InuYasha Fan Fiction / Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Grenade ❯ Bad Romance ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Reading Guide:
'Words written like this are Inuyasha's youkai talking.'
'Words written like this are Inuyasha replying to his youkai.'

'Words written like this are Ichigo's Hollow speaking,'
'Words written like this are Ichigo replying to his Hollow.'

Chapter One
Bad Romance

Inuyasha stared down at the warm bundle in his arms. The tiny fingers, the rose petal mouth, the pitch black mop of hair, and the beautiful eyes closed in sleep. This was the result of ten hours at Kagome's bed side. This tiny little human. Human.

'This is not our pup,' The voice that whispered to Inuyasha was deep and resonating, somewhere between a growl and a rasp. The voice of his Youkai, the one that had been getting steadily stronger ever since the first time his father's rich blood had taken over his body and soul. His human side never spoke to him like his demon did, and it had been maddening in the beginning when the whispers had barely been audible, just on the edge of his consciousness.

'I know,' Inuyasha replied internally. Feeling like he had just been run through with one of Naraku's tentacles, despite knowing the bastard had been dead for years. This was supposed to be his pup, his, but it was obvious the child in his arms didn't have a drop of Inuyasha's blood in him.

Ever since they had finally defeated Naraku and completed the Shikon No Tama, Kagome and him had been living together. They had used the power of the jewel to fix the damage the final battle had caused, meaning Inuyasha had forfeited his claim on it, not becoming the full demon he had always wanted to be. The battle had taught him that his own strength was enough. Now, three years later Inuyasha had agreed to live in Kagome's time, giving the girl the chance to finish school and have the life she had wished for before the jewel had come into her life. It meant he constantly had to hide who and what he was, finding work that could be done without formal education, and that allowed him to not wear a uniform so he could hide his distinguishing features. It had been a strain on him, but he had done it anyway to make Kagome happy.

Now this. He had seen it for awhile before the pregnancy. The oddities in Kagome's behavior. When she would stay late studying at the library, only to come home smelling freshly washed, like she had just stepped out of the shower before walking home. Or the times she would leave the house without wearing a hint of perfume, but when she came home she would be covered in the strongly scented spray, making Inuyasha sneeze and back off from greeting her as he usually did. Then she had happily informed him he would be a father, and things went back to the way they used to be for awhile, though she was moody and demanding during her pregnancy Inuyasha took it in stride thankful for the family she was providing him with.

This child was not his.

Kagome had cheated on him, and was trying to pass the other man's offspring onto him.

A small unhappy sound reached through Inuyasha's distraction, his arms had unconsciously tightened around the baby, causing the boy to whimper in discomfort. He looked down at the disgruntled baby, and slowly loosened his hold so the child was once again resting comfortably. This wasn't the child's fault, and shouldn't be punished for his parent's sins. Carefully setting the baby down in the bassinet at the end of Kagome's bed, he walked up to watch her sleeping face like he loved to do, lent down and pressed a light kiss to her temple, and walked out of the hospital room not looking back.

He had given up far too many of his own plans to forgive her for this one. She could cry and claim she had been too scared to tell him, or that she hadn't meant to, or that it hadn't been serious with the other person. None of that would change the feeling like he had a knife in his gut and she was the one on the other side of it. Maybe if it had been a one time thing, a momentary weakness, that she had confessed to immediately he might have been able to forgive her.

'Where do I go from here?' Inuyasha didn't trust his own judgment right now, he needed guidance, from the only source that had never lied to him.

'Do you still wish to be a full demon?” His Youkai asked him, distracting his depressed host, if Inuyasha did something stupid and got himself injured or killed that would harm his demon in turn, this was done purely for self-preservation.

'Is that even a possibility anymore? The jewel is gone, and without Tetsusaiga I could go mad, is that what you want?' Inuyasha figured he could get away with being ab it grumpy with his demon with everything that had just happened to him.

 'Tetsusaiga isn't gone, you may have put it to the side, but you can't lie and say you have forgotten where it is at. You will need it with what I am planning. There is no way for your body to change, but there is a way to strengthen your soul enough you can invoke me and not loose your sanity. The catch is going to be finding the right person and having the courage to let them do what needs to be done.' Youkai definitely sounded annoyed, but informed him of the possibility anyway.

Inuyasha was wary now, his demon was an extension of himself and like him didn't usually avoid saying anything no matter how blunt or harsh it may be, and he had definitely skirted around many details in that brief explanation. 'What exactly needs to be done? Why is there a specific person I need for it to work?'

