InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shades of Gray ❯ Paper Doll ( Chapter 14 )

~<>~ Shades of Gray ~<>~

 

 

~<>~ Chapter 14 ~<>~ Paper Doll

 

 

 

Three days didn't seem to pass by fast enough for Kagome whilst her body was inconsolable and raw, the pain nearly insurmountable. The wounds had been awful, the treatment worse; Jakotsu had tried to help her with the bruises by bleeding a few out, but it did little good besides relieving more scars upon her already marred face. At the end of the weekend, three days after receiving the nearly fatal beating from a man on whom she trusted, her face still looked like road kill and her spirits were hardly any better. She spent the better of the first two days in bed; ice packs piled high upon her face and a heating pad below her neck. The swelling had gone down surprisingly fast, yet the abuse was impossible to disguise. The bruises on her face were each some ungodly shade of color that only could be seen within the spectrum of the rainbow. The points of impact were now clear, having delineated where Bankotsu's knuckles met her fragile cheekbone. Her lip was still torn open four places, probably needing stitches to help heal the brittle tuffs of muscle. Yet they went unstitched, healing on their own and scaring over, only to be ripped open by the slightest movements on the victim's behalf. Kagome had pondered, at a point, if her mouth was ever going to be the same.

 

Lying across the micro fiber L Shaped couch, Kagome half heartedly followed the mid day drama of Judging Amy, while Jakotsu hollered into the phone at some ex, or current boyfriend of whom was about to become an ex. Kagome tried to filter his conversation from her ears yet failed miserably. All she was achieving at the current moment was gaining yet another impressive head ache. `As if the swelling isn't enough,' she thought sourly, as she rolled onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. It wasn't as if she didn't appreciate that Jakotsu had come to her rescue, she actually had cried when she came to her senses and internalized his dedication to help her through this. He had avoided going into his bar for the last three days, solely so that he could stay be her side incase she needed anything. This was the first day however, that she was actually able to keep herself awake for more then four hours at a time. That Percocet could knock her for a fuckin' loop, she had decided after passing out for the fourth time the day before. Today she was finally weaning herself off of it.

 

Yet with the removal of the toxic drug came the reality of the world, crashing about her like a Kamikaze pilot. The man of whom she had trusted the most had utterly betrayed her. How could he do this to her? This wasn't love; this was abuse, and the more that Kagome told herself that, the more that the butterflies spun around her stomach. What would be the repercussions if she simply ignored his demand to return to his side? Would he come after her again, this time possibly with the intent to actually kill her? Would he go after those she loved, or those he saw were able to take her from him? She feared for Sha more then her own safety, truth be told. If that man walked into the club he was not going to walk back out without some serious fighting. That was the double edged sword that she had thrust herself upon; if she didn't go back and Sha did, he was a dead man for their transgressions, but nevertheless, it was undoubted that Bankotsu would come after both of them eventually. If she did go back, Bankotsu would have his way with her again, possibly injuring her enough to kill her next time, and she would be his again, to violate in the ways he had.

 

The bitch of it all was that, regardless of the risk upon her neck, she wanted to see Sha again. She wanted to know that he was okay and that Bankotsu didn't have him killed in the process. Kagome tried to tell herself that the two males were friends, that Bankotsu wouldn't do that to him, but her current disposition begged her to reconsider that fact. Then she rationed that Sha was a demon and could take Bankotsu down in a heart beat, but could he dodge a bullet? What about a number of them all at once? And thus her emotions ran through her mind, methodically tearing her apart.

 

Shuddering at the thought, she hardly heard Jakotsu's question until he was in her face, quite literally. Tilting her head to the right, she came nose to nose with her savior. Letting out a squeal, she jumped backwards away from the man in front of her.

 

Jakotsu had a hand on her shoulder in a second, resting on his knees next to her. “It's only me, Poodle.” Seeing the embarrassment taint her eyes, he smiled widely, “Well least you're on guard,” he mused, “but I think your hearings shot. Do you want anything, you need anything, is there anything that I can get you?”

 

Kagome smiled patiently, running a hand very gently down her face. She was due for a nap, and Jakotsu knew it. Seeing that mother hen in him emerging, one that sadly proclaimed how great of a parent he could have been, Kagome knew not to argue. “No Jackie, I'm fine.” Her voice was hardly above a whisper, her lips still to numb to truly move without a torrent of pain. “Thank you,” she silently mouthed.

 

Sticking out his bottom lip in a visible pout, Jakotsu raised his eyebrows. “I think you should drink some more water, Sweetie. It will keep your skin hydrated and Lord knows that you need that.” Putting his hand to her forehead, the one place on her face that escaped without a single mark, he checked her temperature. “You're cool as ice, Kitten. But I still want to put another ice pack on your face before you go to bed.”

 

Kagome groaned loudly, obviously in distaste of the idea. “Do we really have

to?”

 

Jakotsu's glower answered for him.

 

Sitting up slowly, with the support of her friend, she swung her legs off the couch and sat, her eyes darting to the iridescent red blotches of light that illuminated the time. It was already three in the afternoon, which meant that she needed to call Kikyo soon and feed her roommate more bullshit. She hadn't seriously questioned Kagome's absence over the weekend. If anything, it gave Kikyo some alone time with InuYasha at the dorm room, something that Kagome was glad to not be a part of. She had told Kikyo that she had to work at the diner and was staying home since the Regent was right up the road, not to mention the fact that she was ill. There wasn't much more conversation beyond that fact, besides for Kikyo's ranting about the drama on their dorm floor. Now she would need a real good reason as to why she wasn't in the local area and was missing class while only four weeks into the semester.

 

“Don't worry about what they'll think,” Jakotsu seemed to read her mind, “All you need to worry about right now, baby girl, is just getting better. And that ain't gonna happen if you don't let me put an ice pack on your face.” Tapping his foot impatiently, he stared at the girl, “now come on sugar, and let's get this done with. I got me some soaps to watch with some hotties I can't miss!”

 

Kagome was inclined to agree. Standing with Jakotsu's help, the two slowly made their way up the steps. It wasn't that Kagome's body was worse off than her face, but the amount of drugs and the amount of pain was nearly disabling to her conscious efforts. She had already taken a face plant into the carpet once earlier that day, and that wasn't a memory that she was about to repeat. “You're too good to me,” she muttered as they got to the second story of the colonial house.

 

Reaching the guest room, Jakotsu helped ease Kagome into bed then took a seat next to her. Gently pushing her hair from her face, the man seemed so lost for a moment. With one more sigh, he smiled and gently patted her head, “Don't worry baby, when we're old and gay, I'll remind you that it's your turn to take care of me.”

 

Kagome attempted to giggle but fell a long way short. Letting out a small snort, one that mocked a laugh, she closed her eyes. “Sure, Jacky. I'll do that.”

