A/N: I was requested to write a Gang AU for a Barks chapter. I suck at modern AUs in general, so brace yourselves. It got a little too long to be a Barks chapter and it's rating is a little higher than my usual stories, so I posted it separately. It kinda went its own way... I'm sorry, but I told you I suck at everything modern already. Anyway, hope you'll enjoy it - it was fun to write.
Written for and betad by amazing File 13
I was going to post it as one-chapter thing, but I'm wicked and I divided it to more chapters. But don't worry, I have the whole story finished and intend to post it in a few days

The Beads

1.

Inuyasha woke up with a royal headache. Not only was every sound pounding in his head, it seemed that even swiveling his ears in the direction of a sound was painful. His limbs were stiff and he couldn't move, he could only lay on his back. He groaned and opened his eyes.

Luckily the light in the room was dim and not hurting his sight. A single light bulb was creating a small circle of light around a table and a few chairs directly under it. The rest of the room was covered in shadows, including the mattress in a corner, where he was laying. There were two other boys in the room, laying on mattresses along the opposite wall. One was a black-haired human boy dressed in a purple button up shirt and dark jeans, the other was a wolf youkai in track suit, his brown hair bound in a high ponytail . The human was asleep, but the wolf's piercing blue eyes were scanning the room.

"You're awake, mutt," he growled out.

"Yeah. What's going on?" Inuyasha asked. The last thing he could remember was him leaving a ramen shop and planning to go to the park to read the newest volume of his favorite manga. Since they seemed to be in the same situation Inuyasha decided to ignore the insult to his mixed blood. It was annoying that some idiots were still looking down at hanyous like him, but right now a mere insult from a mealy wolf wasn't worth his ire.

"Your guess is as good as mine," the youkai muttered. "You're a dog, can you smell anything?"

"I thought wolves had decent sense of smell," Inuyasha grumbled, but inhaled deeply a few times, ignoring the youkai's growled reply. His head was aching and he was still unable to move, but at least his senses were working. He picked a few smells, old and new, but had no time to share his discovery with the wolf. The human groaned and lolled his head to the side, looking at the room.

"Oh, shit," he muttered after investigating the small space and spotting his companions.

"Welcome to reality, sleeping beauty," snorted the youkai. The door opened and a small girl with long black hair peeked in, her orange and yellow kimono almost shining in the light of the bulb, but her face hidden in the shadow cast by her bangs.

"Little girl, where are we?" Inuyasha asked, desperately trying to sit up and read the girl's face. She gasped and jumped back, closing the door. His sensitive ears picked the sound of her little feet on the corridor floor.

"Good job," the wolf commented.

"Fuck off," replied Inuyasha with all his heart behind that, the wolf was making him wish he could stand up and beat him senseless. The human sighed.

"I'm Miroku," he introduced himself. Inuyasha turned his head to look at him, surprised that introducing was the first thing that came to his mind in this situation. Oh well, it wasn't like they could do anything else. Inuyasha tried to move his hand and failed.

"Inuyasha," he replied.

"Kouga," muttered the wolf.

"Do you think they're going to sell our kidneys?" Miroku asked.

"Maybe we're going to be sacrificed in some bloody ritual to revive an ancient daiyoukai?" suggested Kouga. "Like, you know, that Panther King the cat youkai wanted to revive the last year."

"Nah, Sesshomaru would kill any asshole dumb enough to revive a daiyoukai," Inuyasha shook his head. He knew that pretty well, he had been involved in this shit, but luckily the journalists had never learned about his part in the events of that week. Both other boys looked at him, surprised he was talking about the Western Daiyoukai like this, but before any of them could speak Inuyasha's ears twitched, hearing sounds of footsteps.

The door opened once again, this time revealing an old woman with a black eyepatch covering her right eye. She was dressed in a traditional miko outfit. Behind her stood a group of girls, some of them dressed in school uniforms, others in kimonos - those in the kimonos seemed to be a little older. There were also a few males, Inuyasha could smell them, but none entered the room while the females went inside and gathered around the door.

"What's going on?" asked Kouga angrily

"Why are we here?" Miroku added, his dark blue eyes staring at the newcomers.

