Title: Torn
Author: KawaiiChica
E-mail: [email protected]
Rating: PG for mild violence and swearing.
Disclaimer: Ok I'll admit it, Inuyasha and Co. don't belong to me, I'm just borrowing them for the sake of this fanfic. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and other people who have money and legal terms saying they're theirs.
*sigh*
Its so depressing to admit Inuyasha's not mine *hugs plushie*
* * Sounds
" " Speaking
[ ] Thoughts
*** Flashbacks
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Twitch*
Inuyasha sighed, relieved that she'd finally returned. Kagome had been gone for a full week this time, mentioning something about some kind of 'finals' although what those were he'd never know. They'd argued and yelled and he'd ended up being 'sat' quite a few times before she escaped to her world, but finally she was back.
He was about to jump out of the tree he'd been sitting in when the sound of a small sob reached his ears. He frowned, hearing Kagome take a deep breath before throwing her backpack on and climbing up the well. She appeared at the top and shifted so the bag would fall next to the well. Climbing over the edge, she sighed and sat down, pulling her knees up to her chest and laying her head down on them, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.
[What could be her problem?] Inuyasha dropped to the ground and walked over, watching quietly for a few minutes before his patience ran out. "Took you long enough!"
To his surprise, Kagome nodded and gave a heavy sigh, wiping her eyes carefully before standing and picking up her bag. "Yeah, I guess I did take longer than usual."
Her softly spoken words made him stop and frown again, noticing the deep sadness in her voice. She kept her head down, staring at the ground before her as she walked over and towards the village.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha stopped her, grabbing her arm and turning her to face him. "What's the matter?"
"Its nothing," she shook her head, stepping back as he raised his other hand to lift her chin up.
"Don't," Inuyasha warned her when she tried to struggle. He heard her gulp before she finally raised her head, allowing her face to be seen fully. The glistening in her eyes was no surprise, he knew she'd been crying, he'd smelled her tears when she came back through the well. What shocked him was the redness of her right cheek; it looked as if someone had slapped her. Hard.
Kagome saw his eyes focus on her aching cheek and turned her face away again. "Don't ask ok?"
"What do you mean don't ask? How can't I?" Inuyasha growled, fury pounding through him at the thought of someone hitting Kagome. "Who the hell did this?"
"It doesn't matter," Kagome tried to pull away and felt her chin start to tremble when he didn't release her. "Please don't make me explain, just let me go."
Inuyasha shook his head, "Not until I get a decent answer. Who the hell did that?"
"What do you care?" Kagome snapped, yanking her arm away from him suddenly. "It doesn't matter who did it and I'm NOT going to talk about it with you or anybody, understand?!"
Never being one to accept being yelled at, Inuyasha glared, "Like HELL you won't! You're going to tell me right now what happened or else!"
"Or else?" Kagome's eye twitched, her hands fisted shut at her sides, shaking in anger.
"OR ELSE?!"
Her voice raised that time and Inuyasha gulped, realizing he'd probably gone too far that time. "Um Kagome, I meant..."
"SIIIIIT!"
Kagome watched him fall to the ground and huffed, stepping over his back and heading towards the village. Inuyasha didn't even bother cursing at her as he lay face down in the dirt. Kagome had a problem she wasn't sharing with him and it was going to drag him crazy if he didn't find out.
~~~~~~
"Kagomeee!"
A cheerful little kitsune jumped into her arms. Kagome couldn't help but smile, soothed by his sweet cheerfulness at her arrival. [Unlike at home...] She shook her head slightly to make herself snap out of her thoughts and re-join the people talking to her.
"Gomen nasai for worrying all of you, I just needed to stay home for a few extra days," she smiled and dropped her heavy bag to the floor. "I brought supplies."
"And did you..." Shippo was cut off by a squeal when a chocolate bar was thrown into his lap. "You remembered!"
"How could I forget?" Kagome smiled and turned to her friends, who were watching her carefully. "Anything the matter?"
"Ano... if I may ask, being somewhat familiar with the type of redness that is on your cheek, who dared to slap you Kagome-sama? It was not that idiot of a hanyou was it?" Miroku watched her with obvious concern in his eyes.
Kagome shook her head sadly, turning away to look through her bag again. "No, Inuyasha didn't slap me."
"WHAT?! I wouldn't slap her!" Inuyasha growled from the doorway, shooting murderous glances at the monk.
