Week three of her entrapment, she was finally allowed out.

They had gone back to the doctor, and had taken off the strapping for her ribs, with the promise that in a further two weeks, she could remove her much more bulky cast.

There, she had -literally- bumped into a man with short black hair and dark eyes, accompanying his partner, a woman with long, dark brown hair and a kind smile.

In the car on the way home, she had nearly smiled as she kept the object he had given her from sight, half-listening to the sounds of the woman driving make a snide comment to her.

As soon as she had gotten back, she almost raced up to her room to get everything together, stealing the cordless phone along the way.

'Kagome?'

She froze, and with envelope and phone hidden, she turned slowly.

'What?'

'You'd better not be planning anything, right? Don't go against your mother.'

She half smiled, without any real heart in it. 'Sure.'

She received a suspicious look, then turned away.

'I've got my eye on you.'

She walked as slowly as she could up the stairs, and into he room where she shut the door.

As quickly as she could, she dialled the number she had long since committed to memory, and listened to the tone with anticipation.

After four rings, a familiar voice answered.

Her heart almost skipped a beat, but she was almost too happy to notice.

'Hello?'

'InuYasha!'

'Kagome? What's going on?'

'It's here, it's here!'

'What is?'

'The letter, dummy, the letter from the lawyers!'

'I know. I'm the one who told Miroku to get it for you.'

'Really? Thanks!'

'What does it say?'

'Oh, um,'

'You haven't opened it yet?' He asked dryly.

There was a pause, and a sigh on the other end, as he waited for to open and read it.

'It says,' She cleared her throat. 'To Miss Higurashi, blah blah blah, your request has been submitted, blah blah blah, and is currently being considered, etc, etc, etc.'

'Translation…'

'They're thinking about considering the letter we sent.'

'Good or bad?'

'I don't know, but I don't think we're going to do it.'

'So then, now what?'

She sighed. 'I don't know.'

There was a noise on the other side of the line.

'What was that?'

'Crap. I gotta go. Goodbye-'

'Bye.' He replied, but she had already gone, he listened to the dial tone for a long while, feeling both helpless and hopeless.

Three weeks idled by, slowly, and thoughtfully.

Kagome, still held captive in her room, knowing he would come only if something major happened, like he had thought of another idea, or the apocalypse was coming, whatever came first.

She was locked away, both in the confines of her four walls, and in the confines of her mind.

The dream she had became reoccurring, one that became her nightmare, where the little niggling doubts that he was doing anything at all for her roamed free.

Finally, she was to down to the doctors again, and get the final cast removed.

The doctor gave her a worried look when she first walked into the surgery, but it passed without anything of significance.

However, when she walked out of the door, she caught sight of an odd face.

A man with short, black hair was leaning next to the women's bathroom, shooting significant looks at her.

She excused herself and walked straight past him, into the white tiled room, closing the door carefully behind her.

This was the only impression she got, before her view was obscured by a hat thrown crooked, as she was hugged so tightly she almost couldn't breathe.

'Kagome!'

'Sango?'

Sango pulled her back to arms length assessing her form grimly.

'You look terrible. Are you feeling okay?'

Kagome glanced at herself in the mirror opposite, and decided that yes, she was right.

She was as pale as death, and had almost midnight-black shadows under her eyes.

She looked visibly thinner, and the freshly exposed arm blended in unusually well with the rest of her physique.

'Yes, I'm okay.' her gaze shifted back to the only other girl in the place.

'Listen, we've come up with an idea that might work.'

'Let's hear it then,'

'We get social services onto your mom,'

Kagome opened her mouth to object, but was cut off smoothly.

'No, wait for it, and I can pull some strings. We get you out of there, you go back to InuYasha's place, and life goes on.'

'Does he know about this?'

Sango shifted her weight uncomfortably. 'Well…'

Kagome gave her a dry look.

'Don't look at me, if we'd have told him, he would have been on the phone the same second-' Hope filled her heart, squashing the doubts. '-and besides, we only thought of it in the last twenty four hours.'

'And by 'we', you mean,'

'Me and Miroku, of course.'

'Of course.' She repeated. 'Have you made the call yet?'

'No, we just thought we might run it past you first.'

Kagome straightened her elbow again, and it gave an almighty crack.

'Suure. So, when are you planning on telling him?'

'Uhhh,' Sango shrugged, 'when the time is right, I guess?'

'Before or after I walk in his front door again?'

'Hmm,' Sango paused. 'Not sure. I kind of don't have the heart to leave him in the dark.'

'What do you mean?'

'He's been worrying a lot these last few weeks. We've had to spend ages convincing him not to 'kidnap' you.' She looked over at her again. 'He's pretty crazy about you, you know.'

Kagome turned red, and turned away.

'So then, what do you think?'

'Me? Of what?'

Sango rolled her eyes. 'Of the plan, dummy.'

It took Kagome a beat to remember what it was again. 'Uh,' She turned to face the mirrors, and leant against the sink.

'Oh yes,' Sango replied sarcastically, 'very decisive.'

'No, it's just,' Kagome replied, 'Every one of our plans are do-or-die. Either they do work, or they blow up in our faces. We need to be careful. As the old saying goes, nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool.'

Sango paused, considering.

'I mean, even if this does work, then Mom's just gonna pretend, the cunning piece of work that she is, then I'm stuck back with her with friggin' bars on the windows and everything, if I live to tell the tale.'

'That's true, but then, if we pull it off, then it should hold out either long enough for you to turn eighteen, or she's in for life.'

