InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Into the Darkness ❯ HLA ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Let's see… I own several rubberbands, a couple pennies and a pair of shoes. Nope… no Inuyasha!

A/N: Thank you everyone for the generous reviews! They inspired me to write faster Again, this is somewhat of a dark fic (for the first several chapters…) but I promise it'll lighten up. There is a bit of blood in this chapter, but nothing you guys can't handle I'm sure. Be sure to review! If I get really good ones, I'll update real fast again!

Summary: Kagome Higurashi lives in an impoverished sector of the human-demon segregated country of Northern Japan. When she gets the chance to escape to peaceful and bountiful Southern Japan, she must seize the opportunity to help out her family. But she never counted on meeting Inuyasha Taisho.

Into the Darkness

Chapter I: HLA

[Ten years later…]

"Killed…"

"Assassinated, they say…"

"I heard he was shot clean through the head…"

"The Liberators aren't going to be happy…"

Kagome woke to the sound of her internal alarm clock. Reluctantly, she sat up from her cardboard bed and wiped the sleep from her eyes. She pulled out her immaculate school uniform that was tucked away under her pillow and quickly slipped it on. She was careful to keep it as clean as possible everyday, and washed it once every several days. If it was unclean, the teachers would beat her for it.

She made breakfast for her family. It wasn't much, just leftover bread and milk from dinner, but something was better than nothing. She took a quick bite from the stale bread and a sip from the milk before gathering her school things together. It was her life's goal to get a good education and become a doctor, however unlikely it seemed. Each year, she came out top in her classes and she could only hope that her good grades could one day take her to the fated Southern Japan, where she could study at a university.

But life was far from easy. On top of studying, she had to take care of her brother and her chores. Her mother never came home before eight o'clock. She worked as a maid in a demon household in the city. She earned only 5000 yen (roughly 50 USD) a month and that was barely enough to cover food and the school fare.

Gently, she woke her brother. "Get up, Souta, it's time for school. I'm leaving now. Lock up after me."

Groggily, the young boy obeyed. They knew from experience that locking the door was a crucial routine to be practiced, especially in the early mornings and the late nights. That was the time that the drunks usually were wandering around after a long night of drinking and gamboling. They were known to break into homes and steal whatever they could get their hands on.

The moment Kagome stepped onto the streets she knew something was wrong. Usually at least several people were out on the roads, getting to work or to school, but today, it was completely empty. She heard a faint chanting noise in the distance. It was coming from her school.

She rushed toward the sound, her bare feet slapping against the gravel and dirt. The chanting grew louder and louder until the words were finally comprehensible, when she rounded the bend to her school.

"H-L-A! H-L-A!" The students chanted furiously, their right fists pumping into the air.

An older student stood on the stage, shouting into the microphone, "For the people!" He cried.

"We will fight!" The crowd cried back.

"For the people!" He shouted again.

"We will die!" Came in return.

"And what then?!" He hollered.

"We will be free!" The crowd screamed.

"H-L-A! H-L-A! H-L-A!" The student began to chant again until the entire school was clamoring with him.

"What's going on?" Kagome asked the nearest student.

He turned to her, "Didn't ya hear? They killed him! The bloody bastards killed Houjou Kosuji!" He yelled angrily.

Kagome gasped in shock. Houjou Kosuji was the head of the HLA, the Human Liberation Association. HLA was an organization that worked toward human freedom. The assassination of Kosuji infuriated the Liberators, whom were the followers of the HLA. While Kosuji sought peaceful confrontations, his followers were bloodthirsty fiends, mostly students, whom encouraged war and hunted for revenge.

Now, it seemed even more serious.

"As followers of Kosuji, we will fight for our freedom! Join us, or suffer the consequences!" The young man said and pumped his fist in the air as burly, seventeen-year-old students herded the crowd out of the school gate, passing signs of protest to several of them.

Although unwilling, Kagome was ushered out along with everyone else.

The students around her began to shout and whistle as they marched down the road. Two enthusiastic Liberators flanked her sides and yelled loudly. They continued to march for three hours until Kagome's feet ached and her ears rang from the cries. The Liberators went door-to-door pulling out anyone who looked like a student, whether willing or not.

