August

Disclaimer: Same as Chapter 1. In Ayame's POV



Chapter 7. - Long Lost Friends, Unexpected Heroes





I couldn't feel anything around me, it was as if I was floating and I couldn’t even feel the soft caress of the clouds in the sky around me. My body was numb, and I didn’t even have the strength to open my eyelids. It was a struggle to breathe and it was my only sign of life… the one thing I could feel was pain. Pain meant that I was not dead. Lucky me I suppose. My energy started returning to me slowly, and my body stopped feeling numb. Instead it just felt tingly, like ants crawling up and down my skin. I had to fight the random shivers that ran through my body from that feeling.



I could feel my eyes opening, and slowly I was able to sit up with the support of my arms on either side of me. I swallowed a lump in my throat when I saw that I was still outside, but now it was dark outside. My first thought was to run… but where to? A strong hand fell onto my shoulder and I let out a terrified scream, whipping around and letting one of my arms go with the momentum. However, I didn’t strike anyone, or anything for that matter. Horrified, I glanced around me and I couldn’t help but jump when I found that Kouga was right behind me.



"Kou…" I started, but he stopped me from finishing his name with a simple press of his finger to my lips. I was trembling with fear. I was pissed at him for scaring me like that, but he had saved me. With all my strength I pushed forward and flung my arms around him. He caught me with ease and just continued to smile down at me. Damn him for being so handsome.



I didn’t recognize the noise at first until I felt the sting of tears running down my cheeks. I was crying. Normally, I don’t let anyone see me cry. It’s a defense mechanism I had trained myself with ever since my parents had died when I was a little girl. But for some reason, here with Kouga, everything seemed fine. Just from the look he was giving me, he didn’t care if I was crying and ruining his nice shirt with my tears and snot. That thought alone just made the tears fall harder from my eyes. I was sobbing, hiccuping, and blubbering. My body was shaking violently from the tears and Kouga was my fortress, holding me strong, not letting me fall. He really is my Prince Charming.



I looked up into his electric light blue; eyes wanting to ask him why he was doing this for me… what made him go out of his way to protect me. The look that he returned to me said it all. In just these few days that transpired… I honestly think I saw love in his eyes.



I couldn’t help but close my eyes, to help take this all in and digest it in my mind. My more logical side told me to wake up, that I was dreaming… there was no way that in just a few days that Kouga Ookami would fall in love with me. On the other hand, my heart… the side I tended to follow more often than not told me that it could happen. That after such a traumatic event, and he had to save me, that he would love me, protect me, and cherish me forever more.



I gasped in surprise when I felt his lips press onto mine, and it was soft, sweet, and being this close to him… I could smell his cologne. Japanese cherry blossoms… with a hint of a masculine musk. Damn it was sexy, and it only made me melt more into his embrace. I felt something-wet slide across my bottom lip, and I was being lowered down towards the dirt and gravel of the street. He wanted to make out on the road behind the school? What the? But I couldn’t protest or complain, just feeling his lips and tongue against mine was enough to put my brain into over load. I had never expected anything like this out of my wildest fantasies.



When my jade eyes opened once again, I was bewildered to discover that both Kouga’s clothing and mine had been discarded. Okay, making out is one thing… but fucking behind the theatre and in the middle of the road. That was a little much. I wasn’t sure if I was ready, or if this is what I really wanted from him… at least not yet. He was so eager, so prepared… and he knew exactly where to touch me. It slowly made my nerves melt away. His lips had left mine, an were now leading a trail down my neck, to my collarbone, and stopping at my right nipple. I squeaked when he bit down lightly and started suckling. I felt a wet heat start to build up between my legs, and I was sure that he was trying to do this to me… to make me more ready for him when it came down to penetration.



Penetration. That, one word filled my mind and repeated itself over and over. Kouga was going to be my first. Kouga was going to take my virginity. Right here, in the street. It seemed so wrong, but at the same time I couldn’t muster up the courage to make him stop so we could move to a more secluded area.