 

Jakotsu excused himself from the room for but a second, retrieving an icepack from the icebox in the weight room and a towel from the bathroom. Wrapping the towel around the pack, he took his seat by Kagome's side and checked the time. “All right Kaggie, it is three fifteen which means that at three forty five, we can remove the pack and you can have your nap.”

Kagome nodded in silent acquiescence.

 

Placing the icepack to her right cheek, his hand cupped the towel as his other fiddled with her hair. The normal silence ensued for an overwhelming five minutes of cold torture before his voice broke the trend. “Or you could pay me back now.”

 

`Wow, that was abrupt,' Kagome noted as she cracked open her left eye and stared up at Jakotsu. His face was a mask for his intent, his brown eyes swirling with some type of hidden agenda. Kagome could only imagine what he was thinking. Nodding once, she didn't dare speak.

 

“Never go back there, and I mean never Kagome. If you really want to pay me back for all of what I'm doing, then never go back there. You know I don't mind helping you and you know I want to see my Poodle get better more so than anyone else; but if you are serious about wanting to pay me back, then all I ask is that you never go back there.”

 

Kagome remained silent for a shocking amount of time, the request hanging in the air over her head like a death sentence. She knew what awaited her, and she completely understood why Jakotsu was asking this of her, but a part of her brain couldn't comprehend the enormous life change that would result from her never returning to Illusions. For nearly two years, that club had been her safe haven from the real world, it was her escape and her punishment, and it was her fantasy and her nightmare. She was able to be completely free under the rule of her master there. Only at that bar was she able to cast away the shell of Kagome Higurashi and act out regardless of who watched. Only at that bar was she able to seduce men of whom she would never dare look at in the real world, and leave them flat without a second whim after obtaining what she wanted. Only there did she ever feel whole, instead of that emotionless countenance that she carried on her shoulder as her cross, her burden in the real world. Sure she had her friends and she had her life, but had she ever truly lived before Bankotsu? The answer was a loudly stated no and now being asked to live without him…could she do it?

 

Disliking the prolonged hesitation, a hand clamped over hers and placed it on the ice pack. Jakotsu vanished from her side for a moment before turning on a light and reclaiming his position, armed with a hand held mirror. Gently removing the pack, his forced the mirror in front of her face. “Now do you understand why I'm asking you never to return there? Look at yourself Kagome; look at what he did to you! I know you think he still loves you, and I know deep down you still are in love with him. But Kagome he's a fucking psycho! He nearly killed you, baby, he meant to kill you. What makes you think he won't do it again?”

 

Kagome feebly attempted to push away the mirror without taking one glimpse in it. She had utterly refused to look into that pane of glass, or any for that matter, since she had retired to Jakotsu's house. She didn't want to see what she knew awaited her. She couldn't face that person yet, she couldn't see the truth of reality. `Why would he do this to me? He's had me do so much worse for him, and yet when I attempt to live, he beats me half to death.' The brutal honesty of the situation brought tears to her eyes. `I know our relationship has been done for years, but I still thought… I still thought that he cared. Was I wrong?' The painful throbbing of her face justified the answer without words. `He did this to me without batting an eye. How deep into this am I?' her chest constricted with tears that her eyes were unable to fill, her heart feeling like it was shattering all over again.

 

Bankotsu had been her rock amidst the raging stream of life. He was the constant in her life that was never supposed to change, wasn't he? `When did I start living this dream?' she wondered as she slowly lifted her eyes to the reality that tore into her with wild abandon. Had her life truly been reduced to a dream? Had she simply ignored reality, settling for a dark subset of superficial existence to overweigh that looming truth? She had run from it all at the first opportunity, hadn't she? He had been her savior, her knight on a white horse, and he stole her away from her brooding and self loathing, he made her feel alive again. She was willing to do anything to keep that feeling alive, even submitting herself to his every whim. She never wanted to reenter that cold and rank solitary existence that had ensnared the teen. She never wanted to be alone again. Yet she was, wasn't she? And somehow, looking at the black and yellow and green marks that covered her face like a veil, she realized that she was more alone now then she ever had been. Or was she?

 

Faces slowly began plowing through her head, reminding her of all she had gained over the past three years. Her existence extended beyond her mother and Kikyo now, she had others to rely on to support her. She had Sango back in her life, and the bright and cheerful Rin. She had a man (in the loosest definition of the word), of who had risked his life for her, sitting by her side through all of this. She even had Miroku and InuYasha, begrudgingly of course, but never the less there for her. She didn't need to put up with his abuse anymore; she didn't need to be his pet, his precious, his servant. She would be okay with the loyalty and friendship of her new friends. Casting him aside felt oddly liberating, but the reality of the pain couldn't prevent the heartache attached to it. He was forcing her to do this; he was forcing her to leave him. It would have ended sooner or later, that was inevitable truth that Kagome understood. However the weight of the baggage from the past two years was painful.

 

Sensing her despair, Jakotsu placed the mirror on the vanity and wrapped his arms around Kagome, slipping into bed next to her. “I can't imagine what you're going through with this. I've been too much of a coward to ever get into a long-term relationship, so I can't say I understand what you going feeling. But Kagome this is going to be the wisest decision you can make. He's a psycho Kagome, and if you don't get off the tracks now you're gonna get yourself killed. When I first saw you at the club Thursday night, I thought you were dead. All I remember thinking is `dear God, I'm too late'. You want to know what scares the shit out of me? It wouldn't surprise me if Bankotsu had it in him to kill someone for something like this. But to know that someone could have been you,” swallowing thickly, he looked away and shook his head. “You invited me into this Kagome, and I intend to drag you out.”

 

Kagome snapped her head up to stare at the man, confusion in her eyes. “How did I invite you into this? I woke up and you were there. Didn't Bankotsu call you?”

 

Jakotsu batted his eyes twice then sighed, coming around to rest his cheek against the top of her head. “No, precious, you text messaged me. I don't know how, because honestly honey, you were out like a fat kid in dodge ball when I got there.” Sensing her frown, he shook his head gently, “somehow you managed to get to your phone when Bankotsu was not in the room and you text messaged me to come to his club to help you. Granted the words were a bit hard to discern but I got cousin, club, and help very clearly.”

 

Kagome blinked slowly, unable to recall placing the message for help. On the brink of a coma, she had found the strength to get herself help. That had to account for something, didn't it? But if she had been strong enough then, there was no reason why she wasn't strong enough to finish this. “Jak…I…”

 

“You don't need to thank me, Poodle, I know you're grateful. But Lady, you better swear to me on all your Prada heels that you're not going back.”

 

Kagome nodded wearily, ideas beginning to swirl in her brain. “I have to talk to him, but I swear you Jak, I'm done. I'm not playing his games anymore, I don't need to. I realize that now and maybe that's why he flipped out so much. He realizes that he's losing me.”

