DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha.

In the Blood

Ch.4

By: Lara Winner

………………………

Every muscle in Inuyasha's body tensed as the doors to the van opened. His ears flicked back and forth greedy for any sound that would give him the vantage of knowing his location. He couldn't rely on his ears as well as he could his nose but the coarse sack placed over his head prevented him from smelling anything but mildew. It would be a lot easier if his sight wasn't restricted but the guards wouldn't remove the sack until he was safely confined in the fighting ring.

It was all routine and Inuyasha barely flinched as the rear of the van dipped on its shocks from added weight as two sets of hands grabbed a hold of his upper arms and roughly dragged him to his feet. He blocked out the crude insults coming from the guards and focused his attention on the world outside of the van.

Beneath his bare feet was gravel and dirt. There was a breeze that felt cool against his bare chest and over the androgyny of voices leaves rustled in the background. But that was all Inuyasha could make sense of without the use of his nose.

He growled.

Suddenly he was shoved forward and the lack of give in chains cuffed to his feet caused him to stumble. The guards leading him snickered and Inuyasha's anger rose another degree. By the hardest he bit back the snarl that threatened to erupt and settled for clenching his fists hard enough to draw blood. It was better to let it slide and save the full brunt of his rage for the poor bastard he was about to kill.

But that didn't mean he couldn't imagine tearing the pathetic human guards to shreds. A cold smirk crossed his lips as he acted out the motions in his head. All five claws, long sharp and dripping with their hot blood, slashing and shredding their weak flesh with barely any effort. It would be too easy and the blood…

He liked blood. Blood was nice. So warm and pretty.

But even more than he liked the sticky substance, Inuyasha liked the methods used to acquire it. There was nothing better than a fight. He lived for it. He loved it. At the center of his universe was the freedom he found in every strategic movement that release the untamed urge to destroy everything he could get his claws on. It was a rush. It was a high and he needed it like he needed the air he breathed.

But right now he'd like some air that didn't smell like rotting corpses.

That damn smelly sack made his face itch. Every time he moved his head it shifted making the tickling feeling unbearable. Even his nose was itching. If he sneezed the guards would only laugh at him again and he didn't want that. So instead he tried to keep his head still and grit his teeth.

In truth it was only a few moments, but to Inuyasha it felt like years before he was shoved up a set of makeshift steps and brought into the caged fighting area. Keys jingled and he stilled knowing that the guards were going to unchain him. It was routine and he didn't even flinch when the man turned on the teaser. The dancing jolt of electricity hovered too close to his skin for comfort but he remained motionless as the cuffs and chains were removed followed by the coarse cloth over his head.

He blinked his eyes against the glare of the floodlights shining right in his face and greedily drew in a breath of fresh air. Then his nose wrinkled as the stale odor of sweat and urine wafted up his nose. It was potent enough to make him want to gag but instead he swallowed hard and waited till the guards exited the caged ring before daring to move.

He sized up the ring making a mental note of the distance he would have to work with. It was a little smaller than what he was used to but it would do. The linked metal fence surrounding him was twined with barbed wire which would limit his maneuverability considerably but there were no wards and the chain link across the top was low enough to grasp should he need to. But on a closer look he realized that it was also covered in barbed wire and he growled in annoyance.

There was adrenaline in the air and Inuyasha found it impossible to sit down and wait for his opponent to arrive. Instead he paced while fueling the restlessness that filled him. It wasn't fear. There was nothing he was afraid of. It was easy to die and even easier to kill. If he wanted to live then he needed to kill. And if he wanted to die…

All he had to do was stop fighting.

Inuyasha looked down at his claws, turning them over as if he'd never seen them before. Would he dare? Did he really want to put an end to the pain? It would be so easy to make a mistake, move a little slower or leave himself open at the most crucial second. So why not?

Because dying was for the weak.

A spark of rage ignited and as it grew brighter so did his pride. Every time he entered the ring he asked himself why and the answer always remained the same. He'd be damned before he let anyone get the better of him. For too long they said he was worthless. They never let him forget that he was a hanyou, that he was nothing more than a freak that should die. Little did they realize that what they did to break him only made him determined to spite them.