'Like I said, do or die.'

Sango sighed. 'So that's you're opinion, then?'

And Kagome nodded.

Sango shrugged, then turned her gaze back towards the mirror, straightened her cops hat, did up her top button, winked at herself, then pushed the door open casually, leaving Kagome to her thoughts.

Suddenly, she was flying, falling over the edge.

Time seemed to slow, and as she fell, she glanced back at him, saw his cold gaze watch her fall, and she looked back downwards-

Tap.

Kagome flew up, and shoved open her window.

'InuYasha?'

Only silence of the night followed her quiet exclamation towards it, where she looked hopefully onwards.

She still waited, before finally looking away, and shutting the window catch with a quiet click.

She turned back, and slowly trudged over to her bed and clambered in, feeling more disappointed then she should have.

Pulling the blanket over her head, she squeezed her eyes shut and hoped for dreamless sleep.

Tap.

Again, she jumped up, and stared out the pitch black window, wondering what the hell she was doing.

There's no one out there, you idiot. She thought, shaking her head and walking back over to her bed, climbing back in.

Tap.

And now, she was getting annoyed.

Fool me once, she thought dryly.

There was still curiosity burning, there was nothing out there to whack against the window, unless it was the branches outside the window, but it was still as anything outside.

What was that, then?

Slowly, she stood, and cautiously tiptoed over to her window.

She peered out, without opening it.

But, not entirely satisfied, she opened the window to it's fullest extent, to still see nothing out there.

'It's about time,' A voice said, and she sprang back, where a figure took her place on the floor with a quiet thump, 'what took you so long?'

With the dream still fresh in her mind, it took almost all of her willpower not to tear up at the sight of his smug grin once again.

She still rushed at him anyway, and again, buried her face in his chest, again, where he wrapped his arms around her.

'You okay?' He asked, which was when she lost her battle and tears leaked out. 'Guess not.' It's that obvious,

'Do you know yet?'

'Know what?' A million thoughts ran through his mind, not all of them completely relevant in the slightest.

She peeked up at him, wiping the last few tears away. 'Miroku and Sango's plan.'

Ah! 'Yeah, I know it.'

'What do you think of it, then?'

'Me? I'm all for it.'

Of course he is, she mused.

He sat her down again, and eyed her up. 'But seriously. are you feeling okay?'

She paused. 'Why do you ask?'

'No way in hell do you look it.'

She shrugged, but kept her eyes on her hands, which were folded in her lap.

This may or may not be true, she hadn't had a full nights sleep in so long, and she probably looked as pale as death.

Unexpectedly, a wave of fatigue washed over her, and she swayed slightly.

'I'm,' alright, not so alright, getting on, 'managing.'

He took a seat next to her, and started talking quietly. 'You shouldn't worry, Miroku said they would call tomorrow. You'll be free soon, out of this damn room and away from that evil hag.' She rested her head against his shoulder, but he continued. 'I'll be damned if you have to stay here, living like this. You'll be back at that school with your friends before you know it, plus I'm almost done with my hours, so then I won't be just coming back in he evenings, so-'

He had glanced down at her, to see she was fast asleep, and snoring lightly. 'Ah.'

He lay her down gently, being careful not to wake her up, and, for an instant, waited for the creak and sound of the door opening in the next room.

There was only silence, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Quietly, he slid off the bed and onto the floor, not wanting to leave just yet.

Looking around, he noticed that the room looked exactly like someone had been stuck in there for the past seven weeks.

Well, six and a half, but he hadn't been counting.

It was distinctly messy, with everything strewn everywhere, and just general clutter scattered.

Surprisingly similar to his place, he had a fleeting hope that his organisation skills hadn't rubbed off on her.

He turned his gaze back to her, and shook his head.

No one should be kept like this. He thought about his own freedom, where he was able do do almost anything he wanted. Of course, he was still bitter about his father and brother, but, he hadn't exactly been the best kid.

But me? I would probably suffer a lot more if I were stuck like this. I wonder how she handles it? He took in her quiet, sleeping face. I'll bet she wants to get out more then anything.

It looked like she was suffering, but knowing her, she wouldn't want to show the weakness, unless it was a one-way trip to the bridge.

He considered that for a moment, before shaking his head. I would keep her off there if it's the last thing I do!

Thoughts creeped in of what it would be like without her.

Probably a lot like life before, where he would work, then hang out with Miroku and Sango, and threatening to beat the snot out of Shippo, as per usual.

He considered it, and found it, boring. Not to mention lonely.

During the short time she was living with him, he had found himself happier, and that time, after that, that, psycho attacked her, when she smiled, he could still be dazzled by it.

If-when- she got out of there, the first thing he was going to do would be to take her out somewhere.

Somewhere outside, with food, and sunshine, and a wide open space, the exact opposite of here, or as opposie as he could get.

So, basically, a small voice summarised, a picnic?

Ah! He thought. Perfect!

Or… a date? It finished.

WHAT? No way! He shifted his gaze away from her, and turned bright red. Not like that!

She moved then, slipping her arm under her pillow, and sighing.

Bah, what am I thinking. He shook his head, trying to chase the thoughts away. She wouldn't like me like that. She's probably got too much on her plate at the moment to be thinking about that sort of thing anyway. I mean, first things first, I've got to get her out of here.

He shifted his gaze back to her, and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

Hey guys, sorry it's taking me so long to update, my internet's down.

Will update when I can, but I've stolen my friends internet ^^

Later,

InuKag