Title: Present Time: The Re-Write 3/?
Series: Inuyasha
Author: animealam (a.k.a. alandrem)
Rating: This chapter is R
Warnings: AU, Some characters may be a bit OOC. Violence, the mention of drug use, attempted rape, and bad language. The characters are OOC. This story will live up to the M rating as I plan to add a bit more violence and/or gory details. I believe the original version was a bit mild in that respect. I knew that later on there would be some rather gory scenes as telosphilos and I originally planned, so I decided that adding a bit more description to certain scenes would only enhance the story. This warning will be in every chapter to avoid problems even though not all have violence or gory scenes.
Summary: Inuyasha discovers the present is more dangerous than he was led to believe.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Although I’ll probably add a couple more characters of my own imagination.
Author’s Notes: This chapter is still undergoing revision, so it is still subject to change. I will substitute the older version once I have the finished chapter.

The original chapter was 2,931 words. This chapter is 4,289. I’m not counting the author notes.

Also Inuyasha and Kagome are still OOC. Anyway here it goes, please enjoy.

Chapter 3

Once Inuyasha left Kagome took care of her injuries. There was nothing that she had not had before, so she efficiently cleaned the scratches, and for some time she applied an ice pack to the side of her face. No matter what she did, the young woman knew it was going to be an ugly bruise. At least her nose was not broken, although it hurt as if it was. Once she was done she tried to sleep, but after some time of tossing and turning on her bed, Kagome finally gave up on the idea. Sleep was not going to come to her anytime soon. Every time she closed her eyes the ugly faces of her attackers appeared to haunt her. Despite there being little light they had been close enough for her to distinguish their facial features. She just could not understand why this attack bothered her so much. After all, she had been chased, injured, and almost killed by demons wanting to do the later for almost a year. Why would being chased by humans wanting to rape and kill her be any different?

‘They didn’t say they were going to kill me… but… somehow… I felt it would be so,’ Kagome thought with a shiver. She sat on the bed and brought her knees up. She placed her chin on top of them and hugged her calves in a protective gesture. ‘I could see it in the cruelty of their eyes… They were human, and yet, those eyes could have belonged to a youkai.’ The young Miko shivered again.

“They were human,” she whispered aloud. “I expected to be attacked at the Sengoku Jidai… After I accepted to search for the Shikon No Tama I became aware that would be part of my life in the past. But, I always felt safe whenever I came back to my time.”

“I was a fool!” She exclaimed louder angry with herself, as she hit the bed with her fist. Her eyes that had been open until that moment closed. “How could I have been so naïve? So… so stupid?” She opened her eyes again, her fright forgotten for the moment in her self-recrimination. “God, I just can’t believe it! I always knew that kind of thing could happen to anyone. I heard about it on the news, from friends at school, even on the streets! Mama was always warning me to be careful. She always told me not to talk to strangers, to be careful around them, that there were sick people out there who would not mind hurting a girl.”

“Am I stupid or something? Why would all children be taught something like that if the possibility of being assaulted did not exist? For God’s sake we have a police officer that comes to the school every year to remind us of the dangers on the streets, both by drug abuse, gangs, and psychos!”

“Where the hell was I during those talks?” She kept ranting at herself, not realizing that she was swearing. “That can not happen to me, those are other type of girls, not me. I’m a nice decent girl!” She hit her pillow several times venting her anger as she kept talking to herself.

“Yeah right. I was so foolish, like I was immune to danger or something… But of course, if I fall down a well that makes me travel 500 years before my time, have evil demons chasing me every other day of the week, and I’m still alive, I think that’s enough to make anyone feel pretty invincible, isn’t it?” Her voice was full of irony.

“But… back ‘then’ I have protection… Inuyasha…” her outburst abated. “This time he was here for me… not protecting, but… he actually comforted me.” Kagome was mystified that he had been supportive, even gentle with her, and very considerate. It was so unlike what she had seen of him up until then.

