InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Patchwork Family ❯ Waking Up ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Kagome is awake. After the shock of their initial meeting, she finds it will be awhile before she can go anywhere. But will it be safe to stay? Frustratingly, she may not have another option at the moment.

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Supernatural / Romance / Psychological / Drama / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.06.2014 | Updated On: 05.18.2016 | Pages: 7 | Words: 4.9K | Visits: 783 | Status: Completed

A/N: All Inuyasha characters and references belong to the creator of Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi and published by Shogakukan. Any other characters are more than likely my own creation. If I borrow from another story I will do my best to make sure I give credit where credit is due.

***

Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and Gabriel jumped to alertness as the sound of a soft thump came from the hallway. Inuyasha strode quickly from the kitchen. He moved into the hallway and saw the dark-haired girl slumped against the wall, sliding onto the floor. He caught her with an arm around her shoulders and lowered her down. Her eyes rolled a little, trying to focus. After a moment they did, blinking quickly, and they were the most vibrant blue-gray color he’d ever seen on a human. Her eyes locked onto his own deep golden gaze, and she looked at him for a long second before she realized he was the demon from the kitchen.

She pulled away from him, attempting to throw herself out of his grasp. She cried out as she felt a tearing pain in her side and leg that took her breath away. “Just relax already, you’re going to aggravate your injuries,” she heard him say in a rough, reproving voice.

Relax? Like hell she would relax. She could remember now-- some jumbled recollection of the events that had led to her being in the river; and now she was in a strange place with strange men- and worse, strange demons. She thrashed again, pushing against the man holding her, trying to ignore the hot pain throbbing through her leg. He let go, if only to stop her struggling before she did herself damage.

Holding a bruised wrist across her chest, she pulled herself back until she felt the corner wall of the hallway. There wasn’t anywhere to go. Inuyasha didn’t stand, but maintained his position, sitting on one knee so that he remained at her eye level. He could see and smell the panic and fear in her, could see her eyes flicking from place to place like a caged animal. Suddenly he was aware of what part of the problem was. She was caged. Sesshomaru, Miroku and Gabriel had come to stand behind him, effectively blocking most of the light and any feeling of an exit.

He turned and motioned for them to go back to the other room. When they didn’t move he caught Sesshomaru’s eye, trying to make his point, and the man nodded, pulling the other two away with him and out of view.

‘I guess I’d freak out too if I woke up hurt, in a weird place, in someone else’s clothes, and then ended up backed into a corner,’ he thought with some measure of empathy. The girl’s eyes darted between him and the end of the hall where the others had disappeared. “What’s your name?” he asked calmly.

She didn’t answer. He sighed and sat back on his butt, adopting a pointedly relaxed posture. “Listen, I’m Inuyasha. You’re safe alright? No one’s going to hurt you.”

She didn’t look at all convinced. After he studied her for a moment, he tried one of the small handful of languages he spoke fluently. The young woman looked as if she might be at least partly East Asian. There were plenty of first generation immigrants on the west coast. Maybe she didn’t speak English? No dice. He repeated his words in Japanese, only to receive the same uncertain look. He went back to English.

“Do you know what happened to you?” He watched carefully as her eyes flashed again with fear and then anger, before looking away from him. She remembered something alright. Still, it was clear she wasn’t going to share anything about it now. Inuyasha thought for a long moment before holding out his hand to her. “Let me help you up. Do you want something to eat?”

She eyed his hand reluctantly, but at the mention of food her stomach reminded her that it had been at least two days since she’d had anything but river water in her gut. Still cradling a black and blue wrist, she pushed herself up against the wall with her other hand, grimacing a little in pain, and dismayed at the effort even this action cost her. Inuyasha stood and once again, came towards her. When she flinched away he grouched, “just chill out, like I said, no one here’s going to hurt you. Let me help. You look like you’re starving.”

Kagome sighed in defeat and let him take a hold on her arm as the pain in her leg threatened to put her on the floor again. With his help, she hobbled down the short hallway and out to a bar chair at the kitchen’s breakfast counter.

