InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Demons Within Us ❯ Scarred Angels ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

InuYasha woke from a heavy sleep. He lifted his head from under his pillow and grabbed for the alarm clock beside his bed. `One p.m.? What the fuck?' He dropped the clock on the floor and he rolled over on his back, bunching his pillow under his head as he drifted back to sleep. Heavy pounding on his door started him awake once more.

“Fuck!”

He sat up quickly and blearily looked around for his pants. A torn pair of tracks lay on the floor beside the bed and he grabbed angrily for them, hefting them on over his dulling arousal as he stood. He was having a great dream. Who ever woke him from it was about to be severely beaten.

He stormed from his room to the apartment door and whipped it open. “What?!”

“Morning, dickhead.”

“Damn it, Sango, what the fuck are you doing here?” He wiped his face lazily, unable to stop her as she trudged into his small apartment.

“This place looks like shit.” She frowned at the takeout boxes, beer bottles and various ashtray remnants.

“Gee, Mom, I promise to clean my room after I do my fucking homework.” InuYasha leered and shut the door. “Now that that's over with, either tell me why you're here or get out.”

“I don't understand why you live in this shit hole when you and your brother own a fucking mansion on the other side of town.” Sango kicked a bottle across the floor.

“Because my brother is a fucking dick and I like being on my own.” InuYasha yawned and scratched his lower stomach.

Sango turned to glare at him. His hair was shaggy and loose, hanging low past his shoulder blades. His lightly tanned chest was firm and his six-pack tight as he stretched, making the baggy track pants he wore slide lower past his V. Sango averted her eyes quickly in disgust. “You cut your hair.”

InuYasha rolled his eyes and growled. “Fuck this.” He stumbled back to his room and collapsed front first on to his bed, pulling a blanket up over him.

“InuYasha!” Sango stood angrily at his bedroom door.

“Sango, two options, either join me in bed or leave.” He mumbled into his pillow.

“You pervert!” She threw a bundled sock at his head, which he easily ignored.

He could feel the remnants of sleep begin to take over. If he were lucky, he would get back into that dream he was having. Something to do about a mansion in the woods, and a blue-eyed angel sliding hotly up and down his….

“I want to know what you're doing with Kagome.”

InuYasha groaned and rolled over onto his back. “Why would I ever want anything to do with her?”

“Don't give me that shit, InuYasha.”

He opened his eyes to glare angrily at his friend. “Nothing. She means nothing to me.”

“I know when you're lying.” Sango's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms.

He closed his eyes and sighed, pulling his pillow over his head. “Fuck, San, why do you care?”

“Because she's a great girl. She's caring, funny and she's my friend. The question is, why do you care?”

“I don't.” His voice was muffled under the pillow.

“Then leave her alone.”

“I won't.”

“Why?” Sango sat heavily at the end of the bed.

He didn't respond.

Sango cast her eyes around his room before gaining her courage. “Yash, I know why you hate believers so much.”

InuYasha pulled the pillow corner from his eye as he looked at Sango spitefully. “Your boy toy has a fucking mouth to be telling you about my shit.”

“Miro is worried about you. I'm worried about you. And I don't like what you're doing to Kagome. She doesn't deserve that kind of attention.” Sango frowned.

“That girl doesn't know what she deserves.” He turned angrily away from Sango.

“She doesn't deserve your wrath. She had nothing to do with what happened to you.”

“They all do, every last fucking one of them.” His voice was bitter as he stared at the wall beside him.

Sango stared down at the floor, almost afraid to ask. She sighed softly. “What do you plan on doing to her?”

InuYasha flicked his eyes at her before staring at the wall once more. He didn't answer.

“Do you honestly think she came unaffected through the war? That she never knew pain or suffering?” Sango's voice was distant and soft.

InuYasha shook his head. “Keh. Nobody who lived through what we lived through comes out like that.”

“Like what?” Sango frowned and looked back at him.

He glared hard at the wall, hugging his pillow tightly underneath him. “So fucking perfect.”

Sango smiled gently before she let it fade. “If she was so perfect, why did she end up living in an orphanage?”

