A/N: Well, I see that we're all fans of romance here, hah. Hello everyone and thank you for returning to reading with all your wonderful alerts, favorites and most importantly REVIEWS! I was so happy to see my inbox filled with positive feedback which makes me even sadder that this story is coming to a close soon. But thank you all for your wonderful support, it makes me very thankful to have such devoted readers. :)

DISCLAIMER: Really? Must you break my spirit at the beginning of EVERY CHAPTER!? Fine, Inu-Yasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, not me.

Remembering What Was Never There

Chapter 12

A gentle breath ruffled my bangs from my forehead as my eyes opened easily and scanned the room. It was a dreary day out, periodically rain drops would tap against the windows in a sad strum that threatened to lull me back to sleep. In attempts to not carry that out, my head shifted against the surface that I had used for a pillow the night before which had been none other than Inu-Yasha's chest. We were both laying long-ways on the couch, with me in the crook of his arm closest to the back of the couch. I decided that it was time for me to get ready for school (although why I ever thought I could make it to school that morning I will never know…) and sat up slowly to not wake the slumbering half-demon beneath me. His arm that wrapped around my shoulders had to be gently picked up and dropped back to his side, luckily gaining no response out of him. I managed to touch my toes to the wooden floor beside the couch and tried to stand on my own, my ribs screaming out in objection as I grabbed them and hissed in pain. Inu-Yasha's ear twitched towards me before his warm honey eyes overflowed into my sight, causing me to freeze.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To school. I skipped yesterday I can't afford to do that again." Almost instantaneously, Inu-Yasha sat up with his legs off the couch and tugged me lightly back next to him.

"You don't really think you can go there like this do you?" His clawed finger poked the bandage under my eye lightly as the events of the night before became clear once again in my mind.

"O-Oh, right. But I should be fine now!" I peeled the bandage off my cheek and felt the long lean scab that lined my face.

"The hell you are, remember our little agreement last night? Besides, people are going to think I abuse you, and by people I mean Sango." Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes. "And as long as those nut cases are out there, you're not going anywhere without me." He really was treating me like a child! And of all things in the world, that made me angry.

"I can handle myself, Inu-Yasha." I said in a rather huffy tone. The side of his mouth flicked upward in a smirk and it made my cheeks a little hotter. "I'm serious!" He snorted a bit to my response before getting up off the couch and traveling to the kitchen where he grabbed a glass from the cabinet and turned the faucet on. After the only thing coming from Inu-Yasha were slight snickers I sighed again. "Fine, I won't go to school yet again. You happy?" He traveled back to the couch with his glass of water, sipping it casually.

"Mhm."

"So I can't go to school or work now? What am I supposed to do?" He shrugged slightly before placing the cup on the coffee table and laying back down on the couch, placing his legs behind me.

"Could go back to sleep…" Inu-Yasha said placing his arms behind his head. I shook my head and he sat up and looked at me then away. I thought that it would be extremely awkward between us after what had occurred the night before but somehow things seemed almost right to me. It almost felt as if we were a married couple. The thought made me blush and turn my face away to the end table where the newly reconstructed picture carousel sat wishing for some light to make it glitter to its full potential.

"I think I'm going to at least get dressed." I said looking down at the clothes I fell asleep in. I was still in my t-shirt and jeans that I had worn to work, a few places were still stained with blood. Getting up without another word, I traveled to my room that was still in disarray from the previous night and grabbed a pair of sweat pants and another shirt from the bottom drawer of my dresser. Traveling to the bathroom, I plugged the drain in the sink and filled it with hot water. I then looked up to the mirror, seeing myself for the first time after the incident. My eyes were dark, no doubt from being hit so hard in the nose, and the cut on my cheek made me look like I had lost a fight. I looked away to pull my shirt over my head, my sides were a sickening mash up of purple, blue, and yellow which made me look small and… Fragile. I groaned at the conversation of the night before while placing my shirt in the warm water to hopefully soak away the blood stains from the mint green fabric. I slid my jeans off as well, throwing them on top of my shirt and quickly slid my newer clothes over my underwear before grabbing a brush to straighten out my hair. Although I was normally right handed, it hurt far too much to lift my arm on that side so I was reduced to short uneven strokes with my left hand. I really did look pathetic. After putting on some fresh deodorant and perfume, I walked out of the bathroom to find Inu-Yasha in the same position I had left him in. He cracked an eye open before looking me over.

"Well, at least you look a bit better without the blood stained shirt. Let me see your sides."

