Life is a struggle

Disclaimer: The usual; don’t own it. If I did, would I be writing here?

Author: Zen

Summary: Orphaned, Inuyasha is kidnapped and forced into the scum of the society. Sinking into despair, the only way he can escape is by relying on Sesshoumaru, but would his half-brother even bother?

AN: If I abandon this fic halfway through (which is what I’ve done to my others) I would like to apologise first if anything happens. If I do abandon this fic, anyone who would like to continue it is welcome to contact me. *Bows.

His mother was gone.

It seemed like years ago that his mother was still with him, singing softly as she combed his long ivory hair, not even minding that he was fidgeting and whining not to be groomed. It seemed an even longer time that she had suddenly collapsed while bringing him out for a walk, gasping for breath.

Inuyasha, terrified, had tried to get Izayoi up. When everything he did failed, fear overtook him and he raced as fast as he could to the house of the village headman. His words tumbled over each other as he struggled to speak clearly in his terror.

When Inuyasha had led the elderly priestess and the headman to where Izayoi lay motionless on the grass, the sight of the once beautiful face framed with shiny black hair now pale and lifeless had scared him terribly. The priestess had bent over the still woman muttering softly. After what seemed like an age, she straightened up.

The words that the priestess than said brought his world collapsing around him. His mother was dead.

His hands trembled as he laid the small bouquet of wild flowers he had picked at the grave. The funeral had been a week ago but he had not left the grace ever since, sleeping in the trees at night, living on wild fruits.

“Master Inuyasha!” a voice squeaked from somewhere beneath his dirty bare feet.

“Go away,” Inuyasha whispered, kicking Myoga away. When the old flea came back again, he squashed the flea with the sole of his foot, not in a mood to talk to anyone.

When the insistent Myoga came back for the third time, Inuyasha flexed his claws and delivered a swipe to the flea. As he was still small and not very strong, it did not do much harm but it was sufficient to leave Myoga in an unconscious and pancaked state on a blade of grass.

Getting up, Inuyasha wandered wearily over to a spot near the stream. Dipping a claw into the water he watched as the clear water rippled. Just then, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the stream. His face was pale and dirty and clothes stained with mud. Izayoi never liked him to be dirty…

He plunged his hands into the cool water and scooped it over his face. Once he had rubbed his face clean, his despair exploded and he started sobbing uncontrollably. He was, in human years, only eight. Although as a hanyou he was far older than that, the thought that he would never see his mother again made him upset.

He didn’t know how long he had been crying when he felt a hand place itself gently on his shoulder. The touch was gentle, firm and kindly all at the same time, and Inuyasha didn’t shrug it off.

“What’s the matter?” a deep voice asked.

Inuyasha stared at the reflection in the water. Behind him was tall young man with long red hair and fierce crimson eyes. Despite the less than comforting look and the fact that the man was probably a hanyou or youkai, the face was kind looking and friendly. Inuyasha felt slightly comforted and immediately wiped away his tears with the back of his hand.

The stranger introduced himself as Rakou, a hanyou traveller. He had been passing by in the area and heard Inuyasha crying. He helped Inuyasha clean his tear-stained face again in the stream.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Rakou asked with a smile.

Inuyasha slowly started talking in a soft voice. At the end of it, he felt distinctly soothed and his shoulders relaxed. Rakou was friendly, giving him small buns he carried in his satchel. Inuyasha accepted them with a small comforted smile. Just then, something tingled inside him, making him nervous. Inuyasha had felt it before as a warning, but this time he ignored it, seeing no danger.

“Where are you going to go after this?” Rakou asked in his deep voice.

“I don’t know,” Inuyasha admitted. “Back to the village I suppose.”

“Isn’t there anyone to take care of you?” Rakou pressed.

Inuyasha shook his head. “In the village, everyone-” He stopped. A twinge of sadness came over him as he realized that he had been about to say that no one liked him back in the village, since he was a hanyou.

Rakou smiled gently. “I know. Growing up I hadn’t many friends either.”

Inuyasha was so relieved to have someone who understood that he smiled, despite himself.

Rakou seemed to look thoughtful for a while. Finally he spoke. “Why don’t you come with me? I live in the city, except for when I travel occasionally. I can take care of you until you’re old enough.”

“Really? That’s great!” Inuyasha was so taken with this stranger that he quickly agreed. He had been so lonely, that now when finally someone was showing him genuine concern he felt more spirited than he had ever felt since Izayoi had collapsed that day.

