InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Friend In Need ❯ A Friend In Need ( Prologue )

Kagome sat on the side of the Bone Eater's Well, her hands braced against the wooden lip, her brow furrowed in thought. She had just spent the past few days with her friends back home and couldn't help but think that Ayumi had been far quieter than normal. The girl had always been quiet, more one to sit back and listen to everyone speak before entering in her thoughts, but the past few days were just odd. Ayumi had barely spoken one word and during the girls' sleep over at the shrine, Ayumi hadn't wanted to try on any of the clothes that Yuki had brought over. In fact, Ayumi hadn't slept at all, had she?

So deep in her thoughts, Kagome didn't notice the hanyou walking through the knee high grasses in front of her. Inuyasha was instantly aware of the girl's distraction, he had even stepped on a few twigs to purposefully make noise, but he couldn't seem to pull her from her thoughts. Whatever was on her mind was obviously important, though he couldn't fathom what it was. She had just come back from her time, that much was obvious since he hadn't seen her once in the past two days, but where was that yellow monstrosity of hers?

He watched as Kagome's frown darkened, worry coloring her scent. Coming to stand directly in front of Kagome, his shadow falling over her, he waited for the girl to look up. But Kagome didn't look up, she didn't seem to notice anything around her at all and that alone upset him. Didn't she know how dangerous it was to just sit out in the open like that? She carried the shards of the Shikon no Tama, to be as distracted as she was could get her killed! Crouching down in front of her to better see her face, a low growling bark issued from the hanyou's throat before he thought about it, the commanding noise calling the girl's attention.

“Oh, Inuyasha,” Kagome said, blinking and leaning back slightly. “When did you get here?”

“Keh. I've been here, Wench!” he growled at her, the gruffness of his words undermined by the gentle way he brushed her bangs out of her face to better see her eyes. “Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be distracted like that?”

Kagome smiled softly at him, reaching out and rubbing the base of one silken white ear. “You'll protect me,” she told him, her complete faith in him both unsettling and invigorating.

“Feh.” Unconsciously leaning into her gentle ministrations, a low soothing growl spilled from his throat, his ears drooping and eyes half closed. “I may not always be there to save you, Kagome.”

Hearing the note of worry in his voice, Kagome reached her free hand up to his other ear. The feel of both ears receiving her touch drew a low breathy whine, the low growl rumbling through the sound and making her giggle quietly. Leaning closer to him, Kagome rested her brow against his and looked into his bright golden gaze.

“You haven't failed to protect me once, Inuyasha. What is there to make me doubt that you'll protect me?”

She was too close, the scent of her filling his senses with wild abandon. One clawed hand came up to gently cup her cheek and he nearly shivered when she closed her eyes and nuzzled her cheek into his palm. Tipping his head to the side, he captured her lips in a slow, sweet kiss. A soft sound, an almost whine, sounded from Kagome when their lips touched and she slid off the well, his arms catching her and pulling her to sit in his lap, their lips never breaking contact.

Kagome's hands fell away from his ears, her arms wrapping around his neck, fingers curling in his hair as she kissed him. The feel of his lips on hers was a heady thing. He didn't push for more than this gentle kissing, didn't ask for more than to hold her, cradle her as he cherished her. Breaking the kiss and resting his brow against her shoulder, Inuyasha breathed in deeply, steadying himself with the comforting familiarity of her scent. Her questing fingers returned to his ear and he chuckled quietly, the sound soothing her.

“Inuyasha…would you…”

He looked up when her voice trailed off, her scent once again holding a tinge of worry. “Would I what, Kagome?” he asked tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Would you come back to my time with me?” her brown eyes met his and he could see the darkness in her gaze. “Something doesn't feel right and I don't know why, but I feel like you would know what it was, maybe you can help me figure out what it is.”

Inuyasha's brows furrowed as he studied her, their faces so close they almost touched. “Something's really bothering you, isn't it?”

“Yeah,” she affirmed with a nod of her head. “I just can't figure out what it is.”

His lips pressed into a thin line as he thought about it for a moment and then stood with her cradled to his chest. Kagome pillowed her cheek on his shoulder, content to let him hold her as he leapt into the well and traveled through the time slip. With one great push of his legs, Inuyasha sprang from the well landing on the wooden floor of the well house, content to hold her as he left the wooden structure. Walking through the shrine grounds with her cradled against his chest, he leapt into the boughs of the Goshinkobu and then into her bedroom through the open window.

