Okay, so let's get the boring stuff over with first.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Inuyasha ever, nor will I ever, it is not mine I am merely borrowing the characters and names and such because I have limited creativity in my body.

Now then, let me continue here. This would be my first fan fiction…ever not that there haven't' been attempts, but they have been for lack of a better word lame or stupid depending on your preference of word. As you can see, I do not own a thesaurus and thus cannot come up with words better than that to describe my work. I do hope you enjoy it though. This fic was inspired by a song of the same name, but no it's not a songfic by any stretch. Okay, just to clear some things up, this story takes places during the present day and is set in New York City, New York USA. I realize the names I will be using are Japanese, but now let's ignore this fact and get on with the story. So without further ado, my magnum opus of writing…

At Night

Chapter I: Only in New York

New York City, center of the universe, or at least this was true for the million plus people that lived there, worked there, or traveled there every day. It was the modern jungle. Yes, it contained some animal life, some squirrels, the odd pigeon or two or eighty thousand, but the real separation was among the people that lived there. There are members of every social class living and working together on the same islands next to each other and interacting with each other every day. And you're either one of the elite, perhaps working as a Vice President or CEO of a Fortune 500 company or just he opposite, and be living destitute and homeless. It is in New York especially that these two groups meet frequently, and that is how this story begins.

It was a cold day in mid November marking the end of Fall and the beginning of Winter. The temperature had been steadily declining for two weeks making it Nye unbearable to wear anything less than a coat, gloves, and a scarf. New Yorkers, not known for their kind and friendly demeanor in the first place were even more irritable than usual as they hurried along to get out of the cold, and thus colorful language was added to the already prodigious noise level of the city. Thankfully, the wind was dying down granting some relief from the cool weather of the day. Pedestrians walked by on foot, bundled up tightly in winter coats, some with gloves and hats or scarves, and the occasional oddball who still wore earmuffs, some talking on cell phones, others chatting with friends, some tourists reading maps, attempting to find their way back to Grand Central Station to take Metro North home to White Plains, New Rochelle, Greenwich, Bridgeport or the various other stops along the way back from the city. So out of the hundreds upon hundreds of people walking up or across Madison Avenue and East 42nd Street every minute there was one young man who was particularly inconsequential. Point in fact, most people who passed by him were purposely avoiding him. He was fairly average in most ways. He was dressed in thick brown winter boots that were stained with various substances, some dirty blue jeans that were slightly too large for him, a tattered gray woolen sweater clung to his skinny frame, a faded winter overcoat that was dark and dirty was draped over him, a red scarf that was slightly ragged, but cleaner than the rest of his apparel hung loosely about his neck, and matching gloves adorned his hands, with holes in most of the fingers and one slightly larger one and the palm of the left glove. He stood up 6'1 and had long silver white hair came down his back, crowned curiously by two white dog ears, and intense bright golden eyes scanned the crowd. Yes, he was a hanyou, a half demon, but no one seemed to bear that any mind. Point in fact; it was not all that atypical this day and age. He sat nonchalantly on an upturned crate, a paper cup from McDonalds in his clawed hand.

A pretty young woman with long black hair was drawing closer dressed elegantly in a knee length black skirt, white blouse, and suit jacket, over that a winter pea coat that she held closed tightly with her free hand. In her hand she held a briefcase that seemed on the verge of bursting from everything that was crammed inside of it. On her shoulder was slung a nice Coach handbag and as she passed by the young man, his voice penetrated the noise of the city.

" 'Scuse me Ma'am. Can you spare some change?" he asked politely, smiling and holding out the cup and shaking it so that the few nickels and dimes in it jangled slightly.

The young woman gave a small start as she was thrown out of her world and locked eyes for the briefest of moments before blushing slightly, and mumbling something indistinguishable, shaking her head and hurrying off down the street.

A tall man approached from the opposite direction, carrying a copy of the Wall Street Journal in one hand, his coat in the other. He was dressed elegantly in a dark Armani suit and patent leather shoes, hair styled perfectly to frame his face. A nice winter coat and Kashmir scarf.