Sesshomaru was leaning against the sink, arms crossed over a broad chest. Miroku pulled himself up to sit on the counter next to the demon and asked, “so what’s your name?” Again, she didn’t answer. As Miroku brought the beer bottle back up to take another sip, the sharp edge of panic began creeping back into her scent. Inuyasha somehow sensed immediately what it was that bothered her and took the bottle out of Miroku’s hand. He turned it upside down and drained it in the sink before tossing the bottle in the trash. When he turned around again, he ignored Miroku’s protest. Wary surprise clouded her delicate features now, and some of the panic faded.

“Better?” he asked. She bit her lip, wincing a little at the cut she found there, but nodded hesitantly. Inuyasha pointed at each man in turn. “This is my brother, Sesshomaru, and the other two are friends and business associates, Miroku and Gabriel.”

She gave each of them careful, assessing looks, before ducking her head in a small nod of acknowledgement.

“So what can I get you to eat?” he asked again, trying to get some kind of response from her. They all watched as she eyed them, her eyes flicking from one to the other. “No preferences?” Inuyasha prodded. She gave him a small, tired shrug and he sighed.

Gabriel sat down in a chair, leaving the space of an empty seat between them and frowned. “He can’t help much if you won’t talk to him.” One of her hands went to her bruised throat and she looked a little ashamed. Inuyasha frowned as a thought hit him. He studied her more carefully for a second before he asked, “can you talk?” Relief of a sort washed through her face and she shook her head. He grabbed an apple from a basket on the counter and held it up. “How about this?”

She looked at the fruit almost enviously, but shook her head, looking apologetic. Her eyes locked on his again and she rubbed her throat with one hand, wincing. “You have a sore throat?” he guessed. She looked around and saw a lighter lying on the counter. She pointed her finger at it. Gabriel handed it to her and she fussed with it until she got it lit. Then she held it up for them to see.

“Fire…” Inuyasha acknowledged. She nodded and pointed at a power outlet on the wall.

“Electrical fire…,” Gabriel guessed. She nodded again and pointed at her throat. Miroku looked perplexed as he asked doubtfully, “electrical fire… in your throat?” She pursed her lips and teetered her hand in a gesture that seemed to say ‘kind of.’

The girl pointed at Inuyasha’s ears and gestured to her teeth, indicating the places where he had fangs. Sesshomaru straightened just slightly, eyes narrowing. “A demon damaged your throat.”

She nodded and seemed to wilt a little in her chair. There was silence for a long moment while Inuyasha and Sesshomaru exchanged glances. Finally Inuyasha asked, “was it Hiten? He’s the only one I know of near here with any electrical ability.”

That name seemed to sharpen her attention and she nodded again, the name bringing a shudder through her whole body, her eyes flicking to the front door. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I assume you aren’t a friend of theirs?”

She shook her head vigorously. “Good,” he said with a fanged smirk. “Neither are we.” She still looked as if she was afraid they might turn on her at any second.

“So,” he said, as he turned to the refrigerator and pulled out a jar of applesauce and a carton of orange juice. “How about this?” She looked hungrily at the items and gave the slightest of nods. He even thought he saw the corner of her mouth twitch like it was thinking of smiling. Her eyes settled on the jar of apple sauce again and didn’t leave it. She did look like she was terribly hungry. Inuyasha pulled out a spoon and just handed her the opened jar to start on while he poured her a tall glass of juice. “Take it slow. You’ll make yourself sick,” Gabriel warned her, his tone serious, but kind enough.

A little over half the jar of applesauce and a few bites of vanilla ice cream later, Inuyasha put the dishes in the sink. He turned to lean against the counter in front of her and asked, “do you remember anything?” Slowly, she nodded.

“I found you passed out on the bank of the river. Sorry about your clothes. They were pretty much wrecked. Are you warm enough in that?”

She nodded and shrugged, mouthing a small ‘thank you’ Sesshomaru narrowed his expression a little again. “You claim Hiten attacked you. Were you with Naraku or his people before you wound up in the river?”

She tried to make some gestures in answer, but after a moment put her head in her hands in frustration. Gabriel got up and went over to the big desk in the corner, bringing back a sharpie and a legal pad. She took them from him with a grateful nod and wrote quickly before holding the paper up for them to see the message. ‘Yes, but not voluntarily.’ Then she seemed to think of something else and started writing the question: ‘Did I have a necklace on?’

