Ok guys. I do have to admit that if it weren't for two reviews that I received in my inbox saying please finish this story, you guys probably wouldn't have had an update. I am very sorry I have left you all with such a cliffy for so long and fully intend to finish this story. I do have a big favor to ask you all. Please just tell me what you think of this chapter. I've entered the point of the writing that is very hazy in my mind and I know it's affected my writing. If you all could please just tell me what you think of it and if you have any suggestions for me I'm open.
Two things happened simultaneously after the boy said that. Inuyasha gave a feral growl and pushed Kagome behind him. The snarl on his face alone was enough to make the two boys step back. The second thing that happened was a gale force wind picked up and Kagura appeared in front of Kagome, next to Inuyasha and giving a second line of defense. A tinge of color had returned to Kagome's face, but her pupils were dilated and she had stared to hyperventilate slightly. Everything about her was the very epitome of fear.
"Bankotsu," Kagura spat, the word like venom in her mouth," what the hell are you doing here?" The boy with the braid eyed Kagura, grinning demonically. "I live here Kagura," he said," I go to school here now same as you." "Not what I meant bastard," Kagura hissed, checking out of her peripherals to be sure that Kagome was safely behind her," I meant what are you doing with my cousin." "Saying hello to my little bitch," Bankotsu replied with a bone chilling laugh," and making sure she didn't replace me while I was gone, which I see she has." "Fuck off," Kagura growled," I catch you in the same room as Kagome and your going to find your head cut off for a second time."
By this time Rin and Miroku had come forward to flank Kagome, Rin keeping a careful eye on the terrified girl. Sesshomeru's claws were glowing green, getting ready to summon a poison whip if needed. Koga and Ayame's claws were out and at the ready and Sango was standing behind Kagome with Hrikotsu with her. She looked intent on using it on someone.
"Come now Kagura," Bankotsu said," why don't we give your little cousin a chance to speak for herself. I'm sure she's happy to see me." Bankotsu stared intently at Kagome. Inuyasha was itching to grab Kagome and twirl her into his arms and growl the low soothing growl that he remembered as a child always told him that everything was going to be alright. She was looking like the ghost of Christmas future had come and told her of her death. Kagura looked at her hands and found that Kagome had a death grip on her ring.
Inuyasha growled like a lion. It was enough to move the two teens another five steps away from the group. "Stay away from her," he growled. "So my little bitch did exactly what I told her not to," Bankotsu said, giving a glare the promised death to Kagome," she went out and replaced me. I told you that I was going to be the only one and I meant it Kagome. Now come here like a good little bitch." Miroku grabbed one of Kagome's arms to keep her in place and Kagura took a threatening step forward. "Get out of here Bankotsu," she hissed," no one wants you here." A wind started up, whipping around everyone. It pushed Bankotsu and the other boy back but did nothing but ruffle anyone else's hair. "This isn't over bitch," he sneered," I will be back."
After they left everything in the courtyard was silent for a few moments before Miroku, ever the joker, decided to break the ice. "Well that sounded like a line from a bad action movie," he said. No one laughed. Inuyasha looked at kagome, she was shaking like a leaf and looking a bit relieved to finally be out of the boy's sight. "Kagome, are you alright?" Kagura asked, looking worriedly at her sister. Without warning Kagome launched herself at the wind demoness and held on to her for dear life.
Kagura held her and spoke softly to her as she calmed down. "What the hell just happened?" Inuyasha asked, worried and a bit scared about Kagome's reaction to the two teens. "Bankotsu was one of the people who used to tease and bully Kagome the most at our old school," Kagura explained as she held Kagome," I'm going to assume he got worse once I wasn't there to stand up for her." 'He hurt me,' Kagome signed, tears glistening in her eyes,' he hurt me. Kagura I'm scared.'
Inuyasha looked to Miroku for translation and knew from the look on his face that whatever Kagome had said had not been good. A low, feral and utterly savage growl tore out of Inuyasha's throat. "Brother, calm yourself," Sesshomeru said sharply. No one was sure how Kagome was going to react to the growl that tore out of Inuyasha but none of them were prepared for what she did. She pushed herself away from Kagura's arms and walked over to Inuyasha. Slowly, so her movements didn't startle him in the precarious state he was in with his demon, Kagome tilted her head to the side in a sign of submission. That was all Inuyasha needed to wrap his arms around her and put his nose to the side of her exposed throat.
Kagome twisted in his arms a bit, ignoring his growls as she turned so she could face the astonished group. Inuyasha stopped as she settled back into his arms again. 'His demon was beginning to come out,' she signed,' he felt a friend being threatened and he wanted to protect that person. Only the sight and smell of that person safe and sound would calm him and make his inner demon recede.'
