Kagome left the wheel in a much better mood than before. She'd all but forgotten about her stepfather unconscious on the living room floor at home, or the interloper from earlier who'd encroached upon one of her few places of serenity. However, the jerk who'd called her a bitch earlier...he was still on her mind, and she didn't like it. In fact, she was looking for him now, her calm both disturbed and charged by her thoughts of revenge. She began an attempt to recall some attributes that had stood out about him. Now that she thought about it, he wasn't as grotesque as she'd first perceived, her opinion perverted by her anger at him. He had a mane of flowing hair—a light color, judging from the fact that she even noticed it in the darkness--, and a pair of blank eyes, also light, but not the same color as his hair. It would be easy to find him now.

And find him she did, by himself, no less, smoking as he leaned against a metal fence. His eyes were closed, and Kagome took this opportunity to sneak close to him and steal a sucker punch straight to his face, making him go cross-eyed as he choked on his cigarette. Kagome smirked with the utmost satisfaction, walking away as casually as if she'd just asked him the time.

Now who's the bitch?

She waited until she was out of the vicinity to break out into uproarious laughter, cutting through the darkness. A few minutes later, once her laughter had subsided, a pained whimper hit her supersensitive ears. She blinked, looking around, not sure she'd even heard anything, until she stumbled on something small, ebony, and furry.

(confused) What the hell?

Kagome kneeled down and touched the hindrance, startled when a pair of weak, electric blue eyes peered helplessly at her.

(in a sickly bark) Help...me...

Are...you a demon?

The furry creature nodded ever so slightly, and Kagome picked it up by the scruff of its neck, eyeing it analytically. It appeared to be wounded, and since she hadn't seen any more demons like it around, she assumed it had been abandoned.

(shakes head) Poor thing.

Kagome's first instinct was to put it out of its misery, and she put her fingers around its scrawny neck, but its slowly watering eyes pinpricked at her better nature, so with a weary sigh, she situated him in her arms.

Guess you're coming home with me...let's hope you live longer than I have.

But she received no answer, for he'd already drifted off to sleep.

(mumbles) Or at least, I hope he's sleeping.

The unknown demon animal either unconscious or asleep, Kagome walked the remainder of the way with him nestled in her arms. When she arrived at the house, she saw that the living room light had been switched off, and fear snaked up her spine. That was not how she'd left it. She dashed around the house to her bedroom window, and gasped. Her bedroom light was on...

There was no more doubt in her mind. Kamikaze was awake. And he was bound to be pissed.

At first, she thought about running away somewhere else, but her common sense smacked her in the face.

Don't be stupid. Where the hell am I gonna go?

She had no choice. She would have to face the beast. Biting her lip, she hid the demon in some nearby bushes, before going back to the front door and testing the knob. It was nonresistant, and her heart rate quickened. He was expecting her. He knew she'd be back. And he was right. He was always right. Kagome sighed under her breath.

Better me than that furry thing.

She opened the door and walked in cautiously, quietly closing it behind her. So far, things seemed okay. Kagome tipped quietly through the living room and up the stairs to her bedroom, the sole light in the dark house. She felt a twinge of irony at this thought, but shook it off to concentrate on the more important task of getting into her room safely. When she paused for several minutes, listening for anything suspicious, and heard nothing, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank God...

A small, triumphant smile on her face despite herself, Kagome turned off her light, then closed and locked her door. A wave of exhaustion came over her and she crawled into her bed, feeling as though she'd run a million miles in an hour. Just before sleep could take her, she heard a creak, but by the time her eyes flew open, it was too late. She had already been dragged by her ankle onto the cold, unforgiving hardwood.

Thought you were slick, did you?

(thinking frantically) FUCK!

Tried to sneak out, huh, bitch?

Kagome found it extremely ironic that she'd punched a man she didn't even know for calling her that same thing, but found herself powerless against this one that she did know. The irony refused to stop when he punched her in the face and laughed harshly at the tears springing immediately to her eyes. His rank breath didn't help, either, and Kagome wondered just when he'd come to...that is, if he'd even ever been knocked out in the first place.

Don't you hear me talking to you?! Answer me!

He slapped her, his broad and coarse palm not only bruising her cheek, but her eye as well.

Did you try to sneak out?!

(stammering nervously)

He growled, and Kagome knew he was getting annoyed with her. Her eye was beginning to swell, and that combined with the pain of her bleeding nose was making her woozy.

Shut up, you stupid slut. I know just how to put an end to that. Starting at dawn, you're grounded for a week. No food, no water, and you're not leaving this room. You got that?