InuYasha was confused. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Sango studied his form in incomprehension before realization dawned on her. “You didn't know?”

He turned to face her. A deep frown marked his lips. “Didn't know what, Sango?”

“Kagome.” Sango cast her eyes to the bedroom window. Bit of sun reflected through the dark red blinds. “She's not only the director of the Shikon House orphanage, she was also an orphan that lived there.”

His golden eyes widened and he sat up. “What?”

Sango nodded. “Yeah, shocked us, too. You'd never think she'd lost her family the way she goes on about them.” She turned her dark brown eyes to meet his gold. “Kagome isn't as innocent as you think she is.”

InuYasha turned his face away and flopped his back down on the bed. Why hadn't he known about this? Why did everyone else know? A slight pang of guilt and jealousy radiated though him but he swallowed it down. “Is there a point to this?”

“I don't think she is the adversary you think she is. I think she was hurt. She just found another way how to deal with it.”

He slowly looked the woman over. “Oh, fuck, Sango, don't tell me she got to you with her God shit.”

Sango looked down. “I'm not saying I have faith or believe or whatever. I'm saying she found a way how to get through it… just different from us.”

“Keh, it was the coward's way. Believing in some higher power that will save her.”

Sango picked up a spent joint from the floor and tossed it in the waste bin. “If you say so.”

InuYasha rolled his eyes. “If you're done, I got some sleep to catch up on, the competition is tonight.”

“Yeah.” Sango stated darkly before looking at him with hard cinnamon eyes. “I'm not going to stand by and let you hurt her, Yasha. Regardless of what happened in our pasts, we make our own destinies. If you pursue your vendetta against Kagome, I think you'll be the one who will fall.”

InuYasha snorted and attempted to kick the covers up over him. “Yeah, whatever. Let me get some sleep.”

Sango stood and moved to the doorway before turning back to him. “I think we had it wrong, you know.”

“Oh?” InuYasha turned on his side and tucked the pillow under his head. “About what?”

“About thinking all people with faith are the same.” Sango shrugged. “Just reminds me of something Kagome said to me. That maybe it's not the belief in a higher good that will save us. Maybe it's the strive to be the higher good that will.” Sango smiled. “Maybe it depends on who believes in what.”

The silver haired man shook his head. “Goodbye, Sango.”

“Yeah, see you tonight.” Sango walked out. “And clean your apartment. It stinks.”

InuYasha grunted and closed his eyes, but opened them when he heard the door click shut. `Strive to be the higher good?' His mind flashed to Kagome. He mentally shook his head and shut his eyes. He'd never get back to that dream now.

-+-

“Nervous?”

Kagome laughed as she pulled her long black hair up into a high ponytail. “You had to even ask?”

Sango grinned as she applied eyeliner on her face. They were sitting in a small dressing room at the Stadium, preparing for their turn for the competition. Only twenty bands were here, all ages and types of music. Perdition was to be one of the last shows, since heavy metal was considered too “expressive” for earlier shows.

Kagome fidgeted with her fingers as she began to pace the room. The stadium where they were to play could hold ten thousand people, not to mention the fact the local media would have cameras set up for people all over to watch. The girl let out a shaky breath and double-checked her make up one more time.

Sango sighed. “Kagome, it's fine if you want to get changed now. I really won't look if it will make you happy.”

Kagome shook her head and grinned. “No, thanks anyways. I'm going to grab a water and be right back.”

Sango just smiled as the girl darted out of the dressing room. She could hear the boys in the room next to theirs. She could tell it was them since no one could swear as much as those guys.

She giggled as she heard a thump and InuYasha's muffled voice shout through the wall.

“Ow! Fuck, Kouga! I only asked if she got down on ya!”

Kagome turned her head in the direction of the boy's dressing room as she walked up the corridor. She rolled her eyes as a hard thump hit the wall. No doubt they were in a fight over something stupid. She shook her head before heading over to the table where several bottled waters were stacked.

“Hey, Gorgeous.”

