[AU, rated R] Dog's Body 3/? "A Damaged Dog"

[Smarty Cat]

<U>
<B>Chapter Summary</B></U>: Kagome gives up her pompoms in the name of self-preservation and finds something most unexpected in the demon beast's forest.
<B><U>A.N.</B></U> Regarding the time frame of this fic: it is an alternate universe set in a place that would be identical to our modern world if we had youkai wandering around in it. And since I'd like to keep Kaede and all the other human Sengoku Jidai crew around without them being over 500 years old or involving time travel, Inuyasha was sealed into the body of an Akita fifty years before the present time.

<I>For Crystaltear and kmf, for being so patient with me regarding this story. I'm sorry to keep you waiting, loves! Please forgive me.

Also for the animals in shelters and humane societies everywhere who have suffered as Inuyasha has suffered, but especially for Elvis the foxhound who gave me firsthand experience with the horrors of severe emaciation and my own wonderful rescued dogs who have taught me the ways of love and loyalty. May they all find loving homes at last.
</I>
<B>Dog's Body
</B>by
<B>Smarty Cat
</B>smartycat9383(at)yahoo(dot)com

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<B>Chapter 3: <I>A Damaged Dog </I>
</B>---------------------------------------------------------------------

<I>~We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.
Anna Sewell, Black Beauty~
</I>
"Kagome!"

<I>Oh, no, please not now . . .
</I>
The girl flinched as her name echoed across the school courtyard in a high-pitched wail. Pasting a strained smile on her face and clutching her book bag to her chest defensively, she pivoted on her heel to face the horde of teenage girls stampeding toward her. They thronged around her on all sides, pinning her and cutting off any chance of escape while barraging her with lightning fast questions. The chattering rose into one indistinguishable buzz devoid of true language, and Kagome swayed on her feet and dug her fingers into the smooth leather of her bag as she fought the urge to clap her hands protectively over her ears.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Eri's quiet question cut through the wall of noise with sharp precision, and the girls abruptly fell silent and really studied the object of their interrogation for the first time. Eri gently touched her pale friend's arm, and a weak but genuine smile flitted over Kagome's face.

"I'm fine, Eri. We better hurry or we'll be late for class."

The group broke apart after a few hurried glances at watches accompanied by some sharp gasps and dispersed to their respective areas of the school. Kagome entered her own classroom wearily, still flanked by her three closest friends, one of whom was eyeing her quite suspiciously.

"Why weren't you at school yesterday, Kagome?" Yuka demanded as they took their seats.

"I . . . didn't feel very well," Kagome murmured evasively, shifting uneasily in her chair.

Yuka leaned in closely, narrowing her eyes threateningly. Her voice came out in a dangerously silken purr. "Houjou-kun from Class B wasn't here yesterday either. Don't you think that's odd, Kagome? You were both absent on the same day. That's very suspicious." She suddenly grabbed Kagome's hands and enthusiastically pulled the startled girl closer, a wickedly bright smile dancing on her face. "So spill!"

Kagome's eyes widened from a combination of pain and surprise, and she vainly attempted to free herself from her friend's clutches while sputtering excuses. "How could you think I was with Houjou-kun? I was home all day!"

"He did have a baseball meet yesterday, Yuka," Ayumi interjected wryly from across the room.

Kagome stilled in Yuka's hands, turning her head slowly to stare back at the wide-eyed and intrigued faces viewing their display. Color rushed to her face, and she sank down in her seat with a mortified whimper.

<I>Everyone in the classroom heard Yuka! Now they'll all think I want Houjou-kun!
</I>
All eyes remained riveted to her increasingly red face, including a rather annoyed pair belonging to the teacher. When she met his disgruntled gaze, Kagome snatched her hands away from Yuka and scrambled to her feet, bowing awkwardly in respect.