And maybe they did. Maybe he was playing right into their hands. That thought crossed his mind too. But either way, it really didn't matter. They expected him to die. It made him want to be alive.

On the other side of the fenced structure a second door was opened. His opponent was lead in, struggling against the restraints that limited its mobility. A tentative sniff at the air told Inuyasha that tonight he was facing a fellow hanyou. The human scent was unmistakable and youki that oscillated about the inu-hanyou was similar to his own.

Sitting back in his trademark crouch, Inuyasha kept a close eye on the hanyou less than seven feet away. He was big. Really big. He stood at least a head and a half-taller than Inuyasha and compact muscles ran from his thick neck down his bulging biceps. Smothering a manic laugh, Inuyasha wondered if the hanyou could pulverize his skull with one beefy hand since it was as big as his head.

There was a good chance that because the creature was so big he would be slowed down by his added weight. That could give Inuyasha an advantage but he was not going to count on it. Being a hanyou made adaptability second nature and more than likely this freak of nature was just as limber as Inuyasha himself.

The giant cracked his knuckles and let out a deep snarl that sent the human retainers scrambling from the cage. Crimson was leaking into the hanyou's dark flaxen eyes causing a chain reaction in its body that had its claws shaping into talons and its fangs protruding into grotesque tusks. It was plain to see by body language alone that the mutt was on the brink of madness.

Inuyasha was aware of the people beginning to crowd around the structure and by the low murmur of voices he knew they were waiting for his response. His opponent was bigger and older meaning more strength and more experience. The tension was building to see if he would show any sign of fear, or would he retaliate by giving into his demonic urges. After all, the people needed to know witch hanyou to place their money on.

Biting back a smirk, Inuyasha ignored the mad dog across the ring and inspected his claws indifferently.

This sent the crowd roaring and he grit his teeth against the abuse it gave his sensitive ears. It was only more annoyance to fuel the inferno of rage building inside of him. And he embraced it.

This wasn't a standard fight so there were no rounds and no bell to signal the beginning of the fight. Instead the only warning Inuyasha was given was when the hanyou lunged. In that instant rational thought left Inuyasha and in its place came cold, hard clarity. In the span of a millisecond his senses spread and he was already moving to avoid the attack.

It was like the steps of an intricate dance. For every move made there was a counter action made and so on it went, round and round. Claws met flesh, talons ripped into muscle, and teeth gnashed trying to aim for delicate veins. It was struggle all its own but Inuyasha restrained his demon blood for as long as he could. But his fragile hold snapped when the monstrous hanyou wrapped his enormous fist around Inuyasha's throat and slammed him into the cage wall.

The barbed wire mutilated his skin as the creature lifted him against the fence and he could feel his warm blood spilling over. It was too much. Tapping into his reserves allowed Inuyasha to block out the pain. The power in his blood sealed the agony into the back of his mind and locked it away for the sake of concentration. With blood lust in complete control, there was nothing Inuyasha could focus on except the need to kill.

Using the leverage given by the hand crushing his throat, Inuyasha tucked his arms across his chest and then swiped out in a scissor-like motion that splayed the hanyou's stomach open a good three inches. Warm blood spurted from the gaping wound and the hanyou released his hold on Inuyasha and stumbled back a step. The packed dirt beneath their feet spattered with the thick red fluid.

Enraged, the inu-hanyou took a blind swing at his tormentor and with the force leveled behind the blow his arm collided with the cage wall a mere second after Inuyasha ducked his head. Metal twisted and wire entangled into muscle a bone as the appendage burrowed clear through the chain-link barrier.

The creature howled in pain as he tried to pull his arm back. That bit of a delay was all Inuyasha needed. Grasping the brownish-silver tuft of hair atop the hanyou's head, he jerked it back exposing his prey's vulnerable throat. Filled with malicious glee he sank his claws in one side and ripped them clear through the other. The inu-hanyou choked and made soft gurgling noises as the remainder of its neck folded sickeningly to one side. In its death throes the creature lashed out one last time catching Inuyasha in the thigh and digging its talons deep. Then the body slumped into a dangling lifeless heap as it remained suspended by its trapped arm.

