Outcast Dog (Inuyasha FF)(Boyxboy)

Chapter 1

Things used to be simple. The others disliked me, Father and Brother loved me, and I was a child, naïve and small-minded.

But as I got older, things changed. Even those my own age shunned me, pretended I didn't exist. Father left to fight alongside an old friend, far away, leaving Brother to take care of me. In the end, he did the best he could. He died protecting me during a raid on the village, and I had to fend for myself for a few hundred years. But I was weak.

When Father returned, he was different. He, too, shunned me. Though instead, it was more like just being ignored. He took care of me, taught me what I had left to learn, but he didn't laugh or joke around like before. He killed himself a few decades after I became an adult, and I was, again, on my own.

They all continued to shun me, not that I minded, until I finally found out why. Because I looked different. Such a petty reason. But when I attempted to speak to the village leader, the tides turned, and suddenly they acknowledged me. But with a searing anger that I have seen in each and every other dog demon I've come across. They exiled me from the village, so I headed towards the direction Father had left to go fight with his friend, all that time ago, to possibly seek help from that same friend.

And to this day, 1574 human years later, I have not found him.

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The boy takes a tentative step closer to where I sit on a rock beneath a tree.

"Are you... a demon?"

I just watch him. I know what he sees. A blank-face, golden eyes, weak-looking body. Black hair. The very reason I am despised, is the very same thing that seems to draw children to me. The majority of demons seem to have unique hair colors, like red or blue.

"You must be a demon. Papa says I should stay away from them, but you don't look very scary..."

I can't help the small twitch at the corner of my mouth, finding his statement amusing. "You should stay away from us. Not everyone is friendly."

My voice, soft,  a feather, and smooth as water flowing over a rock.

He smiles at me. "Does that mean you're friendly?"

"I won't kill you, yes. You haven't done anything to me."

He laughs. "Say, I'm Tanaka. What's your name, demon-sama?"

This time, I do smile a little. "Hotaru."

"Then, Hotaru-sama then." He sits on the grass a short distance away. "Where are you from? Do demons have homes?"

"Some do. Some don't. I'm from a place far away."

"So you don't have a home?"

"I wander."

"That sounds sad. Do you have any demon friends?"

"No."

"Human friends?"

"No."

"Animal friends?"

"Do I look like a tree?"

He bursts into a fit of giggles. "What about me? Am I your friend?"

"What?"

"Can I be your friend?"

"Do whatever you want."

"Okay! Then, let's play!"

"Play what?"

"Hmm... I don't know..." His face tilts up, looking at the sky. "Oh! Sorry, Hotaru-sama, I have to go or Papa will get mad! See you tomorrow!" He got up and ran off, waving.

I closed my eyes and sighed lightly, feeling a light breeze at my back. A week. That's as long as I'm staying, little boy.

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I stared down at the corpses of the few demons that had been on their way to attack the village, and ignored the blood running down my arm. It wasn't mine, of course. They were just weaklings. To the average dog demon, I was weak, but I was still fairly strong. Stronger than these few, at least.

The children of the village had grown attached to me over the past 5 days. Tomorrow was the sixth day, the day after would be my departure. But my intuition was telling me that I'd stayed here too long already.

After washing my arm of the demons' blood, I stood on the edge of a cliff, one that overlooked both the village and the road leading to it. I didn't come here for the view though. This was the best spot to keep an eye on everything. Or in my case, nose. If any demons approached, I could smell them out immediately. Shouts or yells would reach my ears as well. It's the perfect spot for monitoring.