InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Demonology ❯ Kagome's Lies Revealed ( Chapter 10 )

Author's Note: So I made Kagome's Mom and Grandfather very OOC, but it works for the plot. No smut this time around, but I hope you like it. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, he belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

Kagome had gotten home from school a little early that day. It was the day for finals in her Senior year, so when she was usually home around 4, she made it home around noon. She thought that it'd be great to share a lunch with her Jii-chan and mother. Usually she was always busy with school and after school activities, but today she was free, the sun was shining and the wind was blowing in the Windy City of San Francisco.

As she walked the streets of China Town, she heard the familiar sounds of merchants calling out to patrons, the smells of fresh baked goods mixed with the fish markets. People on bikes rode past her with goods to sell, the sounds of several Asian languages met her ears. It was noisy and dirty and home.

She found her building and walked up to the fourth floor where her family lived, only to be met with a strange set of voices. She recognized her mother's and Jii-chan's voices immediately.

“We told you, you need to be making over five thousand in night or you were to be punished,” she heard Jii-chan's usually gentle voice scream in anger.

“Please, don't hurt me again, I can get it tonight!” a young girl yelled. Kagome slowly walked closer to the door and pressed her ear against it, she heard a loud crack and the girl screamed out.

“You will get it tonight… at the club. But only after you realize how severely you've fucked up,” she heard her mama say. Kagome covered her mouth in horror as she heard the girl sob.

“Please, I'm sorry!” the girl cried, another crack. She heard something hit the floor, probably the girl.

“Get up!” Jii-chan yelled. “Get up and take your punishment!”

“I-I can't!” cried the girl. Another crack.

“Then six more lashes and you're working all afternoon and night to make up the losses.”

Kagome heard the six cracks doled out to the girl, each time a scream. The last crack, however, there was no noise. She felt frozen to the wall by the door. She didn't know what to do.

“You were too hard on her, she passed out,” Jii-chan said in a bored voice. “Move her into the pantry and lock the door. We'll sneak her out tonight when Kagome and Souta are asleep.”

Kagome covered her mouth, trying not to cry out. Her own family was part of this. Her own family caused this. She felt her heart sink into her stomach. She didn't know what to do.

She ran out of the building and into the streets of San Francisco, hoping to find some answers.

Naraku had bitten Kagome in several visible—and not so visible-- spots all over her body. Currently his head was between her legs, letting blood flow freely from her thigh into his mouth. He was lapping up her blood, sucking on her flesh, feeling himself get higher and higher from her overdosed body.

Kagome had passed out about ten minutes prior, her skin slowly getting paler from the loss of blood. Her body didn't move, her hair was cascaded across the couch she lay on. He felt her pulse begin to slow, as if she were dying, and pulled himself back.

He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, staring at the young girl before him. He hadn't tasted a girl this good in years, centuries in fact. He was trying to savor her, but it was proving impossible. She just tasted so damn good.

He heard the commotion outside the room and smiled. There was nothing he loved more than seeing a little bloodshed. The unveiling of the demons had been a blessing to him. The fighting, the bloodshed, the drug dens, he loved all of it.

He laid next to the passed out girl beside him, riding the high. He had no idea how much time had passed but a young demon girl entered the room. Her hair was long and silver, she had purple stripes on the side of her face, and her eyes were amber.

“My lord, perhaps I should take care of the girl to ensure she doesn't die tonight,” the demoness said sourly, crinkling her nose at the girl.

Naraku waived his hand at the demon, unable to comprehend anything but the air around him. The silver haired woman picked up Kagome with ease and carried her out of the room, into another hidden room. She walked up a small staircase and exited out a back door into an alley. Once she was a few blocks away, she pulled out her cell phone.

“I've got her,” she mumbled. She turned the phone off and a few minutes later a black Mercedes pulled up beside the women. The demoness picked up Kagome and the back seat door opened. The demoness put Kagome's lifeless body into the back seat, getting in behind her.

They weaved through the streets of New York until they reached Jinenji's warehouse in Brooklyn.

Kagome hadn't moved and the demoness noticed that her breathing was shallower than before.

