Chapter 18: Heart break in a world breaking apart.

Kagome spent the next couple of days talking over with her family about the current situation at hand. Her mother was insistent that she leave Hojo at once, seeing how his behavior had turned violent and unpredictable. Kagome had it planned that she was going to wait for a day that Hojo would find himself tied up in testing at the lab and she'd pack up all her personal belongings and move back home with her mother and grandfather. She didn't know what would happen to her practice, she was pretty sure Hojo would pull the funding and use the money to buy another stupid car.

"Doctor Higurashi?" Saho's voice chirped behind Kagome. Kagome turned to look at the nurse that was recently hired on by Hojo and sighed. Kagome remembered being young and innocent looking like the young woman standing in front of her.

"Yes Saho?" Kagome asked with a half smile on her face.

"Here's your files from today. You have no more appointments and it's close to closing time. I've already gotten the office clean and stocked and all the finished paperwork has been filed, so all that's left for you to do are these." She said cheerfully as she handed Kagome a small stack of files.

Kagome smiled and let out a sigh of relief. She hadn't realized how late it was getting and how time seemed to drag on without any patients to see. She had been sitting at her desk for the past couple of hours looking up grants that she could apply for to keep her practice going should Hojo stop funding her. "Thanks Saho, you may go home now. Thank you for all your help, what would I do without you?"

"Probably get home really late." Saho teased. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, doctor. Have a good night."

"Good night, Saho." Kagome waved as Saho left.

Kagome had been busying herself with her paperwork for a good twenty minutes when her office phone rang. She knew it was probably her mother, seeing how no one else, besides Hojo, knew her personal phone number for her desk.

"Hello?" Kagome said as she picked up the offending phone.

"Kagome dear. I just wanted to call and make sure everything was still going as planned." Kagome's mother's voice sounded over the phone.

"Yes mother. I've got everything planned out. The end of this week will be the best time to get this done. Hojo's going to be in the final stages of testing, which means he's going to be spending a lot of time in the lab and probably won't be home for a couple of days." Kagome explained.

"That's good, dear. I've got your old room ready for you. I'm so sorry things have turned out this way." Her mother said.

"Yea, so am I. Well, I've got to go, I have paper work to finish. I love you." Kagome sighed and hung up the phone after her mother said good bye.

A chill ran down Kagome's back as the silence settled back in and she shivered. For some reason she didn't feel right, sitting at her desk alone in her office. She couldn't figure why, she couldn't count how many times she had found herself alone for several hours and some times well into the night. But tonight, she felt unsettled and decided to take her files home with her. She figured she had a good couple of hours ahead of her of just plain paperwork. She thanked the heavens for a nurse like Saho. She did make her life easier and she was right, if it wasn't for her, who knows if half the time Kagome would make it home at all.

So, Kagome loaded up her case files into her bag and locked up for the night. There was a brisk chill in the air and there wasn't even a breath of wind at all. It was still and quiet and this only increased the unsettled feeling in Kagome's stomach. She held her breath as she walked to her car and once safely inside the drivers seat did she let out a sigh of relief and drove off.

When Kagome reached her home, she opened the door and a feeling of dread came over her. She shook her head and told herself to stop being so silly and not let her imagination run so wild. The apartment was dark and quiet, which was odd seeing how it wasn't that late and she knew she saw Hojo's car when she came in, so he had to be home.

"Hello? Hojo?" She called out in a forced whisper. She ventured into the living room a ways and called out again. "Hojo? You home?"

She heard a thump from the bedroom and gasped. Did someone break in? She thought that maybe Hojo was being held at gun point this very minute or worse, was already dead and her bedroom was being ransacked by the murderer.

She swallowed hard and crept over to the bedroom door where she could hear muffled voices and shuffling. She placed her ear up to the door and all she could really hear was her heart racing loudly in her head, so she carefully slid the door open and peered inside.

The image that hit her was definitely not what she expected at all. She gasped as her hand automatically flew to her chest in an attempt to calm her breaking heart. She stood there in a stupor trying to take in what was going on.

Hojo was in bed with another woman. Not just any woman, but there was Kagome's nurse, Saho, riding on top of Hojo like a motorcycle. They didn't even realize Kagome had come home until her voice rang out through the apartment.

"HOJO! YOU BASTARD!" She cried.

At the unexpected outburst, Hojo flipped Saho off of him and proceeded to wrap the blanket modestly around him and the offending woman. The look of surprise written across his face told Kagome this has probably been going on for quite some time. Then she started to think back to all the times she had let Saho go home from work early and thought of all the times that Saho must have been coming here to sleep with Hojo. And that's when it hit Kagome that Hojo's suspicious behavior had started shortly after hiring the woman for Kagome's practice.

