Disclaimer: Seriously... I have no right over these characters! well except the ones i make up...
"No!" Kagome said in a hushed voice.

"Who's Jason?" Sango asked sitting on the other side of Leigh now.

All three men looked like they were ready to hunt this guy down and kill him.

"He's my stepbrother." Leigh said finally raising her head to meet Kagome's eyes.

"What's a stepbrother?" Shippo asked, voicing everyone's question.

"My mother died when I was born. And a few years ago my father remarried to this other woman. She has a son… named Jason. So he's not my brother by blood but by marriage."

"So in your time… you don't mate for life?" Koga asked in surprised.

"Wait… are you saying… your brother did this to you?" Inuyasha said in disgust.

"Yes… it happened a few months before I came to live with Kagome… it's basically the reason why I left."

"But mom thought it was because your stepmother didn't like you…" Kagome said.

"Yah well that's part of it. Iris thought I had provoked Jason to do this. She said if I wasn't such a slut then maybe none of this would have happened."

"Leigh… are you saying that… that…" Kagome stuttered unable to bring herself to say the words.

"That he tried to rape me…? Yah… he did." Leigh said in a monotone voice that was unnerving given the circumstances.

"Oh Leigh!" Sango cried throwing her arms around her.

"That bastard!" Koga spat.

"I'll KILL HIM!" Inuyasha yelled to the heavens.

"I put up a good fight," Leigh continued, "But he was so much bigger than me. Even the little training I had before wasn't enough to fend him off. If the bathroom hadn't had a door that locked… he would have gotten what he wanted."

"What happened…" Miroku asked his voice full of a note of concern that no one had heard before.

"He had been doing coke again…" Leigh started.

"Coke? What's coke?" Shippo asked, "Is it that fizzy drink that Kagome brings us?"

"No… the coke Leigh's talking about is a drug… a very bad drug." Kagome said pulling the little demon into her embrace.

"It makes people do strange things… and for Jason it made him livid. I had come home from school to find our parents out. I went to find Jason to see if he knew where they had gone up instead I found him shooting up. At first he seemed to out of it to notice I was even there. But then he asked if I'd like to try some and I said no way in hell. That's when he really took notice of me. He said he was sorry and asked me to come in and sit on his bed so we could have a chat. I said I had some homework I needed to do and turned to leave. He grabbed me and started yelling at me, calling me a bitch and saying things like how I thought I was better than him. I got out of his grip and told him to just calm down and that I didn't mean anything by it. Things get kind of blurry after that… he chased me all over our house. Hitting me and pushing me to the ground. At one point he had me pinned to the ground and he almost won until I kneed him and ran to the bathroom and locked the door. He tried breaking the door down… but he wasn't in the best state by then… after a while I snuck out the window and ran to the neighbours house. From there I was in the hospital for a while and my dad paid off the neighbours and the reporters to keep quiet so Jason wouldn't get in trouble. Then he sent me off to come live with Kagome."

"Oh Leigh! Why didn't you tell us!" Kagome said a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Because! I got away! I survived! What's the point on dwelling on an event that has only made you stronger! Besides… he's your mother's brother! I could just tell her that he had paid to get rid of me so he could have his perfect life! It would break your mother's heart!"

"Leigh… she would have wanted to know…" Kagome whispered.

"No, she has a point Kagome." Inuyasha said, "What's the point of reliving events that only bring you pain when forgetting them can make you stronger."

There was silence around the camp as everyone thought about what Inuyasha had just said. Kagome knew he was thinking about when he was pinned to the tree by Kikyo… but somehow she didn't think that had made him stronger.

"Well this still doesn't explain why she tried to kill me…" Koga said at last breaking the silence.

"No it doesn't… but we can't seem to sense that anything is wrong with her." Miroku said.

"Maybe we should take her back to Kaede?" Kagome suggested.

"What? And give up on our search for Naraku! No way Kagome!" Inuyasha said.

"Inuyasha! Something could be SERIOUSLY wrong with Leigh!"

"Look if neither you nor Miroku can pick up on anything… what makes you think that Kaede will be able to! Besides Leigh's strong she can carry on."

