Soooo...It's been a while eh? Here's my longest chapter to make it up to you!
......
Four days after Naraku led his men into one of the few remaining cities controlled by the rebellion, he returned to the compound victorious. The town had been guarded by a few scattered groups of men, a truly pathetic attempt to resist the power of Naraku's forces. A smug smile settled in the corner of his mouth as he entered his compound and dismissed his troops. He was so close now to wiping out the dwindling rebellion; each town he captured led him closer to his ultimate goal, to control the country. Naraku's smile quickly disappeared, however, as a nagging thought captured his attention. He had yet to locate the centre of the rebellion's operations. Their 'underground' base seemed impossible for his men to find, every time he believed his troops were closing in the rebels would disappear completely. But now, fate had dealt Naraku a different hand. He had the rebellion's base location safely locked up in a cell. Now all he had to do was shatter the seemingly iron will of Kagome Higurashi and he would exterminate the last of the rebellion.
Naraku moved through the building swiftly and soon reached his main office. Just as his slim, strong hand moved for the elegant silver handle, he heard rapid footsteps coming from behind him. Turning smoothly, Naraku faced the tall officer approaching him. Panting slightly, the officer saluted his leader, "Sir," he began, his deep voice shaking, "there is a problem in the cell block."
Frowning, Naraku glided past the nervous officer and began to walk quickly towards the lower levels. Reaching the cell block, Naraku headed directly towards the one cell he was concerned with, number thirty eight. As he drew nearer, the dictator felt his anger growing in his stomach but he approached the wide open cell door calmly. Three frightened guards stood in the abandoned prison, each looking at their leader as if he were a poisonous snake ready to pounce.
Slowly, Naraku's dark eyes scanned the small cell. "Where is she?" he hissed, his arched brows narrowing in furry.
One trembling guard stepped forward cautiously. "Sir," he somehow managed to stutter out, "she has escaped."
Naraku's piercing gaze burned into the speaker's eyes. "When did this happen?" he asked, furry burning in his eyes.
"An hour ago, maybe more."
In one swift movement, before anyone in the room could react, the deafening sound of a single gunshot filled the air. The trembling guard's eyes grew wide in surprise and his hands grasped his chest. Deep crimson blood leaked from the small wound over his heart, slowly soaking his crisp uniform. His eyes began to fill with tears as he raised them from his wound to the stone face of his leader.
"I am extremely disappointed in you," Naraku stated, lowering his pistol and placing it neatly back into his pocket.
He turned and exited the prison as the dying soldier fell to the ground.
..........
The sudden snap of a branch in the distance woke Inuyasha from his rest amongst the dark tree tops. Instantly alert, the silver haired leader scanned the darkness for any signs of movement. Below him, his companions remained still unaware of the disturbance, silently sleeping in the clearing. The only sound came from their gentle breathing. Inuyasha jerked his head to the east as he heard the sound of leaves rustling somewhere in the blackness. Cautiously, he lowered himself to the ground and made his way across the clearing to Sango's side. Gently he shook her shoulder.
"What?" came the sleepy reply.
"We have to move," said Inuyasha, his gun already in his hands. "We're being followed."
Sango was up in an instant, gathering her small pack of ammunition and supplies. "You get Kagome," she said, raising her bag and oh so gently dropping in on Miroku's head. "I'll get the pervert."
"OW!!" Miroku shoved the pack off his face. He looked up at Sango in shock, "My love," he stuttered, "you have wounded me!"
Inuyasha shook his head and crept towards the still form of Kagome. As he grew nearer, the moonlight reflected off of her pale cheek to reveal a large, dark bruise in the shape of a hand. He felt his stomach tighten at the thought of what she had been through in Naraku's captivity and he gently placed his hand on her shoulder to wake her. Within a second he found his arm twisted behind his back and his face planted firmly into the ground. Kagome knelt on top of him, holding him in place.
"What the? Oi get the hell off of me you buffalo!" Inuyasha sputtered into the dirt.
It took a moment for Kagome to realize who she was holding. Laughing, she tightened her grip. "Oh Inuyasha," she said sweetly, "I didn't recognize you. What's the matter?"
"You mean besides the fact that I have an elephant on my back?" he spat, twisting his face out of the ground. "Would you remove your extremely large ass from my spine?"