"Kagome! Saho, I thought you said you left her hours worth of paperwork." He growled angrily at the woman cowering under the blanket.

"I did. I didn't think she'd be done this quickly." Her shaky voice squeaked from the covers.

Kagome threw her bag at the bed and smiled when all the files spilled out all over Hojo's bed and toppled onto the floor. "You're right, I do have hours worth of paperwork to do, I just thought I'd take them home to do them so I could spend time with my FIANCE!" Kagome turned her back on the couple and stormed out into the dining room and sat down at the dining table.

A few minutes later Saho appeared slinking out of the bedroom, looking very ashamed and embarrassed. Kagome only glared at her and noticed that the woman refused to make eye contact with her. And after Saho, Hojo appeared clad only in a pair of sweat pants. The look on his face wasn't what Kagome would expect from a man who had just been caught cheating. He looked almost content, as if this was the most normal thing in the world for him and the lack of remorse in his features only angered Kagome more.

"Kagome, I'm so sorry." Saho said softly.

"You're only sorry because you've been caught. What if I hadn't come home early? You would have come back another night without any remorse. Consider yourself fired and this will go on your employment record." Kagome hissed.

"Please, no! Kagome, I can't have this going public! I'll be ruined, I have a husband and if he finds out, he'll leave me and take our son! PLEASE DON'T!" Saho cried. But Saho's pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Well, you should have thought of that before going to bed with a man who isn't your husband. You're not the victim here, Saho, I am and so is your husband. I suggest you go home and tell him yourself what you've been doing behind his back before he hears it from a third party." Kagome explained, poison dripping from every last word.

"Geeze Kagome, why do you have to be such a bitch? Obviously her husband doesn't please her, just as you can't please me, so it only makes sense. Saho, don't worry, I'll see to it that Kagome will forget about this whole little...incident... ever happened." Hojo smiled and patted her on the back and sent her out the door.

"Excuse me!" Kagome cried as the door closed behind Saho. "I will NOT forget about this nor will I forgive you. Where do you get off telling me that it's ok for you to cheat and that I have to 'forget'? What the hell is wrong with you?" Kagome cried in anger.

Hojo just stared at Kagome as she berated him with a look of content on his face. He just stood there, smiling, as if he was the most innocent man in the world and Kagome was going nuts. "Kagome, are you forgetting that without me, you're nothing? I made you and I can ruin you. You belong to me." He said smoothly.

Kagome's jaw just about hit the floor. She couldn't believe her ears. He thought because he paid for everything he could hold that over her and treat her like a piece of property and do as he wished without consequences. Well he was wrong, dead wrong. Kagome sure as hell wasn't going down without a fight and she was going to make damn sure that Hojo was going down with her.

"You're wrong, Hojo. I'm sure the grant comity would love to hear about the new car you use to drive yourself to the lab with the testing that they're paying for, or the little whores you buy to work for my office and sleep with you on the side. Oh yes Hojo, you have dirt on you that has you so far in a hole that you can't see out of and I'm going to expose you for the crook you are." Kagome growled. "It's over and I will finish you."

Just then, Hojo snapped. The rage bled over his eyes and before Kagome could blink, Hojo stepped forward and snatched her by her neck in one swift movement and was hauling her to her feet. He stared her in the eye for a moment before tightening his grip on her throat and practically lifting her off her feet.

"You can't talk to me like that you little bitch. You make any such stupid moves and I will end your life and as a respected doctor, I could have you buried before any suspicions arose. You will keep your mouth shut and your head down, or so help me I will kill you." Hojo spat angrily as he lifted Kagome up by her throat and hauled her to the living room. He seemed to be entertained by her silent screams as he walked. She was choking and clawing desperately at his hands as tears leaked from the corner of her eyes.

He stood there in front of the couch as he glared at her dangerously. Kagome had never seen that look in his eye before and as she found herself on the brink of passing out from lack of oxygen, the distinct smell of alcohol hit her and she realized he was drunk. 'Great, he's going to kill me in a drunken rage. Well, so be it', her mind cried as her world became fuzzy and darkened.

When he felt her go limp in his grasp, Hojo callously threw her to the couch and stood over her motionless body. As his breathing slowed and the haze lifted from his head, Hojo realized what he had just done and gulped. For a moment there, he thought she was dead, but a small whimper confirmed that she was still alive, but barely. He sighed and turned away from her and retreated back into the bedroom with the resolve to sleep it off and fix everything in the morning.