The youth tried again, "Sir, any extra change you could..." He trailed off as the man in the Armani suit didn't even glance at him and continued to walk by.

A third man walked by dressed as elegantly as the first one accompanied by two other men dressed strikingly similarly.

"Hey sir 'scuse me…'scuse me…do you have any…" the young man tried once again to get there attention, but was once again passed by and ignored. The ears on the top of his head drooped dejectedly.

Inuyasha sighed to himself and gave a contemptuous, but half hearted 'Feh' as people continued to pass by. The crowds were thinner now, the afternoon rush all, but over. He looked up to watch the sun dip behind one of the taller buildings around his spot, causing the sunlight to filter through the glass, cascading him in broken light. He closed his eyes and drank these last few moments of sunlight, inhaling sharply through his nose, causing him to cough. He brought up his dirty ragged sleeve to cover his mouth. It had not been a good day although that was an understatement. He was tired and sore, and putting himself through the humiliation of begging for peoples spare change was really trying to ones self confidence and self esteem. He was just plain irritated and angry. People would barely look at him on the street and when he did he was met with quick hurried stares full, some fearful afraid he might jump out and attack them or something. "I may be homeless, but I ain't crazy" Inuyasha mused to himself rubbing his sore back. The noise caused a couple passing by to look over and stare at him a mixture of superiority, contempt, and pity on their faces. He could see the judgment pass over their faces as they slowed there walk ever so slightly.

"What!" he growled at them, his eyes flashing with anger at being stared at like a sideshow freak. He didn't no where the rage came from sparked suddenly from the cold his need for dignity and his desire to be treated like a person. "You never seen a homeless person before?" he practically shouted at them.

The couple startled picked up there pace, but not before one, in typical New York style glanced over there shoulder and yelled back at him, "Get a job, you lazy bum".

Inuyasha stayed standing slack jawed unable to come up with a decent comeback other than a lame, hesitantly shouted "Oh yeah?" before he slumped back onto the crate he'd been sitting on a little harder than he'd meant to and it gave a crack as it split cleanly in two causing him to topple to the hard pavement with a loud 'Oof'. He angrily tossed the broken pieces of the crate away. He looked around at the street to watch the retreating form of the couple vanish in the distance.

"Living on the street is no dream of anyone's pal" he sighed miserably. He picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off, though it helped very little. He'd have to find a new crate tomorrow, or else sit on cold hard pavement all day. He reached down and picked up a little rucksack that carried the few meager possessions he had and slung it over his shoulder. He pulled his coat tight around himself, suppressing a shiver and began walking down the street. He poured the few contents of the cup into his hand and poked at the change with a dirty clawed finger.

"And a grand total of sixty-seven cents and two Canadian nickels," he said aloud to no one in particular. There was practically no one on the streets at this point, most at home or in one of New York's hundreds of restaurants getting dinner. A police officer nearby looked up as he spoke, but glanced back to the ticket he was writing to an illegally parked car, paying Inuyasha no more mind.

"Well, I can afford to buy absolutely fuckel to eat tonight" he mused to himself bitterly. "Guess this is going into my savings account". He placed the change into the pocket in his coat, the one without the hole and kept walking increasing his pace to keep his body temperature up.

He had a ways to go before he got back to his ally despite the angry protests of his stomach that he should find some food first. "Not now, stomach, we'll have this argument later" Inuyasha mumbled to himself as he loafed along. His stomach gave another angry growl as if to say, 'No, we'll have this argument now'. Inuyasha stopped in his tracks balled up a fist and struck himself in the stomach, a decision he immediately regretted. "No, we'll have this argument later" he said weakly trying to catch his breath having knocked the wind out of himself. His stomach remained silent for a time giving the occasional rumble to remind him however.

Glancing up ahead he hurried to make the crosswalk before the light changed, but as soon as he reached the curb the light winked back to an almost mocking 'DON'T WALK' sign and traffic immediately began moving making it impossible for him to cross. He crossed his arms over his chest and muttered another 'Feh' and added a 'stupid smart-aleck crossing sign' for good measure. A woman accompanied by her small daughter came up beside yet slightly behind him. The young girl leaned around her mother to look at Inuyasha curiously for a moment. Inuyasha looked down at the girl and smiled a little bit, but the girl wrinkled her nose and tugged on her mom's sleeve.