 

“Stop making excuses for him, Kagome! Just because he's losing you, does not make it okay for him to beat the ever living shit out of you! And don't forget he's getting married; he shouldn't be fucking around with you in the first place! Listen to me Kagome you're best off to severing all ties with him. You don't need to talk to him, there's nothing that you need to say. If anything, he should be crawling back to you begging forgiveness.”

 

Kagome stifled a sigh. “I understand that Jak, but this isn't just my problem.” Sensing Jakotsu's hesitation, she digressed. “Did Bankotsu explain just why he did what he did?”

 

Jakotsu scoffed, “because he's a male with a serious testosterone malfunction?”

 

The sigh slipped from her lips without reserve. “No. It's kind of a long story but the abridged version goes as follows; this is a really hot hanyou that runs around the club that Banks not all too fond of. He calls him Puck and defines him as a nuisance. Well, Sha, which is his name, and me kind of hit it off to an extent that kind of made Bank jealous. He told me to never deal with Sha again, and attempted to ingrain that in my memory with the help of a bullwhip.” Sensing Jakotsu's discontent, she whined under her breath. “Temptation is one thing, Jak, but this man is like walking sex. He was so hot and so mysterious and I just couldn't help myself. I was on a train it up to the club in New York when three punks jump me and tried to rape me.”

 

Jakotsu cut her off with a loud gasp, his hand wrapping around her bicep. “I heard about them on the news! That was you? Oh my god, baby, are you all right?”

 

Kagome licked her lips, attempting to redistribute some type of wetness to the cracked surface. Her face was killing her from talking for so long, but she needed to get the story out in the open. Swallowing thickly, she continued, “I was shaken up some, but yes, I'm okay. It so happened that Sha managed to be on the same train as me; he got to the guys before they could do anything, and fucked them up something fierce. We got off at the next stop and someone must have called the cops. We hid in an alley for an hour, escaping the publics' eye. I mean, it wouldn't have mattered what those guys would have done to me; Sha was a demon and we know how the police are about them. He would have been locked up for swinging at a human, and you know that! I couldn't let that happen, he saved me! So…we ran.” The hesitation ran longer then she wanted to, as the memories played over and over in her memory. The thought of anything happening to that man because of her actions tore at her heart with a savage intent.

 

Jakotsu could sense the words not spoke. With a sigh, he ran his hand through her tresses. “Things got heated between you two, didn't it?”

 

Kagome choked on a muffled sob. “I don't know what I was thinking getting back on a train and heading to meet up with `Oberon'. I should have turned around and gone home. But I wasn't thinking at all, I was too elated from my…tryst. I mean, it's not even like we had sex, it's not like I completely violated myself in Bankotsu's regard. I sucked him off, like I have done for to many of Bankotsu's `friends', and he got me off, but in the interim he put a hole in my pants.”

 

“And that's how Bankotsu figured out what happened?”

 

Kagome's shoulders drooped as she whined, “No, he figured it out when he got the police report and found out about the appearance of a `white haired demon'.”

 

Jakotsu seemed to perk up from his spot next to Kagome. “Wait a damned minute, sista. White haired demon, as in a beautiful mane with two gorgeous little ears piled on top like cherries on a sundae? That White haired God?”

 

Kagome groaned; what was it with the men she was attracted to being those that Jakotsu always had an eye open for. `Well,' she thought drearily, `at least he has good taste'. “He's inu hanyou.”

 

Jakotsu nearly jumped off the bed, his eyes turning green with jealousy. “Oh, Sarah Jessica Parker, you're talking about my future husband!”

 

Somehow, Kagome hadn't expected anything less from the homosexual's mouth. “Does he know you're going to get married, Jak?”

 

Jakotsu waved a hand at her. “Pragmatics, my dear, simply pragmatics.” A crestfallen look seemed to bloom about the man's face as he dropped his head back dramatically against the pillow. “So…he's straight, huh? Damnit, I was so close!”

 

Kagome made a face, and then seriously considered his words. “Wait, you know Sha?” How was that possible? Sha had just started coming back to the club, and Jakotsu hadn't been there in ages!

 

Jakotsu shrugged slightly, his eyes drifting off to a world filled with puppy dog ears and gorgeous hanyou's more then eager to please him. “I don't know him personally; I never had the pleasure of speaking with that sexy devil. He always seemed to run away when I got close. I just thought it was a game of cat and mouse.” With a pout, he sighed again. “Maybe Bankotsu warned him. it wouldn't surprise me. He's always making my life harder…just like that lovely hanyou makes me harder.”

 

Kagome shook her head, attempting to make the burning in her ears stop. Was it possibly for the words to physically scar her? “C'est impossible! You haven't been to the club in the last two years. Ever since that scandal with you and the waiters, Bankotsu has kept you at an arms length of the establishment.”

 

“It was hardly a scandal sweet heart, I simply jakafied a couple members of the staff.”

 

“At the same time…and…quite literally,” Kagome added with a painstaking grunt.

 

“Why do you have to worry about semantics, Kagome?” With a huff, he shook his head, “Anyway, I know that eye candy because he was going to the club for about three years before you were introduced to the scene. And I've longed to know how big that sausage is that he is hiding in his pants.” Turning pleading eyes to Kagome, he whined, “Give me something to make my nights a little more bearable, please? Just some basic measurements, it's all I'm asking.”

 

Kagome closed her eyes, slowly counting to five. Keeping them closed, she willed down her headache. “I can't, Jak, I'm sorry. I don't suck and tell.”

 

“Bullshit, you hussy!” Pushing her shoulder gently, he snickered before falling back into a serious tone. “So…setting all of that aside for a later date, what happened after he figured it out?”

 

Kagome shrugged, a bit of concern coloring her tone. “I denied it at first, he got rough and…” she shivered once. He would have pushed her to a breaking limit had she not escaped his clutches, in all ways possible. She still ached from all of his treatment, the emotional scars quite possibly outweighing the physical ones. “And then he beat the shit out of me.”

 

Jakotsu nodded slowly in commiseration, “so he did this because you were with our lovely dog-eared companion.”

 

Kagome hated the way he described Sha, but did her best to shove it off to the dark recess of her mind. “Yes, and you have to understand that Sha is a regular there!”

 

Jakotsu hefted an eyebrow, “he is? That's funny, because right before you became Bank's little play toy, he told Puck never to come back.”

 

Kagome nodded slowly, “I remember Bankotsu saying something about that. Do you know what happened?”

 

Jakotsu nodded vigorously, “Sure, I would never forget that. Bankotsu had trained Sha to be his little protégée. When Sha came to Bank, he didn't know his ass from his head, but Bankotsu felt bad, saw potential, and modeled him to be the next up and rising star of the underground Goth realm. It got bad however, when Sha's popularity began to flare over Bankotsu's. Bankotsu had this little pet, a girl who was a lot wilder then you, and she was caught taking it up the poop shoot in a back room from our golden eyed beast. Bankotsu told Sha that he needed to find somewhere else to party, and then fired his little chickadee.”