'You do not need a specific person, just a special type of person, there is more than one but they aren't abundant either. What you need is a Vizard, and from them you will need to be stabbed by their sword. A Vizard was once a human with a large amount of spiritual pressure, when this human died their spiritual pressure did not allow them to pass directly on to the afterlife in the soul society, instead they were reborn as a Shinigami, or Soul Reaper. A spiritual being possessing the power to cleanse Hollow souls and provide safe passage to the Soul Society for those that get stuck in the living world as spirits. Some of the stronger Soul Reapers possess an inner Hollow, one of the incomplete souls that are dangerous and destructive, not completely dissimilar to Youkai. When the Soul Reaper fights and defeats the Hollow inside they become stronger having access to the power of the Hollow, and once they have control over their Hollow mask the Soul Reaper has now become a Vizard.'

'Hold on a second, how do you know all this when I do not? You are a part of me aren't you?'

'All souls are required to go through re-birthing cycles, Youkai do just the same as others even if we do have a much longer life span than most mortal beings. The difference for Youkai is that when we are reborn we do not forget what we learned in our previous lives. I have seen this Soul Society for myself, and I know of what I speak because I saw the results of the Soul Reapers evolution first hand. You have spiritual power from your human side that is locked away, that would normally not awaken until you die, but the one thing that could awaken this power and strengthen you enough to allow me control without repercussions is being stabbed by the Zanpakuto of a Vizard. The power of a Soul Reaper and a Hollow is condensed and amplified by the sword, your spiritual pressure will react to this concentrated essence and awaken to protect you. This will make your human side just as strong as your Youkai. You will still be a Hanyou, but you would have control. Is that what you want?'

'It is a better plan than sitting around here moping, alright, I will try and go through with this. Do you have any idea how to find these Vizards?'

'I do have a way, but first you will need your sword. Where ever the Soul Reapers and Vizards are at, there is bound to be trouble. Until you complete the change you are still at risk if you get into fatal trouble in our travels.'

'Keh, alright. I wasn't going to leave Tetsusaiga anyway. That sword will never be far away from me.'

Inuyasha finally had a plan, and with that in mind he walked back to the house he had shared with Kagome. Just smelling the woman that had betrayed him was painful but he needed a few things from here. In the back of the closet was a large trunk that contained the things Inuyasha had brought with him from his own time, but had packed away for the sake of blending in. He ran his hands lovingly over his fire rat clothing that he had missed so dearly, and wrapped up in the folds of crimson cloth was a familiar sheath.

Had he been in his own time, with threats everywhere and a pack to protect Inuyasha would never have taken the sword off. There was too much danger of him getting in a life or death fight and having his demon blood come to the surface driving him closer to insanity every time. His Youkai watched over him out of selfish self-preservation, he would rather have an insane host than a dead one. Here in Kagome's modern world, the threat of attack was lower than the threat of discovery. So the sword had been packed away with his clothes. Ready if he needed it, but not in his immediate possession.

On impulse he drew out the clothes and changed into them, feeling his spirits rise at the comfortable familiarity, and when he added the sword strapped securely to his waist he almost felt like his old self again. With a grimace of annoyance he reached up to his hair, where a strip of white cloth had the duel purpose of keeping his bushy white hair out of his face and compressing his most telling feature against his head to be unnoticed. Undoing the strip of cloth his two soft dog ears sprang free from their confinement and for the first time in years Inuyasha felt like himself.

Turning back to the chest he lifted out the very last item in the bottom of it. A necklace with alternating beads and teeth, the necklace of subjugation. The tool in which Kagome had complete control over his actions, one wrong move, one misplaced comment and he would be rocketed into the earth at a frighting velocity. She had removed the beads from his neck the moment they had stepped through the well to start their life here. These beads held so many memories Inuyasha couldn't just leave them. Slipping the necklace into his pocket he moved on to the rest of his preparation.

Moving to the bedroom he packed a few of his modern clothes just in case, as well as another strip of cloth for a headband, before picking up the wallet that had caused so much hassle when he needed to acquire the needed identification for living in this era. Neither Kagome or him had the heart to ask the teenage Souta exactly how he knew where to get such things, but it still gave Inuyasha a chuckle to remember the awkward conversation that had lead up to his getting the fake identification. He knew he had enough cash on him to cover a few days food, plus the money in the joint bank account. He would have felt bad about taking it when Kagome was going to need money to care for the baby, but it had been Inuyasha's hard work that earned that money, and since the child was not his he saw no reason to support the baby when the boy's real father should do so. He would only use his share of the money, anything Kagome had earned he wouldn't touch, he had that much honor left anyway.

 'Ready to go?' If Inuyasha didn't know better he could almost think his Youkai was excited about this.

 'Lead the way.' Inuyasha agreed.
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