The low rumbling sound hadn't stopped once, except for when he had spoken to her, and it held her on the delicate precipice between consciousness and sleep. Inuyasha knew what he was doing, the low soothing growl a sound of safety as well as the ancient lullaby of inu youkai, he could smell the change in her scent as she neared sleep, could feel her grow heavier against him as her consciousness slowly ebbed away. Sitting down on her bed with her in his lap, he looked down into her face and watched as she finally gave in and drifted off, her eyes closing. Moving carefully so as not to wake her, Inuyasha laid her down on the bed and blanketed her with his fire rat haori.

Standing still within her room, he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Aside from the stronger scents of her three friends, there was nothing different. Walking out of the room, he walked through the upstairs of the house carefully taking in and cataloguing all the scents. His face was expressionless in his concentration. So far so good, there weren't any new or troubling scents. He walked down the stairs and moved about the main floor of the house from the front hallway to the kitchen and laundry room. Everything seemed normal, nothing was out of place. There wasn't a scent he wasn't familiar with. His ears rotated on his head, flicking back toward the stairs as he listened for the girl he'd put to bed moments before. Her deep soft breaths and peaceful scent told him that she was still sleeping.

Hearing the front door open and close, Inuyasha sniffed the air. Mrs. Higurashi had just come home. Moving into the front room, he leapt toward her, catching the bag of groceries that fell from her grasp before it could hit the floor. The woman gasped as she turned around, a smile lighting her face when she saw the dog-eared boy that held her daughter's heart and her affection. Over the time that he had followed her daughter back and forth through the well, the woman had come to think of him as her son - or, she smiled to herself, her future son in law.

“Oh, thank you, Inuyasha,” she praised his rescue of the over stuffed bag of food when he set it on the counter.

“Feh,” was his reply and she smiled.

“Would you mind terribly helping me with the rest of the bags?” she asked, setting her purse and keys on the counter by the coffee pot.

He nodded and followed her outside to the metal carriage she called a car, its trunk standing open. His eyes widened, there were so many bags and each one of them was filled to the brim. Some were bandages, creams, wraps and other first aid supplies; others held more food or candy and a few held coloring books and things for pups. A sense of wonder and respect filled him and he glanced from the bags to the woman at his side. Kagome always had food and medical supplies to take care of their pack with, pocky and treats for Shippou and special items that were special to every single one of them. He hadn't ever stopped to consider where it all came from before. Mrs. Higurashi gave Kagome what she needed to care for their pack; she protected them by making certain that Kagome always had what she needed to care for them.

“Thank you,” the words were spoken softly and a bit gruff, but the admiration in his voice was clear.

Her hand on his shoulder drew his eyes to hers. “You thank me everyday, Inuyasha, by taking care of my daughter and protecting her. This is the least I can do. You're part of our family.”

“I'm…part of your family?” he asked slowly, his golden eyes holding warring emotions of hope and fear.

“Of course, you are,” the woman said with a warm smile. “Why wouldn't you be?” she asked with a curious tilt of her head.

“I'm hanyou,” he said simply as if that was all the reason anyone would need to reject him and she could see a lifetime of hurt and loneliness showing in his eyes.

Stepping closer, she took him into her arms, hugging him close to her heart and stroking her hand down the length of his hair. “After all this time, Inuyasha, there's not a single one of us who could imagine our lives without you in it. You'll always have a home here with us; you'll always be welcome wherever we are.”

His arms wrapped around her waist, hugging the woman tightly to him and she could feel him trembling as he tried reign in emotions that were nearly too strong for him to control. Stepping back from her, his amber eyes alight with a proud, protective gleam, he told her to go sit down and that he would bring in the bags. Smiling at his insistence, she cupped his face in her small hands and kissed his brow.

“If you insist,” she acquiesced with a smile before disappearing inside the house.

:::::

“Kagome went back through the well a few hours ago,” Mrs. Higurashi said as she took the last of the items from Inuyasha and tucked them away into their proper places. “I'm assuming she came back with you.”

“Yeah, she's upstairs sleeping,” he said eyeing a cup of ramen while trying not to make it obvious he was doing so.

Following his gaze, she smiled and pulled down two cups of the instant noodles, setting them on the counter before filling the teapot with water to boil on the stove. “Did she forget something?”

