InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Dark Side of the Sun ❯ Chapter Five ( Chapter 10 )

“There we go,” Kiki smiled as the comb ran through his hair for a final time before pulling it up into a topknot similar to his father's. Inuyasha did his best to smile back but he couldn't quite muster the same warmth or friendliness as the nursemaid's. His other nursemaid, Kira, had busied herself with her hanyou daughter, but it didn't stop her from occasionally casting a disapproving frown in his direction.

 

“Thank you,” he murmured, rising to his feet. With a curt nod, he exited his room and hurried to his father's library, where his instructors were waiting for him. He had to get away from the two human females as quickly as he could, though he knew it only fueled the beliefs of his father's new servants and advisors. He knew what they said about him. Their children had made it painfully clear to him whenever he had asked to join in their play, including the hanyou children, like Shiori.

 

`They don't understand,' he thought, biting his lower lip. Tears threatened to overwhelm him and he didn't want to show any kind of a weakness. To do so, the boy felt, would be to let the tormentors know that they had struck a chord deep inside him, the one that constantly whispered to him about how his mother hated him and had wanted to see him dead. `They don't know . . . they don't need to know . . . They'd just laugh at me anyway.'

 

Inuyasha drew a deep breath then let it out. No one needed to know that his nursemaids, because they were human, frightened him, even though they had done nothing to harm him in the many months that they had been caring for him. Because of those fears, he had disguised most of his emotions as a sort of aloofness, something he had witnessed his older brother doing when strange youkai approached the elder youkai. It had become something the newcomers had interpreted as being a pampered and spoiled prince.

 

“They don't need to know,” he whispered to the empty hall, oblivious to who might be in any of the rooms along the way. “They don't need to know that Kira and Kiki remind me of Mama. No one does.”

 

He quickly rounded a corner and continued on his way, unaware of the demon who had heard him from his study.

 

* * *

 

InuTaisho sighed as he stepped out into the hallway. His youngest had just disappeared around the corner, heading to the library for his lessons and quite possibly unaware of the daiyoukai's presence. His scent was all over the palace and had become quite strong. InuTaisho constantly strolled around his home, keeping an eye on how his staff behaved. That had probably been why the child felt safe enough to whisper his fears into an empty hallway. InuTaisho had long since learned that, no matter what the situation was, Inuyasha rarely voiced a complaint or a fear, mostly due to his eagerness to please. He knew the other children rebuked Inuyasha simply because he was the youngest prince, he knew the advisors thought the boy to be pampered and spoiled . . . he just didn't know how to overcome it. And now . . . this.

 

`Perhaps I did tear Kashi away from him a little too soon. It hasn't even been a full year yet since he came here. The memories are too fresh . . . I should have listened to Sesshomaru.'

 

“My Lord? Is there something the matter?”

 

He turned around to see Kira and her daughter, Shiori, behind him. He knew they had been there but they had just missed Inuyasha's whispered confession. For that, he felt a tiny bit of gratitude. InuTaisho offered her a faint smile.

 

“Hai . . . Just worried about my son . . . as usual . . . Taking your daughter to her lessons?”

 

The woman nodded.

 

“Once she is there, Kira, I'd like for you to come and see me. There's something I need to discuss with you.” At her concerned expression, he offered her a reassuring smile. “Do not fret. It is nothing you have done . . . more like my concerns getting the better of me . . . and I feel I should have told you this when I first assigned you to assist Kiki.”

 

“I see . . . Very well, my Lord. I shall return once Shiori is at her lessons.”

 

The dark-haired woman continued on her way, her hand clasped around her daughter's. As he watched them head in the opposite direction of Inuyasha, InuTaisho noticed the difference in the way Shiori walked and carried herself and in the way Inuyasha walked and carried himself. The boy's exuberance had dimmed since he had come home with his “conquests.” InuTaisho's stomach twisted.

 

`He'll never have that much pride in himself . . . not with having the other hanyous like Shiori around and watching them be cared for by their mothers . . . not with knowing his own mother hates him.'

 

With a sickened feeling in the pit of his belly, InuTaisho entered his study to wait for Kira.

 

* * *

 

“Inuyasha . . .”

 

Ears swiveled towards the sound of the familiar voice and Inuyasha allowed himself a tiny smile. He could always hide the fact that he noticed when someone approached him from behind but, no matter what, he could never keep his ears from indicating that he knew when his brother was there. He turned around to face Sesshomaru. The older demon had a yellowed scroll in his hand, the boy noted, and a bit of a smirk on his face.

 

“Aniki?”

 

Sesshomaru crossed the floor to him, sitting next to the half-demon. Gently, he handed the scroll over to him. Inuyasha noted the parchment had been around for a very long time and indicated signs of constant use. With both hands and a mindful eye, he took the scroll from his brother.

