Number One Priority
Chapter 13
#####################
Kagome couldn't believe her horrible fate. Not only was she forced to bare witness twice to Miroku's lechery but now she was pinned underneath his insufferable roommate. She forced down the sob that she wanted to emit when he forced his tongue into her mouth.
No longer would she be the victim. She had been forced to endure what none other should ever endure and it would end here and now.
She did the only thing one can do when a man that is vastly more superior in strength has one pinned beneath him. She bit down on his invading tongue.
"Oi bitch!" Inuyasha cried as he immediately pushed himself away from her sharp teeth. He didn't relieve his weight from her body beneath him but he could taste the coppery tang of his own blood. "What the hell did you do that for?" He was careful to keep her under his weight. After biting his tongue so viciously she would no doubt have no reservations about kneeing him in the groin.
He was not very pleased with that possibility and wanted to avoid it.
"Get off of me you bastard!" Kagome shouted back as she tried in vane to push him off from her. She had read somewhere that rushes of adrenaline would grant someone remarkable strength under stressing situations. Where the hell was that strength?
Inuyasha growled at her and leaned down to run his now slightly bloody tongue across her cheek. Kagome squirmed under him. "You only excite me. You must have realized that I like it rough," he declared.
Inuyasha couldn't explain why he was so determined to have his way with this particular woman. Everyone else seemed to want her so it seemed only right that he should be the one to claim her. Heck, even Miroku was going insane pining away over her.
"You revolt me you filth," Kagome told him bitterly. Her blue grey orbs stormed below him and she managed to push him away a fraction of an inch.
He laughed at her poor attempts before leaning down to place his sweaty forehead against her cool one. It felt so refreshing. He moved his face so that his nose was against her dark locks. A deep sniff of her shampooed hair sent shivers down his spine. "You smell so good." He moaned softly.
"I won't repeat myself." Kagome told him as she tried to move her face away from his.
"Mmmm, no need love," Inuyasha replied as he looked down at her. He smirked boyishly at her. "How about you show me a follow up on that little banana demonstration?" He emphasized his suggestion by pressing the bulge of his jeans against her juncture. She was wearing a long cream colored sundress. It wouldn't take much to rid her of such a piece.
Kagome growled at him and managed to find that much discussed strength and pushed him away from her. She retreated to the farthest corner of the elevator from him as he sat on his haunches watching her intently. He grinned predatorily at her. "Where to now, Kagome?"
It was the first time Kagome could remember him calling her by her real name. However, instead of making her glad to have made some progress it revolted her. How dare he talk to her so casually!
"Leave me alone." Kagome told him solemnly. Inuyasha's golden eyes narrowed at her. Kagome swallowed, not liking how the action seemed to cause a smile to form upon his lips. "You don't want me anyway, trust me."
Inuyasha stood to his full height. "Oh, but I think I do." He began to walk back towards her, towering over her. Kagome retreated as far back against the wall of the elevator as possible. She couldn't over power him! She would not allow herself to be taken by the likes of him! What would she do?
Neither noticed that the stop button of the elevator had been overpowered. The wall that fate would have Kagome pressed up against happened to be the one with buttons on it. In her state of mind this little fact failed to register in her distraction.
The sudden drop of the elevator caught them both off guard. Panic seemed to cross Inuyasha's eyes as Kagome held her fingers against the elevator doors, willing them to open early.
Inuyasha acted fast and he moved behind Kagome and wrapped both arms around her waist, pulling her against his well toned chest. He bent to whisper in her ear, "I don't think so princess." He released one hand to reach fingers back towards the big red button.
He was not fast enough.
The doors opened.
"What the hell is going on?" Kouga shouted as he stared in shock at a wide eyed Kagome who was in the arms of Inuyasha.
"Kouga! Help me!" Kagome cried when salvation was looking before her.
"What's going on?" Tasuki asked, out of the field of vision of the elevator. He and his roommate had been waiting impatiently for it to reach this floor. It was taking too long.
Kouga growled as he wrenched Kagome away from Inuyasha and held her in his arms as she immediately buried her face against his chest.
Tasuki's amber eyes lit with a fire of rage at the sight. He knew of Kagome's dark experience and here this ass was trying to traumatize the poor thing more. He would not have that.
Inuyasha's hands reached for the door close button but as the metal doors began to slide closed a pair of strong arms reached inside and pushed him against the far wall.
The doors shut behind the figure of an angry red haired man whose lips were curled in a vicious snarl. "What the hell were you doing?" Tasuki demanded in outrage as he made a fist and aimed for Inuyasha's jaw.
Inuyasha took the blow without flinching. "It's none of your business wolf."