Kagome looked up to see a crooked smile on a rugged face. She eyed the man that stood in front of her quickly. He was attractive in an arrogant sort of way. His blonde hair was spiked haphazardly and his hazel eyes flicked over her body appreciatively. She had to refrain from sighing in exasperation. Instead she just smiled and turned to head back to the room after grabbing her water.

“Not even a hello?”

Kagome turned her head back but continued walking. “Hello.”

The man jogged over to her. “Name's Jet. Hard rock section.”

“Kagome.” The girl grinned softly.

“You must be in the pop rock.” He smirked, gazing down at her Tommy jeans and pink Hello Kitty t-shirt.

Kagome just smiled and tried to walk away from him.

Her arm was quickly grabbed and she was roughly pulled against his chest. “If you don't have to be on stage for another while yet, Princess, want to come to my dressing room, get to know each other better?”

Kagome briefly shut her eyes in annoyance. Being pulled into hard chests was becoming an everyday thing to her it seems. Yet she didn't seem to mind it when InuYasha did it. This guy, however, was too close for comfort. She could smell a bitter scent off of him that made her want to sneeze and her eyes water.

Kagome bit her lip and took a step back from him to look into his eyes. He was grinning slightly as he eyed her lips hungrily. “I'm sorry. But I have to get ready. I'll be performing soon.” She smiled and pulled herself from his grasp.

“What's the matter? Got a nickel between your knees?”

Kagome turned to him and shook her head. He was desperately trying her patience. Luckily she had the practice with InuYasha to overcome this small thing. She sighed and gave him a small smile, one that hinted an end to their conversation. “No, Sir. I cherish the company I am with, and I am happy to have met you. Good luck tonight, Jet.”

She quickly walked into her dressing room without a second glance, shutting the door smartly behind her.

The man shook his head and walked off. `Ice Queen.'

“You okay there, Kags? You seem a bit out of it.” Sango frowned as Kagome entered the room.

Kagome shook her head softly, quickly shrugging off the Jet incident. “No, just anxious. My family from the Shikon House is out there tonight. I hope they like us.”

Sango grinned. “Kags, the way you go on about them, I'm sure they'd love you no matter what you did.”

Kagome flushed. “Yeah. I know.” She glanced over at the leather suit resting on the chair. “Guess I should get changed.”

“Yeah.” Sango stood and stretched. “I'm going to check on our instruments, give you time to change. I'll be back to get you in a few minutes.”

Kagome nodded and reached for the suit as her friend left.

Sango had ducked into the equipment bay just as Miroku was pushed out of the boy's dressing room. He was already dressed in dark jeans and a black t-shirt, looking immaculate, yet his dark hair was ruffled by gel and horseplay. He gingerly tried to put it back in place. “Damn it, Kouga!”

“Hey, Miroku! Wait `til I tell Sango you wax your asshole!”

“InuYasha, blow it out your ass.” He fumed and tried to keep down a blush. He shut the door to their laughter and gingerly headed over to the girls' dressing room.

“I'd watch it if I were you.”

Miroku looked up to see a blonde haired punk walk past with several members of his band. “Excuse me?”

“There's a frigid bitch in there. Doubt you'll get very far with her.” The man smirked before jogging to catch up with his group who were due to head on stage.

Miroku grinned. That sounded like his Sango alright. If she was in there, it would mean that at least Kagome were dressed, since Sango mentioned Kagome would never change unless she was alone. And if he happened to catch his ladylove naked, well, who is to say there was no God?

Miroku grinned devilishly as he entered the dressing room in a rush, closing the door swiftly behind him. “Ah, my beautiful dar….”

His eyes widened at the sight of Kagome. She was in her leather pants already, but was topless. He gawked at her bare back before she spun to face him, clutching her arms over her breasts.

“Miro?!”

Miroku stared speechless into her terrified blue eyes before his eyes drifted to the mirror behind her. He couldn't believe what he saw. Never before had he ever seen such damage on one person. Her back was scarred beyond belief. White jagged arcs enveloped around her shoulders and swept down to meet together above her tailbone. If it wasn't for the fact he knew what they were, he would have thought they were perfect white wings folded against her back, instead of grotesque scars that marred this beautiful girl.

