My Father's Will
Chapter Eight
by Phoenix Blade
Disclaimer: Inuyasha is the rightful property of Viz and Rumiko Takahashi. This fanfic is all mine!
Peach Man looked down at me mercilessly and I glared back. Normally, I had a habit of striking back at people whom I felt had wronged me and this was one of those times where it was bad to provoke me so. I usually didn't counter my teachers or superiors if they should batter me with shit, but I could only endure so much.
"You are trash, Higurashi! You should respect your elders better!" he screamed at me with as much venom in his voice that he could throw at me.
I glared daggers at him while massaging my now swelling hot cheek. I'd need to put ice on it soon or it'd be a nice bluish color in a matter of time.
"Not only do you disrespect your teachers, you don't respect the policies of this school, you disrupt the environment in which your fellow students learn in, you refuse to participate in class activities and you don't even do any of your homework that your teachers have assigned-"
I interrupted with the fury of a thousand angry men, "What! How can you say that! I've done every homework that they can think of! I'm caught up with everything and yet-"
Peach Man ignored what I said, "Silence! You are a problem child! I don't even know why you were recommended to our school! You've caused nothing but problems for the students like one of your former fellow archery club members and for the teachers! You were said to be the one trafficking drugs and even caused problems for your fellow club members in your drug business!"
"WHAT?" I exclaimed in anger and confusion, "I thought that I was cleared! I was set up!"
Peach Man smirked and bowed down to my level.
In a voice low in enough for none of the students but the adults and me to hear, he said, "If you think that Sesshoumaru will help you in this, you're wrong. He hates your guts just as much as we do and he's on this with us. With the school board and almost all the teachers' words at our side, you'll be out of this school in no time. It's their words against yours, Higurashi. Face it, you're nothing but a poor pathetic little boy who has nothing on his side. Your club will be gone and you will also. Our perfect little rich society won't be in jeopardy because of you."
I felt a trickle of blood flow down one side of my mouth. I didn't realize that he had hurt me this bad. Oh well, might as well make the best of it. They want me out, but I won't go down without a fight!
Peach Man 's smug face got into my line of target and I spat at him. He jumped back as my blood hit his face.
"ARGH! You little BITCH!" he screamed as if I had just given him some deadly illness.
I smirked, "So you wanted me out because I just didn't fit into your society, is that it? Is this your world Peach Man? Or is this the world which money that others use to buy the world from you? Isn't that against the policies of the school? No bribing allowed? If the principal heard about this, your ass would get so fired-"
He kicked me under the chin and I fell back, stunned and grabbing my aching jaw like there was no tomorrow. It hurt!
"You piece of shit! Money makes the world go round! Don't you know?" he sneered at me.
Despite the pain in my jaw, I turned to the students who were watching quietly at the scene in front of them, "You guys go to this school and you let this shit happen? What about the school code? Wealth and grades don't matter? People are all equal! This school is supposed to be justifiable! If there's some wrong going on, you have to stop it and report it!"
Everyone hesitated and kept silent. They looked scared. I was almost in tears, because of the pain, and that I was alone in fighting for the right thing… which I wasn't quite sure that it was so right for me anymore…
Peach Man guffawed in laughter at my futile attempted to rally allies, "It won't work Higurashi! They all belong to me! Money keeps their mouths closed or their teachers do because they can fail them in a split second! Any bad marks and no Tokyo U! Either that or the mafia brings fear into them!"
I froze. What… the mafia? The yakuza? How… what?
Peach Man saw the look on my face and grinned evilly, "Ha! If all else fails, threaten and make them fear you by showing off your power. The yakuza is a valued partner of ours, isn't that right, Kojiro-sama?"
I looked behind him and Kojiro emerged with a smirk. I would scowl at him, but my mouth was bleeding badly and my jaws hurt. It was possible that my jaw could have been dislodged… Ow…
"Right… My father has connections to them, that's why he's in office in the first place and thanks to them, he's still in office. That's what true power can do and I have hold of it. I rule this school Higurashi, have been since the head principle's been gone. There's noone here to defy me and the Kageshiros haven't done anything to defy me yet and won't. Hell, Sesshoumaru's even with us! Hah! I said I'd make you regret it, Higurashi! There's nothing that you can do to me" he laughed evilly at me.
I turned away, the pain was too much. My cheek was burning up and swelling up even larger. With my jaw plugged into the mix, I was in total agony. I closed my eyes and felt a tear slid down one cheek. I was at a lost. Noone would help me, I was doomed. I vaguely remember hearing Kojiro say something to Peach Man about not letting him have all the fun of beating the shit out of me and Peach Man gave him permission.
