Monsters

Chapter one. ghosts, memories, and belts

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha

Inspired by Masters of Horror.

Itailics are memories or spirits.

Kagome stared out at the grey sky. Her once vivid blue eyes were grey and unseeing as she sat staring out of the window. Her short black hair was mussed. Her small hands rested on her fleece covered thighs, her long delicate fingers entwined. Her back was ram-rod straight, her small mouth was pressed into a straight line, her small feet crossed at the ankles. Her mind was elsewhere.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted as he cut through the men who were attacking her. She held her daughter's body in her arms as she trembled in shock rocking back and forth. InuYasha knelt in front of her. "Kagome?" He reach a trembling hand, touching the still warm skin of his daughter. "Yume?"

She was dead. InuYasha let out a chilling, mournful howl.

Kagome was brought out of her thoughts by the screen door slamming against the metal frame. It woulds seem her husband had finally deemed to grace her with his presence. Kagome listened as he kicked his shoes off. Then she heard his uneven, heavy footsteps stumble closer to her seat in the kitchen. She felt as if a cold ball had settled in her stomach. Kagome slowly closed her eyes.

She unfolded her hands and rose to her bare feet. The linoleum floor sending a cold chill up her long legs all the way up to the roots of her hair. Slowly she opened her eyes as she turned to face him. He was framed in the doorway. His brown hair was disheveled. His cloths stained,with who knows what. His brown eyes were wild as he took in the sight of her standing barefoot in the dining room of the house they rented.

This was Hojo Ken.

Her absentee husband.

Former valedictorian and pharmacist. Until he started taking the pills himself.

Kagome used to think he was boring.

She was wrong.

She used to think he was too nice, giving her all those gifts.

She was right. He was a predator. She found out the hard way.

He moved them to America as soon as they were married. He cut off all communication with her family. He plied her with gifts. He took control of the furnaces. Then he'd say horrible things. To break her down. Apologize, repeat. He didn't start out hitting her.

That came later.

Hojo scowled, cocked his fist back and slugged her. Light burst from behind her eyes and she fell to her knees. Then he grabbed her by her hair and drug her into the living room. Insulting her along the way. Kagome tried to get her feet under her but he threw her onto the coffee table. The table broke with the force she hit it. She curled up as he continued to beat her and retreated inside herself. Into the palace of her mind, something was drawing her..

Her palace was beautiful with its vaulted ceilings and sliding paper doors. Kagome was pulled deeper into her mind until she got to were she kept the memories of the feudal era. She slid the door open and stepped into a meadow dominated by the god tree. She leaned her head against the trees warm, rough, bark. Enjoying the scent of the flowers around her she waited.

"I hate to see you like this."

Kagome looked out the corner of her eye. "InuYasha?"

There the hanyou stood his strong arms crossed over his broad chest. His light grey hair blowing slightly in the warm breeze.

"I thought you'd be better off without me." He continued. He narrowed large topaz eyes at her. "I failed you and our daughter."

"InuYasha, you didn't make those men attack us. I should of been stronger." She closed her eyes. She felt like she wanted to cry. She felt sick. Kagome flinched when she felt InuYasha's strong arms around her. His corded muscles flexed against her as her small form was lost in his billowing scarlet sleeves.

"You didn't make them attack you either..." "But..."She interrupted. He squeezed her slightly.

"But nuthin' Don't punish yourself for something those freaks did. You're a warrior, It's about time ya started actin' like it."

"InuYasha,..." She tried.

He let her go. "It's almost time fore me to move on." Kagome turned towards him. "So, your dead?" She asked.

InuYasha looked away from her then back. His white ears pricked in her direction. "Feh, I've been dead for like a hundred years, it just took me awhile to find you. When I do I find this!" He gestured towards some of Kagome's memories of Hojo. "You letting this pussy smack you around cause your feelin sorry for yourself. Didn't ya learn anything from us!" He shouted. "Sango's probably spinin in her grave, After how hard she worked with you after Yume died, so it wouldn't happen again, your letten it!."

Kagome looked away. "You don't understand." She muttered. InuYasha snorted.

"I'm a half breed, people used ta treat me like hobo treats you, except I was a kid, I was smaller then you, I didn't know how ta fight. You do, We taught ya, we taught ya cause we love ya." InuYasha blushed slightly. "We didn't want ya ta get hurt again. But ya are, aren't you. Nothin we said ta ya got through did it? This is how ya honor us? Me? Yume? By forsaken us? " InuYasha looked up at the blue sky. "I never stopped loving ya Kagome." He looked back at her. " I still do."He closed his eyes as took a deep breath. "My time is up."

Kagome embraced him, he returned the favor. He ran a clawed hand through her hair.

"Listen good, Kagome, I'm gunna say this once..."

"Inu.." Kagome sobbed.

"What I want ya to do is get yer head out your ass an' fight, prove to us we did the right thing trainin you. I want you to be happy." InuYasha was nearly gone. "Don't stop till ya drop Kagome. I love you." With that he was gone from her mind, is grip on her released and she was snapped back into the real world.

Kagomeshot up from were she lay, inhaling sharply. Her whole body hurt and she was naked. Kagome gingerly sat up and looked around. Hojo was on the floor next to her. He was naked too. Kagome got up and gathered their cloths out of habit. She took Hojo's black leather belt out of his slacks and put all their cloths in the laundry.

She took the belt and limped to her room and got dressed on a pair of jeans and a sweater. As she got dressed she thought about what InuYasha's ghost had said. She looked in the mirror above her dresser and saw the bruise starting to form. She touched it. Looking at herself in wonder, as if seeing herself for the first time. What had she let happen to herself?

Coming to a decision, Kagome moved to the closet and stuffed some cloths in a duffel bag. Shewent to do the same with her underware and socks. She stuffed Hojo's hunting knife into it too.

"Where do you think your going Kagome.?"

The question caused her to freeze. She slowly turned to her husband who was leering at her from the door. Taking a deep breath she looked him in he eye.

"I don't answer to you anymore." She stated. Surprised at how calm her voice was.

His face twisted and he stalked towards her. She felt herself begin to shake with fear. Hojo licked his thin lips, enjoying the way she reacted to him.

'Use it." Sango's voice rang through kagome's mind. A memory of her training so long ago "Get angry. they have no right to make you feel this way." Kagome nodded at the memory. Hojo clenched his fist. "It takes more energy to miss then it does to hit." She heard Sango say.

Hojo swung at her, she dodged and grabbed the belt she left on the bed. The image of one of the men who killed her daughter was superimposed over him as he turned to face her again.

"Hold still bitch!" He shouted. Stalking over to her again. Kagome felt a cold anger fill her. She remembered Yume. She remembered the baby she lost because of his beatings. Because she let him hurt her. She remembered that she was pregnant again.

"It is your divine right to protect yourself, even if you have to kill a human." Kagome got a good grip on the belt.

"When they choose to hurt you, they are giving you their lives."Sango's memory explained. Kagome dodged Hojo and spun around behind him.

"I won't disappoint you guys anymore." Kagome said out loud and she looped the belt around Hojo's neck and pulled.

He gagged and fell back on top of the bed. He clawed at the belt and struggled against her.

"Never again." She whispered.

Her body was tingling as adrenalin flowed into her body. She wrapped her long legs around Hojo's waist and pulled tighter.