InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Father Figure ❯ At the Movies ( Chapter 7 )

AN: Less humour in this chapter I'm afraid.

Father Figure

At the Movies

"Inuyasha - I really don't think I should be here." Kagome called urgently as she staggered after his lead, held firmly by the wrist.

"We are going to have a little talk and then you are going to stay the night in Kaede's hut until your common sense returns." He ground out, pushing aside the low hanging branches as he dragged her through the forest.

"I can't be here, Inuyasha!" she ducked as a branch whipped towards her. "If my mother finds out I'm gone then Denji will seal the well!"

"Good! Then you'll be stuck here where you belong!"

"I can't stay here!" She grabbed a tree with her free hand, effectively managing to anchor herself so his hand slipped off her wrist. "They'll be mad at me if I stay here!"

"Well maybe it's time you gave up that stupid time!" He turned to regard her angrily. "You always like to go off and say I'm so unfair and that I don't consider your feelings! Well I do! Any blind fool can see that this Denji guy is making you miserable, so why are you even putting up with it?! Stay here!"

"I can't!" she yelled back.

"Why not?! You have Sango and Shippo! And to an extent you have Miroku." And as an after thought he remembered. "You have me as well!"

"Yes, I know you'll all look after me and love me like a family." Kagome pushed the hair back out of her face as she regained her composure. "But I don't belong here."

"Then make yourself belong!"

"It's not that simple!" she scowled.

"Why isn't it? Stop being a weak little girl and don't put up with that guy! Come here and we'll all take care of you!" he flexed his claws angrily.

"You think I'm weak because I'm not running away?" she demanded. "If I run away that is letting him win and admitting that he upsets me! Besides - while I may hate Denji - I can't abandon my family just because of him! Despite taking his side, they've done nothing wrong! I can't just walk away and leave them with that guy! Souta doesn't understand what Denji's doing - Mom is too in love to realise and Grandpa is so oblivious to the real world to notice anything! If I leave they'll all be heart broken and they won't understand why I ran away!"

Inuyasha's hand came out to grip a tree branch, leaning against it with a closed expression as he contemplated her words.

Kagome sighed and straightened. "I'm not a coward for facing my problem. It's not your problem, so you shouldn't get so worked up about it."

She heard a soft growl from him, as good a sign of defeat as any. She'd won this argument. "Now I have to go back before they miss me. We're going to the movies tonight so I have to be back on time."

She turned and started walking away. As soon as he was behind her she let her expression fall, wishing with all her soul that she could stay here and just leave her problems behind her. But she still loved her family… she couldn't leave them to Denji.

"Why did you tell him all that stuff?"

She turned suddenly, seeing Inuyasha with his arms folded and glowering at her. "What?"

"Your father. You told him I don't appreciate you. That I two-time you and that I always leave you to go chase Kikyo." His frown deepened. "Why?"

Her gaze slid to the forest floor. "Because… that's how I feel… or… how I think you feel…"

"Kikyo's dead. I can't run to her to help her (though we'll wait to see if that sticks…). And how can I two-time you when we aren't even together?"

He turned and stalked back to the village without her. Leaving Kagome with that verbal slap in the face.

"Ow…" she said with feeling. She stared after him a moment before turning slowly and making her way back towards the well, not feeling as victorious as she had a moment ago.

^_^

"Mom - we need to talk!" Kagome said as she marched through the front door. Her mother appeared in the kitchen doorway whilst she heard Souta yell from the front room. "Is she clucking like a duck yet?!"

"How's your first session go, dear?" Her mother smiled warmly, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Pointless." Kagome huffed. "Therapy isn't going to help, mom."

"Well it's either that or sealing up the well." Her mother shrugged and went back into the kitchen. Kagome remained speechless for a moment at her mother's flippancy with the matter, before marching straight after her.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this!" Kagome began ranting. "Nothing has changed about what I do in the past, I collect shards and fight demons - the same things I've been doing for ages - then all of a sudden I need therapy for it? I don't need it! I'm not making it up and I'm not going crazy either!"

"Kagome, dear, Denji and I have discussed this to great length and we've decided the well just isn't healthy for you. It's taken you away from your studies and your family - we have to put our foot down somewhere."

"But why now? Because Denji told you to?" Kagome glared at her.

"No. I've been thinking about it for some time before we talked about it. I just want to… wean you off going to the past. I'm worried that if you stay in the past too long then one day you won't come back. I don't want to lose my only daughter that way." Her mother sighed and set down the dish she'd been drying. "Disappearing from existence… you'll be five hundred years in the past… if you leave for good then I how am I supposed to deal with the fact that my daughter died five hundred years ago in the Sengoku Jidai? Died along with the likes of Oda Nabunaga or Uesugi Kenshin?"