Inuyasha shook his head, his brow furrowing as he watched the woman pour boiling water over the instant noodles and set the timer on the microwave.

“She said that something didn't feel right,” Inuyasha said nodding his head once in thanks when she handed him a pair of chopsticks. “Kagome seemed pretty upset and asked me to come back with her to help her figure out what it was that was bothering her.”

“Did Kagome tell you anything more than that?” she asked the electronic beep of the timer sounding behind her as she sat across from Inuyasha with a bottle of soda. Pushing the glass bead down and watching it rock back and forth, she looked up catching his curious stare. “It's soda,” she said and handed the bottle to him for inspection.

“No,” he said handing her the bottle back after sniffing at the sugary bubbly liquid inside. “She said she didn't know what it was that's bothering her; just that something didn't feel right. The last time she had a bad feeling like this we ended up finding a village that was being destroyed by a dead man made to do Naraku's bidding through a tainted jewel shard embedded in his forehead.”

“A dead man?”

“I think it's Ayumi,” Kagome's voice sounded from the doorway and both mother and hanyou watched a she stepped into the kitchen, Inuyasha's haori wrapped around her like a coat.

“The dead man was Ayumi?” Mrs. Higurashi said with a confused frown and shake of her head.

“Dead man?” Kagome repeated. “No, the weird feeling I've been having. I think it's Ayumi. I think there's something wrong with her.”

“Wrong how?” Inuyasha asked as Kagome took a seat at the table next to him.

“I'm not really sure…it feels like…like she's in danger.”

:::::

“You didn't have to walk me to school , ya know,” Kagome said with a shrug as Inuyasha walked along beside her watching for danger of any kind.

“Feh.”

The girl smiled and put her hand on his fire rat clothed arm. “Thank you, for looking out for me,” she said with a shy blush.

Kagome was fairly certain that Inuyasha had meant to move before she woke, but she had woken before her alarm only to find herself wrapped in Inuyasha's arms. He had stayed with her all night, lying in her bed with her folded protectively in his arms. Smiling shyly at the memory as a light blush dusted her cheeks, Kagome looked at the hanyou beside her. Just when she thought she had him figured out he would surprise her with a show of gentleness, or a shy gesture of affection. She hoped he never stopped surprising her.

“Hn.” Taking to the trees along the sidewalk as they neared her school, he stayed low enough in the branches for her to hear him, but high enough to avoid being detected by any passers by. “I'll stay up on the roof. I'll be able to hear you from there and see if there's any trouble coming from around the place. You said that girl's in danger, right?”

“Ayumi?” Kagome shielded her eyes against the sun with her hand and looked into the branches of the old oak tree. “Yes. I do believe she's in danger, I just don't know from what.”

“You want we should keep an eye on her?” he asked his head dropping down next to hers through a few low hanging branches.

Kagome nodded. “I'll ask Mama if Ayumi can stay the night.”

:::::

It had been difficult to get a chance to talk with Ayumi alone without Eri and Yuka ganging up on them for `girl talk', but finally she had and Kagome breathed a sigh of relief. Pulling the classroom door closed and locking it so as not to be interrupted, she turned around and looked at her friend. If it hadn't been clear to her before, Kagome was more than certain now. Ayumi stood facing away from her with a broom in her hands as she finished cleaning the classroom. Her movements were slow and stiff as though the girl was in pain and trying to hide it.

“Ayumi?”

Kagome had kept her voice soft in an effort not to startle her friend, but the girl dropped the broom and spun around all the same. Her eyes were wide, frightened almost, and Kagome caught the wince of pain that her friend tried to hide. Smiling gently, doing her best to calm the girl, Kagome stepped forward slowly and lifted the broom. Taking over the rest of the sweeping, Kagome glanced back at Ayumi before speaking.

“I thought it'd be nice if you came over for dinner and spent the night. You and I really haven't gotten a chance to talk in awhile.”

“You mean with Eri and Yuka?” Ayumi asked watching Kagome empty the dustpan into the trash can.

“No, silly, just you. Inuyasha's staying with me too, you've always been my support with him, you know? I thought you'd like to have a chance to get to know him a bit better and I miss talking with you. I'm away from school so much that we don't really get a chance to talk anymore, do we?”