%%%%%

He had never seen the city before in his entire life. The houses here were bigger and somewhat more refined, the people more and looking sophisticated and there were so many horses and carts. Rakou noticed his excitement and smiled.

“You like it?”

“I’ve never seen a place so big before!” Inuyasha gazed in childish wonder at the shops selling all kinds of stuff, some of which he rarely saw in the village. Scents tickled his nose and he sniffed the air that smelt so different than back home. There was less scent of trees and grass, but more of polished wood and people, even certain whiffs of something he couldn’t discern.

“Here.” Rakou steered him into a large building that seemed slightly ramshackle compared to the others. There was a floating smell in the air. Inuyasha inhaled deeply; the scent was soothing, and made him feel lazy and contented.

As Rakou slowly wound though the many small round tables in there, Inuyasha sniffed the air, finally identifying the soothing scent as coming from the many torches on the walls. The men sitting at the tables there turned to look at him, but he didn’t notice.

He followed Rakou into the back through a small door, stepping into a dimly lit hallway. There were many doors leading off it, with stairs going up. Inuyasha’s attention was quickly diverted onto a bigger door at the end of the hallway. It was more polished than the other doors.

He waited patiently as Rakou spoke to a fat man at a low table in a corner in low tones. He sniffed the air more to familiarise himself with the place, but was taken aback when he realised that all he could smell was the same soothing scent again, nothing more.

Inuyasha was further shocked when a door to his right burst open and a stout man strode out, holding a small boy who was crying by the hair. The boy somehow looked rather exotic, with flawless pale skin, violet eyes and light purple hair.

“Shut up, you little slut!” the man yelled angrily, suddenly throwing the boy away from him. Inuyasha gasped in shock at the brutality. What was this place?

Nervously he looked up at Rakou. He was taken aback when he saw that Rakou wasn’t in the slightest bit concerned.

“Rakou, what’s going on?” Inuyasha asked, suddenly fearful of this man for the first time.

“New one?” the stout man grunted, coming over to them.

Rakou nodded. “I’ll take care of him myself.”

Inuyasha suddenly felt a shiver of fear run through him. What had he gotten himself into? And who was Rakou, exactly? And what did he mean by he would take care of Inuyasha himself?

The sobbing boy had gotten to his feet, hugging himself. Inuyasha gazed at him, and when their eyes met the boy pulled his away. “Are you okay?” Inuyasha asked quietly.

The boy shook his head violently, terrified. He backed away, still sobbing, and disappeared through another door.

“Come,” Rakou suddenly said, his voice no longer kind, but curt and stern. Inuyasha felt scared at this sudden change.

Fear made him follow Rakou without question through the polished doors he had noticed earlier. Rakou ordered Inuyasha to stand in the middle of the room , while he stood, circling Inuyasha like a predator about to pounce on its cornered prey.

“Take off your clothes,” Rakou suddenly ordered. There was a mad glint in his eyes.

“What?” Inuyasha shivered although there was a fire burning in the room.

“I said take off your clothes!”

A hard hand caught Inuyasha in the cheek and he reeled in pain from the slap. Inuyasha instinctively bared his fangs and spread his claws, poised to attack. A split second later, Inuyasha realised with horror that there was no familiar tingling in his fingers that always came when he used his ‘Iron Weaver Soul Stealer’ attack.

Rakou laughed softly. “A child like you, trying to attack me? You had better watch your actions in here, boy. Now take off your clothes.”

Trembling, he undid the front of his clothes, heat creeping over his face. His movements were slow, Inuyasha’s eyes darting around the room for a way of escape. There was no other way out besides the door. Rakou’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and trembling even more Inuyasha moved faster, eyes trained on a spot on the polished wooden floorboards.

Soon his clothes were discarded at his feet. Inuyasha was shaking with fright now, his cheeks flushed red. Rakou circled him several more times, nodding his approval as his eyes travelled up and down Inuyasha’s bare body, ignoring his obvious discomfort.

“Good,” Rakou said softly. “Put your clothes back on.”

Inuyasha hastily pulled on the clothes again. Rakou showed no more interest in him, instead walking over to the door and pulling them open. Before he stepped out he looked back at Inuyasha with narrowed eyes.

“Leave this room or get up to anything in here, I will make sure that you will never ever feel happiness again,” he warned. For a split second Inuyasha was sure that he had seen Rakou’s eyes change colour to black, and then back to red.

