InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Son of Man ❯ Son Of Man ( One-Shot )

Son of Man

 

The woman cradled her child in her arms. The baby had tufts of soft silver hair, bright gold eyes, and little dog ears poking out of his hair. She smiled at her son.

 

"You are my son, Inuyasha." She said softly to the newborn child. "And you are a hanyou. Your life will not be easy. But I believe in you, and I know that someday you will be a man. You will be strong and wise, and you will make it, no matter what. You are the son of demon, but you are also the son of man. And you are my son. And never forget, I will always love you."

 

The infant gurgled and squirmed in his mothers arms.

 

"Someday, my son."

 

- Oh, the power to be strong
And the wisdom to be wise
All these things will
come to you in time -

 

Inuyasha chased after the ball, wondering why the man had thrown it away. He heard the men talking as they walked away. They were talking about him, laughing at him. They were always laughing at him. Why? What made them laugh at him and not at others?

 

He knew he was different. From the moment he could walk, and had first wandered from his mother's sight, he had learned. The other children didn't like him. They wouldn't play with him. They made fun of him, teased him for his long silver hair, his strange ears.

 

Their parents wouldn't let them near him. He had no one but his mother.

 

The young hanyou boy caught the ball and looked back at the dispersing humans. His sensitive ears picked up one word from among the murmur of voices.

 

"Half-breed?"

 

Catching his mother's scent, he dropped the ball and ran to her where she sat by the pond. Hugging her waist, he looked into her eyes.

 

"Mother," he asked, "what's a... half-breed?"

 

She cried. She cried for him.

 

- On this journey that you're making
There'll be answers that you'll seek
And it's you who'll climb the mountain
It's you who'll reach the peak -

 

Inuyasha stared into the cloud-filled sky. He was a hanyou. He was a half-breed. Humans thought he was a monster. People didn't like him because he different, because he had demon blood. And he had learned soon enough from his own brother that demons did not like him either. He had human blood; to them he was the scum of the world.

 

He hung his head in shame. Why was he cursed with this strange half-life? Half-demon, half-human. Why was he the one who was different? Why him? He was only six years old, and yet he already knew of the cruelties of life, the tragedies of prejudice.

 

Clenching his fists, the little hanyou glared at the clouds. Someday, someday he would be great. Someday he would be the strongest demon ever. Someday, he would show them all.

 

- Son of Man, look to the sky
Lift your spirit, set it free
Some day you'll walk tall with pride
Son of Man, a man in time you'll be -

 

Inuyasha sat in the tree, watching the young villagers play. There were seven of them, all young human boys about eleven or twelve. They were Inuyasha's age. The hanyou gazed at them with longing. How he wished he could join them. How he wished that he could join their group and goof around and play games and have fun.

 

But no.

 

He couldn't. They would never welcome him among them. They would be afraid. They would be angry. They would hate him at first sight. He had no place among them. He was alone. He had no one.

 

Why did humans hate him so? He was half human. He wasn't that different from them, not even in appearance. Inuyasha had seen other demons, he knew how most looked like animals or monsters that didn't resemble humans in the slightest. He looked almost human, except for his hair, ears, eyes, and claws. But humans still hated him; they couldn't see past the differences that set them apart.

 

Sighing, the young hanyou crept away, leaving the boys to their games. He wished desperately that his mother was still alive. He was so lonely. And so confused. His own life he couldn't understand. How he wished for a friend, for someone to talk to, someone to trust. Someone to teach him. How he dreamed of someone to guide him to happiness, for he had strayed far from that path in his life.

 

- Though there's no one there to guide you
No one to take your hand
But with faith and understanding
You will journey from boy to man -

 

Inuyasha stared into the dark, moonless sky. He was human. This was the one night he was just like everyone else. But it didn't matter. He would do nothing this night but hide. He couldn't join the humans.

 

He wouldn't.

 

He had spent the past seven years of his life all by himself. He could barely remember the last person he had had an actual conversation with. Screaming insults, or having them screamed at him, did not count. He had been alone for so long, he wasn't comfortable among people. He didn't know how to act, what to say. All he knew was how to fight, how to survive. And on this night he could do neither. So he did nothing.

 

He sighed and looked down at his hands. His life was one misery after another. He growled to himself in anger. Why did his mother have to be human? The familiar flood of shame settled in the pit of his stomach. Why couldn't he have been born a full demon, like Sesshomaru? Why couldn't he have been born into some kind of group? Why couldn't he have some place in life? Some place in the world?

 

The young man stared at the sky in defiance. He did have a place, he was just the only one in it. And someday, someday he would find a way to be all demon, and then he would fit in. Someday he would have a place where he wasn't alone. And someday he would be happy.

 

- Son of Man, look to the sky
Lift your spirit, set it free
Some day you'll walk tall with pride
Son of Man, a man in time you'll be -

 

Inuyasha watched Kagome sleep. It hadn't been all that long ago that he had always slept by himself. He still wasn't used to having someone so near him. For the first weeks after he had begun traveling with her, he had started awake three or four times a night, ready to kill whatever it was that was attacking him. But it had only been Kagome rolling over or making little noises in her sleep. So he had adjusted. He was just glad she was with him.

