Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrights to Inuyasha characters and storylines nor any of the plot or elements referred to in this story based on Striking Falcon's, You don't know what you have 'til it's gone.

I just wanted to say that I am immensely grateful to Striking Falcon for allowing me to complete her fic, You Don't Know What You Have 'Til It's Gone. I would also like to say at this time that I am immensely sorry if characters seem OOC, but I was forced to deal with the characterizations as set by Striking Falcon as well as the usual difficulties of sounding characters out for the first time. Aka, this is the first fanfic I've ever attempted writing, and while I have gone back to revise some of this, there are the inevitable discrepancies of time, new ideas, and change in perspective.

In the end, I hope you enjoyed reading Torn Apart because I enjoyed writing it and seeing my skills grow as becomes more obvious in the last 5 chapters or so. Thank-you for reading and, please, feel free to leave a comment or two at the end with Constructive Criticism. I would like to hear your take of my improvement and the areas I still need to work on.

Parsnip

A Summary

Kagome finds herself kidnapped and beaten by Sesshoumaru who wants her to tell him how to acquire Tetsusaiga from his half-brother. Kagome, resigned to death, refuses to give him satisfaction and causes him to wonder why the woman is certain the hanyou will not come save her. Confused, he forces her to take care of Rin while he covertly observes her and tries to form a new plan to get that which he desires. With time, Sesshoumaru becomes fascinated with Kagome's use of emotion and wants to learn from her what it is to truly 'feel'.

However, Inuyasha and co are tracking Kagome's trail into the Western lands, intent on saving her from Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru, unwilling to relinquish the girl, devises a plan to make Kagome want to stay and to embarrass Inuyasha into leaving her behind. Staging a dinner, he rudely invites the hanyou, taijiya, houshi, and kitsune to dine with him since they were there anyways. Kagome, disguised as an expendable human slave, samples each one's food to convince them that it was not poisoned after which she is forced to stand at Sesshoumaru's side.

After a few minutes into the meal, Inuyasha demands to see Kagome. Sesshoumaru tells them that Kagome escaped a few weeks earlier since she had convinced him she held no part of the hanyou's heart. So, he brings Kikyo into the room and has her 'exterminated' to which Inuyasha goes ballistic and in a moment of irrationality, claims he cares about Kikyo and not Kagome. Kagome, who had witnessed this whole ordeal, cries out and is transported to Rin's room.

Sesshoumaru sees Inuyasha out the door and seeks the solace of his study until he hears Rin crying. Racing upstairs, he realizes that Kagome has escaped and runs after her. Catching up at last, he asks her to be his mate. Kagome is confused and claims that while she will stay with him for now, she will not be his mate when she still loves Inuyasha. So, Kagome continues to care for Rin, and Sesshoumaru spends time with her. Eventually, Kagome takes it upon herself to continue with the shard hunt and convinces Sesshoumaru to help her.

During one such search, they run into Inuyasha and co fighting against Naraku. Kagome goes on a rampage when Shippou gets in trouble and kills Naraku. Afterwards, everyone gathers back at the well to see Kagome put the Shikon no Tama back together. However, something completely unexpected happens when Kagome starts to disappear! A spur of the moment decision causes her to grasp Sango's hand as she's fading away taking them both five hundred years into the future where they find the well is sealed and the Shikon no Tama is nothing but a dull jewel.

Sango is adopted into the Higurashi family and attends high school with Kagome. During finals week, a fight ensues outside school grounds and who else is it but our dear friends, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha? Spying Kagome, the two swoop down onto the poor girl and declare their intention to take her as their mate. The End.

Striking Falcon's story sounds much more poetic when you actually read it rather then my three minute summary. So, I suggest you check it out at Mediaminer or on A Single Spark which are linked on my profile, but if you haven't, this will help Torn Apart make sense. My story picks up immediately where Striking Falcon's story ended.

Kagome groaned as a blush flooded her face. There were two men standing on either side of her and each were striving their hardest to pull her apart as they growled at each other. It reminded her of several scenes she had once shared with a wolf and a hanyou, but she never thought Sesshoumaru would be act so childishly! Bowing her head in acute embarrassment and ire, she tapped into her center and let the tiniest trickle of miko energy flow into her two overzealous suitors.

"Ouch!" yipped Inuyasha as he let go of Kagome's hand to rub the burned flesh smoking in the afternoon light.

