InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Bond of Thorns ❯ News Flash ( Chapter 6 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: ScarletRaven1001 
Kagome's been kidnapped! But why?
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Action / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.25.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.9K | Visits: 418 | Status: Completed
Kagome's been kidnapped! But why?
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Action / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.25.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.9K | Visits: 418 | Status: Completed
A BOND OF THORNS
News Flash
-----/---@
Miroku rubbed at the sore red handprint mark on his cheek, reminiscent of the slap Sango had given him early that morning. `Fiery, that woman is... VERY fiery.'
He turned to the youkai before him as he dropped his hand, wondering why he had been called by the commander (thereby disturbing his quality groping time) at that hour. Sesshoumaru was sitting behind the large wooden table in his study, his steely eyes showing his irritation.
“Miroku, Inuyasha is once again missing, and I want you to find him as soon as possible,” Sesshoumaru ordered, making Miroku's right eye twitch.
`He's ordering me around as if I were a servant here,' he thought in slight amusement and annoyance.
Sess continued. “Inform him that all the officers of the Soldarian fleet, him included, will be having a general meeting today, and that he should proceed to the King's palace by exactly noon today.”
Miroku gave him a near-mock salute, not forgetting that he was actually one of the lower ranking officers of the fleet, and therefore under Sesshoumaru. After the colonel returned his gesture, he gave a swift one- eighty and left to find his best friend.
“Mou, Inuyasha!” Miroku said to himself in annoyance. `It has only been ten days since his awarding and he is already acting strangely.'
The hanyou had been restless since the attack that Naraku had launched on the night of his awarding. He barely went anywhere without Kagome, and even had special locks installed everywhere on her bedroom, her windows and drains included.
If one were to watch the two of them together, one would think they were in courtship. Kagome wore the hair comb that he had given her all the time. She was never seen up and without it. Also, just a couple of days before, there had been a rumor that the hanyou and princess were seen kissing in the palace veranda, but Inuyasha had vehemently denied it when Miroku asked.
The master and concubine dined together, walked together, and the only things they did not do together were bathe and sleep. But though it seemed like the two were at relative peace with each other, Inuyasha had grumpily told Miroku that the two were friends at best, and their companionship was all pretension. And his sticking with Kagome also had to do with her being the key.
But he could swear that he had caught Kagome throwing small secretive glances at Inuyasha... She was also starting to smile a bit...
`But still, they ARE together a lot more often than any two people on Soldari are,' he thought. `Maybe someday... Kagome will learn to forgive Inuyasha.'
-----/---@
“Sango-san, how do you do?” Hojo said as Sango walked up to him, holding Kagome's breakfast on a tray. The young soldier was the one tasked to watch Kagome's door for the day, and he smiled as Sango approached to serve her mistress.
“I'm fine, Hojo-kun. Have you been here all night?” she asked amicably.
“Aa. I'm rather sleepy now, but Shippou-san will be here shortly to replace me, I believe,” he said as he moved to open the door.
“Shippou? I thought he had been assigned to guard Kikyo-sama?”
“He was yesterday. He didn't look too happy when he got out of his shift, though.”
The door to the bedroom opened, and Sango called out as soon as she came in. She and Kagome had grown to be good friends over the past ten days, and managed to get to know each other well. That was, during the short periods of time she was in her room without Inuyasha.
Sango smirked. Inuyasha really took his `protecting' seriously.
“Kagome? I'm here with your breakfast!” she said with a smile, looking around the messy room. `That's odd... Kagome has never left her bed unmade.'
She walked towards the dresser where Kagome kept her supplies, and she gave a small sound of surprise upon seeing a small gem-encrusted gold comb resting on the bureau. `This is the comb that Inuyasha gave her for her birthday... she never leaves without this!'
She took a small step towards the bathroom when something glittering beneath her feet caught her eye. She looked down and found Kagome's broken hand mirror beside a bottle of what was unmistakably morning cream.
Sango looked around in alarm. The unmade bed... the broken things... the comb...
She ran out of the room and straight into Hojo and Shippou, who were at the moment exchanging shifts. Miroku, who had been on his way down the staircase, noticed her panicked look and had turned to ask before she blurted out the reason for her distress...
“Hojo! Houshi-sama! Kagome-sama... she's gone!”
“Nani?!”
-----/---@
220;Nani?!”
Inuyasha almost grinned at Kagome's shocked look. She was staring at him with wide eyes, her hand on its way to her mouth to pop a small chunk of bread in.
“You're kidding.”
“No, I'm not,” Inuyasha said in triumph. “It's true. You can ask him if you don't believe me.”
Kagome just looked at him skeptically before she turned her head, popped the food into her mouth and brushed some grass off her nightgown.
The two of them were sitting in one of the smaller palace gardens, eating breakfast out of a bag of food that Inuyasha had brought. He had come to her room very early that morning with the food, startling her so much she dropped her mirror and bottle of cream. He had come in through one of her windows using his ID card, which was used to open all the other locks in her room.
He had not even given her enough time to change her clothes. And from his state of dress - or undress, however one would call his present state - one could easily tell that he had just leapt out of bed on impulse as well. They had run off with her on his back, which was their `usual' way of travel.
Kagome eyed him out of the corner of her eye. He was sitting across from her, wearing nothing but a wide blue sleeping hakama and a VERY loose white kimono that showed off nearly his entire chiseled chest, allowing Kagome to happily feast her eyes on him.
`Ugh! What am I thinking, ogling at him like that!?' she berated herself. But she had to admit... he looked incredible in his own rugged way.
“I haven't seen much of your brother, I admit,” she started. “But from what I HAVE seen of him, I seriously doubt that he would stoop that low...”
“Well, he did... and all because of that girl. He never thought that anyone would find out, but I did...”
