Lavender Kisses

♥

The house was dark…empty. Several shutters swung perilously on the second story as a bitter autumn wind pushed on the white structure. The entire foundation tilted, seemed to crumble, and then claw its way upright again with a chorus of creaks and moans. A yellow “For Sale” sign had been overturned and left in the front yard where no one could see it if they happened to drive by. But this wasn’t important. People lived here now.

Kagome paused in front of the picket fence, the broken planks grinning at her like the teeth of a monster. The ever-reclusive moon managed to peek out at her as the overhead clouds shifted, playing silver light through the sad girl’s face. Her expression was much different than it had been at school. It was taunt…dismayed almost. She didn’t like this “new” house. She didn’t want to be here! But when her Grandfather had passed away, her entire family was thrown into an awesome debt, and her Mother had been forced into remarrying just to feed them all. It had been Kagome’s dream come true when she could quit her two part-time jobs and rejoin her friends in high school. But this dream soon turned into a nightmare. A nightmare she had yet to wake up from.

Kagome’s Mother had always been polite and quiet, and she certainly had a quaint prettiness to her. But after three months of being a wife, Kagome noticed those qualities begin to grow faint. The prim haircut (which was renewed about every 3-4 weeks) was messy and the color had dulled, while she often wore the same outfit for days at a time. The most obvious thing that changed was the fact that her motherly attitude had been unpracticed for quite some time now. Lately it had been normal routine for her to come home only late at night. Sometimes she wouldn’t come home at all. This move had been the largest change for the family, and Kagome was left shaken and uncertain of this house’s future. Kagome couldn’t place blame for whatever was causing her Mother such disruption. At least…at first she couldn’t.

During the first month, when her Mother started ebbing, Kagome figured it was the stress of her new life. She liked this new man in their life. Tyler was as considerate as he was gentle, and he was guilty of slipping Kagome and her brother an extra $10 bill so they could sneak out after dinner and buy ice cream. But in the second month, Kagome began doubting that Tyler had such marvelous intentions for them all. She witnessed this fully when she decided to send her brother out for ice cream by herself and stay home to wait for her parents to come home. She was lonely…

The familiar halls were lit well and scented faintly with the candles that her Mother had purchased for her the week before. It had been a rare occasion lately for her Mother to randomly take her out for a shopping date, but it wasn’t an awkward moment when they entered the mall. Her only purchase had been a pair of diamond earrings, and then the set of candles that had the scent “lavender” on their tags. Kagome was nestled in her throw pillows in the living room, where the clicked through the noisy channels of the television and finally settled on the news network, where a quiet classical was playing.

The sound of her parents pulling in the drive made her sit up in excitement and set down her glass of iced tea that she’d been sipping on for the past half-hour. She wasn’t worried about her Brother being out at the ice cream parlor for so long. After all, she had given him her money as well, so he was probably knee deep in a chocolate volcano by now. Her mouth twisted in a small grin of amusement when she imagined him coming home with a serious collection of cocoa on his chin and how he’d complain from a hang over cause by all the sugar he consumed. Her expression was erased when she heard a commotion outside the door on the patio.

Tyler burst in first, tossing his coat in the hallway. He was in mid sentence, spouting a rude name at her Mother, who stumbled in sheepishly behind him. The waft of alcohol overpowered her lavender candles, and she covered her nose and mouth with one hand, staring at the two with a mild dose of confusion. Tyler then turned on one foot and brought his hand smartly across her Mother mouth, making her fall back against the now closed doors. “ Whore!” He yelled at her, spittle flecking off his swollen lips. Her eyes rolled wildly, and she hit him back with her fist, turning his face a unique purple. The episode caught Kagome by surprise, and unable to suppress her fear, she suddenly let a scream bubble from her throat.

Tyler focused then on her, as though he hadn’t realized she was there yet. “ Well well well! If it isn’t Mommy’s little girl!” He sauntered toward her, waving his hands as though she couldn’t have already spotted him by now. His palms were dirty and lined with something dark…was it blood? She didn’t want to have any part of this! Whimpering in the back of her throat, she tried to scramble away from his groping fingers, but the throw pillows plotted against her and made her tumble gracelessly to the floor. The wool blanket that had been used to warm her legs tangling around her feet so she had no chance to run, and she screamed again, clawing at Tyler’s face as his hands wrapped around her waist. He plucked her up from the ground as though she were merely a small dog, and then he shook her back and forth until her head rattled and lolled from side to side.

The room was spinning…tossing out of reach. Kagome managed to lift her head, gazing listlessly at her Mother across the room, who was staring at them with a small expression of terror. “ Mom?” She croaked as Tyler hugged her against his chest. His hands were roaming near her breasts, and she started to cry, as she felt as though she was going to be raped. However, her Mother shook her head to gather her bearings and suddenly launched at the pair, her hands both landing on Tyler’reherehead. He fell backward with a roar that was more animal than human, and Kagome was dropped, forgotten on the carpet.

