7:27 AM
A ray of light shone directly into Kagome's eyes. She groaned a bit as she rubbed her eyes. To her, something felt wrong, but she couldn't figure out what. "Uuuuh... what time is it?" she softly muttered as she turned over in her bed and stared at her digital alarm clock. The number screen, completely blank, immediately drew her attention and yanked her out of her state of sleepiness, replacing calm with anxiety. "Oh no! My alarm clock broke down! What time is it?" She thrust a hand into her nearby purse, fishing out her cell phone, and flipped it open. The time display read 7:27 AM. "I'm going to be late for school!" Kagome cried as she dove into her closet, tearing away her flannel pajamas and searching desperately for her seifuku.
7:41 AM
"Alright, there goes the late bell," Mrs. Kuroi said as she closed the door. She turned around and went back to her desk to do her attendance sheet when a familiar voice sounded on the other side of the door, accompanied by a loud knocking on the door. "Kuroi-sensei! Let me in, please!" Mrs. Kuroi went up and opened the door, stepping aside as a sweat-stained Kagome burst in.
"Ah, Kagome. A bit tardy today, I see."
"I apologize, Kuroi-sensei," Kagome said as she quickly bowed.
"Well, luckily this is your first tardy, so it won't affect anything. But I don't want to see it again. Understood?"
"Yes, Kuroi-sensei," Kagome said as she bowed and progressed to her desk, trying to ignore the various glaring looks from all of the other students.
"Alright, then. Before we begin today's lesson, I need you all to pass in last night's lab summary. Please get that out now." Kagome began to rummage through her bag, searching for the paper, but groaned in disappointment as she realized it wasn't even there.
8:15 AM
At least PE will be a welcome change, Kagome thought to herself as she changed. I may have messed up all day long, but now's my chance to turn all that around. She walked outside in her gym uniform- ponytail, white t-shirt and red shorts-and walked out to the running track.
"Alright, class. Keep in mind that your performance in the mile run will account for a good 10 percent of your overall grade. But also remember to pace yourself and walk only when necessary. Ready... set... go!" And like that, the entire class was off. Kagome kept up a good run for a while, but as she made the fourth and final lap around the long track she tripped on a shoelace, which had come undone without her notice, and fell face-first to the ground.
"Ah, yes. Class, this brings me to a third point I forgot to mention this time around, but will remember next time thanks to Ms. Higurashi: please remember to check your shoelaces before you start the run."
"What a rotten day," Kagome sighed to herself as she soaked in the bathtub. "School was a disaster, I have mounds of homework to do, and I can't even go to the feudal era because of the bounty, so I'm worried for the sakes of Inuyasha and the others." Kagome spoke of an event that happened over the course of the last few days: during an expedition to the feudal era, she ended up separated from the group and bagged in a dark alley by a group of bounty hunters. Further back, the han of a providence Inuyasha and the others were staying in was in search of a priestess who could do miracles and charge large sums of money for them, and had turned to Kagome, but she had refused. This refusal greatly insulted him, so he collected as much information about Kagome as he could and put out a large bounty to anybody who could capture her and convince her to take the job. However, after a while Inuyasha realized that she was gone and, tracking her scent, led the others to where she was. Kagome was freed successfully, but a few more attempts were made to kidnap her. Being forced to breathe dreamberry ether (Which she recognized from her encounter with Ayame) for a moment convinced Kagome that until Inuyasha caught up with the han and convinced him to remove the bounty, it was too dangerous for her to be in the feudal era. "What a bummer," Kagome sighed as she leaned back in the batutub. "Oh well, maybe doing today's homework will make the day go by faster, so I can start on a new and better one." As she thought about each assignment and how to go about doing it, she heard a knock at her room door, followed by her mother's voice.
"Oh Kagome, could you go out and run a quick errand for me?"
As she stepped into her shoes, Kagome looked over the paper slip's contents one more time-"PIN #: 3576"-and set out. She folded up the paper and slipped it into the left pocket of her denim jean-shorts as she walked to the bank. Her black high-heeled pumps made a constant clicking noise as she walked, and she wore a black tank top that matched their shade. Her instructions were simple: her mother needed some more money, but she was going to be busy for a while, so she needed Kagome to go to the bank and get a few hundred dollars from her account. As she reached the bank, Kagome found the ATM around the back of the store-with a sign taped to it that read "Notice! Machine out of order."
