InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The New Student and Kagome's Secret ❯ Chapter 14: Inuyasha's Decision ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter 14

Sango and Miroku were shocked. They had heard Kagome and Inuyasha speak of Myouga before, but they had never actually met him.

"Myouga?!" everyone heard Kagome call from the living area.

"It's so nice to meet you Myouga!" Sango said shaking his hand. "I'm Sango and this is Miroku!" Myouga nodded and bowed again. "Come in! Come in!"

Myouga walked through the door. He looked around the room until his eyes fell on Kagome. "Lady Kagome!" he said taking a bow and walking over to her. "How are you feeling?" Kagome smiled.

"Just fine!" she said with a gleam in her eye. Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku followed Myouga.

"Don't let her lie to you, Myouga. She's injured and needs her rest," Inuyasha said flatly. Myouga and Kagome looked up at Inuyasha.

"Oh, I see," Myouga said sitting down on the couch next to her. Kagome blushed.

"What brings you here, Myouga?" Miroku asked. Myouga looked at Inuyasha.

"I knew Sesshomaru was coming this way. I left to try to warn you of his plans, but got caught up with some of his guards that had yet to leave," Myouga began. "When I saw the sky growing dark, I knew that the infamous battle was about to take place. When I finally arrived, the battle was over. I caught wind of your scent and it led me straight to this door. I wanted to see if you were okay." Everyone seemed to smile except Miroku who just had a confused look on his face.

"Excuse me, but did you just say that you could smell Inuyasha's scent?" Miroku asked. The others knew where he was going with this, and Inuyasha was the only one who knew the truth. Myouga smiled and nodded.

"Yes! I'm a demon so I can smell scents," he said. Everyone looked shocked.

"Myouga I never knew that you were a demon," Kagome said surprised. "Inuyasha, did you know?" Inuyasha nodded his head.

"Of course I knew," he huffed. "But Myouga are you still full demon?" Myouga nodded his head. He understood why Inuyasha asked. He already knew what had happened to all of the demons.

"Yep! Still full!" he said with a smile proud that his heart was pure. Kagome smiled. Sango and Miroku just looked surprised. There were very few demons that were unaffected. Sango poured Myouga a cup of tea and handed it to him.

"Thank you," he said. He took a sip of the tea and looked at Inuyasha with a more serious face. "Master Inuyasha, there is another reason I came here." Inuyasha raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner. "What are you going to do about the palace back home?" Everyone gasped. Inuyasha looked dumbfounded.

"I don't care!" he said turning his back to Myouga. "You can burn it to the ground for all I care!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted in a scolding manner.

"I don't, Kagome. Sesshomaru has lived in that palace for I don't know how long now, and I have no use for it," he said turning his nose up. "It probably still reeks of his scent." Inuyasha growled and flexed his claws. Myouga took a sip of his tea and looked at Inuyasha again.

"Master Inuyasha," Myouga began. "I will do that if that is what your wish, but try to remember that your father built that house as a safe haven for you and your mother. That's one reason Sesshomaru was able to rule the western lands so well. He lived in one of the most, if the not the most, secure homes in the country. Those who opposed him had no chance of assassinating him." Myouga sighed. "The palace wasn't intended to protect Sesshomaru from the people he cruelly mistreated. It was intended to keep you and your mother safe at all times…even after your father's death." Everyone stared at Inuyasha waiting for him to respond. Inuyasha's arms fell limp at his sides and he hung his head.

"I'm not meant for a castle," he said solemnly. Kagome, Sango, and Miroku were taken aback. Why would he say such a thing? Did he not live in that castle as a child? Kagome looked at Inuyasha sympathetically. Myouga finally broke the silence.

"Master Inuyasha," Myouga said. "These may be the words of a mere humble servant, but sir you deserve to live in that castle more than Sesshomaru ever did." Kagome beamed. She gave Myouga a grateful smile. She turned to receive Inuyasha's reaction, but none came. She was beginning to worry about him. Inuyasha then turned and walked towards the front door.

"I need some air for a minute," he said and walked outside closing the door behind him. Everyone stared at the front door. They had no clue why Inuyasha was acting in such a way. She looked at Myouga. He hung his head and took in a deep sigh.

"Myouga," Kagome began, "What's going on?" Myouga shook his head.

"The only thing I can think of is that his old town and palace are full of terrible memories for him. Inuyasha's parents were both killed inside that castle. Their blood stained the walls and floors for the longest time until Sesshomaru finally had the walls and floors replaced," he said with a heavy sigh. "It was also where Inuyasha wasn't accepted as a half-demon. He was abused and mistreated in every way you could imagine, and for a mere child, Inuyasha managed to get through it very well." Everyone gasped.

