Kagome walked slowly down the street, feeling the cold concrete of the sidewalk under her bare feet. It was late and it was cold, especially because she was wearing only a strapless red dress. If she had anything else to wear she would. Lost in her thoughts, she stubbed her toe on a rock and tripped, skinning her knee as well as she hit the ground. It stung.

Pushing herself up and leaning against the rough brick wall behind her, she cautiously eased her skirt up her leg to view the damage. A hot, dark trickle of blood was trailing down her smooth, long legs, and the toe she had stubbed was already sitting in its own small pool.

"Great," she muttered. Then she looked up.

Five men were surrounding her. They were tall and they were built and they had come so suddenly and so silently that anyone else would have gasped. But Kagome had no more energy to muster up any kind of reaction.

"Hello," the one on the left said silkily. Kagome did not even look in his direction. "What are you doing out here all alone tonight? And looking so pretty..."

"Aw..." said one to the right, "You seem to have hurt yourself. You should really take care of that. Losing too much blood is bad for your health."

The whole circle chuckled sinisterly, until one of them said, "Well, it doesn't look like she'll put up much of a struggle. So we may as well start. Inu, I believe it's your turn to go first."

The one in the middle stepped forward. Kagome regarded him dully. He had silver hair that flowed down to his waist and amber eyes that stared at her piercingly. She didn't know what he was going to do to her, but she was sure that it wasn't as bad as what she had just come through. In the course of a week, her parents and her brother were all killed in a car crash, everything she owned had been taken from her, and just tonight she had been kicked out of their family shrine to repay the last of the debt that she had been shouldered with when her parents died. The only thing she had to her name now was the dress she was wearing, and it was already dirty from her fall. In that moment, Kagome didn't care if these men wanted to rape or kill her. She wouldn't fight it. She was sick of fighting.

She didn't break eye contact as the man continued to approach her, but there was nothing intense about her gaze. When he brushed her hair away from her neck, she looked instead at the ground. He leaned closer and then, for a second, there was a piercing pain in her neck. Suddenly, the man reeled back in shock. He coughed and stared at her so intensely that she almost shivered. Something in his expression started to wake her from her stupor.

"What, are you done already?" asked one of the others. "Then step aside. It's my turn."

A deep and ferocious growl ripped from the throat of the man in front of her as he turned to face the rest of the circle. "Nobody touches her," he said.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You," he said, turning his head slightly towards her without taking his eyes off of the others. "Grab onto my shoulders."

Kagome didn't move at first. This man had just attacked her. He was clearly not trustworthy. But then again... what option did she have? She dumbly placed her arms across his shoulders. In one swift movement, he grabbed and parted her legs, wrapping them around his waist, then took off.

Kagome gasped, tightening her weak grip. They were flying across buildings at impossible speeds. No, they weren't flying. He was jumping. Kagome felt the slight impact every time he landed for a split second. With everything that she had been through, this bizarre occurrence was simply too much. Her head fell against his shoulder, and the world went black.

A/N: So I'm accidentally writing multiple stories at one time now. The one with the most reviews next time I'm in the mood to write will get another chapter published, so if you want this one, then you'd better say so. :)