Prying out the claws embedded in his leg, Inuyasha growled as the cage tilted and began to move shakily. Nausea rolled in his stomach and suddenly, like the opening of a flood gate, excruciating pain poured over him as his kneed buckled under his own weight. He could feel the blood draining out of him. He was kneeling in a pool of it, though whether his or not he couldn't tell. His body trembled under the duress of fatigue and dark spots swam before his blurry eyes.

When the last of his demon blood receded so did Inuyasha's consciousness.

………………………

Perhaps it was intuition. Perhaps it was ESP. Kagome couldn't say why her stomach suddenly dropped in fear as she jerked upright in her soft bed. Her only bit of certainty was that every fiber of her being was focused on one thought. It was more of an image really that created a feeling of desperation for in her minds eye she could clearly see Inuyasha's cage and every natural instinct she possessed urged her to go there.

With a sense of growing dread, Kagome headed the urgings. Quietly, as not to draw unwanted attention to herself or her destination, she abandoned the confines of her room and made for the kennel. With each minute that passed her heart begin to beat in a furious rhythm and with each step that brought her closer to the hanyou the dread that filled her only compounded.

Something was very wrong.

As small measure of luck was on Kagome's side as she managed to avoid a confrontation with the armed guards she knew were lurking around. With the coast clear her pace picked up to a jog as she barreled down the steps and through the corridors. Finally she skidded to a stop before the hanyou's cage and the sight that greeted her was enough to make her anxiety turn into mind-numbing fear.

In the center of the cell lay Inuyasha, sprawled on his side as if he were tossed there carelessly and left exactly where he fell. His silver locks were streaked rusty brown and countless wounds covered his flesh, each oozing blood onto the rushes that covered the hard ground.

Bile rose in Kagome's throat as the scene before her was replaced with another… Shouts and screams filled the air. Bodies of the dead and wounded littered the forest floor, nothing more than macabre silhouettes in the nights darkness. Flames rose into the air casting the bloody ground in an orange glow as another round of gunfire echoed through the clearing…

Squeezing her eyes shut, Kagome swallowed hard willing herself not fall to her knees retching. The sharp bite of her nails gouging into her palms barely registered in her panicked mind. Even the fact that she struggled to draw in a breath as her chest tightened painfully couldn't pull her thoughts from the garish memories that threatened her fragile mind.

It had been four years since that fateful night and it still managed to turn her into a blubbering fool when she allowed herself to think of it. The helplessness, the stark terror that had gripped her was as fresh and real as if she were there, reliving the massacre once again.

A warm tingling suffused her skin drawing Kagome from the horrors that clutched her in their hold. A hazy violet fog began to fill the landscape of her thoughts wrapping her in its comforting cloud. One by one the memories filtered away, returning to the darkness that shrouded her past.

Kagome welcomed the warmth washing over her but when a ripple of youki disrupted the harmony of the moment her gray eyes snapped open, wide and surprised. As quickly as it came, the peace that filled her vanished in the face of alarm as she took stock of the violet energy that flowed around her like a swirling current.

A current that was creeping ever closer to the unconscious hanyou a few feet away.

Kagome quickly pulled the renegade energy back into herself before it reached the injured boy. She knew that in his condition her power would purify him and he would be helpless to prevent it. It was a good thing that gathering her power back into her own aura was as effortless as releasing it. That made it easy to avoid hurting innocent youkai.

But Kagome was far from prefect and keeping a tight leash on something so powerful, something that had become as much a part of her as breathing, was exceedingly difficult. And there were those fearful moments when she feared she could not contain the energy and the need to release it was almost painful. A guilty blush stained her cheeks as her sorrowful gaze fell to the hanyou once again.

There was so much blood. It was smeared cross his pale skin making the drying brown smudges even darker in comparison. Where there was no blood she could see the flesh beginning to discolor in angry shades of purple and blue. She was tempted to question if he was breathing but if she strained to listen she caught the soft whines and whimpers that escaped him.

Kagome horror gave way to compassion as her heart wrenched in her chest. Inuyasha didn't deserve this. Being a half-breed didn't mean that he wasn't a person too. Just because he could be dangerous didn't mean that he didn't have self-control and a brilliant mind hidden behind his soulful eyes. It was wrong to hurt him like this.