 

Kagome seemed to blanch at the revelation. “So…wait, this was how long before I joined our little group?” Oh the wheels were spinning now as Kagome began to understand a lot of what had been kept secret.

 

“Not more then two weeks.”

 

Kagome felt like she was going to be sick. That meant that while he was with her, toting her around the social circles of his business life, he was screwing this girl as well. `Are you shocked,' her conscious mocked, `he's probably doing the same thing to his fiancée. All the money in the world goes to that she has no clue about his fetishes.' And wasn't that the truth; she never knew about his gothic undertones or his deep rooted sadistic tendencies until he introduced her to the night life. Apparently that was only after he got rid of his last slave. Did that mean that he was about to introduce the new woman, or would he keep her clear of it? Did it matter? Maybe he would forget about Kagome, maybe he'd let her go. After all, he did it before, hadn't he? He let go the woman who was caught with…the same man she had been. Oh this was not fairing well for the vixen. Not really wanting to know the answer, she questioned, “What happened to the girl?”

 

The brief hesitation spoke in volumes. “I…don't know. I never saw her again…”

 

“What aren't you telling me?”

 

Jakotsu wasn't about to tell Kagome about the body being discovered in an abandoned warehouse. He wasn't going to tell her the gore filled details of the state of which she was left in, or how the murder went unsolved. Kagome would freak nearly as much as he was about to. “I don't know what he did to her Kagome, but I know I never saw her again. Let's leave it at that. I mean, I'm shocked that he allowed Sha back into the club after that offense; normally people are banned for life. Something must have happened, or he must be real wealthy, to make it back into our ranks.” Jakotsu knew the trouble that was brewing for their mutual eye candy. Sha had crossed Bankotsu once and lived to tell about it; there was no way his cousin would allow this to go unchecked.

 

Bankotsu's warning raced through Kagome's mind, dating back to the first time he had spoken about the gold eyed god. `It is quite possible that I saved your life,' was what he had said about stopping her and Sha's initial interactions on the dance floor just a few weeks prior. Was that because Bankotsu would have killed her for getting involved with him?

 

With a sigh, Jakotsu put the icepack back on Kagome's face. “Look woman, all I'm saying is that you really need to sever all ties with Bankotsu, and avoid him for the next century. I don't want you to go missing too.” And wasn't that the truth?

 

Kagome swallowed down the warning, the feeling akin to swallowing a mouthful of steal nails. “Jak…” her voice dropped to a whisper as she slid closer to his side. The severity of the situation stood before her in all its bloody glory, and the thought sent shivers from her spinal cord outwards. “I'm scared.”

 

Jakotsu wrapped his arm around her, his head coming down to rest on her hair. Scared…no…that wasn't the proper word, terrified described the trembling that nearly shook the two's bodies. “Me too, Kagome. Me too.”

 

 

*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**X*X

 

 

InuYasha trudged into Birch Hall, his melancholy aura saturating the premises like a poisonous miasma. It was nearing the midnight hour, shielding a moment when Father Time would slip aside unnoticed by the slumbering world for a short rest whilst the bewitching hour changed the day from one to another. It was as if the world had slipped from the strong support of Atlas and had landed on his shoulders, weighing down on him with enough force to bury him amidst his anguish and obscurity. His conscious refused to utter the reason for this recent trend of gloom, but within the confines of his beating heart, he comprehended the rationality all to well. It had been nearly five days since he had last seen Kagome, and today brought no word to alleviate his intense ache. The nights that he would stay awake, as of late, to lull the pain of his day by the gentle and soothing sounds of her even breathing, had been stolen away by her unexcused absence. To ask Kikyo more about the situation would have led to conversations the hanyou wasn't sure that he was properly prepared for, yet he burned for the truth. A lingering feeling of dread had shroud the man like a cloak over the past few days, his fingers nervously twitching at his side, eager to sooth an ire that he all together didn't understand.

 

His dreams had been cloudy, filled with so much mystery it put to shame the best of Arthur Conan Doyle's works. Through those hazy, uninterruptible dreams he saw himself without his concealment charm restricting his being, and at his side he saw Kagome, dressed in clothing he knew the girl would never dare don. What had him sitting up in cold sweats screaming to the empty walls of his room, however, was the constant feeling that something lingered over their heads like a torrent storm, ready to unleash hell upon the unsuspecting duo. During some of these nightmares, if a title could be indulged as such, he would gaze upon Kagome's face only to find it riddled with bruises and lacerations that made him question how she was capable of continuing her corporal existence amongst society. That image alone had nearly awoken the boy in such a state of panic that he had run from his room to the bathroom, expecting to retch at the thought.

 

Now as he dragged his feet behind him, his sluggish movements lethargically moving the man forward, he had to go to the one room that reminded him most of his missing companion. It disgusted him, as he reflected in retrospect, to think of how he had treated the girl for the previous years. He had looked down upon in fear of seeing her for who she truly was. Instead, he cast her into a tower, barricading her from his lust filled intentions. Without remorse he had objectified her as the bane of his existence. He had spent five long years avoiding a truth that had all together been present within his mind. He longed for Kagome Higurashi. And yet now, as he sat in commiseration of these revelations, she was untouchable. He would never have her, as long as he kept at Kikyo's side, and he could not leave Kikyo's side without excommunicating himself from his family. It seemed, to the weary hanyou, that his family was his undoing.

 

“InuYasha?”

 

Hardly acknowledging the utterance of his name, the man continued the seemingly death march onwards. It seemed, however, that the fates would play havoc in his life once again. A petite hand clasped over his shoulder, startling him from his brooding. Swinging around with a near fury, InuYasha nearly lit into the tiny girl before him.

 

Rin backed off a step, seeing the rising fury in the man's violet eyes. Flashing him a brief smile, she searched his face to see if he was willing to converse, or if she should simply abandon all hope of intelligible conversation.

 

“What?”

 

His tone was snippy, and for a moment, Rin bristled under the harsh gaze. “I was just saying hello, but it seems that your in a world all your own. Please, continue brooding. I'll get out of your way.” With a shake of her head, the five foot two girl slipped back behind the reception desk, gathering all of her belongings from the day into her shoulder bag.

 

Running a hand down his face, InuYasha knew that he would be best not engaging in conversation with the girl before him. His best course of action would be to flee back out the door he had entered from and return to the sanctuary of his abode, daring only to return once Kagome had made a grand reappearance. `Hey…this girl is friends with Kagome, maybe she's heard something,' his inner beast rumbled. He hated when his youkai made more sense then his brain.

