Hope

One-Shot

Vixen-Virus

Rating: M – Mature language and situations.

Genre: Romance/Tragedy.

Summary: Based on a true story. This story is not for the weak of heart. This story is not for the weak of mind. This is a story of a struggle of one man. A man who lost more then he could ever believe. This is a story of love, fear, sadness and hope. This is his story. InuXKag.

Dedication: To everyone who suffered through the Vietnam war. May you all find happiness within the sadness.

Hope

This is a story I have been waiting to tell for much too long. This is a story that will shatter your very being, your mind… your heart. And now I sit here, waiting for my voice to be heard, but warning those of you who are afraid to face the truth that my story speaks nothing but truth.

This is a story of hope.

My little Shiori…she had my hair, but her mother's smile. She was sitting on the sand, watching the sun fall through the sky to the horizon, to hide behind the vast amount of salt water that consumed the land around us. She was wearing her once white kimono.

We were trapped on this island.

We had just escaped Vietnam; the war was in full swing. We had fought for our lives, running from the destruction, the pain… we escaped by boat. The sea… she was not forgiving. She raged with a fury only told of in nightmares. And the pirates…

I know many believe pirates to be like the ones in the movies. That was a lie. Pirates were vicious animals. They were no longer men, in my eyes. They savagely raped the women, day in and day out. We were capsized. Our boat was torn in so many pieces; we managed to escape to this island… at least, those of us that had not drowned. I had lost my best friend, Miroku and his wife, Sango that way.

"InuYasha…" Her voice was shattered with fear, pain and weariness. I looked up from Shiori's little form to see the petite figure of my wife. Her blue eyes still shined, lined with love and hope. I smiled at her and held my hand out. She took it in her own one before sitting down beside me on the sand, watching Shiori and Shippo.

Shippo wasn't really my son.

During my time in education camps, my wife, Kagome, had trouble making ends meet…she had to sell herself in order to feed herself and Shiori. Shippo was a result from one of her clients.

She had been so scared that I would leave her, like I didn't need her in my life.

She was wrong. I needed her more then air, as cliché as that sounds. I could not see a life without her. I wouldn't live a life without her.

I love Shippo, though. He has the brightest red hair you will ever see. His eyes shine just like emeralds, he's a small little guy, but I love him.

"…They killed Kagura." For a second I thought it had been my imagination. But when I turned gold eyes to her blue ones I realized I had heard correctly. Kagome's face was turned to Shiori still, her eyes watching as our little ones sat by the shore. Her lips barely moved.

Kagura…she was my brother's best friend since I could remember. Sesshomaru, my brother, loved her so much. They were supposed to get married after all this was over…but no one ever saw the hardships we would have to endure.

We have been on this island for so long… we were all hungry. Kagura… she had a heart disease… she was bound to die.

"…They ate her… didn't they?" I asked, afraid of the answer but knowing what it would be. When people are faced with living and dying, they will do anything in their power to live. Even kill off their own and eat their flesh. The human will to live was far greater then anything I had ever encountered. The thought made my stomach curl. I wrapped an arm around Kagome as she shook her head, tears slowly streaming down her face.

"T-They killed her! They killed her and ate her! InuYasha… I just lost one of my best friends!" Her voice was so tired, but filled with so much pain. I pulled her to my body, promising myself that I had to save her. I would die before Kagome… because a world without Kagome wasn't a world worth living in. She was beautiful in every way, she was perfect.

She was the reason I had faith in people.

But now… after everything, could I say I had faith in people anymore? We were eating the sick, the weak, and the old… just to survive. But how would they all live with themselves knowing that they killed their friends, family, loved ones…?

I looked over my shoulder, seeing people holding their mouths and crying out in pain. I could still see the blood on their fingers. Kagura's blood. Even though they may have done something inhumane… they still had a heart. They cried for the ones they lost, for the very act of eating them. They cried for themselves.

"Kagura…" I heard some of them whisper, trying to hold down their food…making sure her death was not wasted. I felt my heart tighten in pain. It was an internal conflict. They ate their friends to survive but they knew what they were doing was sick, twisted… wrong. Anger flared in me as I thought of those pirates. They were the reason this happened. They were the reasoned we turned into animals. Then I forced my anger onto the war. Because of the war, people were faced with things they never thought they would have to do. Because of the war…we were killing.

"Kagome…" I whispered to her. She looked up slightly, her eyes bloodshot. "Whatever happens…don't you, Shippo or Shiori ever leave my side, do you understand?" I looked hard into her eyes, through my silver bangs, the slow breeze pulling my waist length silver strands just barely intertwining with her midnight black ones. She nodded her head, a shiver of disgust taking hold of us as we held each other and cried for Kagura.

