I updated. HOLY CRAP, I UPDATED. I know its been like a damn decade, but I'm pleased to say I've updated three stories in the past month. I'm sorry it's been so long, but life has a way of distracting me from all the things I love from time to time. However, I'm fairly confident I'm going to be updating the three stories I still have marked as 'incomplete' for the next several weeks until they are complete. Fingers crossed I reach my goal so I can move onto other projects without feeling guilty that I've left something unfinished.

Special shout out to MARISSA4EVER for getting in touch with me about this story. Without a bit of prodding I'm not sure I would have been able to come out with something for this as soon as I did.

If you read this chapter and feel meh about it, its possibly because I've been so out of my writing element for months and months, and getting back into the groove of things is harder than you'd think.

Anyway, without further ado, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter.

After spending way too much time getting ready, the three young women headed out of Rin's condo and into one of the vehicles, making their way downtown and into the night. Rin wasn't expecting much of an evening, after all it was a weekday, but she found herself completely surprised at the amount of people out and about. Did no one around here have work or school the next day?

Looking around at everyone having a fabulous time, Rin felt envious, old and surprisingly sad she wasn't back at home waiting for Sesshomaru to call. How depressing was it that Rin, a strong willed and educated woman was more interested in hanging around by the phone waiting on the love of her life to call instead of taking her life by the horns and living while Sesshomaru was away? Did it even matter that she would have preferred the silence of Sesshomaru on the other end of the phone, listening to her talk on and on as opposed to the too loud music that was pouring through the speakers and hurting her ears? Because in a way, she would still be with Sesshomaru and he with her, and that was all Rin truly wanted in her life.

Rin sent a quick text message to Sesshomaru, letting him know she was out with Kagome and Sango, that they hadn't gone far, and she would call him when she came home. If it were anyone else, Rin might have been worried about waking them, but Sesshomaru kept odd hours and Rin knew from experience that sometimes he spent days without sleep, knowing he could go much longer if necessary.

Sango disappeared into the crowd without a word to the two ladies who came with her. Kagome and Rin looked at each other, both of them thrown by the uncharacteristic display of their comrade before shrugging off her behavior and heading over to the bar, both eager to grab a drink.

With the amount of people in the smaller club, the room itself was heating up quickly, even though outside it was nearly freezing from the winter air. The liquor, though a bit stronger than Rin was hoping for, was a blessing as the cool liquid eased down her throat, cooling her body.

"Do you want to hit the dance floor?" Kagome leaned in, practically shouting in Rin's ear.

"It's whatever you want to do. Should we grab a drink for Sango?"

"I'm not sure! She just kind of disappeared. There's probably a line for the bathroom or something," Kagome called out before giving the club a long once over, no doubt probably trying to ascertain if there was any sort of threat nearby. When she was finished with her perusal, Kagome set her empty glass next to Rin's, hauling her friend up and towards the middle of the dance floor.

Rin grinned when one of her favorite songs came on, knowing the dance routine by heart.

The girls were dancing to the music, ignoring any men who came their way while they were at the club. Rin couldn't believe how packed it was on a Thursday night, but considering she never really partied on weekdays (or at all), she didn't have much to compare it to. Classes and studying had come first in Rin's life for the past few years, so it made sense she would be oblivious about the partying scene.

Rin looked around the crowded room, sighing wistfully to herself when she kept spotting couples dancing together. She missed Sesshomaru, missed him more than she thought possible, which considering their past, seemed a bit laughable. Maybe it was because she had finally given all of herself to him and he'd given all of himself to her. Maybe it was the deep connection they had found again after so long apart that made him being gone from her all the more impossible to endure. After all, the last time he'd been gone from her Sesshomaru had almost died, they'd fought and Rin could honestly say she'd never been so broken before in her life.

It turned out being without your soul was quite possibly the hardest thing one ever endured.

Despite missing Sesshomaru, Rin had to admit she was having a great time with Kagome. They hadn't moved from the dance floor in nearly an hour, moving to the beat at each new song. Rin grabbed her phone from her clutch, checking to see if she had any missed calls or text messages.

Her screen came to life and Rin was a bit disappointed to know Sesshomaru hadn't attempted to get in contact with her since she left him a message almost two hours ago.

Shaking herself out of the momentary funk she'd found herself in, Rin grinned at her dance partner, determined to not feel upset by Sesshomaru's lack of response. He was demon for crying out loud. Did she really think texting was high on his list of priorities? And she had said she would call him when she could. He probably hadn't seen a point in responding as it would have been meaningless to do so.

