InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Corrupted ❯ Never Again ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 2: Never Again

DISCLAIMER: Not a chance. Not on you life. Never. Not happening. Nuht-uh.

How else do I say it?

Inuyasha drove down the road quickly, feeling happy, yet disconcerted. Those bruises bothered him. Kagome… She had to deal with that person, whoever it was. He was hurting her. His Kagome. He picked up his cell-phone and dialed the number he thought he would never dial. He was desperate, that was all. He almost punched the end button, but Kagome's beautiful, bruise marred face popped into his mind. He clenched his teeth and let it ring, hoping the voice did not answer; yet praying it did. Mixed emotions went though him when the cool, silky voice filtered through to his ears.

"What do you want, Inuyasha?" Came the voice of his brother, Sesshoumaru. He sounded annoyed, yet cold and emotionless at the same time. Inuyasha cringed at the sound of that voice and lifted his chin higher.

"How did you know it was me?" He asked incredulously. He heard a short chuckle resound like thunder in his ears; mocking him. His blood heated in anger.

"Well, you see little brother. Most people these days have a thing called Caller ID. You may know of it?" HE asked sarcastically. Inuyasha just closed his eyes; Kagome's bright smile, her beautiful, sad eyes, her bruised and battered perfect body seemed to stand right in front of his eyes. He opened them quickly, remembering he was on the road.

"Sesshoumaru, I need a favor." HE said quickly. Silence greeted his plea. So he continued. "I have a friend who is being abused by someone, she won't tell me who because the dirty bastard's blackmailing her. He'll get her family thrown out on the street if she tells about him. I need to help her." Still, the profound silence rang on the other side of the phone. Inuyasha grew angry and impatient. "What the hell, Sesshoumaru! That monster could kill this girl! She has bruises all over her body; he rapes her every time he sees her. God Dammit! That asshole has to be stopped!" He vented through the phone. He could almost hear his brother contemplating everything he had just told him and weighing the consequences.

"And what do I, Sesshoumaru get out of this?" Inuyasha slammed his fist against the car dash. Somehow he knew it would come to this. Sesshoumaru didn't give out favors without expecting a return of some sort. Not even for this. Inuyasha sighed, making a quick decision. He would give it up, anything to save the abused girl who had won his heart.

"You can have it. I will give you the family heirloom, Tetsusaiga. Father expressly said that he wanted me to have it, but this girls life is not worth a piece of old furniture, antique or not. Will you help?" Inuyasha gripped the steering wheel tightly, waiting anxiously.

"Honor says that when given a present, one must return it in equal value. Father's sword is a priceless item to me. Is your love for this girl just as priceless?" There was elasticity to his voice, which did not divulge in emotion. It ate at him, made him think. Did he love Kagome that much? He thought of her dead, or not apart of his life, suffering with hers while he did nothing. A gut clenching pain punched him in the stomach and he drew in a sharp breath. He did not want to live without her. That would be agony.

"Yes. I want to live with her, keep her safe, for the rest of my life. I can't stand the thought of her being abused like that." Inuyasha held his breath in hope and anticipation of an answer. Wheels turned in the mind of the other brother and finally his cold voice resounded through the phone.

"I will help you, then. Who is this girl? Where does she live?" He asked. He heard the audible sigh of relief on the other side. Inuyasha thought of the things they could do together. She would be there with him. He was going to save her.

"Her name is Kago-" He didn't finish because it was then that he noticed a car on his tail, off to the left side a little. It had touched his left side with its nose, making him turn the wheel sharply to the left to keep from going off the road. "Shit! Some ass hole is trying to push me off the-" Again he stopped. Sesshoumaru heard the distinct sounds of tires squealing and another curse from his brother's foul mouth.

"Inuyasha?" He called, not expecting an answer. He heard a loud crash and a sickening thud. He listened carefully for any noises, and heard the sounds of someone going through the brush. Had the idiot gotten out of the car? But as he listened carefully he heard the sounds of labored breathing that were definitely his brothers.

"Sesshou, I crashed. On I-97. Someone, forced me…" He heard a bone- racking cough. "There's someone here, with black hair, waist length. He has on a shirt that has a green dragon curled around a cross. Don't forget. He's the one. He hurt Kagome…" He heard the sound of a car door being jerked open and a voice he would never forget, though the words were muffled. The voice had a silkiness about it, it radiated evil. Sesshoumaru listened while they spoke, hearing Inuyasha's angry, weak voice clearly.

