Kagome walked down the empty dirty streets, not glancing at anything around her. She tried her hardest to prepare herself for one of the hardest tasks Kouga's ever given her, but it was of no use. She didn't want to, but she had no choice. If she truly valued her life, she would do it without hesitation. How she was going to go through with this for as long as it took was one question she kept asking herself as she headed towards where she needed to be, wherever that was.
:Memory: "Inuyasha and his gang live in the east somewhere. Look for them and do your job. Just befriend them, find out all you can. Try to get as close to Inuyasha as you can without actually doing anything with him," explained Kouga, emphasizing the last few words he said. He continued with vicious warning glances, "That way it'll be easier for me to surprise him when the time comes." Kouga threw Kagome's book bag towards her, not being careful of throwing it too hard. Kagome knew his strength first hand so she immediately tried to catch it in time before it hurt her chest, but missed in doing so. With small pain now around her abdomen, she knelt down and picked up the bag that landed by her feet. "Inuyasha and his gang live in the east somewhere. Look for them and do your job. Just befriend them, find out all you can. Try to get as close to Inuyasha as you can without actually doing with him," explained Kouga, emphasizing the last few words he said. He continued with vicious warning glances, "That way it'll be easier for me to surprise him when the time comes." Kouga threw Kagome's book bag towards her, being careful of throwing it too hard. Kagome knew his strength first hand so she immediately tried to catch it in time before it hurt her chest, but missed in doing so. With small pain now around her abdomen, she knelt down and picked up the bag that landed by her feet.
"Inuyasha and his gang live in the east somewhere. Look for them and do your job. Just befriend them, find out all you can. Try to get as close to Inuyasha as you can without actually doing with him," explained Kouga, emphasizing the last few words he said. He continued with vicious warning glances, "That way it'll be easier for me to surprise him when the time comes." Kouga threw Kagome's book bag towards her, being careful of throwing it too hard. Kagome knew his strength first hand so she immediately tried to catch it in time before it hurt her chest, but missed in doing so. With small pain now around her abdomen, she knelt down and picked up the bag that landed by her feet. "Inuyasha and his gang live in the east somewhere. Look for them and do your job. Just befriend them, find out all you can. Try to get as close to Inuyasha as you can without actually doing with him," explained Kouga, emphasizing the last few words he said. He continued with vicious warning glances, "That way it'll be easier for me to surprise him when the time comes." Kouga threw Kagome's book bag towards her, being careful of throwing it too hard. Kagome knew his strength first hand so she immediately tried to catch it in time before it hurt her chest, but missed in doing so. With small pain now around her abdomen, she knelt down and picked up the bag that landed by her feet."Why? Why do I have to do this? And what's the point to all this? Who is this Inuyasha," Kagome asked as she stood upright again. Kagome spat out as many questions as she could at once, wanting to know why she was being forced to deceive people she might actually like (Aside from the Inuyasha who pushed her and was more than rude to her). These people weren't even afraid of her, and that was a first. Kagome liked that a lot, and now she had to betray them?
"You haven't learned by now to not ask questions have you? Just do what you're told. They don't know who you are and you won't tell them anything either. When at school, you act as though you don't even know who I am. Got that?"
"But..." Kagome started to say in protest, but stopped when she noticed Kouga taking one step forward, "Okay. But what about those at school? They know who I am..."
"Don't worry about that. I got that under control. You just do your job."
"Okay Kouga..," Kagome replied in a whisper as she turned her back on him. She kept her sights on the floor as she slowly began walking towards the exit, trying not to think on anything. She reached out to grab the knob of the iron door, the guard long gone, but before she got the chance to turn it, another hand was placed over hers. An arm was then wrapped around her stomach. Kagome looked over her shoulder to see Kouga smiling.
"It'll be okay my Kagome," Kouga whispered into her ear, sending chills down Kagome's spine, yet trying not to show it. She faked another one of her great smiles, the ones she's mastered at so well. Ever since she met Kouga, she would hear that from him. And everytime she heard it, she would try her best to believe it. Yet when she focused on her condition, she saw things weren't going to be okay as he'd said countless times. Things would only get worse.
She however had no way in changing that. She basically signed her life over to Kouga that day and now she was paying her part of their deal. Kouga got what he wanted after giving Kagome a place in this town, a name to be feared all around, since she was known as Kouga's girl.
He now had complete control over her and nothing could be done to ever say otherwise. Kagome only nodded in response to his 'reassuring' statement as she stayed still, waiting for him to let her go. Instead of doing as she wished, he gripped her hand that was on the door knob a bit tighter, then turned her around to face him. She slowly looked up and Kouga leaned down to kiss her. One final kiss before she started her mission.
