Chapter Ten-

"Crooked Minds"

Crooked minds have gone astray
Have they never learned from yesterday?
Only a fool would wear the crown
One day the kids will tear it down

-Billy Talent

Kagome looked through her drawers for an old pair of pants as she got dressed. She had been dreading this day for awhile now. Kaon had all the materials now to get started on that deck. The raven haired miko found her least favorite pair of pants and slipped them on. Pulling up her hair, she let out a sigh as she made her way downstairs.

Two hours later and Kagome was ready to lose her temper again. She glanced over at Souta, feeling sorry for him. Right now he looked like he was about to cry as Kaon yelled at him for holding a hammer the wrong way. She would have even preferred to be the one being yelled at. Souta was just a little kid.

Fed up with Kaon's bullying, Kagome stepped in front of the little boy and grabbed the hammer. "It's not a big deal. I'll just do the hammering. Souta can hand me the nails."

As planned, Kaon's attention switched over to the raven haired girl, his face turning a bright red. She knew how much he hated her interference whenever he was "teaching" Souta a lesson.

Kagome allowed him to yell his abuse at her before walking away to get back to working on the deck. The fact that he couldn't get a reaction out of her just pissed him off even more as he got up in her face. He tried his hardest to set her off with his belittling and offensive words. When there was still no reaction, he stomped back inside, leaving Kagome and Souta to finish the deck on their own.

The raven haired girl smiled to herself. It was a lot easier to keep her cool now that she had a little bottle of pills to keep her calm. She enjoyed how much it pissed off her new "father". He now insisted that she called him "dad". The thought itself made her want to gag.

"Thanks," a tiny voice interrupted her thoughts.

Kagome glanced down at the little boy. "Don't worry about it. If you ever want to get away from him, you can always hide out in my room, okay?"

The younger boy smiled, comforted by the thought of a safe haven. The two worked in a comfortable silence for the next few hours until they were called in for dinner.

After dinner Souta followed Kagome to her room. She laid on the bed listening to music while he did his homework at her desk. It felt sort of nice to not have to be alone. It was a feeling she couldn't trust. Everyone was expendable. Even Souta would eventually outgrow her. There was no point in becoming attached.

"Hey Kagome..."

"Hm?"

"Why do you always wear long sleeves...even when its hot out?"

"Because I'm always cold," Kagome answered tonelessly.

"Oh...Hey Kagome?"

She looked over to him to let him know he still had her attention.

"Can you help me with this problem?"

The raven haired girl smiled softly at him as she got up from the bed. "Sure. Which one do you need help with?"

xXxXxXxXxXx

Kagome let out a disappointed sigh. He wasn't on right now. He had replied to her email though. At least she had something to read. She idly wondered if he really missed her too. A familiar gloom settled in as she began to have doubt. Reaching to the back of her desk, she pulled out a small bottle.

Oct 2nd

Red Days-

You can't forget

Just when you start to feel normal

All that red

Blinding you

Under your skin

Inside your head

The one person you cannot run from

The reflection staring back at you

Trying to push away the dark clouds, Kagome put on her favorite CD and emailed Sesshomaru back. It was better than nothing. She smiled softly to herself as she reread his email.

Kagome stayed up for a little bit longer, hoping he would get online but to no avail. There was always tomorrow. Right?

A/N- Sorry for the short chapter. Didn't have time to finish it but still wanted to post anyway. Will try to update again and put up the other half in another couple of days. Thanks for all the good reviews! I enjoy reading them :)