Inuyasha shook his head. “No, no jewelry, no wallet. Did they take something?” She sighed and put her face in her hands for a moment, ran her fingers through her tangled hair, then sat back in her chair and made a dismissive gesture. She looked upset over this, but there was also something lost and far away in her eyes that tore a little at his insides. She glanced back up after some heavy thought to find them all looking at her. In response to the intensity of their attention, she seemed to shrink back into herself a little and shades of fear and exhaustion overwhelm her scent again.

Inuyasha sat in the seat next to her after he’d thrown the other guys out for the night. “You should know you’re safe here,” He said. “This is a property of the Shikoku Wardens and we’re no friends to Hiten and the Anansi. Do you know what that means?”

She froze for a moment in surprise, and then nodded, slowly. She was still skittish, but now that the others had left she seemed a little calmer. Slowly, she picked up the notepad again and wrote, ‘how do I know I can trust you?’ He considered for a moment, knowing she was smart to be distrustful.

“I’ll tell you what,” he answered. “I swear on my father’s grave I’ll do what I can to keep you safe here. If I was going to hurt you, I’d have done it already. Do you want to stay for now or is there somewhere you want me to take you?”

She dropped her eyes to the counter before her, not really knowing how to answer.

“Am I right in assuming you don’t want to go back to the Anansi?” he asked quietly. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it before meeting his eyes and shaking her head.

“Is there anywhere you’d rather I took you? You’re going to need some help while you heal. It’s no problem for you to stay here if you need to.”

She thought for another long moment before nodding and patting the counter silently. She would stay. He could see something unresolved in her face and asked, “what’s the matter?”

She wrote on the notepad, ‘why pull me out? Why bring me here and help me?’ Inuyasha frowned in thought for a moment, leaning his elbow on the counter to face her. “When Miroku came in, I told him about you… and he asked me why I didn’t just take you to the emergency room.”

She shook her head vigorously and he laughed. “Good, I made the right call then.” She wrote quickly, ‘Naraku has people that would find me there.’ Inuyasha frowned again and continued speaking. “To tell you the truth, it never occurred to me to do anything but what I did. I was swimming when I found you. I could smell you bleeding.”

Her eyes widened a little and she hugged herself, stiffly rubbing her arms and pretending to shiver. He let out another low laugh. “Yeah, it’s way too cold for that. You were blue when I brought you home. But anyone with demon blood can handle the water fine. It just felt like bringing you back here and patching you up was what I was supposed to do. Make of it what you will.”

She sat there, looking confused and thoughtful. Though she still looked like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, she wrote, ‘thank you.’ He nodded, then asked, “so what was the deal with Naraku? Why were you hanging around with his people? Or did they grab you off the street?”

She went a little pale again. After giving him a long look, she seemed to come to some sort of decision, and began to write. ‘I was pretending I wanted in. I was looking for something he stole from my family. It’s something he can’t be allowed to have. Thankfully he can’t really use it without me, and doesn’t know how it works, or I would have been dead weeks ago.’

Inuyasha frowned in thought as he asked, “what is it?” She looked conflicted for a moment before she shook her head and looked down. She didn’t dare share any information about the Shikon no Tama. The jewel of Four Souls, the treasure her family had been protecting for generations, was a secret, and the last thing she needed were more demons to contend with as she fought to recover it. She knew virtually nothing about her situation, beyond that these guys didn’t seem to want to hurt her- at least not right away; and that the man who sat next to her ate apple sauce, vanilla ice cream and orange juice.

“You don’t wanna tell me,” Inuyasha said, a little exasperated. She shook her head again, looking apprehensive, alert, like she was waiting for him to hit her.

“Okay…” he said slowly, purposefully keeping his posture relaxed as he asked, “so what happened between there and the river?” She began to write again, ‘He found me out, and I was trapped. He decided he liked the idea of keeping me around, said he would take advantage of unexpected opportunities. But it’s hard to force anything on someone that will do everything they can to kill you.’

He raised his brows in surprise. It was hard to picture this slight young woman attempting to murder anyone. She paused, looking a little sick, then wrote more. ‘Naraku killed my father and my uncle; they were most of what we had left.’

“We?” he asked curiously.

‘My little brother and I.’ she wrote, looking worried. ‘When Dad was killed I took Souta to live with my grandmother. I needed him safe while I went after Naraku. After a while, they started drugging me, stuff that made me really sick. He would beat me when I didn’t let him use me the way he wanted to. He was wearing me down, until I couldn’t stop him anymore.’