"You bastard! Stay away from her! She did nothing to you!" And then the other voice he managed to make out answering him.

"Oh, but she has done something. Or maybe more like she has something of mine." The voice was so smooth, it flowed like butter. It held a bemused tone to it. He thanked the gods Inuyasha always had enough presence of mind to identify his attacker. He heard silence for many moments before a gunshot was heard. His brother's laborious breathing quieted, making his blood boil. Even if he hated the little bastard, it was a great offense to kill him like that. It hurt pride and honor, and by standards, he was obligated to find his brothers murderer and avenge his death. He heard a scratching noise and realized the phone had been picked up. The cool, clear voice floated through.

"And so, it ends. Or begins. Good luck, Sesshoumaru." The sound of laughter was heard coming musically through, sickening and angering him. He slammed down the phone. He rose from his work desk and grabbed his car keys and other things he could not leave at his desk. He filed away important papers, locking them in a cabinet before going in and explaining to his boss why he was leaving. The guy gave him a crude look before nodding and watching as the long-swift strides carried the young man out of the room. He hated the bastard; he was too quick and sarcastic for his own good. It would get him killed one day. The silver haired man was always cold, but now he could see lines of anger on his face and knew that whoever had made him that way had better be smarter than he was. Otherwise they would pay dearly from the merciless man.

. . . . .

Kagome looked into her Mom's angry face, shocked to see her there. Her mother finally looked away and made a quick motion with her hand.

"Get dressed and come downstairs so we can talk." Was all she said in the dark room. Kagome nodded, but realized she couldn't see it and murmured a quiet yes. She looked down, ashamed. Had her mother seen her bruises? She didn't thing so, it was really dark in her room, the only source of light coming from the crescent moon shining in her window behind her, making shadows of her body. Her mother turned and left the room, shutting the door behind her. Kagome felt the shame wash through her. She picked up the clothes she had had on before, but realized the knee of the pajama bottoms was all bloody. She found another pair and slipped them on, then a T-shirt she had had on before. She made sure it covered all her bruised except the one on her face, and opened her door. She trudged down the stairs and stood shyly by the bottom of them, her mother watching from the kitchen table. She looked up tiredly and motioned for her to sit down. Kagome did so carefully and avoided her mother's eyes.

"I can't believe you would engage in sexual intercourse without using a condom! Kagome, I thought I taught you better than that!" Her mother gave her a stern look and shook her head in obvious frustration. Kagome jumped up in horror.

"Oh my god! We didn't, I can't believe I forgot! What if I'm pregnant?!" She screamed hysterically. Her mother got up from the table and grabbed her shoulders.

"It's okay Kagome. You can take the morning after pill. We just have to hope that it works. Calm down." She stilled under her mothers gentle hands. Her mother was right; it wasn't very likely she was pregnant anyway. She sat, thinking of how many times Naraku had taken her, but she wasn't pregnant from him. It had been two months, it would show by now. And the fact that she had just had her period two weeks ago proved that theory correct. So what was the likeliness that she would get pregnant from Inuyasha? But if she did… She couldn't deal with a baby right now! She was only a Senior in high school. She simply couldn't get pregnant. She decided to go on the contraceptive pill soon.

"Mom, can we get the pill?" She asked nervously. Her mother nodded and smiled. Then she took on a stern look again.

"Yeah, we will, but I don't ever want to find out that you've been having unprotected sex again. I know the condom can break, and that's why I am going to get the pill, but that doesn't mean condoms are useless. There are a lot of diseases out there that it will protect you from." Kagome blushed and promised not to do it again, feeling as chastised as a child. She was brought out of her shame to be filled with embarrassment when her mom spoke again. "So… how was it? Is the guy any good? He must be, I could hear you all the way down here." Kagome opened her mouth in shock.

"Oh my god! Mother! You… uh! I can't believe your asking me that! I'm going back upstairs!" She turned one more disgusted look at her mother before fleeing upstairs and shutting her door quickly behind her. She heard her mother's laughter echo through the house and turned bright red. Exactly how loud had she been? Oh, how embarrassing! She went over to her desk and saw a vase on it, a single red rose peeking at her prettily.