A gasp passed between my lips and my eyes shot open when I felt something solid inch it’s way between my legs and into my most intimate of places. My head shot up, and Kouga moved back enough not to get hit by me. He merely grinned at me, and I looked between his eyes and his hand. He had slipped two fingers inside me, and started working his way around with a scissoring motion.



"I don’t want to hurt you," he whispered huskily in my ear. I could only nod in silence, not trusting my voice.



Soon, the pleasure from it all got to my head, and I was laying back onto the ground without a care in the world, all except the man in front of me. I moaned softly, letting Kouga know that I was enjoying his handy work. My back arched when his fingers brushed what I could only guess was my G-spot, and a silent scream escaped from my mouth. My legs were suddenly spread wide of their own accord, and I was rotating my hips in anticipation. I wanted him… and I wanted him now. No more waiting, least I regret it later.



Kouga was sharp, taking my writhing around as a clue that I was ready for him because he moved himself between my legs and withdrew his fingers from inside me. I groaned, reaching my hands out to touch him, begging him silently for more. I needed him. His smile never changed and he leaned forward. I felt something thick and hard press against my entrance, and I felt the need to scream but there was no penetration. Frantically, I looked up and Kouga was gone. I was still naked and Kouga was gone.



I felt a hand on my shoulder, and as I turned with a smile thinking that Kouga had played a dirty trick on me. The eyes I stared into were not the welcoming and gorgeous blue ones that I had been expecting. It was Kenji who was holding me, and he pushed me down. Instinct took over and I knew I had to fight. I threw a punch and I knew it would be a dead ringer, but my fist passed right through Kenji’s body. And just as suddenly as he appeared he disappeared, and it was Mitsuko who was now in front of me, grabbing at my ankles. I kicked my legs out, trying to strike him, but just like Kenji, Mitsuko disappeared after my attempt to hit him. Hari appeared behind me, his hands groping up my bare chest, and with a grunt I threw myself backwards, hoping to head-butt him in the face or the solarplexes. Unfortunately for me, I went through him and hit the ground.



Scared out of my mind, I scrambled to my feet; naked as the day I was born. My green eyes darted about and I couldn’t make out anything in the darkness of night. I saw a flash of eyes, and I backed up against a splintery wooden fence. I was trapped again. The glowing eyes started appearing from every corner of the darkness, surrounding me. Something brushed against my arm and I jumped. Then something slipped in front of my eyes and wrapped around my mouth. I couldn’t see, and all I could do was scream.



The echoes of my screams crashed around me as I sat straight up, panicking and hyperventilating. I jumped when I felt someone touch me, only to find that it was not who I was expecting.



"InuYasha?" I asked, my voice quivering in fear. What was he doing here?



My eyes darted around the room. I was in the nurse’s office at school, and judging from the light that was coming through the windows it was still sunny outside. Had I been dreaming?



"You had me really worried Ayame Niji," I turned my head to hear InuYasha bark right next to me. I blinked at him in confusion. What was he talking about?



"Where is Kouga?" I asked.



"Who?" InuYasha snapped.



I sighed, "Kouga?"



"Her boyfriend," another voice chimed in. I relaxed when I saw Kagome poke her head around the curtain.



"Oh," InuYasha huffed. "Isn’t that the same guy you told me was trying to get with you?" he asked Kagome. She frowned and smacked him in the back of the head.



A small smile crept over my lips at their antics, who would have thought they would be so adorable?



"It’s okay Kagome…" I said while attempting to wave it off, but found that moving really hurt.

"Don’t move Ayame," InuYasha demanded.



"The nurse said that you have bruised ribs and that you should rest," Kagome added.



"Bruised ribs?" I asked. What the fuck? None are broken? I would hate to feel what it would be like to have broken ribs if mine are only bruised and I’m in this much pain.



"You’re lucky they aren’t broken," InuYasha stated as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He had a smug look on his face, and I raised an eyebrow at his new attitude. He saw the look on my face and smirked, "If it weren’t for me, that asshole would have broken you and then raped you."



The shock must have been written all over my face, because InuYasha frowned.