Her mind and emotions were too messed up to realize it before. But he had been there for her. If he had not gotten her out of the shower she might still be in there, and would probably have no more skin left on her body. She would still feel tainted by their smell, which he assured her she did not have; and Kagome believed him. Inu hanyous had a much better nose than she could ever hope of having. Inuyasha had comforted her, had even acted patient and gentle, for a few moments at least. He allowed her to let out all her fear and frustration, and coaxed out the truth of what happened to her when she really did not want to tell anyone. She still felt it was her fault, if she had not been so keen on making him wait for her, it would not have happened. He had also been encouraging, and even praised her a little without actually seeming too obvious about it. Now he was out there, in a world he knew very little about, hunting for those that hurt her.

(Flashback)

“Where are you going?” She asked although she had a fairly good idea of his destination.

“Hunting,” he said and jumped to the windows sill.

(End of Flashback)

“Hunting…” she said the word thoughtfully.

‘Hunting,’ Kagome thought musing at what that really meant. ‘He’s going to track down those thugs just like a bloodhound would do its prey; like he does the youkai with the Shikon no Kakera and Naraku.’

“And when he finds them he’ll kill them,” Kagome said coldly as understanding hit her. “He is going to slay those men if he gets to them before the police do… I wish he does, so they won’t ever do this to any other woman again,” her voice was vehement, and there was a hint of hatred in it. “Oh my God!” The young woman exclaimed surprised at hew own anger, her hands flew to her mouth in horror.

‘I wish them dead? Do I wish another human being death?’ She thought confused at her own outburst.

But Kagome did wish these men’s demise. Those eyes had been so… cruel, even… evil. The feeling that this was not the first time those two had attacked helpless women was too strong to ignore. It made her skin crawl. Her knowledge of how law operated in her time, which was limited, told her these guys might get away with rape or attempted rape. If they did, those thugs would do it again; but not if Inuyasha got to them first.

“And then what Kagome?” She asked herself.

‘I don’t know…’ She thought confused.

‘What will happen if someone sees Inuyasha?’

‘The police will try to stop or arrest him. I gave him my phone number just in case it happens. But there are so many things that are so different from what he has seen before. He doesn’t know about guns, and will not be prudent.’ She could not help a little mirthless laugh. Inuyasha has never been prudent; he probably did not even know the meaning of the word. “They might kill him. These guys probably have guns too,’ a fear worse than that for her own life settled in her heart. ‘No! No he won’t die.’

‘Am I sure bullets won’t kill him? After all, he does get hurt protecting me at the Sengoku Jidai. Swords and arrows have been known to hurt him. He’s out there vent on getting revenge for me. This is no longer protection, and he’ll kill humans. Has he ever killed a human before?’

“God I should have stopped him,” Kagome muttered feeling helpless and worried, realizing too late that she had put him in danger.

The alley was a dark filthy place where no soul in his or her right mind would venture, and yet there they were. Two teen couples stood hiding in the shadows, kissing and fondling. They were oblivious to everything except themselves. The only sounds were the soft moans of the girls, the groans from the boys, and their heavy breathing.

Two figures moved stealthily down the alley towards the couples, their steps barely a whisper in the night. For one of the girls things were starting to go a bit farther than she was expecting so she tried to dissuade her amorous partner. She pushed him from her, and as she looked away from him a flash of light just behind, and above him caught her attention. It was like light reflecting on shinny metal. Before she could say anything it came down. Her partner froze, his eyes wide in shock, and a gurgling sound came from his throat before he collapsed in front of her. Not before some warm liquid was sprayed on her face.

For some obscure reason the screams of the two teenage girls went unheard in the night, as they too found their end sometime much later than their companions. The boys had been lucky. They did not really know what hit them. One moment, life flowed through them and they were at the height of arousal, the next they were no more. What those butchers did to the girls went far beyond torture. They were angry, one had dared to escape. They had lost control, and it was something that would not be accepted. These deaths were a statement, to the police, but also to the one that escaped. This was the fate that awaited her once they caught her. Despite the terrible torture they inflicted on the girls, one of them remained alive. The killers did not worry; she would not survive the night. Out of pure instinct and a need to survive the young woman managed to crawl almost to the street.

‘So close… I have to… please God help me!’ Where her pleading thoughts, but it was not possible to survive for long when she had lost most of her blood, the body only had so much.

Despite her pleading she died before reaching her goal.