Kagome could barely hold back a smirk as everyone, including Kagura, looked at her with open mouths. Sango was the first one to get her mouth working properly. "Where did you learn so much about demons?" She asked. "The better question is where she learned so much about inu demons," Sesshomeru said. 'I know people,' Kagome signed as Kagura translated,' one of the people I know is an inu demon. You pick things up.'
Kagome could feel herself relaxing in Inuyasha's grip as he growled in the way that reminded her of what her father used to do when she had trouble sleeping. She was surprised at this because she couldn't remember the last time that she had ever relaxed in someone's presence like that. Excepting Kagura of course.
Kagura, for her part, was surprised by her younger cousin. She had thought that Kagome would have been very hesitant being around Inuyasha while he began his transformation into demon form. He probably reminded her of herself when she transformed. Kagura fought to keep a smile from creeping across her face, the two of them were perfect for each other, whether they realized it or not. Now the only thing that could possibly keep them apart was…
"Inuyasha!" a sing-song voice rang out. Everyone in the group groaned, vocally or mentally and Inuyasha held back a threatening growl that would surely have startled Kagome out of her relaxed state. "What are you doing here Kikyo?" Sango was the one who spat that out, her growl rivaling Inuyasha's. "I thought that since Kagome's boyfriends from her old school had moved here then she'd like to spend some time catching up with them," Kikyo said, her voice sugar sweet.
If Inuyasha hadn't been working so hard to make sure he got Kagome calmed down, he would have let out a roar that would put a dragon to shame. How dare the girl! How dare Kikyo, the girl he had fought so hard for with his parents, the girl he thought he had been in love with since eighth grade. He had tried everything he could to keep them together, and this was how she repaid him? Kagome started to squirm in his grip, terrified under the hate filled gaze of her virtual twin. Inuyasha gripped her tightly and his growl shifted to one of reprimanding, Kagome stilled.
"Inuyasha this will never do," Kikyo said," I can't have you changing form whenever you get upset. Once we're back together we're going to need to do something about that. Now get yourself unwrapped from that little harlot and come back to me." The roar that Inuyasha let loose made the foundations of the school shake and tremble. Kagome couldn't see the look Inuyasha gave his ex-girlfriend but the one she had on her face gave her a few ideas. Kikyo turned tail and ran into the school.
The rest of the day after that, Inuyasha stuck by Kagome as close as he could. When he couldn't he always made sure that one or another of the rest of the gang was with her and keeping her safe. Kagome barely 'said' a word for the rest of the day. Whenever Inuyasha was near she liked to try and keep a death grip on him, as if making sure that he wasn't going to leave her. The rest of the group, minus Kagura, were as surprised at the turn of events as they were at the choice of people Kagome chose as her protector.
Inuyasha insisted on driving Kagome home that day. She didn't even put up a token of a fight, just let him do it. Souta was surprised when he came out of school to find his cousin waiting for him on her white feather instead of his sister on her bike. "What happened, where's Kagome?" the little boy demanded. "Inuyasha offered to drive Kagome home and she was in no position to refuse," Kagura replied, speaking in riddles," She's safe and fine and Inuyasha won't let anything happen to her." "Still doesn't explain why she let him driv her home," Souta argued," usually she only lets him drive her home when she's too tired to drive herself and she seemed fine this morning." "You can ask her yourself when we get home," Kagura said, effectively ending the conversation.
When Souta got home the first thing he did was run up to his sister's room to check on her. He found her sitting at her desk, calmly doing her homework. He knew better than to ask if she was alright. If he asked, then she would just lie and say she was perfectly fine and what was he worrying about anyways? So instead he looked at her with the trained eyes of a younger brother. She wasn't pale or unfocused as she normally was when tired. She wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary that said she wasn't anything but fine.
"Kids, I'm home!" came a shout from downstairs. "Dad," Souta cried, rushing out of the room and down the stairs to welcome his father home. "Where's your sister?" Naraku asked. "Upstairs doing homework," Souta replied. Naraku frowned. "She should be down here cooking dinner. She has plenty of time to do her homework this evening. Kagome!" Seconds later, Kagome appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Why haven't you started on dinner yet," Naraku asked in a stern voice. He didn't bother giving her a chance to answer. "Well, what are you waiting for, get down her and get cooking. Chop, chop!" Kagome, knowing very well the consequences of not following Naraku's orders as soon as they were given, ran down the steps and into the kitchen.
Dinner was eaten in silence that night. Kagome could feel the confusion radiating off her brother and the anger and something else radiating off of her step father. Once everyone was done, Kagome gathered up the dishes to take into the kitchen and Naraku took Souta into the living room to help him with homework. As she walked into the kitchen, Kagome froze for a moment then let out a sad sigh. The kitchen was a wreck. The dinner that was left over that was supposed to go into her and Souta's lunches was all over the floor. The dirty dishes in the sink were piled up a mile high. 'How in the world did he get stuff on the ceiling,' she thought, looking up.