"Might we be able to start class now that we're done discussing Higurashi-san's home life?" he asked snidely, setting his briefcase down on the teacher's desk with a resounding thump and eying Kagome over the top of his glasses. "I trust that you were in fact ill yesterday and did not skip my class to gallivant off with some boy? Even if he is on the baseball team."

"Yes, sensei," Kagome murmured and ducked her head in embarrassment. "My mother sent notification to the administration."

The teacher nodded curtly, satisfied with her answer, and class officially began. Kagome dutifully paid attention during the first few minutes of each class when the teacher entered, but as they progressed her interest gradually began to drift. She propped her chin on her hand, idly tapping her pencil against the desk as her math teacher droned on about the virtues of using augmented matrices to solve multi-variable equations. After a loud clearing of the throat followed by a sharp, reprimanding glare from the front of the room, she stilled her pencil sheepishly. Her friends looked over at her curiously and whispered among themselves, but Kagome could not stop her fidgeting. She felt restless, and her hands seemed to have developed a mind of their own as she set to work drawing meaningless doodles on her notes. With her need for movement satisfied, her eyes glazed over as her thoughts turned inward to memories of the incident two nights ago.

<I>What was that thing?
</I>
It had not been human, but she had been unable to locate any youki during her scanning of the park. This creature was something new to her, something different.

<I>Unless it's something old . . . I almost wish I'd paid more attention to Jii-chan's rambling.
</I>
Kagome's eyes narrowed as she struggled to remember what she knew of the legend of the demon beast. In every one of her grandfather's retellings he had referred to the creature as a beast, never once giving it the designation of youkai.

<I>It must be an animal. But what animal in Japan is that big and would attack a human so savagely?
</I>
The bell for lunch startled Kagome out of her musings, and she snapped out of her daze to see the throng of hungry students rush out the classroom door for the freedom of the cafeteria and courtyard. Eri and Ayumi hung back, waiting, as Yuka marched up to Kagome's desk. She grabbed Kagome's arm, pulling her from her seat without hearing her friend's pained whimper, and paused with her head cocked to one side as she studied Kagome's math notes intently.

"What is that?" she murmured to herself before raising firm eyes to Kagome's face. "I think we need to have a talk. You're acting weird."

"Huh?" Kagome yelped as Yuka pulled her from the room. Her eyes fell to the paper on her desk, and she stifled a shocked gasp. A pair of slit-pupiled eyes wreathed in flame stared back at her from the page.

<hr>

Later that afternoon, Kagome meandered lazily along the well manicured sidewalks of her school, still mulling over the ridiculous interrogation she had been subjected to during lunch.

<I>I can't believe Yuka asked me if I was dating a gang member and had taken up graffiti! I only missed one day of school! And a lot of good that did.
</I>
Despite her enforced bed rest of the day before, her body had yet to recover from the abuse it had received. Forcing herself to walk without a blatantly obvious limp all day taxed already sore muscles, and she slowed further as she approached the open patch of ground where her fellow cheerleaders were going through their warm-up exercises.

"You're late, Higurashi." Kinomoto-sensei strode over with her hands on her hips. She shot Kagome a piercing stare. "And you were absent yesterday."

Kagome dropped into an apologetic bow, wincing behind the fall of her bangs as her ribs protested. Her voice wavered with strain as she murmured her excuses. "I'm very sorry, sensei. I was ill yesterday and unable to come to school."

"I don't want undependable people on my squad."

A tiny, wry smile curled Kagome's lips beneath the fall of her hair. "Then you need no longer concern yourself with me. I wish to leave."

A stunned silence greeted her request, and Kagome shot a quick glance up through her bangs. Kinomoto-sensei gaped openly though there was an unfocused quality to her eyes that suggested that she was not actually looking at the student before her. Kagome straightened carefully, one hand rising to hover protectively over the bandages on her torso. She let out her breath carefully and raised her head.

