Trapped in the Threads of Fate
Disclaimer: ::yawn:: When I look at the calendar, my spending habits, the money that I do make, my tuition, and all other necessities, I STILL don't see me owning Inuyasha anytime soon! Sheesh, if anyone thought I was Rumiko Takahashi...maybe you should get your brain checked. As of today, I still don't own him, and the future still looks very dim.
A/N: Hey there peeps! How's it going? Well, I do realize that I have no excuse but all those excuses that I've used in the past. But I can hear some of you saying that that is no excuse for almost 2 months without updating even once. And I totally agree! I will try harder this week for sure because I have a week off of school now, so I hope to get a lot of things done. I think I have at least a list of 10 or 11 things I want to do this week, so lets all cross our fingers and hope that I can get it all done...I hate studying, so I think I'm gonna use the 'not-study-time' for writing this chappie.
Oh, and just a little side note: ~*@@@* ~ means that Kagome is in her own little world...you know, she is having one of those flashback thingies. But that's all I'm gonna tell you cause otherwise I'd give too much away...yeah, so onto the chappie!
~*Recap*~
"Tsk tsk tsk. And here I thought you would be happy to reunite with your obviously more powerful older brother!" teased Sesshomaru in an emotionless tone.
"You're full of yourself!" Kagome whispered in a hoarse voice.
"And the bitch speaks!" Sesshomaru said as his claw left her chin and his hand went to squeeze her throat in one smooth movement. "You should learn to keep your mouth shut when around a REAL youkai!"
"If you harm one hair on her head..." Inuyasha snarled as he discreetly took a few steps closer to the couple.
Chapter Twelve: Friends Die Hard
"Ah ah ah," warned Sesshomaru as he caught the slight movement in front of him. "I thought we went through this already! You must understand little half-brother, that if you move, I WILL kill her." He lightly traced a deadly finger down Kagome's throat before looking into Inuyasha's fierce golden eyes.
"What do you want?" Inuyasha growled through clenched teeth, his eyes never leaving Kagome's vulnerable form. His ears had picked up the sharp intake of breath that came from Kagome when a claw pressed uncomfortably into her throat.
Sesshomaru dropped his hand from Kagome's neck, "What do I want?" He seemed to think for a moment before answering, "Do you become less intelligent as the years progress? Or are you just daft by nature? But don't answer that, you would just end up making more a fool of yourself."
Inuyasha fixed a cold glare on his brother, "You want Tetsusaiga. That's the only thing you've ever wanted from me besides my corpse!"
A thorny vine came slithering behind Sesshomaru and Kagome. Without any effort at all, Sesshomaru produced a deadly whip and struck the vine before it had the chance to wound him. "Pesky Bitch," he stated under his breath. Then he raised his voice and called out, "IF YOU EVER TRY THAT ON ME AGAIN, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO SHRED YOU TO PIECES!"
Kagome jumped at the sudden outburst from her captor. After all, she hadn't seen what had happened behind her. Soon she found that the hand that held the whip moments before was now gripping her neck rather harshly.
Seeing this, Inuyasha took a couple steps closer, till there was only a few feet between his magnificent blade and Sesshomaru's form.
"But there's just one more thing that I want from you half-breed," breathed Sesshomaru as he moved his head close to Kagome's ear.
For one brief moment, the stone-cold glare Inuyasha had placed on his brother flickered to one of panic towards Kagome. "She's just a weak human, what does she have to do with this?" questioned Inuyasha in hopes of freeing the girl.
Kagome could feel the hot breath on her ear and neck. It made her skin crawl to have him so close. As much as she wanted to scream insults at him, she knew she had to keep her mouth shut if she hoped to survive. All she had to do was wait for Inuyasha to rescue her.
A strong wind blew at Kagome's face as Sesshomaru quietly whispered in her ear, "Unfortunately for you, I grow bored. You have fulfilled my purpose in drawing my half-brother out, so now I have no more use for you. You can join your friends in a slow and painful death!"
Inuyasha watched as his half-brother whispered something to Kagome. He was upwind to a strong current, so even his sensitive ears couldn't pick up what was being said. All he could do was watch as Kagome's hazel eyes went wide in obvious fear.
Sesshomaru reached for Kagome's upper arm and gripped tightly, "Too bad that these Bitch-vines got the thirst for blood today!" With that, he roughly tossed Kagome in the air. At the same time, he flicked his poison whip at Inuyasha to keep him from any heroics. Inuyasha had to jump back, away from Kagome, to avoid getting stung by the snaky whip.
Kagome screamed as she saw an extremely thorny vine covered in blood come speeding towards her.
"KAGOME!" Inuyasha yelled as he too saw the vine shoot at her. But he was powerless to save her from harm, because Sesshomaru was advancing at lightening speed.
Sesshomaru was a pro even without a sword of his own. All the attacks or dodges he made seemed elegant. While on the other hand there was Inuyasha, whose attacks and dodges were random, sporadic and choppy. Although it did seem to give him somewhat of an advantage because the older youkai never knew what he was going to do next.
Kagome had closed her eyes just waiting for the pain she was sure to receive. She felt a vine slither around her waist and left leg. But it pulled her the wrong way, at least that was what she thought. Kagome had been ready to join Sango and Miroku in their wall of thorns, but instead she was being pulled in the opposite direction.
Slowly she opened her eyes to drink in her surroundings. Just feet from her face, Kagome saw a deadly vine that seemed to be chasing her. Confusion set in full force, until she looked at the smooth emerald vine that had itself wrapped around her body. Without thinking, Kagome gripped the smooth vine around her waist and held on. "Please don't let it get me!" she whispered as she flew through the air.
A clash of metal on stone below caught Kagome's attention. She watched as a bright green whip sailed through the air and just barely missed Inuyasha. His movements were clumsy due to the fact that he kept looking up to see the situation Kagome was in. But Sesshomaru's movements were graceful and elegant. He almost seemed to be dancing to music that neither Kagome nor Inuyasha could hear.
Kagome momentarily forgot her own problems when she saw the whip slice Inuyasha's back. She winced when the sound reached her ears. It was hard to watch. Yet Kagome found that she couldn't look away, even when Inuyasha slipped on the edge of the stone roof and fell the six stories to the ground below. But Kagome was brought back to her worries up above as she was suddenly jerked to the left side of the castle. Inuyasha was completely out of her field of vision now, and she was rudely reminded that she had her own problems.
Sesshomaru lost no time following his younger brother to the ground. He landed gracefully beside Inuyasha's bruised form. Slowly, he bent down and pinched one of Inuyasha's sensitive ears. This immediately got curses from the hanyou as he was roughly forced to his feet.
"You fucking bastard," growled Inuyasha under his breath. Grudgingly he got to his feet and scowled at his older half-brother. He gripped his hands into fists as something occurred to him. 'Where's Tetsusaiga? Oh crap, I must've dropped it when I slipped!' Inuyasha's golden eyes darted the expanse before him while he remained ready and alert for anything Sesshomaru might do.
"Loose something?" asked Sesshomaru in a sly tone. He had the slightest hint of a smile grace his otherwise emotionless face.
Inuyasha snarled as he noticed that the Tetsusaiga was in the reflection of his half-brother's golden eyes. "No, I know exactly where it is!" he said as the pain in his ear went double fold. Just as an idea popped into his head, Inuyasha swiped a handful of claws at Sesshomaru's face and did a back flip to his now rusty sword. His hand grasped the hilt and as if in slow motion, he flipped back onto his feet. 'Wow, I didn't know I could do that!' he thought as he looked from the rusty sword to Sesshomaru.
"Well, well, wasn't THAT impressive!" commented the youkai.
"Shut up!" ground out Inuyasha as he held the rusty sword to his assaulter. But his sword didn't transform into the fantastic blade it had been just moments before. Inuyasha transferred a slightly confused look to the rust-bucket.
Seeing the look on Inuyasha's face, Sesshomaru lost his expressionless face. With an amused look across his features, "And here I thought you knew how to master father's sword! It was just a fluke wasn't it?"
Inuyasha could tell that his older half-brother was giving it his all not to laugh and break his otherwise known reputation of expressionlessness. Rolling his eyes, Inuyasha asked one last question, "If you don't want this sword, my corpse, or any of my human friends' corpse's, then what do you want?"
Sesshomaru gained his composure, "Ah, finally a question worth answering!" He looked to his brother with cold eyes. "Five hundred years ago, I was called to the Southern lands for a wedding of one of MY cousins. And when I got back to my castle...well, it looked like THIS," he said as he waved his hand towards the vines.
Inuyasha gave him a bored look, "And?"
"If you want me to tell you what I want before I kill you, then make sure to KEEP YOUR PATHETIC PIPE SHUT!" growled Sesshomaru at being interrupted. After a few moments of glaring at each other in silence, he continued. "Not only did MY castle look like it had been attacked by some plant youkai, but there was an annoying bush that completely surrounded MY grounds. At the time I thought it would be simple to just jump over the vines and cut them down later. But these obviously magical vines grew as I jumped, forcing me to stay out of MY castle and grounds. I have tried to destroy them, but it seems that nothing that I tried in the past worked. I was without MY rightful home for FIVE HUNDRED YEARS. And now that I have finally broken the defenses of the possessed bush, I find that YOU have been here in MY castle all this time! You ask what I want? I want my revenge and MY CASTLE BACK!"
A twitch had formed in Inuyasha's eye as he listened to the sap story his half-brother was giving him. "So you formed an alliance with the fucking bush vine? That was smart. Why don't you just ASK to be killed right NOW?"
"Who said that's how I did it?" asked Sesshomaru as he watched Inuyasha shake his blade every few seconds. "And no matter how hard you do that, it won't help!"
"SHUT UP SHIT FOR BRAINS!" yelled Inuyasha as his anger fuse got closer to the end.
