Author’s Note: Again, thanks for the ratings and reviews. I updated this a little later than I wanted to. The last
two weeks were pretty busy for me ^_^; ENJOY!
Chapter III- Protection
Inuyasha lie in bed half asleep, unawakened by the afternoon sun shining through the small window at the other
end of the room. His body desperately trying to fully fall asleep, trying to regain the rest essential to his being that
he has been deprived from since the death of his friends. He was too interested in his dreams to completely wake
up. The illusions in his mind of his lost friends keeping him on the edge of unreality, a utopia that he did not want
to awake from. The vision of his friends, sitting with him around a glowing fire, smiling. An image that the hanyou
had wished to become a reality. He had prayed on many occasions to any god that would listen to him. He never
received an answer, claiming that it was because no god would ever help a half-demon. His heredity had caused
him to be shunned by humans and demons alike. Rejected because he was different; but not to his friends. They
had accepted him for who he was and took no shame in associating with a half-demon. Now they were gone, and
it caused Inuyasha a pain that would never heal. The guilt and sorrow inside of him mocked him on a daily basis
and on occasion made him want to end his life and escape the pain.Inuyasha’s dreams are part of what kept him going. Every heartbeat causing blood to course through his veins was
attributed to the hope that one night, time would stop and he would be stuck in his dreams. Trapped in the smiles
of his friends, the crackle of the dancing flames, and the acceptance that he seldom received. Him and his friends
sitting around a warm fire, tranquility filling the area, a feeling that Inuyasha wanted to keep. The peaceful silence
of his dream was disrupted by a scream. Inuyasha jumped up and gazed at the faces of his friends, trying to detect
who the scream came from. He reluctantly let out a sigh of relief, discovering that it wasn’t from one of them.
They kept their same smile on their faces, as if they hadn’t heard the scream at all; a response (or lack of a
response) that troubled the hanyou. He walked around the fire to examine Kagome closely. Blank eyes stared back,
immobile, her face frozen into an emotionless smile. Inuyasha backed away from Kagome, shaking his head.
Knowing that even in his dreams he couldn’t completely have his friends. They sat there in a lifeless posture,
oblivious to Inuyasha’s existence. The scream returned. The hanyou spun around to find that the fire was now
burning out of control and towered higher than the surrounding trees. He gasped as a face appeared in the flame,
filled with agony. “Abotto?” Inuyasha shouted into the sparks. The face yelled in pain as a diagonal cut slowly
formed on its cheek and blood seeped out of it. “No, I’m not losing you too!” the hanyou yelled before reaching
his hand into the fire, desperately grabbing to save his only friend. He shouted out of pain as his hand suddenly
became crimson with blood. He pulled his hand out of the fire and stared at it in terror. The stench of his own
blood filled his nostrils. The pain shocked Inuyasha and threw him back into reality...Inuyasha’s eyes snapped open, he was gasping with fear. His hand was extended out in front of him, crimson, just
like in his dream. Inuyasha frantically looked around, desperately searching for an answer to his confusion. “Damn
it! He blocked it with his hand!” Looking to his side, he found a man holding a knife that was also coated in blood.
Behind him stood three more, all holding some sort of weapon. With a growl, the inu swiftly jumped out of bed,
startling the men. They stumbled backwards and ran out into the main room shouting, “The demon is awake! Run,
the demon is awake!” Inuyasha followed them into the main room, causing the men in there to release cries of
terror and run out of the house. One man limped over to the front door, clutching at a dagger lodged in his leg.
He winced and whimpered in pain as he pulled out the weapon and threw it on the ground before limping out the
door. Deciding that it was pointless to chase down the men, Inuyasha ran over and slammed the door. He spun
around and shut his eyes tightly, trying to calm his anger. His heart was beating rapidly and his hand throbbed in
pain. His nose twitched at the stench of blood filling the house. The hanyou opened his eyes and gasped as he saw
Abotto sitting in the corner on the other side of the room. He ran over and knelt beside the boy. The sprawled out
body slowly moved up and down with labored breathing. Clutched tightly in his hand was one of the Twin
Daggers. Abotto slowly looked up at the half-demon, his lips curling into a weak smile as his mind confirmed that
Inuyasha was safe. He moaned softly and winced as Inuyasha reached out and traced a finger gently over the
many cuts on his face. The hanyou sighed at the sight of his friend bleeding and placed his hand on the back of
Abotto’s neck, hoping to comfort the boy. Instead, another wince was brought out of the human, and Inuyasha
gasped as he felt a warm substance at the top of Abotto’s back. He slowly removed his hand, saddened to see it
covered in red.
