This is a story that I had planned for years but never finished it as I couldn't think on how to continue it. Would like to see what you guys think.

The main pairing might be Harry(Haru)/Seshoumaru or Harry(Haru)/Naraku. SLASH of course.

He always knew he was considered a nuisance, a disgrace, by the townspeople. But he didn't expect things to come to this.

The rope around his wrist pulled insistently, motioning him to keep moving. In resignation, he allowed himself to be pulled away.

What did he do wrong?

oOo

Life had seemed to be constantly on his watch from day one.

After losing both of his parents in a strange event, everyone has been reluctant of being close to him, considering him a bringer of bad luck, and constantly avoided him like a plague. So as an orphan child with no one else to look after him, the elders decided that he was to be placed under the care of Kanan, an old widow who was somewhat strange in his opinion -maybe even crazy- but it wasn't the moment for being picky. It wasn't as if the elders actually cared for his well-being.

Not really.

Walking through his habitual track for the last few days, he let his thoughts wander.

As strange as Kanan was, he was thankful for everything she did even when he did not understand some of it. After all, he had a roof above his head and food, and even if he wasn't showered in love and care he felt that she did love him in her own way.

Thinking of her he pulled a little at the cloth over his eyes and pulled out some strands of hair that managed to get in. He still wondered why she was adamant on making him cover his eyes. He had wondered countless times if there was something wrong with his eyes. He seemed to be able to see perfectly fine if the scants moments in the night when he was able to take the bandage off could count.

Maybe they just looked freaky, he thought. Maybe his eyes were one of the reasons that the villagers were hesitant on being close to him. He didn't even know what he looked like as there weren't any reflective objects in the house.

Being so deep in thought he had not realized that he had arrived to his destination until the crunching sound of the dry leaves below his feet brought him back to the present.

Kneeling in front of the tomb, he reached with a hand to clean the dry plants away.

Fifteen years after being under her care, he found himself alone in the world once more, but now his life was filled with silence and loneliness. The only thing that kept him going was a routine, he'd wake up with the dawn, eat what little he had and then he visited her grave to remove any dirt it had gathered since his last visit. There wasn't much he could do on the village, people still seemed to despise the very thought of him.

Finishing his cleaning, he leaned back and let the light breeze weave through his locks.

Reaching a hand through his hair he started combing it with his fingers noticing that it was getting longer already. He wondered what would happen to it now.

Kanan was adamant on keeping his hair as short as it could; such was her resolution that as soon as his hair grew an inch she would cut it, only for it to just keep growing stubbornly, stronger and faster than before. That too was one of the things he didn't understand. He supposed that, in his mind, it was another of the things that made him 'freaky'.

He always asked about his freakishness but she refused to give him an answer. After many tries, he learned to just ignore it.

As the air grew colder, he decided it would be better to get back home.

Passing through the town, he could hear the mutterings of the villagers a few feet away and felt for them.

They were getting restless. The lack of rain was ruining the crops and it was making them desperate. The more despaired ones demanded to take matters into their own hands and to make an offering to the spirits, even if they had disliked the very idea of dealing with these beings in the first place.

But as days had passed, the hunger grew and so did the despair.

Finally, the townspeople made a decision.

They were going to appease the Gods by giving them an offering.

But, as the fields were completely dry it was not possible to deliver grain -what little was left was given to the little ones- and the animals were dying.

Nonetheless, the elders had already found the solution and as soon as the sun went down, they were going to send the offering.

The forceful knocking on the front door resounded in the quietness of the house, but he remained calm.

More than an offering it was more of a sacrifice.

Silently, he rose from his sitting position and opened the door. The smell of burning wood slightly irritated his nose. A torch?

No one uttered a word, for he already knew what was happening.

Quietly raising his hands in front of him, he let himself be tied and guided out of the house.

oOo

Kanan used to tell him that he was most likely to have a short life. But then she also used to be wrong on most things.

He wasn't sure if this was going to be one of these times.

oOo