Yeah, that sounded almost exactly like her dog demon.

Moving closer to Kagome, Rin said above the noise, "I can't believe we almost missed out on such a good time because Sesshomaru is super paranoid!"

Kagome laughed before rolling her eyes. "Hey, he's your man. You know by now how protective he is of you. Just wait until you get the flu or something. He'll have you locked down tighter than Fort Knox if he thinks interacting with other humans will make you worse." Rin couldn't argue with that, mostly because she wouldn't put it past Sesshomaru to act in such a manner. If she knew anything about the man she was now living with, it was that he was always concerned with her well being.

"Have you seen Sango?"

Kagome stopped dancing, moving her body around in a circle so she could scope out the room. When she turned back to Rin and her eyes were creased with concern, Rin felt an odd feeling begin to take hold, clearing her mind of whatever drinking haze she'd been in a moment before.

Something wasn't right.

"No. I haven't seen her since she disappeared about an hour ago. Maybe she bumped into someone she knew after she came out of the bathroom..." Kagome muttered it to Rin as a reassurance, but Rin had been with Kagome long enough to know she thought something much more sinister was afoot. It was in the tone of her voice and the stiff posture of her shoulders. Kagome the soldier was coming out to the forefront.

Thinking of what Sesshomaru had wanted, Rin felt immediately guilty for questioning his judgment. He'd always protected her, she should have trusted that he was right in perceiving a threat to her small group of friends. When was he ever really wrong about keeping Rin safe?

Following Kagome off the dance floor, Rin wrapped her fingers around her ring, spinning it on her finger. Generally when she did this she was always soothed, always calmed at the thought of Sesshomaru and how happy she'd been when he'd given it to her on her 18th birthday. Now she just felt frightened. Frightened for herself, but mostly frightened for Sango. What could have happened to her?

Rin scoped out the bar, wondering if maybe Sango was flirting with the bartender to score free drinks and hadn't noticed she'd been gone for long. When Rin was done looking for her there, she followed Kagome around some booths that were along the way. Still nothing.

The two women made their way through the crowd and to the bathroom entrance. Ignoring those waiting in line, Kagome pushed through the door, calling Sango's name and waiting for a response. When they didn't hear anything and Kagome cleared all the stalls, Rin felt lightheaded. Almost sick to her stomach.

Grabbing Rin's hand in her own, Kagome led them through the front entrance of the club and out onto the sidewalk, looking around in an almost casual manner. Almost, because Rin noticed the narrowing of her eyes as she scanned the immediate area.

"We're going to head down the side alley that connects to the club. If you want to go back to the car, I'll drop you off there, wait for you to drive to Inuyasha's and then I'll head that way myself. It's whatever you want to do." Kagome was giving Rin the option to run away and hide while she searched for their missing friend. Rin might have found herself frightened of many things in life, but she wouldn't ever back away from a friend who needed her help. It wasn't in her nature to be more concerned with herself than others.

"Do you think Sango is down there?"

"I think if someone tried to take Sango from that club, they would have forced her out through the side entrance by the bathrooms. It would have been quick and pretty easy, considering how drunk most of the patrons are and the fact that the lighting in that place is godawful. Any of the strobe lights could have made it seem like she was just dancing with her boyfriend or something."

The cold air, combined with Kagome's words sent a chill down Rin's spine. She looked up at the full moon, closing her eyes and breathing out in a long exhale. She opened her eyes, looked up at that beautiful moon again and thought of Sesshomaru. He wouldn't want her to put herself in danger, but then again, Sesshomaru wouldn't leave one of his comrades behind. She wouldn't either.

"Let's go check it out then. If you think Sango is being held down there, then I'm going." Rin twirled her ring again before releasing her hand, making sure to stretch her arms and shoulders as they walked. She wanted to be as limber as possible if the only weapon available to her was her body.

"Hell of a time to have left our cellphones back at the condo." Kagome spat bitterly, no doubt wanting to call Inuyasha and Miroku as reinforcements.

"I have my phone. Here take it and call Inuyasha. Better him than Miroku, considering he's more likely to be calm and collected in this type of situation." Kagome nodded at Rin's thought.

"Yeah, you're probably right, although if Sango really was missing and Miroku finds out we didn't call him, he's going to be furious."

Miroku, furious? He was the most laid back person Rin had ever met. Interesting that Kagome had sounded slightly worried about making Miroku upset. Maybe he was the type of person who, once his rage was unleashed, was almost impossible to calm back down again?