The moment he stepped away from the protective cover of the trees Inuyasha’s senses were overwhelmed. His nose was assaulted by a myriad of scents, from the normal human odors -like sweat- to those of the fumes produced by the vehicles circulating down the street. He could barely breathe, and felt very close to fainting for a moment. The sounds were no better, too loud, and too confusing. All those bright lights almost blinded his eyes, and the people… So many people walking by and a few of them stopped to stare at him curious, or simply pointed in his direction. For the first time in his life he felt overpowered by his surroundings, and the thought of running away and hiding in the park crossed his mind.

The young hanyou gathered his wits. He could not run away from something that scared him, never had in his life, and this would not become the first time. His survival had depended on it before, and while this was not the case at the moment, he was simply too stubborn to run away. Inuyasha had only been around the city three times before, and on two of those occasions Kagome’s life depended on his speed. There had not been the chance to pay attention to his surroundings, only to react to the threat she was facing.

When he stayed during the new moon, he limited his visit to her house, even if she wanted to show him the city. His refusal to leave the shrine had been the cause of many arguments, but his time of the month was not easy for him. He felt too vulnerable and exposed as a human. So he usually locked himself in the guest room and refused to do anything except brood and eat dinner with the family. The young hanyou knew he was safer in her time, and that was the reason why he had accepted her mother’s offer of a place to stay during the new moon. But still, Inuyasha did not feel completely at ease until the morning when he became hanyou again. Although on occasion he would absentmindedly listen to Sota’s rants about lots of things he did not understand. Truth be told, he was very curious about Kagome’s time and all the contraptions he saw at her house, but he did not want to appear weak by showing his curiosity. He now regretted his own stubbornness.

His gaze settled on some dogs wandering about with and without owners. Their body language told him that they were not really bothered by either the sounds or the scents, and he quickly reached the conclusion that he could get used to these things. Canine senses were very similar to his own half dog-demon ones. Inu Youkai had better noses though, and a brain to process what they scented. Their eyesight was the exception. It was in color, much like a human’s. He took several deep breaths to try to calm himself. His deep breaths were accompanied by coughing when he aspired some of the large horseless carriages fumes. Those fucking things stank! Once he was able to breathe again he concentrated on finding the scent from the thugs.

Inuyasha was there for some minutes, not moving just trying hard to focus on one particular scent. But it was no use, not even with the help of Kagome’s piece of blouse. The scent cone was lost in the sea of humans passing by, and his nose was probably screwed a bit as he caught the scent of several different youkai and hanyous, but he could not see any of them, only the humans. Kagome had told him there were no demons in her time. Besides, curious people kept distracting him, didn’t these humans know fear? He was a demon for crying out loud! Why were these stupid humans not afraid? They just kept standing beside him and asking about his neat costume and where he got it. Most of the males wanted him to show them Tetsusaiga asking if it was real. More than a few of those passing by tossed him some coins, or those paper thingies that Kagome said were the money of her time. They praised his ‘costume’, and told him it was very convincing. Most females that approached wanted to touch his ears saying it was a cute detail and asked him how was he able to make them move, as they twitched every time one of those large horseless carriages passed making their loud roaring noises.

“Grrrrrrrr,” he growled at one particular group of six girls trying to dissuade them from touching his ears. They were about Kagome’s age and had completely surrounded him.

“You’re soooo kawaiii!” a couple of them exclaimed in loud squeaky voices that made his sensitive ears hurt and twitch even more.

“Do it again, do it again!” The others chorused.

“That growl sounds so neat!”

‘Neat? My growl sounds neat?’ Inuyasha’s eyes opened wide. This expression he knew, Kagome used it too. He was perplexed. This went beyond his understanding. ‘It’s supposed to be threatening, not… not NEAT!’ He thought indignant. ‘What’s going on with these stupid humans?’ But then he remembered Kagome had not been afraid of him when they first met. That is, before he tried to kill her, and probably not even then. The centipede youkai probably scared her more. Of course, at the moment, he had not been dangerous pinned as he was to the Go-Shimboku. He then remembered hearing her say a couple of times the humans of this time did not really believe in demons. They would not know they should be afraid.

“Please, please do it again!” exclaimed another girl.

“Is this your hair or is it a wig?” Yet another impertinent girl opened her mouth at the time she pulled his hair.