"If it has to do with Kagome it is my business you piece of scum." Tasuki declared as he grabbed hold of either side of Inuyasha's shirt and slammed him into the wall. The elevator jarred to a halt as their floor was reached.
The doors opened.
Miroku stared in shock as Tasuki looked like he was about to murder his roommate. Where was Kagome?
"Where's Kagome?" Miroku demanded, choosing to ignore the scene and get to the important matter.
Tasuki growled in answer as he sent Inuyasha crashing against the other man. "What the hell were you thinking allowing her to be alone in the company of this drunken asshole?" Tasuki roared. All ideas of controlling his language were long gone.
Miroku pushed Inuyasha off of him and looked back at Tasuki in confusion. "What are you talking about? Where's Kagome?"
Tasuki crossed his arms. "Safe for now." He replied, watching Inuyasha with unbridled disdain. "Of course if Kouga and I hadn't found her who knows what would have happened."
Miroku's amethyst eyes darkened under the implication of those words as he looked back over at Inuyasha who had suddenly found the ceiling highly amusing. "What is he talking about Yasha?"
Inuyasha crossed his arms. "Keh, it was nothing. It was just a misunderstanding." He replied as he began to casually walk back towards their apartment. Miroku looked about to go after him and demand an answer but a firm grasp on his shoulder stopped him.
Tasuki shook his head. "You and I must talk."
#######################
Sango watched as Miroku took off down the hall for Kagome. He had stopped at the elevator but then took for the stairs. She had tried to track him down but he wasn't at either of the first two levels.
'He must have gone back to his own apartment,' she realized dejectedly as she walked back to her now empty apartment. She still couldn't believe she had finally made a move on the man. It had only been in the works since she met him as adolescents.
She heard laughter coming from the kitchen of her apartment.
"Oh hello Sango, I take it you moved in?" Kikyo asked as she poured a glass of wine for her beloved fiancé.
Suikotsu nodded his head towards Sango in greeting, but kept his attention on Kikyo. She hated to not be the center of his attention.
"Yeah, Miroku helped me move in." Sango replied casually, trying to hide the blush that wanted to darken her cheeks as she remembered how his lips had felt against hers. He had just started to kiss her back when Kagome had so rudely interrupted. What would have happened if that pesky girl had just stayed away?
Suikotsu straightened on the bar stool he was perched on at the name. "Miroku? How is he?" He asked concerned.
Sango frowned at his expression. "He's fine I guess." She replied cautiously.
Suikotsu let out a sigh of relief before looking back at Kikyo to explain. "I was worried. He came by the hospital the other day and I checked him out. I mixed up his charts with a terminally ill patient and gave him the wrong diagnosis. He ran out of the hospital before I could correct my mistake."
An ebon brow rose in mild interest. "You did correct that misunderstanding though, right baby? I thought you told me you already took care of it, right?" Kikyo asked as she moved to stand in front of Suikotsu and secured her arms around his neck.
He nodded his head like a good little boy. "Of course, I left a message on his machine that same night."
The memory of unplugging an answering machine with an unheard message popped into Sango's mind. Could that have been the message that she and Kagome had erased unintentionally? Surely not! But then, that would explain Miroku's sudden behavior. He had been so overly concerned since Kagome arrived and now he was back to his promiscuous ways.
Could it be because he was afraid that he was dying?
"Is something wrong?" Kikyo asked, noting with irritation that she and her fiancé had an unwelcome audience. She was still irritated that Kagome had offered Sango residence in their apartment. She had finally been able to avoid the woman. They had been forced to be friends in high school because of Inuyasha and Miroku's friendship.
Of course, Kikyo didn't really care for either of those men now-a-days. They were both too worldly for her, even thought she would always have a soft spot for the little boy that Inuyasha once was. But then it was unfair to compare them to the saint that she was engaged to. However, Hotohori and Suikotsu were close friends so when he expressed his desire to have Kagome live near him she had readily agreed.
"No, everything is fine," Sango flashed them a quick smile and made her way towards her bedroom. The first thing that crossed her line of sight was the discarded picture frame that Miroku had been holding before she practically threw herself at him.
She picked it up.
The familiar jealous knot was reforming in her gut as she looked at the two youth who meant so much to one another.
But she forced that feeling to vanish. Miroku wasn't a child anymore. He was a grown man. And he had kissed her back. At least, she thought he had started to kiss her back. He started to move his lips and grabbed hold of her shoulders.
A brief flash of doubt crossed her mind. 'But what if he was about to push me off and wanted to say something?'