“So are you okay?” Abotto asked in a voice that was hoarse from yelling. Inuyasha waved his injured hand and the
boy frowned. “You should wash the blood off in the sink.” Inuyasha shook his head. “I’ll do it later. Right now I’m worried about you,” he explained. “We need to clean your
wounds.” He quickly looked over Abotto. His face was cut in various places, he had that gash in his back, and his
shirt was stained with blood. The inu hoped that the blood wasn’t all Abotto’s. “I think it will take more than a
sink to do that though.” Inuyasha frowned, receiving a raised eyebrow at that comment. “Let’s go see if we can
find a hot spring or something.” Not even waiting for an answer, Inuyasha went into the other room to grab the
Tetsusaiga for protection. When he re-entered the main room, Abotto gave him a nervous look.“Umm... what are we doing?” Abotto asked with raised eyebrows, hoping for a more specific explanation. He
couldn’t understand why they needed a hot spring to fix his wounds, he had always let them heal naturally. So
why couldn’t he do that this time?Inuyasha bent down and gently gathered the boy into his arms. Abotto reflexively wrapped his arms around
Inuyasha’s neck as the half-demon cradled him. “Listen,” Inuyasha whispered, “you’ve been taking care of me, now
it’s my turn to take care of you.” The hanyou smiled down at the boy, who couldn’t help but smile back.Inuyasha made sure that nobody was following them before he left the village. When he was satisfied, he ran off
at a quick pace, searching for a source of water. After a while, Inuyasha’s ears twitched at the sound of running
water. He grinned and sped off in the direction of the noise. Both boys smiled as a pond with a gentle running
waterfall came into view. Inuyasha slowed to a stop and gently sat Abotto down onto the ground. “Alright,” he
sighed, “let’s get you cleaned up.”Abotto blinked, still giving the hanyou a questioning look, unsure of why this was necessary. Part of him was
scared- well maybe not scared, but suspicious. He couldn’t figure out why though; he knew that he could trust
Inuyasha. The half-demon’s compassion shone through his eyes and gave Abotto a sense of security. The grin that
he was wearing, however, told a different story. His grin was a mischievous one that made the boy feel a little
uneasy and confused. *Wow...* Abotto thought to himself, looking at the ground to avoid eye contact. *That’s the
kind of look that says ‘right when you get undressed I’m gonna jump you.’ Not that I would have a problem with
Inuyasha pinning me down... wait... where did that come from? Things aren’t that way between Inuyasha and
myself... are they? No, he just lost his friends, he wouldn’t be thinking about things like that... so why am I? And
since when do I think about stuff like that? Well I guess it was kinda cool with him carrying me here and stuff and
holding me- that’s never happened before... why am I thinking about this? eh, whatever.* An even more confused
Abotto sighed and looked up. He was surprised to find that Inuyasha had moved without him noticing. The
hanyou was now behind him and kneeling down to his level.“Let’s get this off.” Inuyasha whispered, tugging at the bottom of Abotto’s shirt. Abotto slowly nodded as his face
began to turn a light red. He hadn’t found out how self-conscious he could get until now. The boy couldn’t
remember ever being in an embarrassing situation, he was never around people enough to experience humiliation.