"Now I have to wait for one of the tellers," Kagome muttered as she walked around to the front of the store. She stood there in disbelief as she saw how far the lines stretched-all throughout the ground level of the huge skyscraper in serpentine arrangements leading to the doorway-but after she stared for a good 20 seconds, she got into one herself. The line moved incredibly slowly. At one point, it even stopped moving for much longer than it should have, and Kagome quickly took notice. To pass the time, she looked up at the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead and lifted up her right foot a bit, tapping her spike heel against the ground to the rhythm of the song she was humming.
"Hey, lady," the man behind her suddenly interjected after a minute or so of this.
"Oh, um... yes?"
"I'm just as bored as you, but that's annoying, so cut it out."
"Okay," Kagome sighed as she turned forward, staring at the front desk. She squinted her eyes and tried to make out what was holding up the line. She picked out the teller, an old woman, and... a massive potato sack, filled to the brim with pennies and nickels. That's what's been holding up the line?! Give me a break!
Once the woman had finally gotten rid of the last of her change, the line began to move again. It was even slower by this point, however. Kagome's feet were starting to grow sore from standing in place so long, and the heels, as official as they looked, didn't help at all. Kagome made a quick mental note not to wear them next time she needed to wait in line. Eventually she was next in line, but immediately the man in front of her pulled out a large ziplock bag, but this one was full of pennies! Kagome put both hands on top of her head and thought about how rotten her entire day was, how many different ways people who brought small change to banks were idiots, and most of all how they should accelerate the teller process so that-
"Excuse me, ma'am."
"Huh?" Kagome took her hands off her head and looked over at the origin of the voice, another teller standing at a corner next to a significantly darkened portion of the building.
"We can help you over here, if you don't want to wait."
"Oh, really? Thank you so much!" Kagome cheered as she ran-walked a little faster, actually-over to the desk around the corner.
"Yes how can I help you today?"
"I need to make a withdrawal from my mother's account. She should be on record, Mrs. Higurashi?"
"I'll look it up right away," the teller said as she turned and walked behind the desk. That was pretty lucky, Kagome thought to herself. Maybe today will surprise me by turning around. The teller returned shortly thereafter.
"I'm sorry."
"Wait... sorry for what?"
"Sorry for buying time like this."
"MMPH!" Before Kagome could say anything, she was quickly jerked backwards as a roll of duct tape with a length pulled out was quickly slapped over her mouth. The backwards motion, combined with the unsteadiness of her high heels, caused her to trip backwards and fall over. Not willing to acknowledge this, Kagome turned over onto her stomach and tried to crawl away, but four hands were immediately upon her, dragging her backwards and pinning her arms and legs as she screamed loudly into the gag.
"Get the rope! Hurry!"
"Right!" The teller ducked underneath the desk and came back up with a handful of ropes, walking over to Kagome as she struggled and cried out to anyone who would hear her, who, at the moment, was nobody.
"Ooh, you picked out a real looker, didn't you?" One of the two assailants said as he forcibly bound Kagome's hands behind her back.
"Of course. And, on top of the privilege of a hostage, she'll be useful as far as ransom money goes. I checked her mother's account, and she's loaded, even more than the girl mentioned. Before I tied HER up and stole her clothes, that is. Hehe..."
Wait... hostage? Oh no... bank robbers! Kagome suddenly squirmed her left leg out of the second robber's grip and kicked him in the face with the spike heel, causing him to stumble back and scream into his hand, so as not to alert the other customers to his existence.
"AAAAAAH! You bitch! I'll kill you for that!"
"Not so fast. We still need her to make sure the police don't arrest us. You can kill her after that if you want, but not until then. For now, let's just make sure she can't do something like that again." With that, the first and second robbers traded places, and the first (Who was significantly stronger) tied her ankles while the second kneeled on her back and held her down. Then he grabbed another rope, forced her legs upward, looped another coil of rope through the rope around her ankles, then pulled it through her arm rope and knotted it, completing the hogtie. "And since you're such a noisy little brat as well..." The first robber knelt down by Kagome, applied two more strips of tape, forming an X with points that touched her cheeks and jawline, and tied a scarf around Kagome's mouth. "Alright, now that that's done, let's do it." With that, the first robber grabbed a nearby shotgun and walked out to where the other people were. Kagome flinched as the gun discharged into the empty air. The usual monologue followed: "Everybody down on the floor right now! This is a robbery! A hero is a kind of sandwich, not a person, so nobody do anything stupid!" The sounds of people hitting the ground and worried voices soon followed. I can't just let this happen, Kagome thought to herself. She began to struggle a bit more vigorously, concentrating more on her hips then any other part of her body. Finally, she achieved her goal, and the cell phone came tumbling out of her pocket. She leaned over, grabbed it, dialed 911 from memory (She had taught herself how to do this a while back, just in case, and now she was glad she did) and put her thumb over the send button when she heard the voice of robber 2.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" Kagome's heart instantly sank as the cell phone was yanked from her hand, right before she could press the send button. "Mark! Come here a sec!"