"No need to shout Inuyasha, he was just concerned," Sango glared at him and turned to help Kagome. "How was your stay Kagome-chan? Did you have a good time with your family?"
"Hai, it was fine," Kagome shrugged, not wanting to elaborate.
"What'd you do all that time?" Shippo asked, munching on the chocolate bar happily.
Kagome rolled her eyes, "I took my finals ok? That's what I went to do isn't it?"
"I guess so," Shippo stared at her wide-eyed, hurt at her annoyance with him.
"I'm really tired so I think I'll go soak in the hot spring, I'll be back in a while." Kagome grabbed the towel and pj's she'd packed and headed out to the spring, obviously wanting to be left alone.
Once there, she undressed and slipped into the warm water, her tense muscles relaxing after a harrowing week. Resting her head against a rock, she closed her eyes and thought back to all the things that had happened.
*** Flashback ***
"Don't forget to pick up the clothes from the dry-cleaners, drop off the video game and to pay that bill before picking up Souta." Her grandfather called after her.
"But grandpa! I only have half an hour between when my school gets out and his!" Kagome turned with a surprised look. "Can't we do it afterwards?"
"Souta has to be at practice twenty minutes after school ends," he reminded her, turning to go back into the shrine.
"OOH!" Kagome turned and ran to school, not looking forward to all the errands she'd be running that day. It had been surprising to come back home and find her grandfather angry with her. Its not like she hadn't WANTED to come back for Souta's birthday. She'd explained about their fight with Naraku and shown them her bandages and everything.
Souta had found the story cool and forgiven her, but her mother and grandfather had not been quite so pleased. They'd both been harder on her than ever. Her mother brought her grades to her attention, arguing that Kagome spent too much time in the Sengoku Jidai and was losing her chances of a good future. Her grandfather had scolded her for being so thoughtless as to leave her family so carelessly, without a thought to the fact that they might need her.
Kagome had tried to make them understand she was needed in the past. Without her Inuyasha wouldn't be able to find the jewel shards and complete the Shikon no Tama. They were getting closer to the end she assured them, since Kikyo had taken the shards they'd collected and given them to Naraku, that the jewel was almost complete, and she was the one who had to purify it.
They asked why she had to do it and not this Kikyo. When she explained they'd been even more adamant about her staying with them.
"She DIED because of the jewel?! What are you thinking Kagome?! How could you go back to somewhere so dangerous?" her mother yelled.
"I have to! If I don't go and help Naraku will win and ruin everything." Kagome grabbed her bag again. "Mom I promise we can go over things when I come back ok?"
"You're not going anywhere, I am having your grandfather seal up that well tonight!" her mother stood in the doorway, blocking her way out.
"You can't do that, I have to go!" Kagome paled, her mother looked absolutely serious. "You can't do this to me Mom! Please? It means so much to me to be there when they fight against Naraku!"
"Its too dangerous Kagome! I won't have you dying out there with those wild friends of yours." Her mother crossed the room and stopped in front of her, holding out her hand. "Give me the backpack."
"No," Kagome stepped back. "You can't keep me here mom! I need to go home to..."
*SLAP* Kagome stumbled back, leaning against the wall to re-gain her balance as she touched her cheek and stared wide-eyed at her furious mother. "That is not your home."
"Mom?" Souta stepped in, shocked that his mother had actually struck Kagome. The sound of his voice seemed to make her snap out of her anger and she turned away, not saying a word to any of them as she went upstairs.
Looking at her brother and grandfather out of tear-filled eyes, Kagome opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the elder. "She's right you know, that is not your home, your home is here."
His voice was uncharacteristically cold while he continued; "You seem to have forgotten young lady, that you are only a 16-year-old child. You don NOT have the power to decide what you do and where you go. If you live under this roof you must respect both your mother, and myself and running off to a place we do not approve of is not acceptable."
"But grandpa," Kagome began.
"That's enough," he turned to go upstairs. "Go to your room, I'm going to get the spells to seal the well."
"You can't," Kagome stepped away from the wall and straightened, "Grandpa you can't keep me from going, if you do..."
*SLAP*
This time Kagome stumbled in the opposite direction, hitting her hip against the kitchen counter as she fell against it. "You WILL learn respect young lady. Now get upstairs to your room."
Kagome shook her head silently, turning and running out to the well. The last thing she heard was her grandfather's angry shouts for her to return.
*** End Flashback ***
[What could have caused them to change so suddenly? Mom and Grandpa were always able to take care of both Souta and me. Now that it's just Souta I wouldn't think they'd need that much help at home. What got them so angry?]
