Author: Stoicstella E-mail: Rating: R (definitely)
Summary: Since her mother married Naraku, Kagome bears the cross of her violent home life in silence. To whom could she turn anyway?
Author Notes:Hello my adoring fans. I have good news and bad news. okay I lied I just have bad news. So sue me. I am in dire straits at the moment and I really can't go into detail. But I assure you it isn't writers block. In fact it's financial. At any rate, for an undisclosed amount of time I am going offline. Which sucks so royally. But fear not I can't bare to let you all down, so I am going to find some place that has internet access somehow and load my story on. I really appologize for the long wait last time and the possible long wait to come. I am looking for a solution. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will put a rush on the next three. Hey this story is drawing to a resolution... excited? Happy reading, S.c.
"" Spoken
'' thought
indicates a change of point of view within individual sections. (these will be pretty apparent though -- at least I should think)
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Song lyrics belong to Stabbing Westward.
Falls apart
"I'm tangled and broken
Left scattered on the floor
Its useless now these pieces
Can never make me whole
You wither You blister
I watch you burn and peal
It's not like you can save me
It's not like you even care "
Chapter 6: You Can't Save Me
Her head was spinning. A sense of dizziness was taking her over and she suddenly felt like she could no longer support her own body weight. Sesshoumaru was watching her carefully, and in his eyes she could see raw unmasked concern, even though it was himself he should probably currently be worrying for.
She tripped over her own feet when the shorter officer tried to "lead" her out of the door, at a glance she could see a marked car sitting in front of her own home several houses down. Something snapped in her mind. She knew leading her to that house would be her funeral procession. Naraku needed time to cool down. Kagome ripped her arm out of the officers grasp, maneuvered away from him and clung to Sesshoumaru. While She was crying with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, and her head buried in his chest Sesshoumaru bent awkwardly forward to speak to her, thrown slightly off balance by the handcuffs behind him.
"Everything's fine Kagome." he whispered, pressing his lips to the top of her head.
"It's not!" She sobbed into his T-shirt, not moving her face even slightly to either side until after she had spoken. Then she raised her head slightly propping her chin into his chest so she could see his face. His lips twisted into a little reassuring smile, and he leaned down placing a light kiss to her forehead.
"It is." He whispered. "They aren't sending you home yet," He broke eye contact with her to look to the baffled policeman still standing in the doorway where Kagome had left him. "are you, boys?"
"We do still need to get your statement" replied the taller who was holding Sesshoumaru rather ineffectively by the cuffs.
"See?" he whispered giving her back those steady comforting eyes. "Everything's fine."
She felt her head nodding, even though she was having a hard time believing everything was fine, and even though her heart felt like it might break in two at the very notion that she had to give a statement and even despite the dizzy sensation that returned as the tall officer began to lead Sesshoumaru out of her grasp and to his car out front. She nodded dumbly and began to bite her lip.
Inuyasha put his arm around her shoulder as they both watched the taller officer drive away with him, until the car turned a corner and was out of sight.
"I told you: It's a pretty simple concept, try to wrap your brain around it." Sesshoumaru said in a low voice as he looked at his cuffed hands that rested on the table in front of him.
"I entered the house. Lying on the floor in the entryway was Kagome" he closed his eyes but since he was looking down at his hands the officer across from him took no notice.
"She was crying." his voice got softer almost remorseful "and he was standing over her, his pants around his ankles."
At this he looked up letting his eyes meet those of the relentless officer. Emotions he usually kept deeply bottled were seething and threatening to boil over. "And, yes, I knocked him around a little, but he got off easy. Did you see any broken bones? Was he in ICU recovering from a punctured lung? I didn't think so. Why is it that he can beat that innocent girl within an inch of her life and no one bats an eye, but I put him in his proper place and you haul me in before you can say double-standard?"
"That's enough." said a voice from the doorway, that Sesshoumaru didn't bother to acknowledge. He was looking at his hands again and wondering where Kagome was at this moment. He didn't even really notice when the officer left the room.
"He isn't changing his story and repeatedly asking him the same questions isn't getting us anywhere." The captain said looking through the mirror at the young man. "I mean he isn't denying he beat up the man, right? So maybe, we ought to at least look into his reasoning."
The detective was deep in thought. Something Sesshoumaru had said had struck home. Why were they trying so hard to make Naraku's story match the evidence rather than looking at the evidence and trying to find the truth? He wasn't sure. But he was ready to find out.
"Yes, captain. The girl is being questioned but she hasn't coaberated anything that the he's said. I mean she hasn't coaberated anything either of them have said. She's the key, and she ain't talking."
His superior sighed, still watching the man in front of them fiddle with his hands in a sulking silence.
