Chapter Seven

Phone Calls and Mistakes

Kagome was staring at the perfect (so perfect it made you want to barf perfect) mildly preppy blond teacher, her head resting on limp hands. Suddenly she was outside, riding up two very large hills on a floating stool. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered that stools shouldn't be floating. "And two writers will be coming in. One, Zilizoon will be-"

The hill was too steep… Kagome's stool was slowly slipping backwards. She clung to the edge of it, but that hardly helped. The stool tumbled backwards and she looked around wildly. Calling out to the teacher, she screamed, "Help! HELP!" The teacher just shrugged and gave an ugly grimace and turned away, continuing what Kagome had interrupted her in. The feeling of falling, nothing there to stop you, and the pure fear engulfing your entire body was…

Kagome sat up, sweating and breathing heavily. Clutching her pajama shirt where her heart was beating rapidly, she took deep breaths to calm herself.

Pushing her midnight black bangs out of her eyes, she slipped out of bed, her heart still beating a million miles a second, but a bit less so than what it had been doing…

(A/N: I know, I know, the dream is kinda… random, but I had to post it… that and I couldn't figure out how to start the chapter… In fact, that was a dream I had when I was half asleep, half awake… and I didn't do what Kagome did. I have a bunk bed, so if I had sat up, I would've been knocked out. And my body wouldn't move… Not fun… xx; -le sigh-)

"Kagome!" her mother called up to her. She jumped down the steps, two at a time, and slid to Mrs. Higurashi's side. Mrs. Higurashi smiled and handed her the phone. "Your friend Yumi-chan's on the phone."

Kagome smiled and grabbed the phone, muttering, "Arigato, mama," before rushing into the living room and saying into the mouth piece, "Konichi wa, Yumi-chan!"

"Konichi w-wa, Ka-Kagome-chan," Yumi said in a stuttering fearful voice. Kagome was suddenly worried. Yumi was no wimp; something had to be wrong.

"Yumi-chan? What's wrong?"

A pause. "Oh, no-nothing's wrong… Just… my-my obaa-san (grandmother) died and we we-were kinda close… But I wa-was wondering if you wanted to come-come over… It'd cheer me up."

Kagome nodded. She had never known her own grandmother, but the idea of her jii-chan dieing made her heart plummet. "Sure! If you want, I can bring Inugin along! He sure cheers you up!"

A giggle reached her from the other end and Kagome smiled, her shoulders slumping as she relaxed them. "Sure! It'll be fun! I mean… Oh, wa-wait, sorry… You can't. My fam-family has a gu-guest over and…" Back with the stuttering… "and he-he's allergic to dogs… Gomen. I've got-got to go… Sayonara!!!" Click

Kagome eyed the phone for a moment before dashing back upstairs and quickly changing into her school uniform. Why not? It was the only clean thing that looked good…

Dashing back downstairs, she called, "Mama! I'm going to Yumi-chan's house! See ya soon!"

Inugin sat by the door, waiting for Kagome to come back home. She had only been gone five minutes before the phone rang again. He lifted his head and raised a silver ear. Mrs. Higurashi picked it up and said in an ever cherry voice, "Moshi moshi."

He strained his ears and could only just barely hear one of Kagome's friend's voices. It sounded on the verge of tears. "Higurashi-san! Where's Kagome?"

"Yumi? Why… she's going over to your house!"

"Oh no! You need to stop her!"

The color drained from Mrs. Higurashi's face. "What? Why? Is something wrong?"

"That guy, Henry… He threatened me that he'd kill me and my family and everybody close to me if I didn't call Kagome and have her come over! He knocked me out when she said she'd come over and I only just came too! I'm worried something might happen to her!"

Mrs. Higurashi nodded and swallowed. "Ok. I'll call the police. Arigato, Yumi." She hung up the phone and began dialing for the police, her face white as a sheet. Inugin was already out the door, running after Kagome.

The city bustle was the same as always. Kagome pushed through the crowd, going in the direction Yumi's house. She thought over the phone conversation she had had… It was weird… Yumi was one of the toughest people in Kagome's school… not really all that much physically, but mentally… Kagome didn't know it, but the same was said of her, except that she was also really strong physically due to her years of running and fighting in the Sengoku Jidai.

