InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ These Knots We Tie ❯ Boy In A Tree ( Chapter 1 )

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

Well I’ll bet the whole fandom has forgotten me as an author. I’ve been away for a long time. Anyway, I’m in one of those moods, and my computer kind of directed me to fan fiction so I think I’ll write up a one shot. Well......I mean it to be a one shot. We’ll see.

These Knots We Tie

Chapter 1: Boy In A Tree

~*~


He walked away.

It didn’t matter what he was walking away from. It didn’t anymore. He was sick of always weathering the storm and trying to work things out. This time, for once, he was going to be selfish and just run away from his problems. More like her problems. Her problems which she really wanted to force on him, so that she could find some relief in her drunken sultry life.

His father had been gone for ages now. He barely remembered the silver locks and the broad grim face of the man. He wasn’t a man. He was a beast of a man. No one that strong and cruel could be human.

The mother he was running away from used to tell him bedtime stories about his father and how he would come home in a rage, just looking for someone to wail upon. So naturally, she picked up and moved far away from him. Now, she was a perfect mirror of the stories she used to tell. Only this time, she drank. And smoked. And ate her heart out in depression. It wasn’t his fault. He wouldn’t let it be his fault anymore.

So he walked. His silver white hair floating over his shoulder to rest gently on his chest. His feet padded the dirt in a meaningful rhythm. ‘I wonder what’s over that horizon’, he wondered. Maybe it would bring him something new.

~*~

“Grandpaaaaa!” Oh where had he disappeared to now? Just when she needed him! “Grandpa get back down here! It isn’t going to curse you!”

The ‘it’ she referred to was a lizard she had brought home. Crossing the street, some boys had been tormenting it and she felt that without her intervention, it would be doomed. After scooping it up and running, she realized she had no where to put it! So naturally, she brought it home. Whereupon her grandfather started cursing and chanting, sharing with her his horoscope which said that he would soon run into bad luck with amphibians. It seemed to her that the lizard was either cute or bewildered. Poor thing.

A very reluctant old man was now coming slowly down the steps, with a watchful eye on her guest. “Don’t let it get near me Kagome. I know it’s got something awful planned for me.”

The girl rolled her eyes and gawked at the odd apparel he was wearing. He had donned an old fashioned priest getup and was carrying charms in either hand. “Oh give it a rest grandpa. If it isn’t one thing it’s another. See, there’s no need to wo-......” At that moment she had glanced back to the table and noticed that her new pet was missing in action. She sighed. It would be a long evening looking for him. She couldn’t let her grandpa die of a heart attack. He really did stress himself too much.

~*~

In typical lizard fashion (actually a large gecko), the animal had hidden under the stove. After a good 15 minutes of trying to pry him out of the small opening with a broom handle, she decided she might as well leave him there. He wasn’t any trouble. Most likely, he’d find his way out through the front door at some point.

She went out back to yell a quick “Grandpa he’s gone!” but once again found herself only getting through half her sentence. For there, in her yard, was someone sleeping in a tree. Not just any tree, but her grandfather’s prized Goshimboku tree. Wonderful. Now she had to wake up a possible drunk, and get him to come out of her tree without scratching it or breaking branches.

Suddenly her annoyance turned to shock, and then dread. His hair flowed past his shoulders, and looked incredibly soft. But it wasn’t the length that shocked her, it was the color. Not only was his hair long, it was the forbidden shade of silver-white. Something was very wrong. She had to make him go.

~*~

An itch. He scratched it absently. A twig stabbed into his sides. He blocked out the feeling. There it was again, this time on his foot. Now it was to the side of his face. A bug? A spider maybe? He opened his eyes.

Raven hair was the first thing his brain registered. There, sitting in this tree, was a girl with raven hair poking him with a twig. Her face looked like a cross between being startled and being nervous. What was wrong with her? She certainly didn’t act nervous!

He growled at her, turned over, and shut his eyes again. She slapped him across the face. “Look silver hair, I don’t know what you think you are doing here, but you better cut the crap. You aren’t getting away with anything.” Although her words were tough, her hands shook and she dropped the stick.

Quirking an eyebrow, he sat up. Silver hair? What gives? What did his hair color have to do with him not being able to take a nap after walking for the past three days?

~*~

Oh gods he was awake, and growling at her. He wasn’t the scrawny little boy she had first seen when she walked outside. No he was a strong, able teen, looking as if he had had experience with those muscles of his. She swallowed and mentally reminded herself to breathe.

After the initial mad on his face, he softened and looked back at her oddly. As if he were confused. How could he be? It was very simple. He had silver hair, she had black. He was on the wrong side of town. What else was there to get?

“Well, anyway, I suggest you get back home. Your family probably wouldn’t want you on this side of town. It’s dangerous for......” She nearly said ‘people like you’ but caught herself. Something about him gave her the impression that she really shouldn’t say something like that.

‘Dangerous for me? Why?’ He nearly asked, but stopped. He didn’t know her, and therefore couldn’t trust anything she said. Of course, he didn’t really know anyone so his logic was faulty. He ignored that fact.

“My family is far away right now. I don’t think I will be seeing them for a while.” Well it was close enough to the truth, without having to give anything away about his situation.

Suddenly, she gasped. “I just realized that we are still in this tree. If you don’t get out soon, my grandfather will see you, and he won’t be happy about it. Would you mind getting down?”

“Uh, sure.” It wasn’t that easy. He was backed against a tree limb and she covered the only exit. Seizing the situation, he scooped her up in one arm and shimmied down as best he could with one arm and two feet free. She felt very light and soft in his arms. It was a wonder she had slapped him with such force only a moment ago. Remembering that slap brought a growl to his throat.

~*~

First he picked her up like a sack of potatoes, now he was growling. Next she expected him to pound his chest with a fist and carry her off to his King Kong lair. Her fear vanished and she managed to stifle a giggle with a cough as he placed her down on her feet.

“Um......Well, thanks for the lift. Find your home now, er, pleased to meet you but I need to go!” Why was she so passive with this silver-hair? He was in the fault for being in HER yard, not the other way around. She stumbled away back to the doorway of her house.

Upon opening the old door, she fell to the ground with laughter. There, sitting at a chair was her grandfather, trying to escape the arms of the chair and back away and not succeeding too well. On the table directly in front of him was the lizard. Both lizard and man seemed to have the same expression: Shock.

~*~*~*~

A/N: Well this kinda turned into something longer than a one shot. I’m not sure if I’ll continue it. I’m sure the whole black hair/silver hair thing is a bit confusing at this point, but it should get explained fairly soon, if you’d all like me to keep going.

~Isuki-chan