Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Warning: This story is rated M for adult content. There are no lemons, but there is physical violence and suggestions of rape. You have been warned.
Kagome sighed when she saw the soul collectors flying overhead. She knew that any second now her favorite hanyou would be heading out to follow them. She wasn't really angry at him. She knew it was an automatic response. He didn't even think about going to see Kikyo, or how it made anyone else feel. He just went.
Sure enough, Inuyasha noticed the soul collectors. A slight wind carried his whisper of Kikyo from his lips as he took off after them to see his first love. Kagome stiffened her resolve and took off after him. She knew no one would try to stop her. They all trusted Inuyasha would make sure no harm would come to Kagome. However, Kagome had decided she wouldn't try to stop him this time.
She was tired of always watching Inuyasha and Kikyo embracing. She didn't want to hear his words of endearment, or his promises to keep her safe and watch over her. Didn't he know by now how much that hurt Kagome? She may have decided she wanted to stay with him, but that didn't mean she had to watch the two of them together. Enough was enough. If he was going to see her, then she could go home and spend one more night in her warm, soft bed.
Kagome was glad that they hadn't left Kaede's village yet. It meant she had would make it to the well, and her time without needing the help of Kirara or her bike. Plus, she could be back and ready to go before anyone would miss her. She might even get back before Inuyasha did.
When Kagome was sure she was far enough away from the village to not be seen, she changed directions. She knew it would take longer to go around the village, but she didn't want to run the risk of anyone seeing her and trying to change her mind. They would try to convince her to go after Inuyasha and bring him back. She wouldn't do it.
She ran as fast as she could towards the well that would take her back to her time. She imagined what her family would say when they saw her back so soon. She wasn't too worried though. As soon as she explained the situation, they would let her be. Then she would be free to hide in her room and wallow in self-pity.
Kagome slowed down as she neared the well. She was close enough now, that even if anyone DID notice her change of direction and decided to come after her, she would still make it. The only person that could follow her once she was through the well was Inuyasha, and he was a little busy at the moment.
Just as she was about to reach her destination, Kagome heard a voice. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Kagome froze. "You look like you need some fun," the owner of the voice leered as he stepped out of the shadows. He walked to Kagome as his eyes raked over her body.
"Go away," Kagome called out. She did not recognize the person, but she was sure he was human.
"Now sugar, don't be like that. It's obvious you like to play. Look at how short that strange dress of yours is. Besides, you're out here all alone in the dark. It seems to me like you like it dangerous."
"No, thank you. I'm busy."
"No, you're not busy yet, but you will be soon." The man kept walking to Kagome as she kept walking backwards away from him. If it had been a demon she wouldn't hesitate to purify him with her powers, but she was loath to hurt another human being.
Soon Kagome's back was up against a tree. The man was right up in her face. He reached up to her face and held her chin. Slowly his mouth came towards hers. She could smell his rancid breath as she tried to decide the best course of action.
"No," Kagome cried. He didn't pause. Kagome decided she wasn't going to let this happen to her just because she didn't want to hurt another human. She hoped a small pulse of her powers would make him pause enough that she could get away. She put her hand on the arm that was holding her chin and pulsed. The man flinched and froze. Then he got mad.
"You dare try to fight me bitch?" He yelled as he slapped Kagome hard on her face. The hand that was holding her chin moved to her throat. "I was going to be nice and gentle with you and let you enjoy what was to come. But if you're not going to play nice, either will I." He punched Kagome in the stomach.
Kagome struggled to breath and gather her power. She still didn't like hurting humans, but this was self-defense now. Unfortunately, the hand on her throat was making it difficult to concentrate on anything but getting some air into her lungs.
The man leaned down and forced his mouth on hers. When she tried to move her head his other hand grabbed her face and forced it back. His mouth crushed against hers. He used his tongue to force her mouth open. When he slipped his tongue into her mouth she bit down on it as hard as she could.
The man cried out in pain and slapped Kagome again. Her legs gave out from under her as she started to lose consciousness from lack of oxygen. As she fell down against the tree the hand around her neck let go of her. She felt a moment of relief as she gasped for breath, but it didn't last long. Soon she felt feet kicking her. It felt like every inch of her had been kicked. She felt the cool night air where she once felt clothes. Her last thoughts before her brain shut down was, "I should have followed Inuyasha instead."
Inuyasha came strolling into the village just after daybreak. He was happy. He had gotten the chance to spend the night with Kikyo. It was a good night, but he was ready to move on with the search for the Sacred Jewel shards.
As Inuyasha got closer to the hut where all his friends were Shippo came barreling out. "Inuyasha, where's Kagome?" the little fox demon demanded.
"How the hell should I know where Kagome is?" Inuyasha snarled back.
"Why didn't you bring her back with you? It's bad enough you take off to see Kikyo without a second thought towards Kagome, but then you just leave her behind? You really are selfish Inuyasha!" shippo yelled at him.