Sesshomaru put his whip away in favor of watching the hanyou struggle with the blade for a few moments. He stood with his arms crossed, "I hired a magic interpreter and he explained to me that this vine wants your death just as much as I do. Although she seems to want your little girl friend's death even more so."
That made Inuyasha stop shaking his rusty blade and look off in the distance where he could hear Kagome's far-away scream. His heart seemed to skip a beat as all the possibilities ran through his mind as to what was happening to her. 'I have to get to her now!' thought Inuyasha. 'She needs me to protect her!'
Suddenly both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had their attention diverted to the fact that Inuyasha's blade was now enveloped in a flame that didn't burn. The flame dispersed and a rather large, flawless blade was left to grace Inuyasha's hands.
'So THAT'S how I do it! This blade is meant for me to protect Kagome. And protect her I shall,' thought Inuyasha as he faced his half- brother with a new look of determination.
"Looks like you've finally figured it out. Bravo! But it will not do you any good, you will still loose to me," said Sesshomaru with the return of his expressionless face.
Sesshomaru produced his poison whip and like a magnet it sped to Inuyasha's ready body. With what seemed like new self-discipline, Inuyasha gracefully avoided any contact with the whip.
Another scream off in the distance created even more of a purpose for Inuyasha to get the battle with Sesshomaru over and done with. Shooting into the air, Inuyasha waited for the opportune moment to strike his prey.
Sesshomaru had an inkling of what his half-brother was planning. All he had to do was let Inuyasha swipe at him just after his whip went straight by him only to whisk back and penetrate the hanyou's arm that held the blade. And the perfect angle was seconds from becoming flawless. He watched Inuyasha, and drew his whip just as the opening arrived.
Inuyasha realized that his half-brother was timing his attack and suddenly knew that if he didn't change his own assault it might lead to some unwanted outcome. His father flashed through his mind for a moment accompanied by the voice of an old friend. Just as the poison whip flew meters from him, the fuzzy memory clicked. Inuyasha raised his arms over his head, slowly beginning to descend straight for the oncoming whip. He let the blade guide his body and mind as he let out the move that had been displayed by his father when he was only five years old. Power seemed to surge through his body and unexpectedly he could actually SEE the wind. Those three words were at the tip of his tongue.
The poison whip was now only feet from striking Inuyasha. Sesshomaru was confused, 'Inuyasha was supposed to dodge the attack, not let the whip go through him willingly. Although that will work too. Either way he'll be too wounded to fight back anymore.' So he watched as his half-brother was seemingly accepting his inevitable death.
Unexpected by the youkai below, Inuyasha let out three words that were horribly familiar to both boys. "KAZE NO KIZU!" yelled Inuyasha as he let Tetsusaiga soar with more force behind it than he knew he had inside him. A dangerous series of light extended from the tip of the magnificent blade that was pointed straight for Sesshomaru. The poison whip was carelessly sliced by the attack that made its way to its prey.
Remembering that he had forgotten his life-giving sword with a guardian, Sesshomaru decided to try to flee from the impending doom that was looming in front of him. But the deadly light was too fast as it slowly consumed his now defenseless body. "Ah shit!" he said as he felt all the energy leave him.
Inuyasha gradually glided to the ground in a mood of awe. 'Is he dead? No, that can't be possible. Sesshomaru the idiot can't be killed that easily! He's too pig-headed to let me destroy him in one foul swoop. Right?' thought Inuyasha as he cautiously ventured to his half-brother. Just as he reached the remains of the youkai a third scream that was obviously from Kagome's lips rang through the air. And this one seemed a lot more important than the last two.
"How could I have forgotten about Kagome?" Inuyasha growled to himself as he sped off in the direction of the last scream. "Please just stay alive till I get there!"
~**~
Kagome flew around the corner of the castle with the greedy and very thorny vine in hot pursuit. Her right leg was dangling mostly because she couldn't keep it with the leg that the emerald vine had attached itself to. There was no way that Kagome could even hope to know how fast she was going. 'As long as I don't get caught by the vine with thorns I'll be alright. And as long as Inuyasha doesn't let his brother get the better of him, we might both have a chance of survival,' thought Kagome.
Before she knew it, Kagome was being led toward the ground below at an alarming rate. She gasped when she realized that if she hit at the speed she was going it would hurt big time. But the vine guiding her stopped abruptly just inches from the ground. And that's when Kagome truly started to panic, "No! Don't stop! Keep going. You can do it. I don't want that vine to...I wanna see Inuyasha just one more time!"
As if hearing her plea, the smooth emerald vine started to surround Kagome's body completely. Vines were coming off the castle making it look like the whole wall was falling on her. In mere seconds there was an impenetrable wall of vines surrounding her, with room to spare.
Kagome couldn't see the thrashing vine of thorns attacking the emerald vine wall holding her in safety. She could only hear what sounded faintly like an axe chopping wood in the distance. But that didn't mean that she couldn't imagine what was really happening outside of her vision.
Kagome was gasping for air from the adrenaline rush that had seemed to explode into her system. Her head was foggy and spinning. And the amount of air and light around her was beginning to worry her as she realized that oxygen would most likely run out as fast as the light had. Deciding to try to calm her fried nerves, Kagome plopped on the grass beneath her.
"This has got to be THE worst day of my life!" said Kagome to no one in particular. She just needed to relieve some of her newfound stress by talking out loud. And if anybody heard her, she could just tell them she was talking to the vine surrounding her hoping that it would say something back. "Sango and Miroku are up on the roof probably close to death if not dead already. Inuyasha is fighting his psycho brother. And I'm stuck in a room made of vines. This is just the most BEAUTIFUL day EVER!" she said as she threw her hands up.
~**~
Vines were rapidly leaving the bodies of Miroku and Sango as they went to a different cause in another part of the castle grounds. Miroku was the first to slump to the ground from the lack of support from his thorny captor. His head hit the hard stone roof, shocking him awake from the unusual pain replacing the stings he was getting from the spikes.
Miroku's violet eyes flickered open as he slowly took a look at his surroundings. His own blood was smearing all over the area he was lying on. Tenderly he moved his hands to prop himself up. A gentle breeze made his small ponytail move, which made him realize that he wasn't inside anymore. Pushing himself up even more, he twisted to sit on his rump. It hurt everywhere that hadn't lost all feeling.
From his sitting position, Miroku could see clouds and treetops along with what was most certainly the top of the castle roof. 'Wonder how I got up here? Hey, Sango...she was with me before...where is she now?' he wondered as he carefully moved to get to his feet as fast as his painful wounds would let him. He stumbled a few times before he finally gained his balance. 'Now to find a way off this place and find where Sango is.'
Miroku turned around to see that Sango was right with him the entire time. She was still covered in a collection of vines, but her head was making an appearance. Moving his feet as fast as he could, Miroku moved to get to Sango and see if she was still alive. He reached for the nearest vine and tugged to see if it would budge. It didn't.
"This won't do at all!" he said as he backed up and raised his right hand. "Don't worry Sango! If I time this just right you won't get sucked in and I can get most of those evil things off of you! Not that you can hear what I just said cause you're unconscious. Guess I just said that for my own comfort." Miroku sighed when he took one last look at the bloody yet peaceful looking woman.
Taking a deep breath, Miroku let out Kazana. The void sucked in all sorts of leaves and dirt that had been on the roof of the castle. None of the vines seemed to be budging at all, except for one off to the far right. It was on the side he had been on, so Sango wouldn't be in the direct line of consumption. The vine started to shake uncontrollably before it suddenly let go its hold on the other vines and flew into the black hole. That started a chain reaction, which led to more vines letting go and getting dragged into the stream of debris heading into Miroku's cursed hand.
Glancing over at Sango, Miroku noticed that the vines were creeping off her one by one. 'Perfect! Just a little longer and she'll be completely free. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up so I hope I can get them all off before I completely keel over,' thought Miroku as he felt the Kazana take it's toll on his energy. Keeping a close eye on Sango, he watched as the last vine left her body and she slumped to the ground much like he must have.
As soon as she hit the stone roof, Miroku wrapped his rosary over his right hand and collapsed to his knees. His breathing was irregular as he felt the evil coarse through him. He started to crawl towards the girl on the ground. After much struggling with his hands and knees, Miroku finally made it to her. "I'll just...check you're pulse," he said as he reached for her wrist.
But almost as soon as he touched her hand, his energy was spent and he collapsed onto her body. Sango had been lying on her stomach, so Miroku fell on her backside. Only his head actually touched her, but he would be in for a surprise if Sango woke up before him, because his head was resting right on her bottom.
~**~
A small ray of light filtered into her dark haven. Kagome moved to the tiny hole and strained to look outside. All she could see were vines and more vines. It was hard to tell which were the possessed deadly vines and which was part of her savior. But the vines were constantly moving, seeming to be attacking each other.
As the vines hit each other, one came flying at the open hole that Kagome was peering out of. Automatically she backed away and moved as far as she could to the opposite side of her 'room'. Her hand touched something that was definitely NOT the grass or a vine. It was small and roundish. One half was smooth while the other was rough and coarse. Kagome picked it up and held it into the small ray of light to see what it was. 'It looks like an acorn,' she thought to herself as she turned it in the limited light she had to work with.
As she held the acorn in the light Kagome started to feel a breeze blow her hair. 'What? There shouldn't be any wind! I'm supposed to be surrounded by the pretty vines...right?' her mind ran as she squeezed the small acorn in her grip and looked around her refuge. But nothing had changed at all, and there was absolutely no breeze at all coming from the tiny pinhole in the wall. 'Well that's just weird! Where's that coming from?' she thought as she crawled around in search of the draft.