"Why don't we see how Leigh is after the bruises and cuts have disappeared." Sango said jumping in, "And let her decide whether or not she should continue."

"Yah… okay." Kagome said the flush from her anger fading.

"Feh! Whatever!" Inuyasha said sulking off to a tree to sit in.


By midday all of the bruises and cuts were gone. Leigh appeared to be back to her normal self but somehow she couldn't shake the heavy feeling in side her head. After a quick meal and chat the group decided to head out seeing as how Leigh was fine again.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kagome asked as they packed up their belongings.

"Yes Kagome, I'm fine!"

"I'll say!" Miroku said moving his had towards her bottom.

"Don't even try it Miroku!" Sango yelled about ready to take his head off.

"Wow… I don't think I've ever seen that lecherous monk run that fast!" Kagome giggled as they watched Miroku run away with Sango close behind.

"Ha ha and I don't suspect we'll ever see it again!" Leigh said laughing at the sight. The two soon disappeared out of sight over the ridge of the hill and Leigh continued packing.

Shortly Sango returned with a joyous bounce in her step.

"What are you so happy about?" Inuyasha asked her.

"Let's just say Miroku won't be groping anyone for a while!" She said with a pleased smile on her face.

As they headed out Miroku still had not returned, but Sango convinced him that he was fine and they could start without him and he'd eventually catch up. As they headed out Koga stayed close to Leigh while Sango, Kirara and Shippo walked behind then and Inuyasha and Kagome stayed in front.

"Look, Koga…" Leigh said finally getting up the nerve, "I'm sorry for whatever I did or said last night. But you have to believe… I would never normally kill you!"

"It's okay Leigh… I know… I knew it couldn't be you. You seemed so angry… and… that's not like you."

"So you forgive me?" Leigh asked looking up to meet his eyes.

"Of course."

Leigh leaned over and kissed him on the cheek to show how happy she was. She was extremely surprised when he began to blush.

"Hey how come I don't get an apology kiss!" Came a voice from the trees.

Stopping and looking around Leigh tried to find where the voice was coming from.

"Don't stop you two!" Sango said, "Just keep moving! Nothing to see here!" She said trying to push Koga and Leigh forward.

"SANGO! Don't LEAVE ME HERE!" Came the unmistakeable whine of Miroku.

"Sango… you DIDN'T!" Leigh said laughing as she looked at her friend.

"Okay so I tied him to a tree! It's not like he couldn't get down if he tried!" Sango said blushing.

"Don't worry Miroku… I'll get you down." Leigh said giving Sango a laughing smile as she headed into the trees.

Sure enough tied to one of the largest trees in the woods was Miroku, who was sporting several hand marks on his face.

"Oh Leigh! I knew you wouldn't leave me here!" Miroku said happily.

"Of course not! You silly monk! But you better promise to behave yourself!"

"Yes, yes I will!"

Climbing the tree Leigh made her way up to Miroku and began cutting him free. Without warning the last cord broke and Miroku tumbled face first into the ground.

"Ooooo… sorry Miroku!" Leigh said trying to stifle her laughter but failing.

"It's okay…" Miroku groaned from the earth as he pulled himself out of the small whole he created.

"Anything broken?"

"Just my pride… thanks though."

"No problem!" Leigh said as she shimmied down the tree.

"Shall we make our way back to the others?"

"You bet!" Leigh said as she followed the monk out of the forest.

"I can not BELIEVE you cut him down…" Sango said to Leigh with a hint of a smile on her face.

"And I can not believe you were going to LEAVE me there!" Miroku said teasing her, "And here I thought you loved me Sango!"

"Yah right… only in your dreams!"


A/N: Okay so I told you I was going to be updating a lot in the next few days... so here is chapter 12... updated in the SAME DAY as 11! you have to give me credit for my speedyness! But I swear it's also really good... or atleast I think so! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm really starting to get back into writing again! I went through this whole ... well i guess you could call it writers block... even though it was more like my mother squashed all my ambition to be creative... for a few weeks and i'm just now starting to feel like i can actually write again! anyways i hope you like this chapter! and remember REVIEW! haha i love to hear from you guys! it makes me feel special! haha just joking! but i still like to hear your oppinions and thoughts so please review! thanks!
Emma