Students from other schools joined them as they marched. The crowd grew steadily larger until she could barely see where the parade of Liberators ended in the distance. For another hour they marched, pumping their fists, crying out words of freedom and fight, and waving their signs proudly.

Without warning, they came to an abrupt stop. She stood on tippy-toes and craned her neck to see what was happening. The sight made her eyes widen and her heartbeat speed up.

There, at the front of the protesters stood the entire Yu-Hellion squad of Goshinboku. Some of the demons were in armored trucks and the rest were standing tensely before them, guns at their sides. Kagome could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

"I'm giving you five minutes to disband," the head Yu-Hellion said in a dangerous voice.

The students continued to shout and she could see the protesters up front teasing and making rude gestures at the Yus.

The demons waited patiently for the five minutes to be up until the sergeant nodded his head at the rest of the squad. They immediately began lobbing tear gas grenades into the array. The gas instantly filtered through and Kagome began to cough violently. Her eyes watered to the point where she could barely see and she felt her lungs burning. She ran blindly to what looked like a shack and took cover, as did everyone else. She began to hear gunshots and screams and she looked back to a terrifying sight.

It was complete and utter chaos. The students were running about haphazardly. Many fell to the ground and Kagome was horrified to see blood spurting out of the gun wounds in their backs. She watched as two students ran past one of the dead boys on the ground and picked him up, before running away. The blood was drenching their clothing and dripping to the ground. The students continued to fall like swatted flies.

Kagome didn't realize she was crying. She was frozen in shock. How could those demons do this? They were all living and breathing people! It wasn't right at all. She collapsed to the ground and cried and cried and cried.

It wasn't until months later when she heard the casualties of the uprising. 700 students had been killed, over 4,000 had been wounded, and an unknown number had been detained. Most of the detainees were never seen again.

Kagome returned home at midnight the following day, taking refuge in a friend's nearby shack until they were sure the police were gone. When she arrived back, her mother instantly burst out from the shack and flung her arms around her neck, sobbing furiously.

"Kagome! Oh, Kagome, I'm so glad you're okay! I was so afraid you'd been killed!" She cried.

"It's okay, Mama. I'm fine." She consoled.

Mrs. Higurashi quickly wiped her hands across her eyes. "Come, daughter, there is someone I want you to meet."

Curiously, Kagome followed her. Her mother lead her into the kitchen where she saw a stranger wearing a hooded cloak sitting at the table. The hood concealed his entire face.

"Mama, who is this?" She asked tentatively.

"This is a friend from Southern Japan. I'd like you to meet Kouga."

The stranger pulled off his hood to reveal what looked like a twenty-year-old man with pitch-black hair tied in a high ponytail. He had piercing, bright blue eyes that were locked onto hers. Kagome's eyes bulged when she noticed the canine-like fangs in his mouth and the pointed ears at the sides of his head.

"Mama! He's a demon!" She shrieked, reflexively stepping back several feet.

"Shut up, you fool!" Her mother hissed, quickly covering her daughter's mouth with her hand. "I know that! But if you keep on yelling, you'll alert the Yu-Hellions!"

"W-what is he doing here?" She stammered, breaking free of her mother's hand.

"He's here to take you away."

A/N: Wow! I finished that chapter rather fast. What did you think? Rather intense, huh? And remember, this is a take on apartheid in South Africa not TWENTY years ago. This really did happen. I did exaggerate it a bit, though. The Yu-Hellions are really called the Peri-Urban police and they don't rob or rape (though they do look for bribes). But this uprising really did happen, for those of you who don't know. It was called the Soweto Uprising and the numbers (of deaths and wounded) are accurate. I was really inspired by what happened, so I decided to write this.

Yes, I do realize this chapter is kind of short, but I think shorter chapters suit this story better

This is pretty much a parody on real life so I'll give you the real names of what I've changed:

Yu-Hellions= Peri-Urban; Uprising in Ch. I= Soweto Uprising; sectors= townships; humans= blacks; demons= whites (for those Caucasians out there, please don't take this as an insult =P); Houjou Kosuji= Steven Biko; HLA= ANC/PAC; Northern Japan= South Africa; Southern Japan= America; the Liberators= the Comrades;… I think that's it. I'll add more when they come.