"What?" I asked bashfully while tugging my shirt down.

"I need to see it in case there's something wrong, stupid." He growled. Eventually I gave in and pulled my shirt up to the underwire of my bra exposing my skin to him. He got up and walked over and placed a hand on the curve of my waist and stroked both sides lightly. I tried not to have a panic attack while he did so and was almost relieved when he removed his hand. "You're lucky. Nothing's broken which is amazing considering you have absolutely nothing to you but skin and bones." I merely nodded before sitting back down. No sooner had I done so, there was a loud pounding at the door that caused my heart to jump into my throat and panic set in. What if they had found where I live and were coming to get me? Inu-Yasha walked over to the door and opened it slowly. No sooner had he done this, Sango came storming in. She nearly plowed over Inu-Yasha over and stared at my state for a second.

"Oh Kagome… Miroku didn't say you'd been hurt this bad."

"M-Miroku told you?" I asked surprised.

"Of course he did! He came right back to my place after he broke up the fight between Koga and Sesshomaru! He said if he didn't get out of there he would have killed one of them!" Sango said in a state of almost hysteria. "When you didn't show up for class this morning I freaked out and had to make sure you were alright. Did you call the cops?"

"I…"

"I've got it taken care of," Inu-Yasha said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Good. At least we can trust someone in this world, my gods I never thought something like this would happen…"

"I'm a little surprised myself." I said with a light sense of humor. No one in the room picked up on it and merely continued with their glances around the room. Inu-Yasha stood with his arms crossed as Sango made herself comfortable on the couch next to me. I watched her eyes zone onto the blood that spattered his shirt and tried to beat Sango to saying something. "Inu-Yasha, I have my clothes soaking in the sink if you want to throw yours in there too. Try and get the stains out." He looked at me, shrugged, the turned around to follow the suggestion. When the door shut, Sango turned back to me in a serious manner that startled me.

"Miroku needs to talk to you and Inu-Yasha. He seems really concerned and I needed to get over here as soon as I could. Inu-Yasha's in serious danger right now."

"Well, I figured as much. He was thrown in jail for days."

"No, Kagome. I don't think you understand just what's going on here." Sango positioned herself to face me and took my hands in hers.

"W-what do you mean?" After a moment of searching the back of the couch for answers, she looked back at me with narrowed eyes.

"Kagome, tell me… What do you know about gangs?"

XxXxXxX

The four of us sat silent in Sango's dining room. The table was pushed to the side with her chairs in a tight little square. I sat uncomfortably playing with the strings on my sweat pants, Sango stared out the window and let out a periodical sigh, Miroku sat hunched forward towards the middle of the circle with his hands clasped in between his legs while Inu-Yasha sat, bored, with his arms crossed and left leg over his right. Everyone's body language told their inner-most emotions as we all waited for someone to talk.

"Kagome, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'd just like to know what's going on, Miroku." At the sound of my tone, Miroku raised a hand to the back of his head where he played with the small rubber band that held his hair back. After a moment he released it, allowing his unruly hair to glide down his jaw line.

"I suppose now is as best a time as any. After all, this is going to escalate more and more, something has to be done." Miroku said. Everyone got comfortable as Miroku turned to Inu-Yasha. "I'm sorry that you have to find out like this." Inu-Yasha cocked an eye brow at him as Miroku looked back at the rest of us.

"Inu-Yasha and I, well, the old Inu-Yasha and I had been the best of friends for many many years; despite the fact that he was a half-demon and came from a family of demons. I was always over at his place and we were always hanging out together. I came to learn that he was in the care of his older brother because of the tragic passing of Inu-Yasha's mother and his brother's step mother. Their father had passed some years before, leaving them in the care of Inu-Yasha's mother. His brother was of age to take care of Inu-Yasha so they lived in a house just across town from here and lead pretty normal lives… At least I thought so until a few months ago.

"As I mentioned before, Inu-Yasha also came from a family of demons and something that very few people know is that there is a complete… Underground community, if you will, of these demons all throughout the country. However, over the years it had gotten more and more noticeable as demons from around the world flocked here for companionship. There began to be problems." Miroku slid down in his chair a bit. I bit my nails as Inu-Yasha stared in disbelief at Miroku, Sango still refused eye contact.

"What kind of problems?" I asked.