"What do you mean, why didn't I bring her back? She didn't go with me."
"Yes she did. We all saw her run off after you last night."
"I'm telling you, she didn't come with me!"
The two boys yelling had brought the rest of the group outside. Miroku walked up to Inuyasha and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Listen to me Inuyasha, this is really important. Are you positive that Kagome didn't follow you to Kikyo? Is there any chance you are wrong?"
Inuyasha looked at Miroku. "I'm telling you there is no way she followed me. I made sure, because this morning I realized that I hadn't had any sign from her all night like I normally do. I sniffed around, and she had been nowhere near us last night. I figured she either didn't see me leave, or wanted to give me space."
"Inuyasha, I'm worried about her." Sango spoke up. "She left right after you did last night. She was following you. But if you say she wasn't there, then something must have happened to her. Please help us find her."
"She's really not here?" Inuyasha looked at his friends. "If this is a joke, it's not funny." His friends just looked at him worry for their friend clear on their faces. "Let's go," he yelled as he took off using his nose to follow her scent. The others trailed behind him.
Inuyasha stopped when Kagome's scent left his own. "She was definitely following me up to this point. Then she went another direction. I'm not sure why though. I can't smell anything out of the ordinary. There was no one else here."
"Continue following her scent. Maybe we can figure out what happened." Miroku spoke up.
"Well, of course I'm going to continue following her, stu-pid." Inuyasha raced off again.
Soon it became apparent to the others where Kagome was heading.
"Hold on, Inuyasha," Sango called out ahead to her friend. Inuyasha slowed down to wait for them. "If Kagome keeps going in this direction, she would be going to the well. Maybe she decided to go home instead of watching you and Kikyo together again."
"Makes sense to me," Miroku chimed in. "Maybe we should go back to the village and wait for her there. She probably just slept in later than she thought she would."
"No way. If that wench thinks she can get away with making us worry like that, I'm going to make her regret it."
"Inuyasha, you're the one that ran off after Kikyo and left her alone!" shippo yelled at him.
"Keh. That doesn't give her the right to take off on her own like that. Especially at night. I'm going to get her and bring her back."
"If you do that now, she's just going to get mad at you. I'm pretty sure the reason she left in the first place is because of you running after Kikyo last night."
"Miroku is right. If we go back to the village and wait for her, she'll be in a better mood than if you barge into her time and forcibly bring her back. I'm sure she won't be gone too long. She just got back as it was."
Inuyasha stared at his friends. "Fine, but if she's not back soon, I'm going after her."
"Buyo! Come back Buyo," Sota called to the cat. The cat had wandered into the building that housed the well again. It's not that he was scared, but the last time Buyo had gone in there Kagome was attacked by a giant centipede. No way did he want something like that to happen again.
Sota opened the door and peeked inside the dark room. Maybe he could go get grandpa to get Buyo or something. No, he didn't want the anyone to make fun of him and call him a chicken. He opened the door a little wider and put one foot inside the door. As soon as his toe touched the floor he heard a groaning coming from the well. Sota turned around and booked it out of there.
"Grandpa, grandpa! There's something in the well. What are we going to do? Inuyasha and Kagome are in Inuyasha's time. I don't want to be eaten by a demon!"
"What are you talking about boy? There are no demons in the shrine. I used my own sutras to guard against demons after Kagome went through."
"Grandpa, I'm telling you, there's something in there. I heard it when I was looking for Buyo. Just come check it out with me." Sota pulled his grandpa along to the building with the well. The two went into the building and waited.
"I don't hear or see anything. I told you my sutras would keep out any demons."
"Well I heard something, and it came from inside the well. Maybe it's just waiting until we get closer and then it will devour us."
"Stop being foolish. I'll prove it to you, there's nothing down there." Grandpa walked up to the well. "See, there's nothing down there, stop being a baby." Grandpa started to turn around when something inside the well caught his eye, but it wasn't a demon.
"Sota, go get a blanket and have your mother call the paramedics."
"What's wrong, Gramps?"
"That's not a demon in the well, it's your sister. She looks hurt. Now run and do what I said."
Sota ran off to find a blanket and his mom. He found his mom and told her what grandpa said. Then he ran and got a blanket from the closet. He ran back to grandpa and handed him the blanket. Grandpa threw the blanket into the well, hoping it would cover Kagome. He was too old to get in and out of the well himself.
A few minutes later Kagome's mom came in. "Sota, be a dear and go wait for the paramedics so you can show them where to come please."
"Okay mama. I hope Kagome's going to be okay."
"We all do dear, now run along."
Sota ran to the front of the shrine to wait for the paramedics. While he was gone Kagome's mom turned to grandpa. "Do you think Inuyasha's okay? I can't imagine why he would let her come through the well like this and not take her to the hospital himself. I wonder what happened."