Kagome was carried into the warehouse where Jinenji was waiting by a cot on the floor. Kagome's body was placed on the cot and a syringe with purple whishing liquid was inside. He injected the liquid into her arm, and nearly immediately color began to return to her face.

“Don't tell anyone I helped her,” the silver haired demoness stated. “I need to be completely unknown.”

Jinenji nodded as she turned and jumped out the window above her head. Jinenji looked back down at Kagome, and saw that she was dreaming heavily, but about what, he would never know.

Graduation day, Kagome was the Valedictorian, making the speech for the class about how they were all going to be stronger and better than the generation before them, paving the way for the future. Kagome spent a lot of time trying to avoid her home after hearing the girl being beaten, but nothing at home had changed.

She had decided to take a gap year and while her mother acted worried, her grandfather seemed thrilled that she would be staying at home for an extra year. He told her that after her graduation, he wanted to talk to her about something important, making her wonder if she knew exactly what was happening at home.

She received her diploma and walked off the stage, proud of herself. The last four years were difficult, and she did it. She passed. Now she had to figure out where to go.

Hojo met her after the graduation, pulling her into an embrace and kissing her. She remembered that she felt her insides melt as he held her. In her life filled with confusion and regret, he seemed to be her recluse away from it all. He was her support, her rock. He told her he loved her, and in her heart, she knew she had loved him.

They swore they'd save themselves for when high school was over, and as of this moment, they were no longer in high school. They were two adults. As he held her, he whispered softly, “Tonight.”

She smiled to herself. “Yes, tonight.”

She took pictures with her friends, with Hojo, with her family. They all posed and smiled together, and what Kagome didn't know at the time, was that within the next week, everything was going to completely change.

Hojo had gotten them a hotel room that night, and when Kagome told her family that she and Hojo were going to be hanging out that night, her family told her to have fun and be safe. Her mother handed her a box of condoms with a wink, telling her it was okay. She blushed, thinking how strangely her mother was acting.

She met him at the hotel, and like young lovers, their clothes flew off as they raced to the bed. It didn't last long, but Hojo was an adequate lover, Kagome thought. She imagined her life with him, knowing that with a little work between them it could be so much better. She remembered him tracing her body with his hands, getting his fingers tangled in her hair. The soft sighs, the gentle touch, the quick, piercing pain, and the ending.

As they laid in the bed catching their breath, Hojo suddenly got up from the bed and began to get dressed. He turned to look at her and smiled, but it wasn't the smile he usually gave her. It was a mix of sadness and deceit.

She rolled to her side to watch him, wondering what he was up to.

“Hojo, why don't you come back to bed?” Kagome cooed, trying to sound sultry.

He turned and threw a wad of cash on the bed. “Your mother told me the price. You should go home. I can't afford anything else.”

Kagome stared at the cash and didn't understand. “What do you mean price?”

He lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “Well I pay you, don't I? The whole `Girlfriend Experience' is what you do, isn't it? You were pretending to be so innocent, I thought it was cute. I could probably get it to work on a real girl now. Thanks for the coaching.”

“What do you mean, `real girl?'”

“Well, I wouldn't date a prostitute, would I?” With that, he grabbed his keys and waived at her. “See you around.”

The initial shock began to take hold. After a moment to think about what he said, Kagome felt her heart break into hundreds of pieces. She had been duped. She had been lied to. She stared at the cash on the bed. It was easily a thousand dollars in the wad. A mix of twenties and hundreds.

Tears streamed down her face. She began to scratch at her arms, feeling dirty and disgusting. She ran into the bathroom and started the shower, scrubbing herself until she was bleeding. No matter how much she washed herself, she still felt dirty.

She was sobbing, finally collapsing in the shower, holding her knees as the water cascaded over her body. She only thought of how she had been deceived. Her suspicions about her family were now confirmed. They were running a prostitution ring in China Town, and she was just pulled into it. She was pulled into it in the worst possible way. Her own mother had sold her to someone she deeply cared for, and she had no idea until it was all over.

