Face Down by Inumaru_Rapture

One

Face Down

Panicked fingers spilled her make-up containers all over the porcelain bathroom sink as she shook violently. Bloody hands gripped onto the sink as she put her weight onto her palms, trying to steady herself. Her phone started vibrating in her butt pocket, and she tore it out of her pants pocket, glaring at the intruding device. His name was on the receiver. She trembled as she opened her flip-phone.

"Yea?" her voice sounded hoarse. Her eyes bore into the silver faucet, hoping she'd learn a new trick of throwing daggers with her eyes.

"Hey baby. You know I love you right, baby?" She was silent. "Now, don't be that way, baby. You know if you just did things the way we talked about, I wouldn't have to do that to you."

"Yea..." she muttered, a look of hate clouding her blue eyes.

"You going to be at home when I get there tonight?"

"You wouldn't have it any other way," she growled softly.

"There's my girl. I'm just going out with the guys, and I'll be home when I'm home. You know I love you, baby."

"Yea, me too," she said, finally tearing her eyes from the faucet and looking at her image staring back at her in the mirror. She hung up her phone and dropped it, unceremoniously, onto the floor.

How many times had she told herself it would never happen again? How many times had he told her it would never happen again if she only did things right? Why did it always have to be her fault? He was normally so good at keeping the bruising on easily hidden parts of her body—her breasts, legs, arms, chest, back....but lately, he didn't seem to care. He hit her in the face, split her lip, and choked her for extra emphasis. He didn't want her to have friends—she had none. He wanted her to work—she worked 40 hours a week. He wanted her at home when he got home—she was home early every day. He wanted to have sex whenever and where-ever he wanted—she complied, usually, but her modesty wouldn't allow her to have blatant open sex in public. That is what started it this time. He ended up raping her in public anyway, after beating her until her eye started to swell, her lip and nose bled profusely, and she forgot how to struggle. He came inside her—something she hated—and then left, cursing about being late. Then he came back and hit her a few more times for making him late. She had apologized mutely until he left. She looked at her image in the mirror, disgusted with herself for letting herself lose control...for allowing herself to put up with this crap. She spit blood at the mirror, and for extra emphasis, punched it, breaking the glass. She ran the water, watching with diluted eyes as the blood swirled around the drain.

A knock at the door had her jumping, despite herself. He never knocked...who could it be? She finished wiping the blood from her face and moved to the front door of their apartment. She peered out the peephole and saw his brother standing there looking rather bored. She panicked. None of his or her families knew that he beat her....no one knew. She drew in a deep breath and opened the door partially.

"Can I help you?" she asked softly, her voice hoarse from her throat being choked earlier that night.

"That idiot brother of mine left his laptop in my car," he growled, holding out the leather laptop bag to her. She shut the door slightly, unbolted it, and opened it to him. "I would appreciate if..." She froze when he silenced as she opened the door more to face him. "Kagome, what happened to you?" His concern made her heart clench. She had been taught long ago not to cry, so cry she did not. She looked him dead in the eye, with a perfect rendition of his perfect poker face.

"I fell."

"Bull-fucking-shit!" He growled, pushing the door open. Kagome stepped back into the apartment, suddenly realizing the living room was still a mess from her trying to escape from having sex with her boyfriend. "What the hell happened here? Were you robbed?"

Kagome shut the door, taking the laptop bag from her boyfriend's brother and setting it next to the kitchen door. She avoided his eye as she returned to the bathroom to take a shard of glass from her knuckles that she had missed before.

"Kagome," his voice growled in warning to her to spill the beans. She turned angry eyes to him.

"What? What are you going to do if I don't tell you? Beat me? Trust me, it won't work!" She snarled passionately as she turned from the shocked face of the tall-white haired man before her.

"What....what do you mean?" He followed her to the bathroom, and a sharp intake of breath told her that he saw the broken mirror and blood all over the counter.

"What do you think it means, Sesshoumaru? Inuyasha beats me. So what? I can't fight back. I'm weak. I do things wrong when I try to do them right. I can't leave without him beating me even more, so I'm stuck trying to be perfect." Kagome's voice softened, ending at only a whisper. She clenched the white porcelain as his large hand took her shoulder.

"Kagome," he said sternly. She turned her head from him. "Kagome!" he insisted, turning her to look at him. Her angry sky eyes swirled with anger and pain. "You don't deserve this. I'll talk to him..."

"No!" She moved from him, taking his arm and pulling him from the bathroom and towards the front door. "He told me never to tell. If you come up to him, he'll know I said something, and then I'm dead. You can't say anything. You two don't get along anyway. Every time he comes home after talking to you, he's extra rough," her voice choked in her throat as he stilled. She instantly felt guilty, her anger diminishing. "Oh, Sesshoumaru, I didn't say that. Please, please don't be mad at me," she begged, cringing. Sesshoumaru's hand came up and gently cupped her chin, his thumb softly caressing her skin. Kagome was taken aback by the act of kindness.

"My only regret is not realizing this situation earlier. He instigates fights every time he is around me, always as if he was happy to do it. An idiot, I allowed it, and fed into it. I never knew he came home and did...this..." he whispered, his golden eyes bearing down into her swirling seas. A pressure built behind her eyes, an unfamiliar but familiar pressure, that gave way to tears that fell from her eyes down her cheeks.

"What am I going to do, Sesshoumaru? If you stay here, he'll be so angry. He'll know you were here, you have to leave..." Panic rose in her voice as she started trying to break away from his grasp. He let her go, unwilling to hold her and cause her to panic more. She fidgeted her fingers, pulling at her nails as she tried to get him to leave.

"Kagome, calm down. You are going to tell him that I stopped by to drop off his laptop, and you will tell him that I came and went without another word. If anything happens, call me," he told her, taking his business card from his pocket. He took out a pen and scribbled something on the back. "My cell phone number is unlisted. I wrote it on the back of here for you. Inuyasha doesn't even have this number. If anything happens, call me, and I will be here to protect you."

"Protect me?" Kagome stopped moving, looking at him. The look of utter confusion on her face has a small smile pulling at Sesshoumaru's normally stoic lips.

"Yes, protect you." Kagome continued to look confused. "Protection is something we offer those we love."

"Love?" Sesshoumaru just smiled his little smile, took her by the hand, and placed his card in it.

"You are practically family, and as such, I am obligated to protect you, even from my brother. You will call me?"

"If I need to," she finished, a small smile gracing her features for the first time in a very, very long time. He nodded, content for now, and turned and left the apartment without a backwards glance.

Kagome looked at the phone number in her hand, and then ran to the bathroom to grab her cell phone and enter it in, just in case.

my inspiration (whom I do not own)

THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS LYRICS "Face Down"

Hey girl, you know you drive me crazy

one look puts the rhythm in my hand.

Still I'll never understand why you hang around

I see what's going down.

Cover up with make up in the mirror

tell yourself, it's never gonna happen again

you cry alone and then he swears he loves you.

Do you feel like a man when you push her around?

Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?

Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end

as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect

every action in this world will bear a consequence

If you wade around forever you will surely drown

I see what's going down.

I see the way you go and say you're right again,

say you're right again

heed my lecture

Do you feel like a man when you push her around?

Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?

Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end

as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

Face down in the dirt, she said,

this doesn't hurt, she said,

I finally had enough.

[x2]

One day she will tell you that she has had enough

he's coming round again.

Do you feel like a man when you push her around?

Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?

Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end

as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

[x2]

Face down in the dirt, she said,

this doesn't hurt, she said,

I finally had enough.