Shiori was getting sicker and sicker by the days. Shippo, who was younger then Shiori by two years seemed to be getting by. I held my little girl in my arms as we sat within the covered cave of the island.

They had killed another one the other day.

I thought back to Kagura. Had my brother been here… had I been there. I shut my eyes and felt my tears starting again. Had I only been near Kagura. Had I only saved her. I knew my brother would blame me, hell; I blamed myself for her death.

I opened my eyes and looked down to the soft violet eyes of my little Shiori. Her breathing was softening. Her skin was paling…

I swallowed hard. Sometimes life swayed in a different direction, in the direction you never wanted it to be. I felt the dizziness taking over and slowly I could feel myself falling to black. Sometimes I liked it better that way.

Because then you couldn't feel the pain that life had in store.

I woke up with a start, the sky outside seemed so dark. I looked down to my arms only to see an empty space. Panic rose in me as I stood up suddenly, forgetting about my weak state, forgetting that I was slowly deteriorating. I looked around the rest of the cave to see emptiness. Black.

I ran suddenly, bolting through the sand, though it seemed to hold my legs down like shackles. I felt my heart pump faster and faster then ever - my eyes watered as the thought entered my mind. I held back sobs that threatened to escape.

Run. Run. Run.

I finally found my way to the shoreline. The sun was setting again, the sky painted with dark blues, purples, pinks and reds. The water was crashing against the sand and there was my wife. On her knees, holding Shippo within her arms and looking out into the sun. Her black hair whipped around her as she stared out into the vast nothingness. Slowly I trudged toward her. My feet as heavy as lead, my heart breaking as I neared her.

"…The others… th-they took her… they took Shiori didn't they…?" I didn't mean to ask, I had already known. With the small nod from her head and the tears that fell, I felt as if I could feel nothing but pain. I fell to my knees, holding my head as if that would somehow stop the reality of my little girls' death consume me. I let out a loud cry, a roar of despair. My heart cracking behind my ribcage, my blood rushing through my veins and the fear slowly taking me over.

I could feel my fingers digging into the sides of my head, my heart squeezing shut as I screamed out in anger and cried. I wanted to kill, I wanted to die. I wanted…

I wanted Shiori.

The others had a full fledge of my fury. I beat them until they almost died…but I didn't kill them. Shiori…she was dying…and her death helped others live…I looked back to her smile.

"Daddy…I wanna help people when I grow up!"

She wanted to be a nurse. I shut my eyes as the familiar sting of tears assaulted me. She was only three years old. She was a beautiful little girl. My fists balled up as I sat within the small cramped cave. The dark was slowly ripping me apart. I took a deep breath, trying to shake the feeling of death from me.

I could hear Kagome whimpering. I looked over my shoulder to see her breast feeding Shippo. I frowned.

How did she still have milk?

I crawled over to her…she had no more milk…Shippo was sucking her blood. I quickly pulled Shippo away.

"Kagome! Kagome stop! Please Kagome!" I screamed. An emotional wave took me over. I had lost Shiori…I would not loose anyone else. I shook her until she started crying and then I took her into my arms and kissed her forehead, bringing Shippo between us, I held what I had left of my family within my arms.

"Kagome you have to stop…you'll die!"

"But Shippo will die if I don't! InuYasha, I can't have Shippo die like Shiori!" I stopped my anger from showing. I was angry I could not help my family. I was angry that she was right. I held them tighter to my heart.

"If you die…" I stopped my thought. "Kagome, I need you. I need you and Shippo… please… don't leave me."

That night, as the moon shone so proudly over this little island, Kagome, myself and Shippo slept surrounded in each other's arms. They were everything I had left. I prayed to Kami that someone would find us. I kissed Kagome's lips softly and then Shippo's cheek.

I could only hope for the best now.

Two days after finding out about Kagome feeding Shippo her own blood to save him, we sat along the shoreline. We had isolated ourselves from the others, but I knew they were too scared to do much. I was still fearful they would try. My strength was slowly disappearing with each passing day.

I held Kagome in my arms and Shippo in her own. Her breathing was shallow. I had fed her some of my own blood but…I feared it was too late. I felt my heart slowing down, almost in time with her own, Shippo was fast asleep…somehow through this madness, he had been able to sleep.

Kagome opened her eyes and looked into mine. I knew she was saying goodbye, but I had hoped this was only hello.