`No wonder then,' Kagome thought. `I wouldn't want to return to the castle either.' Kagome stared at the front door where she had last seen Inuyasha. She knew his parents had been killed, but she never knew that it happened in his own house nor the fact that he had witnessed the entire thing.

"He's also lived over here for the longest time," Sango stated. "At least there are a few people over here that accept him." Miroku and Kagome nodded.

"I always wondered why Inuyasha acted so surprised when people had a good reaction to him," Kagome said. "You and Miroku accepted him with open arms as did my family. I'm sure he doesn't want to go back."

"I must say that after my master met you Lady Kagome, my visits with him became more and more pleasant. He didn't seem to be so defensive about things and he seemed to be a lot happier. I would never want to take my master from his happiness, but he does need to make a decision about the castle. By right, he owns that castle as we speak," Myouga said. Kagome nodded. "You, Sango and Miroku, are actually the first of your kind as well to accept Inuyasha." They were all taken aback.

"You mean that not even priests or exterminators would help him?" Sango asked utterly shocked.

"Most of them would be nice to him for a while, but would then dispose of him once it hurt their reputation or once they thought he would attract demons," he said hanging his head.

"I just don't want Inuyasha to struggle the way he has been," Kagome suddenly said looking down at her hands. "If it hadn't been for me discovering it, he would have gone hungry many nights." Finally, Kaede, who had been silent the entire time, spoke.

"I believe that we should leave the decision to Inuyasha," she said taking a sip of her tea. "For it is he who has this burden, not us." Everyone nodded in agreement.

~*~*~

Meanwhile, Inuyasha sat on the front steps trying to take in everything. `I don't want to go back there,' he thought. `I have friends here. I have people who appreciate me here. I don't want to return to a place so full of hatred.'

<Flashback>

"Mom! Dad!" a little hanyou voice called as he raced into his parents' bedroom. His father stood beside the bed. He looked very intimidating with his massive, muscular body and Japanese armor. Two ears were embedded in his beautiful, silver hair, and three blood red marks accented each cheek on his manly face. His long, white fangs only made his olive complexion seem darker, and it could safely be said that the demon showed no sign of compassion or kindness throughout his entire body…were it not for his eyes. The golden orbs showed the softness of a loving father and husband who was kind and compassionate for the lives of others, but still tough, bold, commanding, and strong. The little hanyou's mother sat on the bed. She turned her head when he came running causing her raven hair to be flipped elegantly across her shoulder. She wore a red and white kimono, and her violet eyes held an undying love for the two men that now stood in the room. One could tell by her very presence that she was a priestess of great spiritual powers. She smiled.

"What is it my little Inuyasha?" she said kindly.

"Look!" he said pointing to a drawing that he had made.

"That's very nice, dear. Why don't we frame it and put it on our wall?" she said happily. The little hanyou's eyes grew wide with excitement.

"Really?" he said excitedly. His father smiled and nodded. Inuyasha walked over to his mother and laid the drawing next to her. He smiled and turned around to greet his father. He squatted slightly, flexed his claws, bared his fangs, and let out a little mini-growl.

"Grrrr!" he said playfully to his father. His father smiled and raised one eyebrow.

"Is that all you got boy?" he said sarcastically. Inuyasha then began to growl louder and tougher.

"Ooh! Getting better!" his father said and then let out a loud growl of his own causing the little hanyou's ears to lay flat on his head. He quit growling and stared in admiration of his father. His father laughed and then jumped on him wrestling playfully. Inuyasha laughed and wrestled his father with all of his might. Each time they would wrestle, Inuyasha's father would get a little rougher with him so he could toughen him up.

After a little while of that, his mother smiled and said, "Okay, that's enough you two!" His father looked up and nodded his head. He stood and grabbed the back of his son's robe lifting him to his feet.

"Run along and play okay!" he said patting his son on his head. Inuyasha nodded and darted out the door. He ran down the great, long hallway, down the stairs, through the foyer, and out the door. He ran out their front gate and kept running until he saw a few kids playing with a ball in a nearby park. He ran over to them right as the ball was thrown over one of their heads. It rolled until it stopped at Inuyasha's feet.

"Hi!" he said in his little voice. The other kids looked at each other and then back at him. Inuyasha bent down and picked up the ball. "Whatcha playin'?" he asked. The kids stared him and their expressions soon turned menacing. Inuyasha looked confused. One of the kids finally stepped forward.