She knew it was normal for them to worry, but something told her that the danger here in the past wasn't what had made them react the way they did. Something was wrong, something they hadn't told her, and now she couldn't go back to find out. [If I go back I probably won't be able to come here again.]
Kagome sighed and suddenly realized how cold and dark it had gotten. Turning to grab her towel, she gasped when she saw a hand holding it up to her. Inuyasha was squatting beside the hot spring, his eyes questioning as he handed her the towel.
"What are you doing here?"
"Its too cold out and Kaede got worried so I figured I'd come see if you were ok," he set the towel down and turned around, listening to her step out of the water and wrap the towel around herself. She moved over behind a large boulder after picking up her clothes and began to dress; throwing her pj's on quickly.
She stepped out and came to his side, "I'm ready."
"So what is it?" Inuyasha turned to face her, feeling something pull at him at the sight of her pained eyes. "Did you not pass those finals? Did something go wrong? Who hit you?"
"Don't worry about it Inuyasha," Kagome smiled sadly and began to walk, surprised to feel him take her hand. She looked up into his eyes and was surprised to see true concern written in them.
"What's the matter then?"
"I don't want to talk about it right now okay? I need to get some things sorted out." Kagome squeezed his hand in thanks and let him lead her towards Kaede's hut, neither letting go until they arrived and stepped inside the hut. Kagome smiled and headed towards the fire to join the others but they could see from the way it didn't seem to reach her eyes that something was wrong. That and the fact that Inuyasha kept his gaze on her made Sango, Miroku and Kaede share concerned looks but they knew to leave them be. If Kagome and Inuyasha were having problems, they knew better than to interfere.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- End of Chapter 1
I hope you guys liked this, I know it was kind of a short chapter, but it's really just a prelude to the main story. I'm not much of an action writer so I won't be including too much. (Although I WILL be making an effort to include it and write as well as I can.) This is going to be more of an angst fic, and the pairing will be In/Kag, possibly Mir/San. as well. Let me know if you liked it or not, I'm new at writing Inuyasha fics so I'm sort of going to decide based on reader feedback whether or not I'll continue.
Thanks a bunch!
~ .K.C. ~
Author: KawaiiChica
E-mail: [email protected]
Rating: PG for mild violence and swearing.
Disclaimer: Ok I'll admit it, Inuyasha and Co. don't belong to me, I'm just borrowing them for the sake of this fanfic. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and other people who have money and legal terms saying they're theirs.
*sigh*
Its so depressing to admit Inuyasha's not mine *hugs plushie*
* * Sounds
" " Speaking
[ ] Thoughts
*** Flashbacks
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Twitch*
Inuyasha sighed, relieved that she'd finally returned. Kagome had been gone for a full week this time, mentioning something about some kind of 'finals' although what those were he'd never know. They'd argued and yelled and he'd ended up being 'sat' quite a few times before she escaped to her world, but finally she was back.
He was about to jump out of the tree he'd been sitting in when the sound of a small sob reached his ears. He frowned, hearing Kagome take a deep breath before throwing her backpack on and climbing up the well. She appeared at the top and shifted so the bag would fall next to the well. Climbing over the edge, she sighed and sat down, pulling her knees up to her chest and laying her head down on them, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.
[What could be her problem?] Inuyasha dropped to the ground and walked over, watching quietly for a few minutes before his patience ran out. "Took you long enough!"
To his surprise, Kagome nodded and gave a heavy sigh, wiping her eyes carefully before standing and picking up her bag. "Yeah, I guess I did take longer than usual."
Her softly spoken words made him stop and frown again, noticing the deep sadness in her voice. She kept her head down, staring at the ground before her as she walked over and towards the village.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha stopped her, grabbing her arm and turning her to face him. "What's the matter?"
"Its nothing," she shook her head, stepping back as he raised his other hand to lift her chin up.
"Don't," Inuyasha warned her when she tried to struggle. He heard her gulp before she finally raised her head, allowing her face to be seen fully. The glistening in her eyes was no surprise, he knew she'd been crying, he'd smelled her tears when she came back through the well. What shocked him was the redness of her right cheek; it looked as if someone had slapped her. Hard.
Kagome saw his eyes focus on her aching cheek and turned her face away again. "Don't ask ok?"
"What do you mean don't ask? How can't I?" Inuyasha growled, fury pounding through him at the thought of someone hitting Kagome. "Who the hell did this?"