 

It still amazed him that she would want to be with him at all.

 

Kagome had taught him so much. And not just about humans, but about himself too. Her selfless nature, her giving soul, had bewildered him from the moment he'd met her. He had learned in his harsh life to do whatever it took to survive, to look out for no one but himself. He had learned never to trust, never to give in, to always be wary, to always be strong. But Kagome trusted without a second thought, risked her life without hesitation, and gave without thought of the loss to herself. She was teaching him to trust, to love, to learn. She was melting the ice that had frozen his heart. Kagome was showing him the wonders of life that he had never known, the beauty of love, the peace of happiness. She was his friend, his guide, his saviour.

She was everything to him.

 

And now, he had learned from her how to trust, but taught her not to be as trusting. He had learned to give in, but taught her to be strong. He had learned to relax, but taught her to be careful. He had learned from her kindness, compassion, and love. She had learned from him strength, determination, and endurance. He had learned to give, to care, to protect. And all these things he would do for her for as long as he lived.

 

He was hers, and he would stay by her side for the rest of his life.

 

- In learning you will teach
And in teaching you will learn
You'll find your place beside the
ones you love -

 

Inuyasha held the Tetsusaiga in his hands. He gripped the sheath hard, his knuckles turning white. His father's sword. His demon father's own fang. And now it was his. Inuyasha clutched the sword his father had left for him. This sword, it gave him the power to defend himself, to defeat his enemies, to protect the ones he loved. This sword had saved his life more times than he could count. And it had saved Kagome's life. He would rather lose a limb than give up his sword. This sword was his strength. He had found the power he had sought.

 

But was that enough?

 

He was still a hanyou, still a half-breed. He was still unwelcome among both demons and humans, though he had found friends that cared for him and for him to care about. But that part of him that yearned for acceptance still ached with emptiness. And now Inuyasha had found a way to fulfill his life-long desire. All he had to do was collect all the shards of the shikon jewel and he could become a full-fledged demon. Though at one point Inuyasha had considered using the power of the jewel to become human, he no longer wanted that. That wish had brought him nothing but pain and misery. The life of a human was not the life for him. He wanted the life of a demon.

 

Soon, soon he would have the jewel. Soon he would be a full demon and he would have power to rival even Sesshomaru. Soon he would have his place in the world. And that was what he had always wanted, for as long as he could remember.

 

But was that what he wanted now?

 

- Oh, and all the things you dreamed of
The visions that you saw
Well, the time is drawing near now
It's yours to claim in all -

 

Inuyasha looked up into the deep blue sky. A demon. It was what he had always wanted. But Miroku had said that as a demon, he would not be the same person. How would he feel about Kagome if he was demon? Would he still care for her? Or would he hate all life and do nothing but kill, like when he transformed? That was not what he wanted. So, what did he want then?

 

All his life, he had never fit in. He had never had a place. He had been alone, and the way he was now, a hanyou, he would remain alone, even when he was with his friends. There would always be that barrier between them, that line separating man and monster, human and demon. He would never truly fit in among them as a hanyou. So what was he to do?

He wanted so much from life, but there was so much he had never achieved. There was so much that he had never even dreamed of, that he now had. But there was so much he didn't have. He was thankful for what he did have, more than anyone who had not lived his difficult life could ever understand, but still, he wanted more. He wanted to be a part of something. He did not want to forever stand on the sidelines. He wanted his place in the world. Is that not what everyone wants?

 

Inuyasha clenched his fists, staring deep into the sky. Someday, someday he would find his place. Someday, he would find his happiness. Someday.

 

- Son of Man, look to the sky
Lift your spirit, set it free
Some day you'll walk tall with pride
Son of Man, a man in time you'll be -

 

All his life he had wanted to be a demon. For a short time, he had wanted to be human. He had always wanted to live among others, to be among demons, to be among humans. He had been alone for so long, aching for the company of another living being, but no living being had welcomed him. He had always wanted to be someone else, to be a demon, to be a human. All his life he had fought against who he was.

 

As Inuyasha looked down the road into the distance, he smiled. Today was his eighteen birthday. Today he was irrefutably a man. And today, today he had found his way.

 

It was on this day that Inuyasha realized the thing that had escaped him his entire life.

 

From the first moment he could remember, he had been persecuted for who he was. And because of that, he had never wanted to be who he was; he had always wanted to be someone else. He had never been able to accept himself, what he was, who he was. And so he had spent his life trying to be something else, to be someone else. He had fought to become what he was not, what he could never be.

 

But on this day, on this day he realized the truth. What he wanted was to be himself. That was what he needed. That was his path in life, his road to happiness. All his life he had struggled to be another person, when all he needed was to be himself. But now, now he knew. Now, he would be nothing but himself, he would not try to be what he was not.

 

Now he would be happy with himself as he was, and so be happy with his life.

 

Today, today he would forever be everything that he had been born to be. He would be the son of demon, the son of man. Today, he was a man, he was a hanyou, he was himself. And today, for the first time, he was truly happy.

 

- Son of Man,
Son of Man's a man for all to see -

 

 

 

 

Song: Son of Man
Album: Tarzan (Soundtrack)
Music/Lyrics/Vocals: Phil Collins

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters associated with the anime/manga.