I know! I know! I'm so sorry you all. You don't have to throw things at me or send me anymore 'WHY ARENT YOU UPDATING?!11!?" messages.

I'll be honest - for a while I lost all motivation to write. Then as soon as it came back I got hit with a giant shit storm of things happening. I moved, my Nana recently passed away (Who i've lived with my whole life and was very, very close to. It hurts to even think about), I lost my job , I'm in a legal battle and just a whole bunch of bullshit. I quickly wrote this chapter because I don't want to leave ya'll waiting anymore. If there are errors please let me know so I can correct them.

Drama is beginning now~! You'll get a look into how bad things really are for Kagome. Not really any interaction with Marik and Bakura this time but it's coming soon, trust me.

Disclaimer:I do not own any characters from Yuugiou or InuYasha. I simply own the plot.

Finally, the last bell of the day rang and Kagome was filled with a familiar feeling of dread. She sighed as she started to put her belongings away, being sure to take her time. The only reason she was going home was because of her mother. Her mother was such a kind soul, it didn't make sense why she would be fated to end up with that asshole of a husband. Before visions of her past could come back to mind she was snapped out of her day dream by a tan hand waving in front of her face.

"Hello? Earth to Kagome?" Marik cooed playfully. She quickly swatted his hand away with a smile.

"What? Is a girl not allowed to space out for a few minutes without somebody invading her personal space bubble?" Kagome laughed as she zipped up her backpack and started to stand.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're the only one left in class. I could have let you sit there, you know."

Taking a quick glance around the classroom Kagome realized he was right; a light blush began to spread over her face.

"T-that still doesn't mean you can invade my bubble, you know!"

"Well after your little performance this morning I didn't think you had a problem with 'personal space bubbles'." Marik teased as he winked at her.

The two of them slowly made their way out of the classroom to the front of the school, where Kagome realized Bakura was waiting impatiently for his friend.

"About damn time. I thought you were just going to stay until tomorrow morning."

"You're just jealous that she walked with me, asshole. Shut up."

Kagome couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Now, now children. Behave yourselves."

"Did you just refer to us as children?"

"Well, if you didn't act like it maybe I wouldn't have to say it." She winked at Bakura as she made her way past him.

She didn't hear Bakura laugh to himself or what he mumbled under his breath. She also didn't catch the dark look Marik shot back at him before quietly telling him to be quiet.

"Well girl try to behave yourself until tomorrow morning. If I'm not present to participate in the bloodshed, you're not allowed to have it happen." Bakura waved before making walking in the opposite direction.

"Whatever you say master." Her words dripped with sarcasm before she turned to smile at a now very amused looking Marik.

"See you tomorrow Kagome."

"Later!"

She continued on her way by herself towards the shrine. A large part of her wanted to at least kill a few hours before returning home but a larger part wanted to make sure that her mother was okay. She wanted to go back to the days when her grandfather, brother and father were still around. She would even accept after her father's accident. When times were easy and she would come home with her family waiting to hear about her day. Instead of happy smiles, loving hugs and affectionate teasing all she had to look forward to was an abusive step-father and a crying mother telling her to stay in her room.

Her feet slowly carried her towards 'home' while her mind was lost in thought and her eyes staring unfocused on the ground below her feet.

Kagomes thought back – back when her mother met Naraku. Originally, he seemed to be so sweet. She was honestly happy that her mother was finally coming out of her zombie shell she seemed to have been in since the death of her father. Naraku seemed to be an honestly caring, smart, sweet and gentle person. He used to take her mother out on dates, make her smile and happy.

All of that began to change not too long after they got married.

It was a subtle change – at first. He stopped taking her mother out. He started to correct the things she wore, or stop her from leaving the house. Nothing that would scream 'physco', especially in the subtle way that he was doing it.

'Honey, why don't you wear this instead of that?'

'Why go out? Why don't you stay home with me tonight?'