"Please…stay with me." I begged.

She whispered back, taking in deep amounts of air, trying to stay for as long as she could. "You know… that I always will…" I felt my face contort in pain as my tears fell to her face. She continued to look up at me, smiling softly, as if nothing was wrong.

She was so beautiful. Her face was a bit paler; her blue eyes were still as deep as the ocean before us. She held my hand as tight as she could, Shippo breathed quietly as he lay on her bosom. I bit my tongue as my heart slowly broke.

"I love you… so much Kagome… you have been the reason I live, you have been the reason I laugh… I can't see a world without you." I whispered as I kissed her lips. She smiled back at me.

"I will always love you. Live, InuYasha… for Shiori… for Shippo… for me." Her breathing started to slow. I held her tighter to me.

In all my life back home in Vietnam, before the war, I had never thought I would experience such immense pain. It felt as if my soul were being ripped from my very body. As if I couldn't breath.

"I love you."

"I love you too." And then she took one last breath. As her body lay limply against mine, Shippo started to wake, his emerald eyes looking into mine, as if saying we'd be alright. I choked back the sob that wanted so desperately to escape my throat. I held Shippo in one arm and Kagome in the other. I held them to me, trying to hold back the tears but failing.

My eyes watered and my vision blurred as I looked out into the dark sea, crying. It hurt so much to know I had lost Kagome too. My throat constricted tightly, burning my lungs as I gripped Shippo and Kagome tightly to myself. How could I continue?

That's when hope suddenly showed her face. In the horizon there came the blast of a horn. Suddenly the others rushed behind me, as if they had been waiting there the whole time, staring at the white boat in awe. Some broke down to their knees, others screamed in happiness, others cried loudly.

My heart soared at that moment. A feeling of complete happiness engulfed me as I looked onward. The sky was dark, the stars still shining and the boat was coming near. People jumped up and screamed, waving their arms. I shut my eyes, letting tears fall from them as I held my family close.

This was hope.

"…And that's what happened." I finished, my voice choked. I held a picture of me and Kagome back when we were in high school. I smiled down at her, trying to calm my hurting heart. I looked up from the picture and to the young man with emerald eyes and orange red hair.

He was silent, stunned into shock. Tears fell from his eyes as he covered his mouth in horror. I looked at him with a sadness that I could not describe. My own eyes drowning in salt water. Suddenly he leapt into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably into my shoulder.

I held him tight, stroking his head, trying to not cry myself.

"I-I love you, dad." He whispered over and over again. I kissed his temple, telling him I loved him back.

It had been years since the rescue. I had kept all this from Shippo until today. He had just finished university.

He was a doctor.

I raised him on my own. He had grown into a man I could be proud of. He had been on the honour roll his whole academic life. He never knew he had a sister… or what his mother was like.

"…Kagome… your mom… she loved you more than life itself. And Shiori, she was so quiet… but everyday she would play with you." I whispered as he cried in my arms. I can't explain the pain I feel whenever I think back to my little Shiori, or my beautiful Kagome. Whenever I think back to the days of suffering on that island…when I think of Kagura or the others…

We suffered more than life should ever have brought. The others had eaten their own friends and family to survive and now… now we were saved.

I had seen some of the others through the years. I was told some had killed themselves, unable to live with what they had done. I held Shippo tighter to me.

"I never knew… Dad, I never knew how much you had to suffer… I never understood. But now I know. Now I know everything and Dad… I just want to say something..." I smiled at him, letting him continue… seeing so much of Kagome and Shiori in him, in the way he smiled, the way he held onto to me.

"I love you and thank you… thank you for never giving up on hope."

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A/N: Holy I was bawling when I wrote this! Now, for those who gagged at the whole, people eating other people thing, know that, that is a true story. There were people who ate each other while escaping from Vietnam, but do not look down on them. Never look down on them. They were scared to die; they fought to live and after everything they have been through don't ever look down on them.

They are people, like you and I. They fought to survive. They fought to love and they fought to hope. Don't ever forget that. These people have gone through too much to be bothered with the likes of people who think they are better than them. Seriously. This is life. This is real and if you guys even so much as review saying how disgusting it is, or how those people shouldn't be allowed to live, I will make sure to block you.

I mean it.

Don't ever joke about this.

Anyways, this was only one story in the sea of thousands. I hope you all understand that in life, people suffer but they also hope. Because sometimes hope is all we have left. I wish everyone that suffered through this horror happiness within the sadness, love within the hate and hope within the hopeless.

Take care,

Vixen