"What is it, Sam?" Mark asked, slightly annoyed, as he walked over with his shotgun slung over his shoulders.
"She had a cell phone on her and she was about to call the police!"
"Well well, we've got a little miss Houdini here, don't we?" Mark sneered as he looked closely at Kagome, generating a frightened whimper. "Well, we can't risk having her get loose. Sam, you get her arms and I'll get her legs." Kagome could feel the knots around her loosening and the ropes disappear, but they were immediately replaced by rough hands pinning her limbs to the floor. Kagome silently wondered what they were doing, but as her tank top began to slip away from her chest, she wished she hadn't asked. Her pumps came off next, then she felt her shorts being pulled away and she was immediately forced back into the hogtie position as the ropes wrapped around again. Kagome was back in the hogtie, but now she was in a somewhat thin black bra and panties set. "Mmmmm..." With this, she turned her head away and began to blush.
"There we go. Now you've got nothing to hide. The police are hesitating to do anything because we have a hostage, but what should we do until they decide to bargain?"
"Hmm... I think we should play with her a bit." Mark pointed at Kagome.
What?! No! Anything but that! Kagome began to cry a bit and thrash around in her bindings.
"Nah, the hogtie doesn't work that well for that. Although it does work well for something else... hehehe..." Sam began to slowly walk towards Kagome, twitching his fingers.
"Mmm? Mmmf! MmmMMMMMMHMMMHMMHMM! MMMMMMM!" Kagome felt a familiar sensation in her feet, and began to react the same way as the last time she had felt it.
"This is revenge enough for kicking me like that, because I'm going to do it for a good long time!"
"Hoo... alright, that's enough of that."
"Mmmmhmmmm..." Finally...
Tickled nonstop, for 20 minutes. Even for a few broken teeth, that was excessive. Kagome leaned forward as far as she could manage and panted into her gag as Sam laid back, his hands behind his head, satisfied.
"Hehe... pretty good day for us."
"Yup. Everything's just falling into place at this point. We have a good-looking hostage, a large sum of money in our possession and another large sum coming from the police soon. All we have to do is wait for the truck we asked them to bring us and we can go."
"Wait, shouldn't we do something with the money first?"
"Hmm... yeah, you've got a point there, Go into the back and grab a box or something."
"Alright." With that, Sam started going around to the back, pointing his gun at random people. "I'm going to get a box from the back, but that doesn't mean any of you are off the hook! If I find even a drink in somebody's hands, I'll blow some brains out!" This came acknowledged with a few sounds of whimpering voices as he walked around the front desk and went through to the back, searching for a box. After collecting some money that had been left behind during the first swoop, he found a good-sized box and dragged it around to where Mark and the girl were.
"Should we put her in, too?"
"MMM?!"
"I don't see why not. We've got to carry her somehow, and it's probably easier this way."
Kagome snapped back to life at that mention, making muffled pleas through her gag and squirming around, trying to get out of the ropes. No, not that! Go ahead, do whatever you want! Tickle me, snap dirty pictures of me, just don't put me in that tiny little thing! Please!
The box had a pair of belts built in, designed to hold large amounts of money in, and the robbers utilized these. After setting Kagome down in the box, they cinched both of these tightly over her to hold her in place; the first around her thighs, the second around her back. Then they started piling money over her, increasing her overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia and causing her to struggle more vividly.
"Now what should we do about the lid? I mean, this thing looks like it'd be pretty airtight."
"Hmm... well, we need it to keep the money in, so we'll put it on until we carry the box out to the car. Then we'll take it off. Don't feel like doing the brat any favors, anyway."
The mere mention of this caused a shrill scream, muffled by the gag and further by the mound of paper, to emanate from the box. Being bound and gagged, half-naked, and strapped down inside a small box full of money was torturous enough for Kagome, but to be without air on top of all of this... the thought was unbearable. The lid went on, a hiss of air escaping sounded inside the box, and what little light there was disappeared. Immediately Kagome went into a frenzy, shaking around and making as much noise as she could. The sound of a shotgun's action working itself instantly silenced her protesting, however.