"It doesn't matter," Kagome tried to pull away and felt her chin start to tremble when he didn't release her. "Please don't make me explain, just let me go."
Inuyasha shook his head, "Not until I get a decent answer. Who the hell did that?"
"What do you care?" Kagome snapped, yanking her arm away from him suddenly. "It doesn't matter who did it and I'm NOT going to talk about it with you or anybody, understand?!"
Never being one to accept being yelled at, Inuyasha glared, "Like HELL you won't! You're going to tell me right now what happened or else!"
"Or else?" Kagome's eye twitched, her hands fisted shut at her sides, shaking in anger.
"OR ELSE?!"
Her voice raised that time and Inuyasha gulped, realizing he'd probably gone too far that time. "Um Kagome, I meant..."
"SIIIIIT!"
Kagome watched him fall to the ground and huffed, stepping over his back and heading towards the village. Inuyasha didn't even bother cursing at her as he lay face down in the dirt. Kagome had a problem she wasn't sharing with him and it was going to drag him crazy if he didn't find out.
~~~~~~
"Kagomeee!"
A cheerful little kitsune jumped into her arms. Kagome couldn't help but smile, soothed by his sweet cheerfulness at her arrival. [Unlike at home...] She shook her head slightly to make herself snap out of her thoughts and re-join the people talking to her.
"Gomen nasai for worrying all of you, I just needed to stay home for a few extra days," she smiled and dropped her heavy bag to the floor. "I brought supplies."
"And did you..." Shippo was cut off by a squeal when a chocolate bar was thrown into his lap. "You remembered!"
"How could I forget?" Kagome smiled and turned to her friends, who were watching her carefully. "Anything the matter?"
"Ano... if I may ask, being somewhat familiar with the type of redness that is on your cheek, who dared to slap you Kagome-sama? It was not that idiot of a hanyou was it?" Miroku watched her with obvious concern in his eyes.
Kagome shook her head sadly, turning away to look through her bag again. "No, Inuyasha didn't slap me."
"WHAT?! I wouldn't slap her!" Inuyasha growled from the doorway, shooting murderous glances at the monk.
"No need to shout Inuyasha, he was just concerned," Sango glared at him and turned to help Kagome. "How was your stay Kagome-chan? Did you have a good time with your family?"
"Hai, it was fine," Kagome shrugged, not wanting to elaborate.
"What'd you do all that time?" Shippo asked, munching on the chocolate bar happily.
Kagome rolled her eyes, "I took my finals ok? That's what I went to do isn't it?"
"I guess so," Shippo stared at her wide-eyed, hurt at her annoyance with him.
"I'm really tired so I think I'll go soak in the hot spring, I'll be back in a while." Kagome grabbed the towel and pj's she'd packed and headed out to the spring, obviously wanting to be left alone.
Once there, she undressed and slipped into the warm water, her tense muscles relaxing after a harrowing week. Resting her head against a rock, she closed her eyes and thought back to all the things that had happened.
*** Flashback ***
"Don't forget to pick up the clothes from the dry-cleaners, drop off the video game and to pay that bill before picking up Souta." Her grandfather called after her.
"But grandpa! I only have half an hour between when my school gets out and his!" Kagome turned with a surprised look. "Can't we do it afterwards?"
"Souta has to be at practice twenty minutes after school ends," he reminded her, turning to go back into the shrine.
"OOH!" Kagome turned and ran to school, not looking forward to all the errands she'd be running that day. It had been surprising to come back home and find her grandfather angry with her. Its not like she hadn't WANTED to come back for Souta's birthday. She'd explained about their fight with Naraku and shown them her bandages and everything.
Souta had found the story cool and forgiven her, but her mother and grandfather had not been quite so pleased. They'd both been harder on her than ever. Her mother brought her grades to her attention, arguing that Kagome spent too much time in the Sengoku Jidai and was losing her chances of a good future. Her grandfather had scolded her for being so thoughtless as to leave her family so carelessly, without a thought to the fact that they might need her.
Kagome had tried to make them understand she was needed in the past. Without her Inuyasha wouldn't be able to find the jewel shards and complete the Shikon no Tama. They were getting closer to the end she assured them, since Kikyo had taken the shards they'd collected and given them to Naraku, that the jewel was almost complete, and she was the one who had to purify it.
They asked why she had to do it and not this Kikyo. When she explained they'd been even more adamant about her staying with them.