"All I know is, when I see that boy I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. I let my granddaughter go off to another time and he's supposed to protect her. You call this protecting Kagome?"
Sota came in with the paramedics right behind him. The looked in the well and saw Kagome on the ground covered by the blanket. "Does anyone here know what happened?" one of them asked while the others got their equipment ready to get her out of the well.
"I'm sorry, we don't. She was supposed to be gone for a while. Sota heard her when he was chasing our cat trying to get him back in the house."
One of the paramedics had climbed down into the well to check Kagome's vital signs. "Well, she's definitely alive, but it looks like she was attacked. It doesn't look like anything life threatening, but we'll need to get her to the hospital to see all the damages."
The paramedics lowered a spinal board into the well with some rope. The paramedic gently placed Kagome on the board before it was raised up carefully out of the well. They loaded her onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. Kagome's mom jumped in with them telling grandpa and Sota she would call them later.
Kagome woke up in a white room she didn't recognize. "Wh… Where am I?" she asked out loud. "Why do I hurt so much?"
"Oh, Kagome," her mom cried. "You're awake. We've all been so worried about you."
"What do you mean you've been worried about me? What happened?"
"We found you in the well. You were really banged up. The doctor said you have a lot of swelling and bruising and three broken ribs. He said based on your scars you are lucky that's all the damage there is. It looked like you were attacked. Do you remember what happened? Where was Inuyasha?"
At the mention of Inuyasha the memories came flooding back to her. "Oh, mama!" she cried. "It was awful. I was coming back home to spend the night in my own bed and there was some guy there. He attacked me. I tried to fight back, to get him off me, but I couldn't"
"Why were you coming back? Where was Inuyasha while all this happened?"
"Well, Inuyasha ran off to go be with Kikyo, and since we hadn't left the village yet, I decided I wanted to sleep in my own bed one more night. I didn't want to sit around and wait for Inuyasha to remember me and come back. So, I took off after him, but then ran to the well instead of following him."
"Hmmm. I'm not so sure we should tell your grandpa the truth right now. He's already upset at Inuyasha not protecting you. Maybe we should pretend you can't remember what happened. That might be best for the cops too."
"Sure mama. How long was I out of it?"
"Just for a couple hours. It's almost 3:00. I'm going to go call grandpa and let him and Sota know you woke up."
"Okay mama."
Inuyasha was pacing in front of the little shack. "Where is she, Miroku? You said if I didn't go get her she'd calm down and come back in a good mood. She's not back. I shouldn't have listened to you."
"Calm down Inuyasha. Maybe she's more upset than we thought. Are you sure she didn't see you doing anything with Kikyo that would make her angry?"
"Of COURSE I'm sure!" snarled Inuyasha.
"Don't yell at me. I'm not the one that ran off and left her behind."
Inuyasha growled at his friend. "It's not my fault she wanted to go home. How do we even know that's where she went? That's it I'm not waiting here any longer for her to get her lazy ass back. I'm going after her."
"Are you sure that's a wise decision?"
"I don't care! She's not getting off that easy!" Inuyasha took off towards the well. Miroku and the others followed behind him.
Inuyasha slowed down when he got to the well. He spun around on the others when they came into the clearing. "Damn it! Why did you guys stop me from going after Kagome?"
"Inuyasha what's wrong?" Sango asked.
"I smell blood. Kagome's blood. She's been hurt."
"Are you sure?" Miroku asked.
Inuyasha growled. "Of course I'm sure." Then he jumped through the well and into Kagome's time.
Inuyasha walked into the house. He could smell the old man and the little boy there, but there was no scent of where Kagome or her mom were. He walked up to Sota, "Where is she?" He asked.
"Inuyasha! You're okay! We thought you were hurt… or dead."
"Listen kid, I'm not messing around. Don't make me ask again."
"She's at the hospital. She was in really bad shape when we found her." Sota realized he was talking to himself.
Inuyasha was out the door (making sure to grab a hat as he left)before the kid finished talking. He ran across the tops of the buildings as fast as he he got to the hospital he put the hat on to cover his ears. He walked in and wondered how exactly he was going to find Kagome. There were too many smells for him to sniff her out.
As he stood there wondering what to do, Kagome's mom walked into the lobby. "Inuyasha, it's so nice to see you." She gave him a hug. "Come take a walk with me." She grabbed his arm and pulled him with her.
When they got out of the building and around the side she stopped and turned to face Inuyasha. "Sota called me and told me you were on your way here. I thought it would be best if we talked before I let you see Kagome."
Inuyasha stared at Mrs. Higurashi, waiting to hear what she wanted to tell him.
"She will be okay, Inuyasha." Inuyasha felt a small amount of relief to know she would be okay, but only a small relief.
"Did she tell you what happened?"