Kinomoto-sensei's eyes focused with sharp clarity on the girl at that protective gesture. They were most intent on the hand that Kagome quickly pulled away from her side. The teacher's eyes narrowed, and she stepped forward. Kagome retreated instantly but froze when the teacher's hand snapped out and snagged her uniform top. She practically stopped breathing as the cheerleading coach slowly pulled the material up, revealing a small strip of the beige bandage binding the girl's stomach. She released Kagome and stepped away abruptly.

"I grant your request to leave the cheerleading squad, but I'm sorry to see you go." She refused to meet Kagome's eyes as for a brief moment she dropped her wall of authority and superiority. "Though if this is the price of your participation I would not have you stay."

"Thank you, Kinomoto-sensei."

The older woman snorted. "You'll have to explain it to the rest of the girls, so don't thank me yet. Besides, you're not much use to anyone if you get yourself killed." The harsh lines of her face eased into concern as she delicately squeezed Kagome's shoulder. "Take care of yourself and be careful."

Kagome smiled weakly, unsettled at the coach's mention of death. When Kinomoto-sensei's hand dropped, she turned and left. Higurashi Kagome walked away from the group of girls doing acrobatics on the grass, and she did not look back.

<hr>

Late afternoon sunlight flowed along the park paths in a golden caress, and Kagome closed her eyes and raised her face to better feel the heat. A happy sigh escaped her as the distant voices of laughing children drifted past on the spring breeze. Several hours of daylight remained, and the relaxed attitude of the park during the day provided a novel experience for the girl who had known nothing but the fear of the night journey. Kagome felt warm and lazy and not the least bit threatened. She wandered slowly among the flowers and ornamental trees, dropping the facade of health she had maintained at school. She openly favored her ankle and took small cautious steps that became even smaller and more cautious as she approached the boundary to the forest.

Kagome halted completely at the edge of the shadows. The thick, study trees of the small section of national park that had overflowed onto the city recreational grounds thrust up unexpectedly from the earth in a tall forbidding wall of greenery. The division was sharp, abrupt, and marked by giant scars in the earth, and Kagome thought of one of her grandfather's favorite tales--one that she knew to be true because she had witnessed it.

The Tokyo City Council had wanted the forest destroyed several years before on the grounds that it was a haven for youkai and if they had nowhere to hide then they could be easily killed. So the council had called all the shrine and temple families as well as the local groups of taijiya to City Hall to enlist their aid. Jii-chan had laughed in their faces when he heard their plans, but when the council remained intent in their course, he had argued vehemently against the destruction of the forest, claming that it was a futile waste of valuable resources on the city's part. There had been snide comments that if the youkai disappeared then he would be out of a job, and Kagome remembered scoffing at the idea that the loss of the youkai would affect him in any serious way because Jii-chan was so ineffective that he might as well not even be a priest. However, he had simply smiled secretly and murmured something about the Go Shinboku and the reemergence of the Shikon no Tama. Then he had said something especially enigmatic, and his eyes had flicked strangely to Kagome's face.

<I>There is a balance, and you cannot hope to disrupt it. The forest stays.
</I>
And indeed it had stayed. Despite their best efforts none of the bulldozers had been able to breach the first trees, and the fires they had started quickly died out. The ruts in the earth along the edge of the forest gave silent testimony to their valiant but vain attempt.

"There is a balance," Kagome murmured absently, stroking her hand down the rough bark of the nearest tree. She stepped slowly beneath the canopy, and the shadows engulfed her in a cold embrace. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears, and she took a deep breath. "There is a balance," she repeated, her voice stronger. "Youkai own the night, but humans rule the day."

Her voice echoed strangely in the quiet of the trees. The giggles and shrieks of the children in the park faded behind her with each slow step, and only distant birdsong broke the silence. Children never played in the forest, and most adults considered it far too dangerous to venture away from the weak protection afforded by the path. Although youkai were not usually active during the day, it would be unwise to accidentally stumble across one of their dens. Kagome peered around nervously, but walked at a steady pace. The comfort she had felt under the open sky rapidly dissipated with each step that took her deeper into the heart of the forest.

