InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Home for Kagome ❯ Reactions ( Chapter 3 )

DISCLAIMER: Rumiko Takahashi, now and forever, owns 'Inuyasha' and all characters involved. I, now and forever, own nothing but my own twisted plot and any original characters I might add. Hope this settles any confusion. Please don't sue me, I'm broke.

 

Chapter 3 - Reactions

 

The Ookami Youkai Prince stood on the edge of the ditch. He had smelled the scent of dead human from miles away, while on his way to that tiny village his Kagome and the mutt-face often stopped at, intending to ask them if they had heard any news of Naraku. While Koga hated the idea of having to go to Inuyasha for help, after two weeks of not being able to pick up the bastard's scent and having run out of leads to follow, he figured it was time to suck up his pride for once.

 

When he had scented human death, only a couple of miles away from the village, Koga hadn't really been that interested. Although he and his pack and stopped killing humans around the same time Koga had declared Kagome to be his woman, he knew full well how easily most humans died. Youkai, wars, diseases, the list went on. Koga had had every intention of simply passing by the bodies without stopping, when by chance the wind and had changed slightly, bringing a stronger version of the smell to his nose, along with the scent of the mutt. This caused Koga to slow down (`slow down' for him still meaning he was going too fast for humans to really see him) briefly in confusion, wondering what the hell that meant? He knew all too well how Inuyasha felt about killing humans, he had told Koga off about it on more than one occasion in the past. Curious, Koga decided he could afford to make a quick stop, and headed in the direction of the smell.

 

Now that Koga had arrived at the ditch, he was even more confused. These bodies weren't just killed, a couple looked like they had been butchered. It was definitely Inuyasha's scent on the bodies, but something was slightly off with that too. It was almost like there was no human in his scent, like he was a full demon, which Koga knew was impossible… wasn't it? Then there was the fact that the bodies had been dumped here. Koga may not know much about human traditions, but he did know it was customary to either bury or burn a human's body after their death, and that Inuyasha and his friends always took the time to do just that when they came across a person unfortunate enough to cross Naraku's path. So why were these just left here like so much garbage? It didn't make sense.

 

As Koga stood there trying to figure this out, he started to notice other faint smells wafting up from the bodies, previously hidden from even his senses by the strong reek of blood. The bodies ever so faintly all carried the contact scent of his Kagome, along with the stench of lust, and on two of them, sex.

 

Koga started to see red, as an idea of what might have happened began to dawn on him. It couldn't be! Not his Kagome! If that Mutt had let anything happen to her, Koga swore, by the time was through, he (Inuyasha) would wish had never been born.

 

With that thought in mind, Koga once again took off towards the village, this time at speeds even he didn't know he was capable of, determined to find out the truth for himself. And if it was true, he would kill that Mutt and take Kagome home to his den like he should have done a long time ago.

 

###

 

Back in the twenty-first century, Inuyasha sat watching Kagome sleep. After their talk earlier, Kagome had finally changed out of the Inuyasha's fire-rat haori and remains of her school uniform, and into a pair of pink and white pyjamas, and gone to bed. She hadn't wanted to be left alone and had asked Inuyasha to stay with her until she fell asleep, something which of course Inuyasha had agreed to. That had been almost an hour ago, but still Inuyasha sat by her side, thinking about the events of the day.

 

Though her attack still rested heavily on his heart, and he had no doubt it would remain there for years to come, he was fortunately able to put it into the back of his mind for the moment and concentrate on later events. Namely, her saying she loved him and him asking her to be his mate.

 

He still couldn't believe that she had said that, especially not on a day such as this. Part of him of him was afraid that it was some kind of reaction to the trauma she had gone through and that she didn't really mean it. That was another reason why he had told her not to answer him about becoming his mate yet. If she didn't really love him, he didn't want her to feel trapped by a promise made in a moment of weakness. However, if turned out to be true, and that she did love him, he would want nothing more than to be her mate. He knew that despite what he told her there were men, both demon and human, who would hold the fact that she was raped against her but he wasn't one of them. It wasn't her fault, she didn't ask for this and shouldn't be punished for it. He still loved her and always would. And if she did decide to become his mate after she recovered from this ordeal, physically and emotionally, he knew she would be well worth the wait. Either way, whether she loved him or not, really wanted to be his mate or not, he wanted her to get better and was determined to do everything in his power to ensure that she did.