"He didn't." She looked at it closely and realized he must have brought it to give to her and forgotten all about it with all that happened. She noticed the way the water was colored, and how the rose was in the end of its life. Soon it would shrivel and die. She decided to preserve it and pulled it out of the vase to finger it gently. It was cool and soft to the touch, making her fingers feel smoother where she had come in contact with it. She lifted it lovingly to her face to smell and inhaled the sweet fragrance, thinking of how he smelled. She would always associate the smell of rose with him now; it would always pop into her mind when she smelled one. She sat on her bed, smiling dreamily. The song I Love You came into her head out of nowhere and she found herself singing the country song. She didn't know what she was feeling. She'd heard of how people would think they were in love, but were really just infatuated with the person. There was a difference, she knew it. She examined her feelings, trying to determine what she felt.

A sudden pain shot through her heart and the rose in her hands dried up, still beautiful, but crushed looking and sad. It tipped to the side and seemed to die in her hands. She felt the hollowness all the way through her heart and cried out in anguish. She cradled the rose gently, feeling its weakness and trying to will it back. But it stayed dry and dead looking, though it still retained all of its color. She felt tears slip through her tightly closed lids and dropped the rose to the floor. It slipped from her fingers and she felt numb on the inside.

"No, he can't be, he's not dead. It's not possible! INUYASHA!" She screamed hysterically.

. . . . .

Sesshoumaru finally found it, the spot he had gone off of the road. There were the tire marks on the road where he had been forced off. He followed the fresh trail of tire tracks and not far into the woods saw a black car wrapped around a tree. The front fender was bent around the unforgiving tree. He crept silently nearer to the driver side door, going carefully in case someone was still here. He hoped it with all of his heart as he readjusted the position of the gun in his hand. He looked everything around the car over closely, but there was no one here. He peered into the car too see his brother holding a pistol to his head, not quite dry blood a trickle down the side of his face. He noticed the way there were no other prints on the gun, from his sight, and how the handle looked to wiped clean. The guy was smart, he knew enough to set it up and erase his prints. Sesshoumaru peered over and saw the cell phone had the same, wiped appearance. He swore, he had hoped that the cunning bastard might have overlooked that.

He saw that Inuyasha was trapped inside, his legs crushed, and another wound on his head where he had hit it when he had crashed. He looked at his brothers amber eyes and thought he saw anger in them. But when he blinked all he saw were a pair of glazed, dead eyes. Sesshoumaru's expression never wavered, but he did feel sorrow, somewhere in the depths of his soul. Most of what he felt was anger; someone had killed his brother to continue raping the poor girl he had been trying to help. It was dishonorable and despicable. He walked back to his car and called the police, sitting in his car with some music on to prepare to wait for them. He changed his mind, turning down the music to place a few phone calls.

. . . . .

Kagome got carefully out of the car, opening her umbrella to keep from being soaked. Not that she cared. She squished over the wet grass to where a few people were gathered, getting a few weird, questioning looks. No one here had any idea who she was. They were all family; she was the only one who was not related to him. She stared at the casket, seeing it was closed, having hoped it wouldn't be. She had wanted to see him one last time. She studied faces around her and found they were all familiar. A woman in her mid thirties had the same facial structure as he did. Another man had the golden eyes, though not quite as bright as his had been. Another man there caught her eye, he had the same silver hair, except maybe more bluish, with the same incredible eyes. There was no difference in color. She stared into them and found there was a distinction. This man's eyes were so cold; they seemed to be dead, yet at the same time, so vibrantly alive. There was no emotion in them, she concluded. It must be horrible, to hold it all in like he did. She knew how she felt holding herself together and to herself as much as she did, and this man was much more extreme. One look at him told her he had insufferable pride and honor.

She was surprised when amber locked onto her sapphire eyes. He stood there for a moment before coming over to talk to her. She realized that another difference was their height; this man was taller than Inuyasha by at least four inches, maybe even six. He towered over her and she tipped her head up to look at him. He stopped slightly to her left and glanced at the coffin before bringing his gaze back to her. It wrenched her heart to look at him, he reminded her of their time together, short and bittersweet.