"You mean, Kouga wasn’t the one who helped me?" I asked.



"No," InuYasha snapped. "Your boyfriend probably doesn’t even know what the hell happened to you. Ouch!" he shouted when Kagome hit him in the head again.



"What the hell Kagome?"



"You can be such a jerk sometimes InuYasha," Kagome chastised him, then turned to look at me. "We were worried about you when we didn’t see you at lunch. Kouga had come over to Sango and myself asking where you were, and when we told him we hadn’t seen you… he looked worried. So the three of us split up to look for you. On my way through a courtyard, InuYasha joined me and he and I searched for you together. We found you behind the theatre just in time before that one guy hit you in the face."



I nodded slowly, taking in what Kagome had told me. I looked back to her and couldn’t help but hold back the tears. I hated feeling so helpless. "Does Kouga know I’m here?"



Kagome shook her head, "Only, the nurse, InuYasha, myself, and some teachers know you are here. While InuYasha wailed your attackers I went and grabbed the closest teacher that I could find. Don’t be surprised if the police show up and ask you questions."



I swallowed a nervous lump in my throat, "The police?"



Kagome nodded, "Those three deserve to be behind bars for attacking you like that."



I suddenly felt colder, and the thin sheet of the nurse’s cot wasn’t keeping me warm. I took in a deep breath and averted my gaze from Kagome and InuYasha. I needed to gather my thoughts.



I licked my lips and rubbed them together. I could taste dirt. Wonderful.



Kagome turned around and walked towards a sink on the other side of the room. I only knew there was a sink there because I could hear it. There was a large light blue curtain that separated the two cots in the room so that patients could have privacy if they wanted it. Kagome returned with a bowl of warm water and a wash cloth. She touched InuYasha’s shoulder and her boyfriend rose from his chair.



"Take a sponge bath Ayame," Kagome instructed me, "We will step outside for a few minutes so you can do so. I hope you don’t mind, but the nurse and I took you out of your dress and put you in the hospital like garb since your clothes were filthy and the nurse had to put bandages on you."



I nodded, "It’s okay… is my dress ruined?"



Kagome shook her head, "No, it was just dirty. I put it in the wash room in the gym. InuYasha and I can go check on it while you wash up."



I smiled weakly, "Thanks Kagome."



"Anything to help my friends," she smiled back at me, but hers was much more vibrant.



"I’m gonna stay here," InuYasha sighed. Kagome and I just stared at him. He shook his hands in front of him, "Not in here!" he exclaimed. "I’m gonna stand outside the door to make sure no assholes come in while she’s washing. Besides, I can’t go to the girl’s locker room to check on laundry. I didn’t even know you had laundry facilities in your locker room."



Kagome laughed and pulled InuYasha outside the office door to give me privacy, explaining to InuYasha that the laundry room was added to the girl’s locker room after a huge student petition had been turned in and some fund raisers were held two years prior.



I thought everyone knew that too.



My eyes moved to the bowl of water. Its steam was dwindling down, which meant it was cooling. I dipped the rag into the water and let it sit while I took off the odd cloth bag that the nurse considered a nightgown. I was nude all except for my panties and bandages. It hurt to move my arms so I had to go slowly to bring the towel to my face. I started feeling just a tiny bit better after washing up, but the large contrast of bandage to skin bothered me. I bit my bottom lip and slowly started pulling one of the top pieces of tape from my skin. I hissed in pain, and once enough of the bandage was pulled up, I gasped at the color. It was red around the edges, and slowly turning purple. I felt my bottom lip quivering but I fought the tears away and placed the bandage back over my injury.



I sat back down on my cot and pulled my garb back over my shoulders. I let my hand play with the end of one of my braids, slowly starting to undo it. My mind started wandering. Kouga hadn’t been the one who saved me? I can’t always expect a perfect ending could I? No, life didn’t work that way.