Sighing, she rubbed her temples. What was going on? True, she had never met Yumi's grandmother, and true that she could always be really close to people Kagome had never even heard of, but it seemed more than a bit odd that Yumi was affected so, and yet wanted her company.

Kagome stopped short and her brows knit together in thought. She had that feeling that things weren't what they appeared… 'Nah… You're just being… suspicious…' she thought, continuing on her way. Yeah… that was right… she was just being suspicious… right?

A hand clamped over her mouth and pulled her into an alleyway. She screamed, but it didn't go far. Tokyo's streets were loud, and her scream was already muffled. Fear clutched her heart as she felt something cold and sharp press against her throat as she was pulled farther back into the darkness. Then, somebody pressed the pressure points on the back of her neck and she fainted, welcoming the coolness of the dark.

(A/N: Once again, I could- -gets attacked by random reviewer- GAH!!!! OK, OK!!! I WON'T! Jeez… Anywho, the story takes a turn for the melodramatics…)

Kagome woke up in a cold room. Her hands were tied behind her back, her feet were tied, and she was gagged. Swearing softly, she looked around the room. Sunlight fell through cracks in boards on the windows, and dust partials could be seen through the sunlight. She blinked sleepily, trying to clear her mind. No good. It was as fuzzy as always.

But then came the voice.

"Comfy, are we?"

She jumped and whirled around, staring into the face of Henry. He was wearing an old white linen shirt and loose jeans. At his hip was a belt with a short sword and a dangerous looking dagger that would've fitted in perfectly with the Sengoku Jidai, and from the characters on the sheath, that it wasn't his. He had probably killed somebody for it…

Snorting, she leaned as far away from him as possible. "What the hell are you doing, and why do you have two blades?" Kagome wanted answers, and the longer he or she talked, the longer she could live.

Henry laughed and stood up straight, looking around the room as if searching for when to begin. "Ah, what am I doing? I'm going to kill you. My thought process is a bit old… you know. Many women have died because the men that desired them couldn't have them… That and it'll help me in the long run…"

Kagome raised an eyebrow. He was right… his thought process was old… People only did that in the middle ages and such… not in modern times. But she had to keep on talking. "Are you a lunatic or something!? How will it help you?"

He turned towards her and smiled evilly. "Oh, it'll help me because, to gain more power than any before me, I have to kill a miko, and if I like the miko, it helps… and since you showed yourself as a miko by trying to purify me… well… When I absorb your body you-"

"HOLD ON!" Kagome screamed. "You say that you found out I'm a miko because I tried to purify you… but then what are you? And absorb my body… what are you, Naraku's reincarnation or something?"

Henry looked at her, one eyebrow scrunching down, the other disappearing into his hair. "Whoever this Naraku guy is, I don't know him. I'm a hanyou. After you kicked me out, I went to find my own apartment and fell down some stairs. True, not to glamorous, but my neck almost snapped. Some demons came and fed themselves onto my soul. And so… here I am."

Kagome sighed and felt like hitting her head on the side of the wall. Good God… how many times did she have to face these very unoriginal lunatics? 'Course, they usually didn't have her tied up…

Pain erupted in her shoulder and she bit her lip, willing herself not to let Henry have the pleasure of hearing her cry out.

"Pay. Attention. To. Me," he growled, as her blood dribbled from the drawn dagger as he held it at her throat again.

"KAGOME!!!" InuYasha's voice screamed.

(A/N: Hm… shall I end it here? Nah… I'll explain a bit to you guys… THEN I'll end the chapter…)

A few moments before...

Inugin rounded a corner, looking around desperately for Kagome. He could hear her voice dimly and growled in frustration. Then the smell of her metallic blood reached his nose. 'Oh Kami, no,' he thought, looking around wildly. Running for a window, he reached out with his paw. But it wasn't a paw anymore. It was a clawed hand. Inugin wasn't a dog anymore. He was InuYasha again.

(A/N: Ho! Does this explain things? Yes? No? Maybe… Too those of you who realized that Inugin was InuYasha, I need to ask you something… AM I REALLY THAT TRANSPARENT!? –bangs head against wall- It was supposed to be a surprise… Ah well, in the next chapter, InuYasha will explain everything…)