InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Heart's Landfill ❯ From His Lips to God's Ear's ( Chapter 29 )

A/N: As always all characters will be walking that fine line called OOCness. Foul language, beware!! First, remember there is two sides to every story-sometimes three. Second, get ready to despise Kouga-san just a little more. And third, if any of this has ever happened to you or you think it has-I'm sorry. Sexual innuendos, beware!! Thirdly, thanks to everyone that pulled themselves out of lurking status to let me know how much they appreciate my labor love; it's always good to hear from you guys!! Just…just don't make me have to beg you again…lol. And finally, but certainly not least, a special thanks and bow of appreciation goes out to my wonderful betas, Neko and Aikio-who has yet to view this chapter, but will shortly.

(Sighs and scratches head as she runs her hand down her face in an exasperated manner)

As you all know, my life sucks!! It does, I swear it does!! Anyway, three days ago the woman that raised me for ten years of my life passed away, my Grandmother. Since then I haven't been in the best of spirits, sleeping, or eating much, but I'm seriously hoping that this is something that will pass with the passage of time. Throughout the life of this fic, I have had two family members pass away, which makes for a total of 4 in the past five years. So, this make me wonder, `Did I do something wrong? Did I piss off the almighty so bad that he felt it necessary to make me suffer in such a way?' I don't have any answers for any of those questions, but what I do know is that it…this hurts…a lot. They say that he never gives you more than you can handle, but how much more does he really think that I can handle? How much more will I have endure or suffer through before he realizes that I'm worthy of being loved and having my loved ones around me? I don't have any answers for any of those questions either, but what I do know is that I'm tired. Emotionally, physically, spiritually, I'm tired…so…so…so tired.

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of anyone with the exception of Nola, Nya, Malcolm, and Dr. Aikio.

Chapter 29

From His Lips to God's Ears

“So, are you going to sit there and act as if you don't know what the fuck I'm talking about?” the hanyou snapped irritably.

He'd been sitting there for all of 5 minutes and still the wolf youkai had yet to acknowledge him. All he did was either stare at the bottle of vodka when he wasn't chugging it or at the grimy wall that sat across from them as if he was waiting for it to tell him what to do.

Inuyasha could tell from the youkai's scent that he wasn't afraid of him, maybe nervous, but he definitely wasn't afraid, which the hanyou figured was alright since he hadn't come here to fight the man; he simply wanted answers.

Glancing at the bartender, who happened to be at that very moment looking at him, Inuyasha ordered, “Bring me a bottle of Ashita.”

He'd ordered an Ashita, which was a lager beer that was considered domestic to Japan, because he seriously doubted that they had Guinness, Heineken, Corona, Red Stripe, or a clean fucking glass in the whole joint.

After noticing the bartender's nod of acknowledgement, Inuyasha turned his attention back to the demon beside him. “Did you really think I wouldn't notice your stench?” he questioned wryly as he took his beer from the barkeep.

“Is he going to be okay?” the guy behind the bar questioned, nodding towards the demon beside Inuyasha.

Swallowing a gulp of beer, Takahashi glanced at the youkai that was currently coddling the bottle of vodka as if he thought at any moment someone was going to take it from him. Turning his attention back to the guy behind the bar, he scoffed, “Fuck if I know.”

“So, you two don't know each other?”

“Does it really matter?” Inuyasha queried.

“No, I suppose it doesn't, but-”

“But fucking what, you piss-ant?” Ginta hissed cutting the man off, his hand clutching the nearly empty bottle of liquor. Not waiting for an answer, he finished, “Do your fucking job and get me another bottle!”

Ginta had noticed the hanyou's scent as soon as he'd walked through the door of the establishment, but he thought that perhaps it was a mistake, or maybe the half of a bottle of vodka that he'd already consumed was getting to him. However, it wasn't until he'd glanced over his shoulder and saw the half demon that he realized there wasn't a damn thing wrong with any of his senses.

Still, the wolf demon had held out hope that maybe the half-breed didn't know who he was, but that was short lived, because he had sat down next to him and asked him the one fucking question that he just didn't know how to answer.

“Who the fuck are you, and what do you want with Kagome?”

Since then, he'd been simply weighing his options. He'd thought about jumping up and hightailing it out of there, but if the hanyou had found him here, he'd just follow him, right? He'd also thought that maybe he could hit him over the head with the bottle he was currently clutching, but quickly decided that that was… Well, that was just a bad fucking idea all around.