Kagome didn't like the feel of his lips on hers at all, but she couldn't show no signs of it. She had to keep pretending, until the end. She closed her eyes and just waited for the kiss to end. He parted from her, "As soon as it's all over, you will come back to me. Remember that."
Kagome nodded and then turned back around to open the door. She had no emotion on her features now, the only thing on her mind being the feel she had received from his kiss. The god awful kiss she wanted to wipe from her memory.
She walked outside as she closed the iron door behind her, then walked down the stairs andwalked faraway from the building she calls her home. She prayed everything didn't back fire on her, she hoped everything would go alright so she wouldn't be the one paying for it all in the end.. She mostly wished.. For an escape from the last statement Kouga said to her. 'No Kouga. I hope I never come back to you..'
:Alley: It was now getting dark and Kagome started to worry if she could find Sango in time to get to shelter. She remembered being told by Sango earlier that same day that she was a member of Inuyasha's gang (Plus the incident of how they met was a clue), so she knew she had an invite already, much to Kouga's liking. But if Kagome couldn't find her in time she didn't know what to do. She could always go back to Kouga, but he would just argue with her, saying she should of tried harder to find the place.
Kagome looked around and studied her surroundings, trying to figure out where she was. She'd been walking blindly this whole time and now she knew she was in trouble. She couldn't even go back if she wanted to!
Kagome kept walking around for about an hour, trying to retrace her steps or at least find a place she could crash for the night. She stopped at a corner once she got tired and checked in her bag, seeing if she had enough money for a decent motel. "A toothbrush.. A hair comb.. Other hair accessories.. Some make up.. 20 dollars..," she paused for a moment, "And a cell phone?"
Kagome saw a small piece of paper attached by tape to the cell phone and tore it off, reading it out loud, "This cell phone is the only way I can come in contact with you. Keep it on at all times and with you everywhere - Kouga." Kagome just crumpled up the paper and threw it in a nearby trash can, searching in her bag again for anything else that would be useful.
"I don't even have enough money for clothes. He took my credit card away. I have nothing now.. Damn it!" Upset, Kagome closed her bag and put it over her shoulder. She started walking around again, "I'm going to have to sleep in a box now? Does he expect me to do that," Kagome asked herself as she saw the sky get even darker.
"Of all the cars Kouga's stolen, he couldn't even give me one!" Kagome stopped once she found clean enough steps to sit on, looking around for anyone. She then remembered no one is ever out in the neighborhoods unless there's a party, meaning everyone was either indoors or at a club having fun. Something she wished she could do, even if it meant with Kouga. But what she called fun, he called a complete waste of time.
"A pretty girl like you shouldn't be out at this hour around here you know..."
Kagome froze, fearing the devilish voice that was now addressing her. She slightly gulped, knowing there was bound to be trouble now. Kagome stood up from the steps she was sitting on and looked at the one who spoke to her, backing up a bit. He had piercing blue eyes, and untamed blonde hair. He was much taller than Kagome. He wore the typical street clothing that everyone else in the neighborhood wore. He looked more than well built, which could be said the same for about every other male in the city.
"So, what's your name?"
"Why should I tell you that," Kagome responded in a harsh tone, now standing on the sidewalk. She had slowly been advancing to give herself a head start. She wanted to be left alone and the only way that seemed possible would be to run from this person.
"Fiesty aren't we?"
"You could say that...," she said now in a quieter voice, fear now visible on her features. The man saw this as an advantage as he slowly began to approach her, a grin appearing on his face. "What do you want from me," she snapped once she noticed the grin.
"A good time, that's all. Isn't that what we all want these days?"
Kagome backed up with each step he took, keeping her eyes on him at all times. She wanted to catch each of his actions, being extremely careful and ready for anything that was to come. She shot him a glare, "Not when it's forced."
"I won't force. I'm really nice. Once you get to know me."
"How many victims have you told that same line to?" Kagome knew she shouldn't talk back now, now was not the moment to be brave and a smart mouth. Especially when the someone you were speaking rudely to wanted to do you harm. She knew however, that if she gave off a scared impression, he'd get the best of her. That's how it worked. They know they have the upper hand if you show them your fear, sadly it was too late for Kagome. She started to breath heavily as he took a few more steps forward, closing the large gap between them that she was trying very hard to create. "Stay back," Kagome blurted out immediately.
"What if I don't? I doubt you have a weapon, everyone around here knows you don't."
"If you know who I am then why risk being killed yourself by doing this to me!"