 

After a couple more minutes of watching her sleep, Inuyasha quietly got up and silently left the room. He could faintly hear Michiko moving around in the kitchen, and figured she would most likely want an update about her daughter before she went to sleep.

 

When Inuyasha reached the kitchen, he saw that Michiko was indeed up and was currently scrubbing the kitchen bench. To Inuyasha, it looked perfectly clean, but then again Kagome had always insisted on things being far cleaner than Inuyasha found necessary, so maybe her mother was the same way. Or maybe cleaning was just her way to avoid thinking about what had happened.

 

Inuyasha cleared his throat to catch her attention. When she paused in her cleaning and looked up at him, he spoke up. “Kagome's asleep now. We talked and she seems to be doing a bit better. At least she doesn't seem to be blaming herself as much, and she was able to look me in the eyes again.”

 

Michiko nodded, as she put the dishcloth she'd been using in the sink and went over to sit down at the kitchen table. “That's good.” She said softly, as if she was afraid Kagome would hear her and wake up even from down here. “I doubt she's going to recover all that quickly though.”

 

Inuyasha nodded sadly in agreement and sat down across from her. “I know, but at least it looks like she will recover.” He said. “I don't know about this time, but far too often women who have been raped in my time never get over it. Worse, some people blame them for the attacks and won't let them.”

 

Michiko sighed. “Unfortunately that sometimes happens here too. We'll just have to make certain that that doesn't happen with Kagome.” Michiko paused at this stage and looked at Inuyasha carefully. “There's something you're not telling me.”

 

Inuyasha mentally cursed. Michiko was far too much like her daughter, he could never seem to hide anything from either of them. He wasn't sure how Michiko would react knowing that he had basically proposed to Kagome mere hours after her being raped. He was afraid she would think he was taking advantage of her in her vulnerable state, which was the last thing he wanted to do. On the other hand, it was his responsibility as the male to ask Kagome's family's permission before he started courting her.

 

“I, well, we, um, that is…" Inuyasha stuttered for a minute. Michiko just watched him calmly.

 

After a minute Inuyasha took a deep breath and said as calmly as he could, “Kagome was scared about how I thought of her now that this had happened. She said she loved me, but that she was afraid I would never want her now. I, I told her that that wasn't true, that I love her too and that I want her for my mate.” He saw Michiko's eyes widen at that and quickly added, “I also told her that I didn't want to do anything like that until she's recovered and ready! I swear, I don't want to take advantage of her in any way, or rush her into anything she's not ready for. I care about her far too much for that. Its just, I couldn't let her keep believing I didn't want her, especially after what she said. I had to tell her. But I'm not going to in any way try to push her into anything something she's not ready for.”

 

Michiko didn't say anything for a full minute after Inuyasha finished speaking, and instead just sat there staring intensely at the hanyou as if she was trying to dissect him with her eyes. Inuyasha was feeling very uncomfortable but refused to look away, wanting her to see the sincerity in his eyes. Finally Michiko spoke.

 

“I'm disappointed in both of you,” she said, making Inuyasha's ears drop and his gaze to fall on the tabletop in front of him, before continuing with, “I had really hoped you would both be able to admit how you feel for each other without something like this happening.”

 

Inuyasha's head snapped up in shock, to see the smallest of smiles on Michiko's face. It was rather rueful, but it was still a smile. “Wh, what?” Inuyasha asked in shock, he couldn't believe she wasn't furious at him.

 

“I mean, the two of you have been running all over Feudal Japan for over two years, you see each other practically every day.” Michiko continued. “I had hoped you'd both be mature enough to admit your love for each other before now. I'm disappointed I was wrong.”

 

Inuyasha just stared at her in shock, unable to say anything. Michiko saw this, and continued her face serious.

 

“Inuyasha, I'm not mad at you.” She said calmly. “I've known for a long time how you two felt about each other. I understand why you couldn't let her continue to think that, aside from breaking her heart at this point it would only hurt her chances of recovery that much more. I also know that you are honourable enough not to take advantage of her while she's emotionally vulnerable. If I thought for a minute you would, I would not have let her go back with you for the last two years, and I certainly wouldn't have let you upstairs with her alone just now. I know you better than that and if… and when my daughter recovers from this ordeal and accepts you as her mate, I for one will welcome you into the family with open arms.”