But the vines did seem to dissipate as she looked around. Kagome started to panic at the lack of protection when she noticed the strange sound coming from the top of the castle. And the thorny vines were being sucked up to the roof, or they were retreating from defeat. 'Maybe that's Miroku's air void thing! That means that he's alive. This is great! Then, maybe Sango's okay too?' she thought as she started to get excited. Then, all at once, there was a harsh light that seemed to invade her hazel eyes.
~*@@@*~
"What the heck?" exclaimed Kagome as she covered her eyes with her left arm. When she felt that it was safe to open her eyes, she was staring at the castle. But there were absolutely NO vines of any kind anywhere near the walls. She spun around to see if she could see the bush, but there was none to be seen. All she could see was a small stream with a stone bridge and beyond that was what seemed to be a dense forest. There were dark clouds looming over the forest in the distance, but other than that, the sky was completely clear of clouds and the sun was shining brightly.
"Do you think he's THAT stupid?" asked as small voice coming from behind her. Kagome immediately spun to see who the voice belonged to.
"Shut up!" growled the familiar man beside a young boy.
Kagome gasped as she recognized the man as the one who had stolen a kiss from her. Her hand instantaneously flew to cover her mouth.
There was a small yellow and black cat with three tails walking towards Kagome, who took a step back when it walked right through her right leg. 'That's just creepy!' she thought as her hazel eyes widened at the thought.
"Do you WANT that bitch to hear your high voice? You know SHE can hear you a mile away! I for one don't want to be caught. Plus, didn't we agree on the objective of surprise?" whispered the wolf boy.
The young boy looked at his feet and scrunched up his little nose as he whispered his apology. "Sorry, Kouga. I forgot for a little bit. I'll try harder to keep quiet so Kikyo doesn't hear me before we attack her!"
Kagome had learned two things from that, one, that the wolf boy was named Kouga, and two, that they obviously didn't like Kikyo. "This is just too weird!" she whispered to herself. The small yellow cat looked directly in Kagome's hazel eyes, sending a shiver down her spine. 'Did that animal hear me?' she wondered as she looked to the others to see if they could hear her too.
"It's okay Shippo, we just have to be extra careful! We don't want any of Sesshomaru's goons to find us either. The less trouble we find, the easier it will be to find and kill that Bitch," whispered Kouga with a disturbing smile decorating his face. "Let's go save Kaede and Inuyasha before that Bitch can hurt either of them!"
"Kouga, can I ask you somethin' before we go in there?" asked the now deemed Shippo in a small voice.
"Sure thing kid. What you wanna know?" Kouga asked in a gentle and soothing voice as he bent down to Shippo's level.
Kagome smiled at the gesture. 'Maybe this guy isn't so bad at all. I can forgive him for kissing me without my permission if he acts like this with all little children. I wonder how Inuyasha acts around kids? I bet he's just as nice! After all, these two seem to want to save him from Kikyo... I hope he's alright now. As long as Sesshomaru doesn't hurt him too bad, I'm sure he can survive,' she thought as her mind wandered to things other than the three strangers in front of her. Kagome quickly shook all foreign thoughts from her head as she listened to Shippo ask his question.
He was twisting his hands together in a nervous motion, "Well, I was wondering why we can't just fly Kirara up. Cause that way we don't have to fight any of the other bad guys!" He looked up to the older boy with big green eyes.
A quiet laugh escaped from Kouga's lips, "We need to go by foot so that we CAN defeat the 'bad guys.' When we do save Kaede and Inuyasha, it will be easier to escape from the castle if there aren't any 'bad guys' blocking our path. And Kirara can't carry everyone...what if Inuyasha gets knocked out? It wouldn't be fair to Kirara to carry that many of us out of the castle. Now would it?"
"But she's done it before!" Shippo pouted.
Kagome giggled at the little boy's response. The cat named Kirara looked at her suspiciously and cocked her head to the side. Figuring that the cat could understand her, Kagome decided to talk to it. "Hi! My name's Kagome Higurashi. As far as I can tell, you're Kirara, the little one is Shippo and the big guy's Kouga. I've never met Kikyo or Kaede, but I hope you don't mind if I tag along with you to see what you guys are gonna do. I think I know when this is too. It's the time when the castle was frozen. And if you guys were here when it froze, then that means that you're still here in my time. Then I can find you and set you free...however that happens. I'm still not sure, but I am sure that if I find you, I can figure out a way to get you unfrozen! Then you can help Inuyasha and the rest of us!" said Kagome as she bent down to pretend to pet Kirara, careful not to let her hand go through the animal...youkai.
Kirara meowed in approval and turned to walk toward the side of the castle.
"Kirara, wait up!" whispered Kouga as he dashed after her.
Shippo turned to follow the others, giving Kagome a very nice view of a cute tail she hadn't seen before. Kagome squealed in delight, "Kawaii!"
Kirara stopped abruptly in front of Kouga making him almost trip over her, and looked behind to Kagome. She shook her head and started off again.
Kouga looked back to Shippo a little confused. But he just shrugged his shoulders and motioned for the little boy to keep up.
'He has a foxtail! That is SoOoOo cute. Oh, and his feet are like a fox's too,' thought Kagome as she skipped behind the trio. 'I hadn't noticed that Shippo wasn't a real boy, but it's definite that he is more of a youkai...maybe even a hanyou like Inuyasha.'
As they got to the side of the castle, Kagome noticed a small window by a camouflaged stone door. Shippo was hoisted up to the open window and climbed in silently. Seconds later the sound of Shippo's struggle with a wooden bolt locking the door was heard. After a great effort on the little Kitsune's part, there was the loud sound of the wooden bolt hitting stone floor. Kagome could even hear him drag it a little ways away from the door so he could open it.
"Hurry up Shippo. Someone's bound to have heard that!" Kouga said in a low voice while looking around them to see if any of the guards were coming.
Kagome also looked behind her as she finally succumbed to the tension in the air. She didn't see anything, but soon heard the door opening. She spun around to the door just in time to see a rather out of breath Shippo.
"Good job!" whispered Kouga as he patted the boy on the head and walked in.
Kirara meowed her approval too, and tugged at Shippo's pant leg to get him to move inside the door. He let her lead him back inside to 'safety.'
Kagome took one quick look around before she quickly followed them inside. And just as she turned, from the corner of her eye, she saw that ugly toad that had tried to squeeze the life from her when she first ventured into the castle. She gulped as Kouga pushed the door shut and effortlessly put the wooden bolt back in place. Secretly praying all the way that the toad wouldn't find the invading trio.
Kouga bent down to Kirara and Shippo's level and motioned to stay very quiet and as still as possible. Even though Kagome knew that there was no way she would give away the brave group, she still held her breath and crouched to the floor hoping that she wouldn't make a noise to give them away. She could tell that Kouga was straining to hear, much like Inuyasha but with human ears.
Letting out a sigh, Kouga stood up to his full height, signaling that it was safe to breath again. Kagome looked up at him from her place on the floor and was amazed at the leadership qualities that he seemed to possess. His figure loomed and he seemed to show great superiority to the other two smaller youkai in his presence. He nodded to Kirara and turned to go to the nearest corridor.
Kagome was confused as to what the nod meant, but soon found out when an unexpected fire seemed to generate from the cat. Kagome screamed at the top of her lungs out of pure surprise. When the fire dissipated, a rather large and dangerous looking cat was standing where a small and gentle looking cat had been moments before. Neither Shippo nor Kouga seemed surprised by this sudden transformation, but Kagome had been VERY close to peeing in her pants. Kirara looked at Kagome and shook her head as if the girl should have seen that coming and not been so afraid.
Kagome met the fire cat's rose-colored eyes, "I never even knew that youkai existed until about a couple weeks ago! Like I was supposed to know that you would do that? Give me a break." Kagome rolled her hazel eyes at the cat.
Kirara just snickered under her breath, earning confused looks from both boys. Ignoring the looks, Kirara carefully picked up Shippo with her mouth and put him on her back. Kouga shrugged and motioned that the coast was clear and started to quietly walk down the corridor. He was followed by the fire cat and a girl he knew nothing of.
Running through corridor after corridor was getting Kagome finding it hard to keep up. They had only run into a few inu-youkai along the way that were alive. Most of the youkai they passed were already dead. And from the looks of their fatal wounds, it was Inuyasha's handiwork. They almost all had claw marks. But some had some funny wounds that almost looked like they were stars burned into their flesh. It was kinda disturbing because the burnt flesh had a blue glow to it and radiated a familiar magical kind of feeling. But Kagome couldn't put her finger on just where she had felt that feeling before. It was at the tip of her brain, but it just wasn't coming to her.
Finally Kouga led them to what Kagome thought was surely the last set of stairs that they had to climb. She was getting tired from all the running around. She had already gotten used to the fact that she couldn't be hurt in this dream world, so she wasn't as tense as she had been before. The only time she got tense was when one of her new 'friends' seemed to be in trouble with a youkai.
As they rounded another corner, an inu-youkai came from behind them and knocked Shippo off his perch on Kirara. Kagome gasped as she tried to catch him in mid-air, for a moment forgetting that she wouldn't be able to grasp him. Shippo hit the stonewall with a thud. Kirara spun around and crouched to attack the offending youkai. She jumped at him with her claws out. Kagome was right in the line of attack and quickly leaped out of harms way and head first into a suit of armor. Connecting with the metal, Kagome soon found that it was very hard to keep her eyes open due to the sudden pain coursing through her head and neck.
The last thing Kagome saw before her world became dark was another inu-youkai heading straight for Kouga.
~*@@@*~
Hand going to her head, Kagome rubbed the soar spot on her forehead. 'That's going to leave a mark!' she thought as she slowly sat up and tried to piece together what had happened. Abruptly she realized that she was in the exact hall that she had seen Sango and Miroku's limp bodies being dragged down before. Their blood was still on the floor she was sitting on. That got Kagome to leap up to her feet and flatten herself to the nearest wall.