"Are you Inuyasha's girlfriend?" he asked without preamble. She bit her lip.

"I guess you could say that. Never officially or anything." She answered quietly. He narrowed his eyes at her. She felt the need to express herself to him, tell him her thoughts. "I don't think it was an accident, Inuyasha may have been irresponsible, but he wasn't a reckless driver by any means. He could do amazing things in a car. And there's nothing that would have made him go off the road. All there was was some blue paint on the left side of the car and a dent. There were no blown tires, the brake lines were fine, and there is no reason why he crashed." This man was unreadable; he did not show what he thought at all. "By the way, what is your name? How are you related to him?" She asked gently.

"I am Sesshoumaru, his brother. I agree with you. I know for a fact that he was not dead when he crashed. Perhaps I should tell you everything." He gestured to his car and saw her blanch in fear. Yes, she was the one. He might as well let on now that he knew. "Don't fear me. I am going to help you catch your abuser and his killer. I am a detective. I will not harm you." Her jaw was slack in shock that he knew about her. He was heading towards his car now and she hurried after, getting into the open door that he held for her. It took her a moment to realize the car she was in was expensive. The leather seats were not at all worn and had the new smell to them still. She slid into the seat and heard the door close sharply behind her, sentencing her, imprisoning her. She shuddered and sat stiffly as he got in the drivers side and started the car, gunning the engine and putting the car smoothly into gear. She watched as they left the cemetery and headed out toward town.

"Where are we going?" He cast her worried face a sidelong glance and answered.

"I am taking you to the police station to show you something." He replied, distant and uncaring. She watched how he shifted gears almost unconsciously. His control and manipulation of the car fascinated her. They went so smoothly down the highway she looked at the speedometer and realized they were well over the speed limit. It wasn't even noticeable, except the amount of cars that they were passing. He shifted and went around the tractor-trailer in front of them, sliding in between two cars effortlessly to get off on the next exit. He swept down it and shifted down to slow for the stop sign. He watched the traffic unemotionally, waited patiently for an opening to turn right and made one when no one stopped for him. He pulled out and they roared away as the other car came within 20 feet of their car. She laughed and he threw her a sideways glance, quickly replacing surprise with solidness at her gleeful expression. After what had happened to Inuyasha, he had expected her to be frightened; but she was sitting on the end of the seat an excited glint in her eyes and a happy smile on her face.

"Ha! Take that, asshole! Stop next time, why don't you!" She yelled at the guy behind them. She blushed when he raised an eyebrow at her and sat back in her seat, crossing her arms in front of her. He slowed and she thought he was going to turn, but then he shifted and took off fast, throwing her off at the sudden increase in speed but downshifted as he slowed to accommodate the car in front of them. He glanced at her again, just to be sure and saw a grin of pleasure on her face and felt the need to grin at her. He controlled it and decided that now was the time to tell her everything.

"He was coming from your house to the family Manor in Newipsuich on I-97. He called me on his cell phone and told me how the man was abusing you. He asked for my help to investigate undercover to catch the bastard and eventually I agreed." She interrupted him.

"Why did you decide to do it?" She asked, her voice hoarse. She felt very self-conscious, since this man knew about her, what was happening to her. She felt sorrow to realize that Inuyasha was trying to help her, and had become the target for Naraku instead. Her eyes burned with unshed tears but she kept them in check, not wanting to cry in front of this stranger. What was his name? Sesshoumaru? How odd, what did it mean? It was different, and that made it unique. She had always liked unique, and hoped that she could be friends with this haunting person. She turned to look at him and saw again the similarities between the two brothers and thought better of it. Maybe she shouldn't be near him any longer than she had to. He only reminded her of pain, bittersweet pain. Excruciatingly acute and never-ending.

"I was offered something that is very valuable to me." He said mysteriously. She saw the harshness in his eyes and decided not to push the issue. She did ask one more thing about it.

"Why are you helping me?" He gave her a penetrating stare and then turned ahead to watch the road. She was sure he wasn't going to answer and was caught by surprise when he did.