Mrs. Higurashi nodded. "She said that when you went after Kikyo last night, she didn't want to wait around her you. She decided to come home for the night. When she got to the well, there was someone there. He tried to kiss her, and she tried to stop him. When she fought back it made him angry, and he started to hurt her. She didn't go into details, but there are hand prints around her neck, and her body is covered in bumps and bruises. She also has three broken ribs."
Mrs. Higurashi put a hand on Inuyasha to keep him where he was and to try to calm him down.
"I'm going to find the bastard and kill him!" Inuyasha snarled.
"Hold on, there's more I need to tell you."
Inuyasha froze. What could be worse than Kagome beaten to a pulp?
"Kagome said she blacked out while she was being beaten by the man, so she has no recollection of what happened after. When she was found, her clothes were torn to shreds. The doctors say that when he was done beating her, he took advantage of her. I'm guessing when he was done he threw her in the well to rot."
Inuyasha jerked away from Mrs. Higurashi. "Where is she? I need to see her."
"She's in room 507. She may not be awake. They have her on some pain meds that make her sleepy."
"It doesn't matter. I need to see her." He was off, looking for Kagome before anyone could stop him. He got to the door of Kagome's room. He went inside and looked at her laying there. She was covered in tubes. As he walked to her bed she turned to look at him.
"Inuyasha," she breathed.
"Kagome."
"I'm so sorry I ran off Inuyasha. I know I shouldn't have. I… I just… I didn't want to feel like the third wheel again." Tears were running down her face. "I promise not to run off again. Please don't hate me."
Inuyasha climbed next to her on her bed, being careful not to disturb anything. "Hate you? Why would I hate you? I mean, sure it was pretty stupid to run off on your own like that, but that's no reason to hate you."
Kagome sniffed. "You mean that?"
"Of course I do, and it should be you that hates me. If I hadn't run off to see Kikyo, you would never have run off by yourself. So, are you gonna hate me now?"
Kagome shook her head. "Never."
"Good. This place stinks. How much longer do you have to stay here?"
"The doctors want me to stay here overnight, but I'm not supposed to do anything to strenuous for a month at least. I'm pretty sure that includes traveling through a well to the Feudal Era to fight demons and collect soul shards."
"Keh. You just did this to get out of working."
"Yeah, that's right." Kagome mumbled as she started to fall asleep.
Inuyasha watched her sleep for a minute then hopped off her bed. He walked into the hall where Mrs. Higurashi was standing, wanting to give them some time alone together. "She's sleeping. I'm going back to let the others know what happened and find the scumbag that did this to her."
Mrs. Higurashi put a hand out to stop him. "Be careful, and come back soon."
Inuyasha nodded and left for the shrine.
Sango, Miroku and Shippo were waiting for Inuyasha when he jumped out of the well.
"What happened?"
"Is she okay?"
"Why isn't she back with you?"
Inuyasha explained what happened the night before. "I need you guys to find the guy that hurt Kagome and take care of him."
"Really? I thought you'd want to handle that yourself," Miroku stated.
"I do, but there's two things I know right now. First, if I go I'll probably lose control, and I don't want to go full demon. Second, there's something more important that I need to do right now. I'm not going to let Kagome get hurt again because of me."
Sango nodded. "Don't worry about it Inuyasha, we'll deal with this. Shippo and Kirara can help us find him. You just do what you need to do."
"When I'm done with my thing I'm going back to Kagome. So if there's any pressing business you need to attend to do it while we're gone. That means any gravesites you want to visit, sharpening of weapons, anything. Because when we get back we're not stopping for trivial things like that."
Inuyasha walked to where he knew she was sitting waiting for him. She knew he was here, she always knew when he was close.
"Inuyasha why are you here again so soon?"
"I'm here to tell you it's time to move on. I have to move on. I'll never be able to forgive myself for what happened all those years ago, but I can't let it hinder me now. I've got a job to do, and part of that is protecting Kagome. I can't do that if I run off and leave her. I almost lost her, I'm not going to make the same mistake twice."
"I see. Then I guess this is goodbye Inuyasha. Take care of yourself, and Kagome."
Inuyasha carried Kagome up to her bedroom and laid her down gently on the bed. "I'm not lame,you know. I could have walked."
"No way. I'm not going to let you hurt yourself more."
"So, tell me, what happened with they guy that did this to me?"
"Honestly I don't know. I let the others take care of that problem."
"Really? I thought for sure you wouldn't be satisfied until you had torn him limb from limb."
"I thought about it, but I had something more important to do."
"Oh yeah, what was that?"
"I told Kikyo that I wasn't going to run after her anymore. I told her that I wasn't going to put you at risk again."
"You're joking."
"Not even close. I almost lost you, Kagome. I'm not going to let it get that close ever again." Inuyasha leaned in towards Kagome. His lips gently pressed against hers.
"I love you too, Inuyasha."