A/N: So I realized I never put a disclaimer on the previous chapters. So here is the disclaimer for the rest of the story. I do not own Inuyasha. Any places, characters, or things that are recognizable are property of their specific creators. Don't sue me. I don't have the money for that!

Chapter Three: She's Hurt Not Drunk!

Kagome ignored her aching body as she pushed off walls and stumbled her way through the dirty alleys. Her breath left her in visible puffs, if she looked down she would see how red her hands had become from the cold air. She was sure her feet looked very much the same since she had no shoes to protect them. Her left arm was a constant aching reminder of how cold it was outside as it shot pain through the once broken bones. Kagome had no idea how long or how far she had run but she didn't care as long as she got as far from that place as possible.

Her vision started to waver as she stumbled into another alley. She could feel the adrenaline fading from her system, she had pushed herself too hard. All of the cuts from her meeting with the whip yesterday were opening and bleeding from the constant movement. There was no telling how much blood she had lost and she was sure that mixed with the cold were the reasons she was getting so unfocused. She shivered as a cold breeze blew through her, a small part of her brain told her that the gauze had most likely been soaked through and that wasn't helping at all. She felt her legs shake under her as she slowed from her frantic run to a shambling walk. The spider on her hip didn't so much burn anymore as it did just throb. Giving her head a quick shake to try and focus her muddled brain, she glanced up through her bangs at the street ahead of her as she fumbled over her feet and hit a wall. Taking a moment to try and catch her breathe she felt her chest squeeze, it felt as if her lungs couldn't get in enough air.

"I don't see why we had to come all the way down here just for dinner." A gruff voice broke through the cold night.

"Because it's Miroku's turn to pick dinner and he wanted sushi. You chose that ramen restaurant last Wednesday and none of us complained." This voice was higher pitched as it argued back.

"This place has the best sushi in all Kyoto. Come on Yash, tell me it wasn't good." Another male voice stated easily with a laugh.

"Well, it wasn't terrible." The first voice mumbled as the others laughed at him.

Their lives seemed so easy, she couldn't deny the jealousy that bubbled up inside her. What she would give to be them. Bringing up the little strength she had left, Kagome pushed herself away from the wall with frozen arms to head towards the street. Maybe she was far enough away from her hell that someone would help or at least a place to sleep for the night. But her feet wouldn't listen to her as she moved them forward and she ended up tumbled into a trashcan causing it and her along with it to fall over into the sludge of ice and gravel. A cry left her as her burnt hip hit the edge of the fallen metal can pushing it down the alley towards the street. Now as she lay on the ground on her right side she felt everything that her body was suffering through. Her hip still felt like it was on fire again from the hit on the trashcan, her limbs felt heavy, and her entire being seemed to throb in time with her heartbeat now that she had stopped moving. She closed her eyes as tears welled up threatening to fall, she didn't care about the snow that still fell on her or the cold dirty ground below her.

"Did you hear that?" The higher voice asked as the trashcan rolled to a stop at the front of the alley.

"It's probably just some drunk, Sango." The gruffer voice said not caring about the noise. "Come on, it's cold and I wanna get home."

"I'm going to check it out." The first voice said. The sound of walking reached Kagome's ears, the snow crunching under the soles of boots. The girl, Sango, called out into the alley. "Hello?"

The girl's voice sounded so welcoming that Kagome wanted to call out to her. She opened her mouth but no words came forward, instead she let out a whimper as she heard the girl get closer. She wasn't that far away now and the idea made Kagome flinch. Maybe looking for help wasn't the best idea.

"Oh my god." Sango gasped as the prone body of Kagome came into her line of sight. Rushing forward, she almost slipped on the ice as she skidded to a stop in front of the broken girl. Looking back over to the two boys at the mouth of the alley, her eyes were wide with worry. "It's a girl!"

"Girls can be drunks too, Sango." The gruff voice called back to her.