Ayumi shook her head, and looked at Kagome with a confused frown. True, she and Kagome used to have private sleepovers all the time, but it had been nearly four years since they had their last one. As she thought about it, though, a soft smile lifted Ayumi's lips. The few times she had met Inuyasha, Kagome's boyfriend, she really had liked him no matter how gruff he was. It was something in his eyes when he looked at Kagome, a fierce protectiveness and a soft glow of love that he tried to hide behind a rough exterior. Ayumi nodded and agreed to the invitation.

:::::

“Inuyasha,” Kagome called out his name, Ayumi standing next to her on the sidewalk.

Ayumi squeaked out in surprise when the white haired boy, clad in the ancient red hoari, hakama, and amusing red baseball cap, dropped down to crouch in front of them. She looked up trying to figure out where he had jumped down from, but the only thing that was close enough was a three story building. Surely he couldn't have jumped down from there, he would've hurt himself.

“Oi,” he greeted, standing up to his full height.

“Hi, Inuyasha.” Ayumi looked at him curiously. “Where did you come from?”

“Up there,” he nodded to the building watching her eyes widen.

Kagome giggled at Ayumi's reaction. “You said we needed to pick up your younger sister?”

Ayumi nodded, “Her school is just down the block. It's her first year of school.”

Inuyasha sniffed at the girl. His brow furrowed as he studied her scent. She was hurt, he couldn't see any injury, but his nose didn't lie. Folding his arms inside the sleeves of his haori, he moved to stand between the girls. If he was closer he would be able to pin down where the injury was, the scent of her skin would be able to pinpoint any bruising or dried blood. He watched her from the corner of his eye. Sure she was quiet, but she had always been quieter than the others and for that he was grateful. She didn't squeal or shout like the other two girls did, her excitement had always been expressed through a gentle smile or a shine in her eyes. Whenever the girls had come to visit Kagome, he would watch Ayumi closer simply because she was so quiet.

The trio rounded the corner and Ayumi could feel the tenseness, the anxiety of the day calming a little bit more. She looked up at the white haired boy between them. It was him, wasn't it? That's what Ayumi had noticed about him that Eri and Yuka hadn't, Inuyasha had this innate ability to make you feel safe, protected, as though nothing bad could happen while he was near. Walking up to the elementary school gates, a young girl, no older than six, came running straight toward them calling Ayumi's name.

“Hey, Arisu,” Ayumi greeted her sister, catching the tiny girl when she jumped into her arms. “How was school?” she asked, trying not wince, biting her cheek in an effort not to cry out when her sister's knee grazed against her side.

“Give her to me,” Inuyasha said softly, reaching out and taking the girl from Ayumi.

He had smelled the shock in her scent when the child had jumped at her, the spike of pain. He could also smell the bit of blood in her mouth from where her teeth had broken the flesh of her cheek. The girl was just slightly bigger than Shippou, her wide brown eyes blinking up at him curiously. A thick lock his white hair was held in her hand and his eyes glanced down, watching the child look from his hair to his eyes.

“What, pup?” Inuyasha asked the child, Ayumi and Kagome watching him.

“Are you an angel?” Arisu asked Inuyasha, her eyes wide.

Kagome smiled, Inuyasha blinked in surprise and Ayumi giggled.

“I ain't an angel, pup,” Inuyasha said.

“But you have white hair and gold eyes, that's what all the pictures of angels have. Are you sure you're not an angel?”

“Feh. Pretty damn sure.”

“Inuyasha,” Kagome chided the hanyou for his use of profanity in front of the child. Turning her attention on the child, Kagome tugged gently on the child's pig tail. “This is Inuyasha,” she introduced. “He protects.”

Golden eyes flicked to the miko. `He protects'. Pride lit his golden eyes, and he stood a bit taller, his arms holding the child securely against his chest. Turning his head when he smelled Ayumi's blood in the air, he looked over at her. The scent of her blood was concentrated on her left side, near where her sister's leg had brushed against her from what he could tell. She was nervous again and he looked at her face, her eyes were watching him watch her. A low soothing growl rumbled from deep within his chest, a comforting sound, a promise of safety. The instinctual sound calmed the girl walking next to him as he intended for it to, the child in his arms falling asleep to the sound of the inu lullaby with her ear pressed against his heart.

