Chapter 11

She couldn't hear anything. She couldn't smell anything. She couldn't see anything. She was in a black void. Her head was pounding. 'An after effected of whatever they knocked me out with...' She tried to lift her hand to place it on her head and couldn't. Moving her hands she felt the tug and burn of a rope. Letting out a groan she tried to roll over, and was once again stopped.

"She's awake, let the boss know." She heard scurrying and someone threw a bucket of cold water on her.

"Hey, what did I tell you, no water!"

"Sorry boss!"

She heard footsteps stop right in front of her. She lifted her head to where she suspected the person's face to be.

"Don't strain. The potion will wear off and your senses will come back. Give it a minute."

Yuna took deep breaths to try to work the poison out of her system. Sure enough she started getting her vision back. Her smell hit her at once along with the sounds of everything. Her vision was still blurry, but now she could see that she was looking at someone.

"See, it's coming back. Now, we're going to talk. While I talk you will listen. You can't go any where. You're tied down. Your hands are tied. I've looked for you for a long time. And now you're going to do exactly what I tell you to."

Yuna's head rolled to the side. Her vision was starting to clear up and she didn't gasp but her mind was running wild. There he was, in front of her. The tiger yokai. The whole clan was standing behind him. The leader's eyes were staring into hers. The whole clan had their hair braided on the sides, beads and claws intertwined into the braids. He noticed her eyes get bigger.

"Ah, vision all the way back? Good. Now, as you can see my brothers here and I are very tired. We've looked for you for the past seventy or so years, burning villages and any one else that was in our way. We made the mistake of killing your mom. Now, now. Don't be like that. It was our only option. You see, our territory was flooded, wiped away. We need an elemental to pull the water away. It was your mother's fault for already being mated and having you. You see, we want to breed you. We want you to breed with all of us, and eventually start the new clan where elemental and tiger yokai work together. We will be able to rid our lands of water and keep it away. All we needed was an elemental. Your mother was the last. That was until we found out about you. How crafty, hiding away that day!"

"My mother would have helped you, you didn't have to kill her."

"No. You see we didn't want help. We wanted to breed her. But she was already mated. Everyone knows that sleeping with another while mated will kill you."

Yuna kept her head bent down, trying to hide her mark. So far she had succeeded in keeping it hidden by using her tail, carefully wrapping it around her shoulder. Trying to be calm she started sending feelings to Inuyasha. She was begging that her mistaken mark would be what saved her life.

"-and we couldn't use her then. Father, her mother, siblings all of them. We killed them all so that we could find you. Once they were gone you gave off the sweetest aura. We tracked you all over Japan." The tiger yokai let an evil grin play on his face. "Now, you wait a bit and we'll bathe you and ready you for...activities." With that him and the rest of his clan left the room, chuckling at the thought if what would happen later.

'Inuyasha, for once, follow your intuition...'

Inuyasha perked up, nearly falling out of the tree he was resting in. It had been three days since she had been taken. In those three days he hadn't felt her mark breathe to life or nearly kill him by dying. It hadn't done anything. Suddenly it sprang to life, nearly knocking him out of the trance he had put himself in.

"Inuyasha?!" Sango and Miruko had camped below him since Yuna had gone missing. Kaede was watching their children, really doing anything to keep her mind off the missing Yuna.

"She's awake. I felt it. She's alive some where." Inuyasha jumped off the tree, landing beside the couple below him. "Let's go."

"Inuyasha, how do you know where you're going?"

"Yuna is telling me. Come on." With that, Sango and Miruko ran after him.

Inuyasha's heart was aching. He could swear it was actually breaking. He didn't know what had happened, but for the last five or so minutes he had been following his instincts to find Yuna. Suddenly he could have sworn he'd been hit in the gut. Repeatedly. Still, he carried on, his two companions able to see on his face the pain he was going through.

Yuna gasped for air again. The punches to her face and stomach were making her wish she was dead. Everything had been going fine until they saw her mark. Anger. That wouldn't describe what the Tiger yokais were feeling. She could see it in their eyes. Their species were dying out and she had been their last resort. Now they were dead. She could almost stomach the first few punches. After that though, the blood loss was getting to her. She knew she had broken ribs, her left eye swollen so much that she could barely keep it open. They had kicked her in her stomach so much she wondered if she would ever be able to carry life in it. They had taken her hair and used it to hold her head up by tying it to a pole. Her hands were bound as well as her legs. They didn't need to do that though, she had had all of the will to live beat out of her hours ago. Now she just waited for blood loss or a swift hit to the head to end it all.

"You WHORE!" The leader of the clan hit her again, making contact with her face. She was sure she heard her jaw dislocate. "We were going to take you in! You would have been revered! You are spoiled, you are ruined!" She knew that was a lie. They would have bred her until she died. But the ruined part might have been true. "Everything, everything is ruined because of you!" He hit her again, her shoulder taking the hit this time.

"No." He stopped with his hand raised.

"No? You whore."

"No. You ruined...your people." She couldn't believe how hard it was to talk. "You ran them down...chasing..my mother and me...You could...have...been...so much more." She stared him straight in the eyes.

He had no idea what to do. Her gray-silver swirling orbs staring him down.

"You...could have...been...so beautiful." She broke his gaze and let her head fall.

He stood up, letting her fall back against the pole she was tied to. Giving her one more swift kick to the stomach, he walked away.

"Let her be. If she lives, she can walk. When she dies, we will bury her." Sure that she would die in a few hours they left her, bloody, broken, and damaged.

Yuna was not worried. She felt him. Inuyasha. Closing in on her. In maybe five minutes he would be here. Then she would have him hold her while she died.

Inuyasha took a deep breath and then wanted to vomit. It was in the air. Yuna's blood. With how much he smelled it he was amazed that she was still alive, though he could feel her fading from her mark.