But now Inuyasha was planning on bathing him and the plain thought of that caused Abotto to blush more. Part
of him told him to stop Inuyasha; however, in his weakened state, Abotto had no choice but to trust the half-demon. He sighed as the kimono was carefully removed from his body, exposing every injury marking the cream
colored skin. Inuyasha placed the shirt aside and softly rubbed over the deep cut at the top of Abotto’s back. He
traced over it from the boy’s right shoulder to the middle of his left shoulder blade. The boy hissed out of pain but
didn’t pull away from Inuyasha’s touch. The hanyou moved around Abotto to examine his front. There were cuts
and scratches along his chest but nothing too deep. The fact that Abotto seemed unaffected by the wounds
aroused a great sense of respect for the human’s strength, he was definitely stronger than he let on. Inuyasha
looked up at the boy’s face which had returned to its milky complexion. “You know what’s next.” Inuyasha stated
with a smirk, trying to tease the boy a little. He had found out that he liked seeing the boy embarrassed, thinking
that it was one of the cutest things he had ever seen.Abotto shook his head nervously. “No, there’s no need for that. I didn’t get hurt anywhere below my waist,” he
offered as an excuse. Inuyasha wasn’t taking it. He looked down at the red-stained circle in the boy’s sapphire
colored pants.“And I suppose that’s not blood.” Inuyasha laughed, pointing at the stain on Abotto’s thigh.“As a matter of fact,” Abotto started, his sentence was interrupted as a gasp escaped his lips. Inuyasha pulled the
boy’s legs, causing him to lose his balance and fall, surprisingly painlessly, onto his back. Inuyasha climbed on top
of Abotto and pinned his wrists down. “It’s for your own good.” Inuyasha said, the wicked grin returning to his face and battling the boy’s scowl.
Abotto’s face quickly turned a bright red as he had no choice but to submit to the half-demon who was carefully
taking off the stained pants. Inuyasha threw the clothing aside and got off of Abotto to look at the deep wound in
his thigh. Abotto lay in the grass wearing nothing but a shortened pair of pants made to be used as underwear.
His face began to sweat from the heat of the blood that had rushed into it. Abotto felt a little angry that Inuyasha
was finding humor in his humiliation. Then all of a sudden, the inu became serious. “Hey,” Inuyasha whispered, “if
you don’t mind getting your underwear wet then you can keep them on. Either way, get into the water so I can
wash that blood off of you,” he ordered. Abotto took a deep breath and nodded before moving over to the pond and gently lowering himself into the
shallow water. He was very thankful that, somehow, his stiff arousal went unnoticed. *Damn it, why did he have
to pin me down like that... that was hot... oh damn... I’m attracted to him...* Inuyasha came and sat on the edge
of the springs and began to rub the warm water over the deep wound on Abotto’s shoulder. The water
surrounding the boy began to gain a reddish tint due to the dry blood dissolving off of him and even some fresh
blood that was released once the wounds reopened. Abotto hissed out of pain as Inuyasha reached around him to
tend to the marks on his chest. As much as it hurt, Abotto did not pull away from the hanyou. Instead, he put his
faith into him and let him do whatever he felt was necessary. “Abotto?” Inuyasha whispered. Abotto cocked his head to the side. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask
you. A couple nights ago you said it’s weird that you trust people considering what had happened. Well I wanna
know what happened.” Abotto sighed and looked away. He had figured that sometime Inuyasha would ask about
this.“Well... as far as I can remember I’ve always been alone. No parents, siblings, friends, anything. Well, besides you
there was one other person who treated me like a friend. Some time... years ago I met Jaylen. And we bonded
immediately. He was always there for me, I was there for him. We fought along side each other whenever we
were attacked by demons.” Abotto sighed and paused for a moment. “I was always happy around him, he made
me feel wanted and like I was never going to be alone again.” Inuyasha shut his eyes at the word ‘alone.’ Since day
one he had felt a connection between him and Abotto because of that word. He despised that word but it seemed
to bring him and Abotto closer.“Then what happened?” Inuyasha asked, eager to hear the rest of the story.Abotto sighed again before continuing. “Well we began to hear stories of the Shikon Jewel and how it gave power
to whoever possessed it and Jaylen wanted that power. I tried to change his mind but he became power-hungry.
Over time he... turned on me and attacked me... My only friend betrayed me... I was left alone. Eventually, I
wandered into the village and lived there for a couple of years.” The pain in Abotto’s voice began to fade and a
smile crept across his face. “And here I am now. With a guy who cares about me a lot. So things are looking up!”