Kojiro suddenly rammed a foot down on my right shin. I screamed in my throat and kicked my leg with my other foot.
He growled in anger and kicked me in the stomach. I coughed up blood and he laughed. The students were worried for me, scared and didn't know what to do. They couldn't do anything. Every single one of them was threatened and helping the black sheep would make them an outcast like me and they'd pay for it dearly…
I curled up as he continued to kick me while calling me names. Peach Man looked on with a smug smile. The other two men behind him, whom I realized were probably yakuza, were quiet. The teacher was somewhere out of my sight. Everything was out of my control, my reach, out of sight for me, school, my family, my future, my life… I'd ruined it all… I was such a weak person…
You can be stronger than this…For some reason, Sesshoumaru's words brought me back. I knew how to fight back. I was trained in it too.
After seeing that kicking did nothing, Kojiro finally walked over to where my head was and rose a foot to stomp down hard on my foot.
"Hmpf, you are nothing, Higurashi. Nothing, but trash, filth… You're an animal! A hunted, wounded prey that can't do anything when the lion rears its head!" Kojiro told me and dropped his foot.
I suddenly grabbed his foot before it crashed down onto my face and pulled even as my body told me that it was too hurt to do anything too strenuous. I ignored it and when he fell, I quickly got up and flipped him over onto his stomach before he could fight back. I quickly straddled his back and gathered his hands behind him with one hand and the other holding his head down to the floor.
He screamed at me to get off and for Peach Man to help. Peach Man ordered the two guys on me and as one of them readied to kick me in the face. I quickly grabbed Kojiro's hair, and forced him to bend backwards, which he screamed in pain. Then he screamed even more as the steel toed boot of the yakuza guy collided with his face.
He screamed a blood-curling cry andall the studentsran to the back room. The intensity and violence level had hit its max, about. Some cried out for their mommies and a couple ran out to get help. Blood poured out onto the floor from his face and he was unconscious when I dropped him. I scrambled quickly to my feet and defended myself when the other yakuza guy punched me with a brass knuckle covered fist. I think it broke my arm and I growled in my throat at the sharp pain that struck me. The other guy got out a knife and cut me deep in the hip before I could see it. I screamed. Peach Man yelled at him not to kill me and the guy put away the bloody knife.
The guy with the brass knuckles kicked me in the stomach before I could defend because my arm was too stiff and in pain to move quick enough and I was distracted with my hip that was now bleeding profusely and soaking my pants at a fast rate. I fell to my knees and spat out a mouthful of blood to the floor. The guy with the steel toed boots hit me in the upper part of my back with two hands clasped together. I hit the cold bloody floor like a ton of bricks. I whimpered as the heat of pain and anger swept through me. I tried moving but my body refused to do so. It didn't want to move, it was too sore and was now bleeding profusely. My body was too busy trying to mend itself to give me strength to make a stand. I was stuck…
Oh my god… Am I going to… die?
My eyes moved from the floor to look up slowly at the feet of the yakuza men to where Peach Man was. He looked downright pissed. He moved over to me and ordered the two men aside. They moved and he kneeled. I felt his fat, round stubby fingers grab onto the back of my blood soaked uniform and pull me up. I dangled like a broken doll. His other hand wrapped itself in my hair and pulled my head up to look at him so sharply that I winced in pain.
"You pathetic creature. You can never defeat me!" he spat at me.
He released my back but held firm onto my hair and fisted that hand. He pulled back and suddenly, he punched me right in the face. I thought I saw a bright flash of light, but maybe it was me. The next thing I knew, I was dropped to the ground and heard Peach Man yelling incoherent words (at least to my ears anyway) and saw the feet of several people come into the room. There were several gasps and words exchanged. My hearing went in and out, catching words and phrases and things that sounded muffled or like gibberish. I could barely see with the sweat and bloody pouring over my face and everything looked so blurry. My chest hurt each time I tried breathing, making my breaths come out in wheezes, shaky and uneven pants.
I felt tired and hurt all over, but I wanted to know what was going on. Someone with strong warm arms gently picked me up and held me up a little.
"Kagami! Kagami!"
It was…? My eyes somehow wandered to him and I recognized the amber eyes and the long white hair. I would have thought at first that it was Inuyasha, but it wasn't him. It was his brother, Sesshoumaru, who was looking down at me with that stoic face on that none could penetrate. After seeing my response and acknowledgment that I heard him, he looked a little bit relieved but was still the same. I heard two voices behind him, one pleading and one shouting harshly. Sesshoumaru turned to look and I realized that it Peach Man, who was now on the floor clutching at someone's black pants, doing the pleading, as if his life depended upon it. It took me a while, but my hearing was eventually able to tune in.
