InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unfettered ❯ Remembering Kagome ( Chapter 4 )

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

A/N: I want to thank you everyone for taking the time to review and let you know that I really do appreciate you kind words and thoughts. Anyway on with the story and I hope I don’t disappoint. Also I am sorry if this chapter feels a bit rushed, but I am anxious to get past the set up and into the real heart of the story. Here it is...

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha!

Kagome entered the office of her lawyer and sat down. She tugged nervously at the hem of her skirt with one hand, and held a large yellow envelope in the other. It had been her mother who had insisted on taking pictures of the bruises on her face and arms.

“Yoshido Kagome, I am Sato Yuriko, and it was your mother who called, telling me that you were looking to get a divorce from your husband of four years. Is that correct?” the woman asked.

“Yes, it is, Sato-san,” Kagome replied.

“All right. What are your reasons for seeking a divorce?” Yuriko asked.

Kagome handed her the envelope. “Someone very important to me has come back into my life, and given me the courage to leave him. He would have abused my son had I not prevented it, and he has been with other women throughout our marriage.”

Her lawyer said nothing as she looked at the pictures. “Do you have proof of his infidelity?”

“InuYasha saw him letting another woman... Well she had her head between his legs, when we went to our apartment to get my clothes,” Kagome replied.

“I need a list of the items that you removed from the apartment,” Yuriko told her.

“I didn’t end up taking anything,” Kagome explained. “He was going to hit me, but InuYasha stopped him and we left. I don’t want anything. I just want to be free to start my life over again with my son.”

“Since you have never reported the abuse, I doubt I will be able to get you sole custody of your child,” Yuriko informed her.

“But... Taro isn’t even his son. InuYasha won’t stand for Taro to be forced to see him,” Kagome told her.

“So the child is not his biological child?” Kagome shook her head. “And this InuYasha, who is he, exactly.”

“He’s my friend and Taro’s father,” Kagome replied. “I haven’t seen him since the night Taro was conceived, but he’s back now. He never knew about Taro, and now that he does he wants us to be a family. I know how this must seem to you, but it isn’t what you’re thinking. I loved InuYasha and I still do. Things were just complicated, and we didn’t think we could be together, so I left after that night. I am ashamed to admit that I never loved my husband, but I thought he would be a father to my son. I thought I needed that. I don’t want any money. I don’t even want our clothes. All I want is to be Higurashi Kagome again, and be free to be with the man that I love.”

“All right, Higurashi-san. I will draft the papers and have them sent over to the courts this afternoon. It should be a simple matter, and since you are requesting nothing but custody of your son who is not related to your husband, I foresee no problems,” her lawyer said. “For my records, what is your son’s name?”

“Higurashi InuTaro,” Kagome replied.

“Named after his father, I assume,” Yuriko said. “I think I have everything I need. I’ll contact you after the papers have been served.”

“Thank you Sato-san,” Kagome replied, coming to her feet and offering a small respectful bow before leaving.

Kagome looked at her watch and hurried down the street. She was thankful that the medical building was so close to her attorney’s office. She had ten minutes to make her doctor’s appointment. She knew that it would have been easier to schedule the appointments on two separate days, but she wanted to get it over with. She needed to feel like herself again.

Kagome wanted to be the same girl who traveled through time and fell in love with an irritable, arrogant, wonderful hanyou. The same Kagome who had faced down demons and who would have never allowed a man to hurt her. She wanted to be InuYasha’s pathetic, reckless, stubbornly brave, human wench again, and soon she would be.

Her doctor and family friend greeted her as she sat on the table in her paper gown. “Kagome, I must admit I am surprised to see you here to have you IUD removed. I thought you didn’t wish to have another child.”

Kagome looked at the doctor who had managed her care when she was pregnant and after. Once her husband had come with her to speak to the doctor about why Kagome couldn’t get pregnant, and Kagome had been forced to confide in her physician that she didn’t want to and why. She left out the physical abuse, but told her that he was not a kind man.