Sighing heavily as the barkeep-who he decided he absolutely detested-reluctantly set another bottle of vodka down in front him, Ginta realized that he was currently stuck between a vast ocean he couldn't swim and a mountain he couldn't climb.

It was quite clear that he couldn't actually tell the hanyou why he was here, but it was also doubtful that the hanyou would allow him to leave without getting sufficient answers to his questions.

“Look, I'll sit here all fucking night if I have to, but you are going to tell me why the fuck you've been following Kagome,” Inuyasha stated, sitting back, his arms crossed over his chest as if to say his words were final.

Downing the rest of the vodka in the first bottle, Ginta wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He wasn't a fighter-had never been one, so to sit here and pretend as if he was one was just asinine.

He was the geek of the group. The one that thought out the pros and cons of a plan before it was carried out. He was the one that would rather talk his way out of a bad altercation before pulling out a gun or bruising his knuckles. He was the one that stayed away from the actual crimes so that he'd be available to bail out his brother and Kouga if it came to that, but he was not a fighter.

Running his hand down his face in an exasperated manner, he thought, If only I had thought things through more thoroughly. If only I had fucking paid attention to my surroundings, I would've known that this prick was following me! Fuck! What the hell am I suppose to do now?

Staring at the wolf demon out the corner of his eye, Inuyasha quickly took in his manner of dress. His worn and tattered looking khaki pants, a faded grey t-shirt, his red-white tipped converse sneakers, and the knee length brown trench coat he wore.

He looks like a fucking vagrant.

Turning his eyes away from the demon, the hanyou surmised that this guy was probably as harmful to Kagome as a fly was to a cow's ass, which meant that his first assumption about the demon was probably right. He meant no harm to her, but that, unfortunately, didn't mean he was about to just let this guy follow her around without having a damn good reason for doing so. And it was for that reason that he just couldn't get up and walk away.

“So you're her new boyfriend, eh?” Ginta asserted rhetorically.

Inuyasha glanced at the demon, one eyebrow raised higher than the other, but he didn't respond. He figured if letting him think that would get him the answers he needed quickly, then he'd let him think whatever the hell he wanted to.

Sliding the empty bottle away, Ginta reached for the full bottle of vodka and pulled it closer to him. “She always did go for the strong pigheaded type.”

Okay, so he has something to do with her past, he thought, knowing that really didn't explain a damn thing. Leaning forward, the hanyou refused to make eye contact with the youkai as he spoke quietly but with vehemence, “Look, you don't seem to be a bad guy, but if I have to, I won't hesitate to kick the living shit out of you in order to find out why you've been stalking her!”

Ginta grunted at that and lifted the bottle of vodka to his lips, but paused. Glancing at the hanyou without turning his head, he asked carefully, “When did you notice me?”

“Three days ago.”

Chuckling dryly at that, the wolf demon lifted the bottle the rest of the way to his lips and took a couple of slow long gulps before he set it back down on the bar. “Three whole days and I didn't even notice you,” he half slurred more to himself than to his acquaintance. “I guess that's the reason why they keep me in the dungeon,” he finished with a snort.

Narrowing his eyes at the youkai, Inuyasha realized that it was quite possible that the wolf was damn near drunk.

Of course, alcohol didn't affect demon's or even half demons in the manner it did humans, but if one of them drank enough of it, it could definitely get them drunk off their asses. And this guy had already ingested a whole bottle of straight vodka and was currently working on his second.

Chugging the rest of his beer, Takahashi raised his bottle and nodded towards the bartender in order to let him know to bring him another one. Patience, Inuyasha, he told himself as he watched the wolf youkai take another swig from the bottle.

“She looks exactly as she did when I saw her last,” Ginta muttered sadly, his head lulling forward. “Only thing that's different is…she's not crying.” Sighing lightly as he stared down at the bottle, he continued, “I guess Tokyo has been good to her. And that's good, that's real good.”

Inuyasha watch the demon's face warp into a scowl of hatred as he stared off into his own private oblivion, but he didn't say anything. If he hadn't learned anything else from his asshole of a brother, he'd learned that sometimes, especially when you wanted to know something that someone else knew, silence was best.

