CHAPTER 7: UNBREAKABLE HEART

Hijacked when you weren't looking, behind your back, people are talking, using words that cut you down to size.

You wanna fight back, it's building inside you, holding you up, taking you hostage.

Yeah, it's worth fighting for.

They'll try to take your pride, try to take your soul. They'll try to take all the control.

They'll look you in the eyes, fill you full of lies, believe me they're gonna try.

So when you're feeling crazy and things fall apart, listen to your head, remember who you are, you're the one, you're the unbreakable heart.

~Three Days Grace~

Hojo….that was a very pleasant name. In fact, everything about Hojo was pleasant. There was not a single mannerism that one could define as being offensive.

He was in a word: safe.

Yes, extremely safe,Kagome mused as she continued to pack her clothes into her overnight bag to travel to the family shrine as she had been doing every few days. His name was hardly one she could picture screaming out in the bedroom, but then again, she doubted screaming wouldn't be involved at all when it came to Hojo in any aspect of the relationship let alone the bedroom.

A sad sigh escaped her as she zipped up the bag before throwing it over her shoulder and slipped her phone into her windbreaker.

Three dates, three and he was just now pecking her on the cheek goodnight. That was after two weeks of him beating around the bush to actually ask her out. Kagome shook her head, she couldn't recall if all humans move at such a glacier pace but she hardly thought so.

They had yet to have the exclusive talk though at this rate that could take weeks, but she enjoyed his company well enough to keep agreeing to see him. Besides, despite the time that had passed since filing for a restraining order against Koga she was still feeling uneasy about being on her own and Hojo filled that void. That alone made her glad she'd given him her number that day at the library.

Kagome adjusted her ball cap as she moved down the hallway, snatching her keys from a bowl by the door before locking up. On her way to her car she suddenly stopped with a shudder, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. There was no denying it she felt watched, Kagome looked around but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Get a grip girl," she muttered shaking the feeling off as dumped her bag into her car before sliding behind the wheel. Between getting her stuff moved into Sango's apartment and trying to sort out the financial state of her family's shrine she had little time lately to think too much about her ex-boyfriend, which she liked just fine. Keeping distracted was just best for now, she thought as she pulled in front of the family shrine an hour later. Kagome smiled grabbing her bag and keys before heading into her childhood home.

"I'm here," she called setting her bag on the kitchen table. "Mom? Gramps? Sota?"

"Hey, Kagome!" Sota said coming in from the hall. "Mom took Gramps out shopping with her so we can work on the books."

"That's great, let's get to work then." She said swinging her arm around her little brother that had past her height wise over the summer. "Lil' bro you need to stop growing!" She laughed as they made their way back to where the shrine's office had been set up.

Hours later Kagome pushed away from the desk, there was no way around it, the shrine was floundering. Her grandfather was throwing them in debt faster that she could pull them out. The shrine was still very much a part of her life and she wasn't going to stand by as her grandfather slowly smothered the place in debt. A noise at the door made her swivel around in the chair where she had been staring out to where she could just make out the shadow of the Sacred Tree that stood on the grounds. Her brother must have returned from the storage room where he was returning some of the artifacts she'd asked to see, new additions to a sinking ship.

"Sota, you should have told me sooner…" She trailed off when she looked up. "Oh."

"What are you doing?" Her grandfather snapped, his short, shriveled form shaking from exertion or anger she couldn't quite tell. "Answer me."

Right, anger then, she thought wirily as she started stacking the receipts and placing them back in the shoe box they had been stored. She had already logged them all….in red.

"Answer me!" It would have been a growl if his voice hadn't been so willowy, but she could see the anger burning stronger in his dark eyes. Yes, his anger was as sharp as ever.

"I came to look at the books." She stated simply carefully closing the log book before locking it safely away in the desk. "You mind explaining why you spent $1,400 on a rusty sword?" She asked quirking a brow at him, her own shock of the financial situation of the place giving slowly away to anger.

"This shrine is still mine and I don't have to answer to you for how I run things," Her grandfather huffed as he hobbled forward, a fall on ice a few winters back had broken the old man's hip and the doctors said he would need a walker for the remainder of his life. Only problem is when they told him he cackled, cackled, and the old goat recovered to the point where he didn't even need a cane. The limp, however, remained.

"Oh, yes, you've done a fine job, Gramps," she stated watching a I-told-you-so grin start to form, "Yes, you've done a spectacular job of running the place so far into the hole that I'm beginning to wonder if it can ever be pulled out again." She growled placing her palms flat on the desk , pushing to her feet as his smile disappeared. " You have blown through money as if we have a platinum mine hidden in that old well house instead of what we have which is a bunch of rotting…"

"Kagome." Her grandfather's voice rose as did the color in his cheeks.

"Decaying." Kagome talked over her grandfather as she stalked around the desk. It was past time the old man stopped living in the past and realized what he was doing to his family.

"Kagome." His voice raised another octave, his raising blood pressure showing brightly on his cheeks.

"Dust covered relics no one wants to pay to see, yet you continue to collect as if they are going out of style." She was shouting now, her control of her anger slipping a notch as she stopped in front of her grandfather.