"Nothing that a worthless hanyou would be interested in!" he said harshly. Inuyasha's face fell.

"Han-you?" he pronounced back to them. They all laughed mockingly.

"Yeah…a hanyou stupid! You know…a half-breed? Your mother's a human and your father's a demon?" another said cruelly. "Whoa! Guess hanyou's really are as stupid and dumb as they say they are!" Tears began to well in the little hanyou's eyes.

"Oh what's the matter, stupid!!! You gonna cry?" another kid asked shoving Inuyasha so hard that he fell on his back. Inuyasha quickly propped himself up on his elbows and stared at them in disbelief. The rest of the kids walked over to him. One kicked him in his side causing Inuyasha to roll over in pain only to be kicked in that side as well.

"Stupid hanyou! Stupid hanyou! Stupid hanyou!" they began chanting as they continued their torture upon the helpless hanyou. They punched him, kicked him, and made the ball bounce off of his head until….

"Hey! Hey! Hey! What are you kids doing over there?" a priest shouted running up to them. The kids scattered running everywhere they could to get away from the imposing priest. Inuyasha, however, was still scared out of his mind as the priest approached him.

"You okay?" the priest asked. Inuyasha shook his head and began running away.

"Hey, WAIT!" the priest called after him, but it was to no avail. The little hanyou ran…ran as fast and as far as he could. Tears of pain and anger streaked his face as he ran aimlessly. In fact, he ran so aimlessly that he soon ran to the last place he should have been.

"Where am I?" he said out loud.

"Apparently far from anyone who will save you…hanyou!" an evil voice said. Inuyasha whirled around to find a spider demon emerge from a nearby bush. Suddenly, two more demons, a moth demon and a bear demon, emerged from another bush. Inuyasha immediately began running. He panted as he ran more out of fear than anything else. He soon arrived at a river. `Demons can't smell me if I'm in water!' he thought. His father had taught him that. Inuyasha took a deep breath and jumped into the river. He was sure to stay out of sight under water as he allowed the river to carry him downstream. The demons finally came to the river and look both ways in search of the hanyou. They stayed there searching and smelling for a few more minutes until they finally gave up and returned to their homes.

Down river, Inuyasha had climbed on the bank and was lying on his stomach. He was now wet, covered in mud, and had been beaten. He stood up to walk home. Luckily, the river had carried him in the direction of his house. He walked slowly back to his house. This wasn't the first time he had been treated this way, but it was definitely a double whammy. When he ran into humans, they would call him names, mock him, and sometimes slightly beat him, but nothing compared to what happened today. When he ran into demons, his father was always there to protect him, or he would normally be able to run back to his house in time to seek protection. Inuyasha soon neared his house…but something didn't smell right to him. He walked up the steps and flung open the door to find the most horrendous sight to a young child's eyes. Sesshomaru stood above his father…his dead father! Inuyasha's father lay on the ground motionless. Blood adorned the floors and nearby walls and his mother sat trembling and crying in a nearby corner. His father had apparently protected his mother.

"DADDY!!!!!" the little hanyou wailed.

"INUYASHA!!!" his mother shouted running towards him. Sesshomaru stepped in front of her. "Inuyasha run!" his mother shouted over Sesshomaru's shoulder as she began to back away from him.

"MOMMY NO!!!" he shouted as he began to cry.

"I SAID RUN INUYASHA!!!" she screamed again steadying her bow and arrow for Sesshomaru. She shot a purifying arrow at him, but he managed to dodge it easily. "I love you, honey…but do as Mommy tells you and RUN!!!" she screamed. "RUN UNTIL YOU CAN'T RUN ANYMORE!!! NOW GO!!!" She took something from around her neck and threw it at her son. He caught it and opened his hands to reveal a silver necklace with a sapphire half-moon and a diamond star charm. He looked up at her.

"Put it on!!!" she shouted as she shot another arrow. "May it protect you!" she said almost as if she was saying an incantation.

"NOW RUN!!! RUN INUYASHA!!!" she shouted. He whimpered, but placed the necklace around his neck and turned to run away. He ran as fast as he could and as far as he could, but his sensitive ears soon heard his mother's heart-wrenching scream of death.

"MOMMY!!!" he screamed stopping and turning towards the scream.