“That prick! He…he… Son of a…” Ginta shook his head and growled low in his throat, his scowl turning into a cocky smirk. “I'll win this time though. I'll save her… I'll…I'll stop him this time.” He smiled at no one and everyone as he finished softly while standing to his feet, his bottle in his hand, “I'll stop him this time, damn it.”

Save her? Stop him? He'll win? What the fuck is this guy babbling about? the hanyou questioned as he watched the demon shuffle over to the back corner of the bar and slide into one of the booths.

Is this guy nuts? What the fuck is he babbling on about?

Picking up the bottle of beer that the bartender had brought, Inuyasha stood from his seat and followed the youkai. Sliding into the seat across from him, the hanyou said nothing, just stared at the demon.

Staring back, Ginta shook his head lethargically as he let his head fall back against the raised back of the seat. He knew he only had two ways out of this situation now: tell the truth to the half demon and let him do as he saw fit, or lie, hightail it back to Kyoto and act like none of this ever occurred.

Unfortunately, if he did the latter of the two, he knew he would be hanging Kagome out to dry once more, which would mean that he hadn't changed at all. It would mean that once again, Kouga had won, and that his search for forgiveness and redemption would go unfulfilled.

Sitting up, he took a strong swallow from this bottle of vodka, and then sighed heavily. “Before I tell you anything, I need you to promise me something,” he bargained, setting the bottle back down on the table and sliding it to the side, away from his view. Staring the hanyou directly in the eyes, he continued, “I need you to promise me that you'll protect her if and when the time comes because…because…” He stopped, swallowed and glanced around the room as if he thought someone was listening. “I may not be around to do it. And this time…this time he can't… I can't let him have her.”

Inuyasha sat forward, his arms resting on the table. “What the fuck are you talking about? Who the fuck is he and why the hell does Kagome need protection from him?”

Ginta shot up, slamming his hands against the wooden table as he shouted furiously, “Just fucking promise! Promise you'll protect her!”

Inuyasha sat back and stared wide eyed at the demon, who was visibly shaken and appeared to have more than a few screws loose. Shaking his head as if to clear whatever thoughts he may have been having, the hanyou answered, as if it should have been a no-brainer, “Of course. Yeah… Whatever...”

Ginta sat back down wearily, the tension he was feeling at that moment a palpable thing. If I can't do it… If I can't protect her by getting her away from Kouga, then maybe this guy… Maybe this guy will be able to protect her in other ways.

“So, who is he, and what does he want with Kagome?” the hanyou asked again, his patience beginning to wear thin.

Ginta sighed lightly, closed his eyes and allowed the story, as he knew it, to flow from his lips.

Simonkal of Inuy

“Oi, have you heard from him yet?” Kouga questioned as he stared out at the ocean from the 30th floor balcony he was currently standing on.

“I tried him a few times today and yesterday, but he isn't answering,” Hakkaku replied as he stepped up next to his friend and boss, his hands buried deep within his pockets.

Glancing over at the demon, who he knew was loyal to him above all others, Kouga grunted something unintelligent but didn't comment outright.

He knew that Ginta had a problem with what he was doing, but he couldn't in all honesty say that he cared in the least. What went on between him and Kagome was between him and Kagome. What he did to her or didn't do to her was his business!

He was the current head of the Kyoto Syndicate; there wasn't a goddamn thing that anyone could say to him about anything! If he wanted Kagome…If he wanted her as just a fucking plaything then that's what the fuck she was going to be! If he wanted to move her into the house that he shared with Ayame, then that's the fucking way it was going to be! If he just wanted to pass her around as if she was nothing more than pussy for hire, then guess what, that's the fucking way it was going to be! No one…not one living fucking soul could tell him, what he could or could not do!

He wasn't crazy-not in the least. He was just a man…a youkai that wanted what he wanted and would do whatever it took to gain it.

When he was younger, he wanted money and the finer things, so he robbed, stole, and did whatever else he had to do to get it. At one point in his life, he wanted respect, so he worked his way through the lower ranks of the local gangs and made a name for himself; it didn't matter whether he had to kill, steal, lie or cheat-he did it all.

In the end, he realized that it wasn't enough. He needed…he wanted…he craved power…real power. So, he met, mated, and married-in that order-the only daughter and child of the retiring head of the Kyoto Crime Syndicate.

Everything was perfect now. Absolutely perfect, with the exception of one little flaw…one person.

Kagome, I'm coming for you. I'll find you, I promise.