Rin was too focused on her train of thought, she completely missed the entire conversation Kagome had with Inuyasha. Kagome handed the phone back to Rin.

"Inuyasha wants us to wait right here while he calls Miroku and they come this way." She huffed out an exasperated breath. "But Sango is one of my best friends, and I don't want to leave her to whatever fate has in store for her. I'm going down there to check it out. You in?" She arched an eyebrow at Rin and the younger one of the group gulped audibly before nodding her head in agreement.

"Let's go get her."

Squaring her shoulders, Kagome led Rin to the entrance of the alley. It was dark, which made a hell of a lot of sense, considering it was well past midnight.

"We need to be two drunk chicks if we want to seem defenseless. It gives us more of a fighting chance," Rin whispered to Kagome, not waiting for the go ahead before shouting down the alley. "SAAAAAAANGOOOOOO!" Rin made sure to burst into laughter when the name echoed throughout the alleyway.

Kagome joined in, putting in the effort to stumble over nothing and to laugh louder at that situation.

"Maybe she's getting laid!"

"Maybe she drunkenly stumbled out here thinking this was the bathroom!"

"Sango, please don't be peeing behind a dumpster. It's not very ladylike." Rin snorted in mock delight.

Making their way down the darkened path, Rin kept a suitable amount of distance between herself and Kagome, knowing Kagome would explode like a powerhouse if someone threatening approached her.

Sure enough, someone leapt from behind one of the dumpsters, slamming into Kagome like a linebacker. The woman squeaked in panic a moment before snapping into action. She grabbed her assailant's arm, twisting until a snap was heard. The attacker shrieked before Kagome slammed her free hand into his nose, blood spurting as his scream died out. She then latched more firmly onto his broken arm, bending until he was on his knees from the pain, her stiletto digging into his shoulder to hold him in place.

"Where the fuck is she?"

"Where's who?" He mumbled in-between the blood that was dripping into his mouth and out of it. Rin stared, fascinating at the large amount of blood that dripped from his body and onto the pavement. When the moon reflected off of it, it appeared black instead of red. She shivered.

"I swear to God if you play dumb with me for another second I'll break your other arm. WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?" Kagome's eyes were hard, no kindness in them as she slowly wrenched the arm she was holding out of its socket. Her hair was covering half of her face, leaving her looking more menacing that Rin would have imagined. How had she not ever noticed the darker side of her friend?

"Christ. Fuck!" Kagome stabbed the stiletto of her shoe into his leg when he tried to kick haphazardly in her direction. "She's in the back of the van down the connecting alley. My buddy and I were told to grab her and the one behind you. We don't know anything else. Just that they're wanted by someone. I don't even know who! I swear!"

"Shut up!" Kagome hissed out, her eyes locked on the never ending alley. "Just shut the hell up, do you understand me?" Without another thought, Kagome swung her free arm onto the man's head, smiling in satisfaction when he fell backward and didn't get back up. Kagome straightened, smoothing down any wrinkles the encounter had caused her outfit.

Kagome then shut her eyes, breathing in deeply for a split second before smiling bravely at Rin. She turned to the direction the man had given, not even sparing his body another glance as she stepped over him and towards the darkness.

For a horrible moment Rin thought he was dead, until she saw his chest rising and falling in an unsteady rhythm.

Before she could open her mouth, Kagome was grabbing her arm, tugging her quickly down the alley.

"I'm not sure how long he was supposed to be gone or when he'll wake up. I'm giving us roughly five minutes to find Sango, take care of whoever is with her and get the hell back to the car. Since we don't know what kind of shape she's in, we need to hurry." Kagome whispered the information as she ran silently down the alley, making sure both of them were clinging to the walls, keeping themselves covered in darkness.

When they came to an intersecting alleyway, Kagome bent down, peaking her head in both directions.

"There is a van to our left. If that guy was right she's in there."

Rin nodded, waiting for Kagome's next move.

"I don't see anyone in the front seats of the van, nor do I see anyone around it. I think you should stay here and keep a look out. I'll head over there, open the back door and see if Sango is inside, okay?"

Rin gave her friend a shaky smile, not enjoying the idea that Sango was trapped in the back of the van. Sango was a force in and of herself and to know she had been captured was like a punch in the gut. In fact, why would Sango have gone with someone without a fuss?

"Wait, Kagome."

Rin pulled out her phone, finding Sango's number and dialing it. Kagome shot her a confused look but back away from the upcoming alleyway, waiting patiently for Rin to place her call.

A few rings and the phone clicked.

