Ugh, you know what I've been seeing lately? CLICHES. It's always the same story over and over and over again; Poor Kagome falls down the well and looses her memory. Or; Poor Kagome is finally rejected by Inuyasha and goes on an adventure with Sesshoumaru.
COME ON PEOPLE!
Not that I'm saying my idea was new, but at least it isn't repeated in every three summaries you read. How about Pirates? Or turning them all into Astronauts or Angels? Or having all the humans become demons and all of the demons turn into humans? THAT would be interesting.
Go out there and write people! Make us proud.
… Slowly we roll onward …
Kagome sat there lazily on the couch reading a new book she'd gotten. She'd opened all of the windows and felt how the sun filled, smooth, autumn wind played with her growing hair. She'd have to cut the dark locks soon again and it brought back thoughts of her parents.
She'd been exchanging letters with them, occasionally they would send some small gift or item; a stuffed animal or a package of candy, just like they used to do when she was away at camp in Minnesota. Back then the distance from California to Minnesota had seemed great, but being a whole country away, it now seemed so small and simple.
Kagome took a deep breath and marveled at the way the sun warmed even her lungs. Its bright arms wrapped themselves around the smooth expanse of her white thigh, making it feel alive. She closed her eyes and thought of home, imagining the sounds of waves lapping comfortably against the rocks meters away from her balcony, as they had done so for hundreds of years. She imagined that the chirping of birds outside her window was that of seagulls, flocking on the beach and bickering for space. She pretended that she could feel the green grass of her yard or the biting, yearning cold of the Pacific Ocean. A distant car horn sounded off and she morphed it into a boat signaling its arrival far away.
Kagome opened her eyes and smiled, returning to her book she pretended everything was all right again, that she hadn't the need to find her brother or to figure out the real way her parents had died. She was pushing everything and everyone to the back of her head. This calming meditation she had going was only broken by Sesshoumaru storming in, bringing all of his icy personality with him. Lately he'd been acting more and more cranky around Kagome, as if the mere sight of her had disgusted him.
He took one look at her placidly sitting on the couch, a benign expression plastered upon her smooth features, and he silently scoffed. He hated that Higurashi could calmly sit there, knowing nothing about what he had to go through every night, and pretend like nothing was out of place.
Sesshoumaru wanted some serious alone time today but didn't think he'd be getting it, all of the common rooms were full with people and outside were all of the sports people, classrooms were locked, lunchrooms were packed, leaving school wasn't an option at the moment, so spending the Saturday writing music had been the plan. He'd just have to ignore the little thorn in his side, maybe the music could drive Kagome out instead, very few could read peacefully with loud music playing.
He picked up his smooth violin, watching Kagome from the corner of his eye, and began playing a loud fast paced song that he'd taken the time to actually learn. It wasn't long before Kagome shifted uncomfortably and was staring at him with an indiscernible expression.
"That's not really your style," she commented offhandedly, setting her book down and taking a seat next to him. "You shouldn't play such an upbeat song because it's not very fitting for you, especially when you just want to get all of your emotions out." she reached out and grabbed a blank score sheet, scribbling down some notes quickly. "Play this one, I think that's how the melody went." Sesshoumaru glared at her as she thrust the music at him demandingly, but she only offered him a smile and shook the paper a little more.
He grudgingly spared a glance down at the paper and was pleasantly surprised. Higurashi had more than halfway decent music skills as the few phrases she had written were fairly complex. He recognized this melody, he'd been messing around a little bit but decided he didn't like it so he'd stopped writing the notes down and switched to something a little more dramatic. He looked at Kagome suspiciously, she'd changed some of the notes around, adding two more measures to make an unbroken phrase. She smiled and nodded for him to play the piece.
He picked the violin up and slowly began to play the partial piece. It was good, very good. Kagome's addition to his base melody made it sound sad but hopeful he could see the gray background, dead trees beginning to bloom, the charred, cracked ground beginning to mend itself. And then the piece stopped. He turned to Kagome and nodded appreciative of her work. She pulled the sheet away and began to write more working with Sesshoumaru to make the piece more dynamic and more expressive. She and Sesshoumaru continued music writing together for the rest of the day.
