Chapter 14 - The Reveal

"Secrecy has it's place. But that place can never be within a family.

Everyone has access to that damn rug we brush our secrets under."

-Annice Johnson

They had settled in the only room that could comfortably seat them all- the dining room. It all felt rather formal to Kagome, as if she was taking the stand in front of a judge and jury.

"Kagome, everything is all right. Don't be tense." Inuyasha whispered and gently kissed her cheek before sitting next to her. "Just start where you're comfortable." He smiled slightly, and Kagome could see how hard it was to not ask questions, to not demand answers.

She decided that if these people, who were willing to let her into their family, to bring the danger that had been chasing her for years now, they needed to fully know the truth. Everything. They needed to know before Inuyasha and her told them they had acknowledged that they were each others Chosen. That why they could decide if it really would be smart to let her join their family. The fear, the deep gripping fear, that they would decide against her, terrified her. But she pushed it away. She had made her decision. She would stick to it.

"Kagome, nothing you say could ever change the way we feel about you." Inutashio said softly, hurting for the dark look that had came into her eyes, that look that they had almost erased. "I didn't want you to have to go through this while you were still healing, but we need to know this information. To help protect you and us."

Kagome nodded and took a breath. "I had been in the forest, the one that surrounded the Shrine. I don't usually go there to sleep because I figured that…that Naruku would look there first for me." A dark look came into her eyes, as if the memory was so horrible that the terror of it still made her tremble. Which it did. "He found me." The words came out hoarse.

Everyone in the room tensed and the three people able, growled low, a very dangerous sound. A feral glint in his eye, Inuyasha belied the fury rolling through his body by gently cradling Kagome's hand. "Did he hurt you?" He needed to know the answer and yet he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear it.

Kagome debated with giving him the condensed, kiddy version. But he gently shook his head and cupped her chin so that she was forced to look into his eyes. "Did he hurt you?" She was forced to tell him the truth, compelled by the boiling anger and deep hurt in his gold eyes. Softly, she said, "Yes."

He dropped his hand from her face, and curled it into a fist. Almost immediately, it was back, gently swiping her hair out of her eyes, and kissing her softly on the lips. A kiss of comfort. It was amazing how he made her forget that there was anybody else in the room. "Can you tell me about it.?"

There was restrained rage in his voice, in his eyes, and she smiled softly to comfort him. "He's a demon. Or a hanyou." She continued to talk over their surprised gasps, and shocked stares. "I was never certain which. I could fight him off, but he got me. I think he cracked three ribs. He…enjoys kicking." She winced when Inuyasha's grip tightened and smiled at his silent apology when he let go. "I got away. I healed myself halfway, and fled to downtown."

"You were already hurt when you healed me." It was a statement but Kagome nodded at Sessomaru anyway. "Why only heal yourself halfway? Why not completely? I do not understand." And it bugged the hell out of him, Kagome could tell.

"I've learned…that it was better to, to just heal myself…enough that I could bare it…so that I could heal myself again without passing out, if I needed to." Kagome looked up at the expectant, but confused faces and knew that she was going to have to explain more. "Naraku liked to hurt me. A lot. And after I learned to start healing myself, he started to beat me more. So I healed myself more. But I would pass out from the exhaustion. It takes…a lot from me. Healing. And I didn't, I…" Kagome could feel herself start to get teary eyed, and she pushed that, along with the deep embarrassment out of her mind. Determined to keep herself in control, she forced the words out evenly and in a complete sentence. "I'd rather be conscious and taking the beating than unconscious and not knowing what he is doing."

No one said anything, but Kagome could feel how tense everyone was. She was sorry for that but decided to go on before she lost her nerve. "I had been just wandering around in the city, looking for a safe place to hide and sleep. I'm used to it. Sometimes I couldn't find anyplace so I would just keep walking, around and around, all over the place, until the sun came up."

She looked over at Sessomaru, and tried to smile. "I had been walking when I heard someone curse. He had a gun when I saw him step outside of the alley. He was sweating, and asking why the other man brought a sword." She winced when Rin paled and gripped Sessomaru all the harder. "He puked in the street, when the other man, uh, when he…When you lost your arm." She was trying to find a way to say it without traumatizing the entire family. "The man came out with his sword and a black bag. He said that he got it and he was ready to go. He was very pretty." She smiled when Inuyasha sighed, and muttered something about her 'giving him a complex' about complimenting other men. "It wasn't a nice pretty. It was…scary. Like a beautiful cat that entices you closer before it kills you."