"I am not scared," she chanted under her breath. "I am not scared, I am not scared, I am not--<I>What is that?</I>"

She clapped her hands over her mouth in horror as her startled yelp reverberated in the air, but the strange patch of white lying among the greenery ten meters from the path did not move. With adrenaline surging through her body and her breath caught in her throat, Kagome eased over to the side of the path closest to the object. She stood on her tiptoes, wobbling slightly due to her injured ankle, and craned her head over the expanse of underbrush, but her vision remained obstructed.

Curiosity stirred in her mind, slowly pushing back the fear, and she took the first hesitant steps off the path. Thick, scraggly brush scratched light welts on her bare skin and tangled in her loose socks. Low branches hanging overhead forced her to crawl the last little bit, and she bit back a whimper as her hair snarled painfully. With her mouth dry and her heart pounding against her sore ribs, she reached out one trembling, clammy hand to push aside the final branch impeding her view.

A white streak flashed out, and strong jaws snapped together with a sharp click mere centimeters from her face. Kagome reeled backwards, too startled to scream, but the assault did not continue. The girl gasped as agony erupted across her side from the sudden movement and subsequent impact. Her breath came in short and shallow pants, gradually deepening and resuming its normal rhythm even as her heart slowed from its frantic galloping. She stared dazedly at the canopy from where she lay sprawled in the underbrush as the pain in her side abated.

Slowly she became aware of the ragged breathing near her ear. Kagome turned her head with exaggerated care to the source of the warm air wafting across her temple and saw what appeared to be white fur peaking through the shrubbery. Her hands closed convulsively at her sides, fingers digging into the dirt as she pulled her body back in instinctual fear before rolling onto her side with excruciating slowness. She shook her head to rid herself of her stupor and grimaced as her side throbbed with a sharp ache. Kagome rose to her knees shakily, suppressing a hiss as her ankle sent out a sharp stab of pain, and froze in place when her gaze caught the glazed, feverishly burning eyes glaring out at her through the leaves. After several long moments in which she did not breathe she noticed that the bright gaze seemed unfocused, the pupils wide and unseeing.

Kagome wet her lips nervously and swallowed the dry lump hammering in her throat as she crept forward and eased aside the final branch. "Oh, no." She could not suppress the moan of horror that rose in her throat. "No, no, no, no, no, please no." She closed her eyes tightly, banishing away angry tears and schooling a hard expression across her face. The atrocious vision was still there when she opened her eyes again.

A white dog lay collapsed among the undergrowth, too weak now to do more than keep its head up while glaring blindly into space. Kagome fought down a hysterical giggle as she counted the ribs standing out sharply against its side. Its hipbones rose prominently above its horrendously visible spine, and its white coat was dull and mangy and harsh. The animal was completely emaciated.

<I>He looks more like a fur-covered scrubbing board than a dog!
</I>
Her eyes trailed over the dog's head as she inched forward. His nostrils flared, and that disconcerting sightless gaze swung toward her. He snarled softly, menacingly, but Kagome realized it was merely a cover for his helplessness. She started trembling violently as she got her first clear look at the dog's face. Prick ears drooped weakly against a broad skull, and exposed, charred skin stretched tightly around sunken, listless eyes.

"Who could have done this to you?" The broken whisper escaped her mouth before she was even aware of consciously having the thought, and the dog's snarls rose in pitch, the two sounds weaving throughout one another in the silent air between them.

The dog shifted restlessly, but his movements seemed to be encumbered by something more than his weakness. Kagome followed the expanse of slowly healing burns down the dog's neck and forequarters. When she reached the strong bones of his legs that seemed far too large for the rest of his horribly frail body, she noticed that an exposed tree root had ensnared his right paw. Kagome reached forward slowly, afraid the dog might still have enough strength to lash out one more time in fear, but his previous actions had exhausted him, and he merely growled faintly when her hand brushed against his fur. She pursed her lips thoughtfully as she considered how to free him without causing harm to either of them, absently stroking his leg while he snarled with each touch.