#########################
Kouga kept his arm secured around Kagome's waist as he sat beside her in the backseat of Chichiri's car. He didn't agree with Kagome's decision but he agreed to accompany her to the airport.
She wanted to purchase a ticket for the flight that Hotohori was taking to Europe. She had decided to accompany him after all.
"You don't have to do this." Kouga told her softly when he felt her breathing had calmed down as she relaxed against his firm body. "There is no need for you to run away."
"I'm not staying for the whole thing, but a week away would be nice." Kagome explained. She seemed to be doing this a lot.
First she ran away from America to Japan and now she was doing it all over again.
"You should think about this, that you should, no da." Chichiri added from the front. Sesshoumaru looked behind him from the passenger seat and observed the girl. All he knew was that his brother had attempted something disgraceful.
"If she wants to find some peace of mind let her." Sesshoumaru defended her. After Kouga had briefly explained what had happened in the elevator Sesshoumaru had stopped cooking their dinner and offered to pay for her ticket to Europe. It was the least he could do after his idiotic brother tried to destroy her with his selfish ways.
Kagome offered a faint smile at his words. "Thank you Sesshoumaru," she replied softly.
Sesshoumaru turned back to face the front of the car, not wanting to accept gratitude for what he felt was his duty to do. Besides, Hotohori could use this opportunity. If Sesshoumaru was known for one thing, it was for helping his friends. He didn't have many he considered in that category, but those that were he cherished.
"Hotohori sounded pretty happy," Kouga commented, stating the obvious. The young model had made a quick trip to the frat house. Apparently Naraku had a favor to ask of him so he wasn't around when Kouga brought her to Sesshoumaru and Hotohori's apartment. Kouga had heard voices inside Kagome's apartment, but he wasn't friends with any of those individuals and chose to not include them in their ordeal, despite that they were her living companions.
Sesshoumaru snorted quietly under his breath, earning an amused smile from Chichiri. "Yes he was, no da." Chichiri agreed. As he drove towards the airport, Chichiri couldn't help but wonder what happened exactly. He knew Miroku well enough to realize he would never intentionally hurt Kagome. He had an idea of what Inuyasha did, he wasn't known as being the most gentle of souls after all.
Kagome's running away had to be more that the incident in the elevator. It had to be something than ran much deeper. Why didn't she run to Miroku?
######################
Hojo stepped off his plane at the Tokyo airport. It had been an excruciatingly long plane ride. He had been lucky when he met the lavender haired young man a few days before. Nuriko had known exactly who Kagome was and where she was staying.
So she had retreated to seek safety with her former step-brother. He should have been able to guess that one. She practically worshipped the young man. Hojo was surprised he hadn't made that connection himself.
Thankfully, Hojo happened to have some Japanese roots himself. His cousin Bankotsu had agreed to meet him at the airport and help him find his way- ward would-be fiancé.
He noticed him standing beside two other men. One looked faintly familiar, like he had seen him in some magazine ad perhaps. The other looked quite sinister and he didn't like the vibes he seemed to give off.
Their conversation began to drift towards him.
"I don't understand why you needed me to drive you here," Hotohori replied, his annoyance evident. He had heard a brief explanation from Sesshoumaru that something had happened to Kagome and that she would now be going with him to Europe for a few days. The really interesting part was that his roommate was paying for the trip. That rose too many questions for Hotohori's peace of mind.
Naraku released a weary sigh. "Of all the things I could have requested, I would think you would be grateful that it was something so simple." He looked back over at Bankotsu and hid a perfectly wicked wink from the young model he was addressing.
After Nakago had informed Naraku that he had no desire in trying to woo the girl that had caught Miroku's interest he grew highly annoyed. No one seemed interested in the activity that had caused so much competition the last time they played.
Competition always made things interesting.
Naraku hated to be bored. His hobby was creating situations where other's would betray one another and be forced to work together anyway. He loved instigating those tensions.
An interesting twist of fate came about. Bankotsu's estranged second cousin from the states had contacted him. Apparently the girl he had dated for a few years had taken flight to Tokyo to live with her former step- brother for an indeterminate amount of time.
After a scanned photo sent over e-mail the identity of the mystery girl was confirmed. It would seem the object of Naraku's game was the same one being sought by this Hojo. Not only that, but she was also the woman that had caught Hotohori's eye.
All the possibilities were too much for him to ignore so he had decided that they should all go to the airport to pick up Hojo. He wanted to see what would result when Hotohori met his dream girl's most recent relationship.
########################
Miroku had the urge to run after Kagome, but when Tasuki locked the door behind him, he had no choice but to sit and listen to whatever his co- worker had to lecture him about.