Kagome smiled as sunset came, sparkling red, purple, and orange through their wide window. It beamed off Sesshoumaru's fluorescent hair, making him ethereal looking, majestic almost. Kagome smiled at him as the slowly finished up their piece and he, for the first time, gave a small smirk in return.
Kagome looked magnificent in the dying sunlight, her skin glowing a pure gold and her eyes glinting with unspoken mirth as she smiled at him. Sesshoumaru sighed contentedly on the inside, somehow, this the was the best day he'd had in a long time. He was surprised that his whole day had been spent with Kagome and that it was more than pleasant. She surprised him with her large knowledge of music; its inner and outer workings. It wasn't until they were in complete darkness that they separated and ended their writing session. Though Sesshoumaru and Kagome had enjoyed the day both were aware of what was going to come tonight. Because the screams never stopped and the tears kept coming, something that no amount of sun rays or notes of hopeful melodies could chase away.
They shoved her into the nondescript black car, while Kagome obeyed quietly Souta made a fuss. He was screaming and crying, the bulky men were having a hard time controlling her little brother and were yelling at her to get him under control. She grabbed him obediently and held him like a mother would a child.
It had been two months, they had stayed in motel after motel, running from the cops that were surely after them. Like dogs sniffing out a hidden trail they had always followed, but the kidnappers were armed and extremely dangerous. And everyone knows what happens when a dog does something to irritate his cruel master; he gets kicked. They had totaled more than three cop cars and had killed more than nine people on this trip, Kagome seeing everything.
Kagome too was a dog for an abusive master, anytime she didn't obey they would kick her as well. Never touching her face or arms like the boss-man had ordered, but they made stinging cuts on her thighs and hips, sometimes all they did was 'forget to feed her' but other times they took her clothes off and put their greasy hands all over her small body. The bruises never had a chance to heal so she was always black and blue and red. Her hair matted to her head in knots no longer smooth and childlike. Her pink shirt that was far too large for her now stuck to her skin, red streaks and large spots dotting it here and there. Souta had it a little better because she often would take the punishments for him, she never regretted it.
One night boss-man and the others were sitting around with drinks and smoking when he called her over, giving her one of the drinks telling her to drink it all. It tasted horrible, like what she thought toilet water would taste like, she found it hard not to choke on it or throw up. She tried not to cry around the boss-man or the other men. She couldn't cry around Souta because she had to be strong for him. But now as she was drinking this poison-like drink that tasted like dirty dishwater she cried a little bit. She passed out from the alcohol before she was finished with the drink, listening to the laughter of the filthy monsters as she hiccupped and stumbled about. She was glad that Souta was safe in the big dog cage and couldn't see her.
When she woke up in the morning it was because she was kicked awake by a sharp foot. She howled in pain but then threw up all over the shoes, causing her to get kicked again. Sometimes apologizing to the evil men worked but sometimes it didn't, she only apologized when they asked for it but even then she was beaten. She crawled away, fearing pain, frantically searching for the big dog cage and Souta.
"Get back here and apologize you little bitch!" he grabbed her hair and dragged her roughly up as she screamed hurried apologies. Only when he was satisfied did he slam her down violently onto the floor, letting her climb into the cage with Souta and close the metal door. "Stupid cunt, no dinner for you today, its obvious you've been stuffing yourself too much." he laughed wickedly.
She and Souta spent the rest of the day there until it got dark and the men tossed the cage into the back of the car. They were going somewhere, Kagome just didn't know where.
For the next few days Kagome was extremely paranoid, continuing to tell herself that bad dreams were a symptom of bad food, but always looking over her shoulder. Still the dreams continued and always the same one over and over again. She would watch her parents brutalized and tortured then the kidnappers would set the house a fire and put her in a car, driving off with her.
The screaming never stopped and after the third night Kagome's throat was rough from the over using of her vocal chords. By the fifth day she couldn't speak at all, a sad grating sound filled the place of her usual, kind chirp. She was glad she had finally lost her voice as now she wouldn't and couldn't keep Sesshoumaru up all night.
Oh Sesshoumaru… despite his chilly attitude and continual denial, Kagome could really see that her midnight terrors were keeping her roommate awake at all of the ungodly hours. Bags were beginning to form under his eyes and Kagome had caught him sneaking into class late because he had overslept. She was glad he'd be able to sleep all right again.