Inuyasha was clawing at the sealed doors of the Thunder Brother's. His eyes were red with blood and purple stripes adorned his face. His fangs were elongated as he screamed inhumanly, making most of the demons nearby cower in fear. He was in a blood filled rage, unable to control his actions. Nothing could get through to him, no voice could reach him.

He broke through the door with his claws out, the growls escaping his mouth were those of tortured anguish. Everyone in the room dispersed, except the young white haired child.

The child lifted his hand to Inuyasha, taking control of his mind, making Inuyasha's body paralyze.

She's somewhere safe. Leave now. The voice inside Inuyasha's head caused his demon blood to calm, he didn't know where it came from, but his eyes began to fade back to amber, his fangs retracted. He heard the voice again. Don't let her come back if you can help it. It's only going to get more dangerous for her.

Inuyasha felt his blood completely return to normal at this point. He saw that a few girls were on the floor unconscious, but Hiten and Monten were gone. The child was gone too. Inuyasha pulled his phone out and called the police department.

“Send some ambulances to the Fights and Lights, along with your best police officers.”

Inuyasha walked out of the den, back outside, where he was met by Sango and Miroku looking worried.

“She's not in there,” Inuyasha stated. “I don't know where she is, but supposedly she's safe.”

“She's with Jinenji. A demon brought her there. Come on, she's in pretty bad shape,” Sango told him, running back into the van, the car's tires smoking as she rushed to get to Jinenji's.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Kagome screamed as she threw the roll of money at her mother. Her Jii-chan remained quiet, a smirk touching his lips.

“We knew that you heard us that day,” Jii-chan told her smugly. “We knew that you were trying to get evidence against us, and of course we knew you liked that Hojo. He knew about us before you did, and we figured that he'd pay top dollar to have a girlfriend like you. We figured that you'd appreciate the romancing first before going into the business…”

Kagome felt tears sting her eyes. “Why are you selling me? I'm your granddaughter! I'm your daughter! I'm your family!” Kagome screamed, pounding her fists on the table.

“We're giving you a choice. You can either do work like you did today, or you can help us run the operation,” her mother cooed. Kagome felt like her mother was talking to her in a tone about dinner choices, not about selling people.

“I don't want to work in the business at all!” Kagome screamed, fully sobbing now. “People shouldn't be sold like cattle!”

“Kagome… it's the world's oldest trade. It's always been around and it always will be, we might as well continue it. Besides, don't you remember when those uncles would visit and you'd sit on their laps? We've been doing this for as long as you've been alive.”

Kagome's jaw dropped. She had been sold her entire life, and she never even realized it.

“Where do you think all of those friends from Japan went? Ayame, Eri and Yuka? You think that we were actually finding them homes in America? They work on the other side of town. It was Eri you heard crying that day.”

Kagome felt her stomach turn into knots. She had walked around Northern San Francisco a couple years back and could have sworn she recognized one of the girls on the street corner, but didn't think anything of it. She felt like she was going to be sick.

“I will never be a part of this!” Kagome screamed, running into her room. She began to pack a bag when she heard the door behind her lock. She turned in horror, running to open the door but the door was locked from the outside. She began pounding on the door, screaming and sobbing.

“You have three days to decide Kagome,” her mother shouted.

Kagome ran over to her window to find that it had new bars placed on it. She never noticed them before. She was trapped, unable to leave. She fell to the floor, unsure of what to do next. The darkness consumed her. She didn't know how she was going to escape, she didn't realize what kind of hell she was in. All she knew is that she didn't want to live like this…

Inuyasha broke the door down to Jinenji's and ran to find Jinenji mixing herbs.

“Where is she?” Inuyasha yelled.

“She's resting. She needs time to rest,” Jinenji told him gently, but Inuyasha didn't care. He ran into Jinenji's sleeping quarters and found Kagome thrashing in the bed, yelling in Japanese.

“I was born in Japan. Do you speak the language as well?”

“A little, but it was never really my strong suit.”

Inuyasha was remembering that conversation and feeling himself get angrier. She had lied to him. She was yelling in perfect Japanese while she was thrashing. Their first time hanging out and she specifically told him that she didn't speak the language, yet here she was, yelling in Japanese in her sleep.