 

Inuyasha just stood there in complete and utter shock trying to take all of this in. Not only was Michiko not angry with him, but she was essentially giving her daughter away to him, trusting him not to hurt or take advantage of her. She was welcoming him, a lowly filthy hanyou, into her family as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Inuyasha just sat there, trying to figure out what he had done to deserve the honour of meeting this amazing family and one day, hopefully, being part of it.

 

Seeing Inuyasha wasn't going to say anything, Michiko smiled slightly and stood up. “Well,” she said calmly. “If that's sorted, I'm going to bed. Oh, and Inuyasha…” She added. The hanyou looked up at her in question. Michiko's smile grew slightly evil. “I don't think this really needs to be said, but if you do ever hurt my daughter in anyway, I can promise you, you will rue the day you ever met me.”

 

Inuyasha gulped slightly and nodded. He knew that look, had seen it on Kagome far to many times in the past and found it no less scary on her mother. He made a mental note at that point to never do anything that would upset both Higurashi women at the same time. He didn't think he'd survive such an encounter if he did.

 

Michiko nodded. “Glad you understand.” She said, before calmly leaving the room.

 

Inuyasha sat there for a couple of minutes, thinking about all the events of that day, the good and the bad, before he too left the room and went upstairs to go to sleep himself. Inuyasha knew that both Souta's and Bejiro's rooms were free and that neither of them would likely be upset if he used them during the circumstances, but he didn't want to be too far away from Kagome in case she needed something, so he silently entered her room again, and sat down against the wall by her bed, intending to sleep right there. Nothing was going to be separating him from Kagome anytime soon.

 

###

 

Dinner in Kaede's hut had been a quiet affair. Once Sango and Miroku had returned from disposing of the bodies, they had been reluctant to speak of what Inuyasha had told them, saying only that Kagome had been attacked in her own time, that Inuyasha was going to be staying with her until she recovered, and that they did not know how long that would be. Shippo, upset by the loss of his foster-mother, had started to blame Inuyasha and had been shocked when Miroku and Sango both snapped at him telling him that it wasn't Inuyasha's fault and not to say such things. They had never snapped at him when he called Inuyasha a baka or blamed him for Kagome being gone before, what was so different about this time? Kaede was also troubled by the monk and demon slayer's unusual grim silence, and feared that there was more going on than they were saying. When she had heard that the assailants were a group of young men, and saw how upset Sango and Miroku were, she had grown suspicious as to the nature of the attack. However, she was unwilling to voice such concerns in front of young Shippo, and also guessed by the elder two's silence and dark expressions that they would be unwilling to answer. So she kept her fears to herself, praying she was wrong.

 

After the uncomfortable dinner ended, there was nothing to do but sit around in an even more uncomfortable silence. Finally, unable to stand it anymore, Shippo had gone to bed early, which was a very rare occurrence for him. The other three were considering following his example, when they all felt an angry demonic aura coming towards them, fast. They all grabbed their weapons and ran out of the hut, just in time to see a whirlwind rush into the village and stop just in front of them. Before Sango and Miroku even had a chance to explain to Kaede what this meant, they had a very angry Koga in front of them.

 

“Where are they?” Koga demanded, being able to tell by their scents that Inuyasha had not been in the village for at least a day, and that Kagome had been gone even longer. “Where the hell are Kagome and the Mutt?”

 

“Why do you want to know, Koga?” Miroku asked, while Sango quietly explained to Kaede who Koga was.

 

“Don't give me that, Monk!” Koga snapped. “I know I smelt you and the slayer on those bodies, I know you're the ones that dumped them there. Now I want to know what happened, why they smell like Dog-Breath, Kagome and sex, and where the hell my woman and that Mutt have gone.”

 

Kaede gasped upon hearing the `Kagome' and `Sex' part of what this Koga had said. So what she had feared was true after all. No wonder Miroku and Sango were so upset, if they knew what had happened.

 

Miroku quickly looked up and down the street to see if any of the villagers were in earshot, while Sango checked inside the hut to see if Shippo was still asleep. They still didn't want this spreading any farer than it had too.

 

“Keep your voice down Koga, I doubt Kagome would appreciate news of this travelling any farer than necessary.” Miroku said grimly after he was sure no one else was around and Sango nodded at him to confirm Shippo was still in bed. “Truthfully, we don't know everything ourselves, we weren't there and Inuyasha didn't want to hang around long enough to give out to many details.”

