InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Silent Affair ❯ Chapter 1

So I've been working on this one a long while but didn't have the courage to post it. I hope you guys like it. It's actually almost done so the first few chapters will be up pretty quickly. Enjoy and please review! Thanks guys!

 

 

Unexpectedly she didn't feel much pain. Was she in shock? The young girl lay in a puddle of her own blood, feeling her life slipping away from her with each beat of her heart. Is this what it feels like to die? Kagome supposed it probably was. It was decidedly less scary than she had thought it would be. In an offhand sort of way she realized she should have listened to her mother, stayed hidden like she'd told her to. But Kagome knew she needed to help. Her mother's scream had torn her from her spot in the attic with her brother and brought her to the courtyard of the shrine where a tall dark-haired man stood over the prone and bleeding members of her family. At ten years old Kagome was old enough to know a dangerous situation when she saw one but too young to stay away from it when it was obvious her mother was hurting. She ran toward her mother, tears in her brown eyes, only to be caught by the man. “What a pretty little girl,” he crooned in a sickeningly sweet voice. She tried to scream but couldn't get the sound through her throat where he held her. Kagome's eyes widened in fear as she watched her mother try to reach for her. “Such a lovely throat,” he murmured, more to himself than anything, while caressing the pale skin there. The raven-haired girl only saw a small flash of something that looked sharp before he dropped her and she felt her blood flowing down her neck and chest.

 

Now her vision was fading as she lay in the courtyard, tears slipping into her hair. She didn't feel the pair of arms that lifted her nor did she hear the low growl that vibrated through the chest of the being that had taken hold of her. All Kagome knew was that she was now warm when she had felt so cold and numb before. Finally realizing that someone was moving her, she tried to speak but was hushed before she even began. “Hush Little One. You are safe.” The deep voice soothed her as she slipped into darkness unafraid. She felt protected so she could let herself go.

 

Growling to himself, the silver-haired figure kept the small girl close to his chest. She was fading fast and he had to do something quickly or she would be gone forever. He wouldn't allow that. Smelling the blood of her family already made him sick, smelling hers as well only made it worse. Tilting his head he could hear the soft crying of another child. The brother. Making his way into the house after applying pressure bandages made of his shirt to the girl's wound he found the little boy quivering in the attic. He had to work to gain the boy's trust but he finally convinced him to follow. The two males made their way back to his car and he settled the young beauty into the back seat. Sota, the younger brother, sat timidly in the front seat while constantly casting glances back at his older sister. “Ka-Kagome?” he whimpered.

 

“Worry not. Your sister will be fine.” The little boy turned wide brown eyes to him and he tried to give the child a reassuring smile. He cursed his inability to save their mother and grandfather but it was the children he had sworn to protect no matter what and he was lucky he'd been able to do even that. Or at least try. Kagome's life force was growing fainter and he had to hurry or she wouldn't make it to his home let alone through the night.

 

“Thank you,” came the little boy's sincere voice. The tall, silver-headed male glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, nodding. The boy seemed to understand and relaxed back against the car seat until his emotional exhaustion won out and forced him into sleep. Once he arrived home with his cargo he left Sota to be brought in by his son while he brought Kagome in himself. She was even more fragile than he'd thought and the house became alive with the hustle and bustle of mending the young girl, attending to her younger brother and trying to find someplace to put the both of them.

 

 

“Why have you brought her here Chichi-ue?” a deep though still young voice asked. His disgust was obvious, even to the cloudy mind of the ten-year-old girl. She tried to open her eyes but found that her eyelids were too heavy to lift. A soft grunt from someone older distracted her from trying to listen to the young man's voice and even from keeping up the fight with her eyelids.

 

“Her family was murdered. She and her brother were the only ones I could save,” replied the same kind and comforting voice she remembered from before. She could feel as well as hear the sorrow in his voice as he spoke. Whose family? Are they talking about me? Kagome certainly hoped not. She knew that she was weak for a reason and that her heart hurt for something connected to that reason but she couldn't for the life of her remember what had happened. “I made a promise to her father years ago that I would watch out for his family but it seems I've failed them…”

 

The shifting of fabric alerted her that someone had moved closer. “She's pretty, I guess,” admitted a much younger male voice, one that belonged to neither the kind man nor the disgusted youth. She let his voice wrap around her like she had the nice man's. He thought she was pretty. Given this information Kagome desperately wanted to open her eyes to see who thought such nice things about her but still found herself unable to move. She fought to gain control of her voice, her eyes, anything to alert the people in the room to the fact that she was awake.

 

A deep chuckle came from the man and Kagome felt like she wanted to smile as well, forgetting once again her efforts to move. Her mind had never been this flighty before, even for a ten year old. “I'm glad you think so Inuyasha. I place her in your care.” He paused a moment to let the information sink into the boy's brain. “She is yours to protect my boy and I'm counting on you to keep an eye on her.”