The next morning, Hojo woke late to a hangover pounding his head into submission. He tried to recall the events of the night before, but all the memories were too hazy to make sense of. Hojo got up and went to the kitchen vaguely aware that Kagome wasn't around and poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down to think.

It wasn't until his third cup did he remember what happened last night and what he had done. He had been caught sleeping with Saho and then threatened Kagome and nearly killed her. But then he remembered what she had said to him, about ruining him and he suddenly regretted not killing her for now he would spend his day in perpetual fear of the possibility of cops showing up at any given time and taking him away and the thought of being exposed for the crook he was made him that much more nervous.

But Kagome was weak, and wouldn't go through with her threats. This much Hojo was sure of. But was she going to stay with him? He realized that he needed her as much as she needed him and he wasn't going to lose her no matter what. And if she tried leaving him, it would be the last thing she ever did.

Kagome was busying herself with her practice, she had worn a scarf around her neck to hide the hideous bruises left on her neck by Hojo but as a result of being choked half way to death, the vessels in her left eye had burst dying it red with blood and it looked horrible. Parents had been asking about it all day and all day Kagome had to lie about it, saying she had stuck herself in the eye with an instrument while doing testing. "It looks far worse than it really is" she repeated all day.

By the end of the day Kagome was tired and emotionally worn. This couldn't go on, she had to get away from Hojo as soon as possible. Once Kagome was sure she was alone, she decided to call her mother.

"Higurashi residence." Sota's voice was like music to Kagome's ringing ears.

"Sota, it's Kag. Is mom there?" Kagome asked.

"No, she's baby shopping with Etsu. What's up sis?" He asked.

"I'm leaving tonight. I came home early last night and caught Hojo sleeping with my nurse and then he threatened to kill me and...and...and.." Kagome broke down and started crying over the phone.

"HE WHAT!" Sota cried out in rage. "Don't you worry sis, I'll tell mom what happened and to expect you to come home tonight. I can't believe that son of a bitch! I trusted him." Sota growled. "I'm going to kill him, I swear."

"Sota, stop. Talking like that won't do anyone any good. He's drinking heavily and I just don't know what he's capable of or just how long he's been drinking like this. I know that his work is getting stressful and with money running low, he's starting to lose it even more. I just don't know what else I can do but leave him, I just worry about him finding me." Kagome sighed.

"I promise I won't let anything happen to you, sis. Hey, grandfather's home, want to talk to him?" Sota suddenly chimed.

"Sure, Grandfather could cheer me up." Kagome replied.

"Ok, love you sis." Sota said.

"Love you too." Kagome replied as Sota handed off the phone to her grandfather.

"Hey Kagome, how's my little girl doing?" Her grandfather's sweet old voice asked.

"Not so good, Gramps. Last night I came home early and caught Hojo in bed with my nurse, Saho and then I told him I was going to expose him and that little whore and he threatened to kill me and even tried choking me to death with his own two hands. Gramps, I've got to get out of there and I have to do it tonight, otherwise I'm afraid that my life might be at risk. He's drinking too. Like heavily drinking, I didn't realize it at first, but he's been a heavy drunk for quite some time now and it's scaring me because I don't know him anymore." Kagome sobbed to her grandfather.

There was silence for a moment while Kagome softly wept into the phone. "Well, sounds like you know what you need to do. I'm very unhappy with that young man and if he comes near the house I'll personally deal with him. But you stay safe and remember I'm proud of you and I love you very much. Just be careful baby." Her grandfather said sofly.

"I will. I love you too and I'll see you tonight." Kagome said with a tearful smile on her face and hung up the phone.

"Who was that you were talking to?" Hojo's voice surprised Kagome and she turned to see him standing behind her.

"None of your business, thank you." She bit back. And turned her back to him to busy herself once again with her paperwork.

"Another man, no doubt." Hojo accused.

Kagome turned on Hojo, anger written across her features. "Why would it matter to you who I was talking to? YOU were the one sleeping around while I was stuck here, working my ass off for a practice that's going to go under because you're bad spending habits. Tell me, Hojo, did you really need that fancy new car? Or your new line of expensive clothes? What about that vacation house you got in Kyoto, we haven't even gone there, or I haven't, god knows how many women you've bedded there. You make me sick and I'm leaving you!" Kagome's words were harsh and at that last statement, Hojo acted as if he had just had the breath knocked out of him.