"Let us go," finished Inuyasha, all of them sounded confused and unsure about their future. They had been kidnapped and were held under some spell rendering them unable to move. Inuyasha wondered if they wanted a ransom from Sesshomaru - he really hoped not, because the bastard wouldn't pay a penny for his freedom. The old woman walked in, followed by some more girls. Inuyasha's ears plastered against his skull when he saw some of the girls looking at them with curiosity and... Was it envy? No one replied to the three boys' words until the woman sat down by the table and put a bag on it. Inuyasha felt a lump in his throat and tried to control his uneasiness and not let it turn into fear. There were a few youkai among the girls and he really didn't want them smelling fear from him - it would hurt his pride even more than being in his current situation. He had to be calm and look for an opening to get free.

"Welcome to the family, boys, soon you'll be able to move and some of you questions may be answered. Remain calm, we don't mean you any harm," the old hag said and gestured to the girls, three of those in high school uniforms approached her. As the girls walked in the circle of the light he realized they looked vaguely familiar, he could have seen them in his school. Were they from another class? Their uniforms were definitely from his school... "Sango, Ayame, Kagome, have you decided?"

"Yes, Mama Kaede," the trio replied. Inuyasha stared at the scene unfolding before his eyes - the old woman took out of her bag three strings of beads and handed them to the girls. The one called Kagome approached his mattress and knelt on its edge.

"Hey..." he started when she reached up and slipped the beaded necklace over his head and around his neck. The beads were red, with white magatama between them. "What's..." The girl smiled at him warmly and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you," she assured him. Despite the mysterious situation and strange power radiating from the necklace, he couldn't stop himself from thinking she was cute, smiling with her innocent smile and her brown eyes sparkling with excitement. Her scent seemed to lessen his headache a little and Inuyasha felt his inner youkai shift in a way it had never done before.

"We're done, Mama," said Sango girl from her spot beside Miroku. Inuyasha turned his gaze away from Kagome's face and looked at the old woman, hoping to get some answers. The wolf was growling and struggling, but it was pathetic and pointless because he could barely move his limbs. The red-haired wolf youkai girl beside him giggled and smacked him playfully in his arm, telling him to be quiet.

"Look, girls," the old woman said to the rest of the females standing behind her. "When you accomplish a great thing and follow the rules of the family, Mama gives you great gifts."

"Gifts?" Inuyasha repeated before hissing in pain; the girl Kagome had grabbed his ear between her fingers and pinched.

"We will work for the benefit of the family," the girls still by the doorway assured the elderly woman, a few glancing with envy at the trio.

"Good. Now," the old woman stood up and muttered a few odd words. Inuyasha felt he could move again, even if his headache didn't lessen. Immediately he jumped to his feet, as did Kouga, both ready to fight to get out of the room. Miroku managed to sit up when Kagome, Ayame, and Sango all shouted, respectively:

"Sit!", "Roll over!" and "Freeze!"

A foreign force pulled Inuyasha face first on the mattress on which he was standing while Miroku tensed motionless and Kouga fell to his back.

During the months to come Inuyasha was going to ponder the matter of him face-planting after hearing this command. It would make more sense for him to instantly sit, not fall on his nose.

"The hell!?" he glared up at the girl, who ran her fingers through his hair. He could hear snorts of amusement of the females and angry voices of the males demanding to know what's going on.

"You're mine now," Kagome said. "And the beads will make you do whatever I want."

"But that's against the law!" Inuyasha protested, trying and failing to remove his beads from around his neck, as did Kouga and Miroku. The former wore the beads like Inuyasha, while the latter had them around his right hand.

"No, it's according to the law of the Higurashi," the old woman said. "Girls, I'm leaving to you training your Helps and teaching them the rules and their places in the family. I don't care what you do with them, but do not let them misbehave. Mama's gifts are a sign of appreciation, but also a responsibility. You have three free days, unless the Bellflowers try to invade our domain."

"Don't worry, Mama, Tsubaki's girls are pathetic and they have no fighting skills," Sango smiled widely and stood up while the rest of the girls were voicing their agreement. "Follow."

Inuyasha stared in disbelief at Miroku standing up and obediently following Sango out, Kouga doing the same when the other girl gave the command. He looked up at Kagome, who stroked his hair one last time before standing up. "Don't worry, I will take care of you. Follow."

The beads around his neck pulsed and Inuyasha jumped to his feet to walk after the girl. As as he left the dimly lit room he entered a new world, a world hidden from ordinary people.