Kagome was quiet for a moment. "I won't leave like that… I won't leave… but why can't you see that right now I need to be in the Sengoku Jidai. We have a debt that I need to repay to Inuyasha and my friends. Don't you understand that they're my friends? I can't just give up on them, the same way I won't give up on you guys either… you're all family to me."

Mrs Higurashi sighed again and turned to face her daughter wearily. "I understand that the friends you have through the well seem to be good ones… and I swear that when your exams are over and when you get a placement in a good high school then you can spend as much time as you want in the past… but until then… I want you to study and stay here. It'll only be for a few months."

Kagome frowned at her mother. "You want me to get into a good high school, just so I can skip it to be in the past?"

"High school education doesn't matter." Her mother shook her head. "As long as it's set in stone that you went to a good high school, then it'll look good on your CV's and credentials if you ever want a good job or a good university, dear."

"But my friends-"

"Can wait a few months to have you back. If they were good friends they would understand." Mrs Higurashi suddenly frowned. "Besides, Denji isn't too comfortable about this whole time travelling thing so I'd prefer you'd stay away from the well until he'd used to it."

"He's get used to it a whole lot faster if I did it more often." Kagome said dryly. "And you know how antsy Inuyasha gets when I don't go see him. He'll come and drag me back by my hair… how average will that look to Denji?"

"I don't like your tone of voice, Kagome." Her mother warned slightly sharply. "Inuyasha is not to come here to drag you back. If he does - you can just send him back where he came from. I will not have you distracted from your studies."

Kagome's fists clenched against the pleats of her skirt and she was about to voice how she felt about that arrangement when she heard the front door go and Denji entered. "I'm home!" he called. Kagome's blood ran cold out of automatic reaction to his voice alone.

Mrs Higurashi's face lit up with a smile as she moved past Kagome to embrace the man. Kagome bitterly wondered how he'd managed to do it… managed to become the only person in the world that could make her mother's face light up like that. Before, Kagome could have done it. Souta could have done it. Grandpa was more likely to make her frown but she could still smile for him too. But now she smiled for no one but Denji…

Selfish bastard…

Kagome winced inwardly at her own thoughts, once more wondering if she was being paranoid. But she quickly remembered she wasn't paranoid… he was the one that was making everyone believe she was crazy. He was the one who had done nothing when she'd cut her foot and he was the one who was managing to exclude her from family decisions… such as getting the new dog.

Now Kagome's school friends had heard from her Grandpa that she was getting therapy… they'd called her, obviously concerned for her sanity if the rumours were anything to go by.

"Denji?" Souta came scampering out of the living room with the pup at his heels. "Are we gonna go see that film tonight?"

"Tonight… or now?" he smiled and looked at his watch. "There's a showing in about half an hour down at the theatre. If we hurry we can make it in time and miss the adverts at the beginning."

"Or find it's fully bucked and wait around for the night showing in four hours." Kagome's mouth slipped out before she'd had time to realise what she was saying. Souta rolled his eyes at her whilst Denji and her mother gave her slightly annoyed looks. They could have just let it pass by but what stung Kagome the most was the way her mother spoke in that gentle, slightly hurt voice. "Don't be like that, Kagome."

She bit down on the inside of her cheek and turned away so they didn't see her embarrassed flush. Great… now she felt guilty that she was being rude to her step father. What a laugh… he wasn't even technically her step father. That was only if he married her mother… and that wasn't exactly a sure thing right then.

"Alright kids, get your coats, we're going!" Denji called.

Kagome heard Souta's enthusiastic cry of "Yeah!" followed by her mother chuckling as they went out the front door. Kagome grabbed her coat from the stand and looked down at the little dog that was yipping at her feet, intent on following her out the door after the others. She sighed and crouched down to scratch him behind the ears, causing his tail to wag so hard his back end wiggled with it. She couldn't help but smile. "You're the lucky one… you get to stay here…" he yipped at her again and she stood. "If Inuyasha comes by tell him he can go sit himself for that comment about our relationship." She nodded at the dog firmly.

"Kagome?!" Her brother called from outside, obviously impatient. "We'll miss the film - come on!"

"Bye… whatever your name is…" she didn't quite remember as the waved and carefully shut the door after her as she left the house.

^_^

"Damn… I was sure he was going to bring Kagome back with him this time." Sango breathed with dismay as they saw Inuyasha stomping towards the hut, alone, and with one of his favourite scowls painted on his brow.

"She still doing 'exams'?" Shippo hopped up onto Miroku's knee as the Hanyou neared.

"No. Just honouring her family." He replied sarcastically. "Stupid bitch doesn't seem to realise that we need her more than that school does!"

"How would you know?" Miroku asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because!" Inuyasha floundered for an excuse. "I just do! It's not like she's ridding her world of demons and collecting pieces of some kind of… Ichikon no Tama!"

"Was that a pun?" Sango asked flatly.