Frowning, Kagome shoved his face into the dirt before carefully lifting herself off of his back and onto the ground.
Inuyasha raised himself up and brushed the grass from his jacket. Grabbing his weapon from the forest floor, he turned to the woman beside him. "Now if you're finished being an idiot we have to get moving." He spat in a hushed tone.
Ego bruised, Inuyasha stood and looked towards Sango and Miroku, who had fallen in behind him. "Alright," he whispered, "It sounded like someone was approaching from the.."
His sentence was cut short as the group heard a soft rustling amongst the trees. In an instant each member of the team was crouched low to the ground, a gun poised and ready in their hands, each scanning the trees for any signs of movement.
"Hey!" whispered a frustrated Kagome, "is one of you going to give me a weapon or what?"
Inuyasha put a finger to his lips and glared at Kagome. Sango reached into her pack and pulled a hand gun from the bag of supplies. Without a word she tossed it underhand to her companion. Kagome caught it expertly with one hand and held it ready at her side.
Silence consumed the night as the group crouched in their positions, listening closely for any hint of a sound. The rustling of tree branches caused each one of them to swivel to the east, guns at the ready. It was then that they heard a very quiet, low pitched whistle. Inuyasha held a finger to his mouth and motioned for his team to move west out of the clearing and into the cover of the trees.
Silently Miroku and Sango sped across the open forest floor and in seconds they were invisible amongst the branches. Inuyasha was about to follow when an angry hiss caught his attention.
"Idiot," hissed Kagome," I can't move!"
Rolling his eyes, the leader stooped to pick the injured woman off the ground but paused as he heard a voice in the forest. 'Shit' he thought as he lifted his companion and hurried across the clearing in the same direction his Miroku and Sango had taken. Seconds after he exited the clearing, Inuyasha and Kagome heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps softly treading the mossy forest floor. Very slowly, Inuyasha lowered Kagome to the ground and held his weapon out before him. Remaining absolutely silent, the pair waited for the sounds in the clearing to cease.
Before either of them could react, three of Naraku's armed soldiers charged through the branches directly in front of them. Instinctively, Inuyasha aimed his weapon and fired at the men before him. Two fell within a second but the third managed to grab a hold of his arm and knock the gun from his hand. Inuyasha drew back his free arm but before he could strike, a shot echoed through his ears and the soldier's grip dropped from his hand. Kagome stood, her weight supported by a tree, with her weapon at the ready.
"We need to move!" she shouted, her voice competing with the sounds of more soldiers crashing through the forest.
Swiflty, Inuyasha moved towards her but ducked suddenly as a soldier's fist swung towards him. He grabbed the man's arm as it moved past and jerked it downwards, causing his attacker to be flipped onto his back. Just as the first soldier fell another jumped onto Inuyasha's back and grasped his throat. As the two struggled, Inuyasha's eyes found Kagome. Two large soldiers charged her at the same time and before Inuyasha could blink, Kagome had sent one man flying with a high kick to his nose and the other to the ground from a right hook to the temple. Raising her weapon, Kagome aimed directly for her struggling companion and fired. Inuyasha felt his attacker slide off his back as he fell to the ground dead.
"I said we need to move!" Kagome screamed once more.
This time Inuyasha made the distance between the two without being assaulted and swept Kagome onto his back. The sound of more soldiers approaching quickened his pace as he turned from the noise and fled into the darkness of the forest. Narrowly dodging trees, the silver haired leader ran as fast as he could from the clearing, steadily increasing their distance from Naraku's men.
After running for at least half an hour, Inuyasha felt the soft touch of rain drops begin to fall from the ink black sky above them. Before long, however, the gentle drops turned into a pelting sheet of water that he could hardly see through. Within seconds, the fleeing pair was thoroughly soaked. Kagome shivered against his back and Inuyasha turned his head towards her. "We need to find shelter!" he shouted through the deafening sound of the rain.
Kagome nodded and her eyes began to scan the darkness before them. The two searched for what seemed like hours, becoming even more drenched in the downpour. Kagome's gaze searched the forest carefully, looking for anything the pair might be able to use to get out of the freezing rain. Finally, her eyes fell upon what looked like a small cave in the distance. Nudging her carrier, she pointed to it. "There," she yelled, "a cave."