"…Please! I-I'll do anything! It-It wasn't me! It wasn't me at all! It-It was Kojiro! It was all his fault! He did it all! He planned it all! He wanted to get rid of her, but I tried to tell him no, but no sirree bob! He didn't want to listen and he-he threatened me! He threatened me with his father's yakuza people and I had not choice but to comply sir!" Peach Man begged frantically.
He seemed scared. What? The man he was talking to started to talk and he sounded familiar.
"Shut up. I know what's been going on while I was gone. You've been running this school like a mad dog house and taking in bribes and even selling drugs to your own students!"
Peach Man cowered at each of his words, but looked back up, trying to get back on the man's good side, "But sir! It wasn't me! I told you, it was Kojiro! He's selling the drugs! Not me! I told him no, but he did it anyway! If I didn't, he'd kill me!"
The man scoffed, "And the lives and sanity of your students didn't matter? Our school bans drugs and it's our duties as the adults to ensure the safety of all students in this school and yet you deliberately ignored this fact and continued to allow the trafficking of drugs throughout the school! If your life was threatened, you should have gone to the police, but you didn't! You were in on this whole thing!"
"B-But-But-"
"Enough! This is serious! We have enough evidence to lock you away for a long time! Kojiro will be tried as an adult and will pay for his crimes as well. We will take this matter to the police and they will have to look into his father's legitimacy as a politician and who his partners are. You're fired, Peach Man," he said firmly.
Peach Man screamed and begged that he'd repent and undo all his sins if only he save him, but the man shook his head and had the officers, who were behind him, take him, the two yakuza guys and Kojiro away. The man then came to me and kneeled down so I could see him. It took me a while, but as I narrowed my eyes on him to better see him, I recognized who this man was. He stroked my bloody hair gently with a look of sadness and worry on his face, as if he was going to cry.
"Kago-Kagami… Gomen… Gomen- ne…" Asagi-san choked back on tears.
I saw several tears flow down his cheeks as he cried for me. I looked at him, then to Sesshoumaru who held me. He looked high and regal as always, but there seemed to be a small crack in the way that he held me in his arms and looked at me. If I had kept on with it, perhaps I would have noticed what it was that hid behind that crack, but my eyes suddenly closed on their own accord and I heard Asagi's voice call for Kagami… Who was Kagami?… I was Kagome…
I fell into the dark abyss and knew no more…
I dreamt of my father and all the times that he held me my hand in his when I was a little girl. I enjoyed the feel of his hands, they were big, protective, warm and firm. I felt comforted, protected and safe… But now he was gone… Now… I had noone to hold my hand… As the memory of my father disappeared, darkness filled in the void and I drifted in it endlessly until I saw a light in the darkness. Though I had no idea what it was, my instincts told me to run towards it. I ran and ran, it came closer and closer. I reached out my hand as I made it to the light and a hand came from the light and held onto my hand.
Wait… what is this… the same feeling… like oto-san…
I woke up just as a body moved away to the door. I slowly turned my aching head to look at whoever it was, but all I caught was a bit ofwhite (or was it silver?)hair before the door closed.
Inuyasha? Was… was it Inuyasha's hand that I… dreamt of?
I then realized that the room which I was in was unfamiliar and bland. The room seemed cold, though my bed was warm and comfy, the room just left a feeling of coldness in its wake. This room reminded me of something… of a… hospital!
Beep! Beep!
I turned and saw a machine that was hooked up to me. It was monitoring my heartbeat. Yep, this was a hospital… Wait a minute… HOSPITAL!
The realization of that hit me like a ton of bricks and I knew that my educational life was in jeopardy. Did they find out that Kagami was actually a girl? Was my school going to kick me out? Would any school accept me at all because of my cross dressing ways that I was forced into?
The door knob jiggled and my attention went to the person coming in. Asagi-san looked up and smiled at me, seeing that I was awake.
"Ah! Kagome! You're awake! I was wondering if you'd ever get up!" he smiled warmly.
"Asagi-san…"
I started to get up, but he coaxed me back into settling down. After I was comforatable again, he pulled up a chair.
"Asagi-san… how long have I been here?" I asked.
"You've been here almost a week now," he replied.
A WEEK? That meant… oh man, the tournament was coming up in about a week! Would I be well enough to enter it? Could I still enter it? Would the archery club go in at all?
I started to get up again, but Asagi-san made me settle down again.
"Calm down Kagome, whatever it is that you're worried about can wait till later," he told me.