Her eyes, still tearful, refocused on the shag rug as the silhouette of her Mother and stepfather danced on the far wall. She noticed it was cream…she had never taken the time to notice it until now. Time was sluggish, twisting and turning in her head until she felt the need to scream again, but when she looked up and saw her Mother sprawled helplessly on the staircase while Tyler brought his arm down on her again and again, her breath caught in her throat. This wasn’t happening! This wasn’t Tyler! His face was contorted and his chin dribbled with blood and saliva, and her Mother’s submissive cries stung her ears until she covered them with both hands. She tried to stand, but when her feet failed to find secure ground she returned to all fours and began crawling away, dragging everything off the coffee table as she slung her arms across it trying to move. The glass of iced tea shattered, cutting into her knees, and she winced as she realized she was pinned there.

Finally Tyler seemed to grow tired of her Mother, and he stood, shaking his head and shoulders like a disgruntled bull. He threw once last glare at her, then lost interest in everything and slumped upstairs. Kagome was stunned, still sitting in her little bed of glass, while her Mother sat up and sobbed into her arms. It was only the beginning…

Kagome quickly reached up to wipe away the tears that came from the memory. Reflexively, as always with this snatch of time, she fluttered her hands to her hips where she had been handled, the sensation making her stomach crawl uneasily. His hands had left glove-like bruises that reminded her for weeks what had happened. Her Brother had never been introduced to what happened that night, but he knew it was something terrible by the quiet of the household when he returned an hour or so later. Typical to his behavior, he inquired Kagome of the situation, but when she burst into tears and ran into the bathroom, he didn’t ask anything further. He didn’t like causing her so much discomfort. However, he did remain on constant alert if Tyler entered the room, as he guessed only he could have cause such hurt in Kagome’s face.

She eyed the house wearily and then stepped reluctantly into the front yard, gingerly avoiding the scattered nails that had been cast away once the shuttered were pried from the windows. Her shoes shined up at her, casting a soft hint of comfort at the reassurance that she’d be back in school tomorrow where Tyler ceased to exist. This invoked thoughts of that boy…that Inuyasha. She felt a smile creep on her face at how awkward and clumsy he became when she was around. It was flattering that he’d even bother to speak to her after all he’d suffered in her presence. She didn’t patronize him for his tongue-tied mishaps. She thought he was cute.

She was still thinking of him when she stepped into her new room, sighing as a cockroach or two scattered from the flood of light as she flipped on the switch. Her Brother was at a friend’s house again…but this wasn’t a bad thing. She felt much more at ease when she knew Tyler could get his dirty hands on her little Brother. She’d do anything to protect him.

This house wasn’t even supposed to exist in her life! It had been a constant opinion whether or not Kagome’s Mother could afford the shrine after the passing of their Grandfather, but when Tyler came it seemed to be more in favor that they were indeed assured their home. However, when the second month of marriage became a noticeable problem, the funds ran faster than the cockroaches in her room and the shrine was ripped away from their custody. So they had downsized to this shabby place…where Kagome was new and very much alone.

She gazed unhappily out the window as she pulled her childhood chair to it, steadying a large sketchbook in her lap while gripping charcoal pencils in the other. Sketching had been her favorite past time as a child, and in these latest events, she had sparked her creative nerve once more, and even though her canvases were dark and very gothic in theme, they contained high skill. The moment she grew settled, she took one of the thinner pencils and began curving the side of a face, in which she used the medium width next and formed a fine wisp of hair. Her work was feverish…she hardly noticed it. She never thought of a detail she completed before she moved on to thinking of the next, and her pencil fed the paper like a hungry beast, moving from place to place without stopping to first look where it was going. Trail and trail she lead with the black tip, until at last, breathing heavily, she poised the dull end at her autograph and studied her work.

Inuyasha gazed up at her with a sultry grin, making her fall backward out of her chair. As she fell, her pencils rolled under her dresser, and she stared after them seriously, afraid to reach under the object. She didn’t want to touch a roach. Giving up on them since her telekinesis obviously didn’t work, she scooted to the overturned sketchpad and took it in both hands, running her eyes up and down the length of the portrait. She wasn’t aware she had even partly memorized his face…but here it was. She even had the faint incline of his eyes that made him almost appear to be of another world. She shuddered looking at it, putting on hand on the side of his cheek before she closed her eyes.

The sound of the front door slamming made her wince as he jarred her from her daydream. Tyler and her Mother were screaming back and forth, and sound carrying up to her room and fluttering through the door which she painstakingly barricaded with blankets and towels. If her Mother got anything out of this entire ordeal, it was how to speak. And she spoke louder than Tyler did most of the time. Kagome sighed heavily, slumped over to her bed, and landed face first in her pillows. She’d clean up her room tomorrow before school. School…she only had to listen to this until it was time to go to school.

[Writer] Wow! I didn't mean to go so long without writing X_x I was going to spend the entire spring break working on this, but we're vamping my attic (A good 2,000 sq. ft.) so I can move up there. It needs rewiring, insulation, sheet rocking...the works. So I'm gonna be pretty busy! Also, end of the (school) year projects are at hand. However, I will still try to find time.

And oh! Dun worry about insulting me on making comments about how I should improve my story ^_^ The suggestion of a disclaimer was very helpful -bows- Thanks a ton! [End Writerû