Yes, he knew he had done some seriously fucked up things to her, but that was in the past. That was when he was struggling to get to where he was now. So, he'd betrayed her to climb the ladder of power, so what? He'd betrayed Ayame too, right? And she was still here with him. He knew it would be no different with Kagome.

`She'll forgive me just like she did a thousand times before,' he thought to himself, an arrogant smirk on his handsome face. `She'll forgive me, and she'll come back to me and we'll be…we'll be just like we were before.'

“He was a little pissed off when we left. So, he's probably just sulking or something,” Hakkaku commented, cutting off his companion's thoughts.

“Doesn't really matter how pissed off he is, Hakkaku. It's been months and he hasn't found a goddamn thing,” Kouga snapped, feeling as if he was coming undone at the seams. “How hard is it to find one fucking human, huh? How hard is it?”

Stepping back away from his boss, Hakkaku grimaced, but didn't reply as Kouga continued with his rant.

“I gave him one fucking job to do! One! And his fucking ass can't even do that right!”

“Kouga, that's not fair and you know it. Ginta has been searching day and night for her. It can't be helped if he hasn't found anything,” Hakkaku declared calmly in an attempt to take-up for his brother, whom he hoped wasn't doing anything idiotic.

“It can't be helped? It can't be helped?” Kouga raged incredulously. “He's doing this fucking shit on purpose!” Turning away from the wolf demon, Kouga raised his iridescent blue eyes towards the night sky and sighed heavily in an attempt to calm his frazzled nerves and his savage temper. “If he doesn't have a fucking location, number, or an address for me by the time we get home, Hakkaku, he's out,” he finished, a little too calmly.

Hakkaku gulped and stepped back away from the demon as he turned and walked back into the hotel room to retrieve his cell phone. Out?

He knew what out meant and it wasn't a good thing in any sense of the word. No, his brother wasn't just out! No one was just out of the Syndicate; they were erased, deleted, missing, scrubbed, and any other verb that meant to kill.

Narrowing his eyes at the starless sky above as he heard the door to the suite open and his mate and her sister enter, Kouga sighed longingly. Soon Kagome, you I will be together again, regardless of whether you forgive me or not.

As he felt his mate's arms embrace his waist from behind in a tight hug, he sighed again, silently counting the weeks, days, hours, and minutes until the arms that currently surrounded him with unfailing love and devotion were once again Kagome's.

Simonkal of Inuy

Staring up at the roof of his car, Inuyasha growled violently and punched his steering wheel repeatedly in an attempt to quiet the damned voice that kept replaying the squalid details of Kagome's life in Kyoto to him!

He hadn't wanted to hear anymore, but the blasted demon, he just kept talking as if he was cleansing his soul. And, even now, after he'd left the bastard in a bloody heap on the floor, he could still hear his voice recounting the sordid stories over, and over, and over as if it was a skipping record.

The things that she endured in the name of love… The manner in which she was used and discarded… It wasn't right! None of it, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it!

Initially, when the prick that called himself, Ginta, had started talking about ex-boyfriends, love, and a whole bunch of other high schoolish fairytale crap, the hanyou had thought that this was all bullshit and a waste of his fucking time. However, the longer the demon went on with his tale, the more corrupt it became. In the end, it had taken everything in him to not slit the fucker's neck!

Flashback

“She was an innocent, you know? When we met her, she had just graduated from Law School.” Ginta chuckled dryly. “Shit, she still lived with her folks-I think her mother and grandfather, or something like that. If I had to guess, she probably never even had a boyfriend, let alone knew how to fuck one.”

Inuyasha almost chuckled, but maintained his impassive facade.

“I'd like to think that he had good intentions in the beginning where Kagome was concerned, but the more that I think about it now, I have to admit that it seemed liked nothing more than a game to him.” Ginta paused, took a drink, and then continued, “The entire time that she was falling in love with him, he was…he was doing whatever the hell he wanted to do and with whomever he chose to do it.”

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow to that, but didn't say anything. He just stared at the demon before him, waiting patiently for him to get to the reason of why he was stalking Kagome and why she needed protection. So far, it sounded like nothing more than a relationship gone astray.

Sitting back as the demon started again, the hanyou thought coolly and with a shrug of his shoulders, Shit happens.

