Kagome jumped into the stairwell, completely out of breath.

Locking the door with a dull clunk, she sank to the ground, huffing, slinging her bag off her back.

It was almost on that same stretch of road again that she had spotted him, which was where she had turned and run.

She wasn't sure if Kouga had seen her, she hoped to Kami not.

As soon as she was able to move again she got to her feet, and started climbing the stairs slowly, relief coursing through her.

She was unexpectedly tired, like she had been running all day, it was probably the feeling of adrenaline running out, she dragged her feet on the last few steps that lead to safety, and counted her way through the short corridor, rummaging through her bag for her key, and moving to tiptoes when she got close.

She stopped at the door, only to realise the keys she was searching for was actually in a different pocket, then quickly pulled them out.

The rest of the neighbours knew that the woman across from her wanted quiet, and was able to prove her point, so it was constantly, seemingly, unnaturally silent.

She pulled herself through, and gently set her bag down by the door, and pushed it shut behind her.

She turned towards the kitchen, waiting for the quiet click, but it never came.

A glance back told her that the door had not shut properly, so she went back and went to shut it, only to find that it would not do so, being stuck about two inches wide open.

Stupidly, she looked up first, checking that the door was clear at the door frame, which was clear.

A glance down showed something brown and seemingly oblong, it took her a beat to realise it was a shoe.

And there was a foot inside it.

She felt all the blood drain from her face as she clinged desperately to the hope that it was InuYasha, home early, or Miroku, stopping in for a visit.

Or Sango, looking for InuYasha again.

They were dashed as the door forced itself open and a figure slipped inside, allowing her to push the door shut under her weight.

'Good afternoon, Kagome.' Kouga said, winking at her.

'W-what are you doing here?'

He shrugged, running his eyes over her, in such a way she almost felt like turning away.

'Like I was saying few days ago. Haven't seen you in a while.'

'But, how did you get up here?'

'Simple.' He shrugged again, pulling her with him over to the couch and sat exactly where InuYasha usually sat, and pulled her almost forcibly into his lap. 'I followed you.' He was saying it like it was a turn on. 'Stalked you as soon as I had seen you, and finally caught you,' with every accented word he brought his face closer to hers, 'Here in your little hideaway.' and with that, he started working his way down her neck.

She, on the other hand, found it repulsive.

Bringing her teeth together with an audible snap, she spoke, not sure if he would listen.

'N-no, stop it.'

He did not immediately respond, he seemed more intent on ripping her collar with his teeth.

'Please don't, I don't like it.'

Suddenly he froze and looked up at her, his gaze turning icy, the tip of her shirt still between his now clenched teeth as he lifted his head, she could hear the stitches popping.

'What did you just say to me?'

Then somehow, he was calm again, sliding his hands under her shirt and not noticing the fact she was trying to pry said hands off of her, nor the fact that she was completely unwilling.

Every sound she made was a sound of encouragement to him, even when his violent side clashed and he was hearing whimpers and gasps of pain.

Suddenly she slid free, right when he had his hands tangled in her shirt, she slid herself out of it, and fled into the bathroom, shutting the door quickly, and sliding the chair under the handle.

He came to the doorframe and threatened to break down the door, but then all was quiet.

She waited, what seemed like a long time, checking the damage he had inflicted.

More bruising had appeared, and she could feel where he had pulled back her shoulder and neck too far.

She pulled on the first shirt she had worn here, which for some unforeseeable reason had not been moved from the floor, despite the fact everything else had been cleaned or moved.

There was a sigh outside, then the sound of a door opening and closing.

She counted to ten as slowly as she could, then slowly shifted the chair out and sliding the door open.

All was quiet again, so she stepped out of the little room.

She looked around worriedly, it seemed almost too quiet.

Suddenly an arm grabbed her, and another hand wrapped itself around her neck tightly, severely restricting her breathing.

'Thought you could escape me, eh?'


The most exquisite pain brought her back.

She had blissfully blacked out, escaping some of the tortures he was inflicting on her, but it seemed he did not want that.

Her vision was fuzzy, and the pain was getting unbearable.