"Shut up Inuyasha! She's hurt not drunk!" The girl barked angrily as she knelt down next to Kagome, pushing the dark dirty hair from her face. "It's going to be okay. We're going to help you."

"We're what?" Inuyasha asked as he and Miroku made their way into the alley, side stepping the fallen trashcan, broken bottles, and old newspapers.

"Now, now, Inuyasha," Miroku said in a calming manner. "Let's just see what's wrong."

"Miroku look at her," Sango said as she looked over Kagome, her hand laying gently on the girl's bruised arm. "She's practically frozen! We need to get her to a hospital."

"No," Kagome whispered as she flinched away. She wasn't going to go to a hospital, she was positive they would just take her back to Naraku! She wasn't going back there! She would die first! Slowly, she brought her hand up and pushed Sango's hand off her arm. Trying to find help was definitely not the right idea. Moving so her hands were on the ground, she tried to push herself up. Gritting her teeth at the pain that shot through her, she shook her head once before her arms gave out and she fell back to the floor. "No… hospital. I'll… be fine."

"See, she's fine." Inuyasha stated as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket. His nose twitched as the wind changed direction, pushing her scent towards him. The girl reeked of blood. There was also something else that he couldn't place. But he didn't like it. "Can we go now?"

"Miroku?" Sango looked over at the indigo eyed man as he squatted down next to her, completely ignoring the other man's words.

Miroku's face was filled with worry as he glanced over the girl in the snow. She had bruises and marks on her arms and legs, her breathing was shallow, and she was shivering so badly he almost thought she was having a seizure. His medical training kicked in and he went into full nurse mode quickly. He carefully assessed all the damage done to her body that he could see. "What trouble did you get into young lady?"

"What should we do? She doesn't want us to take her to the hospital." Sango looked back at the girl on the ground.

"Whatever we do, we need to do it quickly. She's not going to get any better laying here in the snow." The male said as he put his hand on the Kagome's shoulder only to lift it slightly when she flinched away from him with a whimper. Putting his hand on her arm again he gave her a gentle smile. "Shhh now, you'll be okay."

"Well if she won't go to the hospital, we'll just have to take her home with us." The other girl said in finality. "We can't leave her here."

"What?!" Inuyasha yelled. "You can't just take in people off the street! What if she's crazy?!"

Sango stood up at that point and turned on the man. Her brown eyes narrowed as she stared into his amber ones. "Look at her Inuyasha! She's hurt and freezing! Her lips are blue! If we walk away from her now she'll die! I won't have that on my conscience!"

"Feh! Whatever, do want you want." The hanyou grumped as he turned his head away from the trio as he shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. The wind blew his silver hair and his ears folded flat against his head. Man, he was cold. But he had to admit the smell of her blood had put him on edge. Grunting, he pushed the worry he was starting to feel out of his mind. He didn't even know this chick!

Miroku ignored his friend's argument as he tried to figure out how to proceed with the situation. Looking at her frame he highly doubted she could get up on her own at this point. She was almost completely skin and bones. But he remembered how she had flinched away when he had first touched her arm. Slowly, he brought himself down to her eye level. "I'm going to help you up. But for that I need to be able to touch you. Are you going to be okay with that?"

Kagome opened her eyes and tried to get her eyes to focus on the man in front of her. He was a bit blurry but he had a kind worried look on his features. Honestly, she needed help and they were offering it. Taking in a breath she nodded her head once and closed her eyes again as she felt his warm touch on her arm. She bit her lip to stop the cry of pain as he lifted her up into a sitting position.

"Help me, Sango." He said quietly over his shoulder.

Sango knelt back down and helped to steady the beaten girl. Her eyes caught sight of the cut on her cheek, the blood that had dripped from the cut was dried. Putting a hand on Kagome's back to stabilize her, she quickly pulled away as the girl gasped. Her hand felt wet and cold. Looking down at her hand, Sango's eyes widened. Blood. Leaning forward she was pushed the long black hair aside to see the girls back. All she could see was red soaked gauze peeking out from under her small black dress. Her breath caught in her throat. "Miroku, her back."