"Well, much like most of the demons, Inu-Yasha's brother was a part of this gang that had risen up in Japan and perhaps more disturbing was the fact that his father had been the leader of this group. Once their father passed away, leadership was passed on to his brother considering that Inu-Yasha was half-human because of his mother. His brother is a full demon because his father was in a marriage that didn't work out with another demon. But I digress, this group gained great power over the years and was being threatened by other groups… Now he wouldn't take that. Sesshomaru wouldn't have his title as daiyokai or "The Great Demon Lord" be taken from him or threatened."

"That bastard is my brother!? You fucking lied to me in that jail cell!?" Inu-Yasha's feet slammed down onto the floor making the room shake.

"I had to, I couldn't tell you the truth, you weren't ready." Miroku justified calmly.

"You have a lot of fucking nerve. Now look where not telling me got everyone! You asshole, Kagome being hurt is on your shoulders!" Inu-Yasha screamed at him. I looked at him with a knot in the pit of my stomach but watched as Miroku continued.

"Please allow me to finish this. It was a mere few days after Inu-Yasha's 23rd birthday and him and his girlfriend, Kikyo, had had another fight and decided to split up for a while. I went to his house for him to basically use me as an emotional punching bag but never got to talk to him. When I got to the house Sesshomaru was sitting in the living room with Inu-Yasha talking to him sternly.

"'Humans cause nothing but trouble, little brother. You'd be wise to just join our group and forget about them.' Sesshomaru said to him.

"'Why would I ever join a group that just exists to kill innocent people? You're full of more shit than I thought if you thought I'd do that. Don't even refer to me as your little brother.' Was Inu-Yasha's response."

"Well, that's good at least." Sango finally said.

"Not quite…" Miroku's tone took a darker turn. "Inu-Yasha, Sesshomaru, and I went out that night because Sesshomaru had to meet a few of the other members. We met in a park with a few other shady characters, I know one of them was Koga and the others I don't know. Well, eventually things got completely out of hand and a passing man got tangled up in a fight between Sesshomaru and the other men. Someone pulled out a gun and shot the man and we all fled, including Inu-Yasha and I."

"How terrible…" I said. Miroku nodded.

"This is where things start getting twisted." He announced. Inu-Yasha had settled down and was listening again. "Inu-Yasha was furious with Sesshomaru, I've never seen him so angry. I remember him yelling at Sesshomaru as we ran…

"'You fucking idiot! Do you have any idea what you just did!? You just killed a human for no reason!'

"'Shut your mouth, half-breed, until you know your facts. He was a part of a gang that was aiming to finish us off, he had it coming.'

"'You're going to jail you idiot!'

"'They'll never find out.'

"'Yes they will, because I'm calling the god damned cops.' Inu-Yasha said before running down an ally leaving the group. I remember running with him for what seemed like hours before ending up back at my house. I asked him what on earth he was doing and he told me to just go home. I did as he said and walked in my front door, making sure all the doors and windows were locked."

"…Then one of those bastards tried to frame me for murdering that guy and had me thrown in jail." Inu-Yasha growled.

"You're jumping ahead but yes." Miroku nodded. "I remember it being a really foggy day and not expecting anything to be wrong when I opened the door, but Sesshomaru was there and flashed a gun at me.

"'You'll do well to keep quiet and follow us.' He said lowly and referred to the group of demons behind him. Koga was there along with a man with long, wavy black hair that went all the way down his back. He stepped forward and shoved Sesshomaru out of the way.

"'I'll handle this.' The man with the wavy hair said.

"'I think not.' Sesshomaru said.

"'You will or I'll go to the cops right now.'

"'Naraku, you're such a bastard.' Koga said to him. And then I was dragged across town."

We all couldn't find the words to describe our shock.

"When I got to the place Naraku was taking me, I saw Inu-Yasha tied up in an ally with a gag on his mouth. I panicked as the group began to violently kick and punch him and Naraku pushed me forward.

"'Get his wallet or I'll kill you right here.' I did as ordered while Inu-Yasha watched me confused. I shook as I took his wallet and brought it to Naraku. 'Take everything out of it, leave nothing and scratch out every bit of information you can find.' I did as ordered while Inu-Yasha was knocked out in the ally way and didn't move for a while. Sesshomaru delivered one more kick to the head before we heard sirens in the distance. I didn't have time to scratch off the rest of his name from his license and just dropped it back in his wallet and threw the wallet at him before we ran from him. Naraku continued to hold the gun to me while saying 'You're going to join this gang, you can't be trusted with everything you've seen to be on the outside. You will live with us, if not, your life is mine.' And I ran, crying the whole way."

"…No wonder when I woke up I was in so much pain. You bastards tried to kill me." Inu-Yasha said low and in a hiss.