Her heart was beating fast as the memories came flooding back. Left hand going to her heart to unsuccessfully stop its thumping, while her right hand moved to find some sort of support to lean on besides the wall. Kagome's hand found the suit of armor and she slowly let herself sit on its stand where it was firmly placed. She closed her hazel eyes as her right hand accidentally pushed the toe of the armor down and into place making a loud noise. Kagome slightly jumped in surprise.
A rummaging sound was heard from the inside of the armor, making Kagome look up at it in confusion. She cautiously stood and opened the faceplate.
"Who...who's out there?" came a small echoy voice from inside.
Kagome backed away, "Who's inside there first?"
"I asked you first!" came the voice in a slightly more brave tone.
"I'm Kagome!" she said, "Now who are you?"
There was more movement from inside the suit of armor before a light brown head of hair appeared, followed by the face of the Kitsune boy Kagome had seen in her latest 'vision.' Kagome let out a sigh of relief as she let her heart calm down. But Shippo's green eyes also showed recognition as they narrowed into slits.
Then he all but popped out of the armor. "LIAR!" he yelled as he flung himself at the surprised girl.
Kagome screamed when she realized that he meant to hurt her. She had seen him scratch at one of the inu-youkai's eyes when it looked like Kouga had been badly hurt, and Kagome did NOT want her eyes to be scratched out. She turned and ran as fast as she could down the hall. After a short run, she stopped running and turned to face the small boy who was looking at her in pure confusion. This led to a perplexed face from Kagome directed at Shippo.
"What's wrong with you? You've never screamed before! Plus, you're wearing VERY strange clothes. Where's your miko clothes?" asked Shippo as he studied the girl in front of him. "And your face actually has...emotion!"
"Wait. Miko. That's it! You think I'm that Kikyo girl!" Kagome smiled.
Shippo gave her an even more mystified look, "What do you mean? That's who you are...isn't it?"
Laughing, Kagome answered, "No, not at all! I've never even met her. Well, I sort of did...once, but Inuyasha agreed with me that that was just a vision of his past. So I don't think that counts. But I'm not her. I'm me...I mean, I'm Kagome."
Shippo cautiously moved to Kagome sniffing all the way. He was starting to make her nervous when he got close, but she didn't move a muscle. All of a sudden, he jumped up and landed in her arms. "You were the ghost that hit her head on the metal armor before I fell asleep in there!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"What?" asked Kagome in bewilderment. "I didn't think anyone could see me but Kirara! You mean you could see me too?"
"Only when that inu-youkai surprised us! I saw you when you tried to catch me. And then you hit your head hard...but I guess I didn't take a close look at your face because I was too busy trying to hide from all the fighting," explained Shippo. "And I'm so glad that you're not Kikyo! Because she would've fried me with her miko powers as soon as I came out of my hiding place."
Kagome smiled and patted his head. Then an idea popped into her head and she grabbed his soft brown tail. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time!" she giggled as she pet the silky fur.
Shippo also giggled at the welcome attention. "I like you Kagome!" he smiled when she stopped her petting.
Kagome smiled back, "And I like you too Shippo! But I have a question for you. Do you know where your friends were before time froze for you?"
"Um..." said Shippo as he seemed to dig deep into the recesses of his mind. "I think Kirara...oh look, there she is!" he squealed as he pointed to a very stiff looking cat perched on a ledge on close to the ceiling.
Kagome moved so they were right under Kirara's position. "Do you think you could climb up there?" she asked as she lifted the Kitsune as high as she could above her head.
Reaching for the nearest crack in the old stone wall, Shippo grasped and hoisted himself up onto the wall. "It's worth the try!"
Holding her arms out, Kagome made sure she was ready just in case Shippo lost his hold and fell. And true to her intuition, not after long he lost his foothold on a loose brick and slipped. But he regained his hold on a protruding twig that seemed to be jammed between a couple stones in the wall. Unfortunately, the twig snapped with a loud crack and Shippo came falling into Kagome's ready arms.
"You okay?" asked Kagome as she looked at the thankful Shippo in her arms.
"Thanks to you!" he smiled as he buried his head into her shirt.
Above Kirara remained stiff. "meow," she said as she shook the stiffness from her body.
Both Shippo and Kagome automatically looked to the fire cat above. "She's awake!" squealed Shippo excitedly. He climbed onto Kagome's head and started to bounce.
"Hey, stop that. It doesn't feel good at all!" Kagome pleaded with the hyper kitsune. She tried to grab him to hold him still.
"Sorry," he apologized as he climbed back into her arms.
Kirara yawned and stretched before she transformed by fire into her much larger form. Paws touched stone floor as she simultaneously changed back into the small kitten. Seeing Shippo on Kagome, Kirara mewed in jealousy. She started to lick one of her paws that had landed in some blood on the floor, but as soon as her tongue tasted it, she made a disgusted face and immediately stopped her cleaning. Opting out of her cleaning, Kirara moved to rub against Kagome's leg.
Smiling, Kagome bent down to pet the kitten. "You DID see me didn't you," she said softly as she stroked the silky fur.
"Prow," mewed Kirara in response.
Shippo gave a confused look to the girl holding him, "What do you mean she saw you?"
"Ever think she was acting strange when you got to the castle?" asked Kagome simply.
A thoughtful look graced Shippo's face, "I guess she did seem to be acting kinda funny. That does kinda make sense now...I guess."
Kagome shook her head in amusement. She stood up taking Kirara along with her. Holding both small youkai, Kagome started to walk around the hallway. She opened the first door they came to, peering inside.
The two youkai in her arms gave Kagome puzzled looks. "What you looking for?" asked Shippo as his curiosity got the better of him.
"I'm looking for the other one," she said distantly as she shut the door to open the one across from it repeating her previous actions.
Shippo scrunched his nose, "Other one what?" He tugged at the sleeve of her t-shirt to get her attention focused on him for a moment.
Kagome blinked as she vaguely noticed the movement of her clothing before she looked at the cause of the disturbance. She gave the kitsune a confused look before his question sunk in. "Oh...yeah. I meant I'm looking for Kouga, the other guy that was with you when the castle went to sleep," she explained.
With that said, Kirara leaped out of Kagome's warm arms and went to a door a few doors down. She started to scratch at the bottom as Kagome looked at her a little perplexed. "Mew," she said in with a hint of annoyance.
Kagome caught the hint and started towards the door the fire cat was clawing. "He's in there?" she asked as she carefully lifted the latch on the door. The latch was slightly jammed, so she had a little bit of trouble before the loud click that signaled that it was finally free sounded through the hall. She was just about to open the door when it flung open to reveal the boy she had been searching for.
"Kouga!" Shippo shrieked in delight. He jumped from the girl to the boy in mere moments from his outburst. Kirara mimicked the kitsune as she mewed her happiness and pressed against the fur on Kouga's leg.
But Kouga wasn't looking at either youkai plastered on him, he was glaring at Kagome, making her very uneasy under his scrutiny. A shiver ran down her spine when his angry stare changed to pure hatred. She swallowed nervously as he put Shippo down without loosing eye contact with the girl in front of him. "Kikyo," he spat.
"No," Kagome started as she got ready to make the same defense she had made with Shippo.
Kouga gave her no chance to explain herself as he suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her shoulders harshly. This caused Kagome to let out a yelp of surprise. "You were going to try to kill Kaede and Inuyasha!" he growled in a low tone.
Again, Kagome tried to defend herself, "No, I would never-"
"Shut up Bitch!" roared Kouga as he started to shake her roughly.
"Stop that!" whined Shippo from his spot on the floor. He latched himself onto the wolf youkai and started to bite into his bare leg.
Kouga just kicked the cub off, "You want her to pay for what she tried to do don't you? She was going to kill two of our best friends!"
"No she wasn't!" Shippo retaliated as he lunged at the boy's leg again.
Kirara jumped in and copied Shippo's bite into Kouga's other leg.
"Will you two quit that!" he growled as he shook one then the other off of him.
This gave Kagome a little time to squirm from the wolf boy's grasp. As soon as she was free of his hands and claws, she started to race to the nearest stairwell. 'Oh Kami, I thought it was going to be different! Why did you have to make me look like someone they hated in the past? It's just not fair. Why can't I be the only one that looks like me? Oh Inuyasha, where are you when I need you?' thought Kagome silently as she ran as fast as her legs would carry her.
Kouga snarled fiercely as he watched the girl run from him. "This only makes me want you more!" he taunted as he cracked his knuckles. Shippo and Kirara moved to slow him down again but were left in the dust when he sped off at the speed of light.
"RUN KAGOME! RUN!" screamed Shippo as he saw the wolf gain on the girl.
Kagome unwisely glanced behind her for a split second. She saw Kouga rapidly catching up to her and in her distress she screamed in terror. But this scream was bone-chilling. She knew just how to stop the wolf in his tracks...just for a second, then he had her pinned against a wall in no time flat.
"No one can save you now, Bitch!" he growled as he reached for her neck.
Kagome squirmed under his hold and started to whimper as she felt a tear roll down her cheek. All hope was draining from her as she realized the amount of time that probably passed since she saw Inuyasha last. The familiar feeling of darkness was again invading her senses. "Inu...ya...sha..." she breathed as her vision was consumed and her breathing totally impaired. 'Where are you when I need you? If you're dead, I'm coming to join you. See you when I get there!'
~**~
A/N: Okies, this chappie is done. This is the edited version, and if you already read the other one, it's okay cause nothing really changed at all. He had nothing new to add...so it looks like he just wanted to read it before all of yous people. ;) Sorry again for the extra long wait I made you go thru. Hope this 18 page chapter makes up for everything! I'll be waiting patiently for your reviews for now...you please read and review! Till then, have great lives doing your own thing wherever you live!