"You can't leave me! You need me and I won't let you ruin me, Kagome. I will not let some little two-timing, psychotic whore bring me down to her level. You would be nothing without me and you know it. I'm done talking about this here. I'll see you at MY home, and you will head straight there after you're done here, understand!" Hojo seethed.

Kagome stood and squared off with Hojo. Letting her body language say it all for her as she stared him down. "Fine." She hissed and started tapping her foot, signaling to Hojo he should leave now.

Kagome drove home with a strange sense of dread tugging at her heart. Her palms were clammy and covered in sweat as she gripped the steering wheel. She kept thinking of the fight she had at her office with Hojo and wondered if he had returned home to drink and wait for her to return. She knew he'd be stewing the entire time and if he was drunk he'd only be getting angrier and angrier.

She was almost home when her cell phone rang. She sighed, half expecting it to be Hojo barking at her to hurry it up, that she was taking too long, but upon inspecting the phone, she was relieved to see it was her mother's house calling.

"Hello?" Kagome greeted.

"Kagome, Sota told me what happened and I wanted to make sure you were still coming home tonight." Mrs. Higurashi asked in a worried voice.

"Yes mother. If the weather permits. It looks like we're in for quite a storm." Kagome said, looking up at the sky. The clouds were spitting lightning and threatened rain. The visual reminded Kagome of when she met Shippo and the thunder brothers. 'What a time to be reflecting' Kagome thought.

"Oh, Kagome, your grandfather would like to talk to you, here you go sweety, I love you." Mrs. Higurashi said.

"Love you too, mom. I'll see you tonight." Kagome replied.

"Hello? Kagome, child, are you there?" Kagome's grandfather asked.

"Yes Gramps, I'm here. The phone's getting a bit fuzzy though, I'm driving into the storm, but I'm almost home." Kagome said as she turned on her windshield wipers which only added more to the noise pollution over the cell phone.

"Baby, be careful when you get home, just don't do anything to anger Hojo...dangerous...sorry, just trust me about...you understand?..."

"Gramps, you're breaking up, I can't understand you." Kagome called into the phone.

"I love you, watch out for yourself."

"I love you too, Grandfather." Kagome practically yelled and with that the phone cut out just as Kagome neared the home she had shared with Hojo.

Kagome swallowed hard and summoned all her courage up as she walked in the door. It was dark, except for a lit candle on the dining table. It took Kagome a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and she saw the shadowed figure of Hojo sitting quietly in the dining room with a bottle on the table. Upon closer inspection, Kagome could see that it was a bottle of sake, and sure enough, it looked to be empty from what she could tell.

"Hello Kagome." Hojo slurred a bit as he stood. Something about his tone of voice made Kagome uneasy.

"Hojo." Was all she could reply.

"You know, I thawt you would be a good housy mouse and keep yer mouth shut and do all your wifely duties, but nooooo, you had to start yer own doctor practice and suck my money and how do you pay me back? You ruin my goood time and tell me you're going to ruin my career. Well that's not goin' to happen because I'm going to put an end tew it." Hojo took a step towards Kagome as she stumbled back.

"Hojo, you're drunk. I don't think we should be talking about this now. You're capable of hurting people when you're drunk, so just go sleep it off, ok? I'm going to spend the night at my family's place and we'll talk later, ok?" Kagome tried to bargain. She had no intent of ever talking to Hojo again, but with his current state, she was willing to say anything to calm him down. He had almost choked her to death once and who knows what he was going to do now.

Hojo smiled dangerously at Kagome as he slowly approached her. The gleam in his eye looked murderous and something shiny flashed in his hand and immediately attracted Kagome's attention and she froze in place.

Not only was he drunk, but he was armed too. Suddenly Kagome's cell phone rang making the two jump. Hojo looked from Kagome's purse that contained her phone to Kagome and then back to her purse.

"Answer it. Tell who ever it is that you're busy and need to go, now." Hojo hissed.

Kagome dug the phone out of her purse and answered it and said in as steady of a voice as possible, "Hello? I must make this quick, I'm kinda busy."

"Kagome?" A hushed voice called from the other side.

"Yes, who is this?" Kagome asked.

"Kagome, you've gotta get out now." The voice said again.

"What?" Kagome asked, almost panicked now.

"RUN, KAGOME, RUN!" The voice cried desperately.

Kagome's feet suddenly unstuck as she found herself bolting out the door. A loud crack rang in her ears and then there was a bright flash of lightning followed by another crash of thunder as Kagome ran desperately towards her car. She felt the sense of being weighed down as her heart pumped painfully in her chest.