But why InuYasha? We had been friends a long time ago… and as the years passed by, we grew more and more different. In elementary school, we had been inseparable. We played together, worked on school projects together; many things that children enjoy when they are young, InuYasha and I had shared. But once we hit the sixth grade we went to different middle schools due to some school district rezoning act. For three crucial years where our friendship could have blossomed into many different things, it fell through the cracks. He would never return my phone calls. And one day I just stopped calling because his brother had answered the phone and told me that InuYasha didn’t even remember who I was… and I should never call them again. I still have never forgiven Sesshoumaru for that.



Now we are three years into high school and even now we were nothing but acquaintances. Nothing of the good old days where we were hip to hip. It was all gone. And he is dating one of my best friends, and it’s like I don’t know him anymore. If things would have been different, and he and I remained close friends, I have no doubt in my mind that he and I would be in some sort of relationship today. Then he would never have gotten into that Kikyou relationship and Kagome would possibly be with Kouga. I wasn’t sure what I found to be the lesser of two evils?



And suddenly out of the blue InuYasha comes to my rescue? Facts, it was only the facts. Still… some of it still bothered me. I remember him fighting so ferociously and violently just to get those bastards to the ground. He was a flurry of punches and kicks, just knocking them out. For me? Hardly… Kagome more than likely pushed him to save me.



I started when there was a knock on my door. I turned the best I could and spoke as loud as I as able, "Come in."



InuYasha poked his head around the door; "Just making sure you didn’t drown in the bowl."



I frowned at him.



"What I was joking?"



"Nothing," I sighed.



"You gonna live?" he asked, coming in and shutting the door behind him.



I nodded, not looking into his hazel brown eyes.



He walked back over to the chair he had been sitting in before and reclaimed his seat, this time he straddled the chair and sat on it backwards. He folded his arms over the back of the chair and rested his chin in the cradle of his arms.



"Why aren’t we friends anymore?" I found myself asking out loud. I really need to see a therapist or something about letting my mouth jump in front of my brain.



I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was taken aback by the question.



"We are still friends," he finally answered.



Liar. I know him well enough to sense when he feels he is in between a rock and a hard place. And one of those places is talking straight up to a girl. "Then why don’t you ever talk to me anymore? It feels like you avoid me…"

"Nine times out of ten, I’m busy," he responded.



"Lame excuse."



"What?!" he exclaimed.



"I said, lame excuse," I repeated.



"It is not!" he snapped, "It’s the truth."



"Just because it’s truth doesn’t make it any less lame, InuYasha," I sighed, which I discovered hurt… a lot.



He humphed and turned his gaze from me.



"We used to be so close," I started… smiling softly.



"We were kids," he replied, and I could see him rolling his eyes.



"So what?!" It was my turn to exclaim.



He was silent and just stared at me.



"You were the one friend I held dear to me InuYasha," I confessed. Some part of me didn’t want this part of myself to go… but the rest of me told me that it was for the best. "And I really could have used that friendship when my parent’s died when I was thirteen. I needed a true friend, and the only one I had never returned my phone calls. I felt abandoned by everyone."



"You still pulled through didn’t you?" he asked, his voice less sharp. "You didn’t really need me."



"And what if you weren’t there for me today?" I asked. "I could have been raped or worse… killed."



"No," he growled out, "I would never let that happen."



"So we are still friends?" I asked. Was that a stupid question?



"Don’t be an idiot!" he said, as he got to his feet. "I have never stopped being your friend. People grow up and change, me and you included. I didn’t know how to approach you at all… I thought you wanted nothing to do with me."



"I would never," I whispered. For the umpteenth time today I tried fighting back tears.



"Well I didn’t know!" he shrugged.



"I’m sorry," I said, my bottom lip quivering.



"Don’t be," InuYasha said, "you did nothing wrong. If anyone needs to apologize, it’s the assholes who did this to you."



"Fat chance of that happening," I forced a smile.



"Yeah well, fuck them," InuYasha grinned. "You are a strong girl Ayame. I can tell you right now, that not many other girls would have had the strength that you did."



"What are you talking about?" I asked in disbelief.



"If that had happened to any other girl, then her pants would have been around her ankles and she would be crying in a mess of herself. You fought back!" he answered.