 

Walking to the counter, he flashed the girl an apologetic grimace and slid both arms onto the cool wooden surface. Trying to be as smooth as his somnolent disposition would allow, he battered down a sigh. “What's shakin', Rin?”

 

Rin's eyes slid from the text book she was cramming into her bag to stare up at the hanyou with a cockeyed grin. “Did you really just ask me what's shaking?”

 

InuYasha simply shrugged. “What's good?”

 

Rin rolled her eyes, letting out a deep sigh that seemed to bellow from her toes. “The thought of sleep is the first thing that comes to my mind.” Seeing InuYasha smirk, she shook her head, “but I still have a half hours drive ahead of me. You're lucky, you get to go upstairs and fall asleep.” Lifting her bag, she chirped in an all too cheerful tone for that dreadful hour of the night, “Don't forget to sign yourself in. I'm off duty.”

 

InuYasha stared at the girl then held out one hand. “Then give me the clipboard,” he remarked with a rather humorless tone.

 

Rin passed the log in sheet to the sleep depraved boy, her eyes studying his for a moment. “You look like you haven't slept in days. Is everything okay?”

 

InuYasha signed his name to the roster then set it down on the counter. “You're observant for this hour, and a little to caffeinated. Don't you agree?”

 

Rin shrugged while slowly beginning to bounce from foot to foot. “You're talking to someone who is running on three Tabs, one Rockstar, two double mocha cappuccinos and an order of waffle fries. You tell me, smart ass.”

 

InuYasha found the energy to toss her a smirk. “Wow, I think you'll be up for the next week off the amount of caffeine you've ingested.”

 

Rin shrugged with an airy laugh, “you don't know the half of it.”

 

InuYasha glanced at the clock behind Rin that decorated the bland white wall. “It's really late, why are you working now?”

 

“I worked it out with my father so that I can work one late night a week. It works for us and I can use the extra income.”

 

InuYasha raised a bushy eyebrow underneath his bangs. “You have to get your dad's approval to work late? That's beat.”

 

Rin leveled him an understand smile that was filled with condensation. “It's complicated, but you look too tired for the story. I'll save it for another time.”

 

InuYasha bit back his retort and swallowed his pride. “Hey…” knowing how this was going to sound, he pushed on regardless. “Have you heard anything from Kagome?”

 

Rin looked rather stricken for a moment, a slight light of panic filling her eyes. “No, why? Is something wrong, did something happen?”

 

InuYasha nearly let loose a string of curses that could have made even the worst of scum blush. “Calm down and get your panties out of that knot. I was just curious…”

 

Rin dropped her bag onto the table, creating a rather painful echo that shattered the tranquility of the lobby. Leveling the hanyou with a direct glare, she dared him to lie. “Don't feed me shit, InuYasha. You're screwing her cousin, therefore, you see her more then I do. If you're asking if I've heard anything, that means that you haven't, and probably Kikyo hasn't either. So something is wrong, you're just not sure what.”

 

InuYasha hated the fact that the bitch could think like that at an hour as of such. Rubbing his temples, he groaned, “She was sick over the weekend and went home with her mother. I'm just curious if you heard anything because we thought she'd be back today.”

 

Rin bit her lip, a faint blush tainting her cheeks for her violent outburst. “I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to jump down your throat. It just sounded like...” she let her sentence drift off into the oppressive atmosphere.

 

“Yes you did,” was the retort.

 

Rin waved off the snide remark, “have you tried calling her?”

 

InuYasha shrugged and diverted his attention. The last thing he needed was for Rin to see the honest endearment that was partial to the missing raven haired beauty. “It's not my place to call her. I mean, she's my girlfriend's cousin. I'm just worried.”

 

Rin measured his words, taking them for what wasn't said. She could tell that he was embarrassed enough by coming to her about the missing girl for fear of his underlying feelings being revealed. To bad he wore them on his sleeve. Resting her arms on the counter a few inches from him, she stood on her tip toes to level the eye contact. “Well, I think I would be happy to get a call from a friend, regardless of who he was, if I was sick. It's always nice to know that people care. Maybe you should try giving her a ring tomorrow.”

 

“Or…you could and let me know what happens.”

 

Rin smiled sincerely and licked her lips. “InuYasha, do I look like your secretary?”

 

InuYasha stole a glance at the girl and shot her an indiscernible glower. “I can see some resemblances.” Digressing, he waved off the present banter, “I just don't want Kikyo to get the wrong impression.”

 

Rin nodded once, and then pulled up a stool. Getting herself situated, she met his questioning gaze. “InuYasha, do you really care what Kikyo thinks?”

 

InuYasha knew a rhetorical question when he heard one. “It isn't that…”

 

“Then what is it? Are you afraid that she'll realize how much you like Kagome?”

 

With a hiss that sounded more like a growl, InuYasha glared around the lobby as if Kikyo was clinging to a wall, in a very spiderman-ish way, dying to hear his unveiled secret. “Hey now…I do not…”

 

Rin rolled her eyes then slipped off her stool. Grabbing her book bag, she slid it onto her shoulder and fingered her pocket, looking for her car keys. “If you're gonna' sit here and feed me shit, I'm leaving.”

 

One muscular arm blocked her way, the biceps nearly rippling under the silken black long sleeve shirt. “Wait…I…”

 

Rin dropped the bag again and hopped up onto the table, sitting a foot away from the hanyou. “You need to start admitting that you have feelings for her. We all see it, InuYasha, and Kikyo will too eventually. You need to make a decision; you need to figure out if you want to stay with Kikyo or pursue things with Kagome. But you can't have both, and I know you know that.”

 

“I don't want both,” he said after a moment's hesitation, “I know what I want, but I can't have it.” Damnit, why was everyone busting his balls this week? If the whole ordeal with Miroku wasn't bad enough, now this nosey little wench wanted a bit in on him.

 

“Why?”

 

“It doesn't work that way in my family. We marry for convenience for my father, so that his business will profit, and we'll become rich and miserable. Kikyo is my logical choice because of the connection her family has to mine, from an economical stand point.”

 

“So you plan on marrying her?”

 

InuYasha nearly blanched. “Well…no….” Damnit, had he actually said that? He needed to walk away now, before something even more stupid came out of his mouth.

 

“You just said…”

 

“No! It works for now, and I'm not jeopardizing that until I'm done with school and have my degree. That way when I'm disowned by my father for going against his wishes, I can support myself.” And wasn't that the truth. His father would have his balls skewed to their living room wall when he broke up with Kikyo.

 

Rin closed her eyes, a pained expression searing its way across her features and as she reopened her chocolate orbs, a light of understating and compassion delineated her beautiful features. “I know someone, InuYasha, who decided to live for his father, ignoring his life to take over the family business and be as successful as his predecessors; and the last time I checked, he was miserable. Don't follow that path, InuYasha. You're only hurting yourself inevitably, and not to mention you're dragging Kikyo behind you through that self destruction. You can't hold onto something because you think it will be valuable later, you'll miss its worth now.” Not that she was advocating Kikyo for InuYasha, but hell, he had to see it, and he had to see that he and Kagome were perfect for each other!

