Alright, like I said since chapter 6 is REALLY short, I uploaded two chapters. ^_^ I hope you all enjoy this. Let me know what you think in a review.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
~Chapter 7~
Inuyasha was sitting on the couch at Naraku's apartment, trying not to gag from the thick scent of marijuana in the room. He watched as the older male was introducing the "lucky" new member to the gang. A few other men were by the sofa, leaning against the walls, and waiting in the kitchen.
The newest recruit looked as if he was hardly fourteen or fifteen, not to mention he looked lost. Inuyasha closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, knowing what was about to happen and preparing himself for the inevitable…
"Beat in or putting out a hit?" Naraku grinned to the newcomer, an arm wrapped around the teen's shoulders. Inuyasha could hear the delight in his voice, and it almost made him sicker than he already was. He couldn't understand how Naraku could be getting enjoyment out of putting a teen up to that decision.
The teen furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Naraku. "What do those mean exactly?"
"Well, I'm glad you asked. A beat-in is where a few of the guys here beat the shit out of you until I say stop. Putting out a hit, you'll go and kill whomever I chose."
"Beat in," Inuyasha heard the young male quietly reply after a short pause.
He inwardly swore, and Inuyasha shook his head slightly. 'Idiot…' he thought quietly to himself; it was a catch-22. 'He should have just stayed home…' his mind added. Inuyasha stood up as Naraku beckoned him over, knowing what role he was about to play.
"Take him down to the streets, Inuyasha," Naraku sternly said, no compassion in his voice.
Inuyasha only nodded once and led the young male out of the apartment and out of the complex. They were followed by Naraku and the other men who were in the room. Inuyasha took the young teenager into the middle of the street and turned towards him. His eyes glanced over to his gang members, who all looked pleased and ready to jump in.
"I'm sorry," Inuyasha quietly said, inaudible to the others, but able to be heard by the rookie. After he uttered his apology, Inuyasha pulled his arm back and swung, striking the teen across the jaw, and immediately, the other members joined in. They each took shots at the younger male who was now on the ground, pathetically trying to fight back.
The younger male was in no way prepared for what was happening to him. Inuyasha watched as a foot of one of the gang members rammed into the teen's stomach with no mercy, another alternating punches to the boy's face with another member.
Inuyasha closed his eyes as he swung his foot forward, hitting the recruit in his stomach when it came his turn. He felt sick; he had always hated jumping new members in—it was inhumane. He tried to justify his thoughts. 'At least he won't have to kill an innocent person…'
Inuyasha opened his eyes and looked down at the teen who was now on the defensive, covering his face from further abuse, letting out pained grunts and groans as the merciless beating continued.
Inuyasha looked over at Naraku pleadingly. "Naraku! Call it off! It's been long enough!" he shouted, seeing that the teen recruit was beginning to fade in and out of consciousness.
Naraku's cold eyes shifted from the youngest male to Inuyasha and narrowed. "What did you say? You want to tell me what to do? Matter of fact, yell?" The older male walked over to Inuyasha and pulled him away from the others, causing them to stop. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but you've been getting a little mouthy. So, maybe you're trying to challenge me, huh?"
Inuyasha gulped; he knew Naraku's high was beginning to take over. "Naraku… No. I'm sorry," he said, looking off to the side and taking a small step back.
The streets went quiet as Naraku stepped back towards him, his hand fisting in Inuyasha's shirt. "So, now you're sorry, huh? What do I always say about apologizing? It's for bitches. You're nothing but a pathetic bitch, and so that's how I'm going to treat you!" he growled with fury in his voice.
Inuyasha closed his eyes and braced himself for what he knew was coming his way. He felt Naraku's fist strike the left side of his face. The teen tried his best to desperately pull away, but Naraku threw him to the ground, easily overpowering him.
He felt a sharp jolt race along his side, exploding into his spine. Before he could react, Naraku was over him, bashing his face with his fists. Inuyasha didn't bother to fight back—he knew that would only make things worse. Instead, he attempted to block the fists that were aimed for his face and chest, doing his best to ignore the aching pain in his back.
It was no use; soon, the other members of the gang picked him off the ground and held his arms tightly as Naraku commanded. Inuyasha felt a small trickle of blood roll from his temple down his cheek and reach his neck. It didn't stop his assailant—Naraku kept attacking him in a high rage and continued his strikes against Inuyasha's head.
"You're going to learn your place one way or another!" Naraku lashed. "And let this be a warning to all of you! If I'll beat the shit out of him, I'll gladly do the same to you. I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep!"
During that short pause, Inuyasha spat out blood that pooled into his mouth on the ground. He then received a swift punch to the middle of his gut, causing him to lose his breath. He panted, desperately trying to regain it, sharp pains hitting his lungs from the lack of air.
The side of his face was throbbing, and he couldn't find a gasp of breath. The teen couldn't see clearly out of one of his eyes which was growing swollen, he could taste nothing but blood, and his ribs and back ached.
"Let him go. He can get himself home," Naraku coldly said to the men who were holding Inuyasha's arms. They let him drop to the street. The asphalt scrapped the side of his face, and he watched as they walked away, leaving him in the middle of the road, alone.