Miroku leaned around to get a look at what the girl next to him had pointed out. Concern flashed in his indigo eyes. "We'll worry about that at the house. Right now we need to get her out of this alley."

"Here, put this on her." The gruff voice of Inuyasha interrupted the moment as he thrust his black jacket at them.

"Are you sure?" Sango asked as she reached for it. "Her back is covered in blood."

"Damn it, just take it before I change my mind." He snapped at her. His eyes moved so he looked at the back of the alley and then back down at the small girl next to his friends. "I'll buy a new one if I have too. If both of you are so concerned about her we should hurry up."

Nodding, Sango took the jacket and put it around the small girl. "Okay, this should help warm you up."

Kagome's eyes widened slightly as the warmth of the jacket enveloped her. She glanced up at the silver haired man where he stood a few feet away. His dark red long sleeved shirt was eye catching and he looked away from her with a small blush on his cheeks.

"I'm going to lift you up now." Miroku told her bringing her attention back to him.

Nodding she felt his arms go around her back and under her legs. She let out a small whimper as she felt herself leave the ground. Huddling into the jacket, she let her eyes close again praying she hadn't made a mistake.

Readjusting his hold on the girl, Miroku nodded to his friends and they started to move out of the alley. The sounds of the city hit Kagome's ears, cracking open her eyes she watched as the light around them brighten into cheery colors. This didn't look anything like the seedy part of town she was in previously and for that she was glad. Maybe she had made it far away from Hell. Closing her eyes again she listened as they talked.

"Who would do this to her?" Sango asked as they quickly made their way through the streets towards the car. Thankfully they hadn't parked that far away from the restaurant.

People stared at them as they walked by and Inuyasha couldn't help but send a glare their way. "I don't know, Sango. Terrible things happen behind closed doors." Pulling the keys out of his pocket he unlocked the doors to his car when they got close enough and opened the back door for them.

"I'll sit in the back with her." Sango said as she crawled into the backseat. Once she was settled she held out her hands to help Miroku ease the broken girl into the car. Soon the small female was placed on the seat they moved her so she would be comfortable before Miroku took off his jacket and wrapped it around her legs and feet. One of Sango's hands went around her chest to hold on to her and the other one brushed the hair from her face. She looked up as the boys closed the door and got into the car, listening as Inuyasha started the engine. "Everything will be okay, we'll get you cleaned up."

"Once we get her home we need to get her into the bathtub. Warm water will help. But for now Sango, I need you to start warming up her hands if you can. Don't rub them, blow warm air on them. Inuyasha, I need you to turn on the heater, but not too high." Miroku instructed from the front seat.

"Yeah, yeah." Nodding his head, Inuyasha moved his hand to turn on the heater. Now that everything was settled in the car he turned on his blinker and pulled out into the busy street. This was going to be a long night.

Naraku paced around his office, his hands firmly clasped behind his back. How could this have happened? They were always so careful no one has ever escaped before. Now his biggest money maker had vanished into the night and none of his idiotic employees seem to know where she went. The entire building has been on lockdown for hours now. All the girls were in their rooms under lock and key. No clients were going to come through that damn door for the rest of the night. Do these stupid bastards realize how much money he was losing because of this?

"How could you imbeciles lose track of one little girl?" Naraku snapped as he paced back from the fireplace towards his desk. "Who was in charge of Seventy when she got away?" He asked darkly at the group of guards that stood at the other side of the office. He watched out of the corner of his eye as they all turned their heads to look around the room.

Steeling his nerves, Matsumoto stepped forward. Clenching his fists at his side he looked at the ground. "I was sir."

"Matsumoto." Naraku stated as he turned his body so he could look at the man straight on, his hands resting on his hips now, looking very much like a disappointed parent. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"One of the new girls was causing a scene. I made the assumption that after everything that had happened Seventy would be in no condition to try anything. I was wrong."

