Twisted

Written by Sarga
Posted October 27, 2007

Summary: A girl awakens to find that she is now living the life of Kagome, time travel and all. Inadvertently reshaping the world around her, Kagome begins to realize just how twisted her path is becoming. Cannon Universe...with a Twist.

Disclaimer: See the disclaimer referenced by the previous chapter's disclaimer

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Chapter 4: Capture

A night of quality sleep had not prepared Kagome any better for the long day of travel than it had for her companion's surly demeanor. They had started their trek early in the morning and hours without rest had left her in a steadily declining mood. Soon Kagome matched Inuyasha scowl for scowl. Needing to rest her tired feet, she sat on the side of the road and kicked off her shoes, rubbing the soles of her weary feet.

"Don't tell me you're stopping!" Inuyasha bit out. "Get moving, wench!"

Her patience, already thin, finally snapped and Inuyasha was kissing dirt faster than Naraku desecrated the innocent.

Kagome stood and stalked away from the red-clad brute who would not cooperate. All she wanted was a quite hour or so to rest her tired feet, but no, he had to demand they keep moving. She sure showed him, though, 'sitting' him into the ground so far that she would have her break alright; it would take him that long to dig his way back out.

Plopping down next to a rock, Kagome searched through her yellow pack to see what amusements she could find. Realizing she had none, Kagome sighed in annoyance. No wonder the other Kagome had studied so much, it was so boring! Resigning herself to her boredom, Kagome decided to take a nap instead. Repacking her things, Kagome lay herself down behind the rock, using her stuffed pack as a makeshift, if somewhat lumpy, pillow and fell to sleep.

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"...blood loss...has a broken leg..." Who was speaking?

"...not going to make..." Why couldn't she focus?

"...be something we can..." Wouldn't anyone tell her what was going on?

Soft hands gently wiped her forehead and she sighed in contentment, forgetting the pain, the confusion. For the time being, this would be fine.

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Kagome awoke disoriented, the sound of a child's laughter somewhere behind her. Inuyasha was still out of sight and the sun still high in the sky, meaning he had decided to leave her alone. Yawning and stretching, Kagome stood and turned around expecting to see local village children. Instead the vision that met her was one of red fur and fox-ears.

"Shippo?" Kagome exclaimed, a little too loudly it seemed, as the laughter abruptly stopped. The child instantly focused his attention at the sudden appearance of a human. They stared at each other, each in their own form of disbelief before Shippo bolted towards the tree line.

"Wait, Shippo! It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you!" Kagome gave chase, intending only to meet the child in person. Behind her she heard Inuyasha yell out.

"Kagome! Don't!"

But it was too late. Kagome found herself in the bear-hug grip of a, well, bear. Unable to scream, the air having been squeezed out of her, Kagome could only struggle to breathe as she listened to her would be rescuer.

"Drop her, shifter. She doesn't have anything you want." Kagome saw as Inuyasha crouched low to the ground, his claws spread threateningly in a defensive stance.

If she could have breathed, Kagome would have warned Inuyasha. Instead, he was engulfed in an equally tight grip, the dragon hide on the creature restraining him preventing his claws from doing the damage intended. She saw as he struggled with the suffocating grip and quickly ran out of breath, just as she was slowly doing as she hung limply from the arms of the bear. They would have been fine if that second shape-changer had not popped up behind him, floating on the wind as a leaf one minute, flitting into existence as a dragon-scaled snake the next. As she lost consciousness Kagome fervently wished she could have warned Inuyasha of the danger.

If only Kagome could have breathed.

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"...they send you, dog?" A gruff voice pulled Kagome into the waking world. The voice, somewhat muffled by the separating rock chamber, reflected from its source to her ears.

Silence.

"I repeat, dog: Why did they send you?"

Kagome heard the crack of flesh on flesh and she paled as she realized that Inuyasha was not doing the beating. She couldn't hear anything further beyond the sound of her own heart pounding painfully in her ears as she mourned for their loss of freedom.

Trying to gain some semblance of calm before the man came to her, Kagome furtively glanced around the room, her gaze falling to a rest on the familiar yellow pack leaning serenely against the opposite wall. Taking a deep breath, Kagome tried to calm herself, focusing on the familiar cheeriness of the bright yellow cloth.

"You're awake I see." A feminine voice stated from behind her. Kagome tried to sit up and face her foe but found she was unable to move at all.