"That's better. Now, then, let's stay like that, alright? I'd hate to lose a perfectly good hostage."
Kagome obeyed this command, but a bit begrudgingly. She felt the box being thrown forwards and landing on something metal, then the lid came off and air quickly sucked back into the box, much to her relief.
"There. Happy now?"
"What should we do with the lid, though?"
"Ah,
just leave it back there. What's the worst that could happen?"
Kagome was just about to discover what the worst that could happen was. The van sped along at a fast rate, almost breaking the speed limit a few times. The lid and the box both slid around in the back. Kagome was becoming sore from being shaken around in the box and being pulled against the straps, but this was soon to be the least of her worries. The van hit a speed bum without slowing down and the box's lid fell back on top of the box. As the van hit another speed bump without slowing down and the box bounced up in the air and flipped upside down. As it hit the ground, the lid re-attached and the box became air-tight again. Since it was safe to do so, Kagome went into a frenzy again, shrieking and kicking the sides of the box (although being in the hogtie made it significantly harder). As her air began to dwindle a bit and the box began to become warmer, Kagome realized she was wasting her efforts in the back of the van, so she had to alert the robbers in the front. It was putting her at risk of being shot, but that would be better than suffocating in the little box, half-naked and damp. She began to shake her body weight forward, slowly but surely inching the box forward towards the robbers, and eventually the box tapped against metal. She had depleted much more of her air supply, she was tuckered out, and the box was beginning to feel like an oven set to high, but she was next to the robbers now, and all it would take would be a little more effort to alert them of her plight.
"Mmngh... mmmmm..." was all she could manage as she smacked the box against the wall, but it was just enough to alert the robbers of her presence.
"What the... Mark, you hear that?"
"Yeah. Probably the little twerp in the back. How'd she manage to... never mind. KEEP IT DOWN BACK THERE!" This angry retort was followed by a few smacks of the shotgun butt against the wall. No, Kagome frantically thought, they're completely ignoring me!
"MMMMPH! NMMMMM! PLLLLF, LLT MM MMT!" Forgetting her surroundings, Kagome immediately began struggling like mad again, smacking the box against the wall in rapid succession and yelling as loud as she could manage.
"I SAID SHUT UP BACK THERE!" Mark screamed, hitting the wall so hard it actually pushed Kagome's box back a little.
This can't be happening... they aren't even listening to me. Being in a small airtight space was beginning to get to Kagome; breathing was much harder now and she was beginning to black out. And if she passed out, she was surely dead. Her only hope now was to get out of the box and the truck somehow. She had done a good deal of sweating because of the heat, and maybe that would be enough to get her out of the rope. She wrung her hands a bit and tugged against the rope... no good. Her hands made it a little ways through, but not completely out. She tried again, but now she was much too weak... her hands slipped back into their original position, and she could feel herself slowly passing out.
No...
"Hey! Wake up! Shit... MARK, YOU'RE A FUCKING MORON!"
Not the most welcome wake-up call, but the fact that it existed relieved, if not somewhat annoyed, Kagome.
"Waitwaitwaitwaaaaait! Don't hit me! She's waking up!"
"Mmmmm..."
"Huh? You're right. Thank god, I thought we were going to lose the ransom opportunity."
"Yeah, I was kinda-" Mark was quickly interrupted by Sam's fist going into his face, dislocating a few teeth and breaking a good few blood vessels inside his nose.
"And that was for almost killing her. I would've killed you if she were actually dead. Now stop being a baby and help me bring her inside." With that, they carried Kagome to a large concrete building, unlocked the door and brought her inside. Normally Kagome would have started thrashing around again in an attempt to free herself from her captors' grip, but three things stopped her: one, she was much too tired, two, she was sure that they still had the shotgun with them, and three, if they dropped her, all they had to do was pick her back up.
"Here we are," Sam sighed as he and Mark slowly lowered the box to the ground, setting it in a niche in the wall. "Home sweet home."
"Sorry it isn't too comfy."
"Anyway, I'll use the number from the bank to demand ransom. You're coming with me to help me figure out how much that'll be. Come on," Sam commanded as he dragged Mark into another room.
