When the Light Goes Out

Kiwi: Lookie, lookie! Look how much I'm writing! See, aren't I a good author? By the way, don't expect me to update this often… I'm far too lazy… :P

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Hello Bob,

I'm scared. Not of the kids at school , I really don't give a damn about them anymore. Though, they do annoy me, and I did make good on my threat to kick Koga in the balls if he came onto me again. But that's not what is scaring me. Mom's been getting weird calls from an 'unknown number.' I've answered the phone when this happens, and I don't hear anything. It's always at the same time of day. That, and Souta saw a strange figure when he came home from school today. I guess the past has a nasty habit of coming back to haunt you, but if I had one wish it would be for all of this to just stop…

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Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku enjoyed a nice picnic that Sango had prepared after getting over the shock of just who their friend really was.

"Why Sango, I didn't know you were such a good cook," Miroku commented.

"And what, exactly, does that mean?" she asked.

"Only that you're so strong and manly-"

Smack!

"Maybe 'manly' wasn't the best word…" Miroku amended while hiding behind Inuyasha.

"Feh! It's not that great," Inuyasha mumbled, sore over the lack of ramen. A sandwich came in contact with his face and Kagome laughed at their antics.

"Do you like it here?" she asked the others.

"It's beautiful," Sango answered.

"And peaceful," Miroku added. "Even Inuyasha can't complain," Inuyasha just 'feh'ed and crossed his arms. But, he didn't disagree. Kagome beamed.

"Oh, you guys should see it at night, with the moon and everything, it's so…" Kagome just drifted off, at a loss for words. Sango nodded.

"I can imagine," she said wistfully.

"Well, we'll have to come here some time," Miroku concluded. "Inuyasha is lucky, he gets to live with access to such beauty-" Sango promptly whacked him. Miroku rubbed his head. "I was referring to the scenery,"

"Sure, pervert," Sango replied stiffly.

"Oh, Sango, there's no need to be jealous, I love you and only you," Miroku declared. Sango was so mad she stuttered.

"M-me? Jealous?" she flushed.

"Aha!" Miroku pointed to her face, "I knew it! I knew you loved me!" Sango stared at him in disbelief until she snapped and charged at him. Miroku, running and screaming for his life, tripped on one of the roots, causing him to fall and allowing Sango to catch up. She threw him into the spring and huffed away from the edge of the water.

"Me? In love with him? That's fucking insane!" she muttered. Suddenly Miroku emerged from the spring and rushed to Sango, hugging her and getting her all wet. Then his hand began creeping down…

Smack!

"MIROKU! You are impossible!" Inuyasha and Kagome watched them, before bursting with laughter. Sango glared at them, wet and dripping all over Miroku, who was scratching his head and smiling ruefully. Then, something clicked. 'Inuyasha…' Sango realized, 'Inuyasha is…really laughing.'

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"Bye Kagome! Bye Inuyasha!" Sango shouted as she and Miroku walked away from Inuyasha's house. When they were out of ear-shot, Sango turned to Miroku, who flinched.

"Sango dear, haven't I suffered enough?" he pleaded.

"Oh, shut up. Miroku, what do you notice about Kagome?" she asked him.

"Well, for a ghost-"

"That's not perverted."

"Ah. Well, for a ghost, she's very lively, and cheerful,"

"And what about Inuyasha?"

"He's a jerk," Miroku responded. Sango groaned. 'Miroku is such a guy…'

"Miroku, Inuyasha was laughing today, and not after he pulled a mean prank on us." Miroku stopped laughing and thought for a moment. His eyes lit up in recognition.

"You're right! But, Inuyasha doesn't laugh like that," he said, shocked for a second time today.

"I know. But ever since he's been around Kagome…"

"Now that you mention it, he doesn't seem quite as much of a jerk as he was…" They looked at each other a moment, thinking the same thing.

"Could Inuyasha," Miroku started, "possibly be…"

"…Falling in love with Kagome?"

"Falling in love with a ghost."

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Kagome smiled to herself as their friends left. But then she remembered her promise to Inuyasha. Inuyasha seemed to remember too, for he was sitting on the couch in the front room, waiting for her. 'I better finish what I started… though, I could always hide in a tree until he forgot…' she smiled quietly as she went to sit before him.

"Well, I guess I should finish my story…

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"So Dad beat me daily for most of the summer. I couldn't wait to go back to school for two reasons: one, I wouldn't be home and two, I was starting high school, meaning that all of the teasing of middle school would be in the past. Well, that was what I was hoping for anyway. However, when I started there, wearing whatever I felt like and doing well in class, I was automatically written off as a freak, again. I went out for track the first year, and they found a whole new way to humiliate me, in public. They would mess with my track for the races so I would trip or miss a hurdle because it fell down before I jumped it and other things to make me feel like a failure. Finally I got so mad at one of the other team mates, some guy, I can't remember his name, I yelled at him in front of the whole team during practice. I even punched him in the face. It was great at the time, but soon all jocks hated my guts. What few people that had talked to me now shunned me. People started beating me up at school too, to 'put me in my place.' I would fight back and get in trouble, and no matter how many complaints I made, it just wouldn't stop. So, I quit trying. I let them hit me all they wanted, I didn't care anymore.