—xxxxx—
Kagome walked down the halls of her school, ignoring the few of her friends who attempted to talk to her; other than Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka, the rest ignored her. She didn't care—if they were the kind of "friends" that she was losing, she was more than happy to give them up, albeit they had been her best friends up until her little outburst a few days before.
She hadn't seen Inuyasha in two days and was beginning to wonder what had happened to him. She didn't have his address and had no clue about whether or not he had a cell phone. Her only option was to wait until English class. 'Maybe he's just been ditching… We need to start on our next project, though,' she thought to herself.
It wasn't long after she finished that thought that she walked outside to the lunch area and spotted him at the table they had sat at a few days prior. His head was down on the tabletop. She quirked her eyebrows, wondering if the male was sleeping at the lunch table.
She wandered over and lightly tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey, Inuyasha? I remembered a jacket today…" she said, trying to start a conversation, happy to see he hadn't skipped out on her.
He picked his head up from the table but didn't look at her. "Oh…great. What do you want?" he gruffly asked.
'Joy… He sounds irritated at me, and I haven't even done anything!' she stated in thought, glancing at the open area on the bench next to him.
She quickly sat down beside him and turned her body towards him. "I thought you'd let me sit by you since I've excluded myself from my old group of friends. Besides, you said we're friends now, right?"
"Oh…I need to go do something anyway," he said, trying to keep his monotone voice unsuspicious, but it didn't work. He swore inwardly when she pressed further before he was able to stand.
"What is it, Inuyasha? Is something wrong?" she inquired, seeming legitimately concerned.
"No. It's fine," he responded, still refusing to face her. Kagome wasn't buying it, and she grabbed his chin to turn his face towards hers. Her eyes grew wide at the shocking sight, and she let go immediately.
His face had looked worse than what she had seen before when they met in the hallway. Around his left eye was a giant, light purple bruise, his lip had what she knew was a healing gash in the upper lip, and his cheek had reddish scratches across it.
"Get a good look?" he asked, now angered for reasons unknown to her.
"Inuyasha…what happened to you?" Kagome asked, still shocked by the condition of his face.
"Don't worry about it. It was just a fight. I won. No big deal," he said, hoping she'd drop it there and move on.
"If your face looks like that and you won, I'd hate to see what the guy that lost looks like…" she responded, not sure if his fighting was the true reason because of how defensive he was about it. She sighed and looked down at the table, biting her lower lip, hoping he'd say something.
He didn't respond to her comment and instead changed the topic. "What did I miss in English?"
"Just the announcement that we'll be working on something else for Macbeth… We have to go to the public library and find a Shakespeare book of our choosing and compare the two, like the dialect, similar themes, etcetera. We're supposed to have a couple of pages by Tuesday next week, but since you were gone for a few days this week, the teacher said that we could have until Thursday."
"Alright. What are you looking at, princess?" he nearly growled, lowly, trying to not attract more attention than what was already on them. He didn't mean to snap at her, but he could tell she wasn't just talking to him—her eyes were glued to his scratches and bruises.
"Sorry. I'm just not used to someone randomly showing up with half of their face bruised up, you know?" she explained, only to receive a huff of frustration in response. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
"Stop saying sorry… It's fine." He ran a hand through his bandana-less hair and Kagome saw a healing cut across his forehead. She bite down on her tongue lightly to keep herself from making a comment about it; she didn't want to upset the other any further than what he already was.
Kagome sighed and nodded, fiddling with the zipper to her jacket, and sitting beside him in silence for a few awkward minutes.
"We can go on Sunday and look… Two days," he grumbled.
Kagome looked up at him and nodded, still unsure of what to say.
"I shouldn't have gotten angry at you like that. My face isn't your fault," he said quietly, looking at the grey tabletop.
"You're right. I would have done a better job with it," she retorted, trying to amuse him with a bit of teasing, having finally come up with a "good enough" comeback.
It seemed to work since he smirked and shook his head. "Keep telling yourself that, princess. As jacked-up as my face is, I still look better than you."
Kagome scoffed and hit his arm, having no effect on him. "You're such an asshole!" she said, not able to resist a smile that crept on her lips.
Inuyasha looked back at her and rolled his eyes. "You need to find some new insults."
"And you need to find something else to call me besides princess, your majesty, and your highness," she retorted.
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her. "Would you rather I called you queenie, countess, or maybe baroness? Pick something."
She looked at him with a slightly tilted head. "How about we start using each other's actual names, huh, Inuyasha? Say it with me: Kagome. Ka-go-me."
Inuyasha stared at her, his grey eyes staring directly into her chocolate ones. He seemed as if he was in deep thought, though his eyes didn't hold much of a key to any emotion. They seemed almost empty.
After a few long seconds, he finally replied, "Mmm—no. I think I'm still going to call you princess." He stood up right as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and walked off without so much as another glance back at her.
She sat there, mouth agape at his casualness, then let a small smile appear. He was a jerk, but at least they weren't at each other's throats anymore.
AGAIN I AM SO SORRY THIS UPDATE IS LATE! DX I give you all permission to stone be or light me afire. But…then there wouldn't be anymore updates at all…It's a double-edged sword I suppose. Anyway, enough of my ramblings, leave a review please! ^_^ And the next chapter will be up shortly…probably tomorrow!