"Hey Rin! Sorry I didn't tell you guys I was leaving. You wouldn't believe it, but my baby brother was in the club! He was supposed to be overseas, so imagine my surprise when he was locking lips with someone twice his age." There was a male voice in the background that sounded exasperated, which made sense.

"So you're fine?" Rin's eyes locked on Kagome's confused ones, unsure of what the hell was happening.

Movement behind Kagome had Rin's eyes widening and in her panic she dropped her phone, reaching for Kagome and shouting, "Watch out!".

It was too late, however, and the stranger behind Kagome hit the back of her head, causing Kagome to fall forward, her body limp. Rin caught her friend before she hit the pavement, looking up at the three men surrounding them as she clutched on to Kagome.

Not wasting any time, one of the men grabbed Rin's arm forcefully, yanking her up and away from Kagome, who slid down and fell back onto the pavement. One of the men picked up Kagome and tossed her over his shoulder, while the remaining two men huddled up to Rin, keeping her locked between them.

"You can either come with us and make this easy, or you can resist and make this more difficult."

Without another thought, Rin slammed her head back, connecting solidly with the man behind her. She heard his 'oomph' before she collapsed down to the ground, avoiding the man in front who had reached for her when she resisted.

At groin level, Rin used her elbow and slammed it into this crotch, feeling momentary satisfaction when he bent down in pain. Rin then punched him in the face, standing up so she could grab his face in her hands and slam her knee into his jaw. When she heard the crunch of his bones she felt extremely satisfied.

"You little bitch!" Rin winced, mentally chastising herself for forgetting the man behind her. His arms circled her from behind, one of them coming over her throat and blocking the air she needed to breathe.

After a few seconds of struggling, Rin's eyes began to dim and she felt her body slacken before she passed out.

"Wake up." Someone whispered in Rin's ear. "Wake up, please. Oh God, Rin. You have to wake up!" The whisper was more intense, causing Rin to wince as it made her head ache. Opening her eyes, Rin wasn't surprised to find herself in the back of a moving van. She was surprised to find a man laying face down on the ground in front of her, Kagome using his belt as a restraint on his hands to keep them secured behind his back.

"Rin." Kagome whispered to her in delight when she noticed the other woman was up. "Do you have a belt with your outfit? I need to gag him so he can't scream when he wakes up."

Rin moved her body, the stiffness in her shoulders making her whimper. "Shit. I think my shoulder is dislocated." How had that happened?

Kagome's eyes narrowed and she stepped away from their assailant, looking at Rin's shoulders. "It's this one, right?" She pointed to Rin's right shoulder. Barely giving Rin a second to agree, Kagome grabbed her arm, lifting and pushing it a certain way. There was an intense pain when the bone went back into the socket and Rin moaned in agony before biting down on her lip, desperately trying to keep herself from screaming from the pain.

Kagome reached a hand around Rin's waist, making an irritated noise in her throat when she couldn't find a belt in the darkness of the van.

"Sorry," Rin muttered to appease her friend. "A belt didn't go with my outfit."

Kagome snorted. Rin shifted her arm delicately in order to pull her sweater from her body, handing it gingerly to Kagome. "Put some of the sweater in his mouth and tie the sleeves around his face so he can't get it off. That's the best I can do." She clenched her eyes closed as a wave of pain shot through her shoulder as she extended the arm to Kagome.

Kagome winced in sympathy. "We're going to get out of here, Rin."

She shook her head in agreement, although Rin was having a hard time believing it could really be so simple. How were they planning on breaking out of the van?

When she realized the van wasn't moving and hadn't been moving since she'd awoken, Rin looked back at Kagome, who was busy securing Rin's favorite sweater around their assailant. She would have looked out of the windows, but they'd been painted black to keep them oblivious to their location.

"How long have we been sitting still?"

"Maybe an hour. I'm not sure. We were moving when I woke up, but now there hasn't been anything. I figured they would have checked on their friend over here," She patted the unconscious man's butt before sitting back on the bench with Rin. "I think we need to bust out of the back before they get back. We don't have time to discuss it, we need to go."

Rin nodded, more than ready to get back to Sesshomaru. Would he even know they were missing? She did say she would call him and she never had. Hopefully he was on his way home to her.

What were they even doing, kidnapped and stuck in a van like this? What was the point of it all? Better yet, how had Rin and Kagome fallen right into their trap? They couldn't have known Sango's brother would be in that club and would have ushered her away. Rin knew there was some sort of leak with Sesshomaru's job, but she hadn't actually thought she'd be kidnapped. She hadn't spoken with her father in nearly a year, so she doubted he was the reason she was in this situation now. So what could it be? Nothing made sense.