Ignoring the voice inside her mind that warned of caution and urged her to flee, Kagome reached forward to unlocked the cell door and pushed it open. The hinges groaned loud and shrill in the uneasy silence and biting her lip she froze, casting a fearful glance over her shoulder half expecting the guards to come running any second. But the low, hair-raising snarl from her left told her that the guards were the least of her worries. Sucking in a sharp breath, she turned to find herself held immobile by a pair of glowing scarlet eyes.

Her heart slammed in her throat as the hanyou moved painfully into a crouch, baring his teeth in warning as she took a step back reflexively. For the first time she noted the deep lavender stripes that marked his cheeks and this close his elongated fangs looked pretty impressive. She shuddered as he lifted one hand, flexing his claws.

Dried blood caked his hands and Kagome willed herself to remain still. Any sudden movements would have him lunging at her, teeth and claws first. Even her miko energy would not save her from serious damage. He was too close and too quick. She'd seen his reflexes when he snatched the bread from her hand earlier that night.

Taking a shuddering breath, Kagome let the cell door close softly behind her. She was terrified but something inside her insisted that so was the growling hanyou. He wouldn't hurt her if she could convince him she was not a threat. Lowering her eyes in a show of submission, Kagome slowly sank to her knees. She didn't dare move any closer, she simply forced her body to relax and focused on projecting soothing rhythms in her aura.

Slowly the deep rumbling snarl coming from Inuyasha's throat lessened into a soft growl and Kagome almost smiled as she heard his nose begin sniffing. Then a plaintive whine caused her gaze to shoot to the hanyou in concern just as he collapsed against the ground. He tried to put up a brave front but it was obvious his body was not ready to meet his demands. Still, he remained watching her intently.

I wasn't easy but Kagome managed to give the transformed boy a reassuring smile. "Inuyasha I'm not going to hurt you."

He flinched at the sound of her voice and it was then that she noticed his ears were perking forward but one was torn and bloody. Another wave of sadness flooded Kagome and this time she felt the painful prickle of tears.

How can he stand to be in so much pain?

It was a question she would not ask. She would be content if he would let her help him. Though she wasn't exactly sure what she could do. There was nothing she could give him for the pain and even if she had medicine or herbs with her, she had no idea if they would work on a hanyou. Looking about the cell she spotted a bucket filled with water.

Keeping close to the cell door and giving Inuyasha his space, she took a closer look and almost breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that it was relatively clear. There was a ring of mold along the bottom of the bucket but for the most part it looked as if it was filled often enough. At least she could give him water and clean him up a little… if he let her get that close.

"Inuyasha…" she asked, hating the way he flinched again, "Are you thirsty? Do you want some water?"

Crimson orbs narrowed and the hanyou grit his teeth as he tried to lift himself enough to crawl forward but his arms wobbled before he could move and he fell to the ground once more. Kagome bit her lip in indecision, wondering if she should try and bring the water to him. His eyes flicked from her to the bucket and back again. Then he whined.

There was a lot of things Kagome could be called and 'sucker' was definitely one of them. She was taking to Inuyasha like she would a kicked puppy or a kitten caught in the rain. She was putting her sense of self-preservation on the back burner knowing full and well that all it would take was one slice from his claws and she'd be a goner. She was either really brave or really stupid. As she struggled to lug the heavy five-gallon bucket closer to the hanyou, she had to honestly wonder which one.

Inuyasha eyes followed her approach. He was growling softly again but it was lacking the vicious quality it had held when she first entered the cage. She brought the bucket as close as she could without sloshing water all over his head. Tentatively, she knelt down beside the large plastic container waiting to see how he would react to her closeness.

When he remained still, half propped on his side half on his stomach, Kagome wondered if she should try and help him sit up. But looking at his torso and back it was hard to find a spot that wasn't cut or bruised in which to hold him. She didn't want to hurt him and since he couldn't lean up and get the water himself she would have to bring the water to him. Kneeling up, Kagome scooped her hands into the cool liquid and brought her cupped palms down toward Inuyasha's mouth.

He darted forward and for a second Kagome's heart skipped a beat in fear but it quickly turned into something else when he greedily lapped up the water until his tongue was dragging along her palm. Ignoring the strange sensation caused by such an innocent action, she continued the process until Inuyasha turned his head away and whimpered what sounded oddly like "enough".