“So you use that knowledge for blackmail every chance you get?”
“Right.”
“You are unbelievable,” Kagome said, a grin beginning to tug at the corners of her lips. “Why anyone would wish to blackmail family is beyond me.”
“We're not exactly one happy family you know,” Inuyasha replied, popping a whole slice of wheat bread into his mouth. “Besides, it's the only way I could get what I want from him. I actually used that threat on him when I asked for you to be my concubine.”
Kagome's lips went up into a full grin. “I guess when force is required...”
“Always attack your enemy's weakest point, I say.”
Both of them stared at each other for a moment, before bursting into laughter. Kagome was starting to wonder what was going on... they were enemies, right? No wait... she was putting on a show. She had to remember that she was only putting on a show to gain his trust, so she could have HER revenge.
She had tears in her eyes by the time they both managed to calm down. She just couldn't help but keep the image of what Inuyasha had said from popping into her mind every other second. It was too hilarious!
“Well, if he did that just for Rin, why don't I ever see her around the palace?” she asked distractedly as she finally noticed that Inuyasha was still carrying his sword around.
That made Inuyasha clam up. “We don't know.”
“Nani? What do you mean, you don't know? I thought Sesshoumaru liked keeping an eye on her?” she asked in confusion.
“That's just it. It was during the ninth war that I went to. Sess and I were fighting together on that planet, and when we came back... she was gone,” Inuyasha replied, surprising the princess. “She went missing while we were away, and we have yet to find her.”
“How long ago was this?” Kagome asked.
“About 4 months ago.”
“What? And you still have no idea where she is? But... what if something happened to her?” Kagome asked, appalled.
“Don't think we didn't try to find her,” Inuyasha said, laying back onto the thick grass. “He spent an entire two months looking, pushing everybody else to look as well. But she was gone. We couldn't find her scent, nothing. The state had to declare her dead after three months.”
“Oh my God...” she said, laying on her side, leaning on her elbow to look down at Inuyasha. “He must have been devastated...”
“He still is. Sess was at least bearable before Rin went missing. He would never admit it, but Rin's disappearance did a hell of a lot of damage.”
“Poor guy...”
Inuyasha was about to say something to change the topic, when the sound of an alarm trumpet suddenly went off, startling the two. They sat up in alarm as it sounded one more time.
“What was that?” Kagome asked.
“Alarm... somebody important has been kidnapped.”
“What?”
Inuyasha immediately ushered Kagome onto his back, forgetting all about the bag of food. He leapt up and headed at breakneck speed, making Kagome give a small squeak of surprise.
He got to the palace just as his brother came out the door to face the lined up troops. He dropped Kagome to the floor beside him.
“Sesshoumaru! What's going on?” he asked, and was surprised when the man turned to him in what looked to him like Sesshoumaru's version of surprised relief - slightly widened eyes.
Sesshoumaru turned to look at an apprehensive Kagome, before turning back to his brother. “Inuyasha, you enormous idiot,” he said as he approached, the sound of relief and various other reactions coming from the guards. “We had thought that you and your bitch had gotten kidnapped.”
He then turned his eyes to their outfits, which were comfortable to say the least, covered slightly in grass and lint. “This Sesshoumaru implores you that the next time you and your woman decide to have a woodland tryst, at least leave me a note to avoid alarm in the manor.”
Both blushed hard at the implications of the statement, and their simultaneous sputtering left the lined up guards snickering with amusement.
“We did NOT have a tryst!” Inuyasha managed to sputter out before Kagome's face turned into a full tomato.
“Well then, why are you both in your sleepers?” Miroku said from the front of the lines, grinning from ear to ear.
“We had a picnic! Nothing else!” Kagome said, the magenta tint still on her cheeks. She saw Sango standing by the door, looking down at her hands with a blush.
Inuyasha then turned to grab Kagome's arm, pulling her towards the house as a torrent of innumerable curses tumbled from his lips, clearly showing his anger. But the blush on his cheeks said otherwise...
-----/---@
“I'm sorry Kagome. It's just that... I *really* thought that you had gotten kidnapped!” Sango cried as Kagome sat on the edge of her bed, wearing her green house hakama and white kimono, drying her freshly washed hair and carefully tucking the golden comb Inuyasha had given her into her raven locks. A bath... finally...
“It's alright. It was rather embarrassing though,” Kagome answered with a giggle.
Sango smiled back, but she knew the real reason why she had been so paranoid in the first place... Naraku was around, and she knew that he was after her. Inuyasha was so shaken up that he went to Kaede every time he wasn't with Kagome. It was as if Kagome and Kaede were the only people Inuyasha bothered to talk to as of late...
“Sango,” Kagome's soft voice cut her thoughts off. “Do you remember the night of Inuyasha's awarding? That man who took your princess... who is he?”
Sango blanched. “Nani? Hasn't Inuyasha told you yet?”
“Iie. Not yet. He keeps derailing the conversation whenever I get anywhere near that topic. It's like he doesn't want to talk about it.”
“If he doesn't, it's of good reason.”
“Well, I want to know why,” she replied. “Sango... Inuyasha and I are together all the time but we never get anywhere. He hasn't even called me by my name yet...”
Sango looked at Kagome's crestfallen appearance, and her heart went out to her. Oh well...
“Alright, I'll tell you,” she said, making Kagome's face instantly light up. “But promise me you would never tell Inuyasha that I did.”
“Promise!”
-----/---@
&# 8220;I barely let her out of my sight, old woman. She won't get hurt,” Inuyasha confidently told Kaede. After dropping Kagome off into her room, he had gone to his own to briefly change into his usual clothes. He tugged at his haori, adjusting the collar. “Besides, with Tetsusaiga, nothing could get in my way.”
