MY FRIEND JEREMY HELPED ME OUT WITH GETTING THESE STORIES OFF THE DISKS, SO I'M DEDICATING THIS TO HIM. THANKS! I LOVE YOU!

robin

Chapter eight
Not Alone

Kagome had returned to school the next day, her uniform feeling unusually uncomfortable. She wasn't sure if it was all the stares she was receiving from people she didn't know, or the new detergent she had used to get the grass stains out.

She sighed to herself as she went to her locker and got her books out. As she shut the door, someone popped up beside her. Kagome jumped at the girl's chirpy voice.

"Hi!"

Kagome turned her head to see a girl with short blonde hair and light brown eyes. She had never seen the girl before.

"Uh… hi. Who are you?"

"I'm Jessica."

"Okay. Nice to meet you." She said unsurely.

'What does she want? And why is she smiling like that! It's creepy!'

"So, is it true?"

Kagome raised an eyebrow.

"Is what true?"

The girl looked around them before she got closer to Kagome.

"That you and Kouga had sex?" She whispered to her.

Kagome jumped back, her eyes going wide.

"So, is he any good?"

Kagome bit down on the inside of her cheek, her eyes narrowing at the girl in front of her.

"Where did you hear that?"

Jessica wiped the smug look off her face at the glare she was receiving.

"From some of his friends."

Kagome could taste blood in her mouth as she tightened her grasp on her books in her arms.

"Kouga's an ass hole. Don't waste your time with him." She stated coldly before she walked off.

Kagome rounded a corner and saw whom she was looking for in a crowd of jocks, laughing his ass off. She walked towards him and forced her way through the group and tapped him on the shoulder. Kouga turned around and looked down at her, a smile on his face.

"Hey, Kagome."

She cringed at his voice, at her own name falling off his lips so casually. So, now he was going to pretend that nothing had happened, and he expected her to act the same way. Well too fucking bad, she wanted to kill him!

Without thinking, she dropped her books and punched him in the ribs.

The same place that Inuyasha had hit him. The ones that were broken.

He let out a painful gasp along with some blood as she punched him in face, busting his bottom lip open. All of his friends just stood there, some of them even laughing at him. He was getting his ass kicked by a girl.

"YOU BASTARD!" She yelled at him as she kicked him in the shins.

A face in the crowd looked over at Kagome, and for a moment, she saw the pain and anger in her eyes. She knew what had happened to her. The bastard had done the same thing to her last year. But, she hadn't told anyone, hadn't done anything. Though, she wished she would have.

"SAW ONE MORE FUCKING THING ABOUT ME, AND I'LL FUCKING CASTRATE YOU!" She screamed at him as she kicked him one last time in the balls. He was already on the ground, holding onto his little friend.

"But I…. Didn't tell anyone," He choked out.

Just for saying that she kicked him in the face, breaking his nose as blood spurted out onto the floor.

Kagome picked up her books and stormed off, but not before a teacher grabbed onto her arm.

"Miss, come with me." He told her as another teacher went to go help Kouga.

Kagome followed him, not caring in the least. It was well worth it.

XXXXX

About an hour later, and Kagome was walking out to her car out in the school parking lot, a referral in her hands. She had been suspended for a week and put up for expulsion. But, this was her first offense, so she doubted she would be expelled.

As she unlocked her car door, she heard footsteps behind her. Someone was running towards her. She spun around and came face to face with a girl she used to know. Her green eyes duller than she remembered, and her long reddish-orange hair hanging loosely over her shoulders. She hadn't seen much of her in school last year after her and Kouga broke up.

"Ayame?"

"Hi, Kagome. It's nice to see you again."

"You too."

They stood there in silence for a moment before Ayame held out a small piece of paper for Kagome.

"What's this?" She asked, before she read the slip.

"It's my number. I can't talk now, I have to get back to class. But, I want to talk to you later, about… Kouga."

Kagome's head shot up.

"What about that prick!"

Ayame began to chew on her bottom lip, her eyes downcast.

Kagome had always remembered Ayame as a talkative, lively person. When did she become so shy?

"You're not the only one that he did that to."

Kagome's eyes widened.

"H-he did that to you too?"

Ayame nodded her head.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

A tear ran down the girl's cheek.

"I was scared. He… didn't act as nice back then as he does now."

Kagome didn't know what to say to that. She didn't hang out with Kouga that much last year. They had just started dating at the very end of the school year after Miroku introduced them to each other.

"Look, I have to go. Call me later, and we can meet up somewhere and talk. Okay?" Ayame looked up at her hopefully. She wanted to tell someone what happened so badly, but she didn't know whom to trust.

Kagome seemed like the only person she could trust now.

"I will. Good bye, Ayame." She told the girl as she gave her a small hug.

Ayame smiled at her before she ran back to class.

Kagome slipped the piece of paper into the pocket of her shirt and turned around and got into her car.

So far, today had been a very… fulfilling day.

XXXXX

When Kagome arrived at her house, no one was home.

"Dumb ass." She scolded herself.

Of course no one was home, it was still before noon. Both her parents were working.

"What to do, what to do?"

She looked around and grew bored quickly. She picked up the remote and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels. Nothing caught her eye.

So, she tried to read.

Didn't work.

"Okay… I can go get the mail."

Kagome jumped out of the chair and discarded her jacket and ran out to get the mail. She shuffled through it.

"Shit, shit, bill, bill, uh… shit, bill, and another bill. How exciting!" She said sarcastically.

As she headed up the stairs, she looked over at Inuyasha's house. He wasn't home at the moment, so she knew she would be safe if she went over to play in the backyard.

