Bluie Twilight Star – Nope, time didn't lapse, but I meant to that that in between, Kagome and Inuyasha have been seeing each other, so Kagome met his family along the way. I just didn't write it, now I wished I did -.- Hopefully that answered your question… sorry if I didn't make it clear enough, thanks for reviewing!
Fantastical Queen Ebony Black – Ah, my very loyal reader, Fantastical Queen Ebony Black : ) I've been re-reading my previous reviews and I noticed you wanted me to check out some of your fanfics. When I find the time after all these stupid tests, I will definitely read some; I can't wait! Thanks for reviewing!
At that very moment, I knew that this was where the line is drawn. The way Inuyasha's father and brother were looking at me; I knew they would not listen to any of my pleases if I tried to beg my way out of it. It was my fault having ended up like this, I had betrayed them and they had every right to kill me. I even welcome them to kill me, maybe hopefully all this guilt rolling inside my gut would finally dissipate.
But just when I thought my life would be taken away from me…
A gunshot rang clear, piercing through the silent night, breaking the peacefulness that once held still. Nighttime birds scattered in the distance, as the sound of shouting and screaming resounded in the area from the rows of houses nearby.
Fresh blood smothered the pale skin of the girl lying flat on the concrete ground, and her eyes were wide with fear. Her body was motionless, and her gaze directed upon the lone figure standing unmoving in front of her.
Then she moved. Groping for a wound, sudden pain, injuries… anything. But none was found, and confusion struck her mind. She touched the blood and raised it to her face, and realized this blood wasn't hers.
But then that means…
Suddenly, a heavy force crashed onto her without warning, sending the air in her lungs to escape from a wheeze through her mouth. She squeaked, and tried to push off the heavy object off of her. She rolled on one side, and turned to see what had fallen on top of her.
Inuyasha's father's face, stared hauntingly at her on one side, as footsteps running away fast was faintly heard in the background. Kagome crawled a few steps back, and stared back at him with rapid breaths.
"Kagome! Kagome!"
Kagome jumped at the sound of her name, and jerked her eye-widened face to look behind her. A group of her colleagues were rushing towards her, and Kagome could see one of them was holding a gun in front of them. They ran to her side, and questions of her safety were asked.
Madam Kaede was among the group, and she knelt to Kagome's side and brushed stray strands of hair out of her sweaty face. "Kagome my child, are you alright?" She caught the blood oozing from her shoulder blade, and immediately signaled for somebody to help.
Shakily, she nodded, still dazed from all the action. Slowly, she rose to her feet with the help of her friends, and looked at the body of Inuyasha's father.
Kaede rubbed her back and nodded at the corpse. "We heard a gunfire being shot and rushed to the sound. We saw the two of them pointing a gun at you so I had no choice but to fire at the one holding. Unfortunately," Kaede nodded into the dark clearing. "The other one escaped."
The young girl nodded faintly with her eyes still focusing on the motionless body, unknowingly letting her officer friends bandage up her bleeding shoulder. "Is he dead?" she whispered out, and Kaede turned her around and began walking her towards one of the police cars.
"We believe so, but that isn't important. What is is that you're okay," The old lady stopped and looked at her best pupil with concerned eyes. "You were slow back there Kagome… that's very unlike you. Is this case too much for you? Perhaps you should…"
"No, I'm fine." Kagome cut in with a blank look in her eyes. She rubbed her face and looked at her senior gratefully. "I think I'd like to go home."
After assuring all her friends she was alright and didn't need to go to the hospital, one of the officers drove her home. She walked up the stairs to her apartment and dragged herself inside, throwing her body onto her bed.
Immediately, tears sprung into her eyes and she quickly reached for the phone, pressing speed dial. Three rings were all it took when a male voice answered eagerly into the phone.
"Hello?"
The sound of his voice sent a surge through her body, and everything she was holding inside finally came bursting out. A sob wrecked through her body, and soon she was bawling over the receiver.
He recognized her immediately, and concern was evident in his tone. "Kagome, is that you? Are you okay? What happened?"
Kagome's voice cracked, and she wrapped the chord around her hand tightly. "K-Kouga, promise you won't leave me."
There was brief hesitation on the other line, as if he was confused. But when he answered, his voice was full of confidence. "I'll never leave you."
His words soothed her slightly, and her crying began to slow down to whimpers. "Promise me."
"I promise you Kagome. You know what? Let's get married okay? Let's get married." Eagerness was bouncing off his tone, and she could almost see him jumping up and down. But it seemed so sudden. Out of the midst of the moment, he was asking for her hand in marriage.