Sesshoumaru smirked at his hanyou brother as he kept his claws on Kagome's shoulder although his grip had loosened to barely touching in honor of her request. A small tendril of smoke also rose from his hand though it went unnoticed by the onlookers in lieu of Inuyasha's antics.

"If you cannot handle a little energy why do you even bother to stake a claim, brother?"

Inuyasha's face flared in anger as he tensed his muscles, preparing to charge and beat his brother into a bloody pulp. Shippou, recognizing the signs, dashed in and used one of his old kitsune tricks to drop a 1000 lb. statue on his foot, effectively pinning him to the pavement. Several laughed at the unexpected trick, clapping and cheering the red-hair man's swiftness while others booed at a fight thwarted.

"Oomph," he exhaled as he lost his balance and crashed into the ground. "Why'd you do that for!" he screamed as he swiftly erected himself to bonk the kitsune on the head with one clenched fist. Shippou, used to over four hundred years of abuse merely grunted and stood with arms crossed in front of his adopted father, protecting his okaa-san.

"Stop it!" screamed Kagome as she saw Inuyasha's fist connect with Shippou's head. Sango, using the distraction to her advantage, tried to insert herself in-between Sesshoumaru and Kagome, pulling on the hand that still grasped Kagome's sleeve ever so slightly. Frowning down at the exterminator, Sesshoumaru gave in and took a step back, allowing her friend to protect his chosen mate.

Marching around Sango who was trading glares with Sesshoumaru, Kagome smacked him in the chest with a fist. "I don't know why you choose NOW of all times to come back into my life, but I would have thought you'd choose something less humiliating then outside my school!" Whirling, she marched around Shippou as Inuyasha tried to jerk his foot out from underneath the kitsune's magic spell. "And you, well, you I could expect this from, but this is ridiculous!" For good measure she whacked him in the stomach as well.

She backed up to glare at both brothers while her friends gawked in the background and several others merely snickered. She'd never live down this public display of humiliation. Surprise at the rare display of temper was clearly written over the faces of those who recognized her. Gritting her teeth, Kagome said, "Shippou, I don't care how you do it, but make sure these…boys….leave school premises." Glaring at both, she softly said, "I don't want to see either one of you, and I mean either one of you, until finals are over."

Kagome continued to turn a livid stare at first Inuyasha who glared back sulkily at the less then well received reunion and then at Sesshoumaru who continued to bestow one of his rare smiles at her, unnerving her to no end. He always seemed to know how to knock her off balance, and damn if he didn't do it just to piss his brother off as well. Quickly looking back at Inuyasha, Kagome saw him lean menacingly towards Sesshoumaru as he prepared to claw the elder inu-youkai. "Osuwari," Kagome yelled, forgetting that she had freed him nearly five hundred years ago from the binding spell.

Surprised eyes blinked at Kagome as she turned a dark maroon color from her face down to her toes as she realized that she could no longer subdue him. Clearing her throat, she looked towards her now grown son and gathered strength from the cheeky grin he was wearing. "Shippou, I'd like to see you at the shrine tonight. Supper starts at seven." Giving an extra glare to Inuyasha who growled softly at her favoritism, she said to both men, "Shippou will get in contact with each of you when I'm good and ready to speak to you two. If I see either one of you before I say so, both suits are refused, and I'll make you look better then fried chicken!" Kagome raised her hand to show the soft pink aura that encompassed it, her senses straining to remember the control she had once semi-learned. Satisfied her message was sent, she softly spoke again. "I'm gonna close my eyes and count to ten. If either one of you are still here by the time I open them, you will be purified."

Taking a deep breath, Kagome closed her eyes and started to count out loud. "1….2….3…."

"Goodbye, love," Sesshoumaru whispered as he sauntered across the street and hid in an alleyway waiting for her to finish her count. Hiding in the shadows, he watched as Kagome opened her eyes and gave her long-lost son a hug before hurrying inside the school to the squeaks and rush of questions from her classmates while Shippou bounded back into the trees, sniffing out his adoptive father and uncle.

He really couldn't say he was happy with how the events turned out, having chosen a less public forum for reinstating contact, but it had been touch the miko again, and hear her voice shout curses at his brother and himself. It had been a long time since he had indulged in his desire to see her, the last being before she fell down the well almost 8 years prior.

Moments later, he watched Kagome and Sango rush back outside and hurry home while three young women trailed after them, trying to get the scoop behind the fight. Smiling in the comfort of darkness, Sesshoumaru took to the rooftops and hurried home to wait for Kagome's anger to fade.

Revised 1-15-2006