"She DIED because of the jewel?! What are you thinking Kagome?! How could you go back to somewhere so dangerous?" her mother yelled.
"I have to! If I don't go and help Naraku will win and ruin everything." Kagome grabbed her bag again. "Mom I promise we can go over things when I come back ok?"
"You're not going anywhere, I am having your grandfather seal up that well tonight!" her mother stood in the doorway, blocking her way out.
"You can't do that, I have to go!" Kagome paled, her mother looked absolutely serious. "You can't do this to me Mom! Please? It means so much to me to be there when they fight against Naraku!"
"Its too dangerous Kagome! I won't have you dying out there with those wild friends of yours." Her mother crossed the room and stopped in front of her, holding out her hand. "Give me the backpack."
"No," Kagome stepped back. "You can't keep me here mom! I need to go home to..."
*SLAP* Kagome stumbled back, leaning against the wall to re-gain her balance as she touched her cheek and stared wide-eyed at her furious mother. "That is not your home."
"Mom?" Souta stepped in, shocked that his mother had actually struck Kagome. The sound of his voice seemed to make her snap out of her anger and she turned away, not saying a word to any of them as she went upstairs.
Looking at her brother and grandfather out of tear-filled eyes, Kagome opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the elder. "She's right you know, that is not your home, your home is here."
His voice was uncharacteristically cold while he continued; "You seem to have forgotten young lady, that you are only a 16-year-old child. You don NOT have the power to decide what you do and where you go. If you live under this roof you must respect both your mother, and myself and running off to a place we do not approve of is not acceptable."
"But grandpa," Kagome began.
"That's enough," he turned to go upstairs. "Go to your room, I'm going to get the spells to seal the well."
"You can't," Kagome stepped away from the wall and straightened, "Grandpa you can't keep me from going, if you do..."
*SLAP*
This time Kagome stumbled in the opposite direction, hitting her hip against the kitchen counter as she fell against it. "You WILL learn respect young lady. Now get upstairs to your room."
Kagome shook her head silently, turning and running out to the well. The last thing she heard was her grandfather's angry shouts for her to return.
*** End Flashback ***
[What could have caused them to change so suddenly? Mom and Grandpa were always able to take care of both Souta and me. Now that it's just Souta I wouldn't think they'd need that much help at home. What got them so angry?]
She knew it was normal for them to worry, but something told her that the danger here in the past wasn't what had made them react the way they did. Something was wrong, something they hadn't told her, and now she couldn't go back to find out. [If I go back I probably won't be able to come here again.]
Kagome sighed and suddenly realized how cold and dark it had gotten. Turning to grab her towel, she gasped when she saw a hand holding it up to her. Inuyasha was squatting beside the hot spring, his eyes questioning as he handed her the towel.
"What are you doing here?"
"Its too cold out and Kaede got worried so I figured I'd come see if you were ok," he set the towel down and turned around, listening to her step out of the water and wrap the towel around herself. She moved over behind a large boulder after picking up her clothes and began to dress; throwing her pj's on quickly.
She stepped out and came to his side, "I'm ready."
"So what is it?" Inuyasha turned to face her, feeling something pull at him at the sight of her pained eyes. "Did you not pass those finals? Did something go wrong? Who hit you?"
"Don't worry about it Inuyasha," Kagome smiled sadly and began to walk, surprised to feel him take her hand. She looked up into his eyes and was surprised to see true concern written in them.
"What's the matter then?"
"I don't want to talk about it right now okay? I need to get some things sorted out." Kagome squeezed his hand in thanks and let him lead her towards Kaede's hut, neither letting go until they arrived and stepped inside the hut. Kagome smiled and headed towards the fire to join the others but they could see from the way it didn't seem to reach her eyes that something was wrong. That and the fact that Inuyasha kept his gaze on her made Sango, Miroku and Kaede share concerned looks but they knew to leave them be. If Kagome and Inuyasha were having problems, they knew better than to interfere.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- End of Chapter 1
I hope you guys liked this, I know it was kind of a short chapter, but it's really just a prelude to the main story. I'm not much of an action writer so I won't be including too much. (Although I WILL be making an effort to include it and write as well as I can.) This is going to be more of an angst fic, and the pairing will be In/Kag, possibly Mir/San. as well. Let me know if you liked it or not, I'm new at writing Inuyasha fics so I'm sort of going to decide based on reader feedback whether or not I'll continue.
Thanks a bunch!
~ .K.C. ~