"When's the first time you were in the hospital?" He watched the young girl give him a nervous smile. It was the same nervous smile she had flashed him when he asked her every question so far, even the easy one's like her name, and birthday.
"Well, when I was four I had pneumonia and my mother was really worried, so I went to the emergency room, but they didn't check me in." she bit her lip, the smile that didn't come close to reaching her desperation laden eyes never fading as she looked at her straining hands again.
"Oh? I see. How many times have you been checked in?" She didn't look up.
"Just once." She whispered, her knuckles turning white as they churned the cloth of her T-shirt.
"What brought you to the hospital that time?" He asked, allowing his voice to show only a mild amount of interest. "Was it serious?"
"I... uh.." She stuttered, flashing him the nervous grin again, her eyes soft and defeated. I had a concussion, and broken ribs, a... punctured lung, and" she held out her right arm as she spoke. "I broke my arm..." she paused.
"How did you come by these injuries?" he interjected in her sudden silence, and then came the grin, the downcast eyes, the gnawing silence. He cleared his throat.
"Kagome? How did these injuries happen?" He asked again, remaining quiet and calm.
"I... uh... I'd rather not say." she was chewing on her lip as she spoke to the table.
"Okay honey, that's fine. Let's talk about something else. How about Sesshoumaru? How do you feel about him." His voice remained soft and untelling. Kagome grinned, a geniune one this time, enough to bring a small smile to his own lips.
"I don't know." she said still smiling a little, "He... he makes me feel safe..." Her face turned worried and her voice faltered slightly. "He's not going to jail is he?"
"I don't know. I'm not in charge of that." He repleid trying to sound reassuring, although he had a feeling there was a good chance that Sesshoumaru would be seeing the inside of a cell. "How about I find out what's going on with Sesshoumaru and I'll send someone in with some coffee for you, okay?"
"Okay" she responded with a weak smile as she went back to playing with her hands.
"In my professional opinion?" he asked, standing next to the captain and looking in on the man in question through the two way mirror. The captain nodded.
"He's about as likely as you or I to be the attacker. I think there is a geniune threat and if you send her home the next time you see her will probably be in a body bag. But she isn't likely to tell you anything, and by trying to force her there is a good chance of doing more harm then good."
"So doctor, what you're telling me is that we have no choices or decisions and this girl is as good as dead?"
"Well sir, in these kinds of cases the abuser is constantly upping the ante from what I gather her last attack nearly killed her. If the man who caused those injuries is the stepfather as that young man suggests" he gestured with his arm toward the glass. "Then yes, the situation is pretty bleak. Her future is in her own hands"
"What can we do?" asked the detective who until now had been silent.
"We can only hold her so long." The captain replied with a shake of his head. "You try to find something out that will make his story hold water, and you" he continued turning back to the psychologist "try to talk to her. I am going to give this kid a phone call, he better hope he has a good lawyer."
"Father?" Sesshoumaru spoke calmly into the telephone "I'm aware that you are in London, but this does take precedence don't you think?" He paused gripping the receiver lightly. "Yes, I told you, they are pressing charges. I need you now, ok?" another pause. "thank-you"
"He'll be here in about an hour." Sesshoumaru said offhandishly to the captain as he took the phone from his hand. "He's not pleased" he added for good measure shooting the man a dirty look.
"I suppose he wouldn't be." The Captain replied with exasperation as he placed the receiver back on it's base. "Couldn't he just send over your lawyer?"
Sesshoumaru looked up at him calmly, all his previous seething anger seemed to have returned to it's rightful buried place. "He is my lawyer." he stated blankly, looking at his feet and noticing for the first time the blood that was on his right shoe. He sighed slightly. Those were expensive.
"What's happening with Sesshoumaru." Kagome asked her cup of coffee. The detective that was in the middle of questioning her stopped in mid-sentence to consider her question.
"He stands to be in a lot of trouble if he can't prove his story..."
"I told you." she looked up from the Styrofoam cup meeting his gaze "Sesshoumaru would never hurt me."
"I know, but that isn't going to be enough. We need to know what happened."
Her eyes averted back to the cup in her hands as she watched a single tear drop fall within chasing the dark contents into a frenzy of ripples.
"Now your stepfather is pressing charges. According to him your friend broke into his house and assaulted him. Is that what happened?"
"well..." Kagome began her hands shaking slightly as another sob welled up in her throat.
"Did you see what happened to your father?"
"I... I" she coughed suddenly and her cup slipped from her shaking hands spilling her coffee all over the table, and consequently the detective's lap. He was so busy jumping into the air with a string of surprised curses spilling from his mouth that he never saw Kagome move to cower in the corner on the opposite side of the room. The psychologist who had been present for the questioning joined her side but made little effort to reach her. He could see she was nearly catatonic, she wouldn't speak to him and her eyes resembled those of a trapped animal.
