Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but he's my little puppet in this story and I have complete control over him... Be afraid. Be very afraid. –wink–

A/N Heya, everybody! Sorry for the delay, I had to get some fairly lengthy King of the Hill chapters out... But I'm back now to get you off of that nasty cliffhanger I put you all on last chapter... Yeah...about that...uh...sorry? Lol, my apologies for the suspense, but now have the next part as recompense!

–shifty eyes– Ah, yes...about my declaration that Spacewolf, Calum the Angel and I were determined to overtake this website with our humour... That's still a promise! This story is just...uh...well, it's serious...but in a cool way! Right...? Well, I couldn't resist! Besides...my friends and I discuss equally funny possible events for this story as we do for any of our humour fics...you'll just never get to read those events...

Slaughter At Reijiro Home

Kagome stared wide-eyed at the headline for a few moments before gulping and daring to read the article that followed.

Tuesday, May 15th, 1999

Last night a tragedy occurred at the Reijiro household. A lady was walking her dog down the street when her dog started tugging strongly on the leash. The lady was eventually dragged onto the lawn of the Reijiro's property and up to the shrubberies in front of the house.

There, she discovered the bloody bodies of Izayoi Reijiro and her son, Inuyasha. The woman frantically called 911 on her cell phone and the police were quick to rush over. They then discovered the body of Inutaisho Reijiro inside the house. Inutaisho Reijiro, the owner and head of Western Enterprises, appears to have been shot once in the heart and once in the head with bullets imbued with spiritual power. There was no possible way for Inutaisho to survive, even with his demonic strength and healing capabilities. Police believe he was shot first, and his wife and child were witnesses. Izayoi, Inutaisho's wife, was also shot dead, though with regular bullets, probably after fleeing the killer and making it only so far as outside of the front door.

Inuyasha, twelve years old, was shot once in the back with a spiritual bullet, but miraculously has managed to live. Now, he remains in a deep coma; one from which doctors are unsure as to whether he will ever wake.

Police appear to not have discovered many clues indicating the perpetrator at the crime scene, though a more thorough investigation will take place. However, their best hope is that the boy reawakens and is able to name the individual who committed this heinous crime.

The Reijiro's second son, Sesshoumaru, has been away at university for the past year and was not present during the murders last night. He has now returned, however, and will take over the guardianship of his brother.

More will be reported on this story as it develops.

Kagome shook her head in disbelief. "Oh, god..." she whispered. "Inuyasha..."

A foggy memory resurfaced and Kagome's palms grew sweaty as she recalled gunshots screaming through the air and the cries of agonizing pain they inevitably caused. She quickly squeezed her eyes tightly shut before reopening them again, only to stare once again at the horrifying article before her.

Scanning the screen, Kagome discovered that this first page with the article was one of three. As she clicked on the NEXT button, two other, smaller, articles popped up. Reading quickly through them, it seemed that the police investigation came to dead ends in every direction and they had had no choice but to close the case. Inuyasha remained as the last hope, but he also remained in a comatose state and the chances that he could awake were bleak, according to his doctors. The killer had escaped the justice system, for the time being.

Kagome exhaled a loud breath as she slumped back in her chair. "Wow..." was all she managed to say. She gazed blankly at the computer screen for a few more moments before realizing something. Inuyasha was obviously awake from his coma now or had been for a while... Perhaps he had identified the murderer?

Just as Kagome was about to search for another article concerning the Reijiro case, a loudspeaker sounded throughout the library, announcing it was due to close in five minutes.

"Phooey..." Kagome muttered as she shut down the newspaper machine. "I knew I should have come earlier..."

As she made her way towards the librarian's desk and the exit, Kagome considered asking the woman about what had happened when Inuyasha had woken up, but was disappointed to see she was already deep in conversation with another employee. Kagome shrugged. The library was closed the next day, Sunday, but she could always come back the next weekend.

