Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Blood Contract	By : ShadesofNight Category: InuYasha > General Views: 2544 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Chapter List
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PROLOGUE

Early in the summer, she met a boy in the park.

Other little kids filled the playground around her, running and screaming. Thanks to the weekend�s Children�s Festival, all the neighborhood families had come out today. While their parents all stood around the edges of the park playground, their children ran and played: sliding down slides, overflowing the swings, climbing the monkey bars, and bunching into small groups playing rhyming games where one stood in the middle, and everyone else chanted.

�Kagome, Kagome, the bird in the cage

When will you come out?

In the evening of the dawn,

The crane and turtle slipped.

Who stands right behind you now?�

It was that game in particular that sent her into hiding inside the huge wooden structure of tunnels, nets, slides, and other assorted fun things that sat in the middle of the sandlot. She hated that game. It felt like they were making fun of her when they played it; besides, they always wanted her to be the oni. So she wandered underneath the bridge, climbed over the wooden bars and past the twisty silver slide, ignoring the snags and smudges she put into her best dress, and tucked herself into a small hidey-hole near the ground. She wrapped her small arms around her legs and put her knees and put her head down for a good sulk.

And that�s when she heard the sniffling. Someone was crying.

She blinked, and looked around her square little wooden box beneath the stairs. The sound was soft, distant, and echoing, coming from somewhere not too far away. She lifted her dark head and glanced around.

She spotted a little dome, just a little way across the waves of dry sand. It had a small opening cut into the side, so that kids could crawl inside and hide. Her eyes and nose scrunched up, her head tipped to the side, and she wondered about the odd sheen that seemed to film the dark entrance; funny how it kept trying to push her eyes in a different direction. It was almost as if the dome didn�t want to be seen by anyone.

The sniffles were coming from there.

She forgot her sulk and awkwardly scooted across the wood until her feet hit the sandy ground. She curled her bare toes into the cool grains, stopping for a moment to be happy that Mama had taken her shoes before she let her go play. Then she stumbled her way across, hoping Mama and Papa wouldn�t see her and call her back. Whoever was crying sounded really sad; she just needed to find them and make them feel better.

She was a little surprised that she had to push her way inside the dome. It was as if a thick sludge had replaced the air in the entrance, and the sludge was trying to keep her out. Kagome set her small jaw and pushed through anyway.

The boy inside was old. Maybe even a lot old -- maybe even as old as eleven or twelve. He sat curled against the other side of the dome, in the shadows beyond the round patch of sunlight shining through the hole in the ceiling, in the same position she�d just taken in her little wooden cubby. His arms hugged his knees to his chest, and his head was buried in his arms. Long, tangled silver hair tumbled down his back and around his body, and his body shook and jerked with each loud, clogged snuffle.

At the top of his head, peaking through the dirty pale hair, two small doggy ears hung ragged and nearly lifeless from the top of his head. They twitched, and her eyes got big and round. The boy had animal parts; she knew what animal parts meant. She sucked in a loud breath.

His head jerked up. His face was smudged all over with dirt, and tears filled his eyes and streaked his cheeks. Through the sunlight, she could see he had pretty yellow eyes. They stared at her in shock, and the funny black slits in their centers went small and thin. �You� You�re a human--how did you get past the spell?! No one�s supposed to be able to find me in here!�

She stared at him in awe. �You�re a youkai.� She knew about youkai. Mama said they lived in their own area behind the Barrier, separate from humans, because that�s how humans and youkai got along best. Mama said things between their races worked out best when they each let the other alone. That�s why she�d never seen one before except when Papa watched the news.

He jerked one arm up, high above his head, so that she could see the sharp claws on his fingers. His knuckles crackled threateningly and he growled. �GO AWAY!�

She stared at him. He stared at her, his claws still suspended in the air. She waited.

Angry yellow eyes blinked at her. �Aren�t you scared of me?�

�Mama said that youkai can be dang--� she hesitated, frowned, concentrated, �dan-ger-us or friendly.�

He dropped his claws to his side again, his black brows twisting, the anger in his pretty eyes going away just a little as they widened. �And? Aren�t you afraid that I�m dangerous?�

She blinked wide gray eyes at him, mystified. �Why would a dangerous youkai be playing in the park?� She knew he was safe. She didn�t question it. She just knew it.

His scowl came back. �I�m not playing. I�m hiding.�

She nodded. That made sense. She looked at the ceiling, then pursed her lips and looked at him. �I�m hiding, too. Can I hide with you?�

For a moment, he looked like was going to tell her no, and she thought she might cry. Her face even scrunched up a little in preparation. Then he looked at her, and his face went soft like Papa�s whenever she gave him �the face�. He rolled his eyes and shrugged his dirty shoulder. �I don�t care what you do.�

She nodded again and crawled across the sand to sit next to him. She curled up like he was and leaned her head against his side. He tensed up, but slowly relaxed.