"I don't fear your boyfriend as much as you may think."
"He's not my..."
"He's not your what? Boyfriend," the man laughed, "If he's not, I got less to worry about." The man took a big step and began running towards Kagome, she now running as well. She grabbed tight to her book bag, knowing that might be the only type of weapon she had. She was already tired from walking so much and getting no actual rest, so when she started slowing down, she began to worry even more. Kagome stopped once she reached a dead end (A/N: Typical ain't it)), starting to pray for a miracle.
The man caught up to her easily, not showing signs of being the least bit tired. He grabbed her arms and pressed her against the wall hard, causing her to cry out in pain. The man's grin only grew once he saw on Kagome's defeated look appear. Kagome closed her eyes, doing her best to fight back against him to break free. Yet no matter what she did, it didn't compare to his strong grip. The man was now licking her neck, pulling hard on her shirt to forcefully take it off, loving how she continued to struggle against him. As he was about to take her shirt off completely, he felt a hard pressure being applied to the back of his neck. He stopped to realize it was someone's hand.
The moment the man freed Kagome, the hand at the back of his neck let go. The blonde turned around, staring angrily at the person that had applied stinging pressure in the said spot. Kagome fell to the ground hard once she noticed she was free, and opened her eyes, "Inu... Yasha?"
"You got some nerve picking on girls like that. What's wrong? Can't get any yourself without making them?"
"Shut up! You got some nerve getting in the way," screamed the man angrily as he took out a knife from one of his pockets. Preparing himself, he charged at Inuyasha. Inuyasha showed no signs of attempted movement. He only grinned and looked down. Kagome watched in fear of his well being as the man with the knife got closer to him. The moment the knife was about to come in contact with his body, Inuyasha moved quickly out of the knife's way with more than enough time to spare.
The man tried over and over to stab at Inuyasha, but all he accomplished was get himself humilated. Inuyasha finally got bored and grabbed his wrist, applying immense pressure. The man tried to hold on to his knife for as long as he could, but once he couldn't bare the pain forming around his wrist, he let go. The knife fell to the ground next to Inuyasha's feet.
"I hope you learned something. The only thing you get from attempted rape is your ass being killed." Inuyasha quickly lifted his knee and hit the blonde hardin the stomach. Inuyasha let go of his wrist, which caused the man to lean over, holding his stomach in pain. Inuyasha glared as he kneed him in the stomach again, this time with much more force. The blonde couldn't bare the pain as he fell on his knees.
Just as the blonde was feeling less pain and regaining his strength to fight back again, Inuyasha knelt down to grab his knife. Inuyasha then looked to his side at the man and quickly grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground a few inches as Inuyasha slowly stood up. With the knife in his other hand, Inuyasha prepared to jab the knife where he had kneed him.
"STOP!"
Inuyasha quickly glanced over to Kagome, who now had a look of horror on her face. She looked down and started mumbling something, no one being able to catch what she was saying. Kagome began to speak louder with ever word she spoke, "Please.. No more blood.. No more violence.. No more..." The man started to show a hint of happiness in his eyes as he heard Kagome's plead for pity on him, but Inuyasha quickly caught it and only tightened his grip around his throat. The blonde groaned in pain as he lifted his hands to Inuyasha's arm. He desperately tried to pry Inuyasha off, to no avail.
Inuyasha looked back at Kagome, wondering why she wanted to put pity on a man who wanted to rape her. She didn't want to see the guy dead after he was about to achieve in his goal? He just growled as he looked away, regretting what he was about to do. Inuyasha let go of the man's throat and heard as the man fell to the cold hard ground with a large thud, "You got lucky. Now go before I change my mind. I better not see you again hurting anyone else because next time I won't be so fucking generous."
The blonde quickly ran without sparing no time in saying or doing anything, leaving his knife behind. Inuyasha watched the man run down the street, tumbling and almost falling on the way. Once the blonde was out of his sights, he looked back at the trembling girl who still sat on the ground against the wall, "Why'd you make me do that?"
Kagome got out of her small daze and slowly looked up at him. "I didn't make you do anything..,"she replied, "I just pleaded for you to stop and let him go. And I thank you for doing so."
"You let a man who tried to rape you get away."
"Yeah, but I didn't want to see anymore blood around me.."
"Even after what he was trying to do?"
"This scene won't make him stop. You let a rapist lose, and he might do it again to another victim. Or you, if he finds you alone again."