For some reason, it sounded like the best thing in the world right now for her. A small smile cracked upon her lips and she nodded into the receiver. "Let's."
The young woman had grinned at the package in her arms, and made small clucking noises towards it. She had rocked back and forth slowly, tickling the little thing. A satisfied 'goo' replied her, letting her know, he liked it.
It's been nine months since the incident, and Kagome had born a child. Kouga held off his recent book just to take care of her, and wouldn't let her do anything in the house. Everything was perfect, and Kagome wished it would stay that way. But Madam Kaede had called her up, and asked her to testify for Inuyasha, whose case was coming up soon after months of deciding what to do. So, it went to court.
Now here she was, staring straight into the wall with a confident composure, though deep inside, all she wanted was to crumple up and cry. She saw how they treated Inuyasha, how they dragged him inside the courthouse with bruises and cuts all over him. She knew Inuyasha wouldn't give in so easily, and this was his punishment.
"I walked around several times without seeing anyone. Then I saw a man; pull a bag out of another bag. I approached…"
A voice interrupted her, and pointed at the silver haired man currently handcuffed in his seat, slouching next to his lawyer. "Is that the man?"
The young officer slowly turned her eyes towards him, and dread filled her stomach. Inuyasha looked right back at her, and it pained her to see him look so empty.
She turned her head back forward, and forced out an affirmative.
"Were any words exchanged between the two of you?" the questioning continued.
Kagome nodded, and looked down at the polished wooden floors. Wooden floors of the courtroom.
Why was she here? She could been sitting around with Kouga, planning their honeymoon. Yes, it was true. Kouga had kept up to his promise and had proposed to her the next day when he came to Tokyo. They had their wedding within a month, even though Kouga's mother complained it was too sudden. But the wedding went well, and Kagome thought that in that time of her life, she could relax. But then Madam Kaede called her, asking her to testify for Inuyasha, whose case came up three days after her wedding.
"Yes." She answered firmly. "I asked him, 'Do you know if it will rain today?', he answered, 'No, but tomorrow it will.' Then we exchanged our bags after said words."
"Was there anything else besides that?"
Kagome looked at the ground again and nodded, "Yes. He asked me why I was doing this."
"What did he mean by this?"
Without helping it, Kagome adverted her gaze directly at the silver haired man. Disappointment swam through her veins she realized he wasn't going to look at her. He was probably still mad at her.
She closed her eyes to wipe away the guilt gnawing at her stomach and nodded. "By this he meant drug smuggling."
"Objection your honor, witness has no evidence of such." Inuyasha's lawyer immediately stated as he pointed accusingly at Kagome.
"Objection overruled."
"Nothing more your honor." The man sat down, and next, was Inuyasha's lawyer turn to question her.
"When and how did you meet the suspect?"
Kagome winced when they made 'suspect' sound like a murder case. She hated it, and always wished that it was Inuyasha's brother sitting in his spot, instead of really Inuyasha.
"Last year of April 14th. We were both splashed by water by the little kids and that's how we encountered." Kagome looked up. She could've sworn she heard a grunt somewhere.
"On which date did you Kouga, your currently newlywed husband?"
"July 8th of last year."
"Inuyasha was already detained, wasn't he?"
Kagome looked up at the stubby man with short grey hair, who resembled a lot like a flea to her. She glared at him, trusting her instincts that were telling her this was going to get ugly. How she wished he was a flea so she could squish him under her finger.
"Yes." She answered, as she stood up straighter, hoping to seem more overpowering than the short man barely reaching her shoulder.
"What is the relationship between you and Inuyasha?"
Before Kagome answered, she hesitated, but decided with her answer. "Friends." She didn't see the sudden expression Inuyasha had expressed right at her.
"Boyfriend and girlfriend?"
Kagome swallowed and looked at Inuyasha again, as if for assurance before answering, "You can say that."
Suddenly, the horrid flea-man grinned and raised his hands in an 'I-don't-know' manner. "So we can all say, you've slept together?"
The crowd rumbled with laughter, and Kagome felt anger swimming in her veins. She could have sworn she heard someone spray their diet coke. How dare he…
Without wavering, she answered affirmative, ignoring the surprised gasp from Madam Kaede sitting in the front row.
"Did he know you were engaged?"
"I-I told him I had a fiancé." Kagome answered with uncertainty. She did tell him… but told him too late.
"How did he respond?"
She froze, and furrowed her brows. Did he disagree with it? No, he didn't. Or did he? "He didn't say."
"What did he say?"