Inuyasha smiled and gave the boy’s shoulder a gentle squeeze.“Lie back a little.” Inuyasha whispered. Abotto did as he was told and sunk down into the water until it gently
caressed the back of his neck. Once that was done, Inuyasha began rubbing water into the boy’s hair, forcing clots
of crimson to break up into the water. Inuyasha sighed at the amount of blood that Abotto had lost, blood he had
lost to protect the hanyou. Inuyasha shut his eyes to hold back the tears that were trying to force their way
through his golden orbs. Guilt streamed into him and he blamed himself for his friend’s pain; again, he failed to
protect the ones he cared for. The half-demon tried to push away the negative feelings and returned his attention
to Abotto. “Turn around.” Inuyasha whispered, slowly opening his eyes. Abotto spun around and looked up into
Inuyasha’s eyes, detecting the sorrow and remorse that remained in them.“Inuyasha?” Abotto asked wonderingly. The taller man moved closer to the pond and placed his legs into the
water. He gently pulled the boy into a standing position so he could look into his eyes. Abotto shifted nervously.
He felt vulnerable, covered only by the thin fabric of his shorts that were wet and clinging to his body and
outlining his slowly hardening manhood. Inuyasha seemed to pay no attention though. He only stared into
Abotto’s eyes and Abotto felt compelled to stare back as he was caught in the gaze of the amber eyes. He thought
that his vision were deceiving him when it seemed that Inuyasha’s face was slowly moving closer to his. Abotto’s
jaw slowly dropped out of disbelief as he soon became positive that Inuyasha was in fact getting closer to him. The
hanyou pressed his cheek to Abotto’s and gently sniffed at his neck, ignoring the scent of blood and picking up the
boy’s natural scent. Abotto was a little unsure of what Inuyasha was doing, but he sure liked it. Having his face
close to another’s filled him with intimacy that he’s never experienced before. His whole life he had been separated
from others, never close to anyone. And now he was face to face with Inuyasha, someone who he had taken care
of and who had taken care of him in return. Abotto boldly reached out a trembling arm and slowly wrapped it
around Inuyasha’s neck, pulling himself closer to the half-demon. Inuyasha smiled and pressed his lips against
Abotto’s neck but didn’t kiss it. Instead he kept his soft lips touching gently, yet firmly enough to feel the pulse in
Abotto’s neck throb against his lips. Abotto shuddered as the feeling sent chills down his spine. Inuyasha shut his
eyes as he continued to enjoy the boy’s scent and the way he could make him shiver. “Abotto...” Inuyasha whispered softly, his breath puffing against the boy’s neck. He took a deep breath, taking the
scent in more and wrinkling his nose as a foul smell entered his nostrils. He slowly looked up and gasped at what
he saw. He tapped Abotto on the shoulder, silently telling him to turn around. Abotto looked at Inuyasha first and
then turned around to find that the sky was painted black with smoke.“Is that coming from the village?” Abotto asked.“I think so.” Inuyasha said almost breathlessly as he feared the worst. “Come on, get dressed!”Once he was
dressed, Inuyasha picked up the Tetsusaiga, knelt down, and gestured for the boy to climb onto his back. Abotto
wrapped his arms around the hanyou’s neck and was lifted up quickly as Inuyasha settled into a swift run, heading
towards the village.The smell of smoke began to cloud Inuyasha’s senses. The dark haze that he was running through steadily became
a thick fog of black air as he neared the village. He stopped just outside the town as he heard coughs coming from
the boy on his back. He sat Abotto down and briefly scanned the area as best he could. The ground was covered
with the bodies of villagers who had apparently suffocated from the carbon monoxide. “Fools,” Inuyasha
mumbled.“Inu-*cough*-ya-*cough*-sha.” Abotto choked out. Inuyasha turned around and looked to where Abotto was
pointing. His eyes widened with shock as he saw that Abotto’s house was what had been burning, no doubt a fire
caused by the villagers. For some reason, the first thing Inuyasha realized was that Abotto’s daggers were still in
the house. Readying his senses, Inuyasha ran into the house to retrieve them. “Hey!” Abotto shouted hoarsely,
“where are you *cough cough* going?” The boy got up and tried to get to the house. Every step he took caused
pain to spread from the wound in his thigh to the rest of his body. He stopped outside of the house, struggling to
catch his breath from the lack of oxygen. He began to cough again, tears forming in his eyes as his vision became
blurry and he started to see black spots. He was unconscious enough to not feel an arrow pierce his lower back,
causing a warm stream of blood to soak through his kimono and down his body. Inuyasha stepped out of the
house just in time to catch Abotto as he fell into the hanyou. After spotting the arrow, the inu’s eyes darted
around, trying to find the one who shot it. When he spotted the only villager left standing, he quickly took out the
Tetsusaiga and released a powerful Wind Scar that instantly killed the man. Sheathing the Tetsusaiga and carefully
holding the Twin Daggers, Inuyasha picked up the boy and ran as far as he could away from the village.After a few minutes, a cave-like indentation in a mountain came into view. Inuyasha ran over to it, smiling as he
realized that Abotto was beginning to come to. The boy groaned from the pain coursing through his body. He
took deep breaths and hoped that his lungs appreciated being replenished with oxygen. The boys entered the
shallow crevice and Inuyasha placed Abotto down on his stomach. He knelt down beside him and stared
resentfully at the arrow. “Inuyasha.” Abotto moaned, willing the half-demon to remove the arrow.