Inuyasha nodded, scared. Rakou slammed the door behind him. Inuyasha cold hear him shouting outside.

Inuyasha curled up on the floor, trembling. Why had he ever trusted Rakou in the first place? Why had he been so stupid? And why couldn’t he use his claws? It was as if he had become a mortal. Inuyasha only remembered feeling this way during one specific time – during the new moon, when he reverted to his human form.

Rakou returned to the room, this time with a youth following him. Like the small boy he had seen earlier, the youth looked exotic. He had shoulder-length hair the colour of pale gold that was tied up in a lose ponytail. A single jagged stripe of deep yellow streaked from his forehead over his left eye. Inuyasha was very sure that this youth, like the boy, was a hanyou.

“This is Corin,” Rakou said with a slightly bitter smirk on his face, which now seemed more menacing and insane. “He’ll be… ah… teaching you the ways here.”

“Yes,” Inuyasha said in a voice barely more than a whisper. Nervously he stepped towards Corin who nodded shortly. Rakou impatiently ushered them out.

“If you dare do anything, Inuyasha, you will be punished,” Rakou said, a twisted smile on his face.

“Yes,” he repeated quietly.

Inuyasha followed Corin back out into the hallway. There were two new men there, aside from the fat man in a corner, whom they were talking to. A boy slightly older than Inuyasha was with them. Inuyasha guessed that he too was a hanyou. The boy looked nothing short of terrified; he was shaking terribly.

“What is this place?” Inuyasha summoned up the courage to ask Corin, he somehow sensed that Corin would not hit him; they were in the darkness of a room.

Corin was silent at first, lighting a torch on the wall to illuminate the room. The room was small and sparsely furnished; there was only a mat in a corner and a low unsteady table littered with grey stained rags. The strange pungent scent filled Inuyasha’s nostrils again.

“It’s a brothel,” Corin said at last, his voice low.

Inuyasha breathed in sharply, feeling a chill run up his spine. He knew what brothels were; once the headman back in his village had caught a man frequently visiting one of these places in another village. The man had been humiliated so much that he had packed up and fled.

“And…” he whispered.

“I work here,” Corin said flatly. “Rakou owns this place. He and his friends travel the country looking for young hanyous they can bring to work here. All those who work here are boys, all hanyous. Rakou has something against hanyous.”

“Why can’t the hanyous kill Rakou?” Inuyasha asked, inwardly dreading the answer.

“Because of this.” Corin gestured to the torch. “It’s a kind of herb that, when burnt, can weaken a hanyou’s youkai powers. How old are you anyway, in human standards?”

“Eight,” Inuyasha whispered. “You? You were taken by Rakou too?”

For the first time, Corin looked bitter. “I’m sixteen. Rakou took me from my parents when I was six, saying that he would let me have a better life.” Then the expression on his face changed.

“I’ve to teach you the ways here,” he said flatly. “The workers here work full time, depending on if you have customers. No speaking up allowed. Meals are once a day, the time you eat also depending if you have any free time. I’ll show you the sleeping quarters later. Now I want you to sit in a corner, don’t make any noise; don’t move. Understand?”

Inuyasha gulped, but nodded quietly. Corin pushed him in a corner. Just then, the door opened. A fat man with a smirk on his lips walked in.

The man did not pay any attention to Inuyasha, who had frozen in the corner. He walked right up to Corin, then shoved him down onto the mat. Corin did not protest, but with steady hands, quickly removed his clothes.

Inuyasha was too stunned to make any noise. The man began stripping too. The next moment, the man forced Corin to kneel with a hand firmly tangled in Corin’s golden hair, pulled Corin closer to him.

Inuyasha closed his eyes, feeling them water. His hearing was no longer sharp as usual, but he could still make out sounds of Corin gasping for air and the man moaning in pleasure. A while later, there was a loud sharp sound of a smack, and a small cry of pain from Corin.

He couldn’t stand it anymore. With tears streaming down his cheeks, Inuyasha slid silently down onto the floor and began sobbing softly.

&&&&&

Half an hour later, Inuyasha himself was roughly pushed into a room lit with a similar torch and locked in. Trying hard not to cry, he curled up on the mat, desperately trying hard not to think of what was going to happen.

Watching Corin do it wasn’t any comfort. He had been most terrified when Corin lay writhing in silent pain on the mat even after the man had left. Naked, Corin had bruises and scars all over his body. He had been too shocked to even try to comfort him.