"Miruko." Inuyasha gave one look at the monk and took off.

"Miruko," Sango placed a hand on his shoulder, "Does he know where she is?"

"Yes my dear. And for both of their lives I hope he can save her." Sango looked at the monk, wonder in her eyes. "Sango, my dear, there is a reason that some demons mate for life. When they mated they mixed their auras, their yokai. If one dies prematurely the other will follow. If either have...relations with someone else, the other will die. Mating is not to be taken lightly."

"Miruko, if he lost someone else, it will kill him." And with that the couple raced behind Inuyasha, only able to make out his red outfit.

Inuyasha knew she was here. He had followed her scent to the outside of a den that he could tell belonged to the tiger yokais. Not afraid at all, he walked in, hand on sword, claws brandished. A few guards saw him and charged. He used his sword and in one swift motion cut them both down. Others heard the commotion and came running. Taking them on two at a time, he ripped, cut, and struck down all four. He realized his demon side was fighting for control.

The den was made up of several twisting and turning hallways. He followed her scent, smelling the rest of the yokais towards the back with her. He turned a corner and was met by another tiger yokai. This one took two daggers out of their spot on his hip. Laughing, Inuyasha grabbed him by the throat. He couldn't decide if he would suffocate him or tear his head off. He decided to squeeze his neck until his eyes and tongue popped out of his mouth. He threw the body against a wall, taking a step further. Then he heard her. Her breathing was shallow and wet sounding, full of groans of pain. In one swift kick, he knocked the door away from the room she was in.

His heart sank even more. There she was, his mate, tied to a pole. Her hair tied to the top of the pole, matted and tangled, her eye was swollen shut, all over her body was bruises and cuts that oozed when she would breathe. Her lips were crusted and bloody, her coughs hacking up blood. Her legs were curled underneath her in a way that made him wonder if she could even walk. Her clothes were ripped and barely hanging on to her. Her breast were covered in claw marks.

He took two leaps across the dark room to her.

"Inu..In.."

"Shh. I'm going to get you out of here."

"No..Inu...just hold me..."

Tears came to his eyes. She had already given up.

"No Yuna. You're going to make it. You're going to get out of here. And we're going to live. Together."

"To..gether? Thank you...for giving me hope..before I die."

"Hope? Yuna, we're going to be ok."

"I need..to..say..I'm..I'm sorry. I took away your chance at Kagome."

"What? No Yuna. I choose you. She was. You are." He took her head and untied her hair. He put his thumb on her chin and lifted her eyes to him, grimacing at the blood on her face. "We're gonna live together."

"Together? Just us?"

"Us."

"No babies?" She grinned. She felt she only had minutes left and was welcoming the scene she painted in her head.

"As many as you'll have with me."

She went to laugh, and instead coughed up blood.

"How touching." The leader of the Tiger clan came up from behind them, five lackeys with him.

"Who hit her first?" Inuyasha didn't turn his head. Silence followed. "I asked, who hit her first?"

A tiger yokai in the back stupidly raised his hand. With that Inuyasha placed Yuna down gently, and turning threw his sword at the yokai, cutting him in half so fast he stood for a few seconds after. No, no contact being made with his sword, his demon side took over. His claws lengthen, his eyes bled red. Taking the nearest tiger yokai near him, he ripped his body apart, his spine coming with his skull. Two more lackeys came up, running at him. He simply took his clawed hand and ripped one, from head to privates, completely in half. He then swung one half at the lackey still headed his way, and knowing he would dodge it, met him in the stomach when he went to move out of the way. He grabbed the yokais insides, and ripped them out with a terrible gurgle. The last lackey ran, smelling of piss. The only one left was the leader. Inuyasha turned to face him, just as a sword ran through his shoulder and pinned him to the wall.

"Are you the one that made her soiled?" He twisted the sword, Inuyasha grabbing at it. "Yes you are! I can see it in your eyes! I have touched what is yours! I hit her. I kicked her so many times she vomited blood. I pulled her hair so tight, the skin on her skill attempted to separate!" Inuyasha tried without success to grab the yokai, to scratch him, to claw his pitiful eyes out. "But you ruined her! YOU TURNED HER INTO A WHORE! Now we will die!" The yokai reached for another dagger and started to drag it across Inuyasha's neck.

He never made it. Out of no where his arm disappeared. He screamed, the blood exploding on the wall of the den. Looking up, he saw a giant wolf. Blue eyes, and hair so white it shined. The tail had a gray tip, and blue smoke rose from the paws. With a snarl the wolf turned and bit the head of the yokai, who then fell to the floor with a thud.

Inuyasha had taken the chance to pry the blade free from his shoulder. Tossing it to the side he ran up to the wolf, grabbing the sides of its facing, staring it down. Growling and grunting, slowly the wolf changed. There stood Yuna, before she collapsed into his arms.

About that time Miruko and Sango ran in, stepping over the corpses and body parts. Sango nodded to Miruko and headed to retrieve Inuyasha's sword. Slowly, Miruko approached the two demons.

"Inuyasha?" He stood back, taking in the sight of them both. Inuyasha was covered in blood, both his and his enemies. The only wound Miruko could find was in his shoulder, a hole straight through showing the muscles and bones trying to men. Yuna was in much worse shape. He had no time to take everything in, Inuyasha let out a growl, protesting anyone else coming close. "Inuyasha, my friend, we wont to take you both from here." Inuyasha went to stand up, but collapsed with Yuna in his arms. Still growling, his demon side still in control, Miruko nodded at Sango. She came up from behind, and swiftly knocked Inuyasha unconscious with his own sword. Together they took in the sight in front of them.

"Well my dearest, let's get started." And each one gathered their own demons to carry.