"When I checked earlier, I noticed that the handle to the door had been ripped off, so I'm going to have to kick it open. It's going to be loud and we need to be ready to sprint out of this death trap before we're caught."

"Okay."

Kagome moved back over to the door. She sat down on the floor of the van, propping her upper body with her lower arms and pressing her feet against the area the handle that been. She bent her legs once, twice and on the third go she slammed both of her legs into the double doors. Rin was more than impressed when the doors flew open, Kagome sliding out effortlessly and scanning the warehouse they had apparently been parked in.

The man who had been unconscious began to thrash wildly in the floor of the van, marking that as Rin's queue to leave. She gingerly jumped from the back of the van, the impact jarring her shoulder. Ignoring the pain, Rin hurried over to Kagome, who was making her way to one of the walls, frantically searching for a way out.

Before Kagome could take another step, laughter sounded from the darkness, startling both of the women.

"I wondered how long it would take before you roused yourselves from the vehicle and came out to play." The voice was menacing and without a body to attach it to, seemed twice as frightening to Rin than it should have been.

"Well it's about time. I was beginning to suspect this whole thing was just a big mistake." Kagome piped up from behind Rin before coming to stand in front of her, her stance protective.

While Rin was grateful, she was growing increasingly tired of this whole thing.

"Insolence will not be tolerated, demon whore." A flash of green came from the darkness to their right. Both women ducked out of the way, barely missing whatever had been hurled at them.

"What the heck was that?!"

"Not now, Rin. We need to focus."

"Well how about we not taunt the disembodied voice that likes to toss green fireballs our way?" Rin hissed back at Kagome, ignoring the laugh that was sounding much more close than Rin wanted to admit.

Both women turned and fled back toward the wall, hoping to find some sort of exit. Rin shrieked when she was lifted into the air. A moment later she was flying backwards, landing hard on the roof of the van with an 'oomph'.

"Rin!" Kagome yelled, the fear evident in her voice.

"I tire of this insolence! Submit yourselves to me, forsake your demonic lovers and I will spare your lives. If you do not, I will disembowel you both." The voice was almost on top of Rin and she found herself narrowing her eyes in fury.

"How about you fuck off?" Rin hissed, grabbing her ring, twisting it and shouting out words she'd never dared speak out before.

There was a blinding light that seemed to form out of the ceiling above. There was an audible crack before the roof itself was ripped away, almost as if it were sucked into the white light. Rin's hair whipped over her face and towards the light, conveniently helping to muffle some of the noise that was coming from the hole itself.

Rin squinted, unsure of what the hell was happening. Was that some kind of black hole she'd conjured to life with that incantation? She had assumed Sesshomaru would get some kind of homing beacon to her location and whoosh his way in his weird ball of light thing, not create a giant hole in the sky and appear out of nowhere. What kind of demon had such power?

Rin was so focused on the light above her, she barely noticed as the creature shaped like a spider wailed in fury before scurrying away from her, trying desperately to find any kind of darkness. It was using webs to move quickly throughout the warehouse, but the hole had ripped away most of them.

A loud roar sounded through the white light, echoing around the large warehouse, the light flashing twice as bright before a huge white dog demon took up most of the space where the roof had been. Rin gasped audibly, caught between fascination and horror. She'd never seen anything like it, and she had just seen a demon spider dangling above her face. The dog demon's head was thrown back, a howl piercing the night air before it sprang into action, ripping through the spider as if it were nothing more than a pesky fly. The dog could barely fit through the hole that was once the warehouse roof, yet to moved gracefully and with purpose; to annihilate the enemy.

Rin stayed on top of the van, sitting on her knees as the beast ate up its prey, not stopping until the spider was completely devoured. Then its gaze turned back and caught her own, a purple crescent moon on its forehead.

It was only then Rin realized her dog demon savior had only three legs. At that realization, any fear or apprehension Rin might have had vanished, almost as if it had never been.

Her eyes softened and she held open her good arm, beckoning the beast to her.

"Rin..." Kagome whispered. "What are you doing?"

"Relax, Kagome. It's Sesshomaru, can't you tell?"

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome's voice was but a mere thread of sound before she backed out of the way, using the new lighting to guide her to a door and out into the night, giving them a bit of privacy.

Sesshomaru waited until Kagome was out of sight before moving towards Rin, his muzzle pressing against her hand.

"Glad you could make it." Rin smiled, feeling more complete than she had in days.

TA DAAAAA

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment on/like/love the story

Much love,
-Mo