and left without saying so much as a peep. Feeling his anger return, he moved to go after her and demand an explanation, but stopped when he realized he was running on his hands and knees.

“What the…?” A chill struck his heart as utter terror filled his mind. He tried to bring his hands to his face. His arms refused to move, as if they were incapable of moving in such a manner. And his scent…his scent had changed. It had lost that sharp, electric tang of his youki. It smelled muted, some how, dull. Something was wrong…something was seriously wrong. Slowly, he turned around and peered into his discarded bowl of soup.

Instead of meeting the gaze of a boy reflected in the broth, he saw the wild eyes of an animal.

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A/N: So, that's it. I have another chapter and a half already written. I'll get it out in a couple of days or so.