KrysTheAngel ^_^
February 2004
Disclaimer: ::yawn:: When I look at the calendar, my spending habits, the money that I do make, my tuition, and all other necessities, I STILL don't see me owning Inuyasha anytime soon! Sheesh, if anyone thought I was Rumiko Takahashi...maybe you should get your brain checked. As of today, I still don't own him, and the future still looks very dim.
A/N: Hey there peeps! How's it going? Well, I do realize that I have no excuse but all those excuses that I've used in the past. But I can hear some of you saying that that is no excuse for almost 2 months without updating even once. And I totally agree! I will try harder this week for sure because I have a week off of school now, so I hope to get a lot of things done. I think I have at least a list of 10 or 11 things I want to do this week, so lets all cross our fingers and hope that I can get it all done...I hate studying, so I think I'm gonna use the 'not-study-time' for writing this chappie.
Oh, and just a little side note: ~*@@@* ~ means that Kagome is in her own little world...you know, she is having one of those flashback thingies. But that's all I'm gonna tell you cause otherwise I'd give too much away...yeah, so onto the chappie!
~*Recap*~
"Tsk tsk tsk. And here I thought you would be happy to reunite with your obviously more powerful older brother!" teased Sesshomaru in an emotionless tone.
"You're full of yourself!" Kagome whispered in a hoarse voice.
"And the bitch speaks!" Sesshomaru said as his claw left her chin and his hand went to squeeze her throat in one smooth movement. "You should learn to keep your mouth shut when around a REAL youkai!"
"If you harm one hair on her head..." Inuyasha snarled as he discreetly took a few steps closer to the couple.
Chapter Twelve: Friends Die Hard
"Ah ah ah," warned Sesshomaru as he caught the slight movement in front of him. "I thought we went through this already! You must understand little half-brother, that if you move, I WILL kill her." He lightly traced a deadly finger down Kagome's throat before looking into Inuyasha's fierce golden eyes.
"What do you want?" Inuyasha growled through clenched teeth, his eyes never leaving Kagome's vulnerable form. His ears had picked up the sharp intake of breath that came from Kagome when a claw pressed uncomfortably into her throat.
Sesshomaru dropped his hand from Kagome's neck, "What do I want?" He seemed to think for a moment before answering, "Do you become less intelligent as the years progress? Or are you just daft by nature? But don't answer that, you would just end up making more a fool of yourself."
Inuyasha fixed a cold glare on his brother, "You want Tetsusaiga. That's the only thing you've ever wanted from me besides my corpse!"
A thorny vine came slithering behind Sesshomaru and Kagome. Without any effort at all, Sesshomaru produced a deadly whip and struck the vine before it had the chance to wound him. "Pesky Bitch," he stated under his breath. Then he raised his voice and called out, "IF YOU EVER TRY THAT ON ME AGAIN, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO SHRED YOU TO PIECES!"
Kagome jumped at the sudden outburst from her captor. After all, she hadn't seen what had happened behind her. Soon she found that the hand that held the whip moments before was now gripping her neck rather harshly.
Seeing this, Inuyasha took a couple steps closer, till there was only a few feet between his magnificent blade and Sesshomaru's form.
"But there's just one more thing that I want from you half-breed," breathed Sesshomaru as he moved his head close to Kagome's ear.
For one brief moment, the stone-cold glare Inuyasha had placed on his brother flickered to one of panic towards Kagome. "She's just a weak human, what does she have to do with this?" questioned Inuyasha in hopes of freeing the girl.
Kagome could feel the hot breath on her ear and neck. It made her skin crawl to have him so close. As much as she wanted to scream insults at him, she knew she had to keep her mouth shut if she hoped to survive. All she had to do was wait for Inuyasha to rescue her.
A strong wind blew at Kagome's face as Sesshomaru quietly whispered in her ear, "Unfortunately for you, I grow bored. You have fulfilled my purpose in drawing my half-brother out, so now I have no more use for you. You can join your friends in a slow and painful death!"
Inuyasha watched as his half-brother whispered something to Kagome. He was upwind to a strong current, so even his sensitive ears couldn't pick up what was being said. All he could do was watch as Kagome's hazel eyes went wide in obvious fear.
Sesshomaru reached for Kagome's upper arm and gripped tightly, "Too bad that these Bitch-vines got the thirst for blood today!" With that, he roughly tossed Kagome in the air. At the same time, he flicked his poison whip at Inuyasha to keep him from any heroics. Inuyasha had to jump back, away from Kagome, to avoid getting stung by the snaky whip.
Kagome screamed as she saw an extremely thorny vine covered in blood come speeding towards her.
"KAGOME!" Inuyasha yelled as he too saw the vine shoot at her. But he was powerless to save her from harm, because Sesshomaru was advancing at lightening speed.
Sesshomaru was a pro even without a sword of his own. All the attacks or dodges he made seemed elegant. While on the other hand there was Inuyasha, whose attacks and dodges were random, sporadic and choppy. Although it did seem to give him somewhat of an advantage because the older youkai never knew what he was going to do next.
Kagome had closed her eyes just waiting for the pain she was sure to receive. She felt a vine slither around her waist and left leg. But it pulled her the wrong way, at least that was what she thought. Kagome had been ready to join Sango and Miroku in their wall of thorns, but instead she was being pulled in the opposite direction.
Slowly she opened her eyes to drink in her surroundings. Just feet from her face, Kagome saw a deadly vine that seemed to be chasing her. Confusion set in full force, until she looked at the smooth emerald vine that had itself wrapped around her body. Without thinking, Kagome gripped the smooth vine around her waist and held on. "Please don't let it get me!" she whispered as she flew through the air.
A clash of metal on stone below caught Kagome's attention. She watched as a bright green whip sailed through the air and just barely missed Inuyasha. His movements were clumsy due to the fact that he kept looking up to see the situation Kagome was in. But Sesshomaru's movements were graceful and elegant. He almost seemed to be dancing to music that neither Kagome nor Inuyasha could hear.
Kagome momentarily forgot her own problems when she saw the whip slice Inuyasha's back. She winced when the sound reached her ears. It was hard to watch. Yet Kagome found that she couldn't look away, even when Inuyasha slipped on the edge of the stone roof and fell the six stories to the ground below. But Kagome was brought back to her worries up above as she was suddenly jerked to the left side of the castle. Inuyasha was completely out of her field of vision now, and she was rudely reminded that she had her own problems.
Sesshomaru lost no time following his younger brother to the ground. He landed gracefully beside Inuyasha's bruised form. Slowly, he bent down and pinched one of Inuyasha's sensitive ears. This immediately got curses from the hanyou as he was roughly forced to his feet.
"You fucking bastard," growled Inuyasha under his breath. Grudgingly he got to his feet and scowled at his older half-brother. He gripped his hands into fists as something occurred to him. 'Where's Tetsusaiga? Oh crap, I must've dropped it when I slipped!' Inuyasha's golden eyes darted the expanse before him while he remained ready and alert for anything Sesshomaru might do.
"Loose something?" asked Sesshomaru in a sly tone. He had the slightest hint of a smile grace his otherwise emotionless face.
Inuyasha snarled as he noticed that the Tetsusaiga was in the reflection of his half-brother's golden eyes. "No, I know exactly where it is!" he said as the pain in his ear went double fold. Just as an idea popped into his head, Inuyasha swiped a handful of claws at Sesshomaru's face and did a back flip to his now rusty sword. His hand grasped the hilt and as if in slow motion, he flipped back onto his feet. 'Wow, I didn't know I could do that!' he thought as he looked from the rusty sword to Sesshomaru.
"Well, well, wasn't THAT impressive!" commented the youkai.
"Shut up!" ground out Inuyasha as he held the rusty sword to his assaulter. But his sword didn't transform into the fantastic blade it had been just moments before. Inuyasha transferred a slightly confused look to the rust-bucket.
Seeing the look on Inuyasha's face, Sesshomaru lost his expressionless face. With an amused look across his features, "And here I thought you knew how to master father's sword! It was just a fluke wasn't it?"
Inuyasha could tell that his older half-brother was giving it his all not to laugh and break his otherwise known reputation of expressionlessness. Rolling his eyes, Inuyasha asked one last question, "If you don't want this sword, my corpse, or any of my human friends' corpse's, then what do you want?"
Sesshomaru gained his composure, "Ah, finally a question worth answering!" He looked to his brother with cold eyes. "Five hundred years ago, I was called to the Southern lands for a wedding of one of MY cousins. And when I got back to my castle...well, it looked like THIS," he said as he waved his hand towards the vines.
Inuyasha gave him a bored look, "And?"
"If you want me to tell you what I want before I kill you, then make sure to KEEP YOUR PATHETIC PIPE SHUT!" growled Sesshomaru at being interrupted. After a few moments of glaring at each other in silence, he continued. "Not only did MY castle look like it had been attacked by some plant youkai, but there was an annoying bush that completely surrounded MY grounds. At the time I thought it would be simple to just jump over the vines and cut them down later. But these obviously magical vines grew as I jumped, forcing me to stay out of MY castle and grounds. I have tried to destroy them, but it seems that nothing that I tried in the past worked. I was without MY rightful home for FIVE HUNDRED YEARS. And now that I have finally broken the defenses of the possessed bush, I find that YOU have been here in MY castle all this time! You ask what I want? I want my revenge and MY CASTLE BACK!"
A twitch had formed in Inuyasha's eye as he listened to the sap story his half-brother was giving him. "So you formed an alliance with the fucking bush vine? That was smart. Why don't you just ASK to be killed right NOW?"
"Who said that's how I did it?" asked Sesshomaru as he watched Inuyasha shake his blade every few seconds. "And no matter how hard you do that, it won't help!"
"SHUT UP SHIT FOR BRAINS!" yelled Inuyasha as his anger fuse got closer to the end.