Kagome looked around the mostly empty kitchen hall and took a seat at one of the low, red tables with her breakfast. Munching slowly on her cereal, she had woken up earlier today only to find that her voice was still missing in action, she'd headed down to the lunchroom early to get a head start on the day. It was peaceful and quiet until something grabbed her from behind, tossing her onto the cool, wood floor. Kagome let out a shriek that sounded more like a bird squawk, fearing the hands that would surely grab her and repeat some of the horrendous acts from her dreams. She flinched on the floor, not wanting to look up at her attacker.
"You ignorant fool," an icy voice ground out above her but not at her. "Do not violate Higurashi's personal space like some queer excuse of a man." Kagome cracked an eye open only to be blinded by silver and gold, times two.
"Shut up dickface! You don't know what he wants," Kagome was pulled up rapidly from the floor and was pushed onto the red bench of the dining table. "We were just playing around before you had to be a damn killjoy." She opened her eyes to see both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru getting into face off mode and, had she not been stunned by the events preceding it, would have loudly sighed in irritation.
"Shut your mouth half-breed before I shut it for you," he bit at Inuyasha. "I know for certain that Higurashi doesn't want to be tackled by the likes of you, for fun." he sneered
"You wanna go, Sesshoumaru!" It wasn't a question but rather a childish challenge, something stemming farther back than just this incident. "I'm not going to take your shit today. You don't know what fun is so you better cram your trap shut!" by now a crowd of their friends had gathered around behind Kagome, excitedly chattering, this included but was not limited to Satoru, Bankotsu, Aki, Nao, Miroku, all of the lunch room, and probably half of the faculty.
Kagome turned a worried, nervous, and confused glance to Miroku. Who moved to site next to her in the front row of the newly created fight arena.
"Don't worry Kagome, they always fight like this." he smiled happily as if he was enjoying it and Kagome sent him a panicked glance. "Well they haven't since you got here and it's the first time they've ever fought over a person before," he sent her a lecherous look and Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. shut up you perverted doctor. He laughed a little and relaxed back against the table. "No one ever stops this because we all make bets on who's going to win, most people bet on Sesshoumaru because Inuyasha is too careless and is angered easily, but some argue that Sesshoumaru is overly predictable in his attacks and will turn his back on Inuyasha if he's not entertained." Miroku grinned like a fool at this, not revealing who he bet against.
Kagome turned her eyes back to the boys just in time to see Inuyasha throw a reckless punch at Sesshoumaru, silently gasping as the older brother blocked Inuyasha's fist with a simple flick of the wrist. She couldn't see why this was entertaining but couldn't take her eyes away from the intricate dance.
Taka-Ichi landed a square kick to Inuyasha's jaw and another to his side. Inuyasha in turn retaliated with three punches to Sesshoumaru's chest, who blocked two but narrowly missed one. Kagome titled her head and focused on the rippling of muscles beneath the silk steel of his skin. He was beautiful when he fought, grace and anger marked in every fluid movement of his body. She secretly hoped he would lose if only for the chance to console him, not that he would ever let her, the thought of touching the wide expanse of his chest with feather light fingers made her stomach quiver with excitement. She imagined pressing her lips to his bare skin, trailing them in just the right places along his collar bone, moving upwards upon his neck to the sardonic smirk that always graced his fine set lips. Their kiss sweet slowly turned hot and -- she had to stop this! The shocking turn on the course of her thought train caused her to emanate a small squeak, her voice finding her for moments of a second.
That small fraction of a second was all it took for Sesshoumaru to lose the fight. His head snapped to Kagome in quick concern, fearing something was wrong, the moment he heard her. Inuyasha had somehow managed to correlate his punches just right, this was of course by accident, landing a hearty one right into his upper jaw and temple. Sesshoumaru went off balance and sprawling, not even noticing the undignified way he held himself as he was thoroughly unconscious by the time he hit the floor. This time Kagome did make a noise in great alarm. Miroku quickly had him transported to the medic office, good thing doctors like to watch ugly fights, Kagome thought as she walked beside the people carrying the stretcher.