She closed her eyes, recalling the day Inuyasha had stormed inside her house, yelling at her. She had blurted out she had a fiancé… and then he said something… with those expressionless golden eyes… the painfully blank face… and said…
"You can't do it." She mechanically repeated what he had said those months ago.
"So he disagreed?"
Kagome didn't answer.
"So he became a problem to be resolved, didn't he?"
Kagome looked at him cautiously, unsure of what he was trying to say. "I don't understand."
"Alright then," The flea-man looked at her with darkness in his eyes, and Kagome knew, he was going to pounce on her. "What was your reaction when you realized that he was the courier on the boat?"
A feeling rushed over her, the feeling she had felt when she had saw his beautiful yet such wrong face on the ferry that day. The day she realized, they couldn't be friends anymore. She looked down to her stand with a timid nod. "Very surprised…" And disappointed. She added silently, as an unfamiliar lump appeared in her throat unexpectedly.
"And happy?"
The added feeling caught her off guard, and she jerked her head up to glare at the man. "Excuse me?"
"You were happy… happy that you finally got a chance to get him arrested, perhaps put to jail, even executed,"
Kagome's eyes widened at the fake predicament, and she opened her mouth to object… but he beat her to it. With his dangerously narrow eyes flashing, he leaned over the desk, and breathed the next word out, making her feel it… and believe it. "You were happy, that he was finally out of the way, and that you could continue your life with your husband, filled with selfish desires and a barrelful of lies."
"NO!" she burst out, surprising some of her fellow workers.
But the man was merciless, and continued his painful taunting. "Finally, now that he's gone… you can continue to hide your hideous secret away from your husband, hoping one day it was distinguish and you can pretend like nothing happened, pretend that the bond you and my client had so happily created was gone, thus breaking his heart and pulling him out from the world of sanity."
"NO! It wasn't like that!" Kagome cried, tears on the verge of breaking. The judge looked at her in disapproval, ready to hit the gavel. "I would've never taken the situation in advantage! Never! Inuyasha was my friend, and I cared for him! I had no idea he was the courier, I didn't! I lov…" Busted. She cut off in a gasp, as her hands flung to her mouth in desperation to stop the words from flowing out.
The court gasped, and the truth was out. Kagome had loved Inuyasha. And she didn't even know about it… till today.
Kagome's eyes were widened, and she could feel her whole reputation and pride crashing down onto her. No… no… she had loved Inuyasha? What would Kouga do when he finds out that she never loved him? No! She did love him… she did! But she had fallen out of love from him and instead, gave her heart away to Inuyasha without even knowing it. She didn't dare look at the person she had almost claimed her love to, but she could feel his surprised eyes boring holes into her body. Everything was so clear now, and all the blurriness and confusion was finally wiped away.
Instead of feeling happy, Kagome's heart felt a hundred pounds heavier. She knew she had just made one of the many biggest mistakes of her life… after meeting Inuyasha.
"Kagome?"
An old woman wobbled her way towards the younger woman stooping at the hose, and bent down to level their height. "Are you alright?"
The woman called Kagome turned her head towards her senior and nodded slowly with a sad smile. Over the past few months, she had aged. Her once perfectly porcelain beauty was stained with lines and dark round circles due to the long sleepless nights she had to endure. She had been suffering quietly for a long time, and Kaede knew why. Kouga had heard about the case, and was truly angry at her.
In a motherly fashion, Kaede placed her wrinkled hand over Kagome's slender shoulder. Kaede also noted, sadly, Kagome had lost a tremendous amount of weight. She looked nothing but skin and bones, pale and frail. It pained her to see her best pupil like this… she saw her as her own granddaughter, and now she was crying every night ever since Inuyasha had been released.
Yes, Inuyasha was free, because it was said that it was the brother that had told him to do the smuggling. Inuyasha claimed to have not known that the bag was contained with drugs, but jade from Burma. So instead, Inuyasha had gotten a five year sentence, while his brother was wanted for a death sentence.
"Madam Kaede!" A voice shouted, cutting into the elder woman's deep thoughts. She snapped out of her trance and stood up to face her colleague, nodding for him to deliver his message.
"There's somebody on the phone… for Kagome." The seemingly breathless officer reported, as he leaned against the brick wall for support.
Kagome immediately shot up in her seat, and stood next to the worried Kaede. "Who did he claim to be?"
"Inuyasha."
Author's Note: Guys, I am SO sorry for not updating. I've been a bad girl and fallen into writer's block and didn't even try to knock it down. Please forgive me But here it is, and I hope you're not too disappointed-" But I am especially displeased with the part when Kagome was being questioned at the court… definitely not enough detail. I leave it to my editor, and hopefully she can juice things up. Again, I am so sorry.