“Inuyasha, I still think that it would be wise for her to learn how to use her powers. They would come in handy, and help protect her during times when you may not be there...” the old miko replied. “Making her learn how to defend herself will not mean that she would be able to summon the Shikon no Tama.”
“I don't want to take any chances!” He replied. “That gem killed a lot of people when it was last released. I don't want it to happen today! Besides, you know what happened to Rin... she's not even THAT powerful of a miko.”
“We don't know for sure if she is dead,” Kaede snapped.
“We don't know if she isn't!” he snapped back. “The moment Kagome learns of her connection to the Shikon no Tama hell will break loose. She'll be an instant target, not just by Naraku!”
“Inuyasha, you moron... she already is a target.”
“But...”
“Kaede-sama! 221; Shippou's voice suddenly resounded right outside Kaede's small shrine. Inuyasha could swear that he smelled anxiety on the boy...
Kaede slowly stood to approach the door. She went outside to greet him, leaving Inuyasha to his thoughts.
`Kagome,' he thought. `You are such a pain in the ass... but gods... I love her smile.'
“Inuyasha!” Kaede's voice broke through his musings. “Shippou is here with some bad news...”
“What?” he asked as he sat up. Shippou came into the house looking as troubled as he smelled.
“Inuyasha-senpai,” he said nervously. “Kagome-sama was kidnapped. It's for sure now... we saw her get carried away by the youkai.”
“WHAT?!” he yelled. “You were all there and you were unable to save her?”
“Gomen...”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go! See you baabaa,” Inuyasha said, picking up his sword as he dashed out the door with Shippou at his heels.
-----/---@
Kagome slowly opened her eyes, a jolt of pain running through her body as she groggily tried to sit up. She was laying on something hard and cold, something she could only guess was a concrete floor.
`What in the gods' name is going on?' she thought. One moment she was talking to Sango, next she was here in this dark place. It was so very dark... she could see nothing, and the last memory she had was of a scream of fright before everything went black.
“Ugh... where am I?” she queried into the darkness, and was more than shocked when a small female voice answered her.
“You're in Tarumo's dungeon,” he voice said, making Kagome turn her head futilely to the direction of the voice. She tried hard to see anything, but alas, she had always been night-blind.
“I'm glad to know you're ok. You looked awful when Tarumo brought you in,” she continued, as a faint sound of footsteps made their way towards Kagome.
“Who are you?” Kagome asked. A sudden spark made her yelp and cover her eyes from the sudden brightness. When she looked up again, the room was lit by the light of a burning piece of wood, which served like a small torch. The wood was being held by a small pale hand, and following the hand up to slender arms, she was surprised to find a young woman, almost the same age as herself, staring at her with a small, unsure smile.
The girl was lovely, but it was apparent from the color of her skin that she had not seen the sun in a while. Her small thin lips looked slightly parched, and her vibrant green eyes stared at Kagome from beneath dark brown bangs. She was wearing a very worn-out yellow kimono and no shoes, her waist-length hair tied into a low ponytail.
“Are you feeling alright?” she continued to ask, and Kagome gave a small grunt of distress.
“My entire body feels like it is being ripped up. What happened to me? Who brought me here? Who are you?” she asked the girl, who had turned somewhere off to her side and seemed to be tinkering with something. A moment later, the girl seemed to have found what she was looking for, as she stuck the burning piece of wood into a gap in the floor.
“Come closer and let me help,” she said.
“What?”
“Come here,” the woman said again. “I can heal you.”
Kagome made her way over to her unsurely, carefully crawling closer to her. She winced as the woman touched her right arm, and was about to ask what she was doing when a small halo of light appeared around the woman's hands. Kagome looked on in awe as the woman's hands passed over her wounds, the light healing almost everything it touched.
By the time she was done, Kagome felt a whole lot better. “Arigatou...” she said as the girl pulled away.
“It was nothing,” she replied with a small smile. “I'm sorry if I wasn't able to heal everything. I'm not a very powerful miko.”
“Oh no, you were wonderful!” Kagome hurried to say. “Thanks again.”
“No problem. By the way, why did Tarumo kidnap you?”
“Nani?”
“Tarumo. Why did he bring you here?”
Kagome thought for a while. `Tarumo...' so that was the name of her kidnapper!
“I have no idea,” she replied. “Maybe it's because of my master. He always gets into fights,”
“Oh,” the girl said. “So, are you a servant or a concubine?”
“A concubine.”
“I see. May I ask who your lord is?”
“May I know what is going on first? Why are you in here with my kidnapper?” Kagome asked the woman, who gave her a small smile.
“I don't really know what is going on, but I will try to answer,” she replied. “I was kidnapped a few months ago for a certain man, but it seemed as if the man didn't want to have me after all and left me to Tarumo. He refused to bring me back home, and has kept me servant for those past few months. I think I was kidnapped for my pathetic miko abilities, but I can't be sure,” she explained shortly. “Now may I know who your lord is?”
Kagome was overwhelmed. Something about the girl's story made bells resound in her brain. But anyway... “My lord's name is Inuyasha.”
The girl gave a small gasp, before excitement made its way into her eyes. “Did you say Inuyasha?”
“Hai. Inuyasha. From the Inuyoukai clan. Do you know him?”
“Oh gods, you're his concubine?! How things have changed since I was kidnapped! He never even looked at girls before! I mean, he was the town virgin and...”
“You know him!?”
“Oh yes!” she replied. “I am Rin, a good friend of his brother Sesshoumaru.”
-----/---@
“What the hell happened here, Sango? You were supposed to watch over her!” Inuyasha yelled at the slightly wounded Sango.