Feeling bolder and more secure that Inuyasha understood she did not intend to harm him, Kagome lightly smoothed his matted bangs away from his brow. She frowned, noting that his skin was burning up and damp with sweat. Then suddenly long tapered fingers closed around her wrist, the grip tight and bordering on being painful.

The scarlet eyes that looked up at her were wary and questioning. He was vulnerable and Kagome was quite surprised he'd allowed her to touch him when he was essentially weak. Covering his hand with her other, she offered him a small smile.

"It's okay Inuyasha."

"You shouldn't be here." He warned, thought his voice was distorted horribly with an ingrained rumbling that couldn't be described as anything other than a snarl.

It sent a shiver down Kagome's spine, thought whether in apprehension or something else she couldn't tell. It was too easy to lose herself in those eyes of his. The need to mother him prompted her to ease the dulled pain reflected in their depths and soothe away the suspicion he held for her kindness.

Gently, she tugged her wrist and the hanyou relinquished his biting grasp as she looked around helplessly for some kind of cloth that she could dampen and tend his wounds. As she expected there was nothing she felt comfortable using. The only things available were tattered remains of the shirt she remembered him wearing the first time she saw him. But the scraps of cloth lying off toward the corner were filthy and stained. The boy's pants were hardly in better condition and the legs were ripped in various places. She needed something clean.

Kagome looked down at the shirt she wore and blushed. She had donned the garment after her shower so she knew it would suffice better than the boy's clothes, not that she relished ripping up his clothes… or her own for that matter. But there were some sacrifices that had to be made for the greater good so she lifted the edge of her shirt and held it up to the hanyou.

"Can you cut this for me?"

Inuyasha's expression clouded in confusion. "Why?"

"So I can clean away some of this blood." She whispered. "You're wounds-"

"Are already staring to heal bitch. I'll be fine come morning." He growled, the distrust taking over as he tried to move away. But his exhausted body belied his bravado and he hissed as the movement jarred his bruised muscles.

Kagome wasn't sure what made her move closer, especially when another snarl erupted from the boy, but before her fear could caution her to think twice she scooted next to Inuyasha and lifted his head into her lap. For a moment he stilled, his body going rigid as if he was preparing for her to attack him in some way. But when she merely brushed her fingers through his hair gently, he slowly began to relax.

A smile curved Kagome lips as Inuyasha's eyes drooped closed. When her fingers bumped the base of his ear he whimpered softly, tucking his face into the material of her skirt. Giving into the impulse, she scratched the furry appendage carefully.

As her gaze skimmed over the many lacerations that covered his back, Kagome almost gasped as she realized that the hanyou was right. His wounds were already beginning to heal. A few of the more shallow cuts were closing over while some of the larger and deeper wounds were shrinking in size. It was common knowledge that a demon's healing abilities were extraordinary and Kagome wondered if that was why Inuyasha was forcing himself to remain transformed. Surely it would help him heal more quickly.

So that's why he doesn't have the strength to move…

The thought abruptly trailed off when Inuyasha cracked an eye open, giving her an exhausted glare. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because I want to." She shrugged.

"But why? No one's ever-" his question ended in a gasp as he squeezed his eyes shut, whining softly.

Wishing she could take his pain away, Kagome willed back the tears that threatened to come while nearly bursting with the protective instincts filling her. "It never hurts to have a friend." She amended.

There was a moment of silence before the hanyou confessed, "I've never had one of those."

"Well you do now." Kagome vowed, beaming.

The only response she received was a muttered, "Keh."

……………………….

Hours had passed since she left and he was still confused as ever.

Golden eyes stared listlessly at the ceiling as Inuyasha pondered the motives of the young woman who had sat by his side the entire night. But his thoughts kept going in circles and it didn't help that the weird scent she carried still hung heavily in the air.

She was an odd one, had had to give her that. She wasn't predictable like the guards and she didn't seem disgusted by him like most of the servants. He knew she was a stranger here, he'd never caught a trace of her scent before. If he had he would have remembered.

It was hard to describe what she smelled like. There was soap, the chemical undertone was unmistakable. There was some kind of flowers but it wasn't natural, and mixed in with that was something that was unique to her. That was the apart that threw him off.

He liked the way she smelled.