“I am no longer with my husband,” Kagome said simply. She was surprised to find herself smiling. It felt good to say that. “Taro’s father found us, and once he got over being upset that he didn’t know about his son, he asked us to go home with him. He will be wanting more children.”

“You seem a different person, Kagome, much more like the girl I remember,” she offered.

“I feel different. I feel like me again,” Kagome told her.

Kagome closed her eyes as the doctor preformed the service she desired, and then sat back up once it was over. “Do you have any questions?”

“Um, there’s nothing wrong with me there?” Kagome asked. “I should be able to have more children and be... intimately involved, right?”

“Kagome, I ask you to consider that your... problems, had less to do with you, and more to do with your partner,” Dr. Watanabe replied. “You are a perfectly healthy young woman. You should have no difficulty in either area.”

“Thank you,” Kagome said quietly.



She arrived at home to find InuYasha and Taro sitting together in the Goshinboku. They jumped down at her approach and Taro ran over to her. Kagome knelt down to give the boy a hug. When she stood back up, InuYasha was standing in front of her. They all went inside together.

“How did it go?” her mother asked when they came inside.

“There should be no problem with either,” Kagome replied. “I hope it doesn’t take to long to get everything settled.”

It was exactly a week later when Kagome’s lawyer called. Her mother held out the phone to her at breakfast. “It’s Sato-san for you, dear.”

“Hello,” Kagome said.

“Hello, Higurashi -san. I am sorry to have to tell you that things are not going as smoothly as I had hoped,” she said. “Your husband is going to make this as difficult as possible. Not only is he claiming your son as his own, he is making accusations about your skills as a parent. He is also alleging that you were having an affair and that your boyfriend attacked him for no reason.”

InuYasha looked on as Kagome frowned.

“Why?” Kagome asked. “I don’t want anything. Why can’t he just let me have Taro? He doesn’t even like him.”

With that InuYasha came to his feet growling. There was no way in hell that bastard was taking his pup.

“I need for you to come to my office with your son, and if at all possible, you should bring his father as well,” she said. “I also want to warn you that you all might have to go under evaluation by a psychologist. Can you come in this afternoon?”

“What time?” Kagome asked softly. She hung up the phone and ignored everyone’s questioning stares. She went straight to her room, sat on the bed, and cried.

She heard the door open but didn’t look up. She knew it was InuYasha.

“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I’ve made such a mess of things.” She shook with the force of her tears. Kagome felt him sit beside her.

“Tell me what’s going on,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “I can’t protect you if you won’t let me.”

“He’s saying I’m not a good mother, and that Taro is his son,” Kagome told him. “He is trying to make it seem like we’ve been together while I was married to him, and that you attacked him for no reason.”

“We could leave. No one would be able to find us,” InuYasha offered.

“But then I couldn’t see mama, or Souta, or jii-chan anymore,” Kagome cried. “What am I going to do? They might want a blood test. I’m sure hanyou blood isn’t the same as human. They’ll want to take him from me and experiment on him or something.”

“No one is going to take our pup, Kagome. I promise,” he assured her.

“My lawyer wants all of us to go down to her office this afternoon. She thinks we might have to be evaluated by a psychologist."

“A what?” InuYasha questioned.

“It’s a doctor who talks to you and tries to tell if there’s anything wrong with your mind,” Kagome explained. “How are we going to explain you, InuYasha? How can someone who doesn’t even exist in this time be the father of my son?”

“We’ll figure it out together.” InuYasha hugged her more firmly and smoothed her hair. “I won’t let anything happen to you or our son, Kagome.”

Kagome was surprised when InuYasha uttered not a single word of protest about changing into modern clothes. He even wore the sandals without so much as single curse, but that was not to be the end of the day's surprises.

She found herself nearing shock, when InuYasha not only bowed slightly, but addressed her lawyer with an honorific. Kagome sat down with Taro in her lap, and InuYasha sat beside her.