They were in Kagome's devastated bedroom, Inuyasha snapping at anyone who came within a half-mile radius of him. One of the walls had been torn down, her things scattered all over the floor. The noise of troops being assembled by Sesshoumaru on the grounds reached their ears. He knew that the guards were confused about why they made such a huge deal of Kagome getting kidnapped, but only Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku and Sesshoumaru knew why... Even Sesshoumaru had looked panicked when Kagome was abducted.
Naraku was behind it. And Kagome could be the thing that would lead him to taking over the world.
“I tried to protect her!” Sango protested. “But the youkai... he was fast. Kagome and I were talking when the west wall suddenly collapsed and he came in here, bat wings and all, a ball of youki headed for Kagome. I tried to block it, but it was so sudden, Inuyasha! I fought him, but he managed to grab Kagome from me. I didn't have my Hiraikotsu, I should have brought it!”
“Well, how did the fucking thing get into the manor in the first place?!” Inuyasha whirled on the terrified security commander, who gave a small salute before speaking.
“It was incredibly fast, my Lord. He had managed to get in before the radars even detected him. I am sorry, Inuyasha-sama,” he said.
“Sorry? You're fucking sorry?! If something happens to her, you WILL be sorry, you hear me!?”
“Hai, Inuyasha-sama.”
Miroku came in at that moment, holding a notepad in his hands, his face smudged with dirt.
“Inuyasha,” he panted, holding the pad out for Inuyasha to take. The hanyou grabbed it roughly, surveying the sketch and words as Miroku spoke.
“I learned of the youkai. His name is Tarumo. He is a bat youkai, and according to our youkai informants, the man occasionally works for Naraku. One of our prisoners said he'd give me his location in exchange for freedom...” Miroku said quickly. He, of all people, knew Inuyasha's temper...
“Well, did you let him go?” Inuyasha asked.
“Yes. He wouldn't talk otherwise.”
“Good. What did he say?” Inuyasha asked.
“The directions he gave me are at the next page of that pad,” Miroku said as Inuyasha hurriedly turned to the next page. “He said that Tarumo lives in an abandoned dungeon in the northern mountains. His palace is sealed off scents, so no one could find it.”
“Great,” Inuyasha said, reading over the directions one last time. He then tore off the page and leapt off the room, landing a few meters behind Sesshoumaru.
“What is it, Inuyasha?”
“These are the directions that Miroku got from his sources,”. The bastard's name is Tarumo. He's got Kagome in a scent sealed dungeon,” he replied, handing Sesshoumaru the sheet before adding in a whisper, “Naraku's involved. I'd better get going. Gather the troops and follow me.”
Inuyasha flew off before Sesshoumaru even had a chance to reply.
`Naraku,' he thought angrily. `Don't you dare hurt Kagome.'
-----/---@
“You're RIN?!” Kagome exclaimed, surprising the woman. `THE Rin? The one who Sesshoumaru did that... THING for?'
“Yes. Has Inuyasha mentioned me to you?”
“Hai. Just this morning, in fact,” Kagome answered, the surprise still in her eyes. `What a coincidence... he just told me about her this morning...'
“Well, it seems we already have common ground!” Rin continued happily.
“Wait, Rin... I thought you were dead...” Kagome said. “Inuyasha told me that he and Sesshoumaru had gone looking for you, for months! And they never found you, not the slightest scent!”
“They looked for me?” Rin asked, a soft look coming over her eyes.
“Didn't you think they would?”
“Oh, I thought they would... but... I guess I never really expected them to...” Rin said with a small smile. “And I would have thought that they'd declare me dead in only a few days.”
“Sesshoumaru took your `death' real hard.”
“He did?”
“Yeah,” Kagome said, and was surprised when a suspicious sheen made Rin's eyes look brighter. “Rin, are you ok?”
“Ee... It's just that... when I found out that you knew Inuyasha, so many memories came rushing back to me and... I just realized that I miss Sesshoumaru and everybody else so much,” she said with a bitter smile. “And they may never find me because they can't smell me.”
“Don't worry,” Kagome said in haste. “Inuyasha will find us. I just know he will...”
“You really trust him, don't you?”
Kagome froze. She didn't even realize that she had been saying that...
“What is your name, by the way? I don't think I've ever seen you before,” Rin said suddenly, snatching Kagome from her highly confused thoughts.
“Oh!” she said. “Yes, how rude of me. My name is Kagome. Kagome Higurashi.”
Rin went silent. “Higurashi? As in Lord Higurashi of Calderia?” she whispered.
“Um... yes. I'm his daughter.” Kagome said uncertainly.
“I see,” Rin replied, her smile growing a bit hard. “So that's why I have never seen you before. You're from a different land.”
“Yes. I was brought here less than two weeks ago.”
“Why are you here?” Rin asked, and Kagome noticed that her voice had lost a tiny bit of its warmth. She was not unfriendly, but she was not as warm as before.
`Does she hate my father, too?' Kagome wondered, before trying to placate the girl. She knew that the Soldarians hated her father... “I'm not like my father, Rin. I swear,” she said, nearly wincing at her own words.
Rin blushed, before her smile became apologetic. “I'm sorry, I guess I was behaving differently again... It's just that, Lord Higurashi...”
“It's ok.”
“Besides, I know you love your father, and...”
“Loved.”
“Nani?” Rin asked.
“He's dead. Inuyasha killed him.” Kagome replied, a frown starting to tug at her lips.
“Oh...”
If Rin had anything else to say after that announcement, they may not find out anytime soon, for the sound of heavy footsteps slowly announced another presence in the dim dungeon.
“Oh, gripes...” Rin said, her face going visibly pale. She groped around for the torch, putting it out in a great hurry, her haste making her burn her hand. “Ow, ow, ow!”
“Nani? What's going on, Rin?” Kagome asked as Rin huddled closer to her, shivering.
“Tarumo...” she said softly, brokenly. “He's coming...”
-----/---@
A/N: Done! Hope you all enjoyed!