"He looks uncomfortable," Kagome said as she sat by Sesshoumaru's bed in the medic office the next morning. Her voice was better but scratchy, she didn't scream last night only cried. But in any case she hadn't slept well, having woken up several times, she was longing for the chance to climb into Sesshoumaru's bed with him.
"He probably is," Miroku noted in a bored tone, he knew Kagome had wanted something he just didn't know what yet. "He has a pretty bad concussion." Miroku continued reading his newspaper slowly counting down in his head until Kagome asked him another question. He'd gotten to know her very well over the last three weeks as she'd been in here frequently from many mishaps and accidents.
"So…. Can we move him up to my-- our room?" she whispered lightly like it was no big deal. Miroku knew there was something going on between the two and a wise smirk graced his lips before he looked up from his newspaper at Kagome seriously.
"Now why do you want to do that?" Miroku gave Kagome a pointed look.
"He'd be more comfortable up there," she stated simply, meeting his eyes shyly.
"Mhm…." Miroku lifted his paper back up to his face, pretending the topic no longer interested him.
"I want to take care of him, okay?" she half mouthed quickly with an embarrassed tone. She was glad her voice was overly scratchy or Taka-Ichi may have heard that.
"Aha. Well if you agree to not let him out of the room for the next three days…" Miroku mused.
"Done!" Kagome squeezed out quickly, grabbing his things and piling them into her book bag. Miroku quietly smiled to himself.
About an hour later Kagome had Sesshoumaru tucked in bed with his pain pills having been swallowed, he was drifting slowly back asleep. Room darkened from the night, only the dull white of the moon to shine on the pristine white carpet, she was dressed for sleep, just getting ready to climb the ladder to her bed when a warm hand wrapped around her wrist as she passed Sesshoumaru's bed. She hissed in horrified surprise before realizing that it was just him. He pulled her lightly at first but when she resisted he pulled harder, making her sit on his bed next to him. Something was obviously wrong, she tilted her head and gave him an off and bothered appearance.
"I want to tell you things," he slurred, not looking up at her, and mumbling into the pillows.
"Okay," Kagome said unsurely, she didn't know where this was going but clearly, Kagome had realized, the pain pills had worked their magic. "but I really think you should be going back to bed soon I mean you have a concussion and all…" she trailed off.
"No, you have to lay in my bed," he said a little dramatically. It seemed both of the Takanagawa boys had a passion for drama. This, Kagome had moved to think of, was probably why they chose to butt heads in crowded lunch rooms.
"Okay," she acquiesced timidly while climbing into his full sized bed which was larger than the top bed. "but only for a little while because you need lots of rest." she looked at his hair glowing in the moonlight, his eyes sparkling with lost innocence. He sniffed and nuzzled against her side lightly and she briefly wondered if he was conscious of what he was doing at all or if the medication induced buzz had done exactly what it should have.
"My mom died," he announced quietly, Kagome didn't have time to brace herself for his life story, this would be very hard to explain in the morning. She looked at him with saddened eyes, though he couldn't see her. "I was seven. She died of a broken heart… or suicide." Sesshoumaru huffed in a very distraught manner, as if a burden had been lifted but another one was quickly taking its place. Kagome wasn't sure she could listen to this but also thought that talking about it would help him… somehow. "My father had cheated on my mother since I was two, he called her cold and uncaring to his needs. He said that she had broken him too many times and never loved him. One summer day, before I'd been shipped off to school here with that dirty mutt, a woman had showed up at our door with her spawn. She'd told my father that the little brat had been his and there was no doubt of that, as he'd had our silver hair that only came with pure breeding. He was five, you know?" he sneered bitterly, "five fucking years of pain in the ass. Izayoi, that was his mothers name, she wasn't pure she was from a line of poor farmers who'd some years back struck a small amount of money enough to get her a half decent education and a chance to lay in bed with a rich man, she'd slept with him for three months. He told me." Kagome held her tongue, not wanting to offer any comments that might upset him. "I hated him, my father, he's famous you know? He just goes by Taisho usually. He owns many companies and stock shares, he inherited the money and married my mother out of arrangement, but now I have to share them with Inuyasha. The piece of crap, I don't want him!" he yelled into her side. She wasn't sure whether he was talking about Inuyasha or Taisho. "She cut her wrists the first time." he muttered forlornly. "and she held me and told me that she wanted a better life for me than she'd had. She said I should never become like her, I should be the best that I can be, she said I should make beautiful music for the world." he pressed his fine nose into her hip more, wrapping his arms around her. "they took her away after that and put her in a hospital for people who needed help like her. While she was away Izayoi and Inuyasha moved in to our house. I never talked to him, I shunned him, and blamed him for mother." Kagome shook her head. "They brought her home months later, I was going to turn eight soon. It was December but before Christmas. She took pills, too many one night, they rushed her to the emergency room and pumped her stomach, trying to restart her heart, trying to stop seizures. She'd gone brain dead before dawn and I was there, I saw the whole thing."