Inuyasha turned his attention back to the sidewalk in front of them. It angered him, the thought that anyone would bring harm to someone as gentle as Ayumi. She was a lot like Kagome: kind, quiet, caring and non judgmental. Coming to a stop at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the shrine, he saw the hint of worry and grim determination in Ayumi's eyes. She didn't think she could climb the stairs, he realized, but she wasn't about to say anything about it either. Speaking softly to Kagome and handing her the sleeping child, he crouched down in front of Ayumi.

“Get on,” he commanded the girl when she made a sound of surprise. He waited as she caught hold of his shoulders and settled herself carefully on his hips; he wrapped his arms around her legs and held her securely to his back. “Hold on,” he said.

Ayumi's brow furrowed when he stood only a little and she could feel all his muscles tense in unison seconds before he lifted off the ground entirely. Her eyes were wide, a sound of surprise and amusement coming from her when he landed at the top of the stairs. He had cleared the staircase in one bound! How was that possible? His claws brushed against the skin of her thighs with just a ghost of a touch as he crouched down and let her climb off his back. They weren't just super long fingernails, were they, he really had claws.

He jumped down the stairs and landed in front of Kagome with single bound, scooping her up bridal style, Arisu asleep in her arms and leapt back to stand next to Ayumi. She shook her head slowly in amazement. White hair, golden eyes and claws? What was he? Did it even matter? No, it didn't. He was gentle and gruff, he had soothed her worry and made her feel safe. He was quite possibly the only one who made her feel safe anymore. She didn't care what he was, Kagome trusted him and he protected Kagome that was all she really needed to know. Looking up when Kagome spoke her name, she was startled from her thoughts.

Kagome had stopped walking toward her house when she noticed Ayumi wasn't following them. Turning back to face her friend, Kagome found the girl to be lost in thought while she stared after Inuyasha. Watching Ayumi blink and shake her head when Kagome called her name, she caught the wince her friend wasn't able to hide when she turned just a little too quickly. Looking to Inuyasha, she found him to be watching Ayumi as well and heard the low growl that sounded from him. The sound was a mix of the comforting growl he had loosed earlier and the angry protective sound that she heard whenever a youkai threatened her directly during battles.

“Go inside, Kagome,” he said keeping his voice low. “Put the pup down somewhere to sleep.”

Kagome's brow furrowed at his soft spoken command, but she nodded and turned to the house, taking the child inside. She understood what he was saying, he wanted to talk to Ayumi alone, whatever it was, he was trying to protect Kagome from it. Or maybe, just maybe, he thought Ayumi wouldn't say anything in front of her. Inuyasha waited until he heard the door to the house close before he stepped toward Ayumi. She had stopped again and even though she looked like she was lost in thought, he could tell from her scent that she wasn't moving because it hurt her to do so.

“Who hurt you?” he asked gruffly while trying to do his best not to frighten her.

Ayumi's eyes widened and he could smell the spike of fear in her scent. “I-I'm not…I-I don't-“

“You can't lie to me,” he said moving closer to her, close enough to touch her. “I can smell it. I can smell the injuries. I can smell your blood.”

“H-how?” she asked, hearing that strange low rumble sound from him again and feeling the same sense of safety that she had before.

“Keh, I'm inu hanyou, that's how. Stop avoiding the question, who hurt you?” he asked again, keeping up the soothing growl.

Her eyes darkened, a look of sadness and helplessness haunting the chestnut orbs. “I can't,” she said with a shake of her head.

“I won't hurt you,” he said when she backed away as he stepped closer.

“I have to protect Arisu,” she said with a shake of her head.

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. “Come on,” he turned around toward the house and waited for Ayumi to follow him before continuing on into the house. “How old is she?” he asked as he walked with her.

“Arisu? She just turned five three weeks ago.” Ayumi's brow furrowed as he opened the door of the house and stepped inside. “Did you say you're inu hanyou?”

“Feh,” he snatched the hat off his head. “These aren't just decorations,” he said twitching his ears at her.

Ayumi's eyes widened. She had always known that there was something different about him, something that made him stand out from the rest, but she had never thought it would be that he was a dog half demon. Claws, silver hair, golden eyes, and puppy ears and, when he talked, she saw his fangs. She never thought that a person like him could exist, but maybe, maybe the fact that he wasn't human was what him feel so safe. He was able to protect because of what he was, and the new knowledge of what he was somehow made her feel infinitely safe. Is this what Kagome felt?