Finally. Man, those guys are annoying, Kagome thought to herself. Tugging against the rope again, she found that she had gained almost no leverage. The building was cold, and being damp with sweat didn't exactly help her stay warm. Being in the straining hogtie and cold at the same time kept her very uncomfortable, and she let out a sign through the gag. She noticed her back was unusually cold, for some reason, and slowly realized that something was dripping on it. She turned her head and looked up, and managed to see a cylindrical gray object above her.
Aw great, they set me down under a leaky water pipe...
Kagome moaned in mild annoyance as the icy cold water slowly ran down her back and to her sides, thighs and shoulderblades. She tried to position herself so it wouldn't drip on her, but to no avail. She struggled for a few more minutes before Sam and Mark burst back in.
"...care if it was an accident or not! Only a person with mental issues leaves a gun in an unlocked car!"
"Look, I'm sorry, alright?"
"Just get the gun, you moron." With that, the door slammed, then slammed again a minute later as Sam stormed back in, followed by a downtrodden Mark slinging the shotgun over his shoulders.
The idiots left the shotgun in the car. Kagome was going to contemplate this more but her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of jangling metal and the sudden increase of the amount of water dripping down her back. It turns out that on top of all the other misfortunes that day, Kagome was unlucky enough to be lying underneath an old, leaky, and loosened water pipe in a watertight wooden box.
And the doorslams had shaken it enough for it to break loose.
Kagome shrieked into the layers of gagging yet again as she heard the pipe suddenly break loose and felt a sudden rush of water entering the box. The second jeopardy of life and limb, accompanied by the icy cold water splashing over her body brought her more strength, and she made great use of it, immediately thrashing around. If she could use what little slack she had gained to get free or knock the box over, she's be safe, but not until then. The water was quickly filling up the small box very quickly, though, so she'd have to work fast.
"Hey, what the hell's going on in here?" It seems Kagome's struggling hadn't gone unnoticed, as Sam stomped over to where Kagome was, gun in hand.
"MMMM! MMMMMM!"
"What in the... Mark, get your ass over here!"
"What?! I can't hear you!"
"I said come-ah, nevermind. Sam ran back over to grab Mark and force him over to where their captive lay imperiled when the police suddenly burst in.
"Where'd they come from?!"
"Shit...
they must've followed us! The rats!" Immediately, Mark and Sam
ducked behind the door.
Wait... cops... "Mm-nm! Mmmvrr hrr!"
"What the-hey, come over here! It's the hostage they took! Don't worry, you're safe. I'm going to untie you no-GAAAH!" Kagome cried out in desperation as she heard the gunshot ring through the air and the policeman hit the ground. The water was rising to her breastbone, so she arched her back upward, managing to lift her head a bit.
"But Sam... what about the girl?"
"She'll
work well enough as a distraction. Her ransom is pretty much useless
if we're both in jail, right?"
Kagome couldn't believe her ears. The two robbers were ignoring her plight, and the cops were too busy to help her. Dying by drowning in a box seemed almost worse than suffocating in one. As the water finally rose above her head, her eyes clenched shut and her calls for help ceased. It was clear that help wasn't coming, so the most she could do was try to get out of her predicament. Her arms were ropeburned to a degree, but ignoring this, she began to tug against the rope again. Holding her breath became harder and harder as time went by, and the sporadic gunfire continued overhead, cancelling out any chance of rescue. The rope held strong, seeming to hammer the final nail in the coffin. Kagome, beginning to grow light-headed from a lack of oxygen, thought a little bit. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, huh... well, this is the perfect way to end a crappy day like this one has been. Kagome laid forward, signaling that she had given up, when it finally happened. The box tipped on its side and the water came tumbling out. When she looked up, she saw the policeman from before, a knife in hand.
"I'll need you to hold still, alright?"
"Hoof... thanks. I thought I was a goner for a minute."
"Well, Ms. Higurashi, let me just say you're a very lucky woman. One of the pipes from the sprinkler system fell off and knocked out both of the robbers. Before the building is leased out, it seriously needs fixing up."
Kagome was sitting outside the building, wrapped in a towel and sipping coffee from a styrofoam cup.
"I guess so. Maybe my luck's turning around..."
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing."
The paparazzi stood in a solid wall around the door, snapping multiple pictures of Kagome, the police squad, and the two robbers being hauled away in handcuffs.
"Alright, nothing to see here. Move it along, you got what you needed."
"Ugh... they're like a plague, aren't they?"
"Afraid so. Don't worry about it, they'll lose interest in a minute or two. I've seen this enough times."