"Wha...?" It seemed that all but her voice was paralyzed.

The woman stepped into view. She was a beautiful fox-demon, her sleek body covered in a silver and beige fur, uncountable tails flicking behind her in a mesmerizing display of dexterity.

"My name is Umeko and I'm going to make you betray your comrades," the fox demon informed Kagome lightly as she approached her prone form.

Kagome's eyes went wide with fear. What had she done? Why were these people apparently going to torture her? How could they make her betray Inuyasha and Kaede? Kagome steeled herself inwardly for whatever might come.

"I will never betray my family!" Kagome spat violently towards her captor.

"We'll see, witch, we'll see." Umeko advanced towards Kagome, her mesmerizing tails whirling faster and faster. A tail flicked out towards Kagome, lashing her paralyzed body and sending a jolt of demonic energy through her.

Kagome cried out as the energy surged through her, a wave of nausea following quickly at its heels. As she gasped for breath, the pain slowly subsiding, Kagome was all-too-aware of the woman's presence. Umeko's breath stirred Kagome's hair with her close proximity, or was that perhaps the air pushed around by those ever-moving tails?

Tails lashing out again, Kagome's body reacted on it's own accord and arched upwards as another searing jolt flowed through her, this one seemingly reflecting within her own body and bouncing back again to cause a fresh wave of pain.

Kagome could not help the agonized scream that tore from her lips.

"Nice acting, witch," Umeko smirked. "Did you practice the fear-scent with your demon friend? He may only be half-dog, but their noses are just as keen as ours."

This woman thought Kagome was faking. "No..." Kagome squeezed out between gasping breaths, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. She would not cry, dammit! It would only give the sadist something to hang onto. Kagome forced herself not to cry, her pain fueling a building anger.

Another jolt of searing pain rippled through Kagome. Anger was lost to desperation, the inability to escape making her almost frantic. Agony rebounded again and again before dissipating and Kagome realized with horror, the truth of the situation. Umeko was merely playing with her.

As Kagome was sent through wave after wave of torture, the only thought she could form was...

"Why?" Kagome gasped. She had lost count of the waves, it was all becoming a blinding white blur.

Umeko laughed out in disdain. "Why?You ask me why?!" Her response was a constant wave of soul-splitting pain, almost unending, until blessed relief...

Kagome crashed into unconsciousness.

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Kagome did not know how long it had been since she had lost her grasp on reality, all she knew was that it hurt all over in a dull, throbbing ache. She knew that, and the fact that she could hear voices. It took her a moment to focus but she could hear clearly if she shut her eyes and let her pained body relax a little.

"...didn't even flinch. Not until the girl screamed anyway. I think she might be controlling the boy, he started straining to get free after he heard her." The male voice was staccato, his words seemingly forced from his own lips. The voice sighed. "Kami, I really hate what we have to do to these spies. If I hadn't seen with my own eyes what they did to Adamon..."

"Hush, mate," Umeko's voice replied. "I too sensed deceit from Naraku, only Adamon believed him. Because of that, now we all know the consequences if the Thunder Clan takes our son. Adamon followed Naraku and saw what they did to him. The things he saw and experienced..." The woman's voice became shaky. "I just wish Naraku could have convinced us of his sincerity before he was so ruthlessly murdered."

"I know, I know." The voices paused for a few minutes and Kagome felt a single tear trail down the side of her face. These were kind people wrongly convinced of her guilt...by Naraku.

"Adamon is a changed man, Umeko. Ever since he got back he's been so withdrawn. I know he left out some parts, just from the way he can't meet anyone's eyes. He carries a burden and I'm not sure anyone can take that away."

"But we can forcethem to think twice about attacking our pack again," the woman's voice hardened. "I'll be sure to extract every single detail from the witch if it kills me...or her."

The voices faded, moving out of her human hearing range and she shuddered with the implication. Her heart raced and her body screamed to do something. After what seemed to be an eternity, Kagome forced herself to relax. She needed all of the strength she could get. Quieting her mind, Kagome fell back to sleep.