She dropped the mail off in her house, grabbed her car keys and ran next door. She opened the door with her extra key and sneaked inside. After making sure that no one was home, she ran upstairs and went through the kid's toys. After finding nothing of interest, she went outside in the back yard and played on the swings.

She knew she was acting like a kid, but sometimes being an adult, or acting like one, made one tired and gloomy. She was sick of acting like a parent, of being the responsible one, and acting like everything was all right when it wasn't.

No matter what she told herself, or everyone else, things were not all right. Things were not just fine.

Kagome knew that Inuyasha was still upset, and he had every right to be. And even though Kikyo had not been there for her kids, they still saw her as their mother, and they missed her. No matter how much of a bitch she was, she was their mother, and they still wanted her back.

Kagome walked back towards the house and went upstairs to look through the kid's room. She saw pictures of Kikyo holding her kids, when they were still babies, back when she acted like she cared.

What happened to her?

It's like part of her died. Nothing made her happy. Not her husband, who she once loved, or her kids who still loved her. Even Inuyasha still loved her.

She walked through the hallway, still seeing pictures of a woman who was once happy, but had somehow lost herself over the years.

A white door stared Kagome in the face, one that was blank that reminded her of how Inuyasha now acted. She pushed the door open and looked around the dark room. Blood red curtains hung over the windows, bathing the room in an eerie scarlet red.

Kagome moved through the room, noting every picture that was on the wall had Kikyo in it. There wasn't a single picture in the room that didn't have her in it. Even though most of the pictures had been taken down or placed face first down onto a dresser top. The frames of her on the wall were covered in dust, a few fingerprints soiled into the dust.

Kagome stared at one picture that had been knocked over onto the floor. She picked it up and saw that it was one of Kikyo's face, a warm smile accompanying her features. She was beautiful. Or at least, she use to be. Back when she still cared about her family, about someone besides herself.

She fell back onto the bed, placing the dusty picture frame beside her. After looking at it for a few more minutes, she closed her eyes and thought about the first time they had met. She acted as though she had already died inside. She was nothing but an empty shell that was begging to be filled, but couldn't.

Then, something did find its way into her empty case, something that was cold and malicious. Something that felt no love or understanding, something that was incomplete and greedy. The same thing was still living inside of her that had taken control of her.

It must have been in there for years, and it didn't look like it was leaving any time soon.

Kagome soon fell asleep.

XXXXX

Inuyasha walked into his house, sighing loudly to himself as he put his keys down. It was lunchtime, the only time he got to take a break, and he always came by the house to grab the mail and have a beer. But, only on slow, lazy days like today.

When he opened the door, he noticed that it was unlocked, and he sure as hell remembered locking it this morning. So, he grabbed the poker by the fireplace and walked through the house. He didn't find anything in the kitchen, or downstairs bedroom, so he ventured up the stairs slowly.

His tie suddenly felt too tight as he stepped as quietly as he could into the hallway, going left towards his room. The door was already open, and to his surprise, there lay Kagome in her school uniform on his bed.

"What the hell?" He whispered to himself.

He walked towards her, placing the poker by the doorframe. As he moved towards her, he didn't notice the ball that was in front of him and when he stepped down on it, he fell onto his back.

"Shit!" He cursed.

Kagome shot up, her eyes still a bit droopy.

"Inuyasha?" She called out as she crawled over to the edge of the bed and looked down at him. He was still sprawled out on the floor in his black slacks, white button down shirt, and red tie.

Kagome laughed.

Inuyasha looked up at her and glared, making her cover up her mouth with her hand.

He sat up as she jumped off the bed and helped him up off the floor.

"You okay?" She asked, a smile gracing her lips.

He just stared at her as he wiped the dirt off his shirt and pants.

"What are you doing here?"

"Uh…" Kagome took a step back and sat down on his bed.

She knew she was going to have to tell him. How could she not? She told him what Kouga had done, so what's so wrong with telling him what she had done to Kouga?

"I got suspended."

Inuyasha looked up.

"For what?" He didn't sound angry, just very surprised.

"For fighting."

He lifted an eyebrow up.

"You? With who?"

Kagome gave him a fixed stare.

"Who else do I hate and want to fucking kill! The bastard that pretended like nothing had happened! Like he had never touched me in his entire life! That fucking prick, Kouga!" She spat out.

It was Inuyasha's turn to take a step back.

Sure, the two of them had messed around when it came to flipping each other off, and she said a few cuss words here and there. But he had never heard her say anything like that before. As a matter of fact, he can't even remember seeing her get angry.

"So… you two got into a fight?" He asked her as he went to go sit beside her.

"Well…no, it was more like me screaming at him and kicking him. I think he got in a fight with someone, cause he acted like he was hurt after the first time I punched him, and I know I can't hit that hard."

Inuyasha smiled.

"Uh… I did that."

"Huh?" She looked over at him.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, after you told me what happened, I swung by his place, kicked the shit out of him, and then came back here to check up on you." He said casually, like it was an every day activity.

Inuyasha was engulfed in a pair of arms, a bush full of hair thrown into his face. But, it wasn't a bad thing.

"Thank you so much, Inuyasha." She said.

Inuyasha smiled as he hugged her back, his face pushed into her hair. He sniffed her hair, loving its sweet smell.

"Hey, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah." He answered her as he pulled back from her hesitantly.

"W-why... did you-" But before anything else could be said, a creak of a board outside the door was heard. They both looked towards the door, staring right at Kikyo, with her mouth open.

"You pig!" She screamed.

XXXXX

Thank you guys so much for waiting. This is for you.