Chapter 22

Miroku parked his car in his parent's driveway. Kagome was behind him, watching him as he typed in a code to the garage. The garage was huge, not connected to the house. It could easily fit twenty vehicles, and Touga nearly had it filled up. They were surprised to see the man inside, waxing one of his precious cars.

"Evening, Son. Kagome. How are you two fairing today?" Touga greeted both of them with a smile, straightening up so he could pull his youngest into a hug. He almost hugged Kagome out of habit but dropped his arms when he remembered her aversion to touching. She could see it upset him a little, and she hated it.

"Don't move." She swallowed, looking to Miroku, who nodded his head in support. Turning back to Touga, she stepped up to him, and slowly wrapped her arms around his waist in a small hug. He was tense, not moving, exactly as she asked. When she pulled away, he was beaming, smiling down at her with the biggest smile she had ever seen.

"Thank you, Kagome" She blushed, and looked down to her feet. Clearing his throat, he turned to Miroku. "While you are always welcome, you do not normally come so late. Safe Haven will be open soon. What are you doing here?"

"Sesshomaru barely leaves since Naomi is training. He offered to watch it for me tonight." Miroku walked over to the wall, grabbing a set of keys. "Care if I take the big one out for a bit?" Miroku wiggled the keys and held up the bag in his hand. He had another date planned for Kagome.

"Nope. Go ahead. Just be careful. Make sure you say hello to your mother before you head home." Touga waved them off, and Miroku turned to Kagome, leading her over to the corner of the garage. There sat multiple large dirt bikes.

"Have you ever been on one?" Miroku tied the bag to the handlebar of the biggest bike there, grabbed the handles, and pushed it out of the garage.

"No. I've seen them on TV but I didn't realize how big they were." She ran her hands over the seat. In height, it reached up to her waist. Miroku grabbed a helmet from the wall, placing it on her head, and tightening the strap under her chin.

"This is one of the bigger ones out there. It's Touga's but I ride it more than he does. Izayoi's is about half the size. Every so often we will take them out to the trails." He climbed onto the bike and held out a hand to Kagome. She took it, throwing her leg over it. Her arms instantly went around his waist, gripping him tightly. He chuckled, placing a hand over hers. "Calm down, Love. You will be fine."

"I know that. Just leave me be." She was smiling into his back, and he chuckled once more, starting the engine. One last wave to his smiling father, and Miroku took off. Laughing at Kagome's startled squeal.

"I'm taking you to a spot on the edge of Father's lands." Miroku was shouting so he could be heard of the engine. Kagome had her face buried in his back, but he felt her nod. "Open your eyes, Kagome. If you can handle the roller coasters at the fair, you can handle this. Trust me."

After a moment, Kagome opened her eyes. They were in a large field. It was actually the back yard of the Taisho house, though big enough to put a farm in the middle of it. Heading to the tree line, she watched as they squeezed their way into the forest, twisting and turning through the trees and over the trail that had formed over many years of use. They did this a lot.

Kagome laughed, enjoying herself. Her grip on his clothing loosened, and she sat up straighter to see everything zooming past them. After a bit, Miroku slowed, taking a sharp turn and completely leaving the trial. Kagome looked behind and to the disappearing track. "Is it safe to leave the trail?"

"I know where I'm going. I came here a lot when I was a kid." He still wasn't going as fast as he once was. The trees were more dense, and he was having to weave through them more. Just when Kagome thought she was about to get sick, he made one last turn, and parked the bike next to a tree. "We will have to walk the rest of the way. It's not far."

He helped her off, then untied the bag from the handlebars. They walked in silence, his hand holding hers as he led her through the forest. Finally, they broke through some underbrush, and Kagome gasped at what she saw. It was a pond. It was surrounded by trees, almost completely hidden from view. It reminded her of a hidden oasis, ducks swimming, deer grazing. It was one of the most beautiful things she had seen.

"I used to come here when I was a kid. I found it by accident. I think I was ten, still angry at the world. I got in a fight with Izayoi, took out the bike and just rode." Miroku chuckled, looking around at everything. "I crashed the bike, got up and kept walking. Found this place and sat here for hours. Eventually it got dark, and I went home. I never told anyone about what I found."

"It's amazing." She looked up to him, eyebrows furrowed. "If no one knows about this place, why bring me?"

Letting go of her hand, he ran his fingers down her cheek tenderly. "Because I love you. I want to share all parts of my life with you, and this is one of them." She leaned up on her tippy toes, pressing her lips to his. They shared their loving kiss, her arms wrapping around his neck.

When she finally pulled away, she was smiling warmly, a soft tilting of her lips. "I love you too, Miroku. Thank you for bringing me here." She kissed the corner of his mouth, and then let him go. He stepped back, turning his attention to the bag in his hands.

They were silent as he laid out a blanket. It was soft and thick. A single dim light went at the head of the blanket. A bug repellent. Looking up to the sky, Miroku gaged the time, and then pulled out two burgers that he had stopped and bought on the way to his fathers. "We should have just enough time to eat."

"And then what?" Kagome sat on the blanket beside him, taking the burger he offered her. He grabbed two bottles of water from the bag and handed her one as well.

"Then we watch the night." He smiled at her. She didn't really understand what that meant, but she didn't ask. She was patient enough to wait, and he seemed to want to keep it a surprise. As he expected, by time they finished eating, night had fallen.

Kagome had expected it to be dark, but she was wrong. The sky was lit up with a trillion stars, all twinkling down, and lighting up the pond in a way that made it seem like it was glowing. She was amazed by it, looking around as it came to life around her.