 

“What do you know?” Koga demanded, though in a quieter voice. “And where's Kagome?”

 

“Kagome returned to her home village a few days ago to see to some personal business.” Miroku said, trying to give as accurate an account as possible without giving away too much about Kagome's origins. He knew canine demons such as Koga and Inuyasha were known to be able to smell insincerity, and besides Koga was truly concerned and already seemed to know a fair bit just from smelling the bodies. He should be told the truth. However, Miroku was going to be damned if he was going to just tell the world the secret of the Bone Eater's Well after working so hard to keep it a secret for over two years. “She was supposed to come back here this afternoon, and Inuyasha went to meet her at the family's home to bring her back. When she was late he went looking for her. When he found her, those men had already attacked her. One had already finished raping her and she was being violated by the second one. Inuyasha killed them all and brought her back to her family's home. He dumped the bodies here and told Sango and I what I just told you. We told him we'd finish taking care of the bodies, and he returned to Kagome's home village to try to help in her recovery.”

 

By the time Miroku was finished speaking, Kaede was in tears. How could someone do this to Kagome? Over the years that she had known her, Kaede had come to consider Kagome as the granddaughter she had never had, and it hurt to think of her being abused like that.

 

Koga, on the other hand, was livid. That Mutt, he was so going to kill him for letting this happen to his Kagome. “How the hell do I get to Kagome's home village?” He demanded. He was going to go there, kill the mutt and take Kagome back to his den. Then he was never going to let her out of his sight again.

 

“I can not tell you that Koga, Inuyasha is the only one besides Kagome to ever go there.” Miroku said, not lying but not telling Koga the truth either. Not that Koga would be able to travel through the Bone Eater's Well anyway, most likely, but still…

 

Koga did not like Miroku's answer at all. “There's no way I'm leaving my woman in that mutt's protection one second longer!” He all but yelled. “Not after he failed her like this! I should kill him for it as it is.”

 

“Now just wait one god-damn minute Koga!” Sango snapped, stepping forward. “What the hell gives you the right to criticise Inuyasha like that?”

 

“He was supposed to protect her and he wasn't there…” Koga started to say self-righteously, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, when Sango interrupted him.

 

“And you're NEVER there!” Sango snapped, fed up with Koga and his sanctimonious attitude. “You show up once every couple of months, throw out a few lines about Kagome being your woman, then take off again! If you really wanted to protect her so much, you would stay with her, like Inuyasha does.”

 

“I'm off searching for Naraku all the time…” Koga tried to defend himself, when Sango interrupted again.

 

“As are the rest of us, including Kagome!” Sango snapped. “That's no excuse and you know it.”

 

Koga growled, not wanting to stay here arguing with the slayer anymore. “Find, if you won't tell me where Kagome's home village is, I'll just find it myself.” He snapped and took off, sure that he'd be able to sniff it out, not knowing any different.

 

“I wouldn't make any large wagers on that.” Miroku muttered, as he, Sango and Kaede turned around and headed back into the hut. However, when the entered the hut, they found to their surprise that Shippo was awake in bed, crying. It took all of a half a second to realise that he must have been awake and overheard their conversation with Koga.

 

Shippo had awoken at Koga's first shout. However, upon realising that they were talking about Kagome, he had pretended to still be asleep, knowing that this may be his only chance to finds out what had happened, as no one seemed likely to tell him on their own. However, he had been horrified at hearing that his foster-mother had been raped. He may be young by demon standards, but he wasn't completely naïve, he knew what rape was. And at hearing that Kagome had suffered such a fate, he had broken down crying. He couldn't stand the thought that the woman that took him in after the death of his parents and treated him as if he was her own kit had been hurt like that.

 

Shippo wasn't sure how long he lay there crying before he found himself pulled into a hug. Those arms, so like Kagome's, trying to comfort him only made him cry harder.

 

Shippo stayed in Sango's embrace long into the night before he finally cried himself to sleep.

 

###

 

The next day in Kagome's time went quietly. Kagome said little, and stayed in her room for most of the day, but the life was starting to come back into her eyes, giving Michiko and Inuyasha hope that maybe it wouldn't take her as long to put the attack behind her as they had feared. Michiko, as she had promised, called the school that morning and formally withdrew Kagome. She didn't give any real explanation, despite the school's disapproval, not wanting to risk the spread of rumours that may impair her daughter's recovery. But for the most part, the day went by quietly with out incident.