 

“Keh,” the boy snorted. Kagome's eyes fluttered open briefly. After struggling so long to get them open it was a small victory. She was able to catch a glimpse of silver hair, golden eyes and silver puppy ears. “Hey Dad! Her eyes opened,” the boy cried. Kagome lost consciousness again, not hearing the response to the boy's observation. Darkness had beckoned her once again and she hadn't had the strength to resist its call. The image of the boy with silver hair and small ears on top of his head followed her into oblivion, not leaving her alone in the darkness anymore.

 

Several days passed before she woke again to find the same pair of golden eyes that had been haunting her shapeless dreams watching her with avid interest. “You're awake.” Blinking until her eyes cleared, Kagome stared at the silver-haired boy in confusion. After a few moments of staring at him she felt a trickle of pain in her throat and remembered why she wasn't waking up in her own bed with her mother's face over her. Trying to sit up she was pressed back down into the soft mattress. “Don't worry. My dad saved you and your brother. You're safe here,” he assured her with obvious confidence. Kagome tried to voice her thanks but nothing came out. “Here, let me get you some water.” With a blush on her cheeks the young girl let him help her drink from the cup. The cool water did help her throat feel better but still nothing happened when she tried to speak. Seeing that she was beginning to panic, the golden eyes of the boy widened and he told her to calm down, that he was going to get his father. This did little to reassure her and she felt tears trickle down the sides of her face as she waited for the boy and his father to come back.

 

Once they had returned she felt a good deal better but found herself still panicking that she couldn't seem to speak. “Now, now. No need to cry Little One. We'll see what's wrong as quick as we can, ne?” the man who she recognized as the one who'd saved her told her with a smile. Kagome settled down some at his gentle tone, his deep voice lulling her slightly. The boy who she'd awoken to stood impatiently behind his father, worry in his deep amber eyes. Kagome caught his gaze as his father proceeded to examine her. Soft growling noises shot between the two and the young girl quickly realized that the two were communicating. Inuyoukai. She hadn't even thought about it before. The markings on the man's face, his coloring and his stature reminded her of a man she'd seen once before on the shrine grounds, talking to her father when she was very little. Could this be the Taiyoukai her grandfather had spoken of once or twice? Then that would mean that the boy behind him was the prince and the other, older boy had been the crown prince of youkai! Kagome's eyes widened and her throat worked painfully as she tried to ask her questions. A slightly sad look crossed both the Taiyoukai and his son's faces. “Hush Little One,” he murmured soothingly, “You'll have to wait. Your throat is still… raw.” Even if she didn't have the senses of a youkai Kagome could see the lie in his eyes. Groping around she tried to indicate that she wanted a piece of paper and something to write with.

 

Catching on to her motions before his father, the boy went to the desk under the window and grabbed a pad of paper and a pencil. Kagome took it gratefully, catching the boy's eyes once more. He blushed slightly and uttered a “keh” at the gratitude in her gaze. The pair of silver-haired males waited patiently for the girl to write what she had to say. Once finished, she handed it to the tall man and waited with tears in her eyes for the answers she was so obviously dreading.

 

Looking over the shakily written note the elder youkai clucked his tongue slightly. “I am Inutaisho Toga, and this is my youngest son Inuyasha. I'm afraid… I'm afraid your mother and grandfather are dead Little One. Your brother Sota is quite safe.” He glanced back down at the sheet of paper and sighed. “No, I don't think you can speak. When that… that creature,” he spat, “harmed you, he hurt your voice. I don't know that it will be able to be repaired,” he told her gently. With a large clawed hand he wiped the raven-haired girl's bangs from her brow. Tears ran freely down her cheeks and into her dark hair. Inuyasha turned away, unable to face the girl's pain. It stung his nose and made him want to hurt someone for causing her to cry. After a moment of listening to her sniffles, and noticing the absence of sound from the sobs he knew she was crying, he had to leave. Without gaining permission from his father or glancing in the girl's direction he made his way out of the room. If there was one thing he knew might comfort her, it was seeing her brother alive and well. He went in search of the brat and found him in the room he had been given several days before.

 

He haltingly explained the problem to the boy and the seven year old seemed to understand it much better than he would have imagined. “Kagome can't talk?” he asked in small voice. Inuyasha nodded curtly. “Never again?” Inuyasha flinched at the pain in the young boy's voice but affirmed his fears. “I want to see my nee-chan,” he whispered. Inuyasha wasted no time in taking the boy to her room. His father still sat by her bedside, trying his best to comfort the distraught girl. Nothing he did seemed to be working and it was obvious to his son that the older youkai was as distressed by this fact as he himself had been. “Kagome,” Sota whimpered as he ran over to the bed and nearly leaped on top of her. The young girl caught her sibling in her arms and the two cried together. Toga took a slightly surprised step back and watched the two in shock and sympathetic sorrow. His sons were nowhere near this affectionate, and certainly wouldn't go to one another for comfort. He distanced himself from the Higurashi children and watched as his youngest took a seat by the door, blatantly guarding the two as they slowly calmed down and drifted off to sleep in one another's arms.

 

“I got it Dad.” Toga watched his twelve-year-old son in silence for a few moments before glancing back at the two human children on the bed.

 

“I know you do Inuyasha.”