Sesshomaru put his whip away in favor of watching the hanyou struggle with the blade for a few moments. He stood with his arms crossed, "I hired a magic interpreter and he explained to me that this vine wants your death just as much as I do. Although she seems to want your little girl friend's death even more so."
That made Inuyasha stop shaking his rusty blade and look off in the distance where he could hear Kagome's far-away scream. His heart seemed to skip a beat as all the possibilities ran through his mind as to what was happening to her. 'I have to get to her now!' thought Inuyasha. 'She needs me to protect her!'
Suddenly both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had their attention diverted to the fact that Inuyasha's blade was now enveloped in a flame that didn't burn. The flame dispersed and a rather large, flawless blade was left to grace Inuyasha's hands.
'So THAT'S how I do it! This blade is meant for me to protect Kagome. And protect her I shall,' thought Inuyasha as he faced his half- brother with a new look of determination.
"Looks like you've finally figured it out. Bravo! But it will not do you any good, you will still loose to me," said Sesshomaru with the return of his expressionless face.
Sesshomaru produced his poison whip and like a magnet it sped to Inuyasha's ready body. With what seemed like new self-discipline, Inuyasha gracefully avoided any contact with the whip.
Another scream off in the distance created even more of a purpose for Inuyasha to get the battle with Sesshomaru over and done with. Shooting into the air, Inuyasha waited for the opportune moment to strike his prey.
Sesshomaru had an inkling of what his half-brother was planning. All he had to do was let Inuyasha swipe at him just after his whip went straight by him only to whisk back and penetrate the hanyou's arm that held the blade. And the perfect angle was seconds from becoming flawless. He watched Inuyasha, and drew his whip just as the opening arrived.
Inuyasha realized that his half-brother was timing his attack and suddenly knew that if he didn't change his own assault it might lead to some unwanted outcome. His father flashed through his mind for a moment accompanied by the voice of an old friend. Just as the poison whip flew meters from him, the fuzzy memory clicked. Inuyasha raised his arms over his head, slowly beginning to descend straight for the oncoming whip. He let the blade guide his body and mind as he let out the move that had been displayed by his father when he was only five years old. Power seemed to surge through his body and unexpectedly he could actually SEE the wind. Those three words were at the tip of his tongue.
The poison whip was now only feet from striking Inuyasha. Sesshomaru was confused, 'Inuyasha was supposed to dodge the attack, not let the whip go through him willingly. Although that will work too. Either way he'll be too wounded to fight back anymore.' So he watched as his half-brother was seemingly accepting his inevitable death.
Unexpected by the youkai below, Inuyasha let out three words that were horribly familiar to both boys. "KAZE NO KIZU!" yelled Inuyasha as he let Tetsusaiga soar with more force behind it than he knew he had inside him. A dangerous series of light extended from the tip of the magnificent blade that was pointed straight for Sesshomaru. The poison whip was carelessly sliced by the attack that made its way to its prey.
Remembering that he had forgotten his life-giving sword with a guardian, Sesshomaru decided to try to flee from the impending doom that was looming in front of him. But the deadly light was too fast as it slowly consumed his now defenseless body. "Ah shit!" he said as he felt all the energy leave him.
Inuyasha gradually glided to the ground in a mood of awe. 'Is he dead? No, that can't be possible. Sesshomaru the idiot can't be killed that easily! He's too pig-headed to let me destroy him in one foul swoop. Right?' thought Inuyasha as he cautiously ventured to his half-brother. Just as he reached the remains of the youkai a third scream that was obviously from Kagome's lips rang through the air. And this one seemed a lot more important than the last two.
"How could I have forgotten about Kagome?" Inuyasha growled to himself as he sped off in the direction of the last scream. "Please just stay alive till I get there!"
~**~
Kagome flew around the corner of the castle with the greedy and very thorny vine in hot pursuit. Her right leg was dangling mostly because she couldn't keep it with the leg that the emerald vine had attached itself to. There was no way that Kagome could even hope to know how fast she was going. 'As long as I don't get caught by the vine with thorns I'll be alright. And as long as Inuyasha doesn't let his brother get the better of him, we might both have a chance of survival,' thought Kagome.
Before she knew it, Kagome was being led toward the ground below at an alarming rate. She gasped when she realized that if she hit at the speed she was going it would hurt big time. But the vine guiding her stopped abruptly just inches from the ground. And that's when Kagome truly started to panic, "No! Don't stop! Keep going. You can do it. I don't want that vine to...I wanna see Inuyasha just one more time!"
As if hearing her plea, the smooth emerald vine started to surround Kagome's body completely. Vines were coming off the castle making it look like the whole wall was falling on her. In mere seconds there was an impenetrable wall of vines surrounding her, with room to spare.
Kagome couldn't see the thrashing vine of thorns attacking the emerald vine wall holding her in safety. She could only hear what sounded faintly like an axe chopping wood in the distance. But that didn't mean that she couldn't imagine what was really happening outside of her vision.
Kagome was gasping for air from the adrenaline rush that had seemed to explode into her system. Her head was foggy and spinning. And the amount of air and light around her was beginning to worry her as she realized that oxygen would most likely run out as fast as the light had. Deciding to try to calm her fried nerves, Kagome plopped on the grass beneath her.
"This has got to be THE worst day of my life!" said Kagome to no one in particular. She just needed to relieve some of her newfound stress by talking out loud. And if anybody heard her, she could just tell them she was talking to the vine surrounding her hoping that it would say something back. "Sango and Miroku are up on the roof probably close to death if not dead already. Inuyasha is fighting his psycho brother. And I'm stuck in a room made of vines. This is just the most BEAUTIFUL day EVER!" she said as she threw her hands up.
~**~
Vines were rapidly leaving the bodies of Miroku and Sango as they went to a different cause in another part of the castle grounds. Miroku was the first to slump to the ground from the lack of support from his thorny captor. His head hit the hard stone roof, shocking him awake from the unusual pain replacing the stings he was getting from the spikes.
Miroku's violet eyes flickered open as he slowly took a look at his surroundings. His own blood was smearing all over the area he was lying on. Tenderly he moved his hands to prop himself up. A gentle breeze made his small ponytail move, which made him realize that he wasn't inside anymore. Pushing himself up even more, he twisted to sit on his rump. It hurt everywhere that hadn't lost all feeling.
From his sitting position, Miroku could see clouds and treetops along with what was most certainly the top of the castle roof. 'Wonder how I got up here? Hey, Sango...she was with me before...where is she now?' he wondered as he carefully moved to get to his feet as fast as his painful wounds would let him. He stumbled a few times before he finally gained his balance. 'Now to find a way off this place and find where Sango is.'
Miroku turned around to see that Sango was right with him the entire time. She was still covered in a collection of vines, but her head was making an appearance. Moving his feet as fast as he could, Miroku moved to get to Sango and see if she was still alive. He reached for the nearest vine and tugged to see if it would budge. It didn't.
"This won't do at all!" he said as he backed up and raised his right hand. "Don't worry Sango! If I time this just right you won't get sucked in and I can get most of those evil things off of you! Not that you can hear what I just said cause you're unconscious. Guess I just said that for my own comfort." Miroku sighed when he took one last look at the bloody yet peaceful looking woman.
Taking a deep breath, Miroku let out Kazana. The void sucked in all sorts of leaves and dirt that had been on the roof of the castle. None of the vines seemed to be budging at all, except for one off to the far right. It was on the side he had been on, so Sango wouldn't be in the direct line of consumption. The vine started to shake uncontrollably before it suddenly let go its hold on the other vines and flew into the black hole. That started a chain reaction, which led to more vines letting go and getting dragged into the stream of debris heading into Miroku's cursed hand.
Glancing over at Sango, Miroku noticed that the vines were creeping off her one by one. 'Perfect! Just a little longer and she'll be completely free. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up so I hope I can get them all off before I completely keel over,' thought Miroku as he felt the Kazana take it's toll on his energy. Keeping a close eye on Sango, he watched as the last vine left her body and she slumped to the ground much like he must have.
As soon as she hit the stone roof, Miroku wrapped his rosary over his right hand and collapsed to his knees. His breathing was irregular as he felt the evil coarse through him. He started to crawl towards the girl on the ground. After much struggling with his hands and knees, Miroku finally made it to her. "I'll just...check you're pulse," he said as he reached for her wrist.
But almost as soon as he touched her hand, his energy was spent and he collapsed onto her body. Sango had been lying on her stomach, so Miroku fell on her backside. Only his head actually touched her, but he would be in for a surprise if Sango woke up before him, because his head was resting right on her bottom.
~**~
A small ray of light filtered into her dark haven. Kagome moved to the tiny hole and strained to look outside. All she could see were vines and more vines. It was hard to tell which were the possessed deadly vines and which was part of her savior. But the vines were constantly moving, seeming to be attacking each other.
As the vines hit each other, one came flying at the open hole that Kagome was peering out of. Automatically she backed away and moved as far as she could to the opposite side of her 'room'. Her hand touched something that was definitely NOT the grass or a vine. It was small and roundish. One half was smooth while the other was rough and coarse. Kagome picked it up and held it into the small ray of light to see what it was. 'It looks like an acorn,' she thought to herself as she turned it in the limited light she had to work with.
As she held the acorn in the light Kagome started to feel a breeze blow her hair. 'What? There shouldn't be any wind! I'm supposed to be surrounded by the pretty vines...right?' her mind ran as she squeezed the small acorn in her grip and looked around her refuge. But nothing had changed at all, and there was absolutely no breeze at all coming from the tiny pinhole in the wall. 'Well that's just weird! Where's that coming from?' she thought as she crawled around in search of the draft.