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"Girl, get up!" Kagome heard the harsh whisper from an unfamiliar male voice as she was roughly shaken awake. "Come on, I've got to get you out of here before you tell them everything." The sleek-looking man grabbed her roughly by the arm, hauling her off of the floor where she had been left prone. His red eyes flashed and his pointed ears twitched as he moved gracefully forward, his dark braided hair swaying slightly as he turned his head to scowl at her

"What are you talking about? Who..." Kagome's eyes widened in realization. "Hiten!" her shocked recognition was seemingly enough of a response for him. The Thunder Brother man-handled her forward, pushing her roughly towards the entrance. "Why are you doing this..." Kagome gasped as she slid across the floor with the force of his throw.

"Because I need to know what they know! Tell me everything you told them!" Hiten demanded, his leering approach threatening more than just mere pain.

"I don't know anything, how can I tell them what I don't know?" Kagome sobbed. Her defenses were severely limited, she did not know how long she could last with him in the mix. With a sudden wave of inspiration, she played up her desperation. Whispering softly she told him what he wanted to hear. "Fine Hiten, come closer and I'll tell you everything."

As Hiten neared, Kagome built up all the spiritual energy she could and threw it at the approaching demon. Sensing the deception, the demon managed to dodge the brunt of the attack, instead receiving only a painful burn on his side.

"Why would you care what I tell them?" Kagome croaked as she caught her breath. Standing on shaky legs, Kagome kept her eyes on the demon before her. "I know you like girls but there must be an easier way to get one besides raiding some torturers lair...unless..." Realization dawned on her. "You're not the real Hiten are you?" Kagome backed towards the exit, hoping she could flee before her captor could pull herself together.

'Hiten' blurred out of existence, leaving a singed fox demon before her.

"I knew you were in league with the Thunder Clan, witch," Umeko panted with exertion as she gripped her side, obviously in more pain than she was letting on. "If you're going to kill me, all I ask is this: Why my son? Why Shippo?"

Kagome's eyes widened. They thought she was part of Hiten's group. Kagome had recognized Hiten and Umeko thought they were in league together. Kagome went pale as she remembered the conversation she had heard.

"I'm not in league with the Thunder Brothers." Kagome whispered. "I only know of them because I have seen them in visions." Right, visions on the tube five-hundred years in the future. "That's how I knew your son, through my visions." Kagome took another step back, keeping a wary eye out for accomplices. She hoped Umeko had come alone; if not, Kagome was in big trouble.

"Visions," Umeko snorted in disbelief. "You'd have to think of a better one than that. If you were really gifted with sight, you would have known you were walking into a trap when you approached my child." Her tails shifted sluggishly as she struggled to stay balanced on her feet.

Backing towards the entrance, Kagome kept her eye on the barely moving form of the fox-demon in front of her. She picked up her backpack and settled it on her shoulders, backing completely out of the room and into the adjoining hallway.

"Come out here," Kagome demanded. "You're going to free my friend here, or I'll finish the job I started." Kagome motioned to the burn in Umeko's side as she made the bold statement. Kagome was not so sure she could follow it through, though.

Umeko shuffled forward with obvious exertion. Kagome made sure to stand out of range of her tails, on the off chance that she was faking it, and watched as the fox demon spoke a few incantations, releasing the spell binding Inuyasha. He slumped forward, his body bloody but with no permanent visible damage, thanks to the his demon healing.

Barely containing a sob, Kagome ordered her captor back and knelt in front of her friend.

"Inuyasha," Kagome coaxed. "Come on, wake up. I need you to wake up."

Inuyasha groaned as he regained some of his senses. Kagome barely had time to back up as he lashed out at her. "Imposter! Do you really expect me to believe you're Kagome? Why else would you have messed up my nose so I couldn't smell? You're a shape shifter!"

Kagome didn't know whether to be proud of him for thinking of the possibility, ashamed at herself for not having realized it sooner in her case, or angry at him for not believing her efforts were genuine. Kagome chose anger.

"How dare you! I risk what little chance at freedom I have to save your sorry ass, and you think I'm a shape shifter? I knew you were a bit dense but this is ridiculous!"

"You knew that huh," Inuyasha crouched low, a wicked grin on his face. "Well, you wanna know whatI know?" he taunted. "I know that the real Kagome could stop me with nothing more than a word. If you were the real her, you'd know what to do when I pounced!"

Inuyasha jumped at Kagome with demon speed. Only his prompt gave her the warning she needed to prevent her own injury.

"SIT!" Kagome yelped in panic.