“For me?”

 

“Hai,” Sesshomaru nodded. “For you. But it is only for you to read. When you are finished with it, I expect it back and in the same condition as it is now. Promise me you can do that?”

 

“Uh-huh,” Inuyasha breathed, feeling a bit giddy, “I promise . . . What's in it, aniki?”

 

“It is the beginning of our family history, otouto. Father gave this to me when I was a pup. Not as young as you are now but I was still just a pup and he made me promise to care for it as well. This is the only scroll that begins recording our heritage so please . . . do not let anything happen to it.”

 

“I won't,” the boy promised, his eyes wide and solemn. He felt more than just a little awe-struck and honoured that his brother was entrusting the scroll to him and allowing him to read such an important piece of parchment. He felt loved. Gingerly, Inuyasha set the document down then launched himself into his brother's arms, wrapping his own tiny limbs in a hug around the older youkai's neck.

 

“Thank you, aniki,” he whispered. “I promise I'll take good care of it. I swear I won't let you down.”

 

Arms, strong yet gentle, embraced him back.

 

“I know you won't, otouto. I know.”

 

* * *

 

Kira felt sick. Of all the things that she had imagined Lord InuTaisho telling her - how to treat his son better had been what she'd been expecting - she hadn't counted on it being a story of his youngest son's abuse in the home of his mother, or how extensive the abuse had been. It numbed her to her core.

 

“How could anyone do that to her own child?” she finally managed to whisper.

 

“I don't know,” InuTaisho shook his head. “I knew she had hated me, that she had always hated me . . . but it still shocked me to learn of it. I think it was her way of trying to get revenge on me for making her carry Inuyasha to term. I guess that I'd hoped she'd change and give up on her plans to see me overthrown. I never thought she'd treat her own child so cruelly.” He then straightened his back and turned away from her. “But the truth remains . . . Izayoi abused the boy and allowed others to do so as well . . . It took us many months to earn that child's trust because of her . . . and it was even longer before he would actually speak to us. Even then it took a threat from my father to get him to do so. He fears humans, especially human females, because of that abuse . . . just as he fears being reprimanded. That is why I allow no one to punish Inuyasha. That is why I determine if he has done something he shouldn't have. It is my duty as his father to see it done, just as it is my duty to keep him safe.”

 

“All of this I can understand,” she murmured. Inuyasha's behaviour became clear to her in that moment . . . why he would barely smile at her or Kiki or any other human for that matter . . . why he would leave his room as quickly as he could . . . the boy wasn't acting spoiled, he was trying to protect himself from what he deemed to be a potential threat to himself. And for that, she couldn't blame him.

 

“I'd hoped,” the daiyoukai continued, “that you and Kiki would be able to help him overcome those fears, especially you since you have a hanyou daughter . . . but it's proving more difficult than I had anticipated . . .”

 

“Well, Kiki and I haven't had in our care for very long, my Lord. I'm sure that, between the two of us and if we just give him a little more time, he'll learn that there are some humans that won't hurt him and that he can trust them.”

 

“Oh, I am, too . . . But the welfare of my son . . . of both of my sons . . . is very important to me, Kira. That's why I'll be sending for another nursemaid for Inuyasha.”

 

“Another one, my Lord?” Kira blinked.

 

“Hai . . . she's cared for me and my brothers over time and I'm quite sure she'll be good for Inuyasha . . . It's through her that I hope he'll be able to learn that he can trust you and Kiki.”

 

“Won't three nursemaids be one too many for him, my Lord?” Kira inquired with a frown.

 

“Normally I'd say yes but right now, you and Kiki just aren't enough . . . and I'm the one to blame for that. I took his first nursemaid away from, just as he was beginning to learn to trust females. I ripped away his sense of safe from him and didn't even realize I was doing so. I intend to give it back to him. As a mother, I'm sure you can understand why I feel this way.”

 

“Hai,” she nodded numbly, the cold realization settling in. “I can understand it completely.”

 

He offered her a small, reassuring smile.

 

“Inuyasha really is a good child, Kira,” InuTaisho murmured. “Very eager to please. You just have to get by the defenses he's built around himself.”

 

“Of course, my Lord,” she bowed. “Could you please excuse me? I need to have a moment . . .”

 

InuTaisho nodded and she quickly scurried out of the room. TsukuYouMaru wasn't going to believe this!

 

* * *

 

Inuyasha carefully skirted around the small groups of children playing in the garden, the scroll he'd received clutched tightly against his chest. He had long since ceased asking them if he could join them in their games. They had made it clear they wanted nothing to do with him, and he had slowly begun to accept it, having staked out a place in the garden to curl up in the sunlight in and learning to bring something with him to read. Somehow, it had become a mutual agreement between him and the children who lived there now. He left them alone and they left him alone. That's just how it had worked out.

