Chapter VI

Recess

InuYasha

He had a hard time not running to the rest zone when it was time for lunch, but due to the school's strict norms of conduct, he would limit himself to a quick step instead. Every day, InuYasha would get close to the west side of the park near the center of the buildings, leaving his friends behind who would catch up to him minutes later. He would always sit at the same table, underneath one of the trees, and would wait for her to appear surrounded by her female friends. Kikyo was the most beautiful girl of class "C", or so he believed at least, albeit to him she was the most beautiful of the entire institute. He liked to see her with her hair down and that air of haughtiness around her, however he knew it wasn't more than a front, for by his side she showed herself as how she truly was: caring and sweet.

They had been seeing each other for three months now. He would often reprimand himself every time he thought about how two terms had to pass for him to dare to say anything to her. He had done so a day in March after class. Kikyo remained muted, staring at him when he pronounced her name. Next came the offer of carrying the books she was holding, as she always carried some. He could still recall with ample detail the initial silence and the way in which the words had tripped inside his mouth when he tried to ask her to eat an ice cream with him next Saturday's afternoon; Kikyo said no.

Friday, after class. She offered, as a way of compensating him, and he simply smiled as if being offered the best gift he had ever received.

That day he confessed to her, and he could still feel the blood rising to his cheeks when he recalled her eyes, full of curiosity, and how the pale skin of her features was slightly tinted with blush; then he kissed her. InuYasha knew himself as impetuous, timid, yet resolute; he would never allow a challenge to stop him no matter how frightened he felt. She answered that kiss and her delicate fingers sought his left index one, in a caress he found quite peculiar; unique. Even today she would do so when they met.

This Friday they'd see each other after class. Her responsibilities would only allow her to meet on Fridays, and he was getting tired of it. Kikyo asked him to wait for her at a street's interception, a few minutes by foot away from the school. InuYasha had wanted to complain, he didn't want to lose a single minute to be by her side.

At least, Kikyo had promised him that they'd go to the same university, and then they'd have more freedom.

Every day when reaching the table, he would open his bentōand check what his mother had prepared for him. Many times, he'd tell her she didn't need to, he could ready his own lunch. However, his mother would insist in a way that left no room for discussion: otherwise, he wouldn't eat.

Izayoi took care of his son as best she could, she had done so since she widowed when he was too little to remember his father. She found herself alone, taking care of a child with a full-time job. Back then, she could count with the help of an elderly neighbor, Myoga, who had also been friend of her husband while he was still alive, which is why he liked to help Izayoi taking care of his son. Now that he was a teenager, almost an adult, InuYasha would go every day to say hi to the old man, to have a bit of a conversation, to know if he was ok and if he needed anything.

InuYasha felt his heart gallop inside his chest when Kikyo appeared. Many times, he would think one could die of love due to the pain a pounding heart could cause. She came closer to the table, along with her friends Shoko and Asuka, twins who could talk between them with monosyllables. Kikyo and him would start talking about their day, and their dialogues almost always were about their studies or some triviality that happened during class. She would ask him about his grades and InuYasha would comment with pride how good they were. The fact that his presence in the school and his access to the university hanged on his scholarship was a constant in his mind.

As his own friends joined them at the table, the conversation would start to flow among all of them, so the exclusivity between him and Kikyo would vanish, albeit she had the custom to take her shoes off and caress his ankle with her feet. To InuYasha, that was a clear sign they were together.

Hours later, that same day, he waited for her at the intersection she had indicated him. He checked the time on his phone, and noticed she was five minutes late. When he saw her appear, Kikyo was hot, her cheeks blushing and if it hadn't been for her permanent calm, he would have thought she was restless.

"Let's go." She told him as she walked by, taking his index finger to gently pull him.

What they shared that afternoon remained in InuYasha's memory for hours, days and weeks. Every time he would find her in a place where he could steal a kiss; he'd do so. He wanted to show her just how much it meant to him that his first time had been with her. Kikyo would smile at him, and would return what kisses she could, before making some distance between them, less someone were able to reprimand her for breaking some norm. Her responsibility as a class representative meant she needed to be an example to the rest.

Every night InuYasha wished her to have a good rest through a phone message, and she would return him a heart emoji.

They would go to the university together; they both had been accepted and they wouldn't need to hide like they were doing anymore. This very same day he would tell her he was more than willing to talk to her parents as soon as school was over. They only had a few days left, and he wasn't inclined to spend a summer without her. He would work part-time during their summer-break, yet he would dedicate the entire rest of the day to her.

