Chapter 12

"Ah, Kagome and Inuyasha, what brings you here? Any more memories returning?" a familiar voice came across the bustling sidewalk. The owner of the voice, changing his slow pace to a faster one, came up to great them as if they had been friends since childhood.

"Yes, actually officer, all my memories came back last night," Kagome stated as the friendly man offered each of them a donut from the box he was carrying. Kagome denied his friendly offer, but Inuyasha, being curious and a huge fan of modern food, accepted; inspecting the round object with both his eyes and nose before taking a rather large bite out of it. Enjoying the new, flavourful treat, the young half demon quickly devoured the rest of the donut; he only had one bite left anyways.

"Come inside and we shall discuss these events further," the officer gestured inside.

The officer, friendly as he was, offered donuts to his fellow law keepers as they made their way into the enormous building, past the front desk which had three busy secretaries booking criminals, taking phone calls, and helping with paperwork; around the corner, down a hallway lined with offices, and into a particularly large office at the end of the hall. Entering the room Kagome noticed the gold nametag on the over stacked desk, that read 'Captain Jim Brass'. Brass stepped over an overflowing box of recycling to get behind his over crowded desk, and sat down on a chair that neither Inuyasha nor Kagome could see. On the desk, in amongst the papers, Kagome noticed a rather large computer that looked like it was just about ready to fall off the corner, while three or four large books were piled messily on the other desk corner.

The captain gestured for the young couple, which he assumed they were, to sit in front of his desk on two comfortable looking chairs, which happened to contrast to the colour of the office; the walls were painted a soft violet while the chairs were a dark blood red.

"Please, make yourselves comfortable and help yourselves to donuts," once again he held out the box offering them each donuts; Inuyasha took acceptingly, but Kagome, once again, politely refused his offer. Brass placed the box on his desk within both his and their reach, before pulling out a notepad and a pen.

Removing his smile, Brass put on a serious face and asked, "The man who attacked you, did you know him?"

"Yes. His name is Daisuke Higurashi, he is my father," Kagome stated solemnly, forcing away the tears that threatened to spill.

"I see. Did he live with you? There was no evidence of a younger man living in the house. We only found some your grandfather's belongings."

"No, my mother got divorced about six years ago. He was abusive," the young girl told him, guessing his next question. "Grandpa went to Nagasaki for a month to visit a few of his old friends, is he back yet?"

"No."

"My brother, Souta…"

"Yes, he is staying with one of his friends from school. You can go back to your house, we've collected all the evidence we need and released the crime scene. I will call your brother and tell him you will be picking him up soon," the captain informed her, scribbling the phone number and address where Souta was staying on the notepad; finishing, he ripped the sheet off and handed it to her.

"Thank you."

"Now, on to what happened the night your mother was murdered…tell me everything you remember, down to the last detail."

Flashback

After the fight with Inuyasha that took place the other night, Kagome's mom didn't have the heart to wake her sleeping daughter and decided to let her sleep in, it was the weekend after all. Kagome's mom took Souta grocery shopping, so the young girl could finally get some much-needed rest. Waking up to the bright morning sun that was streaming in through her open window, she glanced over at her alarm clock only to find it missing, thinking nothing of it at the time Kagome went downstairs to find her mom and have some breakfast. Upon reaching the kitchen, she found a hand written note on the counter, which read:

Kagome dear, I have taken Souta to the grocery store to do some shopping, you took the last of the ramen the last time you went to the feudal era. Hope you had a good sleep. Love mom.

The girl, curious to what time it was, looked over at the microwave clock; the time was 9:00. Not feeling hungry, Kagome decided to take a nice long, hot shower before beginning her day. She walked up the stairs, turned right, and then took another right into the bathroom; shutting the door, she began to strip her pajamas off and turned on the hot water.

Stepping in, she felt the burning water pound against her skin, "Ahh, this feels so nice," she said to herself out loud. Kagome grabbed the bar of soap and began lathering her body, scrubbing the dirt and grime away; she hadn't had a shower (or bath) for days. Then, she began washing her hair with a fruit scented shampoo let probably would have made Inuyasha sneeze, and finally finishing she lathered in conditioner and rinsed it out.

