Fields of Innocence

This will be a series of short stories about the time before the Shikon no Tama was broken and Kagome even stepped foot in Feudal Japan. Each character had hardships before Naraku began manipulating them all for his own ends. Some of these may be sweet, while others will break your heart, but they will allow you to see inside Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku in ways you were never able to before. Thier souls and fighting spirits will shine more brightly, creating the determined yet gentle exterior they all possess many years to come.

Inuyasha - A Silent Goodbye

They came while we slept. I couldn't count how many there were, but they were all evil youkai. I could smell it, even with my meagar senses. It was night, and they hid in the shadows killing without being seen, as if thier mighty power would disappear if the moonlight fell upon thier horrid, disfigured bodies. They used techniques similar to what I had seen Sesshoumaru and father use when I followed them on thier hunting trips.
I see all this through the window of our hut, fear not yet registering me to run or hide. My mother comes into my room and gathers me in her warm arms. Her face is already streaked with blood and tears, but whose I could not say. Father and Sesshoumaru were nowhere to be seen. When my mother ran out of the house, she held me as close as she dared. People ran back and forth. Humans killed youkai, but more youkai killed them.
On the ground were the faces of the dead, many I recognized as the local group of children that would tease me for being what I am. A hanyou, a half breed. I never understood what made me different from them except my looks, but they seemed to banish me from thier games like an unwanted fly or pest. I held no emotion as my golden eyes befell thier crunched corpses lying on the ground.
I saw my father and older brother run up as my mother ran to meet them. I could barely hear thier voices over the shouting and chaos that surrounded me. My brother lashes out with his claws at a passing youkai, cutting him short from the knees down. As he hits the floor, Sesshoumaru rams his head into the dirt, splattering his face with the blackened blood of the dead demon.
My father points off to the side and my mother nods. They look at each other one last time, before she runs in that direction. I never had the chance to say anything to my father, for he and Sesshoumaru ran off in the opposite direction, hunting down more youkai that had dared attack his village.
My mother ran to the shed and quickly placed me in the corner behind a large crate. "Stay here, Inuyasha. Don't come out and show yourself. No matter what. Promise me."
I nod, still not bothering to cry. We had been attacked before, but this time my mother seemd more upset. She always cried when the other kids picked on me, and as much as I tried to cheer her up, it never worked. So I crouched down and watched intently as she dashes back outside, no doubt hoping to give some aide to the dying villagers. They were her people after all. I could care less. My family was strong. We would never fall to some lowly demons that were so cowardly as to attack us during the night.
The shed I was in was a storage area that we kept herbs and rice in, to stock up for the winter. It was already fall, and the snows would soon come. I smelled the herbs I had picked earlier that day with mother besides me, thier odor undeniable. It caused my eyes to burn, so I closed them and instead relied on my sense of hearing. The sounds of battle easily reached my ears. The war cries and fatal screams were all blended together. Each voice held a memory, for I could identify each person it belonged to and with each death cry a new, horrible memory seem to take its place.
I don't know how many of them we were able to kill, father, Sesshoumaru and the rest, but when the sounds of battle ceased, all I heard was my breath and the beating of my heart in my ears. How long had I been hiding here? I wait just a few more minutes before getting up and peeking my head quietly out of the crack in the doors. Bodies lay upon bodies, even all the way over here. Thier blood mixed with the dirt creating a hellish sludge on the ground. Some of the humans were in one piece, but many had parts missing. Where had they fallen to?
I began smelling smoke and watched as one by one the houses were set ablaze. The crackling of burning wood brought my attention to the back of the shed where flames licked through the cracks, trying to scare me.
Tempting me out of my haven.
Out of my safehouse.
Why did this have to happen?
Why did youkai and humans have to fight?
I have learned to kill...yes.
But only to defend the life that was given to me by my youkai father and my human mother. All of the villagers are dead. I walked down and try to distiguish the living from the dead. There were none, yet I lived...
Shall I continue to live or die defending my village?
How many would I take out before they killed me?
One? Two?
I looked around in search of the guidence I knew would never come. I see the tracks of my father's true form in the ground, but no sign of him or my brother is in sight. Where did they go? A distinctive scent reaches my nose, and I follow it to find the body of my dead mother. A small trickle of blood was coming out of her mouth, and her eyes stared up at the heavens. I reached down and closed them for her.
She had died protecting me. Here in my home. My village. I had to live on.
Grabbing what I could from the remains of the village, including the shed before it was too late, I ran back and knelt besides what seemed left of my family. She had a small dagger clenched in her hand, a momento from my father years ago. He had given it to her to defend herself if ever she were in danger and he were not around.
Taking the dagger, I feel her hands are cold and stiff.
A tear of mine lands on her porcelin smooth cheek.
A silent goodbye to the life I knew...
And a painful greeting to the hardships I knew would follow.

Author's Note: I know this one was really sad, but I felt it was a good place to start for the stories to come. I promise not all of them will be angst, I plan on writing fluffy ones too. You'll see what I mean with the next one.