“You’ve lost so much blood already,” Inuyasha argued, “I don’t want to endanger your life.”“It hurts.” Abotto panted. Inuyasha sighed and placed hands on either side of the arrow. Taking a deep breath,
Inuyasha gripped the arrow with one and pulled gently. The pained cries from Abotto and the blood that poured
from his back caused Inuyasha to let go of the arrow. “Please,” Abotto pleaded.“I don’t want to hurt you.” Inuyasha whispered. With a deep breath, he gripped the arrow again, this time with
both hands.“It’s gonna hurt either way,” the human cried out, “I’ll be fine.” Taking another deep breath, Inuyasha shut his
eyes tightly and pulled on the arrow as hard as he could. The hanyou’s whimpers were hardly audible over
Abotto’s screams which caused tears to flow from the inu’s eyes. With a repulsing sound, the arrow came free
from the boy’s back, followed by a sea of blood. Inuyasha cried, hearing Abotto’s pained moans and threw the
arrow aside. He quickly removed the Fire Rat Kimono and placed it under the boy’s shirt to cover the wound; he
hoped that the garment’s inner power would stem the bleeding a little. Abotto groaned as he rolled onto his back.“Oh Gods Abotto I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” Inuyasha cried, tears streaming down soft cheeks.“I’m fine.” Abotto whispered as he winced. He stared at the tears filling and leaving Inuyasha’s eyes, the drops
making Inuyasha’s beautiful golden eyes shimmer and glisten. Abotto reached out a hand and delicately wiped a
tear from Inuyasha’s face. Then he moved his hand to run fingers through ash filled hair, the dark residue from the
burning house contrasting with Inuyasha’s silver hair. “Don’t cry,” Abotto whispered. Inuyasha smiled and briefly
buried his face in Abotto’s neck, soaking the soft skin with tears.“Inuyasha, why did you go back into the house?
You had me worried.” The hanyou laughed at the thought of someone being worried about him.“I had to get your daggers out of the house,” Inuyasha replied with a smile.“Really?” Abotto said wide eyed. He looked away from Inuyasha and smiled. “Thanks, that means a lot to me. I’ve
grown quite attached to those daggers.” Abotto looked back up at the half-demon leaning over him. “They’ve
been my only companions all these years.”Inuyasha grinned mischievously, showing his fangs. “Well now you have me.” He whispered. Abotto smiled as he
fought to hold back tears of joy. The feelings of love and lust for Inuyasha steadily returned to the human. Feeling
a sudden burst of boldness, Abotto removed his hand from the hanyou’s hair and cupped his cheek. He traced a
finger down his face and neck and pulled at the top of Inuyasha’s white kimono. Abotto leaned up and peeked
inside, catching only shadowed glimpses of the hanyou’s well defined chest.“Sexy...” Abotto whispered before laying back down and smiling. Inuyasha’s eyes widened out of shock. This had
been the first time that Abotto had really shown any attraction to him and he couldn’t help but smirk. *Attraction? Am I attracted to him? But Abotto’s a... male. I guess being alone makes ya desperate.* He looked
into Abotto’s eyes. *No, this isn’t desperation. This is... what I want. Closeness, togetherness, intimacy, care.*
Inuyasha moved to Abotto’s side and lay down beside him. He grabbed the boy and pulled him close to himself, he
did so carefully as to not disturb any of his injuries. Abotto wrapped his arms around Inuyasha’s waist and rest his
head against the hanyou’s chest. “Tell me a story.” Abotto said, out of nowhere.“What?” Inuyasha laughed.“I have no good stories about my travels with anyone. I want to hear a story about you and your friends.” Abotto
said, cuddling against Inuyasha’s chest. Inuyasha sighed, trying to think of a story that would interest Abotto. “Okay I got one, it’s pretty funny.” Inuyasha
shut his eyes as he remembered the times he spent with his friends. “There was this old monk who raised my
friend Miroku. We heard that he was going to die so we went to visit him. His last request was for us to clean his
house.”“Us?” Abotto interrupted.“Us being: Miroku, Sango, Shippou, Kagome, and myself. Miroku was a monk who was only concerned with
womanizing. Sango was a demon slayer. She and Miroku had a thing for each other... I think...” Inuyasha’s
confused tone elicited a giggle from the boy in his arms. “Shippou was a young fox demon. He was so... annoying
sometimes ya know what I mean?” Abotto laughed again since he didn’t really know what Inuyasha meant. In his
isolation from others, he had never really met an annoying person. “I still cared for him though. And Kagome...”