She looked around, moaning slightly, to see she was on the kitchen floor, still surrounded by glass from before, but that wasn't causing the worst of the pain, although it accounted for enough of the blood.

A glance had told her what happened.

He was still standing over her, so angry he was calm again.

It looked like he had kicked a cupboard door shut.

This was no problem in itself, but the fact that her forearm was half inside when it had occurred was definitely problematic.

It was broken, she could tell, but what she could also tell was that he hadn't noticed yet.

What he had noticed, on the other hand, was that she had woken up.

'Hey there.' He said, bending over her. 'Feeling better after your little nap?'

The best response she could give was to throw up into the shards of glass next to her.

Somehow, he found this extremely offensive, so he kicked her.

Retching and hacking, she coughed up a mouthful of blood, which she spat out.

She found she was unable to move beyond breathe, which was incredibly painful within itself, where she wrapped her better arm around her face and tried to wait it out, just like every other time.

Unsure as to how much damage he could inflict, as these past few times had been steadily getting worse, she felt his hands through the torn fabric of her shirt and skirt.

'WHAT. THE FUCK. ARE YOU DOING?'

She could not quite recall to whom the voice belonged to, but she was grateful to whoever they were when she was suddenly left alone.

A great clattering, crashing sound had followed faded out, followed by the sensation of falling, and wooly blackness rushed up to greet her.


A rage like nothing he had ever felt before flooded him, and was barely aware of the stupid, unbalanced, mere words did not suffice.

He wanted to break this man, no not even that, in half, and throw him from the top of the building.

Not even close, that would be way to kind for what he had done.

He threw the attacker off of her and planted himself solidly between the girl on the floor and this person.

And, like clockwork, there was a thundering at the door he had left wide open.

Kouga flew at him, but he snatched and twisted his arm back behind him, shoving him up against the wall.

It took almost all InuYasha's concentration to both keep Kouga under wraps, and to form coherent words, he was that angry.

'In here!'

Mrs Kaguya burst into the kitchen like she was about to murder someone, but as she took the scene in the look slid off her face faster then it took Kouga to fly back into a rage.

'Get help!' InuYasha called over Kouga's explosion of profanities.

She nodded and fled the room.

Kouga was struggling again against InuYasha's vice-like grip, flailing his free hand as much as possible.

It took many attempts, including one of which made him catch an elbow to the nose, he finally reigned it in.

During this, Kagome did not move from her loose fetal position, whom he kept on shooting glances back at.

He was unsure as to how long it took for someone dressed in a blue uniform to come, during which Kouga had flown in and out of several rages, but InuYasha remained constant.

Constantly livid.

As soon as Kouga had been taken off his hands, he moved straight over to where Kagome lay, trying not to get angry as he found what had been done to her.

'Kagome, can you hear me?'

He looked over her, unsure what to do, so he settled for trying to gather her up.

She whimpered as soon as he touched her arm, the one that was stuck out oddly from the rest of her body, so he gave up on that idea.

Again, it was a seemingly long time for someone in a different kind of blue uniform to appear, as well as Mrs Kaguya again.

They strapped her arm and cleaned some of her up, until they were able to move her downstairs and into the waiting ambulance.

He got in the back with her, and watched worriedly as the paramedics did their thing.


Author's note

Hey guys!

Extra special shout out to Sonyadore, and her absolutely awesome reviews!

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter *laughs evilly* :)

So Sonyador raised the important point of whether Kagome is a complete idiot with her again trusting InuYasha the way that she has.

I want to say that she isn't an idiot, and you should think about it, if you were in Kagome's situation, wouldn't you trust someone who saved your life and possibly your sanity in the way that InuYasha has?

But yes, to begin with, she hadn't slept for about two days straight, and since InuYasha offered her a place to stay, personally I would have leapt at him and forced him to show me where I could sleep, but to begin with she is just tired. Afterwards, when she was in the shower and thinking about her situation, she's wondering about her situation, and InuYasha is the only light in her world of darkness at the moment, so she clings to it.

She doesn't really think about suicide, she just sees it as her only option.

Just thought I should elaborate, but keep reading anyway :)

love you all,

InuKag