“What is she saying?” Sango asked, as she walked into the room, staring at Kagome's thrashing form.

“She's begging to be let out. She must think she's in a cage or something,” Inuyasha muttered, biting back his temper.

“I thought she didn't speak Japanese,” Sango muttered, looking at Inuyasha. She saw his face turn red.

“I thought she didn't speak it either.”

Jinenji came into the room and saw her thrashing as Inuyasha watched, his body shaking.

He moved past Inuyasha and put another shot of medicine in her body, causing her thrashing to stop immediately. Soon she was breathing heavily and deeply.

“I put her in a deep induced sleep. She should wake up sometime tomorrow. She needs rest,” Jinenji told them. “Do you want her to go back with you, Inuyasha? I'm sure she'll want a familiar face when she wakes up.”

He glared at her form, not sure how to feel. She lied about speaking Japanese, what else has she lied about? Is she really who she says she is? Is she really from San Francisco? Her voice didn't have a trace of an accent. She sounded like she was born and raised in Tokyo.

“You know Inuyasha, there might be a reason why she didn't tell you she spoke Japanese,” Sango reasoned. “Has she told you about her past at all? She hasn't really told me anything.”

Inuyasha thought about it. “No,” he realized. “She spoke very little about her past. Mostly that she lived with her family and had a boyfriend. She was a top student… but that was it. She said her parents died last year.”

Sango opened her mouth to correct him, but stopped herself. There must be a reason why she's told everyone her parents are dead, she wasn't going to go assuming. She read police reports about the Higurashi family in China Town. They were the head of a mob, and there were rumors of human trafficking, but she had no idea if Kagome's family was the same Higurashi family, or if she was somehow involved.

“Take her home and when she wakes up, have a long heart to heart… after you find out what happened. We need a police report.”

Inuyasha picked up Kagome and stepped out of the warehouse. He could take a cab, but it would be far quicker to fly. He thought about it and decided to fly. He held her close as they jumped through the air of New York, the city lights illuminating the skyline as the sun began to slowly rise on the ocean.

Kagome woke up for a second to see the sunrise, but passed out soon after, being dragged back into the nightmare that was her life…

Several months had passed since the incident with Hojo, and Kagome was feeling numb. She refused to be touched by another man, so she agreed to help run her family's business. She worked on the books, figuring out how much each girl was making, the expenses… She felt like a traitor.

Her mother had her shackled to the table to ensure that she didn't try to run away, leaving her ankle raw and bruised. She had lost weight from her restlessness. She went from being a prized child to a slave in her own home. Her brother Souta chose to ignore the situation his sister was in, realizing that if he spoke out against it, he would be in the same situation as her. She couldn't blame him, honestly, but she wished that he would help her somehow.

After six months being chained to her own home, she was able to trick her family into thinking she was trustworthy. She had the shackles removed and was now sent to the street corners to collect the money needed to run the business. She overdressed, not wanting to tempt anyone into thinking she was one of them. When she went outside for the first time, she felt tears, knowing she would have to go back to the dinky little apartment that she once believed was her safe haven.

After her first month of collecting the money, she opened a PO Box and sent an application to NYU. Three thousand miles should be far enough for her to escape. She would slowly sneak out small items in her oversized coat and store them in a storage locker she paid for in a fake name. She was preparing her escape, taking money here and there so it would be enough to move her things and herself in one swift move.

She got an acceptance letter with a full scholarship, giving her some relief. She knew that she just had to make it to August. She was only in this hell until August. She continued to sneak money away and move her things into the storage locker.

She continued to work the books, to take the money as needed. At the end of July she was able to sneak away for an entire day and ship everything to her future dorm, closing the storage locker. All that was left was to get enough money to buy a plane ticket. She knew it would be expensive, but she figured in one day she could just take all the money earned, go to the airport, and hop on a plane.

She felt bad for the girls, but there was nothing she could do. She had to save herself before she could save anyone else. She felt herself gain hope again, she began to smile again. Her family began to grow suspicious, but she continued her work with them without complaint. She decided that in order to escape, she had to blend in.

One week before she would make her grand escape, her mother and Jii-chan confronted her.