"Mommy that man smells funny" she said loudly jutting her lower lip forward and glaring at Inuyasha.

The mother's face flushed at the words that had just come out of her daughter's mouth. The light changed again and they took off across the street the girl's mother berating her quietly as they hustled along.

Inuyasha stayed planted for a moment before muttering another 'Feh' and walking slowly across the street. Little kids were the worst, so damn honest. This day kept getting better and better. He glanced up at the night sky, the stars invisible because of the bright New York lights. The moon however was bright and Inuyasha gave it a small smile. The best part of his day was at night, leaving him free to let his mind wander and dream, because in reality that was much better than the life he lived in the daytime. Inuyasha breathed slowly letting all shit he'd dealt with in the daytime fade away. He thought about his future, "Three years, he told himself, just three more years" as he kept walking. He walked on holding onto his optimism dreaming of the one thing that kept him going.

Twenty minutes and multiple blocks later he reached his destination, his little slice of heaven and the place he called home. He was just about to duck into the alley to make his way to the combination of cardboard boxes and wooden planks and assortment of random junk when he heard a short scream that was quickly come from just up ahead of him. He looked up just in time to see two men drag a young woman into a nearby alley. Inuyasha quickly glanced around the street. It was deserted save for himself and he began a moral battle with himself. On one hand it was none of his business and he didn't really feel like getting into a fight with two possibly armed men, on the other hand it was this kind of non-involvement that he hated most about New Yorkers. He gave a fleeting look to his alley and the promise of rest for his weary body, but another muffled scream shook him from his thoughts.

"Ah, screw it, maybe she'll reward me for being her knight in tattered armor" Inuyasha reasoned to himself. Besides, he was still angry and he could take it out on these two losers. He quickly moved closer to the alley and as he did he heard the voices of the two assailants.

"Hang on to 'err, Steve" one of them said.

"I'm trying John, she's a fighter" the other one replied.

"Hold still lady, give us the purse and you won't get hurt" the first voice said threateningly.

A loud 'OUCH' quickly followed and another muffled scream. "She fucking bit me, John. The little bitch, fucking bit me" the second voice, 'Steve', cursed angrily.

Inuyasha turned the corner to see two average sized guys, whom he had already gleaned were John and Steve. In a way it was kind of pathetic, 'Steve' was right she was a fighter. A pretty young woman, nicely dressed with long black hair, and bright hazel eyes, was fighting as if her life depended on it, thrashing and flailing and kicking with her legs, while Steve tried to hold her down and keep her mouth covered, and John tried to get her purse away from her.

Suddenly 'Steve' reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a switchblade knife holding it to the young woman's neck. She immediately stopped moving, her eyes glancing at Steve's eyes and the blade pressed tightly to her throat.

"Now, then, that's much better, now we don't want to hurt you, just give us the purse and we can avoid any further unpleasantries," Steve, the one with the knife said breathing out and grinning as he had now gained the upper hand in all of this. That was when Inuyasha decided to step into this.

"Hey, Stupid and Ugly!" Inuyasha barked at them threateningly to the two thieves.

The two thieves whirled around, startled, to face Inuyasha who was trying to look as intimidating as possible.

The first robber, 'John' stood up to face him. "Beat it ya bum, this is no concern uh yours" he said threateningly.

"Just take a walk before something bad happens to you" the second one chimed in standing up. The young woman just sat there too frightened to move.

"Schmucks" Inuyasha said degradingly, judging from the accents and the 'tough guy' attitudes they were giving him they were from Brooklyn and therefore quite warranting an ass kicking from him. "I'll take a walk once you get off my island, it smells bad enough without you losers here" he taunted the two of them taking a step closer.

"Oh, we got a comedian here, John" Steve said advancing on him with the knife. "I think a proper ass kicking is in order, don't you John?" he asked his cohort, who nodded his head in agreement.