“Ouch! Of course it’s mine! And keep your hands off it wench!” He half growled furiously, taking his hair from the girl’s hand and inspecting it. He liked his hair very much, and did spend time grooming it when he was sure no one was watching. It would not do for the others to see him being slightly vain, as it did not fit with his though image.

“Sorry,” the culprit apologized. “It’s beautiful, and so soft.”

“Is it natural or do you bleach it?”

“Bleach?” he asked surprised not really understanding what she meant.

“Can’t you see its natural Haniko?”

“It is just the most beautiful shade of hair I’ve seen.”

“Yes,” others promptly agreed.

“And it’s so long! How did you manage to convince your parents to let it grow like that? It must have taken years!”

“Hey what’s your name handsome?” The Haniko girl asked.

“What school are you in?”

“What’s your phone number? I’m sure you won’t mind me calling you,” a tall blonde wearing a strange kind of bandage thingy instead of a blouse asked. It did not leave much to the imagination about what it was ‘supposedly’ covering. Were the women of Kagome’s time so indecent? This one was clearly flirting with him. He did not know how to take it, as it had never happened to him before.

“Katsuko are you making a move on him already?” A girl with short spiky dark hair and a bright red thingy with straps asked annoyed. He could not help the ecchi thought that the thingy fitted her much better than the other girl’s. He was male after all, and not dead.

‘Thank the Gods Kagome is not like these wenches.’ Inuyasha thought and before they asked anymore questions he picked the money the humans had thrown at him -who knew, it might come in handy- turned around, and disappeared into the safety of the park. He had enough of the annoying wenches. Besides, there was nothing he could do there. The trail was lost, and he was not sure he could get a lead back, at least not until he got comfortable enough with all those unfamiliar odors. Once he did, he might be able to track the thugs.

Inuyasha moved about the dark park trying to find the scent trail again. He did. It was several hours old but still strong enough for him to follow. It led him to a strange brightly lit clearing at the center of the park. From a distance he could see there were groups of youths, both female and male, lounging around. Some were riding odd planks with wheels, some used that by-ci-cle thing but not in any way he had seen Kagome do. Standing on one wheel and moving about, jumping up strange constructions that looked like half barrels, and yet others were jerking about like they were having some kind of fit. Where they ill or something?

This time Inuyasha decided to observe these humans before approaching, and this time he would wear the thing Kagome gave him to hide his ears. He should not have stepped among the other humans without it, and among these people wearing something on their heads seemed common, either the thing, or some cloth tied at the back. He was also taking into consideration his recent experience and how people on the street reacted to his clothing. He should have listened to Kagome. Hidden by the darkness surrounding the area he went around it listening and sniffing. It took him a while to get used to the mixture of scents from the 30 or so humans there, but he finally was able to point to individual scents.

A group kept themselves separated. They were no more than five, but he got the impression of tense tolerance between the two groups. From where they lounged came the odd smoky odor that made him sneeze. Luckily for him the others were playing some loud noise. ‘Music’ Kagome called it, and it came from a contraption that looked much like her CD stuff only bigger and noisier. This thankfully masked his sneezes. Whatever made that smell, he definitely hated it.

Two of the eldest boys detached themselves from the group of five, and moved to where Inuyasha was hiding in the shadows. He decided to go up the tree and keep watching from there. He had learned some interesting stuff from listening to the other two kids, so there was no harm done if he had some patience and listened to these two as well. The ‘music’ noise in the background stopped for a few moments, and he heard a little discussion about what to hear next, the one in charge of the contraption finally agreed to the majority who were asking for something called Ramstein, and the ‘music’ started again.  Inuyasha’s attention returned to the pair standing under his branch, but they were still silent, so this so called ‘music’ caught his attention instead. He found himself tapping his foot and nodding with the beat. It was loud yes, but… he just could not help it.

‘Hmm… I like this,’ he thought rather surprised, and finally understanding what the jerking about was. ‘These humans are following the music… they are dancing… interesting…’ His musings were interrupted when he heard the guys below him start to talk.

“So when’s the rest coming?” The one wearing a shirt with a dragon in the front said.