But the vines did seem to dissipate as she looked around. Kagome started to panic at the lack of protection when she noticed the strange sound coming from the top of the castle. And the thorny vines were being sucked up to the roof, or they were retreating from defeat. 'Maybe that's Miroku's air void thing! That means that he's alive. This is great! Then, maybe Sango's okay too?' she thought as she started to get excited. Then, all at once, there was a harsh light that seemed to invade her hazel eyes.
~*@@@*~
"What the heck?" exclaimed Kagome as she covered her eyes with her left arm. When she felt that it was safe to open her eyes, she was staring at the castle. But there were absolutely NO vines of any kind anywhere near the walls. She spun around to see if she could see the bush, but there was none to be seen. All she could see was a small stream with a stone bridge and beyond that was what seemed to be a dense forest. There were dark clouds looming over the forest in the distance, but other than that, the sky was completely clear of clouds and the sun was shining brightly.
"Do you think he's THAT stupid?" asked as small voice coming from behind her. Kagome immediately spun to see who the voice belonged to.
"Shut up!" growled the familiar man beside a young boy.
Kagome gasped as she recognized the man as the one who had stolen a kiss from her. Her hand instantaneously flew to cover her mouth.
There was a small yellow and black cat with three tails walking towards Kagome, who took a step back when it walked right through her right leg. 'That's just creepy!' she thought as her hazel eyes widened at the thought.
"Do you WANT that bitch to hear your high voice? You know SHE can hear you a mile away! I for one don't want to be caught. Plus, didn't we agree on the objective of surprise?" whispered the wolf boy.
The young boy looked at his feet and scrunched up his little nose as he whispered his apology. "Sorry, Kouga. I forgot for a little bit. I'll try harder to keep quiet so Kikyo doesn't hear me before we attack her!"
Kagome had learned two things from that, one, that the wolf boy was named Kouga, and two, that they obviously didn't like Kikyo. "This is just too weird!" she whispered to herself. The small yellow cat looked directly in Kagome's hazel eyes, sending a shiver down her spine. 'Did that animal hear me?' she wondered as she looked to the others to see if they could hear her too.
"It's okay Shippo, we just have to be extra careful! We don't want any of Sesshomaru's goons to find us either. The less trouble we find, the easier it will be to find and kill that Bitch," whispered Kouga with a disturbing smile decorating his face. "Let's go save Kaede and Inuyasha before that Bitch can hurt either of them!"
"Kouga, can I ask you somethin' before we go in there?" asked the now deemed Shippo in a small voice.
"Sure thing kid. What you wanna know?" Kouga asked in a gentle and soothing voice as he bent down to Shippo's level.
Kagome smiled at the gesture. 'Maybe this guy isn't so bad at all. I can forgive him for kissing me without my permission if he acts like this with all little children. I wonder how Inuyasha acts around kids? I bet he's just as nice! After all, these two seem to want to save him from Kikyo... I hope he's alright now. As long as Sesshomaru doesn't hurt him too bad, I'm sure he can survive,' she thought as her mind wandered to things other than the three strangers in front of her. Kagome quickly shook all foreign thoughts from her head as she listened to Shippo ask his question.
He was twisting his hands together in a nervous motion, "Well, I was wondering why we can't just fly Kirara up. Cause that way we don't have to fight any of the other bad guys!" He looked up to the older boy with big green eyes.
A quiet laugh escaped from Kouga's lips, "We need to go by foot so that we CAN defeat the 'bad guys.' When we do save Kaede and Inuyasha, it will be easier to escape from the castle if there aren't any 'bad guys' blocking our path. And Kirara can't carry everyone...what if Inuyasha gets knocked out? It wouldn't be fair to Kirara to carry that many of us out of the castle. Now would it?"
"But she's done it before!" Shippo pouted.
Kagome giggled at the little boy's response. The cat named Kirara looked at her suspiciously and cocked her head to the side. Figuring that the cat could understand her, Kagome decided to talk to it. "Hi! My name's Kagome Higurashi. As far as I can tell, you're Kirara, the little one is Shippo and the big guy's Kouga. I've never met Kikyo or Kaede, but I hope you don't mind if I tag along with you to see what you guys are gonna do. I think I know when this is too. It's the time when the castle was frozen. And if you guys were here when it froze, then that means that you're still here in my time. Then I can find you and set you free...however that happens. I'm still not sure, but I am sure that if I find you, I can figure out a way to get you unfrozen! Then you can help Inuyasha and the rest of us!" said Kagome as she bent down to pretend to pet Kirara, careful not to let her hand go through the animal...youkai.
Kirara meowed in approval and turned to walk toward the side of the castle.
"Kirara, wait up!" whispered Kouga as he dashed after her.
Shippo turned to follow the others, giving Kagome a very nice view of a cute tail she hadn't seen before. Kagome squealed in delight, "Kawaii!"
Kirara stopped abruptly in front of Kouga making him almost trip over her, and looked behind to Kagome. She shook her head and started off again.
Kouga looked back to Shippo a little confused. But he just shrugged his shoulders and motioned for the little boy to keep up.
'He has a foxtail! That is SoOoOo cute. Oh, and his feet are like a fox's too,' thought Kagome as she skipped behind the trio. 'I hadn't noticed that Shippo wasn't a real boy, but it's definite that he is more of a youkai...maybe even a hanyou like Inuyasha.'
As they got to the side of the castle, Kagome noticed a small window by a camouflaged stone door. Shippo was hoisted up to the open window and climbed in silently. Seconds later the sound of Shippo's struggle with a wooden bolt locking the door was heard. After a great effort on the little Kitsune's part, there was the loud sound of the wooden bolt hitting stone floor. Kagome could even hear him drag it a little ways away from the door so he could open it.
"Hurry up Shippo. Someone's bound to have heard that!" Kouga said in a low voice while looking around them to see if any of the guards were coming.
Kagome also looked behind her as she finally succumbed to the tension in the air. She didn't see anything, but soon heard the door opening. She spun around to the door just in time to see a rather out of breath Shippo.
"Good job!" whispered Kouga as he patted the boy on the head and walked in.
Kirara meowed her approval too, and tugged at Shippo's pant leg to get him to move inside the door. He let her lead him back inside to 'safety.'
Kagome took one quick look around before she quickly followed them inside. And just as she turned, from the corner of her eye, she saw that ugly toad that had tried to squeeze the life from her when she first ventured into the castle. She gulped as Kouga pushed the door shut and effortlessly put the wooden bolt back in place. Secretly praying all the way that the toad wouldn't find the invading trio.
Kouga bent down to Kirara and Shippo's level and motioned to stay very quiet and as still as possible. Even though Kagome knew that there was no way she would give away the brave group, she still held her breath and crouched to the floor hoping that she wouldn't make a noise to give them away. She could tell that Kouga was straining to hear, much like Inuyasha but with human ears.
Letting out a sigh, Kouga stood up to his full height, signaling that it was safe to breath again. Kagome looked up at him from her place on the floor and was amazed at the leadership qualities that he seemed to possess. His figure loomed and he seemed to show great superiority to the other two smaller youkai in his presence. He nodded to Kirara and turned to go to the nearest corridor.
Kagome was confused as to what the nod meant, but soon found out when an unexpected fire seemed to generate from the cat. Kagome screamed at the top of her lungs out of pure surprise. When the fire dissipated, a rather large and dangerous looking cat was standing where a small and gentle looking cat had been moments before. Neither Shippo nor Kouga seemed surprised by this sudden transformation, but Kagome had been VERY close to peeing in her pants. Kirara looked at Kagome and shook her head as if the girl should have seen that coming and not been so afraid.
Kagome met the fire cat's rose-colored eyes, "I never even knew that youkai existed until about a couple weeks ago! Like I was supposed to know that you would do that? Give me a break." Kagome rolled her hazel eyes at the cat.
Kirara just snickered under her breath, earning confused looks from both boys. Ignoring the looks, Kirara carefully picked up Shippo with her mouth and put him on her back. Kouga shrugged and motioned that the coast was clear and started to quietly walk down the corridor. He was followed by the fire cat and a girl he knew nothing of.
Running through corridor after corridor was getting Kagome finding it hard to keep up. They had only run into a few inu-youkai along the way that were alive. Most of the youkai they passed were already dead. And from the looks of their fatal wounds, it was Inuyasha's handiwork. They almost all had claw marks. But some had some funny wounds that almost looked like they were stars burned into their flesh. It was kinda disturbing because the burnt flesh had a blue glow to it and radiated a familiar magical kind of feeling. But Kagome couldn't put her finger on just where she had felt that feeling before. It was at the tip of her brain, but it just wasn't coming to her.
Finally Kouga led them to what Kagome thought was surely the last set of stairs that they had to climb. She was getting tired from all the running around. She had already gotten used to the fact that she couldn't be hurt in this dream world, so she wasn't as tense as she had been before. The only time she got tense was when one of her new 'friends' seemed to be in trouble with a youkai.
As they rounded another corner, an inu-youkai came from behind them and knocked Shippo off his perch on Kirara. Kagome gasped as she tried to catch him in mid-air, for a moment forgetting that she wouldn't be able to grasp him. Shippo hit the stonewall with a thud. Kirara spun around and crouched to attack the offending youkai. She jumped at him with her claws out. Kagome was right in the line of attack and quickly leaped out of harms way and head first into a suit of armor. Connecting with the metal, Kagome soon found that it was very hard to keep her eyes open due to the sudden pain coursing through her head and neck.
The last thing Kagome saw before her world became dark was another inu-youkai heading straight for Kouga.
~*@@@*~
Hand going to her head, Kagome rubbed the soar spot on her forehead. 'That's going to leave a mark!' she thought as she slowly sat up and tried to piece together what had happened. Abruptly she realized that she was in the exact hall that she had seen Sango and Miroku's limp bodies being dragged down before. Their blood was still on the floor she was sitting on. That got Kagome to leap up to her feet and flatten herself to the nearest wall.