Exiting the library and making her way down the street, Kagome spotted the bridge she had crossed originally on her way from the school. Uneasily, she glanced around and saw the alternate bridge a little farther down. Deciding to use it instead, she hurried past the other one, receiving a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach as she went.

..:V:..

"Kaede!" Inuyasha yelled as he stormed into the principal's office Tuesday afternoon.

"Yes, Inuyasha?" Kaede replied blandly.

The half-dog demon ignored the third occupant of the room as he charged up to Kaede's desk and slammed his fists down on it. "I want my own friggin' room!" he declared.

Kaede raised an eyebrow. "For what reason?"

Inuyasha snarled. "I can't stand Kouga any longer! I'm gonna kill him if I have to endure one more day in the same room as him!"

"Hmm..." Kaede said thoughtfully as she rifled through a few papers on her desk. After a few minutes, she glanced back up at the irritated boy and said, "I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but there appear to be no more free rooms. I can't give you a new room to yourself..."

"Dammit!" Inuyasha exclaimed. "There must be something you can do to get me out of that hell hole!"

Kaede pursed her lips. "Perhaps there is..." She nodded her head at someone behind Inuyasha and he turned to see a tiny fox demon perched on a chair. "See...young Shippo there has also just come to me with a complaint about his room... I might be able to arrange for you two to switch rooms. Your rooms are right next door to each other, so it wouldn't be a big move, but it would have the desired effect, I believe."

Inuyasha eyed the young fox demon suspiciously. "Why do you want out of your room, twerp?"

The boy, who had looked shaken before, puffed himself up and glared back at Inuyasha indignantly. "I–! Uh...I...because..." he trailed off, looking a bit more unsure of himself.

"That's confidential, Inuyasha," Kaede cut in. "But I'm sure it won't cause any problems for you. As long as you don't mind bunking with...let's see...ah! Souta Higurashi, a boy eight years younger than yourself."

Inuyasha was silent for a few moments as he tried to recall where he'd heard the name Higurashi before. When he couldn't remember, though, he shrugged and said, "Keh, whatever. Anything's better than Kouga. Good luck, kid." He smirked at Shippo.

"Inuyasha!" Kaede admonished him before turning to the fox demon boy. "Pay no heed to Inuyasha, child. Inuyasha doesn't get along very well with him, but Kouga can be a quite nice young man when they're not around each other. You have nothing to fear from him."

Shippo nodded his head uncertainly. "O–okay..."

"Great," Inuyasha said, straightening. "So when do I move in with the little brat?"

Kaede sighed and shook her head. "His name's Souta, not 'little brat', Inuyasha."

Inuyasha shrugged. "Same difference."

"You're hopeless," the principal informed him, though one corner of her mouth was turned up slightly. "But... I suppose you two could start packing up your stuff and switching tonight; just as long as you leave enough time to finish your homework for your classes tomorrow."

"I'd do a whole extra English essay to get out of Kouga's room," Inuyasha told her bluntly.

Kaede assumed a thoughtful expression. "Well..."

"Don't even think about it," Inuyasha cut her off as he abruptly turned and sauntered out of the office.

..:V:..

"Hey... Mind if I sit here?"

Inuyasha sniffed the air then slowly opened his eyes to look below the branch he was sprawled on. The black–haired human that Inuyasha had initially met when he had followed Kagome outside was standing below his tree, looking up at him questioningly. "Keh, whatever," he said indifferently. "...Miroku, right?"

The other boy plopped himself down at the base of the tree and nodded. "Yep, that's me." Miroku then turned to the tray he had brought out with him and began munching on his hamburger.

After a few moments of silence, Inuyasha spoke up again, "So...what are you doing out here today? Don't you usually eat with Kagome and that other girl...?"

"You mean Sango," Miroku corrected him. "Well...we don't sit with Kagome anymore because...well, I would think it would be obvious... And Sango's on the Athletic Council and they have a special meeting today. So I decided I'd head out here and see if you could stand my presence."