"I went to school there until my tenth year. That was the year Dad didn't come back home. Naraku ordered him to kill a family. I didn't know them, but I heard they had connections in high places and that they had a demon lineage. They had children too, two boys. Well, Dad went to kill them as he had been told, but only managed to kill the father and his wife, and only then because Naraku possessed him, using him like a doll. Their deaths were all over the news. The older brother hadn't even been home, and they said the father and mother died protecting their nine-year old son. Part of me missed my Dad, the old one, but the other part was glad Naraku couldn't use him for his dirty work, and that he wouldn't ever hurt anyone again. When I finished tenth grade, we moved here.

"Mom said it would be a new start, that everything would be all right now that we were far away from Naraku. I was stupid enough to believe her. When we moved here, the house was disused, but it had been in Mom's family for years. It used to be a shrine of some kind. It was calm here, away from the city but not too far. I actually managed to find some friends, sort of. They talked too much for my taste, but it was better than silence in some ways. Then school started. First day, some ass, Koga, came up to me and declaring I was his. He pissed me off so bad I slapped him. Of course, he had to be the best looking guy there and the most popular. My half-friends, now gossiped about me. Everyone hated me all over again, I was on the outside looking in. I eventually got numb. I don't even think I bruised anymore. I thought my life couldn't get any worse.

"I hate being wrong. The summer after eleventh grade, I was 16, Mom and Souta got into a car accident. Only, I don't think it was an accident. We had been getting strange calls from a number we didn't know, and the day before they died, Souta had seen someone watching him as he went home from school. At least they had died instantly, no pain. I couldn't afford a real funeral, no one would have come anyway. With Mom gone, I had to get a job to pay for my expenses. I think my teachers knew what was going on, but they didn't help me. I guess that was fine, I had to learn to be independent anyway.

"I made it to my senior year, still with good grades. I had an okay job, but I couldn't afford electric or hot water. I didn't mind too much, I liked the rural lifestyle I led. I thought, if nothing else, I was free. Naraku must have thought I died in the accident, because I hadn't heard of him since. I think that was why he got to me, I was unguarded.

"I was walking to that spot I showed you today, it was late and I had just gotten home. It was so peaceful and quiet outside. I don't even know where he came from, but he had me up against him in an instant. He pushed me up to a tree, I was trapped with him leaning into my body. 'Now we finish what we started,' he whispered to me. I remembered when I had been young and scared, but that had been four years ago. This man, this monster had ruined my life, killed my family. And now he was here to ruin me. I didn't want to be scared anymore, and I wasn't I was fucking pissed. I kicked him and shoved him off of me. He yelled and pulled me down before I could get out of the way. I kicked at his face and I think I hit, but he didn't stop. He was on top of me again like that night he had kidnapped me. He was tearing at me, pinning me down. I got one hand out and jammed it into his nose. He yelled at me to stop and it wouldn't hurt, I told him he'd have to kill me first. He stabbed my stomach. I figured the only way to survive was to scream, so I did. I screamed at him for destroying my life, and told him he was a coward. He pulled my hair back and I heard him mutter something about a waste, and then he slit my throat. I was drowning in my own blood, and the last thing I saw was the moon shining through the trees. The next thing I knew, I was a ghost. Naraku had probably buried my body, and it was two weeks before someone actually came to the house to find me. I don't know why, but I couldn't move on. So I stayed here, alone as I had been for a while now. You know the rest…"

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Kagome looked down, finishing her story. She was crying now, really crying. Inuyasha looked at her, unsure of what to say, battling his own feelings as he built up his nerve to ask one question.

"Kagome?" She looked up, tears over-flowing down her face inn cascades. "What-what year…did your dad die?" She sniffed.

"I-I think… it was 1997," she continued crying, but glanced at Inuyasha. He was facing downward, his unruly bangs covered his amber eyes. His fists were clenched and she could hear him growling softly. "Inuyasha?" she asked, trying to rein in her emotions. "What's wrong?"

"My father was a demon, my mother a human. They were high figures in society, until they were killed in 1997," Kagome gasped, covering her mouth and shaking her head in horror.

"No…"

"You're father was the one I watched kill my mother and father to save me. Sesshomaru had been out that night."

"No… oh Inuyasha…I'm…" he wouldn't look at her. She just hung her head in defeat and began to sob. "…I'm sorry…"she whispered as she slid into the floor.

Inuyasha tried to hold back his own tears as he listened to the quiet sobs of Kagome all night.

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Kiwi: oh… how sad… sniff Yes, I know, another incredibly short chapter. But it was good, right? And I already have the next one planned out and everything! So please don't hate me too much. Until the next chapter!

Ja ne!