Somehow Kagome and Sesshoumaru had ended up under the covers, entwined in each others arms, holding on for dear life from the storm of emotions hurling overhead. It was amazing how ineloquent Sesshoumaru was when buzzed, if this hadn't been such an overly emotional thing for Kagome, she'd consider the possibility of lightening him up with alcohol once in a while.
He sighed deeply. "He married her you know?" he shifted uncomfortably in the bed, sitting up to look her in the eyes, "Yep, Yep, Yep, two months after mother had died. And then Izayoi died from cancer that she never told us about. Yes sir," he seemed like a perkier version of Sesshoumaru, Kagome neither heard nor saw remorse on his painfully beautiful face or pooled in the wide spheres of gold watching her with all too much curiosity. "just about five months later. Father was never the same after losing Izayoi." Sesshoumaru trailed off, reflecting on his previous thoughts. Kagome just sat with him patiently, like a guardian and their flock she stroked his hair placidly.
"Bed Time!" He announced loudly to Kagome, hunkering down into his bed, pulling the sheets up higher to bundle them around like a bird fixing his nest. It took a while of laying in bed, with her arms wrapped around Sesshoumaru and his around her, for Sesshoumaru to speak again. "Will you stay, Higurashi?"
Kagome smiled and nodded into his chest, not worrying about today, tomorrow, or even yesterday.
"Good morning!" Kagome chirped, as she walked into class, Inuyasha was waiting for her at her desk. She set all of her books and papers down and smiled at Inuyasha happily. "You know Taka-Baka, you really shouldn't let Sesshoumaru get to you like that." there were no dreams last night, she had slept well the whole night and had woken up with almost a decent voice. She had left Sesshoumaru to sleep back in the dorm and was excited for the rest of the day. In three hours they would be leaving for the museum, Kagome was extremely excited.
"I'm sorry about yesterday," Inuyasha said solemnly. "I'm just so sick of him hogging you all the time and being a bastard about it, he thinks he can control everyone." Kagome thought about the deep anger Sesshoumaru held towards Inuyasha, though Sesshoumaru said he hated Inuyasha, Kagome thought that controlling Inuyasha was the only way to show that he actually cared. When she conveyed this thought to Inuyasha he just laughed. "He controls people because he can't control himself or our father. Sesshoumaru's always been like that, a deep down bastard looking for a way to get me kicked out of the house."
Kagome was a about to say something more but class had begun, and she didn't feel like getting called on because she wasn't paying attention. She and Inuyasha would just have to talk about his brother issues later. She spared him a glance only to see that he was staring in disgust at the board. Kagome whipped her vision to the front. There stood the place where all of the nightmares started.
Like the devil himself, he lounged against the desk. Smirking for all of the world to see and his eyes glinting darkly, Naraku stared right at Kagome.
"I'm Mr. Tomori and I'll be filling in for your teacher while he deals with some rather… egregious injuries." he drawled maliciously. Fear struck Kagome like a vice, held her there with a horrified expression on her face, while eating her alive.
Wow that was kind of a long chapter, I've been writing it all week. Its been really hard to write, I had to make a map of all of the chapters up until the last one.
Anyone else devastated that Ugly Betty is over?
Oh IMPORTANT: BETA, ANYONE??? In desperate need of someone to fix my bad grammar and spelling mistakes. But only if someone is up for it. If so… MESSAGE ME.