"No it was not a pun!" he snapped. "If I was joking you'd all be laughing! I was merely pointing out the unlikely event of Kagome saving the world in her era!"

"Be cool if she was saving the world though…" Shippo mused to himself more than anyone else. He received a cuff around the head from Inuyasha anyhow. "Hey!"

"Shut up. You don't know nothing. You're just a kid." He said bitterly and turned to stomp back into the forest, probably to find a tree for the night.

It was a long time before anyone spoke. Sango blinked lightly as she raised her eyebrows. "He had a fight with Kagome didn't he?"

"Uh…" Miroku thought about it. "When do they not have a fight at a time like this?"

"Mm." Sango grunted and picked herself up off the porch to head back inside, out of tradition alone her hand came out and batted his hand that had been reaching for her behind. "Give it a rest you praetorian priest."

"That's a new one." Shippo told him helpfully.

^_^

The typical family film. A predictable, tired plot, more action than actual story, more good looking men and women than was normal in every day life, and a romantic subplot that had been contrived and thrown together at the last minute to get the film industry to take up the idea. Basically, it was a lame film, the acting was too dramatic and overdone to be good acting. The dialogue was beyond cliché… Kagome had just rolled her eyes and stared at the green 'fire exit' sign for a good five minutes after the heroine had screamed 'Don't do it, Jack! Don't jump!' in that heart felt way only a porn star could muster.

Oh look - now here came the bit where the main guy's sister and the sidekick had their smooching moment. Kagome rolled her eyes yet again and glanced further along her row to the rest of her family. Her mother was enraptured, Souta was making a face at the kissing on the screen and Denji, who she had been forced to sit next to, was as usual, pretty impassive in his quiet moments.

She turned her attention back to the screen with a tiny sigh and wished that right then she could have been sitting in a cold hut, gathered around the small fire with her friends and Inuyasha.

Now there was a thought… when had she begun to separate Inuyasha from the same category as her friends? Why was it always Inuyasha and her friends? Not Sango and her friends? Or Shippo and her friends or even Miroku and her friends?

She then had to roll her eyes mentally at herself. Because he's not your friend. He's more than that. 'Friend' doesn't cover what he means to you…

She was better off saying 'why couldn't she be gathered around a small fire with her friends and the love of her life?'

Don't kid yourself, Kagome, she told herself bitterly. He said himself that there is nothing between them… he meant it. No point… thinking… bad…

Her train of thought careened off its tracks and was forgotten at once as she felt rather than saw Denji's hand slip past the arm rest between them and settle on her knee. Her eyes snapped down to where his hand rested as her entire being stiffened up. She couldn't move… she couldn't find the air to breathe for that matter. Her entire focus was on the hand that was now gently squeezing her thigh, moving in a gentle but firm caress.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see him continuing to watch the screen like nothing was happening. A hot rush of anger seemed to clash with an even stronger flash of cold fear and loss. What did she do?

Stand up and scream? Slap him? Do nothing? Wave to her mother and point at her knee? No… she was too afraid… not of Denji, but of what they would all think of her…

And since doing nothing was clearly not an option either, she did it the cowardly way. She tore herself out of her seat and out of his reach and stumbled along the row of seats to reach the aisle, not bothering to apologise for the feet she stepped on. She could feel Souta and her mother turn and watch her back in surprise. She even heard her mother whisper none too quietly. "Where's she going?"

And she could almost feel the shrug Denji offered her. How dare he…

Kagome had never been so sure she hated anyone so much in her entire life. Her knee burned as she all but ran down the steps in the dark theatre and out into the brightly lit corridor outside. Instinctively she headed to the only place she knew she could hide out for a while without being disturbed or questioned… the ladies room.

Fortunately nobody else was in the brightly lit white bathroom. They were all too busy watching films to redo their makeup or spruce up their hair whilst they gossiped about this and that. It meant she could have a little time to herself, stare at her pale reflection, enunciated by the stark light above her head.

She leaned back against the sinks for support as she looked down at her knee, as if expecting it to be contaminated or blackened by evil or something. She wouldn't have been too surprised if it had been… it felt dirty…

She didn't cry or get angry… instead she calmly took a few paper towels from the dispenser and dabbed them in a little water from the taps. She spent the next few minutes scrubbing her knee, washing it with soap and scrubbing it again. She hadn't understood why all those women who'd been molested or raped sat themselves in showers for hours on end claiming to be 'unclean'. She'd always thought it was stupid, and a sign of weakness. What good did it do to scrub away at invisible dirt and cry that you'd never be clean again?

But now she understood in a way. It wasn't the fact that her knee was literally dirty or covered in Denji germs… in fact right then she could have eaten her dinner off that knee. It was the fact that he'd touched her… seared a mark on her that didn't show on the skin, but it was there. No matter how much she washed and tried to wipe away the sensation of his cool, callused hand on her thigh she could still remember the touch… the sickening feeling in her stomach that accompanied it… the fact that he'd gotten away with it!