Feeling refreshed, Kagome turned the spigot off and climbed out of the shower. As she wrapped a rose-coloured towel around her petit body she heard the front door open and then close, 'Oh, that must be mom and Souta. They're home early,' she thought to herself, walking into her bedroom. She dried herself off, then dove into her closet looking for a nice, comfortable outfit to wear. Pulling out the perfect outfit, she quickly dressed herself and brushed her hair. The person downstairs began to ascend up the stairs; to Kagome the footsteps sounded heavier than that of either her mom or Souta, so she stood up and took a step toward her door.

Suddenly, Kagome's bedroom door flew open and standing in the doorway was none other than…"Dad?" she practically yelled in surprise.

"Yup! That's me," he stated, slurring his words and acting over enthusiastic.

"What are you doing here? Have you been drinking again? You can't be here, mom got a restraining order so you couldn't come around us any more," she told him, backing away from the drunk, and now very upset man.

"You aren't going to tell me what I can and cannot do, and neither can that BITCH!" he informed her furiously, yelling the last part. The enraged man stepped closer as the frightened girl stepped back, but he was too quick for her, and because of the wall that happened to be behind her, there was nowhere she could run.

The furious man grabbed her and threw her to the ground, she tried to scramble away, but, once again, he was too fast. Tearing at her clothes, he pinned her to the floor; he successfully smothered her screams with the towel, which was still sitting on her bed. He took her forcefully several times before he heard the front door open and voices float up from the kitchen.

"I wonder if Kagome is awake yet," a woman's voice came from the kitchen, followed by the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs.

"Shit," the man muttered, grabbing the knife he had brought up from the kitchen.

Like many times before, Kagome tried to escape wanting to warn her family who were downstairs; hoping the ascending person distracted her attacker she fought with all the strength she had left, but he caught her and clamped his hand over her mouth before she had a chance to scream a warning. Biting down as hard as she could, the girl fought back trying to escape the drunken madman. In response, the man plunged the knife into the girl's stomach, and in an attempt to stop her from fighting he pulled the knife out and stabbed her again. Still fighting for her life, Kagome tried to dodge the third stab, but instead of missing it, the knife was brought down again and carved a deep gash across her chest and stomach.

Kagome's mom, unaware of the fight taking place in her daughter's bedroom, dropped a few items that she had bought at the store in her bedroom and went to make sure Kagome was still alive. The woman received a great shock when she opened the door to Kagome's room; she found her ex-husband, who was holding the bloody knife high as if he was going to stab, hovering over her daughter, who was bleeding immensely and mostly naked. Of course, she did what any good mother would do, she tackled Daisuke and told Kagome to run, call the police, and take Souta to safety.

Kagome, not wanting to leave her mother with the madman, hesitated for a few seconds, but when she was ordered again she obeyed and ran downstairs. She yelled for Souta as she rushed to the closest phone and started to dial 9-1-1.

Souta, hearing the panic and fear in his sister's voice, appeared beside her almost immediately and asked, fear evident in his voice, "What's going on, Sis? What happened?"

"Dad is back, drunk. Mom is fighting with him upstairs," she gave him the shortest answer she could think of, planning on explaining everything later, when they were safe.

"Hello, this is 9-1-1. What sort of assistance do you need?"

But before the question could have been answered, the angered man came stumbling down the stairs; his clothes and the knife in his hand were both covered with bloodstains.

Kagome grabbed Souta's hand and pulled him out of the house, telling him to run to the neighbour's and get some help; her plan was to allow him to escape while their father chased her, knowing she could out run the drunken man.

"Go Souta, run and call the police."

"But, what about you?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll distract dad and then jump into the well. Just get the police, and hurry."

Souta ran to the safety of the neighbour's house, trusting his sister could out run their father and find Inuyasha; once she found his hero he knew she would be taken care of.

"Come back here you bitch!" the enraged man screamed at his daughter as she came into his view. "I'm not done with you!" He began to run at her, staggering out of the house waving the knife threateningly.

Once she was sure her father had seen her and was going to chase her, she began to run toward the safety of the old well and the feudal era. By this time Kagome had lost a large amount of blood and her vision was beginning to blur, her entire body was aching, and her head was pounding, but instead of giving up and allowing her drunken father to catch and murder her, she forced herself across the yard to the old well house. When she reached her destination she opened the door and stumbled in, the pounding inside her head almost drowned out the man's cursing and yelling. She staggered over to the well, trying to ignore the growing pains in her torso, and leaned over the well's edge; the last thing she saw was the blackness inside the old well.

End of Flashback