"Can you make this quick? I don't exactly have very long to sit around and wait for you tell me how disappointed you are in me." Miroku replied in clipped tones. He was dying damn it and no one seemed to give a damn.
The one person that he truly cared about seemed the one that truly hated him at the moment. If there was one individual he would do anything to not disappoint it would have been Kagome.
But what, in less than a day he had betrayed her trice?
First the stranger he took home, then Sango, and now something happened between her and his roommate in the elevator because he was too slow to catch up with her.
"What do you know about your father?" Tasuki asked abruptly. He had deliberated whether or not to ease into the subject or be blunt. Being Tasuki, he decided to be blunt.
Miroku's brows drew together in confusion at the seemingly random direction of the conversation. "My father?" He echoed baffled.
"Do you know why your father and Kagome's mother divorced?" Tasuki tried a different approach.
Miroku shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't especially fond of his father. "I imagine he was having an affair with another woman," he tried to reply casually as if the idea didn't tear at the very fabric of his soul.
Tasuki shook his head. "That's not exactly the truth." He sighed as he sat across from Miroku on the floor sitting Indian style. "I shouldn't be the one to tell you this. It was told in strict confidence however I feel it important that you know just how much you have screwed up lately."
"What are you talking about?" Miroku felt himself growing angry. What business was it of Tasuki's how screwed up he made his life? He only had a little while left to live on this rotten earth and he was perfectly aware that everything was wrong. There wasn't anything he could do about it.
"Kagome." Tasuki answered, gagging Miroku's reaction to the solitaire word.
"What about her?" Miroku stiffened. The image of the little girl that seemed to have lost her trust in the world came back to mind. He could see himself taking the picture with that strangely silent Kagome. 'Oh God, something happened to her,' he silently realized.
"Your father was in the process of raping her when her mother walked in and stopped him." Tasuki answered the question as straight forward as possible.
Miroku's jaw fell at the revelation. "Dear God, tell me you are wrong." He pleaded desperately. His sweet, dear, lovely Kagome was raped by his very own father!
Tasuki sighed heavily. "I'm not sure if he actually raped her or not. But, I do know that if her mother had been five minutes later then he most certainly would have succeeded."
Miroku's head fell to his chest as tears began to form in his eyes. No wonder she never visited him after he and his father came to Japan. No wonder her mother never allowed Miroku to visit them in America. She probably thought he was no better than his father.
"I'm not any better than him," Miroku whispered defeated.
Tasuki hit him upside the head, sending the depressed young man falling on his side as he was knocked off balance. "Fool! You are an idiot, no doubt. But it's obvious you love her more than anyone else. I'd dare think you had a heart when around her. I don't know why you insist on ruining the one good thing you had going for you."
"What are you talking about?" Miroku demanded as he rose to his feet. His head was filled with memories of all the times he had felt so complete around Kagome. If he only had a little bit of time on this earth and if he wanted to be happy during that time it would be with her.
"Idiot!" Tasuki shouted again as he stood up and pushed Miroku firmly in the chest, sending him stumbling a step before he regained his balance. "Why do you push her away? Why do you ruin the one good thing you had going for you?" He stressed his point again.
Miroku felt the words haunting him. His dark bangs fell to shadow his eyes as they filled with tears. Tears for Kagome's pain, tears for his own bitter mortality, tears because life was unfair. "Because I'm dying." He answered bitterly.
Tasuki stared at him silently, completely in shock. "What?!?"
Miroku lifted his chin to stare determinedly at his co-worker. "I'm dying alright! I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a terminal disease. I don't have long to live and I can't have Kagome love me only to lose me." His voice lowered considerably as his chin quivered with emotion.
"I can't abandon her like that. It's better that she hates me."
Tasuki threw his hands into the air in frustration and growled his annoyance. "Fool! You are such a fool! It's too late for that! She loves you for some unknown reason. Even after everything she's been through, I doubt if she would ever hate you."
"What do you suggest I do then?" Miroku asked.
##########################
TBC
A/N: Really, it don't hate Inuyasha. I know it seems that way. But, my muse Hayate really loves torturing him. (He's standing over my shoulder right now flipping his long green hair unhappy that I'm revealing his identity to you. But he's got the most amazing silver wings! He's the villain in my fiction "Your Worst Nightmare.") Hayate is amazing, but he really is sick when it comes to torturing Yasha. He gets it pretty bad in Heart of a Wolf too. Never really gets a break from me it seems.
Lot's of drama, no? Hope you weren't disappointed with this chapter!
Oh, and Hayate wanted to remind me to wish a Happy belated B-day to inu.sess.fan
Peace! Belle