Following him inside, Ayumi gasped in pain when her arm brushed against the door frame. She hadn't realized she was so close and was usually more careful than that. His golden eyes snapped to her and before she could say anything, Inuyasha snatched her up in his arms with a fierce growl and carried her into Kagome's room. Commanding her to wait inside the room, Inuyasha found Kagome and asked her for the first aid kit.

“Stay down here, Kagome,” he commanded her.

“Inuyasha,” Kagome protested, keeping her voice low so as not to wake the child sleeping on the sofa.

“I mean it, wench. Stay down here.”

Kagome sighed and nodded. He was trying to protect her again, wasn't he? Inuyasha was trying to protect her from the darker side of things. Handing him the white metal box with the red cross on its lid, she watched him disappear up the stairs and shut himself away inside her room. She could hear his voice as he talked to her friend, but he wasn't loud enough to hear the words.

:::::

Inuyasha closed the bedroom door and looked at the girl standing at the window staring into the shrine grounds below. Turning around at the sound of his voice, Ayumi looked at the box held in his hand. Her eyes widened. He had said that he could smell her injury and had said he was inu hanyou, but the box he carried…He wanted to see, didn't he? She couldn't let him. If anyone found out they might take her away and then who would protect her sister? Shaking her head and backing away from him, her back hitting the wall, she grimaced at the pain it caused.

“Take it off,” he commanded, nodding to the blouse of her school uniform.

He watched as her eyes widened impossibly more and she shook her head. Flexing his claws and popping the knuckles of his free hand, he arched a single brow at her and nodded at her shirt again.

“Take it off or I will.”

His voice was gruff and commanding, leaving no room for argument, even while still being somehow gentle underneath it all. He wasn't being menacing or frightening at all, just determined. A blush rose to her cheeks even as her face paled and her eyes closed. There was no thought in her mind that he meant anything untoward, his actions and tone were more protective and concerned than anything. Stepping away from the wall by the window, she moved and sat down on the edge of Kagome's bed before grasping the bottom of the blouse and slowly lifting it above her head.

Golden eyes widened before narrowing in a fierce expression of anger as he moved closer and sat the first aid box on the bed beside the girl. There were bruises almost everywhere. Dark purple and almost black bruises covered her arms, the ones near her shoulders looking distinctly like hand prints. There were lighter bruises near her wrists, yellow and pink in color telling him they were weeks old. The marks on her torso along her ribs looked as though someone had punched or kicked her, the skin broken in a few places. She wouldn't look at him and the soft spike of fear in her scent bothered him greatly. Kneeling in front of her, Inuyasha reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“I won't hurt you,” he promised her. “Some of this stuff might sting, but I won't hurt you.”

Ayumi nodded, her eyes meeting his for an instant before skittering to the side again. Inuyasha gently took her left hand in his and ran his fingers gently over each of the bruises, pressing carefully as he searched for any hidden injuries beneath her skin. He watched her face as he pressed down, judging how bad her pain was. She was biting her lip and he could smell the salt of her tears. She wasn't crying yet, but her tears were there. She gasped sharply, jerking her hand away when he came to the bruising on her right wrist.

He rumbled out a low soothing growl, his ears folding back, hating to bring the girl more pain but needing to check how bad the injury to her right wrist was. Ayumi heard the soft sad whine that sounded from Inuyasha and watched with wide eyes as he took hold of her arm again. His touch was gentle, careful as he pressed against the edges of the bruise around her wrist, the spike of pain in her scent telling him that although her wrist wasn't broken, it did cause her quite a bit of pain. His thumb chaffed against her unblemished skin above the bruise as his other hand reached in the box and pulled out an ace bandage.

“Who did this?” Inuyasha asked again as he wrapped her wrist and secured the metal clasp.

The girl remained quiet and just as he began to think she wasn't going to answer his question, she spoke.

“My…my dad.” The low deadly snarl that sounded from the hanyou startled her and made Ayumi jump. “He's not always like this,” she said quickly, a single tear spilling down her cheek. “He really is a nice man and-“

“You're defending him?” Inuyasha snarled in anger and disbelief. “He's your father. He's supposed to protect you, not beat you up!”

“He used to be really gentle,” Ayumi defended the man.

“What the fuck? Look at you!” Inuyasha raged, his eyes scanning quickly over her injuries before meeting her eyes once more.