"But it can't! The Archery tournament is coming up! I've got to practice or…" I trailed off.
He rose an eyebrow, "Is something wrong?"
I got afraid… Did they find out… who I really was?
"Asagi-san… Am I still… a student?…"
He looked surprised, "A student? Of Kuribuki high? Of course! Why wouldn't you be?"
"Well… I'm a girl… and…"
He took me by surprise with his laughing.
"Kagome, I am very well aware of what your gender is, but I promise you, noone knows of your true gender. I spirited you away to this hospital, which I co-own with Inutaisho. Whatever I say that must remain a secret here will remain a secret. Do you understand?" he explained to me.
I nodded. I was again astounded by the power of rich people, with Sesshoumaru as my first, who were rich and… well, powerful.
He patted my arm lightly and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"If your father had seen the way you acted that day, justice ringing in your words and equality standing beside you, he would have been as proud as I was, Kagome…" he smiled softly.
I looked down, "Proud? Maybe he would have… but look at the consequences."
I touched my bandaged areas and held up my broken arm.
"I don't know if it was worth me losing my ability to shoot another arrow again…" I mumbled.
He shook his head, "You will be fine Kagome. I have the best doctors in all of Japan here.They can make a crippled man walk upriight and even make a blind man see. Theywork wonders and miracles here."
"Oh…"
There was a long silence that filled the room as I fiddled around with a loose bandage and Asagi-san read the chart beside my bed. A thought came up in my head and I tried to ignore it, but it kept bugging me that I had to ask. I looked at Asagi-san and saw him holding the chart in his hands and reading what was on there.
"Ano… Asagi-san?" I asked.
He didn't look up from the chart, "Hmm? What is it Kagome?"
"…About Kojiro and… the Peach Man…"
He looked up from the chart.
"What… what will happen to them?" I finished.
He sighed and put the chart down. He adjusted his glasses and leaned on his chair.
"They will be tried for their participation in illegal activities. Peach Man got fired and Kojiro got expelled. They got what they deserved because they had been duping everyone for a long time. Though it was long and hard to find the truths of their wrongdoings and that you were hurt in the process, it was a success," he replied.
I rose an eyebrow, "Long? Wait, you mean, you had been lying in wait for them to mess up? You already knew what they were doing?"
"Kagome,I figuredPeach Man was up to somethingafterabout a year when he was hired by the school board. I didn't know what to do and had nothing to follow up with as evidence of their scandalous crimes. So in order to bring the truth out, I "left on a business trip" with Peach Man in charge to see how he would abuse this power I left him with. To see how he would use it, I had some of the teachers join in on the bribery ring they were doing to see who was working along with them. Your English teacher was one of the teachers who joined in to give me information," he told me.
My mouth, despite hurting, dropped open and I promptly shut it, "Wait a minute, my English teacher… You mean, he was fake-hating me and giving me shitty scores so that I… you guys planned this?"
"I'm very sorry, but we were using you. We knew of your past with bad teachers you encountered and attempted to recreate one of the same kind. We were successful and your temper led us down the right path."
I frowned, "But… why me? Why choose me to be your guinea pig?"
He shook his head, "You weren't a guinea pig. We didn't mean to use you in that way, but Sesshoumaru had suggested that-"
I stopped him, "Hold on a minute there... Sesshoumaru TOLD you to use me?"
"He merely suggested that-"
"No," I interrupted again, "he had you manipulated into using me, ME,as the prime target of Kojiro's attack! His wanting me to join the archery club right away, in calling Peach Man to save me only to "join" up with them and…"
I was furious. I was nothing here still. I was just being used and had to pay severely for it. Man, what a bitch.
"I'm sorry," he apologized.
"Wait, so that day I saw you come to school, you guys were actually planning your next step towards busting Peach Man and Kojiro weren't you?" I asked.
He nodded, "Indeed."
"But you guys still used me…" I said and trailed off.
I was angry. THEY USED ME! I felt like a piece of crap, like I had been… betrayed?…
"Kagome-" he started to say.
"Get out," I mumbled.
"Kagome, you have to understand-"
"Get out!" I snarled at him.
"Kago-"
"BEAT IT! GET THE FUCK OUT!" I screamed angrily at him.
He sighed and shook his head. I glared at him and he left, worry and sadness on his face like he did when I passed out before, but I didn't give a shit. They betrayed my trust and used me like a guinea pig.
I leaned back onto my pillows and felt a tear roll down my cheeks. I tried pushing them back, but they sprang forward relentlessly and I cried. I couldn't trust or rely on anyone again. I was alone in this world… truly alone…