Her adrenaline was pumping as she fumbled with her keys and found the keyless remote to quickly unlock the car. Just then another bang, but this one seemed as close as the first one and Kagome realized that her window had spider-webbed with a big hole in the middle.

'I'm being shot at! Get in the car and drive!' Kagome's mind screamed as she stumbled into the car and stuck the keys in the ignition tumbler and turned the car over. The second she heard the motor start to run, she slammed the gear shifter into reverse and with tires squealing, spun out of the drive way and slammed the shifter forward into drive and took off like a bat out of hell with Hojo letting off a couple more shots with his gun at her car.

As Kagome sped down the slick road did she notice that she was more than just wet from the rain. She looked down and noticed her right side covered in blood and only then did she realized that she had been shot in the shoulder and never felt it through sheer adrenaline.

Her phone rang again and Kagome answered it, her voice more panicked than before. "Hello? Are you there?" Kagome cried.

"Yes, Kagome? Are you ok? Is something wrong?" Her mother's worried voice sounded from the other line.

"Mom! Hojo's going to kill me. I'm on my way home right now and ..." The phone lost signal. Kagome almost let out a frustrated cry as she realized she was driving through that area where she got no reception, especially in the middle of a thunderstorm.

Kagome put the phone down in the passenger seat and continued her fast pace down the road. She glanced in her rearview mirror and saw headlights in the distance, but obviously moving fast. She just knew it had to be Hojo, probably had every intent to run her off the road.

But Kagome was smarter than letting him be able to follow her. She turned off her headlights and allowed the storm and her memory show her the way.

She pulled onto a dirt road that led up to an old shrine that was only visited by the elderly. She knew about it from her grandfather. She remembered him telling her as a child to always remember where this special place was should she ever be in need of protection. They use to love taking walks together around the old property and although Kagome took this place for granted as a child, she was sure thanking the gods for it now.

As she stopped her car and killed the engine, she could hear the distinct sound of a highly revving engine and speeding tires and as the noise got louder, she saw only a glimpse of the ugly yellow blob as it sped by at high speeds.

Kagome sighed and started her car again, she knew a back road that would take her to the back of the shrine, where she could call her mom from the well house and warn them about Hojo.

She sped along the dirt road, and it wasn't long before she reached the back property of her family shrine. She parked her car under a row of tall, old trees and snuck over to the well house that sat about twenty feet away.

She was feeling weak and her legs were getting stiff and heavy. Kagome figured that she had to be in going into shock and was losing a lot of blood. She knew she also had to call the police and get an ambulance out to her, but she also had to warn her family first.

Once she was safe inside the well house, she crouched down behind the old well and took her phone out to call her mom. The house phone rang a few times, but no one answered and Kagome was starting to get sleepy.

BANG

The shot snapped Kagome out of it and she heard yelling and screaming. She stood bolt upright and listened to the yelling and distinctly heard her grandfather and mother yelling at Hojo and Hojo was screaming back.

"Kagome hasn't arrived here and even if we did know were she was going, we wouldn't tell you. Now put the gun down!" Kagome's grandfather yelled.

"I know she's hiding around here! And when I find her she's in even more trouble. I swear I'm going to kill her for all the trouble she's caused me!" Hojo's drunken voice yelled.

Kagome stood there, frozen in place from fear and something more. She felt a weight being pulled at her chest and she knew if she gave in, she'd take a deadly tumble down the well.

Just then she heard Hojo's voice enquire "is Kagome hiding in HERE!" as he threw open the well house doors and instantly spotted Kagome. "AH-HAH!" He cried as he raised his gun and pointed it at Kagome.

Kagome gulped hard as the lightning flashed behind him and she heard another gun shot right. Her legs gave as she gave into the weight and the darkness that was pulling at her and she fell into the darkness. And her world went silent after the bouts of cries and screams coming from her family.

'I hear your cries. I'm sorry...Inuyasha', was her last fleeting thought as her mind gave to the darkness and her body prepared for the impact below.

..:End of Chappy:..

A/N: I am soooo extremely, very sorry for taking THIS long. I hope the chapter was worth it. I want to get this chapter out as soon as possible, like a hell of a lot sooner than this. But with working Anime Detour here in Minnesota and dealing with drama with home life and outside of home life, that doesn't give much time for writing or being on the computer. Again, I'm terribly sorry.

On another note, I would like to dedicate this chapter as a belated birthday gift to Moonypriate13, hope you had a great birthday!

Thanks for ready guys! I love you all.

Sunny