He waited for her a few streets away from the institute, as usual, right by the side of a great sacred tree. Kikyo came near him with a gaze he didn't know she had: cold. InuYasha felt his back become tense in a sort of premonition that at the time he couldn't comprehend. She stopped a few steps away from his side, as if keeping a distance of security.

"Kikyo?" Her name was a question that hid doubts and fears. He felt it in his gut, and in how his legs turned soft. Way later down the road, he would wonder if the body, sometimes, was able to understand a situation before the mind.

"I won't be going to the same University as you" She announced. He tried to inquire as to why, but didn't find the time, as Kikyo added without pause, "From now on, we are no longer lovers. You'll continue your life, and I mine. That's what I came to say."

All the while, her eyes had been fixed on his, so InuYasha couldn't even think about doubting her words.

Why was she doing this? Why was she doing this to him? Why?

"Why?" There was nothing else in his mind, and his heart seemed to be breaking into tiny little pieces, in a shock between fear and love.

"Nothing in particular. We just simply won't be seeing each other."

Coldness. Perfection. Beauty and detachment; that was all he was able to glimpse and feel through her words and expression.

Where was the Kikyo who had given herself to him a few weeks ago?

"But..." InuYasha took half a step toward her, trying to find the strength to oppose such an abrupt and ferrous decision. "You and I... we slept together. At your house... in your bed." His voice failed him with the last word, as he shuddered due to the so vivid memories inside him, threatening to drown him.

"Yes."

Coldness.

"Yes? Only that?"

"Yes."

He didn't know how to answer. His hear seemed to be beating outside his chest, exposed, couldn't she see it?

Kikyo took a breath.

"Look, InuYasha. I like you; we've shared some interesting months together. We slept together, it wasn't the best I've had, but it was ok."

InuYasha was left speechless.

The arrow pierced the exposed heart.

His feet carried him back that half step he had taken before. A part of him wanted to grab Kikyo by her shoulders and shake her until she confessed what she was saying was a lie, but the other was beginning to sink, in the depths of his being, all of his emotions.

After that, she left.

Classes ended three days later.

He didn't assist.

Kagome

That day she had waited for her friend Sango more time than needed at the coffee shop, and night had just fallen, albeit that wasn't hard while in the middle of winter. She took the last sip left of her coffee and looked at the time on her phone, while also checking the last message she had left her, right beside two previous ones who hadn't been read. They were friends since high school, they knew each other for a little more than four years, so she knew that if she ran late or didn't show up, was because of her boyfriend, Miroku. It would be best to go back to her own apartment, and wait for her friend to call her back apologizing, along with a little cake that Kagome liked so much.

As she came out of the establishment she adjusted her scarf, thanking the wise choice of wearing pants to face the cold of winter in Tokyo. She began to walk with some calm, she wasn't in a hurry because the classes next day didn't start until later, so she could sleep some more. She thought about the story she was editing in her spare time, to gain some experience, she wanted to dedicate herself to that in the future after all, and although she didn't always like what was told in them, many times she would end up hooked and had to read all the chapters first before beginning with the editing.

There were still a couple of streets left, with little transit and few people, such was January, even more in places that weren't meant for entertainment as it was the one Kagome lived in. She had moved a bit more than three months ago to the two-stored building where her apartment was, the neighborhood was nice and the rent was in a range her family considered reasonable. After all, it was a privilege to be near the university without having to commute four hours from her family's home. If she had to comment on something, she'd probably mention the endless building that covered two entire blocks and that depending on where she came from, it would only leave her with two alternative routes. One of them was a narrow street that ran between the back of the building and a commercial zone on the other side; the other alternative was to go around either of both sides and walk three hundred meters more. The narrow street was the most direct, and she only needed to walk some hundred meters instead, however, it was also frequented by a group of men she didn't find trustworthy, reason for which she'd end up taking the long way around.

On her way, she went inside a twenty-four-hour store to buy something for dinner and a big ice cream tub. The ice cream in winter was one of her rare traits, and she didn't care because she now had a little fridge in her apartment, besides some curtains she had laid recently, and a comfortable desk.

When she left the store and reached the crossroads in which she needed to choose between the short or long way around, she looked inside the narrow street, and in the dim light it seemed to be empty, so she felt encouraged to take the shortcut. The alley amplified the sound of her steps, despite of her low heel shoes, creating a sort of echo throughout the narrow and long space, whose side-walls were quite tall. For what she had managed to see during the three months she had been living nearby, that street was designed for trucks to unload their cargo.