“Thank you all for coming,” Yuriko said. She looked back and forth between InuYasha and Taro. “I don’t think establishing paternity for your son is going to be a problem. They look remarkably alike: violet eyes and the same facial features... That and because he looks nothing like your soon to be ex-husband. Now, your husband’s lawyers are requesting a psychological evaluation of both you and your son. They are also denying that he abused you.”

“That’s a lie,” Taro said. “He hurt my mama. The last time he hit her in the stomach, and she couldn’t eat any dinner and I had to make her an ice pack for her face.”

The lawyer looked at the little boy. “How old is your son?”

“He’s four,” Kagome replied.

“Would you be willing to allow him to undergo an intelligence evaluation along with his psychological one?” Yuriko asked.

“Why?” Kagome questioned.

“Usually children under seven are not permitted to testify because they simply cannot grasp the concepts needed to be a reliable witness, but if we could prove that your son has the mental capacity to grasp such adult concepts, he would be allowed to be a witness,” Yuriko explained. “Tell me, can he read?”

“Mama taught me,” Taro offered.

“With your son as a witness, we may not have to involve his father at all. I know that you would most likely prefer to keep your son from the proceedings, but I would not suggest his participation if I did not think it would be worth it,” Yuriko told her. “Perhaps I should give you a moment to discuss this privately.”

Kagome watched her attorney leave the room and when the door closed behind her, she turned to InuYasha. “What do you think?”

“Depends on what the hell she was talking about,” InuYasha replied.

Kagome blushed at having forgotten that InuYasha would need an explanation. She did her best to make clear to him what Sato-san was asking them, and then waited for him to respond. She hoped that he would allow the testing.

“So they want to see how smart our pup is, and if they think he’s smart enough then they’ll let him talk about what that bastard did to you?” InuYasha asked, just be certain that he understood what Kagome had told him. Kagome nodded. “And you think it’s a good idea?”

Kagome bit her bottom lip. “Not so much a good idea, as it is the best option for us, all things considered. I don’t want him to have to talk about it, about any of the things I let happen because I was too ashamed, too weak, and too much of coward...” Kagome lowered her head and stared at her hands in her lap.

Taro didn’t like to see his mother upset, and he couldn’t understand how she could say those things about herself. “It’s okay, mama. I want to tell them what he did to you, so we can go live with papa and so he can never hurt you again...and mama, I think you’re really brave and strong too, so don’t cry, okay?”

“The kid’s right you know,” InuYasha said quietly. “And he’s a hell of a lot smarter than me, or than I was before, anyway.”

Kagome looked up at her two hanyou and found it in herself to smile. She wiped away her tears. Yuriko returned a few moments later and Kagome gave their answer. Taro would be permitted to undergo both a psychological as well as an intelligence evaluation.

It was painful, but somehow freeing, for Kagome to undergo the therapy sessions, which occurred three times a week for both herself and Taro. Of course, there were some things she couldn’t talk about without revealing too much about InuYasha or Taro, and a few times she found herself embarrassed to be revealing so much to a virtual stranger, but overall she felt that she would be better for the experience.

She and InuYasha both were allowed to observe Taro’s first session. They watched on closed circuit television in order to assure themselves that the intent was not to further traumatize the boy, and that nothing they would object too was going on.

Since the court appointed therapist was also qualified to assess Taro’s mental capacity, the tests were also incorporated into the sessions. As a result, the young hanyou always left them talking about how much fun the puzzles and games he had played had been.

Yuriko had advised Kagome to be very careful with how open she was about her new relationship. The attorney warned that she would not put it past her husband to have someone trying to gather evidence to use against her, or to slander her reputation.

In light of this, and because he really wanted to spend time getting to know his son, whose first four years he had missed, InuYasha decided not to return through the well. Having him living at the shrine would have posed a problem except for the fact that both Kagome’s mother and grandfather stayed at the residence as well.

As the date for the mediation with the judge drew near, Kagome, InuYasha, and Yuriko set up one final meeting to work with Taro and try to prepare him for what was likely to happen, and what type of questions he was going to be asked. Overall, things were going well as could be expected, and Kagome was slightly relieved by her lawyer’s assurances that everything was going to work out as they hoped.