 

InuYasha grunted, his self defense mechanism kicking his bravado into action. “I don't need some kid telling me how to live, thanks. You ain't old enough to get into bars, Rin, what the hell do you know about love?”

 

Surprisingly, Rin kept a level head without any animosity hijacking her voice. “More then you ever will. I've loved and let go, and it hurt like hell, but I did it. Just because I can't drink legally doesn't mean anything. My knowledge is in my heart, InuYasha, and I'm fairly certain yours is too.”

 

InuYasha recoiled as if the girl had slapped him. “I know what I'm doing, Damnit.”

 

With a simple shrug, Rin's brown eyes bore into his. “Prove it, make a decision. Right here, right now. Kikyo or Kagome, InuYasha? If you're so certain that you understand the world, then this shouldn't be a problem for you.”

 

InuYasha sneered once, his lip coiling upwards, “back off, Bitch. I ain't got to do shit.”

 

Rin's solemn expression seemed to rip the hanyou to shreds. “As you wish.” With a sigh, she went to grab her book bag for the third time that night.

 

“Just…don't go squealing all this to Kagome. Promise?”

 

Rin lifted her head, her eyes darting to meet liquid amethyst. With a snide grin, she mocked his former words, “I ain't got to do shit.”

 

InuYasha seemed slightly pained. “Now don't go all pertinacious on me.”

 

Rin made an emphatic gesture to InuYasha, vividly depicting her response, and began to turn. Quick as lightning, InuYasha reached out with his right hand, grabbing her middle finger that was still extended and pulled her closer to him, not hurting the girl but letting her know he meant business. “Don't extend that finger to me sweetheart, because I might take you up on that offer.”

 

Rin rolled her eyes, hearing the joke behind the hanyou's gruff words. Her eyes darted down towards the hand that held her captive and she hesitated. Slowly bringing up her left hand, her fingers traced over the surface of the power limiter that graced InuYasha's index finger. “That's a beautiful ring,” she commented with a slight hesitation engrained in her tone.

 

InuYasha jerked away from her touch, his youkai nearly jumping into action from within its slumbering depths. “Yeah, family heirloom,” he responded cautiously, not liking how her eyes had taken on a glossy texture. It was the expression of someone drowning in memories that he was sure he didn't want to get invited into.

 

But within the second he had noticed the expression, the girl was rid of it. A blank countenance took its place as her eyes slowly raised to his. “Family heirloom, that's cool. I wish at times my family left something to me, but they didn't. No nifty crests, no hidden fortune, nothing; bunch of slackers if you ask me.”

 

Her humor was greatly displaced, grating on the ears of the hanyou. He could just about sense her desperation to alleviate the memory from his brain of her digression. Not wanting to disclose anything beyond what he already said, he wished to pry further into her knowledge of exactly what the ring was. “My mother gave it to me before she died.” So it wasn't exactly a lie, InuYasha had received the ring from his mother, but it was on the day he was born.

 

Rin nodded once, just dignifying that she heard his response. “It's beautiful,” she said slowly, her eyes slowly lifting up to study his expression. “Can I see it?”

 

InuYasha nearly stumbled backwards, snatching his hand back to his chest. “Sorry girly, I don't take it off. It hasn't left my finger, except to be resized, since her death.”

 

Rin nodded once more, her eyes slowly traveling down to stare at the engraved surface that was illuminated by three stones. Kanji that was so faint to the eye, Rin would never have been able to distinguish it lined the surface, but she already knew what it said. The stones on this were different though; where she had seen emerald, ruby and topaz, this ring was decorated by three tiny stones of ruby, turquoise and topaz. Fluttering her eyes up to his, she nearly choked on her words. “Oh…really?” Finding herself nearly speechless, she watched as InuYasha quickly jammed his hand into his pocket. Was it possible? What a small bitter world this would be. “It's beautiful.” Her smile was tight, forced, and it unbalanced InuYasha.

 

“Yeah, well…family blood runs thick.”

 

Rin smirked, which unsettled InuYasha even more. “I bet it does. Look…I…” she licked her lips and took a step towards InuYasha, unsure of how to progress. It was as if the world was crashing opportunities at her doorstep, and all she had to do was find the right words. But how could she word this properly? The ring before her was a concealment charm; she knew that without batting an eye, which meant that InuYasha was a youkai. The only reason Rin was even in possession of this knowledge was her first hand experience with demons. Yet she knew the vehemence all youkai's carried about keeping their identity a secret; she had known some to even kill to shut up a human. How would InuYasha react if she flat out asked him about his true identity? Would he be able to provide her with the information she had searched for, or would he rend he asunder? Deciding that tonight was simply not a good night to die, she shook her head once. “I love jewelry, and all those weird eclectic pieces from years ago always catch my eye. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried.”

 

InuYasha narrowed his gaze, unable to tell the truth from fiction that danced about her eyes in a blaze of rashness. She was eager to disavow the current situation nearly as much as he was. Casting a dubious look, he shuffled his feet and scratched the back of his neck with his left hand. “Look, I'm beat and you're strange, so I'm calling this a night and going to bed. I'll…let you know about Kagome, okay?”

 

Rin shot him an empty smile and nodded once, her eyes however piercing his and diving into his soul. It was as if she was trying to see through those violet orbs to the secrets that lay hidden beneath the cloak and dagger routine. “Sure. Tell Kaggie I say hi.” Turning on her heels, she promptly left the building, nearly tripping over her own two feet. How had she never noticed that ring before? And did it truly mean what she thought it did? As the cold night air seemed to steal the breath from her lungs, Rin's world felt oddly faint. Getting home fast would be the only remedy for such an ailment, she noted wryly as she climbed into her car. She needed to see her son.

 

*X*X*X*X*X*X*XX*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**X*X

 

Lethargically Kagome opened her eyes, feeling like all the weight in the world was pressing upon the two tender muscles. Sleeping, one of her favorite sports, was seemingly nearly impossible, and bordering tedious. She had been trying unsuccessfully for the past three hours to fall asleep, yet low and behold, her eyes wouldn't stay closed. She was nearly sure it was because she hadn't indulged in pain killers, as appealing as they were sounding at the current moment. She had wanted to wean herself away from them fully by morning, but that seemed to be an impossible feat at the current moment. Licking her chapped lips, she let out one low guttural moan. The pain was nearly overwhelming, incapacitating her normally keen sense of perception and blending her mind into a soft mush of sensations. Maybe that's why she hadn't realized she had a bed mate until he spoke up.

 

“Trouble sleeping?”