"RUN INUYASHA!!!" he heard his mother say inside his head again. He turned in the direction opposite of the scream and continued to run. He ran for miles and miles until he couldn't run anymore. He didn't even know where he was. He sat down and began crying uncontrollably. He then remembered that his parents had always taught him that if he was ever lost, he needed to find the nearest shrine and the people there would help him. He sniffed the air and ran in the direction of a nearby shrine. The first couple of shrines he came to rejected him because he was a hanyou. They either saw him and didn't answer the door in fear that the hanyou would bring trouble and misfortune to the shrine, or they blatantly turned him away. The sixth shrine he came to finally let him in. A nice priestess took care of him for a while, but after a few months, she too turned her back on him due to the criticism she was receiving for hanging out with a hanyou. And so began his life as a nomad. He would go from place to place and school to school unsettled. Myouga eventually caught up with him and gave him tetsaiga along with food and clothes. Myouga told Inuyasha that it was best he continue on his path. Sesshomaru had taken him for dead, and it was best if it remained that way.

"I will always find you," Myouga had told him, and he ended up being one of the very few people in his life that kept his word. No matter where Inuyasha traveled Myouga had always managed to find him. Many years later, Myouga found the secret cologne for Inuyasha. It was then that he moved to Kagome's city, the farthest major city away from his original home.

<End Flashback>

Inuyasha stared off into the sky hoping it had the answers to all of his questions. He had no idea what to do. Why would he want to return to such a place? How could he leave? He sat on the top step of Sango's front porch leaning his back against one of the columns. He propped up one knee allowing his other leg to descend the steps. He rested his forearm on his knee and took a deep breath. He didn't know what to do with the property. He would have rather the castle been destroyed in the war so he would not have to bare this burden. If he decided to go back, he would be leaving all of his friends behind and take a chance back in a town where his parents were brutally murdered and he was never accepted. On the other hand, he didn't want to disrespect his father and ancestors by abandoning a house that his family had worked so hard for and he also didn't want to give the people who treated him cruelly back home the satisfaction of thinking he was afraid to return. Just then he heard footsteps. He looked up to find Kagome standing beside him with a large coffee cup in her hand. She said nothing to him. She merely smiled and sat the cup next to him. He looked in the cup to see what she had brought him…hot cocoa?

"Kagome?" he began a little puzzled as to why she didn't bring him tea. Kagome stopped with her back remaining to him. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"I know cocoa is your favorite," she said smiling sweetly as if she were reminiscing about something. "Even though we were having tea, I thought that it might help and put you at ease a little more if you had your favorite hot drink." She then looked at him and gave him a quick smile. "Take your time making your decision. Just know that we're here if you need anything." With that, she walked back inside. Inuyasha sat there staring at the cup of cocoa. She had even remembered to put extra whip cream on it…just the way he liked it. He smiled.

`It's amazing,' he thought, `how little things can make you fall in love with someone.' His last statement made him jump so that he almost knocked over the cocoa. `IN LOVE? I know I told her I love her, but that doesn't mean that I am in love with her…or am I? No! No! I can't be thinking about this right now! Wait a minute! Do I really love her or did I say something like that because I didn't think I was going to see her anymore?' He thought about it for a minute. `No, I think I said it because I felt it…but what if she only said because she thought she was never going to see me again? Anyhow…I think that it would be for the best if I just pretend like none of that stuff happened on the battlefield for right now. I need to be able to think clearly. Ha! And I had definitely better be careful with the "in love" thing. I definitely only need to tell her that when I am absolutely positive. Am I though? No I can't be! I just told the girl I love her for crying out loud! Oh, enough already! No love or mushy stuff until I can clear my head!'

Just then, Myouga walked out on the porch. He smiled at Inuyasha. Inuyasha nodded as if to say "hey". Myouga sat down next to him and sighed.

"I'm not going to make this long," he began, "but you know that your family and I only want you to be happy. Regarding your decision, just do whatever makes you happiest. Your mother and father would have wanted it that way." Inuyasha nodded his head and turned his attention back to the sky. Myouga stood and began to walk away when Inuyasha stopped him.

"Myouga," he said. "Thanks for everything you've done for me these past years. You've been the only family I've had." Myouga smiled and merely nodded his head and walked back inside. Inuyasha smiled. He knew what he had to do.

A/N: Awww! Sorry for the recap in detail of Inuyasha's past, but I was just dying to throw that in there somewhere. But……..what is Inuyasha's decision going to be? Hmmm?

Okay I have an idea!!! Why doesn't everyone review and tell me what you think Inuyasha should do? I won't start writing the next chapter until I get a few ideas as to where you guys think this thing is going or should go.

Oh, and for those that haven't read the review page…I just watched Inuyasha the second movie!!! Hurray!!!! It was awesome! All of you Kagome/Inuyasha fans…GET YOUR HANDS ON IT SOMEHOW!!!