With another small sigh, Kagome rolled up her sleeves and got to work. Her step father did this whenever he wasn't happy with her and figured that she needed to be punished. He would wreck the kitchen or the laundry room or something else and it would be her job to clean it all up. This was going to take all night, not to mention the rest of her homework that she had to still finish. She poked her head out the door of the kitchen. Naraku and her little brother were safely occupied with other things. She stared at the mess and slipped off her ring, she could do this.
The next morning at school, Kagome was getting her things out of her locker when someone whirled her around to face them. She fought to keep a smile from her face at the thought of Inuyasha, but the impulse quickly died when she saw who was really gripping her shoulders. Bankotsu was looking at her with the fire of hell in his eyes. This was not going to be good.
"So I see my little bitch did exactly what I told her not to do," he sneered," she went out and replaced me. And not only that but she replaced me with a hanyou. It's funny though, two worthless beings together. You guys deserve each other." He laughed and lifted Kagome off the ground by the front of her shirt. "You are my bitch," he hissed in her face," and I'm going to make sure you never forget it."
The next thing Kagome knew, she was back on her feet and being shoved behind someone. "Now listen here you fuckin' jackass, I don't care who you are or what your relationship is with Kagome, but you are going to stay away from her." "And why are you butting in here you worthless half breed," Bankotsu sneered," seems to me that little miss mute here can fight her own battles just fine. Now bug off, this is between me and my bitch." Inuyasha growled protectively and shoved Kagome as far behind him as he could. "I don't give a rat's ass who she is to you," he growled," but if you don't stay away from her, there will be hell to pay."
He grabbed Kagome, making sure that his grip wouldn't hurt her, and dragged her away from Bankotsu. He led her to their first period class where Miroku and Sesshomeru and Rin were already in their desks, talking. When Miroku saw who Inuyasha was dragging behind him, he went over to Kagome. 'Are you alright?' Kagome finger spelled a name. "Bankotsu," Miroku translated aloud. "The fucker had her by her collar and was looking intent on hurting her," Inuyasha said," I threatened to beat him up if he even so much as sneezed in her direction."
The rest of the day passed much like the second half of the day before had. Inuyasha kept a close eye on Kagome, holding on to her hand whenever possible, and when he didn't have a class of hers, he made sure one of the gang was there to look after her. At lunch, he wouldn't let her disappear up the tree, rather made her stay on the ground and eat. Or at least, he tried to make her eat. "Kagome, I don't care if you're not hungry, you need to eat or else you'll run out of energy during school," Inuyasha said. Kagome just shook her head stubbornly and signed a phrase that all of them had memorized in the last few minutes,' not hungry.'
"Good grief Kagome, you're more stubborn than Inuyasha is on his good days," Ayame said. "Who said I have any good days," Inuyasha shot back. 'You're not all bad Inuyasha,' Kagome signed with a half smile,' your good days are better than mine.' Everyone paused and stared at Kagome. It wasn't the fact that she had 'spoken' to them, it was the fact that she had given them a smile, or as much of one as she could. The group left lunch that day with a sense of accomplishment, they had gotten Kagome relaxed enough around them to smile.
That night after the city had gone to sleep, a meeting took place in a dark ally. "You're sure she's the one?" a voice asked. "Of course I'm sure, I've been sure ever since I saw her thirteen years ago. I've been trying to keep her unsuspecting but it's getting harder especially since she's actually starting to make friends at school. I actually had to bring in two more people to help keep her in line." "And look where that got you," the other voice said," that other damn hanyou at her school has taken her under his protection."
"I have a plan for that don't worry," the second voice said," remember, everything in this world is a matter of perception. All we have to do is make her so called friends see her in a different light." "I'll leave you to it then," the first voice said," I'm sure I don't have to tell you that it is imperative that we break her soon? Everything is almost ready, the only thing we are waiting on is the girl." "Of course," said the second voice," after her friends leave her, breaking her will be all too easy."
Things went wonderfully well for the next week and a half. Kagome had begun to warm up to the rest of the group and could be found most days under the tree at lunch having conversations, both written and signed, with her new friends. She had surprised herself the first time she had caught herself thinking of them as friends. But the more she thought about it, the more she found she liked the thought. They truly were her friends. She had even considered telling them the truth once or twice. But she had quickly shaken the idea out of her head. There was no way in the seven hells that they would accept her like that after having lied to them for so long.
Bankotsu and Jakotsu had even left her alone, thought she suspected that Inuyasha had more to do with that than she did. Whatever the reason, life was going wonderfully and she was happy for the first time in a long time. Even Naraku hadn't been as bad recently. Though there was the fact that she had taken to having episodes of pain in her throat every night before she went to sleep, she didn't let it get her down.
If only she had known that everything that she had gotten would all come crashing down around her.
Thanks for reading. Reviews would be much appreciated.