"Of course you were wrong you simpleton!" Naraku shouted at him. "That girl has been trying to escape this place since she was old enough to start fighting back! Everyone was under strict orders to never leave her or anyone alone! She could blab and have the police on our doorstep by morning!"

Matsumoto couldn't look his boss in the eye. He knew he had fucked up when he had turned around and seen her gone, no matter how quickly he put in the alert it wasn't fast enough to keep the girl from getting away. "Please forgive me, Sir. It won't happen again."

"You're right. It won't happen again." Naraku moved quickly, his right hand leaving his waist with ease as he looked at Matsumoto down the barrel of the gun he held. With a twitch of his finger the gun exploded in the quiet room and he watched as the guard fell to the floor. A bullet hole sat in the dead center of the mans forehead. He blinked at the dead body on his floor before he brought his red eyes up to the rest of his moronic employees. "Anyone else have anything to tell me?"

The rest of the guards as shrunk back with wide eyes as they looked at the man on the floor in front of them. Quickly they all shook their heads muttering "No sir" at the dangerous man before them.

"Good." Placing the gun on his desk he never took his eyes off the men that were still standing. "If any of you fuck up that badly again, you will be meeting Matsumoto at the gates of hell. No girl is to be left alone in the halls under any circumstances. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir!" They shouted back at him with fearful looks in their eyes.

"Get out of my sight all of you. And for fuck sakes get that useless piece of shit out of here. I don't want his blood on my rug." Turning on his heel he made his way over to the lit fireplace and put his right hand on the mantle his left still sitting comfortably at his hip. His narrowed eyes watched as the fire danced up into the air from the burning wood. He would get that little bitch back if it he had to go out and find her himself and once she was back here he will make her wish she were dead. No one escapes Hell. No one. "Bankotsu! Hiten!"

The two guards glaced at each other for a moment from across the room. Hiten was about to exit through the door while Bankotsu was watching over the removal of the body. Slowly the two guards moved away from the dispersing crowd and towards their boss.

"Sir?" Hiten asked as he stood in front of Naraku his hands at his sides like a solider.

Bankotsu stopped to stand next to the man his eyes narrowing at his bosses back. No one had a clue that he had let Seventy go and it was going to stay that way. He still had a job to do here and he was not going to let that little bit of information get away from him.

Once Naraku heard the door to his office close he turned his head to look at the men standing there. His red eyes flicked from one man to the other his eyes alight in anger at the situation that was placed before them. Moving away from the fireplace he walked over to his desk and sat in his plush chair. Leaning back he pinched the bridge of his nose with this thumb and pointer finger. "That girl has been a pain in my ass since day one. But everyone is fighting to break the last bit of spirit left in her and paying loads to do it. I need you boys to go out and retrieve her. I will not have that bitch spouting what she knows about this place." Cracking his eyes open he stared the two down as he gave a frustrated growl. "She's not an idiot, she'll go to the police and that fool of a police chief has been trying to take me down for years. I will not let one little girl be my downfall!" Moving his hand away from his face he clenched his fist in the air. "When you get her, you will bring her back to me. I will break her and leave her in a torture room to rot!" He yelled as he slammed his raised fist on his wooden desk. His breath left him in an angry hiss. Closing his eyes he straightened up and he pushed the wavy hair that fell into his eyes from his face as he looked over at the two men. "Find her. She couldn't have gotten far in this weather."

Nodding the two men turned to leave the room. But the boss's voice had them stopping again as he called out once more. "Bankotsu."

Glancing over at Naraku from over his shoulder he raised an eyebrow at him. "Sir?"

"You were the one that checked the door am I correct?"

"I was." He said with a nod of his head. His face stayed in a stoic mask of uncaring as he watched the man at the desk. "But when I looked around the area no one was there. The door was untouched. You said it yourself Seventy's not an idiot. She must have hidden herself until the threat of being caught was gone."