Kagome wasn't sure which was worse—his groundings or his beatings. All she could do was nod shakily, and Kamikaze smirked toothily. A fragment of moonlight hit his face, showing his yellow-stained teeth. Kagome thought she would upchuck, but that would anger him, and that was the last thing she needed. Besides, if she threw up, she'd be hungry, and that would make the upcoming week an impossibility. She just hoped he would leave her in peace for it, but that hope was all but futile.

Kamikaze traced his grubby finger along her disfigured face, leering at her with that familiar look in his eye that made Kagome want to cry aloud.

Strip.

It seemed that the less words he said, the more business he meant, and when he said this, Kagome knew not to defy him. Trembling when he let up on her, she scooted backward and took off her top, the sudden blood rush to her face making her bruises that much worse. His quiet, lewd chuckles filled her ears as well as the room, and shame fanned the flames of her tears.

(silence, Kajiyama-san staring nervously at her lap)

(silence, Kagome glaring off to the side, her arms crossed)

So...um...

(snaps) You know what, don't bother, okay?! I don't want to talk right now!

(firmly) But Kagome, we need to talk about it. You look malnourished, your face is gaunt and bruised—what's been going on?

(just as firmly) Nothing's been going on. So leave me alone.

Something has to be—you haven't come to me in a week.

(averts eyes grudgingly) I've been grounded.

But Kagome...(sighs in frustration, trying to make sense of it) The attendance office said you were absent all last week.

I've been grounded.

That doesn't make sense!

I. Was. Grounded. What more do I have to say to make you understand that?!

Why were you grounded?

(sighs, annoyed) I snuck out.

(blows a sigh, feeling better) That's better. Now...now we can get somewhere. Okay, why did you sneak out?

I wanted to go to the Ferris wheel in the city.

(curious) Why?

I was pissed, so I wanted to do something to calm myself down.

(smiles) I'm glad you're starting to catch yourself before you do something drastic.

(snorts loudly) Too damn late, it seems. I shouldn't've snuck out in the first fucking place.

(smile falls) Well...er...tell me what happened anyway.

(listlessly) I left the house and went into the city. I accidentally bumped into some dude who called me a bitch. I got even more pissed, but I felt better once I got off the wheel and punched him in his cigarette-smoking, profanity-spewing mouth. I headed back home and found a half-dead wolf demon puppy on my way. I hid it in the bushes and snuck back into the house, but it didn't go as I'd planned, because just when I thought I was home free, he dragged me out of bed and beat me up, then forced me to have sex with him.

And by he, you mean your stepfather.

Who else?

Well, why were you angry in the first place? Didn't you go to the beach?

Yeah, I went, but somebody else was there. I can't stand being around people. I can barely tolerate school. So how do you think it makes me feel to see someone encroaching upon my private space?

(nods) I understand. So...you were grounded. Can you tell me what your groundings consist of?

No.

(blinks, bewildered)

I'm not at liberty to say, so you want to back away from that subject real quick.

(silent for a few moments, then speaks quietly) Does your physical ill-being have to do with you being grounded?

(defensive silence)

Kagome, you know, you can be helped, sweetheart. There's a number you can c--

(interrupts) I don't need Child Services stepping in on this one, okay? I've already been through that, and ended up at the same place. It's easier for me to just wait for school to end and October to begin.

October? (scratches head, confused)

My birthday.

...

My eighteenth birthday.

Oh. Oh! Right, right, when you're legally an adult.

Yeah. Then I can leave without being carried back to him.

Well, Kagome...there's always the option of running away.

(bored) Tried that year before last. I got halfway to China before the police "found me" and brought me back "home". (scoffs) Imbeciles.

Um...(thinks hard)

Any more bright ideas? I'm ever willing.

(embarrassed) There's...really nothing I can think of.

Didn't think so. So all I can do is go through the rest of this time by myself, on my own, alone.

I suppose...well, anyway. What of the wolf puppy you found?

I've managed to hide him from Kamikaze. I'm trying to nurse him back to health, and he seems to be doing better.

Have you named him or does he have his own name?

He calls himself Kouga. Or, at least, that's what he wrote in the sand with his claws.

Huh?

He can't talk, apparently. I've only heard him say three words to me, and that was when I first met him. He's never said anything else. (pauses) In fact, I need to go see about him now anyway.

Okay, Kagome. I'll see you tomorrow?

(gets up and goes to the door) I guess. (shrugs, then leaves)

As Kagome left the school, her stomach rumbling, she sighed, thinking back on that lie. She wasn't going straight home—she was heading for the beach again.

Idly, she wondered at the whereabouts of that intruder.