"The past must be preserved." He shouted right back at her.

Kagome fisted her hands before continuing.

"That's fine, just leave it to the museums and stop ruining everything my father worked for in this family. At this rate you and your precious artifacts will be on the street along with Sota and mom before the year is up. Do you want that?" Her voice shook as she tried to keep from yelling again.

"Of course not, and it hasn't come to that." God, he seriously has no clue, she thought.

"Hasn't come to….have you even looked at the amount of money you are draining out of the place?" Kagome rubbed the bridge of her nose, she suddenly felt ancient. "It's hemorrhaging money, my father kept this place in the black even increased our profit margin, but you. You, take over and start destroying everything he did and I'm not sure I can fix this."

"Now you look here, Kagome, you may be my granddaughter and this place may be your inheritance,"

"If this inheritance is still in your name when you pass it will be a freaking miracle." She snapped before he slapped her. Her pride stung more than her cheek as she glared at her grandfather.

"Listen to me! I am still in charge. Now you get out of here and don't let me ever catch you in here again. You hear me?"

"Crystal clear," She knew a dismissal when she heard one. She stared for a moment more before stalking to the door.

"Now, I think it best if you just went on home."

She flinched before slamming the door behind her.

"Fine," she muttered. "I didn't want to stay here anyway." Marching around the corner she stomped her way through the house to the kitchen grabbing the duffle she dropped off earlier and fumed her way to her car. She growled and muttered darkly most of the way home.

She needed a drink, she thought as she pulled off the main highway and unto the exit that would take her home. The need to just wipe away all her problems was strong making her reach into her bag digging for her smartphone and calling her friend.

"Hey, Kags, I was just about to call you!" Sango's voiced laughed through the phone.

"Really? Why?" Kagome asked, already feeling her bad mood dissipate.

"Well, Miroku's friend was joining us tonight and wanted me to see if I had any friends that would like to join us. Before you ask, we aren't setting you up; the guy already has a girlfriend. So what do you say?"

"Sango, you are the best. I really need this, I will be there. I'm almost home from the shrine. It didn't go so well, I had a falling out with Gramps." She sighed before launching into the abbreviated version of the shrine's downfall.

"Oh honey, we will figure something out, but don't worry about it right now. Come out have some fun and relax."

"I will." Kagome smiled. "I'm almost home, let me just change clothes and freshen up. I'll be there soon."

Sango told her where they would be meeting before Kagome hung up just as she was pulling into her apartment complex. She really couldn't wait to be out of the place in the next few days. She had slowly been getting her stuff over to Sango's but she still had a couple of more trips to make. She was curious and fearful of why Koga hadn't showed up but she shrugged that should have just been the restraining order at work there. Her keys jingled as she walked up the stairs to her door, each step causing a strange tingling sensation along her skin.

Danger,whispered through her mind like the first gentle breeze before a storm. She shook the feeling as she unlocked the door, no longer was she going to be a vessel for her fears. Her land line beeped as she pushed the door open, Kagome dumped her stuff next to the door that she shut with her foot, pulling her shirt over her head as she eyed the clock; she was going to be late if she didn't hurry.

She looked down at the answer machine that blinked happily at her on the counter. No one ever called the land line, she couldn't figure out why Koga had insisted on it in the first place. Her stomach clenched painfully as she moved from the door towards that flashing little red light. She pressed play.

"You have 1 new message; first new message…..Sister…" The whiny male voice that crackled over the line was not her brother, Sota, the only other people that had called her that was Koga's pack. Icy dread slithered through her veins.

Danger, run.

"We tried sister….we really tried. We held him as long as possible." Kagome started to shake with the cold that was seeping to the very marrow of her bones. "You need to run." There was a grunt, sounds of some kind of a struggle and snarls before the line went dead.

Danger. Run!

"My pack's disloyalty was punished greatly." A voice growled harshly behind her making her whip around, her worst fears manifesting before her eyes. Koga's dark form lounged on the couch, his dark tee and pants blending into the furniture as his dark eyes glittered in the relative darkness of the room. Kagome felt the fear anchor her in place, immobilizing her where she stood, as the wolf demon gave her a once over. She shivered, not from awareness, no now his look made her feel dirty as she wrapped her arms around her bare torso wishing she had waited to start undressing. She needed to think, she needed to move. Koga's unfurled from the couch, Kagome's panic spiked as he slowly stalked forward.

"You're looking good, babe. Did you miss me?" Koga scoffed, he had every bit of the warrior form his kind usually bore. Muscles bunched as he moved, the contained energy and strength that had once intrigued and seduced her now haunted her. He had too much power, and no love. Lust maybe, but not love. Had he loved her he wouldn't want to bring her harm, right? Lust, however, made him violent.

"You're not supposed to…"

"Be here?" He laughed the sound dark and twisted. "I know. Like your puny little restraining order could keep me from taking what is rightfully mine. My own pack couldn't even stop me. Nothing can stop me!"

"And what is rightfully yours? Surely, you are not referring to me? Thought I made myself clear. I won't be one of dozens." Her voice shook, her jean pocket suddenly belting out to Alex Clare's Too Close. She moved to pull her phone out of her pocket before a growl stopped her.