Inuyasha shrugged. "Better than the company of the grass, I suppose... So...where does Kagome eat if you don't sit with her anymore?"

Miroku raised an eyebrow. "Just at different tables...or sometimes I don't see her at all in the caf. I figure she comes out here somewhere. Why? You interested in her or something?"

Inuyasha scoffed. "Hardly. Just moderately interested BY her is all. She's weird..."

"Who isn't?" Miroku shrugged. "Still...I can't pretend I haven't noticed the same thing. I guess we'll never know what's up with her, though... She doesn't exactly seem inclined to talk to us about it."

"Whatever," Inuyasha muttered. "It's not like we need to feel sorry for her; she pities herself enough already."

"Don't you do the same thing for the situation you're in?" Miroku challenged.

Inuyasha glared down at the insolent boy. "Where do you get off assuming things about me? Talking as if you know me?"

"I'm not assuming; just observing," Miroku said. "I know all about your past from the media coverage at the time and now I'm just associating your habits with them. You hardly talk to anyone from what I here, and you're constantly looking for places to be alone, where no one will bother you. Judging from your comment about Kagome, what you're doing could be considered sulking."

Inuyasha let out a growl. "I don't sulk," he ground out through his teeth.

"Of course not," Miroku said conversationally. "I respect your right to do as you choose and I feel that if I were you, I'd probably be doing the same thing. I'm just saying, we don't know what Kagome's past has been like, and so she may very well deserve to act in the way that she does. It's not for us to judge her as a freak without actually knowing all of what she is."

Inuyasha blinked and was shocked momentarily into silence. All of a sudden, with Miroku's admonishment, Inuyasha understood what Kagome had been trying to tell him the week before. She didn't feel sorry for herself, just victimized because she didn't feel anyone had the right to call her or anyone else a freak until they truly knew all of who they were and what they'd been through.

"Um...Inuyasha?" Miroku's voice broke through his reverie. "You still with me?"

"Huh? What–oh... Uh, yeah... So maybe I wasn't completely fair on the self–pity thing... But her attitude still stinks. I can't stand her," Inuyasha insisted, crossing his arms.

"Really?" Miroku asked skeptically. "So why is it you're the only one she'll extensively talk to?"

"Talk?!" Inuyasha exclaimed incredulously. "Are you deaf?! All we do is argue!"

Miroku shrugged. "Even so... That's more than she'll grace anyone else with..."

"You're nuts," Inuyasha told him bluntly. "And delusional..."

Miroku only responded with a quirk of his eyebrow as he hid a knowing smile.

..:V:..

Something was sticky. Kagome rubbed her finger and thumb together and felt a substance between them. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw that it was red and it was not only on her fingers, but staining the length of her arms. Glancing down, she saw it was spattered all over her shirt and she was currently kneeling in a puddle of it.

Her focus shifted to a figure before her. It looked like a person. Squinting through the dim light, Kagome realized it was a boy. The red liquid seemed to be oozing from a large hole in his chest and several other small cuts covering the length of him. In horror, Kagome realized that the red substance was...blood.

Something else drew her attention, though. Kagome reached up her hand to a tingly feeling place on her cheek. Touching it lightly, she withdrew her fingers to see a clear substance mixing with the red one already present. Tears. She was crying.

"Ka–"

Kagome's head snapped back down to the boy struggling to hang on to his waning life.

"Ka–go...me..." the boy managed to gasp out. As he struggled to open his eyes, he shakily raised one hand out towards her. There was a pained look in his eyes as his fingers gently brushed her cheek. Then his dark eyes rolled back in his head and his hand fell lifelessly to the ground.

Kagome stared in horror and shook her head in disbelief. "No...no...it isn't real... It isn't real... It isn't real!!"

Kagome woke with a start. Sitting straight up in her bed, she looked down at her shaking hands. "It isn't real..." she whispered again. Then she raised one hand and touched the spot on her cheek where the boy's fingers had been. "It felt real...but it isn't. Not yet." Her voice shook on this words and she flung back the covers on her bed. "I...I need to see Sou–Souta..."