 

As soon as he reached his normal reading spot, Inuyasha climbed onto the bench and carefully untied the silk cloth around the scroll. He'd been waiting all morning to read the parchment, his pride swelling from the trust his brother had placed in him. No one had ever trusted him with anything so important before and it excited Inuyasha. He intended to prove himself to his brother. No matter what.

 

Eyes wide with delight, Inuyasha unrolled his newfound reading material and delved himself into his youkai family's history.

 

* * *

 

“Are you all right?” TsukuYouMaru inquired, his brow furrowing in concern. He had just caught up with Kira and immediately noted just how pale and shaken she looked.

 

“I'm fine,” she managed to say, wearing a faint smile. “It's just the conversation Lord InuTaisho had with me this morning. It's . . . made me think about a few things and helped me to realize something.”

 

“Oh?” He wrapped his arms about him, drawing her close. “And what's that?”

 

She had just opened her mouth to reply when a shrill “GIVE THAT BACK!” filled the air. It sounded much like Lord InuTaisho's youngest, and, upon hearing the child's tone, TsukuYouMaru stiffened. A lord's son should never shout like that, as far as he was concerned and he intended to find out what was going on so he could report it to the daiyoukai.

 

Growling slightly, he released Kira and ran for the gardens, where he knew the children played before the noon meal. Several others also made their way to the gardens and all of them wore expressions of concern, causing TsukuYouMaru's ire to rise. Sure, most of them had been there before he had, but he also knew what Inuyasha's shout meant. A child would end up getting in trouble because of the inu hanyou. He just knew it.

 

As he neared the gardens, he heard the soft sound of a child crying and saw the children gathered around two of the larger hanyou males. They towered over another form but, because of the group standing close to the three, TsukuYouMaru couldn't see who it was. He half-expected to see Inuyasha standing there, his face contorted with anger and indignation. However, Inuyasha was nowhere in sight.

 

“What's going on?” he demanded. The children glanced at him and the other approaching adults before parting to create a pathway to those in the middle. On the ground and at the feet of the two larger boys lay Inuyasha and several pieces of torn parchment. The younger child had curled up into a tight ball around himself, tears falling to the ground, his expression pained with some hints of shame. Whatever had happened, Inuyasha had quite obviously been on the receiving end of someone's fist. Something that would anger Lord InuTaisho greatly, and it wouldn't matter why one of the boys had hit him. The daiyoukai was overprotective that way.

 

TsukuYouMaru had just knelt next to the inu hanyou to check on him when a shadow suddenly loomed over him. He watched as Inuyasha's eyes traveled upward and he reached out with a trembling arm.

 

“Father,” came the whisper. TsukuYouMaru barely had enough time to move out of the daiyoukai's way as InuTaisho bent down to retrieve his son. Before a single word could be spoken, InuTaisho had scooped the boy up and disappeared into the palace.

 

* * *

 

His stomach hurt. It hurt bad. The older boy had only hit him once while the other had grabbed scroll his brother had given him before proceeding to tear it up but that single punch had brought back the memories of other punches he had received. The punches, hits with hard objects, and the kicks his grandfather's servants had rained upon . . . all had been terrible and all had been enough to make him sick . . . like he felt now. He curled up even tighter, cringing as the pain worsened. A whimper escaped him.

 

“I don't feel so good,” he sobbed weakly. He hated how his voice sounded but he couldn't help it. That was how he felt.

 

“Shhh, it's all right,” his father's voice rumbled soothingly. “We're on our way to see Shinsei. He can give you something to make you feel better. You're going to be okay. I promise.”

 

“No,” Inuyasha murmured. “I'm not going to be okay . . . I'm never going to be okay, Father . . . What'd I do? I don't understand . . . Why does everyone hate me, Father? Why? What'd I ever do to them?”

 

“Not everyone hates you, Inuyasha,” came the gentle scolding. “You're being a silly pup for even just thinking it. They just don't know the way that I know you or the way Yashira, your brother, and Kashi know you. They just want to see what it is they want to see. They haven't seen the things you've gone through or have heard about it . . . and they don't want to ask.”

 

“I don't want them to know, Father. I don't want them to.”

 

“Hush, child. I know you don't. And I don't want them to, either, but, somewhere, deep inside them, they suspect . . . and it frightens them . . . They want to believe that no one could ever be that cruel to anyone, especially a child. And they don't have to. You know why?”

 

Inuyasha shook his head, tears still streaking down his cheeks.

 

“Because one day they're going to see the precious little boy that I hold in my arms. They're going to see the beautiful child that you are and know that they were wrong. You have to believe that, my son. Have a little faith in yourself. One day, you'll see it, too. I swear it.”