 

The next day was far more eventful. Bejiro arrived back in the city on the train midmorning. When he first arrived, Inuyasha was somewhat worried about what his reaction would be at hearing of Kagome's rape. While Inuyasha knew Bejiro loved his granddaughter dearly, his prejudice towards demons in the past lead Inuyasha to worry what other preconceptions he might hold.

 

He need not have worried. While Bejiro may have been lacking on knowledge and understanding when it came to demons, in his seventy-plus years of life he had seen far too much of the darker side of human nature. More than once in the past, Bejiro had found a victim of rape on the Shrine grounds looking for some kind of solace. He had never judged those woman (and in one case a young boy), and he certainly didn't judge Kagome. Instead he offered her whatever comfort he could and assured her that he still loved her and always would. For the look of relief on Kagome's face when Bejiro told her that, Inuyasha would always be grateful to the old man.

 

Later, the family plus Inuyasha ate a quiet lunch together, the first meal Kagome had had out of her room since coming home two days ago. After they were done, Michiko went out to the kitchen to clean up the dishes, Inuyasha following to help her. Meanwhile, Bejiro and Kagome sat on the couch to watch some TV together. They watched about ten minutes of the midday news, when a story came on that made Kagome gasp.

 

“Five local boys were reported missing last night.” The newswoman stated, as a picture of her attackers filled the screen. “Anyone who has seen Kano Saito, Jiro Ando, Montaro Shibutani, Akira Hikawa or Shino Hamada, is being asked to please call the number on the screen immediately. At a press conference this morning, Police Chief Ryu Saito, father of one of the boys, had this to say.”

 

The screen shifted to a recording of Ryu Saito, who Kagome had seen on the news several times in the past. “My son and his friends were last seen at their school, and never made it home. They've had some disciplinary problems in the past, but they are all good boys at heart. All I, and the other parents, want is for them to come home safe.”

 

The screen shifted back to the newswoman, with a picture of the five gang members still in the corner.

 

“The five were all students of Tokyo Metropolitan high school, described as good students, excellent athletes, and popular. All five had won awards in various areas…” At this point, Kagome lost it, unable to take anymore. She threw cup at the TV, resulting in coca-cola spilling all over the living room floor, before sprinting out of the room in tears. Inuyasha, hearing the commotion came out to see what the problem was. When he saw Kagome run up to her room in tears, he started to follow before Bejiro waved him back and went upstairs himself.

 

When Bejiro got upstairs, he found Kagome sitting curled up on her bed crying. Going over to her, he pulled her into a hug, which she quickly returned, still crying.

 

Bejiro waited for a few minutes for her tears to subside before speaking up. “It was them, wasn't it?” He asked softly. At Kagome's nod he continued. “I can see why you were upset.”

 

“It, it wasn't so much seeing their pictures as hearing what was said about them.” Kagome said through a couple of hiccuping sobs. “I mean, those rumours have been going around for a while, the whole school knows them. But no one mentioned them. No, all they talked about was the fact that they got good grades and won a couple of awards in sports! That man, the goddamn Police Chief! He knew full well what his son had been accused of, yet he still insists his son is a `good boy at heart' whose had some discipline issues! It's like they're putting them up on a pedestal and ignoring everything that might tarnish that. It's just not far! They rape me and at least two other girls, and they're still going to be remembered as `good boys at heart'! And I can't even tell anybody any different because if I do, I'll have to tell them about Inuyasha too. It's just not fair.”

 

“I know it's not.” Bejiro said softly. “Life rarely is. I wish I could say different. I wish I could go back in time and stop this from happening, just as your mother and, I imagine, Inuyasha also do. But we can't. It did happen. All we can do is try to move on. And remember, you know the truth and so do those other girls. What's more, you know they can never hurt anyone else again. That's more than many women in your position can say.”

 

Kagome started crying again, though not as hard this time. Bejiro just sat there stroking her hair until she finally calmed down.

 

 

Author's Notes:

 

Name translations (there may also be other translations, but these are the ones I found)

 

Michiko (Kagome's mother) - Beauty / Wisdom

Bejiro (Kagome's grandfather) - Enjoys peace

Kano (gang leader) - One's masculine power; capability

Jiro (gang member) - Second son

Montaro (gang member previously unnamed) - big boy

Akira (gang member previously unnamed) - Intelligent

Shino (gang member previously unnamed) - Stem of bamboo