Being and inu-hanyou his nose was his lifeline. Like any dog, if they took away his sense of smell he was damn near helpless because there was so much that was revealed in someone's scent. Just with one sniff he would know if a person was afraid, sick, hurt, angry, happy, in heat… and the list could go on and on.

Yet at the same time, to inu-youkai scent was nothing more than a way of identifying someone. It was like placing a name with a face. There was nothing intimate or personal about it.

So why the hell was I as happy as a pup to bury my face in her lap, sniffing away?

Inuyasha blushed even thought there was no one present to eavesdrop on his thoughts. It was not only a guilty confession but also the simple truth. Her scent had intrigued him to the point of calming the demon inside of him.

And that was another thing he didn't understand. If it would have been anyone else he would have ripped them apart before they could get close enough to touch him. The demon in him didn't like to be petted and coddled, it preferred to maim and destroy anything it touched. He was still trying to figure out what happened last night that made things different.

He had wanted to hurt her. It had crossed his warped mind right along with the perverted desire to taste her blood while it was still warm and fresh from her body. The bitch was too trusting and it would have been so easy to gut her before she could open her mouth to scream. But something held him back, something that caused a fluttering deep in his stomach and set his heart pounding in his ears.

It wasn't conscious on his part, it was an instinctive reaction that just happened. His body had tightened and his senses had become seized by her presence. The energy that clung to her beneath the surface taunted his youki, teasing it with the threat of harm. Even her scent had made his head feel funny.

While Inuyasha couldn't grasp what exactly was happening, his youkai side seemed to understand perfectly. Suddenly the need to kill was replaced by the need to dominate. If he hadn't been injured he would have given into the impulse and forced her to submit, though how he would have gone about that was still a mystery.

None of the contrary feelings that had plagued him made any sense. Now that he was back to himself and the demon blood was sealed away, he was able to add a human perspective to what happened. But even looking at it logically did not explain why the silly bitch had gotten under his skin.

Still, he could feel his annoyance being lulled away as his humanity grasped onto the gentle way the girl had treated him. She had brought him food. He knew she didn't have to do it and she could have gotten them both in trouble, but she'd been nice and done it anyway. And then last night she came to see if he was all right. She even offered to be his friend… whatever that meant.

He couldn't stop the tiny smile that lit up his face.

She had thought he'd fallen asleep in her lap. He let her believe it so he could see what she would do. Would she turn on him? Would she leave? Instead, she surprised him by lifting his hand and using his claws to tear the material of her shirt. Then she tore a strip free and dipped it into the bucket of water, lightly dabbing at his injuries.

She stayed with him till morning and by the time she left his wounds were healed and the bruises almost faded. She wiped away as much of the blood as she could but there were still traces of it in his hair, along his arms and under his claws.

He reeked of it.

Inuyasha had almost told the girl not to bother since the guards were going to make him bathe in the morning anyway, but a selfish part of him liked the attention so he kept his mouth shut and pretended to sleep. It wasn't every day that he got to lay face first in the lap of a girl that smelled nice. He wasn't stupid enough to pass up a chance like that.

But the hanyou never did get any sleep. After the girl left his mind refused to let him rest as he tried to figure out what was going on. When that failed he tried to remember her name?

"Come on… it's something with a K." he sighed under his breath.

The sound of approaching footsteps disturbed him from wracking his brain and Inuyasha growled. He didn't need his nose to tell him who was coming. Only one person he knew walked with a limp and that was Neto. Sure enough, a moment later the guard came up to the bars of the hanyou's cage and smirked.

"Is the pooch ready for a bath?" The man snickered.

Inuyasha had to wonder if Neto liked to live dangerously or if he was just a simpleton with no common sense. The hanyou would have thought that nearly taking the idiot's leg off once might have earned him a little respect but apparently Neto had already forgotten why he walked with a limp. Inuyasha was itching to remind him.

To look at the guard it was easy to see why he was an easy target. He was tall with limbs that were too long and often a bit uncoordinated, thick glasses that proved he was blind as a bat without them, slumped posture that said he'd rather take orders than give them, and he had a pathetic habit of clutching at his handgun and flinching at the slightest unexpected movement.

Turning his eyes back to the ceiling, Inuyasha ignored the man.