His first client was a fat round man with rippling muscles. When Inuyasha was too slow in taking off his clothes the man delivered a painful blow to his chest.

“Take off my clothes too,” the man ordered. Inuyasha, frightened, quickly complied.

His golden eyes were soon wet with tears as the man hit him a few more times, this time with a whip, then pushed him down onto the mat. The man wrapped heavy chains around Inuyasha’s small wrists and secured them to a staple in the wall.

“Please, no,” Inuyasha begged, but it only seemed to make the man more excited.

The man forced himself into Inuyasha’s mouth, making him gag and choke. He felt like vomiting, feeling the man sliding down his throat. He struggled, and in response the man’s thick hands flew between his kicking legs and pinched hard in warning.

A muffled scream left his lips. The man smiled.

“All worth my money… I heard that you were new…”

After what seemed like an age, the man finally pulled himself out. Inuyasha breathed easier, glad to be free of the hard object that had insistently rubbed the back of his throat raw. A second later, he yelped in pain as the man once again found him between his legs and pinched, this time harder than the first.

“Let go!” he gasped in agony, tears blinding his vision, and he began to cry. “Please… L-let go.”

Spreading Inuyasha’s legs, the man grinned lustily. Inuyasha screamed in pain as the man suddenly entered forcefully, feeling a jolt of agony rip his body apart. The man suddenly leant forward and captured his lips in a bruising kiss, a thick hot tongue forcing his own lips apart to explore his mouth. Inuyasha had never felt this terrified before in his entire life.

“No… Don’t…” he whimpered.

The man continued thrusting farther into him. Inuyasha was simply in too much pain that he screamed with every new thrust that brought fresh jolts of agony. He strained against the chains that held him in place. Blood splattered the mat. It seemed to last forever.

Mewling in pain as the man finally drew himself out, Inuyasha struggled away, but the man caught hold of his legs. Once again the man straddled him and forced himself down Inuyasha’s throat. The foreign object tasted vile on his tongue, mingled with the bitterness of his own blood. Suddenly the man let out a loud moan; a sour slimy fluid slid down Inuyasha’s throat, making him choke on it. The man suddenly grabbed a fistful of Inuyasha’s ivory hair as he came, drawing strangled cries of protest.

At long last, the man stepped up. Giving Inuyasha a few more kicks in the side, he laughed like a maniac, cradling his crotch. He picked up a cloth from the table and cleaned himself, all the time gazing down at Inuyasha who was trembling uncontrollably, tears silently streaming down his cheeks.

Finally he released Inuyasha from the heavy chains. Inuyasha pulled himself up, every movement shooting jolts of pain through his body. He rubbed his swollen wrists, blinking in pain.

There was the sound of the door sliding open and close as the man left. Inuyasha curled up tighter into a small ball. He was completely terrified and in agony. He bit at his lips to keep himself from trembling.

A while later the door opened again. Inuyasha hardly dared to look up, but when a voice spoke anxiously he was relieved to find Corin kneeling next to him.

Corin looked even more exhausted, face wincing slightly in pain. There was a new bruise on his neck. “Are you okay?”

Inuyasha drew his arms tighter around himself. When Corin touched him he flinched and recoiled.

“Bear with it,” Corin whispered. “A few more, then you can come and watch me…”

Inuyasha wanted to protest, but couldn’t find the strength to. After wishing him luck, Corin left again. Inuyasha felt his heart shattering the moment Corin’s presence was gone, immediately replaced by his second customer.

He was dead exhausted with pain when finally Corin re-entered. He was too weakened to protest when Corin scooped him up in his arms and carried him out.

A chilling scene met their eyes outside. Inuyasha froze in Corin’s arms as he watched Rakou viciously whip a tiny hanyou, no more than three-years-old in human standards, who was tied with chains to a staple in the wall. A group of three men watched in sadistic pleasure as the hanyou screamed in agony every time the whip lashed across his bare back.

Corin quickly carried Inuyasha to a bigger room, where he placed Inuyasha in a corner with the same advice to keep quiet and still. Several people were already there, drinking large mugs of alcohol. Inuyasha gazed blearily through heavy eyelids as Corin quickly stripped.

Inuyasha did not see what happened next, as he closed his eyes out of fear that he would have to witness another violent rape on his only friend here. However there was no blocking out sound, and his ears picked up every single sound in the room. There were many thuds, and small cries of pain from Corin.