"Answer it and I will slit your throat." He snapped. She cringed when the phone quieted only to start up once more.

"Somebody's popular." He sneered. "You already move on you little whore?"

Yes. "No." She wasn't stupid. Okay, stupid enough to date this caveman in the first place but not so stupid as to give him more ammunition in his rage against her.

"Liar." The vehemence in the one word made her shudder. Finally, he stepped out of the shadows of the living room and into the light.

"Oh. My. God." She whispered Koga wasn't wearing a dark tee. No the shirt had been light heather grey at one point as the original color could be made out under his arms and sides. The rest was soaked in a dark substance. Kagome nearly gagged when the coppery tang reached her nose. Blood, so much blood.

Kagome took a shaky step back eyeing her distance from the door, he was closer and she knew she would never beat him, not with his demon speed. She looked down the hallway knowing she had a loaded Glock in her bed side table. She'd moved it there after that night at the club, if she could just get to it she might be able to wound him and escape…

"Go ahead, sweetness, run." His sneered brought her attention swinging back to him, forcing her arms away from her waist she reached back bracing her hands on the barstool behind her. Kagome reached deep into her being searching for the strength to do what needed to be done, to apply all her self-defense training she had from her classes and her father.

I am strong. I am fearless. I am powerful. She chanted the words her father whispered to her every night before kissing her goodnight.

"I am not afraid of you." She would have believed herself more if her voice had lost the tremor. Koga threw his head back and laughed.

"I can smell the fear on you, Kagome. I terrify you and I love it." Those dark eyes pierced her again. His look promised her so much pain, his gazed lowered to the plain white bra and jeans she still wore, his nostrils flaring in lust. "When I get done with you, you will beg for death." He prowled towards her once more.

Oh yes, she had no doubt he would follow through on his threat. Her hands tightened around the stool behind her. If she just stood here he would eventually kill her, if she went to the gun she would still probably die. He was almost on her and she didn't have time to debate the matter.

"Go to hell, Koga." She muttered before swinging the barstool around never slowing her momentum as she cracked it against her ex-lover's skull causing him to reel back. She didn't wait around she sprinted down the hall ignoring the sound of glass shattering behind her. Kagome reached the bedroom door and slammed it behind her.

"Kagome!" Koga bellowed instantly barreled into the door sending her flying across the room her body slamming into the dresser with a big whoosh as all the air left her and a sharp crack. Pain coursed through her like battery acid as she crumpled the ground. Her vision spotted as she started to crawl to the night stand, she had to get that gun.

"Think you can run from me, bitch?" He snapped stalking around the bed. Almost there, she thought wheezing as reached out to grab the handle. As her fingers wrapped around the cool metal of the handle claws sliced into her ankle and jerked her back with sudden force.

"No!" She cried as the drawer flew forward with her, her hand losing its grip as gravity took over and landed on the floor with a thump the contents rattling and clanking about. Searing pain suddenly pinpricked across her waist and she was flipped unto her back, Koga was on top of her his claws digging into her hips ever deeper till she cried out in agony, tears busting free from the dam of her eyes and streaked down her cheeks.

She rallied her strength fisting her hands slamming her right into his windpipe, a roar of pain escaping the wolf demon's throat, followed by a sickening crack as her left hand made contact with his right eye. Kagome shoved away from him, her hands grasping the drawer and grabbing her Glock, her whole body trembled as she turned trying to get away from Koga. His claws were in a downward arc toward her, she screamed rolling under the bed but not before her shredded her jean clad thigh. Blood seeped from the slashes the warm crimson darkening the rest of her jeans pooling on the floor beneath her.

She choked on the sob as the bed was thrown back the frame breaking under Koga's treatment. Kagome removed her blood covered hand from her wound, to grip the gun she now pointed at Koga, he paused looking at her.

"You going to shoot me?" He snarled before charging. Kagome squeezed the trigger getting off three rounds before he slapped the gun from her and threw her against the closet door. The full length mirror anchor to it shattered slicing into her as pain fogged her mind. She slid to the floor the broken mirror winking up at like stars even as the pieces bit into her skin.

"You fucking bitch." Koga snapped looking down at the three leaking holes now adorning his chest. She could see he face taking on a more demonic quality. "You think mere bullets will kill me?"

Her vision was winking as if a thousand of little black bugs swarmed her sight. She wouldn't last much longer, but damn she was going to make him work to kill her.

"No, but they still hurt like a bitch don't they?" She coughed spitting the blood that had filled her mouth. Kagome struggled against to her feet, every part of her screaming to her. So much pain, she thought using a nearby softball bat as a crutch. She swayed looking around, there was no doubt she was losing this battle, it looked as if there was more blood on the outside of her than flowing through her veins.

Koga's dark look seemed to be calculating before he smirked.

"Maybe, I shouldn't kill you. If you have lasted this long with that much damaged you will be a prized bitch in my pack. I will make you my mate."

"No. You can't make me." Icy fear wrapped around her heart.

"Oh, but I can, sweetness." He laughed stepping forward once more. Dear gods, being his mate would be worse than dying….

"Nooooo!" she screamed.