Arigatou to all those who reviewed my previous chapters, and please review this one too! I want to know what you guys think. ^_^ Ja ne!
ScarletRaven1001
News Flash
-----/---@
Miroku rubbed at the sore red handprint mark on his cheek, reminiscent of the slap Sango had given him early that morning. `Fiery, that woman is... VERY fiery.'
He turned to the youkai before him as he dropped his hand, wondering why he had been called by the commander (thereby disturbing his quality groping time) at that hour. Sesshoumaru was sitting behind the large wooden table in his study, his steely eyes showing his irritation.
“Miroku, Inuyasha is once again missing, and I want you to find him as soon as possible,” Sesshoumaru ordered, making Miroku's right eye twitch.
`He's ordering me around as if I were a servant here,' he thought in slight amusement and annoyance.
Sess continued. “Inform him that all the officers of the Soldarian fleet, him included, will be having a general meeting today, and that he should proceed to the King's palace by exactly noon today.”
Miroku gave him a near-mock salute, not forgetting that he was actually one of the lower ranking officers of the fleet, and therefore under Sesshoumaru. After the colonel returned his gesture, he gave a swift one- eighty and left to find his best friend.
“Mou, Inuyasha!” Miroku said to himself in annoyance. `It has only been ten days since his awarding and he is already acting strangely.'
The hanyou had been restless since the attack that Naraku had launched on the night of his awarding. He barely went anywhere without Kagome, and even had special locks installed everywhere on her bedroom, her windows and drains included.
If one were to watch the two of them together, one would think they were in courtship. Kagome wore the hair comb that he had given her all the time. She was never seen up and without it. Also, just a couple of days before, there had been a rumor that the hanyou and princess were seen kissing in the palace veranda, but Inuyasha had vehemently denied it when Miroku asked.
The master and concubine dined together, walked together, and the only things they did not do together were bathe and sleep. But though it seemed like the two were at relative peace with each other, Inuyasha had grumpily told Miroku that the two were friends at best, and their companionship was all pretension. And his sticking with Kagome also had to do with her being the key.
But he could swear that he had caught Kagome throwing small secretive glances at Inuyasha... She was also starting to smile a bit...
`But still, they ARE together a lot more often than any two people on Soldari are,' he thought. `Maybe someday... Kagome will learn to forgive Inuyasha.'
-----/---@
“Sango-san, how do you do?” Hojo said as Sango walked up to him, holding Kagome's breakfast on a tray. The young soldier was the one tasked to watch Kagome's door for the day, and he smiled as Sango approached to serve her mistress.
“I'm fine, Hojo-kun. Have you been here all night?” she asked amicably.
“Aa. I'm rather sleepy now, but Shippou-san will be here shortly to replace me, I believe,” he said as he moved to open the door.
“Shippou? I thought he had been assigned to guard Kikyo-sama?”
“He was yesterday. He didn't look too happy when he got out of his shift, though.”
The door to the bedroom opened, and Sango called out as soon as she came in. She and Kagome had grown to be good friends over the past ten days, and managed to get to know each other well. That was, during the short periods of time she was in her room without Inuyasha.
Sango smirked. Inuyasha really took his `protecting' seriously.
“Kagome? I'm here with your breakfast!” she said with a smile, looking around the messy room. `That's odd... Kagome has never left her bed unmade.'
She walked towards the dresser where Kagome kept her supplies, and she gave a small sound of surprise upon seeing a small gem-encrusted gold comb resting on the bureau. `This is the comb that Inuyasha gave her for her birthday... she never leaves without this!'
She took a small step towards the bathroom when something glittering beneath her feet caught her eye. She looked down and found Kagome's broken hand mirror beside a bottle of what was unmistakably morning cream.
Sango looked around in alarm. The unmade bed... the broken things... the comb...
She ran out of the room and straight into Hojo and Shippou, who were at the moment exchanging shifts. Miroku, who had been on his way down the staircase, noticed her panicked look and had turned to ask before she blurted out the reason for her distress...
“Hojo! Houshi-sama! Kagome-sama... she's gone!”
“Nani?!”
-----/---@
220;Nani?!”
Inuyasha almost grinned at Kagome's shocked look. She was staring at him with wide eyes, her hand on its way to her mouth to pop a small chunk of bread in.
“You're kidding.”
“No, I'm not,” Inuyasha said in triumph. “It's true. You can ask him if you don't believe me.”
Kagome just looked at him skeptically before she turned her head, popped the food into her mouth and brushed some grass off her nightgown.
The two of them were sitting in one of the smaller palace gardens, eating breakfast out of a bag of food that Inuyasha had brought. He had come to her room very early that morning with the food, startling her so much she dropped her mirror and bottle of cream. He had come in through one of her windows using his ID card, which was used to open all the other locks in her room.
He had not even given her enough time to change her clothes. And from his state of dress - or undress, however one would call his present state - one could easily tell that he had just leapt out of bed on impulse as well. They had run off with her on his back, which was their `usual' way of travel.
Kagome eyed him out of the corner of her eye. He was sitting across from her, wearing nothing but a wide blue sleeping hakama and a VERY loose white kimono that showed off nearly his entire chiseled chest, allowing Kagome to happily feast her eyes on him.
`Ugh! What am I thinking, ogling at him like that!?' she berated herself. But she had to admit... he looked incredible in his own rugged way.
“I haven't seen much of your brother, I admit,” she started. “But from what I HAVE seen of him, I seriously doubt that he would stoop that low...”
“Well, he did... and all because of that girl. He never thought that anyone would find out, but I did...”
“So you use that knowledge for blackmail every chance you get?”
“Right.”
“You are unbelievable,” Kagome said, a grin beginning to tug at the corners of her lips. “Why anyone would wish to blackmail family is beyond me.”
