Summary: Kagome used to be the popular and happy girl in school. Everyone loved her, until summer break. Now, returning to high school, no one regognizes her. Will someone be able to find out why she's vanished? Inuyasha's POV.

Rated M for the following: Cutting, mention of suicide, adult situations (Miroku's fault this had to be put in), and foul language... If these bother you, then suck it up and read, or leave.

Okay, everyone, here's the bad news. FanFiction is havnig some glitches (or something), and my updates will slow down. I am luck to be able to update right now, since the entire sidebar is missing. Perhaps it's somewhere else and I'm just not paying enough attention. But, this means that it'll be longer between my updates, no matter how many reviews there are. Sorry, but I'll keep trying to do this for ya'll. Okay?

Heart of Pain
Chapter Eight: Touch

Okay, let's get this strait. I haven't fallen in love with an emo kid. I still like Kagome, even though I'm not telling everyone that. I'm protecting the emo kid just so she can tell me more about Kagome and what happened over summer. That's all. Why can't they believe that?

Why can't I believe that?

- - -

Amazing how fast two weeks can pass. I mean, I've been following her everyday now. She still seems and smells familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. And that kid who started following her as well, he's still around. She gets nervous whenever she sees him, and I can smell it. He must be a demon and aware of my; presense, since he never approaches her when I'm close enough to him.

So, here I am once again. Staring at my soda. This one's not open, unfortunately. I'm too close to pop it open without her noticing. I look at the can, examing it for a bit. After deciding it's possible, I stab my claw through the can. Ha. It's open, and I didn't even make a sound. I take a sip, although it's awkward due to my badly-place hole, and then sigh.

Soda may not be much of a lunch, but it's good enough for me to go by on for two more classes. I should've snagged Sango's fries while Kagome was out in the lunch area.

So, with nothing else to do, I watch as she sits on the steps of the school building. I'm somewherearound sixty feet away from her. She's doing something on a blank sheet of paper. I think she's daring, but I can't be positive. My eyesight isn't that well-trained. The door behind her opens, and she looks behind her. I look too, and I vaguely recognize the person. She gets up and attempts to get away from him, but he grasps her hair.

I clench the tree branch tightly as he takes her to the side of the building, away from the windows, and begins to yell at her. He's saying things like 'thought you could run away' and all. I'm assuming he's her abusive boyfriend. But as he hits her mercilessly, I'm beginning to think he's just abusive to her. I jump down from the tree, ignoring my soda as it hits the dirt. I grasp the boy's collar and pull him off of the girl.

"What are you doing!" He asks. Funny, from the way he says it, it sounds like he doesn't think anything is wrong with beating women.

"I'm teaching you that you don't hit women at all, let alone beat them." I hiss. He looks at me, and now I remember him. His name is Naraku, and he's Kagura's boyfriend. He never acts this way towards her, so why does he do it to this kid.

"What, do you have feelings for the girl? She's a freak, just another one of those emo kids." He says. I throw him against the ground and flex my claws. It's too late for me to forgive him now. It's also too late for me to calm my rage down.

"Doesn't matter if she is or not. You don't treat women like that!" I snap. I punch his face, watching as he knocks out. That should teach him what pain he had begun to put her through. I look over to her, seeing her tremble in fear. I walk up to her, wishing that she didn't have to figure out that I was stalking her this way.

I place a hand on her shoulder and open my mouth to say something to her. She flinches at my touch, and I draw my hand back. She's still trembling and I can't fight instinct. I hug her close, trying to help her tears go away. It seems my touch is only making them come more, though.

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you by touching you. I just don't know what else to do." I say quietly. She clenches my shirt, around where the girl had been poking me in the ribs. Yes, she'd been doing that for the past two weeks and now my rib is bruised. I have quite the collection of pencils and pens, though.

"What's your name?" I ask her as I let her go. She looks at the unconsious Naraku, then at the ground in front of me.

"Call me Kay." She says quietly. I wonder why I have to use a nickname for her, butI shrug the thought off.

"Alright, Kay... Do you mind if I ask why he was after you?" I question. She flinches, and I can tell she doesn't like the question.

"He thinks that I told people about him hurting me, so he wanted to hurt me." She mutters. I nod, taking mental note of this.

"Why do I have to call you Kay?" I suddenly blurt. I didn't mean to ask that question, so I'm hoping that it's not an issue with her.

"Because you're the one who was asking about Kagome Higurashi... I was the one who told you she was dead." She quietly says. I nod slowly, wondering if this makes sense to me or not. It does, and it doesn't, I guess.

I sit outside, on the steps, next to Kay. She's just drawing in her sketchbook, and I couldn't care what it was. I'm just glad I don't have to fear opening my soda, even though it's already open now. I look at the horribly-placed hole on my soda can, and put my claw through it again. This time, the hole is closer to where it should be.

"How long have you been following me?" She asks. I look at her, wondering if she really wants to know the answer to that.

"Ten weeks." I grimly reply. That's ten weeks of having a can of soda for lunch. Sometimes I wasn't even able to open the can, so I didn't have lunch. I should've known to punch a hole in it myself, though.

"Why are you following me? What possible interest do you have?" She asks. I can tell she's mad, and I don't blame her for it. I mean, if I was in her shoes, I'd be pissed that someone was stalking me too!

"You know more about Kagome Higurashi than the others at the table did when I asked about her... The way you acted around other people, I could tell someone at school was picking on you. I decided to follow you and, if you got in trouble like today, I'd help you." I say. That's what I had started following her for, but I don't entirely believe it anymore.

"So, you want to know about Kagome Higurashi?" She asks. She stands up, and I look at her.

"Yah, I do." I tell her. She walks to the door, giving me no chance to catch up.

"Well, Inuyasha, you'll have to give up. I may know a lot about her, but I'm not telling you anything." She says. I watch her go inside then sigh. There's no way I'm going to get this girl to tell me what happened over Kagome's summer. In fact, right now, it's beginning to seem like a lost cause. Kagome hasn't been here since the first day of school, and I'm beginning to doubt she'll ever come.

I follow Kay inside, hoping to catch her before she gets out of my nose's range. If she knows something about Kagome, other than those flimsy rumors, then it's worth following her for. Besides, she knows that I'm not going to hurt her now. She should be able to understand that I'm more of a protective stalker than a harmful one.

Maybe I'm not physically harming her, though. Perhaps me being around and prying into her life is hurting her heart. Those emo kids always seem upset, and maybe what I'm doing only increases it. I'll have to ask Sango about the way this girl's mind may be working. She always seems to understand how girls think, amazingly enough.

But, am I really hurting Kay's heart by following her? I'm only trying to help...

Next time on Heart of Pain...
This woman that Inuyasha has met is just what he's looking for. He manages to comfort enough to talking, but she still won't tell him what happened over Kagome'ssummer vacation.

lady KCassandra- Yes, I know Inuyasha is stupid. Remember that Kagome went from being Ms. Popularity to being emo. He doesn't think that it could happen to her (the sudden status change, I mean). But, hey, stupid people make great people for fan fictions!

Hiei's Cute Girl- First of all... Who in the world is Hiei? Maybe I'm just missing something here... Secondly, you are half emo. You're full emo if you cut because of depression. If you don't cut anymore, then you're not any emo. Let me try to say this again. You're emo when you cut yourself, you're normal when you don't.

Crap. I'm about to be late for school. Ta ta!

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- Lonely Bird