Naraku grunted and waved his hand in a 'you may leave' manner. Watching the two leave the office to track down their missing prize he narrowed his red eyes. There was more to the story then what Bankotsu was telling them. He would find out what it was and he would take care of it personally. Getting up once more from his desk he moved gracefully towards the large window that sat in the wall behind him. He glared out of the glass at the road below him. "Come out, come out, wherever you are. You can't hide from us forever Seventy. We will find you and when we do you will die here.."

It has been an hour since the meeting with Naraku and now Bankotsu stood outside in the cold, looking towards the back of the alley that he was sure Seventy disappeared in. Snow continued to fall from dark grey clouds above the city. For that he was thankful. Seventy's tracks had been covered up hours ago, that meant it would take longer for his co-worker to track her down. He only prayed the girl had made it far away from here. His eyes narrowed as he turned his head to look up at the building he had just left. Hell. That's what the girls called it at least and Bankotsu wasn't going to disagree. He had seen too many girls come and go in his time there, but he had no clue what happened to them once those girls had left that building. The thought made him want to shiver.

His dark eyes snapped towards the door as it opened again. Hiten strolled out of the hall with his jacket on, smoke trailing from the cigarette hanging from his lips. Bankotsu watched as Hiten tossed his braid over his shoulder without a care in the world.

Hiten looked up at the taller man as he walked away from the now closed door and smirked as he blew smoke passed his lips. "Some day huh?"

"Yeah," Bankotsu muttered as he looked down the street away from Hiten's red gaze. "Got any idea's on how we are going to get the girl back?"

"Not yet," Hiten said as he walked towards the street with Bankotsu falling into place beside him as they walked away from their place of employment. The dark streets were empty for the most part, only a few business were still open as they moved down the dirty street. No one liked to walk these streets after a certain time of night and it had to be close to midnight. "I got a few guys I can talk too, see if she popped up anywhere in the area. We'll get her back." Shoving his left hand in his jacket, he took a drag off the cigarette in his right hand as he looked up at the dark sky. "Naraku is going to kill her, isn't he?"

Bankotsu nodded his head grimly. "Most likely. He doesn't like surprises and she definitely surprised him."

"Stupid bitch." Hiten growled and shrugged his shoulders as he took the stick from his mouth. "Should have just stayed put and saved us a shit ton of trouble."

Bankotsu grunted as he moved away from Hiten as the street that will take him home came into view. He raised his hand as a goodbye as he continued to walk down another street to his left. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya." Hiten muttered as he continued walking straight down the street they had been on towards his own home. He wanted a long shower and a good night's sleep after the mess of a day.

Shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket Bankotsu let his breath leave him in a puff as he continued his path towards his apartment. How he wished he never had walked into Hell, why couldn't the boss have chosen someone else for this. A vibration in his front pocket brought his attention back to the present as he grabbed the phone from his pants. His eyes narrowed at the number on the screen but with a press of the button he answered it. "Chief."

"Bankotsu, status report." A calm voice sounded over the speaker.

"We had a jail break today. Myself and another guard are now starting a game of hide and seek with the little runway." Bankotsu answered back with a shrug of his shoulder.

"I see." The cool voice pondered, "And Naraku?"

"He's pissed." He said flatly.

"Good," The voice chuckled. "Keep me informed." A click of the phone brought an end to the conversation. The Chief was never one for pleasantries.

"Aye, aye, Captain." Bankotsu mocked as he shoved the mobile device into his pocket again. Yes, how he wished he had never stepped foot in hell. There was so much darkness behind those walls, and he was going to be the one to bring it to light.

A/N: So there is chapter three! I hope you all enjoyed it! I will be starting work on chapter four as soon as I can. It seems I have a habit of updating on Saturdays and Sundays so look for new updates during the weekends! Please let me know what you think, I love to read your reviews! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, or hit favorite on this story! Seeing the emails completely make my day!