Without a word, Inuyasha turned in the direction she pointed and sped towards the cave. They made it to the mouth and Inuyasha gently lowered Kagome off of his back onto the cold ground. "I'll check it out," he said, removing his gun from his jacket.
Kagome nodded and held her arms across her chest, shivering in her soaked clothing. Looking at the mouth of the cave, she could see a tree had fallen so that part of it remained dry, sheltered by the wall of rock. Inuyasha returned to her side moments later, "It's clear," he reported, looking relieved. "We can stay here until the rain lets up, then we can try to find Sango and Miroku."
Kagome nodded, happy to be out of the rain. "There's wood to start a fire," she reported, moving towards the fallen tree.
........
Inuyasha sat before the small fire he had built, its warmth slowly spreading into his cold, wet limbs. His jacket hung from the tree behind him, dripping wet from the rain. He could only hope it would be dry by morning. Turning his eyes back towards the fire, Inuyasha's attention was caught by the sight of his companion in the fire light.
Kagome sat across from him, looking into the fire with an unreadable expression on her face. The rain had washed away most of the dirt and grime that had covered her skin and clothing and the pain she had suffered while in Naraku's prison was now all too clear. The large, hand shaped bruise on her face was a horrible shade of purple, which outlining the dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. Her neck was covered in similar bruises and a long, thin mark that looked suspiciously like a rope had been tied around her throat. The parts of her arms and legs that were exposed through her tattered clothing yielded even more bruises and a large variation of cuts, both scarred and still healing. But the thing that stood out most to him was the visibly painful burn mark on her wrist that was the exact shape of a cigarette.
Disgusted Inuyasha tore his eyes away from her healing wounds and moved them to her face. Behind the dark circles and bruises, her large deep brown eyes reflected the dancing light of the fire before them. 'She has beautiful eyes.' Inuyasha thought before he realized he had. Shaking his head he tore the thought from his mind. 'Too bad she's a complete hag.' He corrected himself quickly.
"So," Inuyasha said, trying to fill the eerie silence of the cave and to distract himself from his own stupid thoughts. "If you're such an intelligent member of the rebellion, how did you manage to get yourself captured?"
Kagome looked up from the fire and glared at the man before her. "It wasn't my first choice," she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Her eyes then returned to the flames as memories of her capture began to surface, causing her brow to furrow. "It was an ambush," she spoke quietly, just above a whisper. "One of ours was an informant for Naraku, he betrayed us."
Inuyasha watched as emotions played across Kagome's face before she hid them away beneath a stony expression.
"We were supposed to be on a routine patrol, making sure our borders held, when we were attacked. They surrounded us from all sides, like they knew we were coming and how many of us there would be. Everyone was killed, everyone but me. I should have seen it coming; I should have been able to protect them." Kagome's eyes betrayed the emotions she was trying to mask as she spoke. The sorrow over the loss of her comrades was plain to see in her large, brown eyes.
Shaking her head to rid herself of the memories, Kagome looked up from the fire and at Inuyasha's face. "The soldiers brought me back to that compound and threw me in that disgusting cell," she spat, her voice filling with anger. "It was days before they gave me water and two more before I was given anything to eat. Not that I could manage to decipher what it was."
"After a week Naraku came," Kagome spat the name in disgust, hatred for the man burning in her eyes. "He offered me a choice, I could tell him the location of our underground base or I would feel pain like I had never experienced before." Kagome laughed slightly and shifted her body so her back faced Inuyasha. "I chose the latter," Kagome reached behind her to lift her tattered shirt half way up her back revealing a multitude of horrible red, welted whip marks across her once smooth flesh. "I lost track of how long I was there," she whispered, lowering her shirt and turning to face Inuyasha once again.
Inuyasha's gut tightened in anger over what Kagome had experienced at the hands of the enemy. The fact that she had survived for months in such degrading conditions without breaking made him see the officer in front of him with a newfound respect. Maybe she wasn't such a hag after all. Raising himself from the ground, Inuyasha moved around the fire to settle himself down next to Kagome. Softly, he placed a hand on her shoulder and was surprised at how small she felt despite her tough exterior.
"I'm sorry for what you went through," Inuyasha said quietly, "Naraku will be stopped. I can promise you that."
A small smile settled itself in the corner of Kagome's mouth. "I know he will," she replied, determination in her face.