“He'd make plans with her and stand her up on purpose. He'd disappear on her for days just because he could. Sometimes he would bet me and my brother 5 dollars-5…fucking…dollars-that he could go without calling or seeing her for two weeks and then just show up at her door, and he'd be fucking her that same night. He always won those bets.”

Son of a…bitch, the hanyou thought, a scowl marring his brow. He'd heard of men doing some low shit to women, but that…that had to be one of the lowest fucking things that he'd ever heard of.

Ginta sat back and closed his eyes as if he had to think about what to say next, but when he opened his mouth…when he said…what he would, it would shatter Inuyasha's blasé exterior.

“A friend of ours was getting married, and he wanted one more night of freedom. So, we threw a bachelor party. Anyway, the girls that we got were hot, but Kouga decided he'd take it an additional step and give him something extra special.”

The hanyou could feel his heart skip a beat, his mind unwilling to even consider what was about to come next.

“So, he called Kagome over to his apartment, lit some candles, put on some soft music… He made everything real romantic like, you know?”

I don't want to fucking know, the hanyou hissed silently, unable to do more than stare in bewilderment at the demon.

Ginta sighed heavily, and hung his head as if what he was about to say was the hardest thing he'd ever had to force out. “Anyway, once Kagome got to his place, he told us-me, my brother, and Dinshu, our friend that was getting married, to meet him there in 20 minutes. Since I took my own car and made a couple of stops on the way, it was over by the time I got there.”

Inuyasha lunged forward, grabbing the youkai by his collar and dragging him up out of his seat and across the table. “What the fuck are you saying to me? Are you fucking telling me that fucker…that fucker let them rape her? Is…Is that what-“

Ginta didn't fight back, but he did speak up, cutting the hanyou off, “No, they didn't! He…he…let Dinshu fuck her.”

Inuyasha tossed Ginta back in disgust as he sneered at him unable to do much more than that. Sitting back down, he glowered at the demon as his claws dug gauges into the wooden surface of the table.

“When I pulled up, all of them, with the exception of Dinshu, were outside Kouga's building laughing. I asked them what they were laughing about and that's when they told me what Kouga had done.”

“Holy fuck,” the hanyou mumbled, staring at the youkai, who was sitting there, his shoulders slumped forward, his head down as if the weight of that night was just too much to bear.

“Dinshu and Kouga are basically the same build and body type. From behind, you honestly couldn't tell the two of them apart and being that Kagome was human… Well, your half youkai, you should know the rest.”

“She couldn't tell them apart,” Inuyasha stated rather than questioned.

“No, and Kouga knew she wouldn't be able to. So, he made sure the room was so dark that she couldn't see her hand in front of her face before he took her in there. Anyway, he did whatever he had to do to get her to undress and everything, and then he told her that he was going to get some whip cream, ice, or some shit along those lines. It was Dinshu that went back in there.”

“You fucking bastard!” the hanyou roared, not caring who heard him. “You're just as fucking guilty as those fucking bastards are! You sat there and you let it fucking happen! You sit here and talk about it as if you had nothing to do it with it, but-“

Ginta cut him off, “Don't you see, I tried, I was the only one that tried to intervene, but it was too late! By the time I pushed past them and made my way up to Kouga's floor, Dinshu was leaving the apartment with a smile on his face!” Reaching up and tugging roughly at a patch of his hair as if he was trying to pull it out, he finished, “That bastard…that bastard told me… He said that I shouldn't disturb her because she was a more than a little worn out! He said… That sick fuck said that he wasn't sure if he was in her ass or her pussy but whichever it was, it was as tight as a baby's bottom!”

Glancing up from the spot on the table that he'd been staring at throughout the duration of this part of his story, Ginta hissed, “I'm not a fighter, I've never been one. But that night, I tried to kill Dinshu's fucking ass! I punched him until my fists were bruised and bloody, and I kicked him, and I kicked him, and I kicked him until I was too exhausted to move, but I realized that it wouldn't change a damn thing…nothing. He'd still fucked Kagome. He'd still basically raped Kagome, and nothing that I did to him was going to change that.”

Inuyasha stared at the demon, unable to blink or think past the inclination that anyone could be that cruel, loathsome, and downright corrupt.

He couldn't…didn't want to believe that something like that had happened to Kagome…his Kagome…his friend. But he knew, he could tell from the tears in the demon's eyes that refused to fall that it was true, and that in itself was enough to break his heart and shatter what little faith he had left in man and demon-kind alike.