Kagome looked down to hide her face. She knew he had valid points, and she was feeling deeply guilty inside for all of the ones he stated. "You have no right to kill a person." Inuyasha gave a reaction to that statement, which was unseen by the girl who was still looking down at the floor. After a few seconds of silence, she slowly looked up again, "I believe in karma. He'll got what he deserves."
"That day might of been today."
"I know, but -"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it."
Kagome showed him a small thankful smile, the first real smile she's had in a real long time, "Thank you for saving me." Inuyasha just looked away and gave off a familiar 'Feh' that Kagome's heard before. Kagome tried to stand up with the help from the wall she had her back against, but the pain from the hit against that same said wall she got a few minutes ago came back. She groaned a little bit, which caught Inuyasha's attention. He walked over to her and extended his hand. Kagome looked at him and noticed he was now looking away. Sighing, she grabbed his hand and stood up.
Once standing, she heard Inuyasha ask, "Are you really hurt?"
'It's nothing I'm not used to,' she thought as she tried to keep her balance. After a few minutes she finally got the hang of standing again, and started to try to see if she remembered how to walk. She stumbled a bit, not having her full strength yet, but Inuyasha helped her each time she'd almost tumble over. "How did you find me?"
Inuyasha was staring straight ahead, thinking on his own things, not catching what Kagome asked him right away. Kagome noticed he was suddenly dazed out so she repeated his name a few times, trying to catch his attention. Finally after a while he heard Kagome's voice and came back to reality, "What? Oh, I just heard some screaming, which happened to be your screaming, and decided to check it out."
"But I wasn't screaming much. I don't think I even screamed at all. Maybe only when I was slammed against the wall."
"I just felt like walking this way and I happened to see you, stop asking about it," Inuyasha spat back. He had actually returned from visiting a certain site, but he didn't want to go into detail about it. The route back to the base was down another street, but he had a hunch about following a different path today. Miraculously for Kagome the new way was where she was being attacked. "Next time that happens you should scream so you get more people's attention. Some might care."
"Like you?"
"Keh."
"So where are you taking me?"
"What? I'm going home, I don't know where the hell you're going."
"I don't know either, I'm lost."
"Where do you live?"
"I live...," Kagome was about to say the name she was forbidden to speak, but quickly stopped herself, "I used to live more to the west with my friends, but we all got into a big fight so I got out. I was looking for Sango, she said she lived around here." Kagome hated the fact that she was lying again, strange since she's done so much of it in the past. However, she's hated herself each time, even if it was to Kouga. She realized however, that she to get used to the feeling of lying since she'd have to do a lot more of it from now on.
"So you were expecting to live with her from now on? Did you think it'd be that easy? You two did just meet."
"I know we did... And I know she lives with her gang since she mentioned it before, but she did invite me so I thought I was allowed to? I have no other place to go and my options are limited. Plus I need to join a gang, I've been needing to for a long while now."
"How the hell have you been in this city without being a part of one," he asked out of curiousity. He realized that he was getting no response from the silence she gave him, so he tried to steer the conversation back to the original problem, "You know that the leader of the gang is the one that says the okay to join right?"
"Yeah I know..," whispered Kagome. Inuyasha looked at her, he had barely heard what she said. He leaned in a little closer to her as they walked to hear anything else she might say, he had noticed that more into the conversation her voice had become quieter. When he glanced her way again, he saw that she was giving him a look he really hated.
A defeated look. It irritated him so much. He hated losing and with that face she showed off she'd just given up. A quitter is someone he wasn't and he hated associating with them too. "Fine... Just don't get in our way when something important is happening. Sango will teach you everything you need to know, I'll assign that to her, so don't bother me with anything," he said in an annoyed tone.
Kagome was at lost for words, trying to take in what he had just said. "Really? Thank you very much InuYasha!" Surprised by Kagome's change of mood, he stopped walking and stared at her for a second. At that moment, Kagome decided to hug Inuyasha with the amount strength she had left. Kagome didn't know what she was doing until she'd done it, so she was surprised to find herself embracing her savior.
Inuyasha noticed how close they really were, not really liking the lack of distance they now had with another, he began getting uncomfortable. Kagome finally let go after a few minutes, turning around to hide the blush that had formed on her cheeks. She didn't even know why she was blushing. Inuyasha cleared his throat and started walking again, acting as though that hug didn't happen, "Alright, let's go. I'm not going wait for you to catch up so hurry up."
Kagome looked back at him once she was able to control herself and saw he was way ahead of her. She started yelling for him to slow down, but he kept his fast pace. Kagome began running to catch up, forgetting the incident that had just happened which left her with no strength to draw from. But that didn't matter. Now what mattered is getting to Inuyasha's home and Kagome's new one.