“We want to know why there has been money missing,” her mother asked her point blank. Kagome felt herself grow nervous. Did her mother know?

“What money missing?” Kagome asked. She felt it safer to play dumb.

“You know what money missing,” Jii-chan stated. He snapped his fingers and two men walked in with Ayame, one of the nicer girls working on the streets. Her hair was shoulder length and brown, she had a round face and was usually smiles, even though she was in such a dire situation. Today though, her eye was black and swollen, she had blood at the corner of her mouth, her flashy clothing was torn.

Kagome stared round eyed at Ayame, not knowing what to say or do. Her mother put a hand on Kagome's shaking shoulder.

“Tell us where the money is, or she's going to be in a lot more pain,” her mother whispered.

Crack. A riding crop was struck hard against her back, causing Ayame to scream out in pain.

“Stop it!” Kagome screamed. “Stop it! Stop it! Don't hurt her!”

“Hurt who?”

Kagome felt herself wrapped in satin sheets, the sun shining into the open room of Inuyasha's. She saw Inuyasha sitting beside her on the bed, dark circles under his eyes. His shirt was unbuttoned, exposing his chest. His jeans were dirty. He must have been up all night.

Tears streamed down her face. “Nothing,” she muttered, laying back down.

“Tell me what's wrong,” he said to her sweetly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“No, it's nothing,” she muttered.

“Does it have anything to do with your fluency in Japanese?” he asked, his voice cold.

Kagome's eyes grew wide. She just realized that they had been conversing in Japanese the entire time.

“I can explain,” she said, sitting up, grabbing his hand. She figured there was no use hiding anything from him anymore.

“Explain why you lied to me when I told you everything about me? About the hell I've been through, about how the only other woman I've ever loved was killed in front of me? You know you could trust me, I don't get why you didn't!”

“I still don't' know if I can trust you!” she screamed, tears rolling down her face. “I can't trust anyone!”

His face faltered, causing more guilt to rise in her chest. He was incredibly hurt, it showed on his face.

“If you would just tell me, I might be able to help!” he screamed.

“You want to know? Fine! My parents ran a prostitution ring and sold me when I graduated high school!”

He shut his mouth immediately. She jumped out of bed and began to pace. “I thought I loved my ex boyfriend. We talked about traveling the world, I was in love with him. I thought he loved me, and the first time we had sex, he threw a wad of cash at me and told me my mom arranged the price. My grandfather shackled me to the house and told me I had to either help him or continue to sell myself! We would go to Japan and get orphans to sell in the States!

“Why would I ever want to relive any of that? A girl was beaten to death in front of me so I could escape! I watched her be beaten to death so I could run away! I was a coward and I was afraid to fight my family because I'm so fucked up that I still love them! They sold me! They sold me as a child and they sold me as a teenager! And now I'm dating a half demon who sent me into a drug den and let me get drugged and God knows what else!

“I am worth nothing and nothing I do will ever make any of this right again! I jumped into this thinking I could redeem myself! Thinking if I could save one person, that girl dying wouldn't be so bad! No matter what I see her face whenever I sleep! I'm always afraid that falling in love with you will be dangerous and this last day has proven that you're just as dangerous as my family, if not more! I ran away to New York so I could start over! I chose demon studies because humans had proven to be horrible creatures! I just want to live a normal life away from everyone, but no matter what I do I get dragged into the darkest parts of humanity and tortured. This was a mistake, Inuyasha. I can't do this anymore!”

She fell to her knees and began sobbing. He kneeled beside her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her hair.

“Kagome… if I would have known, I would have never let you go in there,” he muttered. She shook her head violently.

“If you cared about me at all, you would have never risked it,” she sobbed.

He lifted her up and placed her back on the bed, where she clung to him and cried into his chest. She was broken, wanting only to be whole again.

“I promise it will never happen again. I'll never let you be put into any kind of danger like that ever again,” he whispered.

She continued to cry into his chest, not knowing what to do. She was realizing more and more that she was in love with Inuyasha, and she felt that the feeling might be mutual, but everything that just happened just showed her how naïve she can be, and she wondered if she would ever escape the hell that she kept encountering…