“Ka…Kagome,” the hanyou whispered as he balled his fists up so tight that his claws dug into his flesh. He could smell his blood tainting the air around him, but he couldn't make himself move in order to do anything about it.

Closing his eyes, Inuyasha inhaled deeply and questioned softly, “Did you tell her? Did you tell Kagome what happened?”

“I couldn't tell her,” Ginta whispered. “It would've destroyed her, and I couldn't…I just couldn't do that to-“

Glaring across the table at the pathetic excuse for a demon, Inuyasha snapped, cutting him off, “So instead, you let them laugh at her. You let them snicker behind her back about how much of fool she was, didn't you? You let her go on thinking that bastard, Kouga, loved her. You let her be raped physically, emotionally, and socially and now you sit here with your higher than mighty ass as if you being here now is going to really make one bit of a fucking difference!” The hanyou chuckled eerily as he continued, “You're a fucking coward, you know that? You're a bitch, and you're a fucking punk!

Ginta stared at the half demon, the anger…the bitterness…the hostility he was feeling was a conspicuous thing. It gripped him, held him in place, and forced him to remain quiet. It told him that the only thing keeping him alive at this moment was nothing more than luck and the grace of whatever god still believed he had some good in him.

“You said you and her were friends…are friends. You've never been her friend, because if you were, you'd be in jail right now for killing those bastards! You…you fucking peace of shit cunt! You ain't nothing to Kagome, and never will be!” the hanyou finished, standing up abruptly from the table.

“You're right,” Ginta admitted quietly. Noticing that the hanyou stopped moving and was listening, he continued, “I knew that night and all the days after that, when Kouga toyed with her and I let him that I wasn't a friend to her. But she still smiled at me and called me her big brother, and still…I did nothing different. I didn't do a damn thing to stop him.”

Inuyasha's fists clenched, his ears pinned back as a ferocious growl escaped him, but he didn't move from where he stood with his back to the demon.

“When he had me set it up for his wife…his mate, whom he married while he and Kagome were together, to walk in on him and Kagome in bed, and I did it, I knew that I wasn't a friend to her. Because I couldn't tell him no, I knew that I wasn't a friend to her.”

The hanyou growled low and mournful as the world around him blurred and twisted into something ugly and hideous. Still, the wolf youkai continued on.

“When I watched from the dark alley across the street from his building as Kagome came running out, half dressed, her cheek red and bruised from where someone had hit her and endless sorrowful tears streaking down her face, I knew that I wasn't a friend to her and that she would be better off without any of us in her life. When she collapsed in the street, her body weak and trembling with an ache and laden with sadness unlike anything I had felt before, I was glad. I was glad that I had done what he asked because that meant that she would leave him…us alone, and she could finally be happy.”

Inuyasha's chest rose and fell, filled with rage and a fury unlike anything he'd felt before! This anger that was festering within him eclipsed any feelings of hatred and condemnation he had when he'd found out about Kikyo's betrayal!

How dare they play with her like that? How dare they toy with her as if she was nothing more than a fucking doll there for their amusement? he thought, his eyes unbeknownst to him, flashing red and then back to gold.

“When he told me to find her… When he started looking for her, I knew I had to do something. So, I prolonged the search as long as I could.” Ginta stood up, and stepped out from behind the table. As he continued, his voice laced with desperation, he laid one hand on the hanyou's shoulder, “That's why I need to speak with Kagome. I need to apologize for all the things I did to her…that I let him do to her. I…I need to warn her that-“

Inuyasha turned, losing all coherent thought and control of his body. Gripping the wolf demon by the collar, he pounded his fist into his face repetitively, trying with all his might to break every bone he came in contact with.

He couldn't think past the image of Kagome collapsed in the middle of the street crying. He saw images of her in Hawaii, trying her damndest to punch and claw out his eyes as tears blurred her vision. He saw the pain behind her beautiful gaze, and it tore at him, causing him to pound even harder on the demon's face.

“Never,” he growled fiercely as he picked the demon up and slammed him on the table, breaking it.

The hanyou saw images of a woman in love, making love to a faceless man. He saw her smiling and laughing as others around her looked on with condescending snide smirks while whispering disparaging comments about her, and he dropped to his knees straddling the demon as he furiously rammed the back of Ginta's head into the splintered table.