“No!” Ayumi demanded his attention. “Really, he used to be gentle…A year and half ago he was in a car accident. Something happened, his personality changed…He doesn't mean to hurt me, I know he doesn't.”

“Keh! Look at what he's done to you. How can you say he doesn't mean to? You don't get hurt like this by accident, it's deliberate. He meant to!”

“No,” Ayumi cried, her eyes closing as tears cascaded down her cheeks and she shook her head. “I can't believe he meant to do this. Why would he mean to do this?”

“Does the reason matter?” Inuyasha asked gruffly. “You're not safe there. Neither is that pup down stairs. What about your mother, where is she?”

“She…she died in the accident. She was driving.”

“You can't stay there,” he told her, his tone leaving no room for argument as he probed the bruising around her ribs and just above her hips.

“And where am I supposed to go? I can't leave Arisu there alone,” she insisted, watching the ears on top of his head flick back and forth as he finished tending to her wounds and handed her back her shirt.

“Feh. You let me take care of that,” Inuyasha demanded and tilted his head as he stared at her. “I smelled your blood earlier, where are you cut?”

Lowering the shirt down to her lap instead of donning the garment, Ayumi stood and tuned around. The cut was almost completely hidden by her hair and when he gathered her wavy locks in his hands, the curse that sounded from him was as angry and dangerous as the low snarl that followed. A jagged cut lay in the middle of heavy bruising that extended down her left shoulder blade. The bruising looked almost uniform.

“What the hell did he hit you with?” he snarled the question, doing what he could to control his raging temper.

“…His belt. I wasn't fast enough.”

Knowing better than to ask for further explanation, his temper was already at its limit and he didn't want to risk his youkai getting loose and scaring the girl. Instinct took over and he uttered a soft breathy bark, the sound telling her she was safe. Moving closer he tipped his head down and gently bathed the wound with his tongue. Ayumi gasped, not sure what to make of his actions when one of his arms wrapped gently but firmly around her waist to hold her in place while he cleaned the cut and applied enough of his saliva to speed up the time her wound would heal.

Once the cut was clean, he instructed her to hold her hair while he gathered gauze, tape and ointment from the metal box on the bed. Dressing the wound, he handed her back her shirt and packed up the first aid kit before throwing away the bandage wrappers. With a heavy sigh he set the first aid kit on Kagome's desk and turned to Ayumi. She was carefully pulling the shirt down, grimacing when the fabric caught on the bandage covering her shoulder. He moved silently, gently helping her lower the shirt in place and pulling her hair out from within the collar of her shirt.

He watched the girl turn around, her voice cracking as she tried to thank him. Taking the girl into his arms, he wrapped her gently in his embrace and held her against his chest. His movements were painfully gentle as he took care to be mindful of her injuries and it broke the last of her resolve. He felt her shoulders shaking, smelled the salt grow thicker in the air as her tears came faster, harder as she sobbed brokenly in his arms. The low rumbling growl sounding from him comforted her, wrapped her in a cocoon of safety.

Inuyasha petted her hair in long slow strokes. For the moment, he was glad that her face was buried against his chest, lest the frightened girl see the murderous glare in his fierce golden eyes. He could feel her hands fist in the fire rat fur he wore and it felt to him as though she were trying to merge her body with his in her effort to find comfort. He was careful as he tightened his arms around her, loathe to bring her anymore pain, and he wondered just how long it had been since the girl in his arms had felt safe. He didn't know how long he had stood there holding her, letting her cry against him, when her tears finally wound down to gasping hiccups and he leaned back just enough to see her face. Cupping her face in his hands, he smoothed the pads of his thumbs over her cheeks wiping away her tears. Nodding his head to the bed as he carefully wrapped his arm around her waist and walked her toward it, telling her to rest.

Her trembling, exhausted voice called out to him softly, making a request of him that he didn't think once about refusing. Bringing the blankets up around her shoulders, he sat next to her on the bed and resumed the sound of the low rumble as he smoothed her hair back from her tear-fevered face. He watched as her red eyes, swollen from her tears, grew heavy and blinked slowly. Once he was certain that she was asleep, he stood and gathered the first aid kit before leaving the room and closing the door behind him soundlessly.