 

Kagome opened her mouth to respond, again the delayed synapses taking their sweet time, until the voice finally struck her central cortex. If she had the ability to leap from the bed and race to the corner of the room, she would have done so. Instead, her body only allowed her to slowly turn her face to come nose to nose with the man next to her. A scream stuck in her throat, suffocating all rationality from her processing. She could swear that she broke into a cold sweat as his nonchalant voice danced through her ears. Her mouth opened and closed, unable to get past the choked scream.

 

Turquoise eyes watched her struggle, filled with a diabolical mirth that chilled Kagome's bones. He, however, had no problem spewing his declarations. “My, my, Pet,” he muttered while lifting two lazy fingers to gently trace over one of the many bruises that marred her pale face, “it seems that you haven't healed quite as fast as Suikotsu had hoped for. I can't say I'm surprised. For a practitioner, his aspirations are over rated.”

 

Kagome finally managed to find her voice amongst her fear. Her hands trembled at her side as her eyes flickered twice towards the door. She would never make it in her current state; he could crawl and still catch her before she made any hopeful attempt at an escape. Her other option laid in a one shot option for screaming for Jakotsu, and praying that the slumbering man would hear her. `Even if he did, could he stop Bankotsu?” The answer was grim.

 

“I find that you have exhausted your ability to speak, or are you afraid?” His eyes bore into hers with a fevered animosity.

 

Kagome closed her eyes and reopened them, praying to all that was holy that this was some sort of delusion from her sleep deprived, de-toxing mind. A part of her wanted to start screaming at him for daring to do this to her, a larger part of her was terrified. She decided, for once in her life, to simply keep quiet. Maybe he would go away…maybe he would apologize and walk out of her life. `How did he get in,' her brain questioned while she lay paralyzed by fear. The answer spoke in dimensions about his intentions.

 

His fingers brushed over her lips as his eyes softened. Glancing down to the bruised muscles, he ran his fingers across the lacerations. “I didn't want to do this to you, Kagome. Not to you.” his eyes lifted to recapture hers, and they had resumed their icy demeanor. “But you broke our rules.”

 

The scoff burst from her lips like a bullet. “I broke our rules?” `Oh God, why am I talking to him?' It was like word vomit, she couldn't stop it. “I broke our rules? I wasn't the one, Bankotsu, who beat the other into a near coma!”

 

Bankotsu's eyes seemed to grow angry, despite the laugh that tumbled from his lips. “Did you expect me not to discipline you, Pet? Did you really think that I would allow you to whore yourself to someone else, or for that matter, to get off without my direct permission?” Sitting up, the human slid closer to her so that he was looming mere inches over her face. “You agreed to be my pet, Kagome. You agreed to be my subordinate, my slave. I explained the rules of the club to you, sweet heart. I told you that I regulate everything you do here, that I am the end all. I explained it all to you, and yet you directly disobeyed me! So yes, I punished you!”

 

Kagome attempted to sit up, but Bankotsu had other ideas. One hand fell to her shoulder, pushing her soundly back into the mattress. Distress followed by a surreal amount of fear flooded her eyes as she struggled for the briefest moment. Her body was in no way ready to take on the aggressive bastard, and she wasn't about to waste her strength. If he was going to attack her, she needed to be ready to try to flee. “Punish?” she nearly spat at him, “you think this is punishment? Bankotsu, you nearly killed me! You said it yourself; you were trying to kill me.”

 

Bankotsu brought his one leg over her chest to straddle her waist, his eyes boring into hers. “I was justified in my anger, Kagome, but maybe not my actions.”

 

`Wait, was he apologizing to her?' Kagome shook her head once, riding herself of the thought. It didn't matter, what he had done was completely unforgivable.

 

“I know I hurt you more then I should have. You have to understand my past with Sha, though.”

 

Kagome snorted. “Jakotsu filled me in. He explained it all, which could have been avoided if you had told me the truth from day one.”

 

Bankotsu's eyes glazed over with something resembling annoyance. “I'll have my words with my cousin when I'm done with you.”

 

Kagome audibly gulped. Never in her life had she heard such hollow words. It kindled the fear in her heart once more, setting her entire nervous system ablaze. If he hurt Jakotsu for helping her, she would be at fault. She could never live with herself after something like that. “Please…” she managed after a moment. “Don't blame him…he was only trying to help me.”

 

“Blood is thicker then any cunt I know. That bastard sided with you, Kagome. He has to have some rationality beat into him.”

 

Kagome felt a tear slip from her right eye and tear into her already raw skin. “Please,” she begged, “please don't hurt him. Don't blame him, this is my fault!”

 

Bankotsu leveled a glower at the girl. “You're right, it is.” Lowering his nose to hers, his aqua eyes tore down her entire defense. “So tell me now, Kagome. Have you learned your lesson, or do you need to be taught this in a more…proper…setting?”

 

Kagome's heart skipped a beat as his threat rang though her ears. If he took her from here, she knew she'd never see her friends again. There was a finite undertone to his words that sent her entire body into a nearly catatonic shock. She barely registered that she nodded her head no.

 

“Use that mouth that you're so talented with, bitch. Did you learn your lesson?”

 

“Yes.” God she sounded so pathetic.

 

Bankotsu pulled back a few inches, his eyes searching hers to see if she was truly surrendering. “I think,” he said after a moment's hesitation, “that you're still lying to me.” His hand slowly traced over the bruises on her cheek, before his thumb pressed down hard onto one particular greenish yellow mark that delineated her cheekbone. Her scream was nearly deafening. “Stop lying to me, you stupid bitch! I know you want to see him again. I know that you wouldn't be deterred for a moment from spreading your filthy knees for that hanyou! You'd fuck him like the whore you are!”

 

Kagome flailed under Bankotsu, squirming every way to escape the horrendous pain that was being inflicted again by those dangerous hands. “No! God, Bankotsu, stop! Please! I won't, I swear!”

 

Out of her peripheral vision, Kagome's struggle increased as she watched Bankotsu grab one of the pillows from the bed. Her world turned black as he smashed the cotton material over her face, suffocating her from the world she had grown to fear. His pressure increased as Kagome thrashed about to the best of her ability, her nails digging into the back of his hand. Yet the pressure was relentless. She could feel herself slipping from the world as the torture persisted, her life being smothered by the bastard above her. Hadn't he always been choking her of life, though? `Ironic,' she thought as her body began to stop reacting to the stimuli, the onset of reality beginning to tear at her heart. `The one who had brought her to life, and then slowly killed her would be her ultimate executioner.' As she began to lose her battle with consciousness, she became vividly aware of high pitch screaming someone beyond her room. `Jackie,' she thought as she slipped from the world of the living. `Please be okay.' It was within those seconds that she recognized the screaming…as her own.