He felt people pulling at his jacket, his arms, but he didn't care! He had to stop Kagome's pain! He had to wash away that image of her tears…her pain!

“Damn them,” he heard someone growl viciously. It was in his head-he knew that much-but it wasn't him. It wasn't his voice, but he agreed whole heartedly. “Damn them,” he hissed as he continued his assault.

Why was it that he could feel her pain? Why was it that it felt so real to him that he could taste it and touch it? Why was it that the image of her broken and sobbing form destroyed his heart and cut his very soul to the core?

“You…helped…him…break…her,” ; the hanyou growled as he threw his hands up and began to clobber the wolf's face and chest.

Right, left, right, left…

He wanted the pain to stop! He needed his pain…her pain… He needed both their pains to stop…to go away!

Right, left, right, left…

Somewhere in the back of his mind, as he continued to pummel the wolf demon, he heard someone shouting, “He's going to kill him! Call the police! Oh my god, call the police!”

The hanyou shook his head; his vision, his mind slowly coming back to the here and now. Glancing down at the demon that laid limp before him, his hand partially covering his bloodied face, Takahashi pushed himself to his feet and sneered down at the demon, his breathing heavy and ragged.

“Never,” he hissed hatefully. “You'll never get within 1000 fucking feet of Kagome. Now run home you punk bitch, and tell that motherfucker Kouga and that Dinshu-dick sucker come see how tight my ass is!”

Stepping back, he swiftly kicked the youkai in the hip as he spat on him and finished, “Takahashi Inuyasha-tell them to come find me!”

As he turned and stumbled away through the crowd that had gathered around the scene, the hanyou thought he heard the wolf youkai whisper, “Protect her,” but he scoffed at that.

If it cost him his life, he was going to make sure that none of those bastards ever got near her again.

End Flashback

He wasn't exactly sure when or how he'd gotten there, but he couldn't help himself as he started to beat feverishly on her door.

His knuckles were split, bruised, and bleeding and still he knocked. He didn't know what time it was and he didn't care, he just needed to see her and smell her. He needed to prove to his mind that she was alright, that the vision of the woman in his head, the women who those things had been done to wasn't her.

He heard her puppy barking fitfully, and he knew she was up, but still he knocked.

“Who…who is it?” he heard her question, her voice quivering as if she was scared of something.

“It's me,” he replied in huff, his heart hammering against his rib cage.

An intemperate force buried deep within him was demanding that he touch her, smell her, do something to quell this rage that he was barely able to control.

He heard her release the top latch and then the bottom, but he couldn't wait for her to open the door. Reaching for the knob quickly, he turned it and pushed the door open, forcing her back against the wall.

Stepping through the doorway, Inuyasha stared around the dark room slowly as if looking for something or someone that wasn't supposed to be there. Slowly his eyes came to rest on her form, standing in the corner almost behind the door, staring at him.

Her eyes were wide with something that could have been misconstrued for fear, but deep down he knew it wasn't that. He somehow knew that she would probably never truly fear him.

“Wench,” he rasped out hoarsely as he stepped towards her so quickly that he didn't feel it happen.

The next thing he knew, he had her wrapped in his arms. Her head was pressed protectively…possessively against his chest, and his nose was buried deeply in the roots of her hair.

Her scent wafted over him, calming him, soothing him, and reassuring him that she was alright. It assured him that, tonight, she wasn't that broken woman that Ginta had spoken of; it told him that, as long as he protected her, as long as he stayed near her, she'd be alright; even if he wasn't, she'd be alright.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he'd just crossed the line of friendship, but he needed this. In a very animalistic sort of way, one that dug so deep into crevices of his soul, into a part of him that he'd never explored before, he knew that he truly couldn't fight this.

In that one insular moment, he knew that, just as surely as he was breathing and his heart was beating, she was a vital part of his life…his very existence.

“Inu…Inuyasha?” Kagome questioned softly as she hesitantly brought her arms up to push fruitlessly against his firm chest. “Your eyes…why…why are they red?”

Until Next Time… (Your .02 cents are greatly appreciated.)

Next Chapter: Structured Confusion

Acknowledgments:

Oxpeach bear ~ Sheastarr334 ~ Mynera ~ Alloreli ~ Angel-up-above-heaven ~ 1love1 ~ ScifiAmy ~ ThisIsMeSmiling ~ InuGoddess715 ~ Olddog333