"I can not honorably take what he has now left to me without doing my part of the bargain. Besides, I have a right to catch the criminal who caused his death; his murder was dishonorable and scornful to my name. It is a hit to my family to kill my brother that way. I have a duty to make sure the despicable killer is caught." He finished. She was unsettled by all this talk of duty and honor. It made her feel he wasn't trying to help her at all, but just uphold his honor and pride. She turned to him angrily.

"So you don't want to stop him for the sake of anyone else? All the people he could be hurting, or even killing, and you don't care? You selfish bastard! All you care about is family name, family honor, pride… Your so cold!" She turned back to stare out the window. He was glaring at her for saying that about him but said nothing. She was right. He did all of this for himself, but why not? No one else matters to him, so why would he try to help him? They never did anything for him! "Take me home, please." He darted another look at her, his face controlled once again.

"I planned to take you to see evidence we have that he was murdered and that is what I am going to do. Then I will help you find him and stop him, whether you want the help or not." He said, his voice a void, nothing, yet so strong and powerful at the same time. She studied him before deciding it really wouldn't hurt anything. She thrilled again as they picked up speed and he shifted systematically. She couldn't keep silent.

"What kind of car is this?" She let curiosity get the better of her. Again she had surprised him but he composed himself quickly. He marveled that this girl could change moods so quickly and shook his head before answering her.

"It's a model that has not come out yet, because it is the only one of its kind. There will not be any of these, they were deemed too powerful for the average person." She was drinking in his every word and he stopped, disconcerted. Sure, he had girls do their drooling thing with him, but he found that this one wasn't drooling over him; she was going gaga over his car!

"How in the world did you end up with it then? And what make is it?" She asked him quickly. He sighed. He didn't sound annoyed, just slightly perplexed.

"It's an Eon R-2. One of a kind. I got it from a client who made new prototypes, who had been conned. I traced the guy and found him, recovering quite a few people's money. I also got paid quite nicely for finding him, besides the presents from clients." She realized he held a lot of pride in his car too. She leaned back, contented with the answers to her questions, thinking. That meant this guy was probably pretty rich. He sounded like he was pretty good. Hope stirred within her that maybe she could get out of the torment and pain that clouded her life. Maybe she could escape, with Sesshoumaru's help. Her pain filled, dull heart alighted with new hope. Maybe…

"I never finished what I was telling you." She heard from her driver. She turned to see him glance at her and nodded. He proceeded. "I was on the cell phone with Inuyasha, after I had promised to help him, when it happened. I heard him swear and he said that someone was trying to push him off of the road. Then there was crashing and a final hit. It was silent for a moment before he picked up the phone and said someone had pushed his car off of the road and that they were coming closer to the car. He must have dropped the phone, but I heard most of clearly." He stopped and took a breath before continuing. She could tell he was trying to be as emotionless as possible, but there was hint of feeling there, just beyond the ice. "I heard him swearing and telling whoever it was to leave you alone. He managed to get out that the man had waist length black hair and a shirt with a dragon on it wrapped around a cross." He glanced at her see gauge a reaction. She was looking mutinous and had a hand over her heart. He concluded that it must be the same guy.

"He was shot, and the guy framed Inuyasha for killing himself by putting the gun in his hand, wiping his prints off of it."

"That asshole!" Tears were running down her face. "He killed him, oh my god, he's going to pay!" Sesshoumaru said nothing to her outburst for a moment.

"I take it he is the same man who is abusing you?" She looked down and nodded, ashamed. He found it intriguing that she seemed to blame herself for it. It surprised him when his mouth tried to form reassuring words of comfort and he fought them down with disgust. Was he going to start telling her nice things and making jokes with her next? Sure, he wasn't going to kill anybody (most times) or abuse a defenseless girl, but he wasn't going to comfort her either. It was pointless and below him. He had better things to say and do. Finally he remembered their earlier conversation and he thought of something he had not asked her yet.

"This, man… what was his name?" She brought her red-rimmed eyes to his and had the decency to look startled. Finally she figured out what he was talking about and answered his question.

"His name is Naraku." She wiped at her eyes, drying them with a handkerchief. "Aren't you afraid that he'll come after you now? I mean, he found out right off that Inuyasha was trying to help me, and then killed him. Doesn't that bother you?" He almost laughed and almost gaped at her at the same time, stunned and humored by her. Anyone coming after him would have to do more than try to run him off the road. Then the fact that she seemed worried about HIM! That was slightly confusing. No one had ever cared about anything that happened to him before, so this was a new feeling to him.