She rose unsteadily from her bed and staggered towards her dorm room door. Flinging it open, she ran out, not noticing how Sango watched her go.

..:V:..

Inuyasha frowned as a quiet knock reached his sensitive ears and roused him from his slumber. Groggily he sat up in bed and glanced at the clock on his bedside table. He stared, uncomprehending, at the glowing numbers for a few moments before the realization of what he was looking at struck him. Who the bloody hell knocks at someone's door at two o'clock in the bloody morning? he thought grumpily.

Angrily, he untangled himself from his sheets and made his way to his dorm room door, ignoring the sounds of his young roommate rousing as well. Inuyasha threw open the door, prepared to give whoever it was a piece of his mind, but was stupefied to find a shaking Kagome before him. It was like that night two weeks ago when she had accidentally knocked on his door...

Kagome looked up at him in apprehension and slight bewilderment. "W–wrong door again...?" she asked nervously, almost to herself.

As Inuyasha simply stared at her, he felt a tug on the back of his pants. Startled, he glanced behind himself to find his new roommate looking up at him. He hadn't really noticed earlier, but confronted with this situation, Inuyasha realized that it was the same kid that had taken Kagome away from his door before. Higurashi. That's why the name had been familiar. It was the same as Kagome's last name. He must be her brother.

Solemnly, the boy brushed past Inuyasha and took Kagome's arm in his hands. "No, it's okay, sis. Inuyasha just switched rooms, that's all. He's my new roommate. Now come on inside." As Souta began to lead his sister into the dorm room, Inuyasha quickly got out of the way before closing the door behind them.

Curiously, Inuyasha watched as Souta sat Kagome down on his bed and began trying to comfort her. As much as he was dying to say something, Inuyasha wisely kept his mouth shut.

"It's okay, Kagome...it's okay," Souta said quietly as he hugged his sister. "What was it this time?"

Kagome tried to reduce the shaking of her hands as she fiddled with the bedspread. "It was..." She looked up uncertainly at Inuyasha before continuing in a whisper. Unknown to her, his keen ears picked up everything she said. "...It was the boy. But it was kind of different this time... I could move a bit and he definitely knew me. He...he said my name and..." Kagome paused in order to shakily raise a hand to her cheek. Then she shook her head and dropped her hand back down. "But I don't know who he is, Souta!" she whispered furiously. "I can't find him anywhere in this blasted school. And I don't know how soon it will happen. What if I find him and I don't have enough time to...? I can't fail this time, Souta... I can't..."

Inuyasha's brow furrowed. What was she babbling about? Some sort of dream? Something about a boy? He shook his head and laid back down on his bed. It made no sense to him. A few moments later, Kagome began to cry and it was almost painful to his ears. He hated it when people cried, especially women. Cringing, Inuyasha stuffed his pillow over his head in an attempt to block out the sounds. But his sensitive ears picked up Kagome's muffled sobs even through the material and after a few minutes, he could no longer take it. He threw the pillow down to the ground and sat back up abruptly.

"Uhh...Kagome...?" he asked uncertainly.

Kagome barely hiccuped before resuming her crying without responding.

Inuyasha drew his eyebrows together in irritation. "Come on, Kagome. What's wrong, anyways? Why are you crying like that?"

"N–none of–f your bu–business!" Kagome said shakily back. "Go away!"

Inuyasha surveyed the room with a raised eyebrow. "You are aware that this is my room now, right? There's not really anywhere else I could go..." Then Inuyasha got a sly look on his face and he snapped his fingers as if in realization. "But now that you mention it, that musty, smelly old janitor's closet looked pretty inviting. I'll just go sleep in there, shall I?"

Kagome's sobs began to slow somewhat as Souta just gave the older boy a bewildered look.

"Or–wait! There's one of the exclusively teacher bathrooms... I wonder what surprises would await me there... Could be worth checking out..." Inuyasha mused in a serious tone.