Two detectives sat in the bustling department neither looking up from their respective folders.
"Supposing it is the father figure?" said the one glancing up at his agitated partner, there was a balding spot on the top of his head he had never really noticed before and the light kept catching it.
"Then it's the father." he replied without breaking his concentration on what he was writing.
"There's no way of knowing, short of his confession or her accusation. In cases like these its her word against his and she ain't even talking. Whadya want we should do about it, Tom?" He looked up then from his writing for the first time making eye-contact with his partner.
"Tom, the girl ain't talking, I interviewed her myself. She's a few bricks short of a fortress if you catch my drift."
Tom waved off his balding partner with his hand as he returned his attention to the file in front of him, on top of the heap was a yellow paper with messy handwriting, paper clipped to which was a picture of Sesshoumaru. A small sigh escaped his lips.
"And what about this kid, Gabe? He goes in for assault? Meanwhile she goes home, and next week we're investigating her toe tag?"
Gabe cleared his throat indicating that his partner was getting carried away and he should lower his voice. The few people who were blatantly looking at them averted their eyes, although the room remained unusually quiet. Gabe leaned in to speak in a much lower voice.
"The boy has reasonable doubt and his "attorney's" reputation proceeds him. I don't think there is much to worry about as far as that goes. And as for the girl... she doesn't talk then her fate is her own. You can't beat yourself up over every case that comes across this desk. You'll never survive in this business.
"We let this girl go home with that man and we're murders, Gabe. No better than the god damned perp himself." he slammed his hands on his desk, letting out a huge sigh. "I'm going for coffee."
She was no longer in one of the interrogation rooms, where countless pairs of eyes watched her from behind her own reflection. Though the queasiness in her stomach assured her that the questioning was not over. Kagome uncrossed her left leg from her right only to rearrange them and recross them the other direction, at the same time running her tongue remorsefully across her bottom lip tasting the familiar copper and attempting to prevent herself from running her teeth along it again. It was a nervous habit. The younger of the two detectives that she had spoken to sat beside her again, he seemed to be averting his eyes.
"Miss Higurashi..."
"Masushita" she whispered
"Pardon" the young detective asked looking up from the file and finally meeting her eyes, she was amazed by how tired and sad he looked. She had never really considered how rough of a job being a detective in such a big city probably was.
"Masushita" she replied again, this time with more confidence. "My mother remarried..." she paused, and looked at her shoe for a second. "My name changed."
'everything did' her heart was trying to swallow her entire body, she could feel each treacherous thump enveloping her entire system and leaving her with no prospect of control. She never used to feel like this. 'Kami grant me some strength.' she looked up again.
"That's right!" he said distractedly pointing to something on her file, "I was just speaking with Mr. and Mrs. Masushita on the phone." he added searching her eyes suddenly with his own. She looked at her feet, afraid of what he would find whilst rooting around in the depths of her unshielded soul.
"Oh" was all Kagome managed to dig up by way of response and the word was almost devoured by the bustle around her.
"Yes, I can't believe I forgot to tell you." he said calmly, still focusing his own gaze in the direction of her downcast eyes.
"They have been quite eager to get you back 'Safe and Sound.' they're on their way."
"I'm going home then?" she whispered in a defeated voice
"Unless there's some reason you shouldn't." He paused giving her a chance to speak before continuing. "Kagome?" he added in a commanding voice drawing her to meet his eyes again. "Is there some reason you shouldn't go home?"
A lone tear began to creep down her face, she could feel the heat of it on her skin but she made no move to wipe it away and no others followed. She opened her mouth to speak but her voice only squeaked and her cheeks began to burn, she could feel the raw anger that was pumping the blood there. She suddenly felt trapped and used.
"Listen," he began leaning in so they were staring each other directly in the eye, his tiredness, fading to blind determination, her fear morphing into panic induced anger. "In 20 minutes your parents are going to waltz through that door whether I like it or not. And to tell you the truth I don't like it. Now, I can help you. I can protect you. But you have to level with me sweetheart. You have to tell me what's been going on."
She met his gaze squarely, the anger he had begun to induce was now seething with in her. The desperation and the blind cynicism she carried along for the ride on a regular basis were now being fueled and had the voices in her head back in action. A bitter war was going on, and the part of her that would even think about telling him anything did not like to be involved in this kind of thing. That voice had gone quiet, it moved itself to the back and was observing, silently hoping that violence didn't break out inside her inner sanctum.
"You can't help me." she stated coolly "So don't pretend you can."