"Well, I do."
I ran past the well quickly, barely dodging the multiple stumps around the clearing. They just HAD to be back at Kaede's hut! The wolves were getting back on my tail, I could tell. There was howling coming from the west, close howls. My only choice was to get to Kaede's hut before the damned wolves caught up again. Inuyasha would be able to smell them, right? Shouldn't he have come to the rescue by now? I turned another corner, barely dodging a large tree that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Sango's slim figure appeared on the horizon, followed by two taller ones I took to be Miroku and Inuyasha.
The howling was right behind me now, and my head snapped back to see if the wolves were yet in sight. An even gloomier figure stood back in the shadows, running, full bore, towards me. By now, Inuyasha he'd seen the figure behind me and jumped into action. His sword was raised high above him and ready for me to get out of the way. He was going to protect me. Sango told Kirara to come and get me out of the way, but when she tried to bring me back down next to her mistress, I whispered for her to bring me inside the hut first. Kaede could get me something to wear. "Kaede, will you please…" The old woman gasped when she was my bare, bruised, and beaten body. There were numerous bruises and cuts so deep that they would take months to completely heal.
"My goodness, child… What in the heavens happened to you?"
My back began to ache and I could feel it happening to me again. Body shaking and mind broken, soul shattered, I fell to the floor at her feet. Please, don't make me... Not yet… I'll snap! Please, just some clothes… They don't need to know… Not yet, they don't need to know." I whimpered. The woman just walked into another room for a moment and came back out with a long, silver hemmed blue kimono with a pale white-ish colored obi. There couldn't have been anything more beautiful on the face of the world.
"Come, child. I shall help you with your obi. The thing is very heavy."
I was going to question where she'd gotten it, but that seemed awfully rude. My mouth stayed shut tight. There was likely a complicated story behind the beautiful robe. A few minutes later, I walked out of the hut, fully clothed. Koga stood there, right before me. I think he'd jumped off of the roof. The smile on his face when he looked over at Inuyasha made me cringe. He was boasting about what he'd done. Inuyasha now knew what he'd done to me. He knew what had kept me away for so long. "You filthy piece of shit!" Inuyasha screamed.
Koga looked at me and frowned. "Why did you run away? And where did you get that kimono?"
"Why do you care where I got it, Koga?"
"I didn't give you a damn betrothal robe yet… Who'd you get that from?"
Inuyasha gave it a good look and gasped. But he pulled himself together right away. Instead of screaming or walking away, he walked slowly over to me and put his arm around my waist. "This was her betrothal robe from me… Didn't you see the purple crescent moon on the top corner?" Indeed, there was a crescent moon just to the bottom of where the obi held together the kimono and towards the right. I'd never seen it there before, but there it was.
"That's a fake story! There were no markings on her, so there is no betrothal! Koga fumed. Inuyasha game me a small peck and wrapped his arm around my waist even further. It was like he was going to protect me, no matter what happened.
"Well, the betrothal robe is the first step, and not giving her one means that she's not yours either. Surely you would know this. You cannot skip a single part of the mating ritual, otherwise it is revoked and the mate you'd planned on marking can never be with you." Koga was absolutely furious with me, for some reason. I had told him no… told him not to go through with what was on his mind. Yet, he didn't listen and went with it and now was mad at me…after what he'd done to me? No, she wouldn't let him do this to himself to me.
"Koga, get the hell out of here! I don't want to see your fucking face ever again!" I screamed at him. Everyone looked surprised at my language. Well, I'd never cursed in front of them before… Not like that, at least. To may surprise, I didn't feel bad about what I'd said.
Koga frowned, "Not without you."
Inuyasha let go of me and pulled out Tetsusaiga. "Koga, leave now. Kagome never wants to see you again, and I never want to so much as even smell you or your disgusting wolves again! Now, LEAVE!"
Koga wasn't planning on going down without a fight, and when it came to a demon's mate, they wouldn't rest until they got what they wanted. Inuyasha knew that, of course, and threw the Wind scar at him. Not expecting to be attacked so soon, Koga got hit; right away he was being torn apart. His screams seemed to echo in the fresh air ad he died and disappeared. Then I broke down, crumbling to my knees and holding on to some of the fabric of Inuyasha's hakama. Tears now freely fell from my eyes as thoughts of what Koga had done to me came back. His deep and passionate kisses, the groans he was causing himself as he tortured her body, trying to prepare her for him, but not being successful. I felt a hand on my shoulder and there was something digging into my skin. Inuyasha was patting my shoulder and trying to pick me up.
Hs arms fell around me and I let my body go limp. There was a new feeling of warmth between us, and instead of bringing me to Kaede's hut like I'd expected, he walked away, towards the forest. The way he held me was surprising, like he'd never had to carry me before. As I gazed up at him, teary eyed and cold, his dazzling amber orbs looked back and he seemed heart broken. Before I could say anything, we were in a tall tree somewhere far from both the village and Koga's pack. Inuyasha looked at me, sadly. There was a lone tear falling from his eye. At the sight of it, I fell apart once again.
All he did was rub my back and pull me on top of him as he lay down. "All I ever wanted was for everyone to be happy… Just not like that… with me."
"Come no, Kagome. I know you're heart broken and all, but you have better things in front of you."
"Like what?" I screamed. It sounded so rude that I couldn't believe it.
"Well, marriage… Kids… a job, maybe." He blushed. What was he thinking about?
"Like I'll ever get a job… with my grades this bad and rarely getting to school and all. Marriage and kids are out of the question now too… Nobody wants to be with a girl who's been raped." But by the look he then gave me, I knew he was thinking: 'Well, I do."