Her heart was beating fast as the memories came flooding back. Left hand going to her heart to unsuccessfully stop its thumping, while her right hand moved to find some sort of support to lean on besides the wall. Kagome's hand found the suit of armor and she slowly let herself sit on its stand where it was firmly placed. She closed her hazel eyes as her right hand accidentally pushed the toe of the armor down and into place making a loud noise. Kagome slightly jumped in surprise.
A rummaging sound was heard from the inside of the armor, making Kagome look up at it in confusion. She cautiously stood and opened the faceplate.
"Who...who's out there?" came a small echoy voice from inside.
Kagome backed away, "Who's inside there first?"
"I asked you first!" came the voice in a slightly more brave tone.
"I'm Kagome!" she said, "Now who are you?"
There was more movement from inside the suit of armor before a light brown head of hair appeared, followed by the face of the Kitsune boy Kagome had seen in her latest 'vision.' Kagome let out a sigh of relief as she let her heart calm down. But Shippo's green eyes also showed recognition as they narrowed into slits.
Then he all but popped out of the armor. "LIAR!" he yelled as he flung himself at the surprised girl.
Kagome screamed when she realized that he meant to hurt her. She had seen him scratch at one of the inu-youkai's eyes when it looked like Kouga had been badly hurt, and Kagome did NOT want her eyes to be scratched out. She turned and ran as fast as she could down the hall. After a short run, she stopped running and turned to face the small boy who was looking at her in pure confusion. This led to a perplexed face from Kagome directed at Shippo.
"What's wrong with you? You've never screamed before! Plus, you're wearing VERY strange clothes. Where's your miko clothes?" asked Shippo as he studied the girl in front of him. "And your face actually has...emotion!"
"Wait. Miko. That's it! You think I'm that Kikyo girl!" Kagome smiled.
Shippo gave her an even more mystified look, "What do you mean? That's who you are...isn't it?"
Laughing, Kagome answered, "No, not at all! I've never even met her. Well, I sort of did...once, but Inuyasha agreed with me that that was just a vision of his past. So I don't think that counts. But I'm not her. I'm me...I mean, I'm Kagome."
Shippo cautiously moved to Kagome sniffing all the way. He was starting to make her nervous when he got close, but she didn't move a muscle. All of a sudden, he jumped up and landed in her arms. "You were the ghost that hit her head on the metal armor before I fell asleep in there!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"What?" asked Kagome in bewilderment. "I didn't think anyone could see me but Kirara! You mean you could see me too?"
"Only when that inu-youkai surprised us! I saw you when you tried to catch me. And then you hit your head hard...but I guess I didn't take a close look at your face because I was too busy trying to hide from all the fighting," explained Shippo. "And I'm so glad that you're not Kikyo! Because she would've fried me with her miko powers as soon as I came out of my hiding place."
Kagome smiled and patted his head. Then an idea popped into her head and she grabbed his soft brown tail. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time!" she giggled as she pet the silky fur.
Shippo also giggled at the welcome attention. "I like you Kagome!" he smiled when she stopped her petting.
Kagome smiled back, "And I like you too Shippo! But I have a question for you. Do you know where your friends were before time froze for you?"
"Um..." said Shippo as he seemed to dig deep into the recesses of his mind. "I think Kirara...oh look, there she is!" he squealed as he pointed to a very stiff looking cat perched on a ledge on close to the ceiling.
Kagome moved so they were right under Kirara's position. "Do you think you could climb up there?" she asked as she lifted the Kitsune as high as she could above her head.
Reaching for the nearest crack in the old stone wall, Shippo grasped and hoisted himself up onto the wall. "It's worth the try!"
Holding her arms out, Kagome made sure she was ready just in case Shippo lost his hold and fell. And true to her intuition, not after long he lost his foothold on a loose brick and slipped. But he regained his hold on a protruding twig that seemed to be jammed between a couple stones in the wall. Unfortunately, the twig snapped with a loud crack and Shippo came falling into Kagome's ready arms.
"You okay?" asked Kagome as she looked at the thankful Shippo in her arms.
"Thanks to you!" he smiled as he buried his head into her shirt.
Above Kirara remained stiff. "meow," she said as she shook the stiffness from her body.
Both Shippo and Kagome automatically looked to the fire cat above. "She's awake!" squealed Shippo excitedly. He climbed onto Kagome's head and started to bounce.
"Hey, stop that. It doesn't feel good at all!" Kagome pleaded with the hyper kitsune. She tried to grab him to hold him still.
"Sorry," he apologized as he climbed back into her arms.
Kirara yawned and stretched before she transformed by fire into her much larger form. Paws touched stone floor as she simultaneously changed back into the small kitten. Seeing Shippo on Kagome, Kirara mewed in jealousy. She started to lick one of her paws that had landed in some blood on the floor, but as soon as her tongue tasted it, she made a disgusted face and immediately stopped her cleaning. Opting out of her cleaning, Kirara moved to rub against Kagome's leg.
Smiling, Kagome bent down to pet the kitten. "You DID see me didn't you," she said softly as she stroked the silky fur.
"Prow," mewed Kirara in response.
Shippo gave a confused look to the girl holding him, "What do you mean she saw you?"
"Ever think she was acting strange when you got to the castle?" asked Kagome simply.
A thoughtful look graced Shippo's face, "I guess she did seem to be acting kinda funny. That does kinda make sense now...I guess."
Kagome shook her head in amusement. She stood up taking Kirara along with her. Holding both small youkai, Kagome started to walk around the hallway. She opened the first door they came to, peering inside.
The two youkai in her arms gave Kagome puzzled looks. "What you looking for?" asked Shippo as his curiosity got the better of him.
"I'm looking for the other one," she said distantly as she shut the door to open the one across from it repeating her previous actions.
Shippo scrunched his nose, "Other one what?" He tugged at the sleeve of her t-shirt to get her attention focused on him for a moment.
Kagome blinked as she vaguely noticed the movement of her clothing before she looked at the cause of the disturbance. She gave the kitsune a confused look before his question sunk in. "Oh...yeah. I meant I'm looking for Kouga, the other guy that was with you when the castle went to sleep," she explained.
With that said, Kirara leaped out of Kagome's warm arms and went to a door a few doors down. She started to scratch at the bottom as Kagome looked at her a little perplexed. "Mew," she said in with a hint of annoyance.
Kagome caught the hint and started towards the door the fire cat was clawing. "He's in there?" she asked as she carefully lifted the latch on the door. The latch was slightly jammed, so she had a little bit of trouble before the loud click that signaled that it was finally free sounded through the hall. She was just about to open the door when it flung open to reveal the boy she had been searching for.
"Kouga!" Shippo shrieked in delight. He jumped from the girl to the boy in mere moments from his outburst. Kirara mimicked the kitsune as she mewed her happiness and pressed against the fur on Kouga's leg.
But Kouga wasn't looking at either youkai plastered on him, he was glaring at Kagome, making her very uneasy under his scrutiny. A shiver ran down her spine when his angry stare changed to pure hatred. She swallowed nervously as he put Shippo down without loosing eye contact with the girl in front of him. "Kikyo," he spat.
"No," Kagome started as she got ready to make the same defense she had made with Shippo.
Kouga gave her no chance to explain herself as he suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her shoulders harshly. This caused Kagome to let out a yelp of surprise. "You were going to try to kill Kaede and Inuyasha!" he growled in a low tone.
Again, Kagome tried to defend herself, "No, I would never-"
"Shut up Bitch!" roared Kouga as he started to shake her roughly.
"Stop that!" whined Shippo from his spot on the floor. He latched himself onto the wolf youkai and started to bite into his bare leg.
Kouga just kicked the cub off, "You want her to pay for what she tried to do don't you? She was going to kill two of our best friends!"
"No she wasn't!" Shippo retaliated as he lunged at the boy's leg again.
Kirara jumped in and copied Shippo's bite into Kouga's other leg.
"Will you two quit that!" he growled as he shook one then the other off of him.
This gave Kagome a little time to squirm from the wolf boy's grasp. As soon as she was free of his hands and claws, she started to race to the nearest stairwell. 'Oh Kami, I thought it was going to be different! Why did you have to make me look like someone they hated in the past? It's just not fair. Why can't I be the only one that looks like me? Oh Inuyasha, where are you when I need you?' thought Kagome silently as she ran as fast as her legs would carry her.
Kouga snarled fiercely as he watched the girl run from him. "This only makes me want you more!" he taunted as he cracked his knuckles. Shippo and Kirara moved to slow him down again but were left in the dust when he sped off at the speed of light.
"RUN KAGOME! RUN!" screamed Shippo as he saw the wolf gain on the girl.
Kagome unwisely glanced behind her for a split second. She saw Kouga rapidly catching up to her and in her distress she screamed in terror. But this scream was bone-chilling. She knew just how to stop the wolf in his tracks...just for a second, then he had her pinned against a wall in no time flat.
"No one can save you now, Bitch!" he growled as he reached for her neck.
Kagome squirmed under his hold and started to whimper as she felt a tear roll down her cheek. All hope was draining from her as she realized the amount of time that probably passed since she saw Inuyasha last. The familiar feeling of darkness was again invading her senses. "Inu...ya...sha..." she breathed as her vision was consumed and her breathing totally impaired. 'Where are you when I need you? If you're dead, I'm coming to join you. See you when I get there!'
~**~
A/N: Okies, this chappie is done. This is the edited version, and if you already read the other one, it's okay cause nothing really changed at all. He had nothing new to add...so it looks like he just wanted to read it before all of yous people. ;) Sorry again for the extra long wait I made you go thru. Hope this 18 page chapter makes up for everything! I'll be waiting patiently for your reviews for now...you please read and review! Till then, have great lives doing your own thing wherever you live!
KrysTheAngel ^_^
February 2004