He shook his head numbly. “Kagome, I….”

She looked back at the mirror behind her and yelped. She grabbed her black tank top quickly and put it on.

“What are you doing in here?” She yelled, turning to face him. Her body and voice shook slightly.

Miroku watched her fight tears as she looked down in shame and fright. He'd never seen that expression on her face. He had never seen her cry. It was something he'd never for the life of him wanted to see again. “Kagome, I'm sorry. I thought Sango….”

“She's looking after the equipment.” Kagome breathed quickly, her eyes searching the room frantically for nothing in particular.

“Kagome.”

She hesitantly lifted her gaze to him. Tears rimmed her blue eyes making them shine brighter. “Please don't tell anyone what you saw.”

Miroku shook his head slightly in awe. “How?”

Kagome sat delicately in the chair behind her. She stared sadly down at the ground in an attempt to avoid looking at him. She seemed to struggle with words before she managed to explain softly. “In a house fire.”

Miroku nodded and moved a chair to sit beside her. “I'm so sorry, Kagome.”

She nodded softly. “It's okay, really. It was a long time ago. But it's not something I like people to see. You just caught me off guard.”

The gray-eyed man looked around guiltily before he sighed. He lifted her chin to gaze into her eyes. He raised his right hand in front of her for her to watch as he removed the leather glove.

Kagome gasped as she saw his bright red hand, twisted and gnarled by excessive scarring.

“Shot by friendly fire,” Miroku grimaced, flexing his hand stiffly, “as I was trying to run away with my father during a raid. The bullet that went through my hand hit my father square in the chest, killing him instantly. I was in the hospital for a about a week. They managed to place metal brackets to join my severed bones. It was the most painful experience I ever had, not counting watching my father die in front of me. After that, they sent me to a half way house. That's where I met InuYasha. I was there for a few months before my father's friend, Mushin, found me and brought me to live with him.”

Kagome looked up at him in numbed shock before she looked back down. “Oh, Miro….”

He shook his head. “It's okay, even though I lost my father, I was raised by a good man. He was a Buddhist monk, or so he said. Drank like a sailor and taught me everything I know about women.”

Kagome giggled through her shaky state. “He must have left a few things out.”

Miroku grinned. “He must have.” His grin faded. “When he died, he didn't leave much for me, so going to school wasn't really an option, so I just managed to get by with odd jobs.” He flexed his scarred hand and grimaced. “Hard to do manual work when one hand is crippled. I'm just thankful I can strum a guitar.”

Kagome smiled, finally relaxing a bit. “The best I ever heard.”

Miroku looked at her serenely. “Thanks.”

Kagome looked him over softly. “You said you met InuYasha at a half way house? All this time I thought he grew up with his brother.”

The dark haired man looked uncomfortable. “Things happened. We each have our own story to tell.”

Kagome looked down and nodded silently, understanding his meaning.

They were quiet for a long while until her soft voice trickled across his ears.

“It was an air raid during the war. A bomb was dropped over our city block. The force shattered the windows and shrapnel set our house on fire. Everyone was asleep before we heard the bomb hit. But there wasn't anything we could do. The roof caved in automatically on top of us and the timbers burned my shoulders. I dragged my body out from under them, but it just made them burn all the way down my back.” She shuddered as she tried to hold back her tears from a memory that would never heal. “I was the only one that made it out.”

Miroku looked at her stunned. Their sweet innocent Kagome didn't escape the war so easily after all. But she seemed so happy and content with her life. How was it possible after what she went through? Her family died right in front of her, and her body was a constant reminder of that night. Yet she was never without a smile or a happy memory.

Her voice broke him out of his thoughts.

“I don't know how long I was in the hospital.” Her eyes looked distant as she remembered. “I woke up on my stomach. The first thing I saw was Lady Kaede smiling down at me. She was there visiting the sick children's ward to offer prayer and help. She took care of me until I got better. Then she took me home to Shikon House.” Kagome grinned through her tear stained eyes. “And I have been there ever since.”