"Inu-Yasha I had no choice-!"

"You had plenty of fucking choice! You took my life away! You took away everything from me and didn't stop it!" Inu-Yasha got up and looked like he was going to punch Miroku which caused both me and Sango to sit up as well. Although we expected the worst, Inu-Yasha merely stood above him, clenching his fists at his sides as Miroku held his hand in front of his face.

"I apologize… But there really was nothing I could do."

"If we were best friends, I'm glad you left me there. You're the poorest excuse for a friend ever. Kagome, let's go." He completely turned and walked to the door.

"Wait, Inu-"

"I said, let's go." Putting dark emphasis on the end of the sentence I quickly followed him out the door and on to the side walk. We had quite a ways to walk and quite a lot to talk about.

XxXxXxX

The most I could get out of Inu-Yasha was a few grunts on the way home and as soon as we stepped foot in the door, he stomped off to the room and slammed the door shut. Unsure of what to do, I stood there frozen. My thoughts were swimming almost painfully fast and it was nearly impossible to grasp onto any one train of thought. After a minute, I walked to the door and knocked lightly, hearing no response. I then let myself in cautiously, unsure of how he would react.

"Inu-Yasha, are you okay?"

"Yes." He said bluntly with his arms folded across his chest. His eyes were closed to the world as he let his head rest against the wooden head board behind him. I shook my head and sat on the edge of the bed, the motion causing his eyes to wrench open. He looked at me with slight anger. "I just said I was okay."

"You don't expect me to believe that do you? I've known you for long enough to know when you're upset." I replied calmly. Inu-Yasha looked as if he was going to protest more but let his arms fall to his sides as he exhaled deeply. "Want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I don't even know what to talk about, I'm so confused. I feel like my damn head is going to fall off." He brought his thumb and index finger to the bridge of his nose.

"Well, I can see why. It was a lot to take in."

"Even with all that information, why do I not remember any of this? Shouldn't I remember it?"

"Not right away, it's possible that you're still under the effects of the amnesia." Once I said this, his shoulders slumped forward even more. I placed a reassuring hand on his leg and smiled. "Just give it time to sink in, it'll all be okay." Inu-Yasha's eyes snapped up to mine and in one smooth movement he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. I squeaked a bit as I was now mere inches from his face, my body thrown on top of his.

"I don't want it to sink in. I want all that to go away, I don't need it. You heard the way my life was." After his statement, I relaxed a bit, my forehead coming in contact with his.

"That's a serious decision, don't make it based on your feelings without your memory. It might have been better in other parts." When I said this, his eyes closed again and I attempted to get onto the floor, only to find that Inu-Yasha held onto my arms. I had looked away for a second to my arms then back to him to be in contact with his lips. His grip on my arms had lessened considerably as he wrapped his arms around my middle bringing me closer to him yet. This kiss was slightly different than before, it had more, urgency. My mind became swept up in the event and I forgot what my body was doing as Inu-Yasha held me close still while rolling over to be on top of me. Once the task was done, he broke away from my lips to trail kisses down my jaw line and onto my neck, my heart slamming in my ears with every move he made. He stopped for a moment and looked at me with half-lidded eyes.

"I want to forget." He said simply before returning to kissing my neck. I closed my eyes in turn and allowed him to do as he pleased. "I don't want to remember all that."

"…I don't want you to remember either." I admitted while plunging my hands into his silver locks to pull him back for another kiss. He gladly accepted it while his hands roamed from my middle to run up my sides. It was only mere seconds after that a loud bang startled the both of us into looking out into the living room. There were a few more bangs as Inu-Yasha let me out from underneath him in order to allow me to answer the door. I straightened my hair and trained to regain my senses (as well as my breath) and walked to the door where I opened it.

"Yes?" I asked politely. A young woman with long black hair, similar to mine, stood in the doorway.

"Are you Kagome Higurashi?" She asked in a rather chillingly smooth voice.

"Yes I am." I opened the door completely.

"I believe you may be able to help me in that case. My name is Kikyo… May I ask you a few questions?"

XxXxXxX

A/N: I think this is probably the most important chapter yet… Everything is revealed along with the fact that Inu-Yasha is trying to drown himself in Kagome to forget about the past. Isn't that great? Sorry for the cliffhanger, but SCHOOL IS OVERRR which means hooray for summer! Summer means updates! Be happy! Please review, more romance and drama is still to come even if the story is wrapping up!

'Till Next Time!

A Friend In Words,

--KB