“We're not exactly one happy family you know,” Inuyasha replied, popping a whole slice of wheat bread into his mouth. “Besides, it's the only way I could get what I want from him. I actually used that threat on him when I asked for you to be my concubine.”
Kagome's lips went up into a full grin. “I guess when force is required...”
“Always attack your enemy's weakest point, I say.”
Both of them stared at each other for a moment, before bursting into laughter. Kagome was starting to wonder what was going on... they were enemies, right? No wait... she was putting on a show. She had to remember that she was only putting on a show to gain his trust, so she could have HER revenge.
She had tears in her eyes by the time they both managed to calm down. She just couldn't help but keep the image of what Inuyasha had said from popping into her mind every other second. It was too hilarious!
“Well, if he did that just for Rin, why don't I ever see her around the palace?” she asked distractedly as she finally noticed that Inuyasha was still carrying his sword around.
That made Inuyasha clam up. “We don't know.”
“Nani? What do you mean, you don't know? I thought Sesshoumaru liked keeping an eye on her?” she asked in confusion.
“That's just it. It was during the ninth war that I went to. Sess and I were fighting together on that planet, and when we came back... she was gone,” Inuyasha replied, surprising the princess. “She went missing while we were away, and we have yet to find her.”
“How long ago was this?” Kagome asked.
“About 4 months ago.”
“What? And you still have no idea where she is? But... what if something happened to her?” Kagome asked, appalled.
“Don't think we didn't try to find her,” Inuyasha said, laying back onto the thick grass. “He spent an entire two months looking, pushing everybody else to look as well. But she was gone. We couldn't find her scent, nothing. The state had to declare her dead after three months.”
“Oh my God...” she said, laying on her side, leaning on her elbow to look down at Inuyasha. “He must have been devastated...”
“He still is. Sess was at least bearable before Rin went missing. He would never admit it, but Rin's disappearance did a hell of a lot of damage.”
“Poor guy...”
Inuyasha was about to say something to change the topic, when the sound of an alarm trumpet suddenly went off, startling the two. They sat up in alarm as it sounded one more time.
“What was that?” Kagome asked.
“Alarm... somebody important has been kidnapped.”
“What?”
Inuyasha immediately ushered Kagome onto his back, forgetting all about the bag of food. He leapt up and headed at breakneck speed, making Kagome give a small squeak of surprise.
He got to the palace just as his brother came out the door to face the lined up troops. He dropped Kagome to the floor beside him.
“Sesshoumaru! What's going on?” he asked, and was surprised when the man turned to him in what looked to him like Sesshoumaru's version of surprised relief - slightly widened eyes.
Sesshoumaru turned to look at an apprehensive Kagome, before turning back to his brother. “Inuyasha, you enormous idiot,” he said as he approached, the sound of relief and various other reactions coming from the guards. “We had thought that you and your bitch had gotten kidnapped.”
He then turned his eyes to their outfits, which were comfortable to say the least, covered slightly in grass and lint. “This Sesshoumaru implores you that the next time you and your woman decide to have a woodland tryst, at least leave me a note to avoid alarm in the manor.”
Both blushed hard at the implications of the statement, and their simultaneous sputtering left the lined up guards snickering with amusement.
“We did NOT have a tryst!” Inuyasha managed to sputter out before Kagome's face turned into a full tomato.
“Well then, why are you both in your sleepers?” Miroku said from the front of the lines, grinning from ear to ear.
“We had a picnic! Nothing else!” Kagome said, the magenta tint still on her cheeks. She saw Sango standing by the door, looking down at her hands with a blush.
Inuyasha then turned to grab Kagome's arm, pulling her towards the house as a torrent of innumerable curses tumbled from his lips, clearly showing his anger. But the blush on his cheeks said otherwise...
-----/---@
“I'm sorry Kagome. It's just that... I *really* thought that you had gotten kidnapped!” Sango cried as Kagome sat on the edge of her bed, wearing her green house hakama and white kimono, drying her freshly washed hair and carefully tucking the golden comb Inuyasha had given her into her raven locks. A bath... finally...
“It's alright. It was rather embarrassing though,” Kagome answered with a giggle.
Sango smiled back, but she knew the real reason why she had been so paranoid in the first place... Naraku was around, and she knew that he was after her. Inuyasha was so shaken up that he went to Kaede every time he wasn't with Kagome. It was as if Kagome and Kaede were the only people Inuyasha bothered to talk to as of late...
“Sango,” Kagome's soft voice cut her thoughts off. “Do you remember the night of Inuyasha's awarding? That man who took your princess... who is he?”
Sango blanched. “Nani? Hasn't Inuyasha told you yet?”
“Iie. Not yet. He keeps derailing the conversation whenever I get anywhere near that topic. It's like he doesn't want to talk about it.”
“If he doesn't, it's of good reason.”
“Well, I want to know why,” she replied. “Sango... Inuyasha and I are together all the time but we never get anywhere. He hasn't even called me by my name yet...”
Sango looked at Kagome's crestfallen appearance, and her heart went out to her. Oh well...
“Alright, I'll tell you,” she said, making Kagome's face instantly light up. “But promise me you would never tell Inuyasha that I did.”
“Promise!”
-----/---@
&# 8220;I barely let her out of my sight, old woman. She won't get hurt,” Inuyasha confidently told Kaede. After dropping Kagome off into her room, he had gone to his own to briefly change into his usual clothes. He tugged at his haori, adjusting the collar. “Besides, with Tetsusaiga, nothing could get in my way.”
“Inuyasha, I still think that it would be wise for her to learn how to use her powers. They would come in handy, and help protect her during times when you may not be there...” the old miko replied. “Making her learn how to defend herself will not mean that she would be able to summon the Shikon no Tama.”
“I don't want to take any chances!” He replied. “That gem killed a lot of people when it was last released. I don't want it to happen today! Besides, you know what happened to Rin... she's not even THAT powerful of a miko.”
“We don't know for sure if she is dead,” Kaede snapped.
“We don't know if she isn't!” he snapped back. “The moment Kagome learns of her connection to the Shikon no Tama hell will break loose. She'll be an instant target, not just by Naraku!”
“Inuyasha, you moron... she already is a target.”
“But...”
“Kaede-sama! 221; Shippou's voice suddenly resounded right outside Kaede's small shrine. Inuyasha could swear that he smelled anxiety on the boy...
Kaede slowly stood to approach the door. She went outside to greet him, leaving Inuyasha to his thoughts.
`Kagome,' he thought. `You are such a pain in the ass... but gods... I love her smile.'
“Inuyasha!” Kaede's voice broke through his musings. “Shippou is here with some bad news...”
“What?” he asked as he sat up. Shippou came into the house looking as troubled as he smelled.
“Inuyasha-senpai,” he said nervously. “Kagome-sama was kidnapped. It's for sure now... we saw her get carried away by the youkai.”
“WHAT?!” he yelled. “You were all there and you were unable to save her?”
“Gomen...”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go! See you baabaa,” Inuyasha said, picking up his sword as he dashed out the door with Shippou at his heels.
-----/---@
Kagome slowly opened her eyes, a jolt of pain running through her body as she groggily tried to sit up. She was laying on something hard and cold, something she could only guess was a concrete floor.
`What in the gods' name is going on?' she thought. One moment she was talking to Sango, next she was here in this dark place. It was so very dark... she could see nothing, and the last memory she had was of a scream of fright before everything went black.
“Ugh... where am I?” she queried into the darkness, and was more than shocked when a small female voice answered her.
“You're in Tarumo's dungeon,” he voice said, making Kagome turn her head futilely to the direction of the voice. She tried hard to see anything, but alas, she had always been night-blind.
“I'm glad to know you're ok. You looked awful when Tarumo brought you in,” she continued, as a faint sound of footsteps made their way towards Kagome.
“Who are you?” Kagome asked. A sudden spark made her yelp and cover her eyes from the sudden brightness. When she looked up again, the room was lit by the light of a burning piece of wood, which served like a small torch. The wood was being held by a small pale hand, and following the hand up to slender arms, she was surprised to find a young woman, almost the same age as herself, staring at her with a small, unsure smile.
The girl was lovely, but it was apparent from the color of her skin that she had not seen the sun in a while. Her small thin lips looked slightly parched, and her vibrant green eyes stared at Kagome from beneath dark brown bangs. She was wearing a very worn-out yellow kimono and no shoes, her waist-length hair tied into a low ponytail.
“Are you feeling alright?” she continued to ask, and Kagome gave a small grunt of distress.
“My entire body feels like it is being ripped up. What happened to me? Who brought me here? Who are you?” she asked the girl, who had turned somewhere off to her side and seemed to be tinkering with something. A moment later, the girl seemed to have found what she was looking for, as she stuck the burning piece of wood into a gap in the floor.
“Come closer and let me help,” she said.
“What?”
“Come here,” the woman said again. “I can heal you.”
Kagome made her way over to her unsurely, carefully crawling closer to her. She winced as the woman touched her right arm, and was about to ask what she was doing when a small halo of light appeared around the woman's hands. Kagome looked on in awe as the woman's hands passed over her wounds, the light healing almost everything it touched.
By the time she was done, Kagome felt a whole lot better. “Arigatou...” she said as the girl pulled away.
“It was nothing,” she replied with a small smile. “I'm sorry if I wasn't able to heal everything. I'm not a very powerful miko.”
“Oh no, you were wonderful!” Kagome hurried to say. “Thanks again.”
“No problem. By the way, why did Tarumo kidnap you?”
“Nani?”
“Tarumo. Why did he bring you here?”
Kagome thought for a while. `Tarumo...' so that was the name of her kidnapper!
“I have no idea,” she replied. “Maybe it's because of my master. He always gets into fights,”
“Oh,” the girl said. “So, are you a servant or a concubine?”
“A concubine.”
“I see. May I ask who your lord is?”
“May I know what is going on first? Why are you in here with my kidnapper?” Kagome asked the woman, who gave her a small smile.
“I don't really know what is going on, but I will try to answer,” she replied. “I was kidnapped a few months ago for a certain man, but it seemed as if the man didn't want to have me after all and left me to Tarumo. He refused to bring me back home, and has kept me servant for those past few months. I think I was kidnapped for my pathetic miko abilities, but I can't be sure,” she explained shortly. “Now may I know who your lord is?”
Kagome was overwhelmed. Something about the girl's story made bells resound in her brain. But anyway... “My lord's name is Inuyasha.”
The girl gave a small gasp, before excitement made its way into her eyes. “Did you say Inuyasha?”
“Hai. Inuyasha. From the Inuyoukai clan. Do you know him?”
“Oh gods, you're his concubine?! How things have changed since I was kidnapped! He never even looked at girls before! I mean, he was the town virgin and...”
“You know him!?”
“Oh yes!” she replied. “I am Rin, a good friend of his brother Sesshoumaru.”
-----/---@
“What the hell happened here, Sango? You were supposed to watch over her!” Inuyasha yelled at the slightly wounded Sango.
They were in Kagome's devastated bedroom, Inuyasha snapping at anyone who came within a half-mile radius of him. One of the walls had been torn down, her things scattered all over the floor. The noise of troops being assembled by Sesshoumaru on the grounds reached their ears. He knew that the guards were confused about why they made such a huge deal of Kagome getting kidnapped, but only Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku and Sesshoumaru knew why... Even Sesshoumaru had looked panicked when Kagome was abducted.
Naraku was behind it. And Kagome could be the thing that would lead him to taking over the world.
“I tried to protect her!” Sango protested. “But the youkai... he was fast. Kagome and I were talking when the west wall suddenly collapsed and he came in here, bat wings and all, a ball of youki headed for Kagome. I tried to block it, but it was so sudden, Inuyasha! I fought him, but he managed to grab Kagome from me. I didn't have my Hiraikotsu, I should have brought it!”
“Well, how did the fucking thing get into the manor in the first place?!” Inuyasha whirled on the terrified security commander, who gave a small salute before speaking.
“It was incredibly fast, my Lord. He had managed to get in before the radars even detected him. I am sorry, Inuyasha-sama,” he said.
“Sorry? You're fucking sorry?! If something happens to her, you WILL be sorry, you hear me!?”
“Hai, Inuyasha-sama.”
Miroku came in at that moment, holding a notepad in his hands, his face smudged with dirt.
“Inuyasha,” he panted, holding the pad out for Inuyasha to take. The hanyou grabbed it roughly, surveying the sketch and words as Miroku spoke.
“I learned of the youkai. His name is Tarumo. He is a bat youkai, and according to our youkai informants, the man occasionally works for Naraku. One of our prisoners said he'd give me his location in exchange for freedom...” Miroku said quickly. He, of all people, knew Inuyasha's temper...
“Well, did you let him go?” Inuyasha asked.
“Yes. He wouldn't talk otherwise.”
“Good. What did he say?” Inuyasha asked.
“The directions he gave me are at the next page of that pad,” Miroku said as Inuyasha hurriedly turned to the next page. “He said that Tarumo lives in an abandoned dungeon in the northern mountains. His palace is sealed off scents, so no one could find it.”
“Great,” Inuyasha said, reading over the directions one last time. He then tore off the page and leapt off the room, landing a few meters behind Sesshoumaru.
“What is it, Inuyasha?”
“These are the directions that Miroku got from his sources,”. The bastard's name is Tarumo. He's got Kagome in a scent sealed dungeon,” he replied, handing Sesshoumaru the sheet before adding in a whisper, “Naraku's involved. I'd better get going. Gather the troops and follow me.”
Inuyasha flew off before Sesshoumaru even had a chance to reply.
`Naraku,' he thought angrily. `Don't you dare hurt Kagome.'
-----/---@
“You're RIN?!” Kagome exclaimed, surprising the woman. `THE Rin? The one who Sesshoumaru did that... THING for?'
“Yes. Has Inuyasha mentioned me to you?”
“Hai. Just this morning, in fact,” Kagome answered, the surprise still in her eyes. `What a coincidence... he just told me about her this morning...'
“Well, it seems we already have common ground!” Rin continued happily.
“Wait, Rin... I thought you were dead...” Kagome said. “Inuyasha told me that he and Sesshoumaru had gone looking for you, for months! And they never found you, not the slightest scent!”
“They looked for me?” Rin asked, a soft look coming over her eyes.
“Didn't you think they would?”
“Oh, I thought they would... but... I guess I never really expected them to...” Rin said with a small smile. “And I would have thought that they'd declare me dead in only a few days.”
“Sesshoumaru took your `death' real hard.”
“He did?”
“Yeah,” Kagome said, and was surprised when a suspicious sheen made Rin's eyes look brighter. “Rin, are you ok?”
“Ee... It's just that... when I found out that you knew Inuyasha, so many memories came rushing back to me and... I just realized that I miss Sesshoumaru and everybody else so much,” she said with a bitter smile. “And they may never find me because they can't smell me.”
“Don't worry,” Kagome said in haste. “Inuyasha will find us. I just know he will...”
“You really trust him, don't you?”
Kagome froze. She didn't even realize that she had been saying that...
“What is your name, by the way? I don't think I've ever seen you before,” Rin said suddenly, snatching Kagome from her highly confused thoughts.
“Oh!” she said. “Yes, how rude of me. My name is Kagome. Kagome Higurashi.”
Rin went silent. “Higurashi? As in Lord Higurashi of Calderia?” she whispered.
“Um... yes. I'm his daughter.” Kagome said uncertainly.
“I see,” Rin replied, her smile growing a bit hard. “So that's why I have never seen you before. You're from a different land.”
“Yes. I was brought here less than two weeks ago.”
“Why are you here?” Rin asked, and Kagome noticed that her voice had lost a tiny bit of its warmth. She was not unfriendly, but she was not as warm as before.
`Does she hate my father, too?' Kagome wondered, before trying to placate the girl. She knew that the Soldarians hated her father... “I'm not like my father, Rin. I swear,” she said, nearly wincing at her own words.
Rin blushed, before her smile became apologetic. “I'm sorry, I guess I was behaving differently again... It's just that, Lord Higurashi...”
“It's ok.”
“Besides, I know you love your father, and...”
“Loved.”
“Nani?” Rin asked.
“He's dead. Inuyasha killed him.” Kagome replied, a frown starting to tug at her lips.
“Oh...”
If Rin had anything else to say after that announcement, they may not find out anytime soon, for the sound of heavy footsteps slowly announced another presence in the dim dungeon.
“Oh, gripes...” Rin said, her face going visibly pale. She groped around for the torch, putting it out in a great hurry, her haste making her burn her hand. “Ow, ow, ow!”
“Nani? What's going on, Rin?” Kagome asked as Rin huddled closer to her, shivering.
“Tarumo...” she said softly, brokenly. “He's coming...”
-----/---@
A/N: Done! Hope you all enjoyed!
Arigatou to all those who reviewed my previous chapters, and please review this one too! I want to know what you guys think. ^_^ Ja ne!
ScarletRaven1001