They were both silent for a short time until Miroku cleared his throat. He fingered the glove in his hands sheepishly. “I understand now why you never wore revealing shirts.” He smiled and shrugged. “Just thought you were being modest.”

Kagome smiled softly as she gazed up at him. “I don't hide from my past. I know what I've been through and I can talk about it now. We all have our burdens. Lady Kaede taught me how to give mine to God. But my scars….”

Miroku nodded. “We don't like to be constantly reminded and be pitied.” He looked down at his hand and grimaced. “And let's face it, not many would want to see them and be reminded themselves.”

She searched his eyes as she nervously bit her lip. She nodded. “The burns on my back never healed right. I just hate the way people look when they see my back. I'm not a vain person….”

“I know. Nor am I.” Miroku grinned. “Though I do appreciate beauty. And you, Kagome, are the most beautiful I have ever seen.”

A rogue tear finally escaped her eye and it trailed down her face. In a desperate sigh she grabbed Miroku and hugged him tightly against her.

Miroku was stunned for a moment before he slowly wrapped his arms around her back, rubbing his palms up and down the rough contours of the scars through her shirt. He felt an incredible bond grow between them just then. He shut his eyes as he cradled her closer to him. He knew her past, and she knew his. It was so easy to tell her, even though it wasn't something he liked to divulge to anyone. And he knew it must have taken so much for her to reveal this to him, especially in the way he discovered it.

She had often talked about her mother, grandfather and brother in the past. Told little stories about what they did. He never thought anything of it to ask what happened to them. War did that to you. You just accepted that they were gone and moved on, and never asked. He knew something must have happened, why else would she end up at the orphanage? He knew from the start InuYasha's claim that the girl was unaffected was a lie.

He could also tell she did not suppress her memories. Hell, her body was a constant reminder. But no one likes to remember the loss. Yet she lived as if her life was nothing more than love and happiness.

He mentally shook his head in disbelief. How the hell does she do it? She was so strong to have endured that and now to live like she did. Losing her family, being scarred by the fire that killed them, and now taking care of the children left over by the war. What was it in her that made her live so purely, though her life was nothing but pain?

She amazed him. He wished he had a fraction of her strength and spirit. If only he could be like her in some way, maybe then he'd also be able to heal.

Kagome shivered in his arms and released a shaky sigh when he pulled back to kiss her forehead in loving tenderness.

“What the fuck?!”

Miroku and Kagome jerked up to see the rest of the band standing at the doorway. Kouga looked curious, while both Sango and InuYasha looked livid.

Miroku glanced down at Kagome's alarmed face. His eyes softened as he looked into hers. He winked at her, letting her know everything would be okay.

As if reading his thoughts, Kagome smiled softly, swiping the tear quickly from her face, acting as if wiping something from her eye.

The gesture went unnoticed by everyone except Sango. She knew Kagome well enough to know nothing sexual happened, though she didn't like the fact her boyfriend kissed her friend's forehead. She also noticed when Miroku quickly put his glove back on.

It was then that she visibly relaxed. `So he confided in her. He wouldn't have done that unless he found out something big about her.'

The golden-eyed singer beside her quickly broke her thoughts.

“I asked what the fuck is going on!”

Miroku sighed and stood. “Nothing to warrant your jealousy, InuYasha. Kagome and I were just praying.”

InuYasha's mouth dropped. “What?”

Miroku grinned. “As much of a godsend you think you are, InuYasha, I thought it prudent to ask for a little more heavenly intervention on our behalf.”

Kagome fought off a smile as she looked to the far wall to gain back her composure.

“Keh. Waste of fucking air, if you ask me.” InuYasha averted his gaze to the same wall. `And I wasn't jealous.'

“Very well, InuYasha, but our prayer has been sent. Is it time for us to go on?” Miroku brushed lazily at his clothing.

The singer eyed the two warily. “Yeah, they are waiting for us upstairs.”

Miroku smiled and placed his hand on Kagome's back to usher her to stand. “Well, let's go then. We've got your back.”

“Whatever, come on.” InuYasha gripped.

Everyone turned to head upstairs. Miroku looked down at Kagome and winked. “And I got yours.”