Inuyasha crashed to the ground, a look of amazement comically apparent as he went from attacker to doorstop. A pained snicker greeted the sight as Umeko slid down the wall in the far corner.

"Nice work, savior. Now I know how you got a dog-demon to protect a human witch."

Ignoring the chortling demon. Kagome knelt at Inuyasha's side.

"Sorry," Kagome whispered, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder. "Do you think you could get us out of here?"

Inuyasha pulled himself off of the ground and responded by snatching her in his arms and bounding out of the room.

"Next time, you won't get this chance witch!" the pair heard as they left the injured demon behind. "Next time, you'll tell us everything!"

Kagome shuddered, tears threatening to flow as she thought of the pain she had experienced earlier in the day. As Inuyasha kept moving, Kagome steeled herself, realizing that she would just distract him if she was a sobbing mess, and they would need speed and clarity of purpose in order to successfully escape.

When they were a safe distance away, Inuyasha landed in a sturdy tree and lay Kagome down gently. Inspecting her limbs for abrasions, Inuyasha frowned as he saw none.

Grabbing Kagome under the knees, Inuyasha swiftly tossed her over his shoulder, catching her piggy back style. "Hold on, wench," Inuyasha muttered, looking into the distance as he crouched, his body tensing for launch. "We've got a way to go before we're safe."

Confused by Inuyasha's frown, Kagome obliged and they resumed their flight, only stopping when the sun was creeping up the horizon behind them. Inuyasha stopped at the base of a mountain, choosing a particularly unscalable cliff face to jump up. Halfway up the face, they entered an obscured cave, about ten meters deep and three meters wide. Kagome lay down her yellow pack and began unrolling the bedroll.

"I'll be back, wench. If anyone comes by, just do whatever it was you did to that fox demon back there."

Kagome watched as he left the cave and allowed herself the luxury of release. Tears streamed down her face as she let go of the stress of the past few hours. She let go of the pain she had been forced to endure and cried for the horrible things Naraku had convinced these otherwise kind demons to do. She cried for the blood drawn from Inuyasha, and for his silent endurance of the torture they had inflicted on him.

Kagome gained control of herself as Inuyasha re-entered the cave with an armload of wood, moss and stone. Building a fire pit near the entrance of the cave, Inuyasha ignored the salty tang in the air. Kagome was thankful that he did not comment on her obvious tears.

Sighing, Inuyasha lay down the fire supplies and approached Kagome, gently laying his hands on her shoulders. She saw as he braced himself as if for a physical blow. "Kagome," he began softly. "What did they do to you?"

Kagome, shocked by his gentle inquiry, averted her gaze, her eyes beginning to tear up again. "I..." her voice cracked before she could say more. "I don't know what it was. It was like flowing water only inside me and painful. I couldn't get away," she hiccuped as she tried to keep her tears at bay. "They sent that...pain through me." Kagome looked back up to him, liquid eyes stubbornly refusing to let the tears flow. "It isn't supposed to be this way!" she sobbed. "They're not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to meet Shippo and help him get his revenge on the Thunder Brothers. Every thing's changing and I can't figure out how to keep the good things good without making the bad things worse!"

Kagome's tears broke free in an onslaught. She felt as Inuyasha drew her closer and she buried her face in his chest, letting it all out. When she had calmed down to mere sniffles, Kagome stayed nestled in his comforting embrace. If she had not been so close she might have missed his whisper.

"It was their youki," Inuyasha's voice breezed down to Kagome. She looked up, confused by what he meant. "Their demonic spiritual energy." he growled as his voice got stronger. "Fox demons are usually harmless tricksters or mild nuisances, they must have thought you were after their kit. Any demon would protect its offspring," his eyes took a faraway glaze, "even if it killed them." Using one's own youki left a demon vulnerable, weakened. An attack after expending as much youki as Umeko had would have meant a sure victory for an attacker. If only he could have gotten free...

"Do you have any of those matches of yours left?" Inuyasha grunted, pulling away.

"Yeah," Kagome responded softly, reaching for her pack. She opened the drawstring and was knocked back by an orange streak. It darted past Inuyasha, only to find itself suspended in midair by its fuzzy tail.

Shippo.

Both were thinking it, Inuyasha said it.

"Oh, shit."

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Cruel to end on a cliffhanger, I know. Stay tuned u.u

As always, read and review!

-- Sarga