Little things, nothing that would be abnormal at the time. It wasn't until after her grandfather passed away and they inherited everything from him that he began to start showing his true colors. The subtle things became more aggressive. He started to raise his voice to her and Kagome swore that was when the abuse started. Gone was the 'kind' look in his eyes when he would look at the family. He would sneer every time Souta and herself would be too close to him.

That's when she started to hear her mother sobbing in the bedroom at night.

That's when Souta would come into her room to sleep in her bed just so he wouldn't feel like he was next.

Originally after her grandfather passed away – the family didn't think too deeply into it. He was getting older and up there in age. She didn't try to fool herself into thinking that he would be there forever, but the family all believed it would be a long time before he would be gone from this world.

Maybe if Naraku hadn't of been involved he would have been around longer.

She remembered the day clearly. It seemed like every detail of that morning was forever seared into her memory – painful yet always present.

With a yawn Kagome stretched before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Glancing over the alarm clock on her bed side table she saw it was only 7:13 in the morning.

'Sheesh. Most people would be sleeping in on their summer break. I slept in a whole thirteen minutes later than I normally would.' She thought to herself sarcastically. She hopped out of bed and fixed her pajamas that seemed to try to twist around her body as she slept. She tiredly made her way out of her bedroom – the smell of pancakes hit her nose the second the door opened.

Walking downstairs and towards the kitchen she smiled at her mom.

"Good morning Momma!" She called cheerfully.

"Good morning Kagome. I hope you're hungry, sweetheart." Her mother turned away from the stove to flash her a quick smile.

"Do me a favor and keep an eye on food. Your grandfather wasn't feeling too well last night, so I'm going to bring him his food. Something light on the stomach."

"Okay Momma."

Kagome started to nibble on her food as she walked over to turn the heat down on the stove. Her mother made her way up the stairs with the food for her grandfather, nothing unusual.

"KAGOME! Call the ambulance!"

"Momma?! What's wrong?"

"NOW!"

Little did any of them know that calling the ambulance would be in vein; Her wonderful, sometimes very odd grandfather was far to gone to be saved or brought back. He was gone long before her mother even made her way up the steps that morning. He was laying facedown and seemed to suffocate on his own vomit.

The paramedics said it happens sometimes when an elderly person catches a bad flu.

At the time – they accepted it. They accepted it at face value because none of them wanted to think that anything else was wrong.

Kagome knew better. She just didn't have the proof. Her grandfather was fine even during dinner the night before. He was fine when she gave him a kiss on the cheek that night before she went to bed.

During her spare time she started looking up causes of death that were similar to his and matching that along with how Naraku was, with his greed and angry personality she finally was able to come to her own conclusion.

He was poisoned.

He was poisoned and overdosed instead of slowly poisoned over time. Because the paramedics thought he had a simple flu they didn't bother doing a toxicology report on him. There was no way to do it now either because her mother followed her grandfathers will and had him cremated. There was no way to prove it – but she had to trust her instincts.

Kagome shook herself out of her thoughts when she realized she was already halfway up the stairs to the shrine. She hoped he wasn't home. Maybe she would actually spend time with her mother before it all started back up. She increased her pace until she got to the top of the steps and started making her way towards the front door.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She heard Naraku's voice roar from the inside of the house, the sound of a glass shattering followed shortly after and she couldn't help but flinch at the sound.

'Straight to my room it is.' She thought sadly to herself. She wished she could put an end to this. She wished she was strong enough to save her mother but she didn't know how. She was just a simple high-school girl with basic miko training. How was she supposed to stand up against a monster like Naraku? How was she supposed to look into the eyes of evil to try to save the only person she had left? More importantly – how was she supposed to do it and succeed when her brother tried the same thing and was no longer here to tell the tale?

That's it Folks! For now at least.

I'll be starting on the next chapter tonight or tomorrow. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, comments, favorites, etc. It really means the world to me. I'll be answering questions as soon as I can.

Don't forget to vote for a pairing! I'm not 100% where I want it to go. Things are going to get darker and worse from here on out. Just giving you fair warning!

Until next time~