By this time, Kagome's tears had stopped and she sniffed a few times.

Inuyasha watched her out of the corner of his eye before continuing. "Hmm...I'm a little hungry... Maybe I'll sneak to the kitchens and see if anything's edible. I might figure out what the mystery meat is once and for all... Then again, knowing what that mush is might force me to forsake food as a whole for the rest of my natural life."

Kagome wiped her eyes as a tiny giggle escaped her lips. Souta stared in open mouthed shock as Kagome stood shakily and said, "It's okay, Inuyasha... You can stay here. I'm alright now; I think I'll go back to my room. Bye, Souta..."

Kagome shuffled towards the door and slipped silently out while closing the door quietly behind her.

Inuyasha leaned back against the wall his bed was set up next to and sighed in relief. "I'm so good," he said in a self–congratulatory manner.

"H–how did you do that...?"

"Huh?" Inuyasha turned to see Souta staring at him in complete bewilderment.

"Y–you... She...she stopped crying... A–and she l–laughed..." Souta gaped at the older boy as if he had three heads.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? So? Is there something unusual about laughing?"

Souta shook his head as if to say that Inuyasha just wasn't getting it. "Kagome hasn't laughed in...close to three years..."

It was Inuyasha's time to stare. "Uh...just a bright little ray of sunshine, isn't she?"

Souta shot him a bit of a glare. "Hey, that's not fair! You don't know what she's been through! She–" he cut off, his eyes wide, before he could let out anything about his sister's secrets.

Inuyasha's curiosity was piqued, however. "What? What has she been through, kid?"

Souta gave him a defiant look. "I...I can't tell you! She wouldn't want me to..." After a pause, he looked down and twisted his fingers together. "It's just that...she's witnessed...things no one should and... Well, nobody would understand anyway...she doesn't want people bugging her about it."

Inuyasha gave Souta a sceptical look. "What do you mean, nobody would understand? There's a helluva lot of people who've seen some pretty horrible things."

"Nothing like what Kagome's seen, I'm telling you," Souta insisted. "See? You're just like everyone else; you don't understand, you can't understand. Not until you've seen her..."

"What do you mean, kid? I see her almost everyday..." Inuyasha said, puzzled.

Souta gave him a half frown. "You think you see her, but aren't really seeing her each day. You can't see what she's really like, what she sees, goes through and witnesses..."

"Then why don't you tell me, kid?" Inuyasha suggested. "I'd know then, wouldn't I?"

Souta shook his head. "I told you, I can't tell. If you were to ever know, it would be because Kagome told you. I love her too much to betray her secrets. But for what it's worth, I think you're awesome. I've never seen Kagome stop crying so quickly. It was amazing."

With that, the boy gave Inuyasha a brilliant smile before turning around and clambering back into his bed. As Inuyasha also climbed back under his covers grumbling about something, Souta sighed in contentment. Despite his words to the older boy, Souta had a feeling that Inuyasha might truly be able to help his sister in some way. He had seemed genuinely interested and concerned for her and through some miracle, he had halted Kagome's tears.

And the silvery laugh she had let out had been like music to his ears. He hadn't heard her laugh in so long that he had been caught completely off guard when it had escaped her lips. Try hard as he might, he hadn't been able to cause that sound for the past three years. But Inuyasha had been able to. He had accomplished something Souta had long thought impossible.

One thing was certain; Souta had a new hero.

A/N Aw, wasn't that cute?

I hope it isn't getting too repetitive or anything with all the angst. I'm half tempted to get out a violin myself and start playing a sad, sad song for Kagome... Although, it wouldn't really work since I don't know how to play the violin...

Anymewho, you know now half of Inuyasha's story so –gasp– we get to feel sorry for him too! Who wants to hold an angst fest? Wow, I'm in a sardonic mood tonight... I'm just gonna shut up now and post... Hope you liked it and I can't wait to hear your thoughts and such!