Inuyasha paused and took a deep breath. “She was really special.” Abotto slowly opened an eye and raised an
eyebrow. “Go on.” Abotto said in a slightly threatening, almost jealous tone. No, that was jealousy. *Why am I jealous?
That’s horrible of me, he lost his friends... and I’m jealous of them!*“She was nice, smart, beautiful. After a while of admiring each other, we finally got together.” Inuyasha smiled as
the memories of Kagome flooded his mind. He appreciated that now he could think about his friends without the
pain or heartache. He figured that having Abotto around was the reason for that.Abotto opened both eyes and stared out at the darkening sky. “Really?” He asked, almost hoping that Inuyasha
was making it up. When Inuyasha gave an affirmative answer, Abotto felt like his heart fell into a million pieces. He
felt humiliated and foolish. All of a sudden he wished he hadn’t called Inuyasha sexy or wrapped his arms around
him. “How close were you two?” Abotto asked while biting his lip to try to hold back the tears threatening to
escape him. The boy cursed himself for his envy. Inuyasha was talking openly about his friends and didn’t feel
sorrow while doing so, and Abotto was only caring about his own feelings. He had never been selfish before and
now seemed like a dumb time to start.“Oh.” Inuyasha’s smile grew wider. “We were so close. We would spend nights talking and hugging and kissing.”
Abotto bit his lip harder as it became tougher to hold back his tears. “We even talked about having kids once. We
tried a couple of times but it never worked out.”Abotto’s jaw dropped at the comment. “You... and her...”Inuyasha could detect the sadness in the boy’s voice. “Yeah...” He whispered. Inuyasha needed to think of a way to
take away the sadness. He smiled as an idea came to his mind. “And I would always protect her, just-“ Inuyasha
paused to caress Abotto’s cheek, “just like I protect you.” Abotto gasped, taken aback by the statement and touch.
“I was close to Kagome but... she’s gone now,” Inuyasha sighed. “And it hurt so bad but you were the only one
who could heal that pain. Now I smile when I think about my friends. Thanks to you I’m ready to move on.”
Inuyasha smiled and felt as though a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders. He had finally been able to come
to terms with his loss and accept their deaths. He had his new friend to thank for that and vowed to never let
anything happen to Abotto.“Even though you...” Abotto paused, still not sure of what Inuyasha was trying to say.“Yeah...” Inuyasha moved so his mouth was by Abotto’s ear and whispered, “But in the end it works out for you
because I can teach you a few things.” Inuyasha grinned as the boy’s quickly began to blush. He placed a quick kiss
on the boy’s cheek and held him tightly. Abotto pressed himself against Inuyasha, wanting to be as close to the
hanyou as he could get. *Whoa... did I just flirt with Abotto?*Author’s Note: Hmm... flirting? I think it’s coming- what’s coming? The reason why this story is on AFF XD
DemonLadySesshomaru::: Sorry for the wait. I promise I tried to be prompt. Blame the AP teachers for their
overdose of homework, bleh. Wow, it’s like you predicted the violence in this chapter, I hope it wasn’t too gory for
your taste. AND, you get a cookie for being the first review for chapter 2 lol.Rucina::: Well there was a lot more comforting in this chapter- yay for that! Lol, I like you- you make me giggle
“evil lil human children.” Well the humans tried... and failed... yay! Hope you liked this chapter.