"Hey Rover! I'm talking to you!"

It was a general rule of thumb that whenever he wanted to piss a guard off all he had to do was act like they didn't intimidate him. Of course they didn't, at least not since he was a pup. When he was a child he was terrified of the men that would rough him up and hurt him. But the older he became the more the urge to rebel settled in his soul. While it usually only made punishments worse it was still pretty amusing to piss them off by showing them that he wasn't afraid and never would be again.

However, every now and then he got the chance to take one of them out and when he did it was a good day.

Inuyasha continued to stare up at the ceiling, arms folded behind his head as Neto burst into his cell brandishing his gun. He almost laughed.

"It's bath time fleabag! Get up! Now!"

That was another thing that Inuyasha liked about the girl. She used his name. She didn't talk to him like he was dirt beneath her feet. She didn't call him stupid names or rub it in that he was uneducated. She treated him like a person instead of a mindless animal.

Maybe she could teach these stupid monkeys a thing or two.

This time Inuyasha did chuckle and it earned him a glare of pure hatred from the fuming guard.

"I said get up you fucking piece of shit!" Neto shouted, aiming his gun at the hanyou's head. When Inuyasha didn't even blink he kicked the boy in his side as hard as he could.

That did it. Before Neto could blink Inuyasha knocked the gun from the man's trembling hold and grabbed him by the throat. Pinning him to the ground he clenched his fist and slammed it into the guard's face. Baring his teeth he snarled, "Don't ever fucking kick me asshole!"

Neto panicked as his broken nose began to bleed. "Help! I'm being attacked! HELP!"

Almost instantly he picked up the sound of five sets of footsteps heading in their direction. Inuyasha was only given a minute to deliberate, kill or not kill.

It was a good thing for Neto that his human side was still in control. Giving the bastard one more punch that knocked the screaming fool unconscious, Inuyasha looked up just in time to see three guards lunge at him.

There was no fighting them off when one set the teaser to his chest. The volts of electricity shot through his body forcing his muscles to contract violently. His teeth clenched against the pain but he couldn't stop the tortured yelp that escaped him. They made sure he was stunned and disoriented before strapping a muzzle to his face and tightly cuffing his hands behind his back. Securing a leash around his throat and another that secured his hands to his waist, they led him from the cell.

Inuyasha struggled against his restraints but it was no use. He only succeeded in angering the guards further as they pushed and pulled him into one of three bathing chambers that lined the back wall on the far left side of the underground compartment.

The bathing chamber was covered floor to ceiling in white tile. Drains were spread about underfoot to prevent the room from flooding. Beside the door, lying in a large coiled pile, was an enormous hose. Inuyasha was stripped of his pant and shoved into the center of the room. He knew what was coming and he braced himself as much as he could when two guards to hold of the hose as the third tuned on the water source.

The impact of the water stung his skin like a thousand pins and needles as the force behind the steady stream nearly knocked him off his feet. There was no escaping the pounding water and it wasn't long until he was huddled in the corner whining from the sheer pressure.

The sadistic bastards loved to aim the hose right in his face. With his arms bound there was no way to protect himself. All he could do was struggle to keep his face turned as his body twisted and slipped on the wet tiles.

When it was over his muscles throbbed and his skin smarted. Even his ears hurt.

The guards laughed as they leashed Inuyasha and led him back to his cell. The muzzle was removed but the cuffs remained as he was confined. Feeling safe now that Inuyasha was secure behind the ward enforced bars, the guard holding a clean set of clothes placed them on the ground just outside the cell.

"If you want 'em bad enough come get 'em." He sneered and his buddies laughed.

Inuyasha watched the men walk away but even fantasies of tearing them to pieces wasn't easing the fury filling him. He strained against the wrist cuffs and after a few times he thought he felt them give. It would take a while but he could get the cuffs undone. He didn't like the idea of sticking his hand through the bars to get his clothes but the thought of that girl coming back and finding him naked and bound was even worse.

He really didn't need this shit.

Why the fuck can't everyone just leave me alone?

Tbc…

A.N. – Did I mention this is a dark fic? There will be more blood and gore later so prepare yourself. I'm not that great with writing action scenes so I hope they were satisfactory. That's about it I guess. Thanks for reading!