She thought about that analogy and thought that it fit pretty well. "They both got in the car and left. I waited a few seconds to make sure they didn't come back, then I went to see what they had done. That was when I found Sessomaru. You know the rest." She found that telling them the truth hadn't been as hard as she had thought.

"When you healed me," Sessomaru said slowly, as if he was trying to remember back to that night. "It seemed as if you were hurting. Was that your injuries or me?"

Kagome looked away and sighed. "It was my injuries but also…healing isn't an exact art. Every miko that has done it, has done it differently. And because of that, it always effects the miko differently. I hate the thought of inflicting pain. In all other accounts that my mother taught me, it had always hurt." She wondered if anyone noticed the slight hesitation before she said 'mother. She bet they did. "It still hurts, just not the one that I'm healing." She let everyone absorb that before she continued. "Someone must hurt. The ones that I've helped were in enough pain, without me adding more. Besides, I have a very high tolerance for pain."

"Do you think that makes it better?" The hoarse reply came from Rin, her eyes wide, horror filling them. "Don't get me wrong, I'm am completely grateful for what you did. But the way you speak of it…as if you being in pain is any better than Sessomaru."

Kagome frowned, her head slightly tilted. "For years, pain…has been a part of my life. I can cut myself and not feel it. I can handle pain, but what I can't handle is inflicting it. I remember the hopelessness, the fear, the anger, the knowledge that no matter what I do, I can never make him stop. I won't do that to someone else." These were the strongest words she had spoken yet.

"How did you come to be at the same school as us?" Miroku asked politely, Partly because he was simply curious but also to defuse the tension that seemed to crowd the room at her admission. He wondered if she even realized how loved she already was.

Kagome smiled. "I was given a scholarship when I first came back from America. It was a temporary one, for just one year. But I was able to gain the grades that let it continue for the next year." School had been the one place were she was safe. No one noticed her, so no one could hurt her. Physically, that is. She didn't have to worry about Naraku. She could pretend that she was just a normal teenage outcast. It was nice.

Sango was surprised at the admission. Usually when someone was hurt they wanted to be hurt. But as much as she felt for what Kagome had gone through, she couldn't help but see one big hole in her story so far. "How were you able to continue school, if you are running from Naraku? I assume that is who you are running from." Sango caught the look that Inuyasha threw her. Maybe he thought she was being too rough on her.

Kagome smiled. "When I first ran away, I had ran all night. He had almost caught me a few times. When morning came, I didn't know where to go, I was just walking. And I ended up in front of the school. I was probably suffering from shock. I went inside and to class. He never showed up. I was still bleeding from the night before and I figured if he showed up I'd tell, show everyone what he did. But he never did. I think that if he ever reported me missing or as a runaway, too much interest would be taken into his personal life. So he let me be until I was alone and he could get me without anyone knowing. It was the only thing I could think of." Kagome looked over at Inuyasha and smiled, tried to show him that she made it okay. But his eyes were hurting and though his hand was so very gentle as it held her hand, she could see him being eaten with guilt. "You have nothing to feel guilty about, you know. Everyone has to go through bad times in their lives. And I'm kinda hoping that mine are over." She said the end softly, and dropped her eyes to his hand holding hers. She was actually praying very hard that the shitty part of her life that she was getting way too used to was over. And the part of her life that involved him was just starting.

The silence that invaded that room was very thick. Inuyasha was having trouble finding his words around a damn stupid knot that was lodged in his throat. But his father spoke for him. "Kagome, I received an acknowledgement from the government about your adoption into the pack. We will be able to welcome you into the family very soon as one of our own. Though you already are."

"Actually, Kagome is my Chosen, and now my intended. When she is added to the pack it will be as my mate." Inuyasha spoke clearly, proudly, and when Kagome looked up at him panicked at his impromptu announcement, he smiled over the shouts of joy from his family. "Don't be afraid, my mate. This is a good thing…for everyone." And when he kissed her, in front of his family, claiming her as his and she him as hers, she believed him.

TBC

Hello! Here is the next chapter. In the next, the reason of how and who Naraku is will be revealed. And also how he erased Kagome and Souta from the records.

Also, I was given advice to shorten my chapters. Easier to read. So, I am giving it a try.