"It wasn’t all that impressive," I shrugged. Reminder to self, shrugging hurts more than sighing.



"Point is you got the job done," He said.



"I guess," I said.



There was a knock on the door and InuYasha and I both told the person to come in. I smiled gently when I saw it was Kagome, my clean clothes in her hands. And I felt a blush come over my face when my eyes landed on the man behind her.



Kagome moved to hold the door open and Kouga rushed in passed her. He sat right next to me on the bed and went to wrap his arms around me. I flinched and Kagome spoke before he could touch me, "Careful Kouga! She is pretty banged up."



He was inches from wrapping me in tight hug, and our faces were so close. I could see the pain in his eyes. He was hurting inside. I could tell that Kagome had probably found him on her way back and filled him in on what had happened. Still, I smiled at Kouga and leaned in ever so slightly, closing the space between us. I had the overwhelming urge to feel his lips pressed against mine. So I kissed him. It was chaste, but still passionate. His hands moved to cup either side of my face as we both inhaled through our noses and melted into each other as we exhaled into the kiss.



I heard InuYasha make a disgusted noise from behind Kouga, and whisper to Kagome, "So this is the guy huh?" InuYasha was always horrible at whispering. Kagome smacked him, and both Kouga and I broke our kiss when the echo of the slap filled the tiny medical office.



"Be nice," Kagome snapped.



"Ouch," InuYasha grumbled.



"Yeah, be nice," I said copying Kagome’s words and waggling a finger at InuYasha. He immediately scowled and stuck his tongue out at me.



Kouga raised an eyebrow and looked up to Kagome, "This your boyfriend?"



Kagome nodded, "Unfortunately the only thing he has to learn is manners."



Kouga smirked, "Your loss Kags."



I narrowed my eyes at that statement. It didn’t take me long to figure it out either. Kouga had been head over heals for Kagome for the past three years and had been actively pursuing her for that amount of time as well. What he meant was that in the end it was Kagome’s loss because she could have been with him over InuYasha.

I wasn’t in the mood, or the condition to argue with him about the agreement that he and I had made. I did tell him that I would be patient with him, because dropping your affection for someone couldn’t happen over night. But honestly, after what I had been through, I didn’t find Kouga’s words appropriate for the situation.



Kagome caught on too and frowned at Kouga, pointing towards me. Kouga turned his gaze towards me and jumped slightly. Great, after such a wonderful kiss he forgets I am in the same room with him. All because of Kagome. Arrg! Gods… will I ever let this go?



He reached one of his hands behind his head and scratched the back of his neck nervously.



"Good job, wolf boy… you just succeeded in making your girlfriend feel worse than she did five minutes ago," InuYasha snorted.



"Fuck off, dog shit," Kouga retorted.



"That’s no way to talk to the guy that saved your girlfriend from being raped or killed is it?" InuYasha snapped back.



Kouga growled deep in his throat, "Shut up, or else."



"Or else what?"



"I’ll knock you out into next fucking week!"



"I dare you to try Ookami!"



"Be a man and step up then!"



"STOP IT!!" I screamed, and when my ears finished ringing from the sound of my own voice I pointed towards the door. "Just get out of my room! Everyone!"



Kagome nodded and set my dress on the tray table that was next to my bed. She gave me a sad smile and waved as she went over to the door to hold it open.



InuYasha humphed and with his arms crossed over his chest, stormed out of the room, his long black curtain of hair – which I had mistaken for Kouga’s – swaying behind him. Kouga looked at me with those handsome electric baby blues, and it was hard to resist him… but I give myself super brownie points for doing it anyway.



"You too, Kouga. I’m not happy with you right now," I stated firmly.



He sighed, looking defeated. But he rose to his feet and walked out the door. Kagome closed it behind them. "Get some rest Ayame," she said as she waved good bye.



"I’ll try," I mumbled to myself as I settled into the uncomfortable cot and covered myself with the paper-thin sheet. Rest was the least I could do for my body after the hazing it went through. I deserved it.