She ought to tell someone straight away. Her mother. Her grandfather. The police. Her real father. But even though she knew she should… she also knew she wouldn't. She couldn't…

Why? Because she was too embarrassed.

Was that a good excuse? No. It was a pathetic excuse. She didn't know what there was to be embarrassed about… before girls in this kind of situation annoyed her. Embarrassed? What for? For being violated and assaulted? For being harassed? For doing nothing wrong apart from being a victim? They kept it all to themselves because they were too 'embarrassed' and 'ashamed'. Kagome had thought it was because they were afraid people would think they were sluts, or whores.

But she didn't feel as though she was a slut or a whore… and she certainly didn't think anyone else would assume as much. But she was still embarrassed. She hadn't understood before, and she still didn't…

Maybe she was ashamed to tell someone… that they'd pity her and coddle her. Or maybe she was afraid to tell someone because subconsciously she thought they would be disgusted with her. Or perhaps it was because of something as lame as not wanting people to think about her knee or any other part of her anatomy for that reason.

But a stronger shame surrounded the fact that she had been vulnerable to this. A strong girl wouldn't have let this happen… she was weak… she was a coward.

"Just like Inuyasha said…" she whispered to her miserable reflection.

Suddenly the door open and a flood of women entered the bathroom, having just watched the ending of whatever film they'd come to see. Now everyone had drunk their cokes and were dying for the bathroom… the rest just needed to check if their lip stick was still there.

The women crowded around her, not really noticing the lone girl as they peered over her at their images. Kagome lowered her head and slipped past them to exit the bathroom without a fuss. Where to go now?

The answer was obvious. She couldn't go back inside the theatre… so she had no choice but to go home. And even that wasn't such a tempting idea. But where else could she go? Through the well? No… she was still mad at Inuyasha for being such a jerk after their little therapy session.

She walked out of the theatre without much hindrance and hugged herself to spite the cold. She'd left her jacket back on her seat beside Denji… no point going back to fetch it. She'd survive a little chill…

Normally she'd be preoccupied with being paranoid about street thugs or drunks when it was this dark… she'd never let herself walk home alone in the dark. But for some reason she felt a little empty. Unable to cry, unable to get angry… just… only able to feel like a pathetic idiot. Inuyasha would have a field day if he saw her. He wouldn't hesitate to point out how stupid she was, how ridiculous she was being in not telling anyone.

Maybe it was best to keep quiet. Maybe Denji wouldn't do it again? Perhaps it was just a one time thing? Maybe he'd even mistaken her for her mother in the dark? Well… whatever it had been, there was no point dwelling on it.

But as soon as she got home she went straight to her room without bothering to turn on the lights as she flopped face down on her bed and buried her face in her pillow. She still didn't cry. She just lay there until she fell asleep, dwelling on it all.

She didn't know what time it was when she felt a hand shaking her shoulder lightly, waking her from her deep sleep. She turned over and saw her mother's anxious face hovering over her. "Kagome, don't scare us like that! You just disappeared - you could have been abducted."

"Sorry…" Kagome mumbled, still half asleep.

"Where did you go? You just walked out in the middle of the film." Her mother frowned.

"I didn't feel well… so I came home."

Her mother sighed and felt her forehead. "You should have told us you were leaving… did you walk home in the dark?"

"No… I bumped into Hojo… he walked me back…" She lied, seeing no point in worrying her mother.

"You're a little warm." Her mother stated, holding a hand against her own forehead for measure. "Get some rest then dear, you have to be up early on Sunday morning."

"Why?" Kagome squinted slightly.

"Your father has another therapy session with you remember?" Her mother straightened and pulled up the covers around her daughter. "He called earlier. He wants you to bring your new friend Yoko with you, he says you two really help each other out."

Kagome grunted at what she thought of that idea.

"Do you still feel off?" Her mother asked.

Kagome nodded. It wasn't a lie… she did feel sort of ill right then.

"Get some sleep, dear, I'll wake you in the morning to see if your up for the therapy." Mrs Higurashi kissed her forehead gently and set down Kagome's coat at the end of the bed. "See you in the morning."

"Night." Kagome replied dully, listening to the sound of the door close in her mothers wake. Outside in the corridor she heard Denji's voice speak.

"What's the matter with her?" he asked, playing the part of the doting father figure. Ah… now there was that little surge of anger she'd been searching for…

"She's ill, that's all." Her mother said gently. There was no more talking after that.

Kagome sunk down deeper against the bed, pulling the covers over her head and allowed the sleep to claim her easily enough.

I wonder what Inuyasha would do if he found out… Was her last complete thought before she drifted off.

AN: Um… next chapter may take a while to come out. I'm a little tied down with Chemistry course work right now I'm afraid.