"You're as beautiful here as I thought you would be." Miroku had moved to laying in his side, his head propped up on his hand. She blushed at his compliment and moved to lay down beside them. He turned so he was on his back, and she could rest her head on his chest.

His finger traced patterns on her back, eyes closed as he relaxed in her presence. He couldn't help but to think back to the first time he actually got to speak to her. She had been so wary and frightened. He couldn't touch her; she barely spoke to him. She had come a long way. "You are getting better with your touching. I think you made father's entire year."

She shifted, turning herself so she could look at him better. She was on her stomach, propped up on her elbows. "I wouldn't be here without you. You saved me from that alley and every day since."

"I think we saved each other. I was close to giving up and was so tired. I carried around my past like a heavy burden, but you helped me." He grabbed one of her hands, kissing each fingertip tenderly. "You helped me to let go of my past and to focus on my future. You are my future, Kagome."

"And you are mine." She moved suddenly, throwing a leg over his waist. Her lips pressed against his harshly, and she swallowed his deep moan. Their tongues battled one another, both locked in an intimate embrace.

"Kagome." His voice whispered against her lips, and she knew he was trying to warn her. She could already feel his cock pressing against her womanhood, and for once, she wasn't scared of it. She loved Miroku. He owned her heart, body, and soul.

"Make love to me?" Kagome looked at him nervously. His eyes were wide, his breath coming in a short gasp.

"Are you sure?" She kissed him as an answer, and his hands moved to her thighs, squeezing the flesh there. He made a noise, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her back. "I don't have any condoms and I didn't bring you out here to try and get into your panties."

"I know." Kagome kissed his neck, feeling him stiffen beneath her. Her mouth was hot against his flesh, and he moaned once more as she nipped him. "I'm on birth control. I get the shot every year." Nibbling on his pierced ear lobe, she pulled on it, feeling him shiver beneath her. "If you don't want to have sex, we don't have to."

"Don't twist my words, Love. You can feel that I want to." He narrowed his eyes at her as she ground herself against him. "What about your aversion to touching? Kagome, I would never do anything to hurt you, but what if I do something you don't like. I don't want to make you uncomfortable or ruin the progress you have made."

Kagome was silent for a moment, a frown marring her beautiful face. She climbed off of him, pulling her knees to her chest and looking out to the pond. He sat up suddenly, worried that he had hurt her somehow.

"You're not Kouga." Kagome didn't look at him, instead closing her eyes as she prepared herself for what she was about to do. "I was eighteen. I had just graduated high school, accepted a scholarship to college, and was prepared to start my life. Mother pulled me aside and explained that the shrine was in debt. We weren't pulling in enough donations. She and grandfather had to keep taking out loans for the upkeep. They had borrowed so much money that the bank would no longer lend them some. Kouga spoke at my graduation. It was the first time I met him. He handed me my diploma and I went on my way. I never thought I would see him again."

She paused, but Miroku didn't say anything. She was telling him about her past. He wasn't sure he was ready to hear this, but he was going to listen. Swallowing audibly once more, Kagome spoke again. "I was packed and ready to go when mother approached me. She told me about the debts, and explained that Kouga offered to pay them off, and supply the funds for the shrine if I agreed to marry him. She told me he was kind, and that he would grow to love me. The truth was, he just wanted my eyes. Heterochromia. It's a rare genetic trait. My father had it, at least that is what mother said. To Kouga, I was nothing more than a collector's item. An oddity."

"I agreed to marry him. I was naïve, thinking that I could help my family and find love at the same time. I tried to see him before the wedding, but mother refused. She knew if I learned how he really was, I would have refused to marry him. During the wedding, he was civil, but didn't pay much attention. I didn't think anything of it, just assuming he was nervous. It was when we returned back to his place that I learned the truth." She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut tightly.

"I had never… had sex. I was nervous, but I knew it was coming and he would want it. I asked if I could shower. I had sweated during the wedding, and I wanted to be perfect for him. Plus, it would allow me time to calm my nerves. He refused, and then… then he raped me." She paused, when she heard Miroku's sharp intake of breath. She had never planned to tell him any of this, but if he was going to understand the differences she saw between him and Kouga, he needed to know it all.

"I learned quickly not to fight. It always hurt with Kouga, but if I resisted, it hurt even more. The first time he hit me, I had dropped dinner. I needed to clean up the mess and start over, and that meant dinner would be late. After that, slaps turned into punches, and punches into beatings. It was like he was looking for some reason to lay his hands on me. I told no one."

"When I became pregnant, he beat me until I miscarried. It was so bad that I couldn't move afterwards. He called my mother. She cleaned me up, put me in bed, and told me to get over it. Then she left. She didn't care that her daughter was getting beaten. She didn't care that Kouga had just killed her grandbaby. She told me to be a better wife and suck it up. So, I did. I learned how to avoid his beatings, but there were times when he needed to get his anger out. So, he would beat me or rape me. That was my life for years."

"The day I ran, I found Kouga sleeping with another woman. I didn't care that he was cheating on me. I became angry at the injustice of it. If a man looked at me the wrong way, it was my fault. I was either enticing them or dressing up to tease them. I got punished for the actions of another, but he could go around sleeping with whoever he wanted. It made me mad enough that I slammed the door. It set Kouga off. He left the woman to chase me. He tried to kill me, had his hands wrapped around my throat. I couldn't breathe. For the first time, I defended myself. I kneed him in the groin and grabbed the cast iron skillet from the oven. I didn't even feel the pain in my hands, all I saw was me bashing it into his head, stealing his money, and running."

...

Kind of a shitty place to end the chapter, but this one ended up too long and I had to split it into two. So, sorry for the abrupt end, but I promise it's worth it. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.