Inuyasha moved to stop her writing hand when he saw a tear slide down her cheek, but she just wiped it away, shook her head as if it were merely an annoyance, and continued to write, flipping to a fresh page. ‘He underestimated me. They slipped up and I got loose. I found a gun in his desk drawer and when he came in-’ There was another small pause, her hand shook a little when she wrote, ‘I shot him.’

Inuyasha swore in surprise, sitting back in his chair. “So… he’s dead? If he’s dead I know a few people that’ll throw you one hell of a party.”

Looking a little tortured, she shook her head and wrote, ‘no, I couldn’t see straight, because of whatever they gave me, and I missed his heart by a few inches. Hiten and a few others took me out. I don’t remember a lot between now and then, except that eventually they threw me off a bridge. I thought I would drown.’ She paused a moment, and then after taking a deep breath she wrote, ‘Naraku will come looking for me. He didn’t want me killed or let go. I don’t envy Hiten.’

Inuyasha frowned, trying to contain his anger. He must not have been doing a great job because she looked nervous again. She wrote, ‘should I go? I don’t want to cause trouble.’ He shook his head. “No, you’re staying here. Do you have clothes or anything someplace that I can pick up?”

She thought for a moment and wrote the question, ‘where are we?’

Inuyasha told her, “my apartment here is on the north end of Arcata…” Then, realizing he didn’t know how far she’d come down the river, he added, “California.”

Kagome sighed and shook her head. Inuyasha looked incredulous. “A girl with no stuff? Isn’t that against the laws of nature, or physics, or something?” That, she decided, deserved a blank look, which it got.

Inuyasha laughed and said, “I’ve just never met a girl that wasn’t attached to her stuff.” She looked a little sheepish and wrote, ‘the few things I had are at Naraku’s place... Gone.’

Inuyasha studied her for a moment before asking, “how old are you?” She held up ten fingers, and then held up nine. “Older than I guessed then, though not by much,” he said. She shrugged and he saw that her eyes looked older. They had seen more than your average 19 year old, and they remembered it all. Her hand shook a little as it moved across the paper and she looked at him while he read, ‘he will send someone after me.’

Inuyasha shook his head. “I won’t let them get at you. I’ll kill them first.” She searched his face and he smelled a little fear in her scent again, though he wasn’t sure if it was fear of him, or just her situation in general. He got up, refilled her glass of juice, and said, “I think I should change the bandage on your leg. It probably needs a better cleaning too. Then you should probably go back to bed.”

She made no argument and he could see she was still tired. He helped her over to the couch and went to get the supplies. He came back with everything he needed and began to remove the bandage on her leg. He also dropped a pocket size notebook and pen on the coffee table where she could reach them and said, “you might want to brace yourself, Miroku is bound to tell his mate, Sango, about you. She’ll be over here in a flash to make sure I’m not killing you with my doctoring.”

When Kagome looked worried he added, “she’s nice, and she’s a hell of a good person to have on your side with things go sideways. She’s one of the Wardens too. In fact, the way Miroku’s mouth wags everyone in the group will know you’re here soon. I expect they’ll be down both our necks about A) are you going to be joining up, and B) are you and I an item. Sango’s always trying to hook me up with someone. It’s ridiculous.”

She choked on her water in surprise and he laughed. “Sorry, but they know me and, this-” he motioned at her vaguely. “This is kinda outside my norm; can’t say I usually bring home strays.” She looked really uncomfortable and he wasn’t sure which of the two items had made her more nervous. “I promise, I won’t give you any attention you don’t want. And you should know, we operate more like a weird patch-worked family than a gang like Naraku’s group of scum bags.” Thoughtfully he added, “though I think the legal system defines us the same way, more or less.”

She frowned in confusion and winced as Inuyasha lifted away the bandage on her leg. The wound looked angry and swollen. They both cringed a little at the sight of it. Inuyasha pulled a large garbage bag under her leg and spread a towel under it while he rinsed the cut with a little cool water. Next he unscrewed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. He looked up and handed her a washcloth. “This might hurt. You may want to bite on this just in case. It’ll only last a minute.”

She took the cloth and twisted it up before nodding at him and placing it in her mouth. Inuyasha quickly washed the length of the gash in the peroxide and she let out a ragged moan, gripping the couch tightly and squeezing her eyes shut. Inuyasha capped the bottle while the peroxide fizzed loudly in the damaged flesh. “Gods, I’m sorry,” he muttered, “I’ll rinse it again in just a second with water.”

The girl nodded, panting a little through her nose and keeping her eyes shut. Finally the peroxide had done its job and he washed the wound with cold water. The relief made her eyes water almost as much as the pain had, and she sank back into the cushions, taking the cloth out of her mouth. Now her whole leg felt like it was throbbing, nearly to her hip.

Inuyasha sat back as well with a heavy sigh. “We’ll let it breath for a few minutes before we tape it back up. The girl nodded and closed her eyes again, leaning her head back and catching her breath. He frowned for a moment and said, “I just realized… I still don’t know what to call you.”

The girl opened her eyes and pulled the small note pad and pen into her lap. She flipped to the first page, started to write something, then hesitated for a long second. Looking conflicted she crossed a few letters out and wrote, ‘I’m Kagome.’

Inuyasha nodded once. “Nice to meet you, Kagome.” He frowned for a moment, something in his memory tugging at him. The name sounded familiar. He asked curiously, “Japanese?” She shrugged, teetered her hand in her ‘sort of’ motion again. After a moment she wrote, ‘what do you want me to tell your people?’

Inuyasha furrowed his brow. “About what?”

She wrote, ‘about me?’

He shrugged, unconcerned. “Tell them whatever you want to. Do you want to stay with the Wardens?” She frowned a little and looked at her lap, shaking her head and looking uncertain. It was a clear ‘Probably not.’ She wrote on her notebook, ‘not interested in being a gang member, no offense.’

Inuyasha was quiet for a moment before he said, “you don’t know us and we don’t know you. I’d give it some time. You can heal up and be on your way if that’s what you want. As I said though, I don’t think ‘gang’ is really the right word for what we are. There just isn’t another term that fits. We’re kind of an odd sort of pack, I guess; there are parents, kids, teenagers, even a few grandparents.”

She looked at him in surprise and he nodded. ‘Kids?’ she wrote with a big question mark. Inuyasha nodded, scratching one ear for a second as he explained.

“Sango and Miroku have one of their own, and there’s a kitsune that we all sort of adopted, and Sango’s little brother. Then there’s my niece, Rin. We support a few stringers that were just sort of street kids. They showed up when we needed them, and then never left. We give them a place to crash, teach them what they need to know to make it on their own. I went a few hundred years thinking family was worthless but,” he paused, looking thoughtful for a second before going on.

“I took on a few jobs helping my brother with things and just never really left; this was in the 1820s some time. I have to be honest, they’ve pulled my butt out of the frying pan a few times, and vice versa. Having humans in our pack is sort of a newer thing. That started about fifty years ago.”

He smiled a little then and said quietly, “and I’ll swear up and down that you’re a liar if you ever repeat this to them, but it’s nice to have them around.” Kagome smiled a bit, too, and nodded her understanding. She bit her lip a moment before she wrote in her little book, ‘how old are you?’ He’d asked her after all.

Inuyasha pursed his lips for a moment and said, “I’m five hundred and sixty… four… I think, something close to that. I’m not positive exactly what year I was born. Sesshomaru is about seventy years older than me, as close as we can figure.”

Inuyasha leaned forward again and took a look at her leg, ignoring her shocked look. There were some funny colors in the skin around the wound that worried him. All he could do was smear some antibiotic ointment over it and tape it back up in clean bandages. Finally he packed all the supplies back into a box and shoved it under the coffee table. Then he asked, “do you wanna rest here or go back to bed?”

Kagome gestured back to the bedroom, and indeed, by the time she managed a bathroom break and he got her back and settled, she was drawn and tired. She moved as if every part of her hurt. “I’ll bring you some water. Do you want a dose of Ibprophen?”

She nodded gratefully and he laid the things on her bedside table, along with a kitchen timer. “Just use this to make a noise if you need something. I’ll hear it anywhere in the house.” She nodded and showed him a ‘thank you’ page in her little notebook.

He went to leave but paused at the door to say, “two of the youngest kids will be over here tonight for a while. I said I’d watch them. I’ll try to keep them up front and the noise to a dull roar, but in case they wander back here when I’m not looking…”

She nodded and snuggled into her pillows, barely registering his words as she started to sink again into sleep.