"Why do you care? Does it matter to you if I live or die?" She looked startled before smiling.

"Of course I care. Your Inuyasha's brother, and I have almost a kinship to you because of it. I hate to see anyone die, but you're going to help me, and it would help if you were alive to do so." She was taken aback by the emotion on his face. He had such a stoic face, she had almost gotten used to seeing nothing there. It came as quite a surprise when his face contorted with a confused frown. He seemed almost angry and a deadly silence filled the car. Finally she couldn't take it anymore.

"Umm… Was there anything else that you wanted to know?" She asked quietly. He gave her a lucid glance before remembering the other thing he wanted to ask her.

"Yes, actually." His cool voice never changed. "This Naraku character said you had something of his. May I ask what it is and why you have it?" She consulted her lap again and he wanted to push her, but kept silent.

"I don't think, I should…" She faltered and he gave her an exasperated look, propping his momentarily free arm on the seat between and behind her. He sighed and decided to try and explain his way into it.

"In order for this to work we have to trust each other. I need to know what this is in order to know why he has to have it. It will bring us tremendously closer to finding and catching him." That was it, if she didn't tell him after that bit of spiel he had dealt her, he would start to get annoyed. It would help in catching Naraku, he just hoped the first part didn't come back to haunt him.

"I, okay." She sighed in defeat. "It's called the Shikon No Tama. My grandfather gave it to me right before he died and said to protect it with my life, or else something very bad would happen. Naraku does not know where it is, or even what it is. I think it will help him gain power and wealth somehow. I know it has special powers, I'm just not sure what they are…" She swallowed. "That's why he hasn't killed me. He doesn't know where to find it, or even where to look since he does not know what it is." She put a hand over her heart and then pulled out the jewel that lay beneath, connected to a chain around her neck. "This is the Shikon No Tama." He wanted to take a closer look at it, but decided to wait until they were stopped. It flashed in the sun a few times as he pulled into the police station and cut the engine, pulling out the keys and pocketing them.

Kagome sat and fondled the jewel. In ways she hated it, for it caused all of her pain. But then again, she loved it, it was the only thing left from her grandfather. She treasured this jewel more than anything, it must have been really important for her grandfather to die for it. She had decided long ago that she would make sure he had not died in vain. She was startled as hell when a hand reached out to take the jewel and look more closely at it. She stiffened nervously when he leaned closer to get a better look and shut her eyes. Fear tightened around her heart like a vise and made her shake. Slowly she opened her eyes and her heart relaxed as he examined the jewel, turning it this way and that. This was Sesshoumaru, not Naraku. He was leaning over to look at the Shikon, not to grab her or hit her. Her breathing returned to normal and she inhaled sharply through her nose, a musky, warm and sweet scent reaching her nose. Damn, he smelled good…

Suddenly she was conscious of just how close he was, how his hair swept forward and almost touched the seat, it was so long. His face was barely a foot away and his eyes flickered to hers briefly before he let go of the jewel and sat up straight. She could feel heat running in her veins and blushed. She felt like she was betraying Inuyasha by having this feeling for his brother, but it was unstoppable. When she glanced at him, did she notice his scornful look or cold eyes? No… now she could only see how beautiful his eyes were and how kissable his lips. Damn these feelings! She should not be feeling this for Inuyasha's brother! He was not even cold in the grave, and she was betraying him!

"Come, let's go in and I will show you the limited evidence we have that Inuyasha was killed by this fellow, Naraku." His flat voice beckoned her from the car and into the station where she would relive more pain filled memories. Just what was at the top of her to do list right this moment! Yay…

DONE!!! NEXT CHAPPIE! Have fun reading…

AND PLEAZ REVIEW!!! *On knees with hands held in front of her clasped together* please! *Beg* Pretty please? *Lip puckers* ~last but not least~ *puppy-dog eyes* Pretty please with sugar and a cherry on top?

Hah! Knew I'd get you with that one! Now review or I'll do it again! Or if you can't review, email me at angelyoukai@hotmail.com.

Thanks to all the people who did review! By the way, I do that for free if you ask real nicely… J/K

RyuuAngel