She finally reached a conclusive course of action and pulled a length of medical gauze from her schoolbag, looping it and tying it off with a slipknot before sliding it over the dog's muzzle and pulling it closed. He shook his head angrily and struggled to rise to his feet, but Kagome firmly applied pressure to his shoulders with one hand while her other hand pulled at the root. It remained firm and unyielding, and she relinquished her grip on his shoulder, tugging the root with both hands and silently praying that her makeshift muzzle did not slip because he was starting to appear quite agitated. After many long moments of effort on her part and much thrashing and snarling on the dog's, his foot finally slid free. Kagome caught hold of one of the ends of gauze, tugging it over his head and down his nose then quickly stepped away. The dog abruptly settled down, practically collapsing once again now that the source of his stress was gone.

The teenager stood, staring once again at his glaringly obvious state of malnutrition before whirling and hobbling back the way she had come. She had seen a man selling ramen by the park entrance. Though there was none of fear that had marked her last flight through the forest, a similar sense of urgency settled over Kagome as she ignored the pain in her leg and side and broke into a jog.

<I>Wait for me, Inu. Please wait for me . . . </I>

[SimplyTurquoise]

You actually updated!

I'm so happy... and it was so lovely...

I can't wait for the next installment!!!!!

[wicked]

*blinks once, then twice* My my, it is an update! Finally an update. Wicked is most happy now. ^_^

I agree with ST, I can't wait for the next installment. Of course don't let the months of salivating for more be any indication that I was willing to wait. It might encourage you not to update.

And here I was hoping for a little time travel. Well there are memories so that may just have to suffice.

Excellent work!

~Wicked

[dark-angel]

yay!!! Write More!!!

[kmf]

Oh dear, poor Inu and poor Kagome. Both are in quite a state at the moment. I had to laugh though when Kagome hurries off to get Inu some ramen; I am sure he will love to eat that ^_~

OK, Im going to be very demanding now and say 'next chapter please!'. This is such a facinating AU; Im dying to know what happens next

Keep writing hon!

kmf

[Smarty Cat]

*blinks once, then twice* My my, it is an update! Finally an update. Wicked is most happy now. ^_^

Amazing and unbelievable, isn't it? I actually did what I said I was going to and updated on time for once! Now if I could only turn that into a habit...

I agree with ST, I can't wait for the next installment. Of course don't let the months of salivating for more be any indication that I was willing to wait. It might encourage you not to update.

*wry smile* Lovely bit of sarcasm there. I'm impressed! *truly does admire sarcasm in people* However, I can assure you I don't need any encouragement at all in that area. I'm trying to get better though, really I am. But I'm not making any promises this time because my fall term starts in two weeks.

And here I was hoping for a little time travel. Well there are memories so that may just have to suffice.

Sorry to disappoint you on that. I did consider time travel, but all the inherent paradoxes involved tend to drive me batty. *still gets headaches thinking about the shard in the Noh mask* As to the memories... it wouldn't be Inuyasha if there wasn't at least one flashback involved.

[Smarty Cat]

OK, Im going to be very demanding now and say 'next chapter please!'. This is such a facinating AU; Im dying to know what happens next

Oh, I was hoping you were still reading! The next part should answer quite a few questions you had about Inu a long time ago. I've been working on it in bits and pieces on notebook paper during my free time at work. I just have to find the time to type everything up and make it pretty and consistant and grammatically correct, all those minor details it's currently lacking at the moment. But the next chapter will be available sooner rather than later since my "later" lasts more than a year. And I do promise not to take that long on chapter 4. Finishing ExOr is my priority right now though, and it is coming along nicely.

*huggles*

Smarty