As she walked, she noticed how the light of a street lamp and the next didn't quite touch each other, creating short, dark spots, and if she were one to believe horror stories, she'd expect something to happen amidst those shadows.

When she had walked twenty or so meters, a metal door that led to some factory opened, letting escape the sound of machines working inside. A man came out and threw a bag inside a trash container; the noise completely stopped once the door closed. Her steps, once again, became the only sound to be heard. When she had covered more than half of the street, she heard some laughs at the end of it. She could see a group of men who began to move forward and Kagome felt an emptiness making nest inside her stomach. They were exactly what she usually avoided. For a moment she hoped there were only three, which would be already three too many, however she counted five of them, and as soon as they began walking the narrow street, their laughs ceased, replaced by a low murmur.

Kagome slowed her pace, looked behind her, and thought about going back. Yet, something in her reacted against it, annoyed at the fact she even had to entertain the idea. The street was free, and she thought it was time for her to stop being so cautious, men should understand they couldn't go around thinking themselves the only ones living in this world. She moved forward, inside her own bubble of courage, reaching the group and crossing through the barely enough space they left for her. She heard hisses and chuckles besides her, and she thought that despite it not being agreeable, it was tolerable at least, until one of them touched her behind.

"Leave me!" She shouted, throwing a hand.

Then she heard how they reprimanded themselves, with more chuckles between them, and understood the best would be to leave in hurried steps, and forget about looking back... yet she wasn't allowed to.

The rest of events happened slowly yet quickly at the same time. She noticed how they held her wrist, then her waist, and became conscious of someone who brushed her between her legs. The shout she wanted to let out was muted by a big hand covering her mouth. Kagome let her bag go and began to throw her arms and legs around, in an attempt to hit them. The shadow between the lights became a refuge for the group who began to strip her and she never knew if they had begun by her blouse or her pants. She felt a hand pulling her brasier and a mouth biting her nipple, at which she screamed as loudly as she could despite the hand that drowned her voice. Then she felt how her insides were raided by rough fingers and the pain intensified. She twisted and fought, feeling the cold of the night on her skin, and tears wetting her face. She never stopped screaming.

She heard the rough voice of one of them, whispering something full of animal lust.

I can do whatever I want with a pretty girl like you.

Was it like that? Could he do whatever he wanted with her?

The panic that invaded her was completely unknown to her, she hadn't felt a terror as thick as that in her whole life.

She could feel the hands still touching her, oppressing her chest. Someone sucked her neck and Kagome thought that was the most repulsive thing that had ever been done to her, but her mind immediately told her she was wrong, as one of her attackers began to lean in front of her, touching her sex with his erection.

No, her first time shouldn't be like this.

She closed her legs with all the strength she could muster, as she heard the laughs of men.

She heard names; she heard the one in front of her demand his will with an: open up. She noticed how her legs were forced with the help of the other men surrounding her, as her throat hurt from her constant screaming, her voice incapable of escape the cage that hand created by oppressing her face to the pain. She became conscious of the tears she couldn't stop dropping and how she began to asphyxiate because of the mucus emerging from her nose.

Finally, she felt a hit crossing her face, along with a: Shut up, bitch! Shouting with an anger she found hard to understand.

Was it really happening?

In that moment, she never knew how everything stopped, then later she managed to recall hearing voices coming from the start of that street, from the place she had entered. The hands holding her down suddenly disappeared, and she felt her knees lashing against the ground. She remained there a few seconds, watching the bag where she carried what she bought, now all over the place, and she managed to catch a glimpse her ice cream, slowly melting on the rough concrete.

She heard the voices at the start of the street seemingly approaching, and she felt completely reticent to someone seeing her half-naked like she was. She stood, helping herself against the wall in order not to fall, for her pants were still in a knot around her ankles. She adjusted her clothes, poorly, and began to walk in a hurry, getting away from that place.

When she reached her apartment, she entered her shower while clothed. Her body was a myriad of pain, and she didn't exactly know how she should feel. Probably, she remained longer than she should have under water, and she undressed while being there. She felt the pain around her neck, and next she saw the red marks around her nipples and she knew they would turn purple. She was a strong woman, or she usually was, for that night she only managed to stop crying when her body was unable to spare more water. She then laid on the bed, sideways, with her hair still wet, as she watched the curtains she had put two days ago, with flowers embroidered at their end; that delicacy now seemed to her quite absurd.

N/A

I know this chapter may be hard to digest, however it was necessary to know the root of the characters' emotions. Now we need to see how much of this they have assumed and how they move forward.

A kiss, and lots of thanks for accompanying me in this adventure that is to create.

Anyara.

This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart