A Long Way Home

Summary: Kagome Higurashi, daughter of a wealthy banker, finds herself kidnapped and held for ransom by a notorious smuggler. Now, the only way she can escape is with her father's cooperation and the aid of...her doggy-eared kidnapper?

Specific Chapter Warnings: Language, mild violence, suggestive language/actions, OOC

Please heed these warnings EVERY CHAPTER. Seriously, don't skip them because I hate complaints that could have been avoided if people had just read the warnings.

The Jewel

A small square, no more than three inches to a side.

Yet that small square had the weight of his entire past.

It was an otherwise harmless looking letter. Beige…maybe taupe. Neatly folded and adhered. He wouldn't have given it a second glance until he had finished working through his work-related files had that one corner not peeked out beneath his briefcase. Of course, that was all it took. A tiny black spider with eight red-tipped legs.

Carefully picking the envelope up, he debated opening it. Did he dare?

For some reason, he knew that gliding his finger under the flap would be the snowflake that set off the avalanche. After all, it had been nearly seventeen years…why was he doing this now? Perhaps he should have found the fearful man he was now shameful, but that was the man he was all those years ago. Now, he knew. He knew the dangers that this little envelope meant.

But he couldn't just leave it sitting on his desk unopened, a constant threat. Taking a deep breath, he slipped his forefinger under a loose corner of the flap, hesitating before shutting his eyes and ever so slowly tearing the envelope open.

He pulled the card out, torn between frustration and relief at the fact that there were no words on the first side. Unable to contain his trepidation, he turned the card to the other side, and paled at the short message.

You have my jewel.

Return it, or I will take yours.

For a long minute, he forgot to breathe.

Taiyo Higurashi placed the tiny square on his desk with shaky hands, immediately looking around the room of his study in paranoia now that the initial shock had worn off. How had it gotten in here? He was the only one with a key to the study. He was sure of it. There were no windows, and only one way in and out.

And how…how had he known? That he had given his daughter that little nickname was something between only him and Kagome.

Kagome…he thought, closing his eyes, his lids suddenly too heavy to hold up. She was his whole world, the one shining jewel in his life, and had been for seventeen years since his wife had died. She looked so much like Kikyo, his first love, that it broke his heart just a bit every day, reminding him that she had been taken away far before her time. Kagome's eyes were really the only major difference; they told a different story than his late wife's. They were a dark blue, soft, warm and loving like he raised them to be, and held so much of the sweetness and innocence that Kikyo's never had.

Of course, it had been the grittiness and darkness in Kikyo that attracted him to her, the pure will to survive and endure that seduced him. He and his wife had been the same breed, raised by the same kill-or-be-killed rules, but Kagome? She was his jewel, his princess, and he'd be damned if he let his past consume her.

Still, how did he know?

'We were being watched…' Taiyo realized. '…and they've already gotten in here,' he thought with rising panic, though even in the privacy of his study he refused to let it show. 'How did they…' Suddenly, he realized what this could mean. 'Kagome…!' Throwing the slip of paper onto the floor in his hurry, Taiyo sprung out of the chair and nearly pulled the door off its hinges as he yanked it open. Kagome would be heading home from volleyball practice and for all he knew, they were planning on kidnapping her right off the sidewalk. He had to get to her before they could!

"You'll get used to it!" Kagome laughed, giving her teammate another firm pat on her bottom. "We all do this!"

The girl flushed a bright red, refraining from immediately shying at the touch. It wasn't Kagome…it was just that it felt so…inappropriate. She almost wanted to look around to make sure no one was watching, even though it was only the two of them packing up after practice.

"B-but…I don't know, it feels weird! Especially 'cause these stupid pants barely cover my butt! Why do you guys do that again?" She asked.

"Oh, Sango," Kagome sighed dramatically. "We will soon induct you to the ways of spandex and butt-slapping*," she assured the blushing girl. The seventeen year old girl cocked her head to the side in thought as the two girls began to head out of the gym. "I don't really know why we do it, just that ever since I joined the team, I've been slappin' and spankin' away with the rest of the girls." A mischievous smirk crossed Kagome's face and she leaned in to whisper to Sango conspiratorially, "Personally, I think most girls have some homo-erotic tendencies, and seeing a bunch of girls in spandex is just too great a temptation!" She finished with a giggle as her best friend and newest teammate turned tomato red.

"Kagome!" Sango practically shrieked. "I can't believe – I – uh – oh my god…" The older girl trailed off, massaging her temples in some combination of shock and embarrassment before melting into giggles of her own, unable to contain her amusement. "I hope you don't plan on taking out your 'homo-erotic tendencies' on me, little missy!" She whispered to her smirking friend.

"Well, shucks," Kagome frowned, snapping her fingers disappointedly. "There go my weekend plans!" The teen pouted, and crossed her arms in the perfect image of a spoilt child being denied her favorite candy. "Who do you expect me to do now?!"

The girls burst out into laughter as they pushed open the last set of doors, bringing the setting sun onto their faces. They made their way down the school steps and began to walk the brief trek home.

"Tsk tsk, Kagome. What would Papa Higurashi have to say if he heard his only daughter talking like this?" Sango teased, knowing the aforementioned man's incredible protectiveness – well, Kagome would more likely call it overbearingness – over his precious daughter.

"Oh god, don't even get me started on Dad," Kagome whined with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, I love him, but seriously, I don't think I've grown up at all since third grade in his eyes. If he had his way, I would just be suspended in time at eight years old," she complained, this time donning a real pout. "I mean, really!" Lowering her voice, she whispered to Sango, "I'm seventeen and I've never even kissed a boy!"

"Wow," Sango looked up at her friend in mild shock. She wouldn't have guessed that about Kagome. The girl was pretty, beyond pretty actually. Sango was sure her judgment was clouded by the fact that she loved the girl, but the way she saw it, Kagome was easily the most beautiful girl at their school of thousands. How she had managed to escape the attentions of all the boys was a mystery to say the least. "What about…I don't know…a boyfriend or something?"

The mention of a boyfriend only seemed to make Kagome more upset. "Ugh, do you remember Akira?"

"Umm…the captain of the basketball team Akira?" She had a vague idea, though the guy wasn't in her grade so she didn't have too strong a memory of him.

"Yeah. Well, when we were sophomores, he asked me out. And let me tell you, he was sooo cute! You being in your fancy junior-ness probably wouldn't remember. Anyway, long story short, I said yes, brought him home, and you know what hobby Dad suddenly decides to develop? Knife-sharpening." Kagome sent her friend a deadpan look. "On our front porch. Or in the kitchen. Or wherever Akira was." She paused. "…We didn't last long." The blue-eyed girl threw hands up in frustration, just as one of her shoes caught on a slightly raised square of pavement, nearly sending her to the ground had Sango not caught her.

Chuckling at her friends clumsiness, Sango set her back on her feet. "I don't know…seems like you need the extra care he's putting in," she joked and looked up at the house they'd arrived at, their brief conversation having gotten them back to Kagome's house safely.

Lightened up by her friend's humor, Kagome stepped onto the gravel of her front lawn, and waved a goodbye to her friend. "You're lucky we're here or I'd have to give your butt another spanking for that little comment," she threatened, giving her own spandex-covered bottom a smack as demonstration.

"Yeah, yeah," Sango waved her off. "I'll give you plenty of ass action tomorrow at practice," she promised, calling back as she continued down the sidewalk to her own house, six blocks down in the slightly less upscale part of town.

Kagome blew a raspberry at Sango's departing form. With another giggle at their antics, she turned around and made her way up the steps to the front door, when a sudden prickle at the back of her neck had her pausing just a moment. She spun around, the feeling of being watched suddenly rising in her.

"Sango?" She called out quietly, though the wind ate her words before they could travel far. Furrowing her brows, Kagome shook the strange feeling out of mind and stuck her key into the lock, ready for one of her favorite times of the day – despite what she said about her father: being welcomed home.

However, she found the front door being yanked open before she could even turn the key and found herself smashed into a solid wall of man.

"Daddy!" She cried out happily when she recognized the hug.

His strong arms clamped down around her. "Oh god, Kagome," he breathed out in pure relief.

Confused by his reaction, Kagome looked up at him in worry. "Is something wrong, Daddy?" She had never seen him so shaken. He might not have even realized it, but she could feel his heart beating furiously against her cheek.

Taiyo squeezed her tightly to him, wanting to wrap her up and hide her away so nothing could get to her. When a cool breeze rolled in through the open doorway, he set her down, doing a quick scan of the area outside, and shut the door. After double checking that the doors were locked, he finally looked down at his daughter. Kagome was still looking up at her father in confusion, and it occurred to him that he hadn't answered her question.

"Oh, nothing," he assured her, unable to give her the comforting smile he wanted to. He gently kissed her forehead as he had done every day she came home from school for over a decade, and smoothed out her uneven, sweat-dampened bangs. He was about to ask her how her day had went, as per their usual routine, when her volleyball uniform caught her eye.

As if able to tell what the sudden frown on his face meant, Kagome rolled her eyes and pushed herself out of his hug to grab her gym bag that had fallen at the front door. "Daaad," she warned, turning to head up the stairs. "Don't even get started!"

"Kagome, I don't like what they have you wearing for these practices!" Taiyo protested, giving her a stern look. He was all for letting Kagome try new things, play new sports, but when she asked to join the official volleyball team a few weeks ago, she never told him they made the girls dress like…like that! "Why can't you wear those baggy shorts you used to have for clinics? Those I don't have any complaints about."

"It's comfortable, Dad, and therefore it helps us play better," Kagome explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, half-way up the stairs by that point.

The domineering man looked ready to fight with her over such a ludicrous statement – really, how could those shorts they were…dipped!...in possibly be more comfortable than basketball shorts – but shook his head and massaged his temples. Kagome was home safe, and after the scare, he didn't want to fight with her. Right now, he needed to figure out what the hell was going on and how he was going to keep his daughter from all this. With a sigh, Taiyo waved her off to her room and headed down to the kitchen to grab a snack. He'd spent so long staring at that godforsaken letter that he had missed dinner, and now the grumbling organ in his body was promptly reminding him that it needed to be fed.

Pausing a moment at his strange behavior, Kagome reluctantly accepted it as a temporary victory and continued the long trek to her room, her heavy bag in tow. After a harrowing journey that nearly took her life three times (okay, so she had a tiny habit of over-exaggerating), she was back in her room, eagerly throwing open the wooden doors.

'Dang! Why is it so cold in here?!' Her skin prickled with goosebumps, and in moments, she located the culprit: the open window that she must have left open in the morning.

'Ah, well, nothing a hot shower can't fix!' She thought, quickly stripping down her dirty jersey and shorts and tossing it, along with her school uniform, into the laundry hamper.

One steamy, long shower and two exhausting problem sets later, she was ready to pass out under her fluffy, blue sheets and never wake up. She cast a bleary-eyed glance at her clock.

"Nooo…" She groaned. It had just turned midnight, and she still had half an essay to write. With a pitiful whimper, she would have turned back to her laptop and dropped her head onto her forearms in a very common display of despair amongst students had an arm not suddenly wrapped itself around her torso, a rough hand covering her mouth before she could scream.

With a muffled yell, Kagome arched backwards, trying to pry herself from the grip, when she was yanked from her chair. Her knees scraped the edge of her desk violently as she was pulled out kicking and screaming. A damp cloth abruptly covered her mouth, and it took only a split second for Kagome to realize what it was. 'No!'

Unfortunately, she could already feel the blackness setting in. Just before it claimed her, she swore she heard a man yelling and golden eyes lifting her towards them.

She could feel the gentle up and down like the lulling of the ocean. There was nothing but the grinding of waves in the background, white noise that swayed her in her dreams. Up and down. Up and down. Side to side.

Bang!

Kagome felt her head hit something metal, the bendable material caving down then back up with her head.

"Oh!" With a gasp, she shot awake, white noise transforming into nothing but the sound of gravel against rubber. Furiously blinking her eyes, she tried to adjust to the darkness, but it persisted, and after a futile minute, Kagome realized that she could feel a loose cloth wrapped around her head, blackening her surroundings.

'Oh god, oh god…I was kidnapped…and now he's driving me somewhere to do god knows what to me!' She tried not to let the panic sink in as she recalled what had happened before she fainted. She instinctively curled in on herself, when she realized that her hands and feet had been completely bound. Before she could even attempt a struggle, a rough turn sent her flying into of the car walls and Kagome inadvertently let out a squeak of pain, freezing at the sound. If she was in a trunk, then maybe her kidnapper hadn't heard her, she prayed.

A man's voice quickly answered that prayer with a big, fat "NO", signed "Love, God/Buddha/Ra/Anubis/every stinking star in the universe."

"Damn it, guys. Strap that stupid girl down or something. That racket's giving me a goddamned headache."

Freezing in terror at the harsh voice, Kagome impulsively jerked at the bindings around her wrists. Whoever that was, he did not sound happy.

She heard another voice, one that came closer to her, call back more calmly. "Might I suggest we simply remove the hood and let the girl balance herself?"

"We can't do that," a third voice rang out. "She'll see us and shit."

"She will see all out faces eventually. I doubt Naraku's going to leave her head in a bag the whole time," the second voice reasoned.

Another rough turn had Kagome rolling and crashing into the opposite metal wall.

"Just do whatever you have to, fucking hell!" The first voice cursed again.

"Here goes," she heard the second man say, and suddenly she was blinking frantically at the light and at the four – no, two…she was just seeing double – two faces peering at her. She was in…the back of a truck, she realized. The truck was dark, and she could barely see anything past their faces.

One man looked at her almost curiously, his violet eyes wide and soft, and Kagome had the feeling she was being absorbed, his eyes drawing her in. She had wanted to scream as soon as the hood had been lifted, but it almost seemed…unreasonable…to scream when her captive looked so kind.

"Well," the violet-eyed man started, "You really are as pretty as they say."

What? Oh my god. She was not blushing at what her KIDNAPPER said. If her hands had been unbound, Kagome would have slapped herself.

"Keh!"

Spinning her head around to look at the source of the other voice, Kagome found her gaze trapped on a second man. The first thing her mind processed was that his eyes were golden. They shone with a fiery light, scrutinizing her face with force that she almost fell back despite being able to see. Her words caught in her throat, the teen having never been on the receiving end of a look so intense that she wanted to both curl into herself and spread herself bare for his gaze to devour.

Damn it! What were with her traitorous thoughts?! Kagome mentally ranted, flushing profusely at the thought of being spread bare for the man. Where the hell had that come from? It hadn't seemed sexual when she thought it. It had just felt like he was seeing straight through her skin, his eyes penetrating to her very core, and the sheer authority in the look made her want to submit.

In a second, she composed herself as best she could, compelling her eyes back to the kinder man, and spoke. "I-I…" She stuttered nervously and wet her lips before continuing. "I don't kn-now what you w-want, but whatever it is, I don't have it," she implored. "Please, if it's m-money or – "

"Keh!" The man interrupted again as if she hadn't spoken. "She's not that pretty. Not very bright either."

Well, jeez. Never one to take someone's crap sitting down – well, she didn't have a choice in sitting down this time – Kagome could feel her temper rising at the insult. Who the hell was this guy? In the darkness of the large truck with at least three men she couldn't even properly see, Kagome would be lying if she said she wasn't terrified, which is why she welcomed the anger, hoping it would drown out some of her fear.

"Look," she addressed him, mustering up as much courage as she could and facing him head on. "If it's money you…" It took a great amount of restraint not to say assholes, "…people want, we don't have much." Sure, they weren't poor by any means, but she and her father were upper middle class at best, and they definitely didn't have enough to warrant a kidnapping. "Please, just let me go, and I swear I won't tell the police or anything. It'll be just like – "

An angry grunt interrupted from the front seat, beyond the metal separator. "I change my mind. I like the racket better than the stupid bitch's voice. Shut her up." He demanded.

The violet-eyed man moved to action, stepping forward. Kagome panicked, frantically backing up until her back hit a wall. "W-wait!" She begged in a whisper, terrified that the driver would hear her.

He waved his hands placatingly. "I'm not going to hurt you." He took a seat closer to her place on the ground and began rummaging for something in a cardboard box behind her. His movement had brought him into the light, so Kagome got her first good luck at one of her kidnappers. His kind smile caught her off guard for the briefest moment. This was the strangest kidnapping crew she had ever come across. Well, she corrected herself, she'd never been kidnapped before so that wasn't saying much…but still, the movies had it all wrong. The man that had brought himself closer to her was one of the sweetest looking people she'd ever seen. His cheeks and jaws had a slim smoothness to them, the lightest wrinkles around his eyes that could only be from smiling. Still, she warned herself to be cautious. What was the saying? The face of a Buddha often hid the fangs of a viper.

Hesitantly, Kagome ventured another look at the man that had made all sort of funny things flutter in her stomach, most of which felt highly unpleasant. His amber eyes latched onto her for another unbearably long minute, then abruptly looked away. While he was obviously a jerk, he didn't really scare her either, Kagome thought, though she couldn't tell if that was bravery or naiveté. He hadn't moved from the shadows, but even still, she hadn't sensed anything menacing from him.

"I'm afraid, Kagome," the violet-eyed man began, drawing her eyes back to him, "that it's not your money our…employer wants." She didn't bother asking how her knew her name, but it was unsettling nonetheless; it seemed to exacerbate the fact that these people clearly already knew her and she was still in the dark about everything.

When he said no more and only offered an apologetic smile, Kagome swallowed her anxiety and quietly asked, hyper-aware of the silence that meant her words were much more likely to be carried up front. "Then what does he want from me? Please, I don't know who you think my father is but he wouldn't have anything that – "

"Miroku." The quiet threat reverberated from the front of the car. "I told you to shut that bitch up." Kagome felt shivers run down her back at the pure hatred his voice radiated, having no idea what she – or the young man named Miroku – had done to earn it.

"Sorry about this. Our driver is in a worse mood than usual," he apologized, whispering the last part quietly so that only she could hear. Then, before she could protest, he forced a gag into her mouth. She put up a mild struggle, choking at the dusty taste of the gag. Firm hands came down on her shoulders and tilted her so she was lying sideways on the carpeted floor. "Lie down, and this will all be over soon if your father cooperates." He gave her another smile, carefully adjusting her so she was comfortable on the floor. She was on the verge of thanking him, unable to comprehend how a criminal could be so nice, when she suddenly felt a very firm squeeze to her breasts.

Squealing in absolute shock and nearly breaking her back to get away from the unwelcome touch, Kagome kicked backward at the offending man, desperately trying to wiggle away. She took an acute satisfaction at the loud bang she heard from behind and the accompanying pained grunt. 'How dare he?!' Her mind asked furiously, wanting nothing more than to rip that gag out and tell off the pervert! 'And just when I was starting to think he was the only decent one!'

Thankfully, it seemed she wasn't the only one pissed off at Miroku's perverted groping. "Fuck! Miroku, can you not keep your goddamned hands to yourself for a fucking minute?!" The golden-eyed man yelled. He got into a crouch from his seated position to drag Miroku back to their original seats, inadvertently bringing himself into the light for the first time.

Suddenly, Kagome forgot that she had just been very inappropriately groped as she caught sight of the man. His hair shined like silver rivers flowing down his back, swaying with his every tiny movement. Though he didn't look at her as he pulled Miroku off the ground, she could tell that his golden eyes seemed to gleam even more fiercely in the light. Atop his head, she saw…dog ears!

What.

'I was kidnapped by a cosplayer?!' Yes, Kagome reaffirmed to herself, this was the strangest criminal crew she had ever heard of. 'Maybe they're like a dress-up crew,' she tried to reason. She felt compelled to ask why he looked so supernatural but something told her that the criminals might not be up for a round of chit-chat – not that she could do much but drool out the question anyway with the gag in her mouth.

Then, as if they were beams of light, Kagome felt his eyes on her again. She froze, staring up at him in wonder. She wasn't much into the cosplaying scene but even she had to admit that he was almost unfairly attractive. However, something powerful simmered beneath his skin, something that made her limbs tingle – and she was not talking about the muscles rippling under his shirt.

For a moment, his face contorted to anger. Then it seemed to soften to something she dared to call confusion. He looked ready to say something to her, but what it was she would never know because Miroku chose that moment hack out his next words.

"I-Inuyah – a" A cough wracked his frame. "Damn!" Miroku patted his chest, massaging it painfully, and looked down at her. "You pack a lot more than I was expecting."

Had she had a reply to that, she wouldn't have been able to give it anyway considering the uncomfortable gag in her mouth.

Luckily, 'I-Inuyah – a' shared her thoughts in his own words. "Just keep your hands off he – to yourself, you perv," he demanded, quickly correcting himself.

"Yessir, Inuyasha," Miroku managed out, though he still sounded strained.

"If you two don't fucking shut up in the next five seconds, I'm going to go back there and kill you, too!" The driver suddenly burst out again, slamming the brakes harshly as if to prove his point. Kagome threw her hands out in front of her, trying to brace herself.

"Shit! Calm the fuck down!" The man named Inuyasha growled back, the rumbling bouncing off the metal walls of the truck. "What the hell's your problem?!"

She heard a violent clashing of...something in the front seat before the driver yelled back. "None of your goddamned business, half-breed."

It seemed the truck froze in the seconds that followed. Kagome didn't understand what was happening and she had only a guess what the insulting word meant, but she could see even through the darkness that Miroku's eyes had locked on Inuyasha, and that the silver-haired man had tensed dangerously at the metal barrier between the driver and the truck container that held them. Had she not known that it was impossible for a man to rip metal with his bare hands, she would have feared for the driver's life.

Nothing happened for what seemed like forever. Then, Kagome heard the familiar screeching of brakes, and the truck rolled to a tense stop.

"Keh."

As if a chisel breaking a dam, the softly muttered word brought the world back in motion. Kagome vaguely heard the sound of the driver – or it might have been some quietly invisible passenger for all she knew – exit in the front, but her eyes had refocused on the otherworldly man who had turned from his angry stance and was now stalking towards her.

A moment ago, he had looked ready to kill, and for a brief second, when he pulled her off the ground, she felt fear course through her at the thought that he planned on taking his anger out on her.

"Calm down, bitch," he commanded with an almost softness in his tone as if able to sense her fear. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

It would have been a nice sentiment had he not then promptly slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Of course, she let him know exactly how happy she was about that with some very heated, very intimidating, mind you, mumbles from behind the gag.

The back doors of the truck were wrenched open with a loud screech of metal, but before Kagome saw the ground beneath the wheels, her carrier paused at the edge of the container.

"The fuck do you want?" The shoulder under her ribcage rumbled slightly as he spoke.

"Give me the girl."

Maybe it was just instinct talking, but Kagome did not want to fall into the hands of the driver. She cast a look back, managing to catch a glimpse of the man that seemed to hate her without having even met her. Like Inuyasha, he had an otherworldly look about him. His skin glowed purple, a poisonous, dangerous purple that frightened her. And in the same places where the man who had her in his arms had his furry ears, this man had two horns. Again, she felt the same prickle up and down her body, but this time, Kagome couldn't tell if it was just pure terror.

'Oh god, I don't think that guy's a cosplayer.' The thought floated through her head, before she smashed it dead. Why did she always think the dumbest things when she needed to focus on…oh, I don't know…getting away from her kidnappers!

"I can carry her in just fine," Inuyasha barked back.

In a split second that her mind couldn't even process, she was yanked off of Inuyasha and was facing one of the most terrifying faces she had ever seen. His eyes were tinged red, and the veins around his mouth protruded grotesquely. No, he was not the ugliest person she might have seen, but every part of her screamed to run at the sight of him.

"You do what you're fucking told, half-breed."

Behind her, she could hear Miroku shout something and struggle to restrain his friend but she lost focus on what was happening when he turned his eyes back to her. She tried to keep the fear from showing in her eyes, looking up at him as bravely and defiantly as she could.

"You little bitch." Somehow the term – while offensive no matter who said it – had been a lot less threatening when it had come from Inuyasha. "I don't know what you're doing to my head, but it's about to stop." The man finished with a cruel smile. He gently trailed a hand up her sides, to her neck, then to her cheeks in a mocking caress.

And in one smooth motion, he slammed her head against the truck wall and the world turned black.

Author's Note:

As some of you may have seen in the poll I had in my profile, this was one of many stories I've been considering, and I ended up choosing it! I've had this first chapter written for pretty much forever, and since I successfully managed to update my other stories in the past two weeks, I decided to finally put it up.

As usual, please review and leave your thoughts/critiques/hopes and dreams/life story behind for me to read! It will make me happy ^-^ (and I really am trying to improve my writing so let me know where you find it lacking!)! Until next time!