“Any moment now.” This one looked about for a moment and settled when he noticed one of the other boys looking in his direction. He appeared to be their guard.

“You sure they have no guns?”

“Not really, after all this is their territory. But our guys are sure bringing plenty. Fujimaro is real stupid believing we won’t make this place ours.” He reassured the other. “He should have accepted our deal. Now he has to deal with the consequences.”

“Yeah, he has.”

The one with the dragon on his shirt took out a thin strange looking thing. It was thin rice paper rolled with something inside. Inuyasha recognized it was some kind of dried herb. Although it was nothing he had smelled before that day, it was the same smell the thugs had on them but it was not smoky. Then the guy used a lighter, Kagome had shown them one before saying she preferred them to matches, to set it on fire. He placed it on his mouth, and breathed the smoke through his mouth. That made him curious, why would one want to breathe such foul smelling smoke? Why would a human want to breathe smoke anyway? Wasn’t it dangerous to them? Then he passed the stuff to the other guy who did the same, this went on for a while until they finished whatever the thingy was.

The hanyou barely managed to contain a few sneezes as the smoke from the stuff went his way, he also began to feel rather relaxed, but not for long. The others these two had been talking about arrived and joined the three that were further away. Inuyasha noticed they took out some odd things from their clothes and a moment later a loud thunder like sound was heard. Then all hell broke loose. There was much screaming and shouting, the guys and girls from the other group also took out those things and more thunder like sounds hurt his sensitive ears. The noise disoriented him. These others all reeked of the smoky scent and he could not avoid being affected by the odor, but the commotion covered his sneezing. Down there it looked like a war, and among the scent of fear and pain he could distinguish the smell of gunpowder. He had only come across it a couple of times. If he was not wrong, he remembered hearing some ferenghis had brought it with them.

The boys and girls held the oddly shaped objects that smelled of the gunpowder. Those things were the ones making the thunder like noise at the time a small spark appeared in its front. Now he could also smell blood. Some of those involved in this strange battle lay on the ground wounded, but he had not seen anything hit them. He shook his head in confusion clearly unable to grasp what was happening before his eyes. The scene was frightening as he could not understand what was wounding those down there. Inuyasha focused his attention on one of the contraptions and saw that when it made the noise something small and incredibly fast came out. It hit one boy on the back, went through and got embedded on a tree; the boy had died almost instantly.

‘In all the seven hells what was that thing?’ He thought alarmed at the killing power he was witnessing. ‘It’s like they have Youkai powers! Bang and the enemy falls! But even youkai need to be in some kind of contact with their enemies; they don’t kill from afar. Well Naraku and his detachments do, but they are a special case.’ His train of thought was abruptly interrupted when something hit him on the right thigh, the pain was great and he lost his balance. Thankfully he managed to control his fall. Inuyasha quickly ducked behind the tree in search of cover from those strange thunder things, and looked at his leg.

There was a growing bloodstain on his thigh and a small hole in it. He was wounded and had not even seen it coming! Gingerly he touched the back of his leg. He found more wetness and a larger hole, the exploration made him groan in pain. He better go back to Kagome’s. There was no way he could track anyone with that kind of injury. Ripping a piece of his inner yukata, he improvised a bandage.

Related posts:

1. Present Time: The Re-Write 2/? Title: Present Time: The Re-Write 2/? Series: Inuyasha Author: animealam...
2. Present Time: The Re-Write 4/? Title: Present Time: The Re-Write 4/? Series: Inuyasha Author: animealam...
3. Present Time: The Re-write 1/? Title: Present Time: The Re-Write 1/? Series: Inuyasha Author: animealam...
4. Present Time: The Re-Write 5/? Title: Present Time: The Re-Write 5/? Series: Inuyasha Author: animealam...
5. Fic: Present Time 11/27 Title: Present Time 11/27 Series: Inuyasha Author: animealam (a.k.a. alandrem)...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: Action, AU, Bonding Fic, Het, Inuyasha, Inuyasha/Kagome, Jacken, Kagome, Mates Fic, Miroku, Non Con, Other Female Character, Other Male Character, Police, Present Fic, Rated: R, Rin, Romance, Sango, Sango/Miroku, Sesshomaru, Sesshomaru/Rin, Shippo