She looked up at his frowning face. �I�m hiding from the game,� she whispered, so that only he would know her secret. She pointed out the opening. �Because of my name. They�re making fun of it.�

He blinked down at her. He cocked his head. �Kagome, Kagome�huh?� He glanced down at her, and his ears twitched. �Is that your name?�

�Yep.� She giggled, then tugged on his sleeve. �I like your ears,� she whispered again. �Are they real?�

He stared down at her for a long time, and after a bit, she thought she saw him smile. �Yeah, they�re real. You don�t think they�re weird? Most of the humans who�ve seen me so far think I�m weird.�

Kagome shook her head, vigorously. �Nu-uh. They�re cute. Can I touch them?�

He cringed and pulled away from her. �No.�

She was disappointed, but she nodded anyway. �Okay. Why are you hiding?�

His body jerked again, and the tenseness came back. Then he breathed out and his shoulders slumped. He tucked his chin inside the protection of his arms and stared straight ahead. �My Mom died.� His voice was soft, scratchy, broken. �She was human, so they buried her on this side of the Barrier.�

�Oh.� Kagome�s face fell as she thought about that, still leaning against him, still feeling safe next to his warm body. She thought about Mama; she thought about never seeing her again, and tears made the inside of the dome and the waves of cool sand beneath them look blurred and damp. �Is that why you were crying?�

�I wasn�t--� He broke off, then breathed out again, slumping into himself. �Yeah.�

Kagome rubbed at her eyes with a fist, then sniffed. �Don�t worry,� she whispered yet again. �I won�t tell anybody you were crying. I promise.�

They didn�t say anything else for a long time. They just sat against each other in a dome in the middle of the playground and listened to the squeals and screeches of the children outside.

Then the boy�s stomach growled. Loudly.

Kagome looked up at him. He�d turned his face away, but she thought she could still see red coloring his cheeks. �Are you hungry?�

He shrugged, but didn�t look at her. His bare toes dug themselves into the sand. �Maybe. It�s been a few days since I�ve eaten.�

Kagome�s eyes rounded. �Really? Why?�

The boy turned on her, the anger from earlier in his eyes. �Because I�m not leaving here, okay? I don�t want to leave Mom�s grave. The humans never wanted her before. Why should they get her now? I don�t care what my Dad or my stupid brother say.� He turned away again, his voice dropped to a mumble. �It�s not right to leave her here.�

�Oh.� She brightened. �Okay. I�ll go get you some food. Mama made lots.�

His head whipped back around in a panic. �Wait! You can�t tell anyone I�m here!�

She blinked at him. �I can�t?�

�No.� His pretty gold eyes glared at her with determination. �No one can know. It�s a secret!�

Kagome rolled her eyes to the hole in the ceiling and thought about this for a moment. Then she nodded, looked at him, and brought her pinky finger up to his face. �It�s a super-important promise.�

His brow wrinkled as he stared her up and down. When he didn�t move other than that, she grew exasperated and grabbed at one of his hands. He jumped when her small fingers tugged at one of his larger ones, but he let her take it away from his knee. It was only when she started tucking her small, soft fingers between his claws that he snatched it back. �Watch out, you�ll hurt yourself, dummy!�

Kagome huffed and glared at him. �You�re supposed to put your little finger around mine, silly. It�s a super-secret promise.�

�My�.� His yellow, cat-slit eyes went wide, his dirty, smudgy face went slack, and he sucked in a breath. �But�that�s --�

Kagome gave him an impatient look and held her pinky up insistently. Finally, that pretty red color blooming all over his face, he very gingerly wove the pinky of his right hand around hers.

She graced him with a huge grin and lifted their clasped fingers up and down with each beat of her words. �Yu-bi-ki-ri. If you break this promise you�ll have to swallow a thousand needles.� With a big, matter-of-fact nod, she released his finger, still grinning widely. �See? Now I can�t break it. It�s forever.� She scrambled to her feet. �Wait here. I�ll be right back.�

He grunted, and stared at her with wide eyes as she vanished out the opening.

Mama didn�t even question her when she came running up, barefoot, filthy, a huge smile on her face, and asked if she could take her bento with her to play. Mama told Papa to watch Souta, who wasn�t big enough to play on his own yet, and dug out a small, pink-kerchief-wrapped box.

Then she took it back and presented it to him, a proud lift in her small, rounded shoulders. He hesitated, eyed her, then opened it. His tummy grumbled again at the sight of vegetables, meat, and eggs, and he barely bothered with the chopsticks she�d brought along when he started shoveling food into his mouth.

Kagome settled on her knees in the sand next to him and watched him. �I�m sorry about your Mom,� she said, still a little sad whenever she thought about losing Mama.

His eating slowed for a moment, and he stared at her with huge, wounded eyes over the food she�d given him. Then he nodded, and she didn�t say anything else.

After he had licked the last grain of rice off the plastic, he sat and stared before unfolding his body to sit cross-legged, facing her. He held out the empty container. �Thanks. It was�good.� The sulky note in his voice reminded her of some of the boys in her class, the ones who liked to bully her, but the warmth of real gratitude sparked in his eyes. �I�ll--I�ll find a way to pay you back.�

Kagome took it and stared at it, too, lips pursed. �Okay.� She knew Mama would be calling her to leave soon, and she felt a funny ache in her chest at the thought of leaving him all alone in the playground. She knew, without knowing how she knew, that no one else would be able to find him here. He would have no one else to play with. �I can�bring you more tomorrow?�

Surprise lightened his features, and he shuffled his toes in the sand. �You would do that?�

She nodded, and hoped that he would let her, because if he didn�t the hurt in her chest was going to get worse.

His eyes drifted off to the side as he thought about it. �It doesn�t mean you can tell anyone, you know.�

�I know.� She focused large, solemn gray eyes on him. �It�s a promise.�

He lifted his eyes to hers, and she thought she saw a spark of bright, golden hope in them. A tiny, almost invisible smile curled his lips. �Okay. It�s a promise.�

She smiled, sudden and bursting with happiness, and held up her pinky in the space between them once more.

He stared at her hand, the same strange look on his face that had been there before. Then, eyes locked with hers and oh-so-serious, he lifted his hand and wrapped the little finger of his right hand around the much smaller one of hers. His grip was firm, and his claw pressed sharp and delicate against her knuckle, but the sensation didn�t scare her at all, because to her, he would always be safe.

His lips moved and, without making a sound, formed the words along with her sing-song voice.

Yu-bi-ki-ri.

I promise.
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Blood Contract