:::::

Kneeling down next to the couch beside the sleeping child, he leaned close and closed his eyes as he breathed deeply of her scent. There was no injury, no scent of blood on the child, and he thanked the Kami that was uninjured. Ayumi had done everything in her power to protect the child hadn't she? How many times had Kagome's friend kept silent while being struck so as not to worry or scare this sleeping child? How long had the girl suffered in silence just to keep her younger sister safe? His golden eyes hardened. No more.

Moving into the kitchen where Kagome sat with her mother at the table, Inuyasha handed the girl back the medical kit, watching while she tucked the box back into her yellow bag and reclaimed her seat. Taking a seat next to Kagome, Inuyasha was unable to stifle his need to hold her, to know that she was safe and he took her hand in his. Looking into her concerned eyes, he knew that as much as he wanted to protect Kagome from her friend's pain, she would refuse to leave if he asked her to. Turning his attention to Mrs. Higurashi he asked if Ayumi could stay at the shrine with her sister, speaking in low tones as he explained his request. The salt of Kagome's tears stung his nose, and as he continued to relate the story of Ayumi's abuse and the injuries he found, he moved Kagome to sit in his lap. Resting his lips against Kagome's temple, he waited for Mrs. Higurashi to speak.

“What about your travels through the well, Kagome?” Mrs. Higurashi asked her daughter.

“If anyone can be trusted, Ayumi can,” Kagome assured.

“I'll talk with her father-“

“You ain't going anywhere near that bastard,” Inuyasha cut the woman off with a dangerous tone in his voice, his arms tightening protectively around the girl sitting in his lap. “I'll fuckin' talk to him. If he did this to his own pup there's no telling what he'd do to you.”

The woman nodded and studied the hanyou who sat holding her daughter in his lap. Hanyou or not, he understood honor and courage more than most humans. He had always protected Kagome, from day one he had protected her daughter and now he stood ready to defend her friend. She was proud to know him and was glad that he and Kagome had found each other.

“I can take you to her house,” Kagome said after a long moment of silence, her resolve to protect her friend clear in her voice.

“And you'll fuckin' wait outside, too,” he ordered.

“Thank you, Inuyasha,” Kagome said softly, turning her eyes to him.

“For what?”

“For protecting her like you protect me. Thank you.”

“Feh.”

:::::

The moon had risen in the night sky when Ayumi emerged from Kagome's room and walked down the stairs. Mrs. Higurashi was talking to Arisu while the five year old helped her with dinner. The child was rolling the biscuit dough with her hands, laughing at the sticky mass that stuck to her small fingers. Clenching her hand into a fist and watching as the dough squeezed out between her fingers and giggling with wide eyes. Ayumi shook her head slowly, amused by her younger sister's antics.

“Ayumi,” Mrs. Higurashi greeted the teen girl and offered her a warm smile. “I hope you're hungry, your sister's helping me make dinner.”

“Helping or hindering?” Ayumi asked with a chuckle as the child repeated the process of squeezing the sticky dough between her fingers.

“Helping,” the woman said with a laugh and tweaked Arisu's nose.

The child laughed happily and turned to her sister holding up her dough covered hands. “I'm the biscuit monster, wraarr!”

Ayumi laughed and shook her head. “Where are Kagome and Inuyasha?”

Mrs. Higurashi looked at Ayumi, holding the girl's gaze for a moment before calling out to Souta and her father. Asking that the two take Arisu and help her get cleaned up, she waited until they had left the kitchen before asking Ayumi to roll the dough into biscuits for her. Choosing her words carefully, Mrs. Higurashi told Ayumi that Inuyasha had confided in her the knowledge of the girl's abuse and asked her to provide a safe place for her and her sister to stay. Comforting the girl of her worry and the shame of her abuse, Mrs. Higurashi stepped aside and let Ayumi put the flat pan of biscuits in the oven.

“Inuyasha took Kagome to your house,” the woman told Ayumi as she sat with the girl at the table. “You and your sister are going to be staying with us here at the shrine for awhile. For as long as you need to.”

“My father won't…he won't let us.”

“He'll listen to Inuyasha. I don't think there's anyone alive fool enough to challenge him.”

Tears sprang to Ayumi's eyes and she shook her head with a trembling smile. “Kagome was right.”

“About what, sweetie?”

“Inuyasha protects.”

=-=-=A/N=-=-=

Arisu - Japanese form of the English name `Alice' meaning `noble sort'

Every now and then a random story idea pops into my head and won't let up until it's written. Thanks for reading.