 

Sitting up in bed, Kagome's hand flew to her chest, her heart beating against her ribcage in a battle to escape from the torment inflicted upon it. Her breath was in labored heaves as she stared about the room, her eyes dilating to the lack of light and the blinding pain of what felt like suffocation. It had all been a horrid dream, a nightmare to top any that she had ever indulged in. her throat was raw from screaming, her face soaked with sweat and tears. `It was all a dream,' she told herself again as she jerked her knees out from under the covers and dragged them into her chest. Burying her face on the hardened bone, she began to sob uncontrollably. What scared her, beyond her wildest thought, was that Bankotsu would do something like that. The reality of that dream was crushing. A spray of brightness caused her to raise her face to the doorway, the hallway light flicking to life as clumsy footsteps echoed into her room. She could hear Jakotsu yelling her name, yet her mouth was plastered in a tiny O shape, as her eyes stared through the open doorway and into the brightly lit corridor.

 

Kagome was positive she had closed her door when she retired to bed.

 

Jakotsu ran through the entrance a moment later, nearly tripping onto her bed. In one hand, he clutched a steel baseball bat with white knuckles. “Kagome! Baby, what's wrong? Is someone here?”

 

Kagome could hear the panic in his voice. Her eyes drifted to the bat that resided in his trembling hands. `He's nearly as scared as I am,' she noted with an overwhelming feeling of foreboding. If Jakotsu was scared, that confirmed all of her own uncertainties. They were both in serious danger. Her eyes slowly caught his and dragged them both to the doorway.

 

Jakotsu stared agape for a moment before looking back at Kagome. “Koi, did someone hurt you?” dropping the bat, he sat down on the bed and collected the trembling girl in his arms. Jakotsu ran his hand through Kagome's hair, trying to calm her down, while he stared about the room in unmasked trepidation. “Was it a nightmare?” By the Gods was Jakotsu praying it had been a nightmare.

 

Kagome's sullen nod was nearly relieving. Focusing on her suffering, he kissed her forehead. “Relax, girly, it was only a dream. You're okay…it's all okay.”

 

Kagome swallowed down her fit of sobs while shaking her head in the negative. “No, Jak, it's not okay! He could come here, he could kill us both! It's not okay!” sitting up, Kagome pushed away his arms and worked her way to her feet. Walking slowly to her doorway, she turned slowly to meet Jakotsu's inquisitive stare. “Did…did you open my door?”

 

Jakotsu caught on almost immediately. Grabbing his baseball bat, he motioned to Kagome to move back into the room. He fumbled in the pocket of his pants for a moment before retrieving a cell phone. “If I scream, call the police.” Without another word, the man she was growing to love more every day ventured off into the hallways.

 

Kagome stood stock still for a moment, seriously contemplating calling the police anyway. One thing she had been anal about her entire life was having the door closed when she slept. There was no way she would have left it open, and if Jakotsu hadn't of opened it… Her hand flew to her mouth as she shook with each violent sob. Had her dream been reality? Did Bankotsu sit next to her and attempt to smother her? Her body shook with the weight of the answers. Either way, he was toying with her, letting her know is complete power over her. And for the first time since the horrific beating, she was contemplating calling the police. Family be damned and secrets as well, she knew she was about to drown in this fiasco.

 

Jakotsu returned to her room a moment later, his eyes troubled by something that Kagome was sure she didn't want to know. Closing her bedroom door, he rested his back against it for a moment before his hand fumbled with the lock and he moved forward to embrace her.

 

Kagome's eyes darted between the door and her friend like someone watching a ping pong game. When he didn't speak for a moment, she asked the inevitable. “What…what's going on?”

 

Jakotsu took his time answering that question. “No one is in the house…”

 

Kagome heard his hesitation. “But?”

 

Jakotsu spared her a long glance before pulling her tighter in an embrace. “The front doors security code was disabled.”

 

Tears slipped from Kagome's eyes without her knowledge. “What does…what does that mean?”

 

Jakotsu shook his head twice, his wide chocolate colored eyes staring at the bedroom door. “That means that someone came into the house who knows the password.”

 

Closing her eyes, Kagome felt suddenly faint. Resting her head against his chest, she nearly shook with each word. “Who knows your…password?”

 

Jakotsu stared for a moment longer before slowly leveling his eyes to the top of Kagome's head. “That's the thing…”

 

“What thing?”

 

The gulp was more then enough to turn Kagome's guts inside out. “I…changed the password when I brought you here. I knew that Bankotsu knew it…and I figured it would make this safer, incase he tried something stupid.”

 

More tears ate at Kagome's already raw skin. “How could anyone know it then?”

 

Shaking his head, Jakotsu buried his face in her hair. “I don't know.” And wasn't that the truth. “The only way anyone could have gotten the new password would be by spying…or…using my information and calling ADT themselves to retrieve it. Either way, someone went through a lot of red tape to get that number.” Neither one mentioned the obvious fact that it also meant that someone had been in the house while they were sleeping.

 

Kagome only needed one guess to be correct.

 

The pair laid huddled up for the longest time in silence, neither one willing to dare to close their eyes. All thoughts of safety had been violated, raped and discarded. They were now a part of Bankotsu's game, and they had absolutely no control.

 

Jakotsu unceremoniously dumped Kagome onto the bed, his hands shaking with every motion. Walking to the armoire that decorated the far wall, he opened it up to reveal a thirty two inch television. Grabbing the remote, he climbed into bed with Kagome and turned it on to cartoon network. Glancing at the clock, he knew they had another four hours until sunrise. He also knew that the time wouldn't go by fast enough. No one was going to sleep that night, they realized in silence as they huddled together in fear of the ominous darkness and things that went bump in the night. And Kagome doubted if she would ever have a good nights sleep again.

 

 

*X*X*X*X*X*XX*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**X

 

 

>.< yeah…I went there. Don't kill me.

 

MM.Org Shout outs

 

Inukag_obsession (therapy, I'm more thinking a muzzle),

Cherry_petals (trust me, I update as much as I can. LOL. Real life can be a drag. I'll do my best!),

Radhika,

lyght chyld (Bankotsu: yeah, well…::shakes fist back:: :-P I agree. Jackie plushies all around!),

itachiiyoubastard (Kagome defends Kikyo because she's her cousin and she loves her. As for secrets, their time will come, LOL ^__^)

silveraloria,

Leila_chan (hmm…Kikyo evil? Maybe…in a girly sort of way),

Trinity K (glad that you're enjoying!)

Toyas_gurl (are they miro's pants? Well…figure to get into them, he's probably not wearing underpants. So…my first guess would be yes. LOL)

MistressKagome4U (a very good point. LOL! oh I love Bankotsu…hurts to make him bad. LOL).

girl_x_16 (Jakotsu: can I buy Inu time with respect points? )

Sexy Capricorn (you mean his cousin? Suikotsu is his cousin. Or do you mean the delinquents I locked up? ^__^ either way, yeah…lots to explain)