Steve and John, they even had stupid names, these two definitely needed a 'proper ass kicking' to straighten them out. Inuyasha cracked his knuckles and stepped forward to meet Steve who had approached him menacingly with the knife out.

"Look at my thumb" Inuyasha said to Steve extending his left hand and his thumb in the face of Steve.

Steve looked at it curious and confused and thrown off by the strange request. Less than a second later Inuyasha's right fist smashed into his temple knocking him down and causing him to lose his knife. The thief groaned in pain and gripped the side of his face.

"I know I wouldn't want to be hit by me either" Inuyasha said before turning his attention to the other robber, who was busy trying to free something from his pocket. Inuyasha wasted no time hurling his knapsack at the robber not really hurting him much, but causing him to fall to the ground because of the unexpected move. Inuyasha pounced as the robber made to stand up again kicking him in the stomach, causing John to double over in pain gasping.

Steve meanwhile had stood up having recovered from the strike and was moving slowly and slightly awkwardly towards Inuyasha. Inuyasha reacted by grabbing the doubled over John and hurling him into Steve knocking them both over. The two recovered surprisingly quickly and moved to attack again John swinging his fist wildly. He came in with a hook, but Inuyasha had ducked low and swept his legs out from under him with his leg. Rising as Steve came in next to attack he gripped the bottom of his shirt pulling it up over his head locking his arms above his head and exposing him perfectly to the heel of Inuyasha's foot as he delivered a powerful side kick to Steve's chest sending him flying and falling to land on top of John. The two robbers untangled themselves and looked up to see an angry Inuyasha who was advancing on them again, rolling up his sleeves, but the duo had had enough and scrambled to their feet, sliding this way and that before booking it out of the alley and down the street battered and bruised.

"And next time it'll be worse. Stay out of Manhattan!" he yelled to their retreating forms. He turned back and smiled, "Huh, I feel much better" he mused.

He bent down to pick up his knapsack, which had somehow gotten another hole in it and Inuyasha clicked his tongue in disgust. He supposed that was what came from being a nice guy. He finally turned to the young woman slumped against a trash dumpster.

"Hey Miss, its okay…" he began, but trailed off as he looked at her unconscious form. It had all been too much for her and she had passed out.

"Shit" Inuyasha swore and bent down shaking her gently. She mumbled something indistinguishable, but did not come back to consciousness. Inuyasha took the moment to look her over. She was young, around his age and pretty, very pretty, gorgeous in fact. Long black hair, a beautiful complexion, soft skin, full lips, long shapely legs and full firm looking…Inuyasha discontinued this line of thought as it was not polite. She was unconscious after all and that just made it seem even dirtier. He stared at her hard for a moment. She seemed awfully familiar for some reason. He passed it off as he spied something on the ground next to her. It was her purse, still clasped tightly in her hand, the one that she had fought tooth and nail over keeping. Peering at her unconscious form he began another moral battle with himself. She was unconscious so he could take his own reward leave her here and she'd be none the wiser. He reached a slightly shaking hand down to the young woman's purse, but stopped himself. No, he was no thief, poor and hungry, but he was not a thief. Besides, he couldn't just leave her here for someone else to prey on her, more thieves or worse.

He supposed he could take her to the hospital, but they'd ask questions and it was ten blocks to the closest one. He didn't have money for a cab, obviously. She'd probably only be out for a few hours anyway, and maybe if he took care of her she would reward him for that too. Inuyasha bent down and picked her up gently in his arms and she groaned softly, but kept silent other than that. She looked quite peaceful as he carried her out of this alley and down 'his' alley. He winded his way down the labyrinth of passages to the place he called "home".

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So there you go, my first chapter finished and over and done with. Please read it and review it. I would very much appreciate that as this is my first attempt at writing. I would not appreciate flames because there is a wonderful new invention to replace that. It's called constructive criticism, that I would enjoy as I would like to improve my story to the best of my abilities at the current time. The following chapter will be up shortly I promise you that. Until next time

A word of wisdom from yours truly:

"Every fight is a food fight, when you're a cannibal"