Chapter 1: In the Beginning
Flashback
"Kagome, Souta" Ms Higurashi called to her 7 year old and her 2 year old children, who were playing in the court yard of the shrine.
"Yes, mom?" Kagome said, running up to her mother and brushing her brown hair out of her eyes, with Souta at her heels, holding a little ball.
Ms Higurashi kneeled down, putting a hand on Kagome's shoulder, "You know that nice man that has been coming over for awhile, now?"
Her children nodded.
"Well, we are getting married! I need both of you to go get cleaned up so we can go the shop to pick out your outfits for the ceremony." She said, smiling.
Kagome's brown eyes looked sorrowful, "But Moooommmmy! Me and Souta were playin'!"
"Well, it's time to go dear!" Ms Higurashi said, picking up her crying son, Souta.
Kagome half-heartedly followed her mother inside their house, not knowing what fully lay ahead of her.
Sometime After the Marriage
"Kagome, gimme that ball!" A cold, but superficially sweet, voice said, sending a shiver up Kagome's spine.
"Hello Satome. I'm playing with it now but you can play with it when I'm done." Kagome said to her 10 year old step-sister, looking up and smiling from her place on the floor, the ball held between her hands.
Satome's face turned red as she slapped her little step-sister's face, and then kicked her in the side. Satome's pudgy hands picked up the ball that rolled from Kagome's hands as she clutched her side, tears filling her eyes. "Next time, when I say 'gimme' you'll do it!"
Satome walked away, bouncing the ball happily, as Kagome's tiny frame lay on the ground, shaking with sobs. Her thin arms pushed her off the ground and Kagome ran out of the shrine, down the steps, and to the park down the street. She shook with sobs and she could already feel a bruise on her side. Her face was swollen where she was slapped.
As the park came into view, Kagome panicked slightly, not seeing anyone. "Inuyasha!" She cried, as her eyesight picked up on the boy swinging, who looked up at her. While she ran towards him, he got up and rushed to her side, his silver hair flowing behind him, as his white dog ears twitched with every sniffle she made.
"Kagome" he said, his golden eyes looking at the crying girl in his arms, "What's wrong?"
"Satome-" Kagome cried through her sobs, "Satome hurt me again. All over a ball…" She clenched his shirt as her sobs shook her body violently.
"Kagome!" he exclaimed, "It's getting worse! Look what she did last time!" He pulled up her shirt, where a dark scar, above her belly button, clashed against the creamy skin of the young girl.
Kagome wiped her eyes. "It's Ok, Inuyasha! If she really wanted to hurt me bad she would have already!" she said, unconfidently. She stared in the boy's eyes and felt an uneasy calmness flood through her. She hugged the boy around his waist and squeezed.
Inuyasha looked at her, and then returned the hug, "Don't let her do this, Kagome! You need to tell somebody!"
"No, I can only tell you." she said, starting to cry again. Inuyasha wiped Kagome's eyes and she looked at the sky seeing the pinky orange color of twilight being casting upon the clouds.
"I need to get home." she said limply, burying her face into Inuyasha's shirt, and then pulling away from the safety of his arms. "I'll walk you home, Kagome." Inuyasha said, grabbing her hand, gently goading her to follow him, which she willingly complied to.
"I love you, Inuyasha," Kagome sniffed, her left eye almost swollen closed, "Please, don't ever leave me alone with her."
Inuyasha squeezed Kagome's hand tightly, and then looked back at her. "I love you, too, Kagome. I'll never leave."
End of Flashback