Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I just write these for fun.

Author's Note: This is just a bit of fluff I wrote for a friend. Takes place a very long time before the beginning of the series.

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Prologue: Hoping for a Piece of Something

It is human nature to wish for a place to belong. This task is often difficult for ordinary people to accomplish. Some will spend their whole lives trying to find their place, but when you are an extraordinary creature like Inuyasha, this task is harder still…

In feudal Japan, a child was born of a mortal mother, Izayoi, and the great dog demon InuTaisho. This child became Inuyasha. From his birth, his life was difficult and that increased as he grew older. His father died to save his newborn son and the woman he loved. Early in Inuyasha's childhood, his mother was also taken from him and he was left alone. As a half demon, Inuyasha could never be accepted by his human or demon counterparts and was forced to walk a lonely road, hated and feared.

With the death of his mother, Inuyasha lost the only person who had shown him love and kindness. He grew up angry, bitter, and hot tempered. He was also selfish and childish. Inside him he still possessed a human heart and human emotions, but they remained locked away.

In time, Inuyasha would meet two women who would change his life. The first was the priestess Kikyo, who possessed the Sacred Jewel which could grant Inuyasha's wish to become a full-blooded demon. The two should have been enemies, but instead, they fell in love and Inuyasha changed his wish and decided to become a human so that he could stay with Kikyo. The two hopeful lovers were betrayed by the demon Naraku, and in turn, they betrayed each other and the love they shared. Kikyo bound Inuyasha to a tree with a sacred arrow so that he could never come after the Shikon Jewel again. After the spell was placed on Inuyasha, Kikyo, suffering from mortal wounds, died. She ordered the jewel to be burned with her body and so it was taken out of the world until 500 years later, when Kagome Higurashi was born as the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo.

Inside Kagome's body was the Sacred Jewel and she traveled back in time to discover the world of feudal Japan. Here she met Inuyasha and freed him from the Tree of Ages. Although enemies at first, love grew out of their hatred for each other and together they seek to recover the jewel fragments and put an end to the demon Naraku who has caused so much pain.

Long before Inuyasha met these two remarkable women, he accidentally saved the life of a young woman named Corin, who would change his fate and lead him to his true place in the world. This girl unlocked Inuyasha's frozen heart and showed him the way to love. So, I have come to tell her story…