Chapter 20
When Yukami came to, she was disoriented and angry. Her hands were held to the wall with steel shackles that were impervious to even demon strength. She screamed her fury and yanked against them anyway.
"I suggest you stop that." Kikyo's cold voice cut through the room. "It will only anger the prince, and if you think I'm mad, you haven't seen anything yet."
"Lady Kikyo." the princess snarled. "So this is where you got to. I was wondering what you'd do after the death of your pathetic husband. It must really get under your skin that you are eldest Higurashi left alive and the most worthless."
The pale woman smiled. "Oh Yukami, you are as simple minded as always. But this is not the point of your visit here." Kikyo got closer to the other woman. "Where is my sister?"
Yukami laughed. "You think I'll tell you that? And you say that I'm simple minded."
If there was one thing about Kikyo that needed to be known, it was that her anger was a terrible thing. While Kagome would get mad and then get over it, Kikyo was the master of holding a grudge.
"I do not think you fully understand the situation. Prince Yuri has abandoned you. He handed you over to Prince Sesshomaru and now you belong to us. Your options will be much better if you cooperate. I can assure you that if you don't, you will die."
"You cannot kill me." the princess snapped. "You haven't the stomach."
"But I do."
Sesshomaru strode into the dungeon, his face empty and his voice cold. "Not only do I have the stomach, but I will enjoy it immensely. Now, tell me. Where is my fiancée?"
"Sesshomaru, darling are you still hung up over that homely little wench? Do you not wish to experience what it would be like with a real woman?" Yukami purred and rubbed her body against the prince's.
The inu snarled and slammed the demoness against the wall, gripping her throat painfully. "Do not assume to take such liberties with my person. Kagome is two thousand times the lady you are and you are not fit to wipe the mud from her feet." He tightened his fingers and allowed them to take on the bright green glow of his poison. "Now. Where. Is. She?"
Kikyo shuddered and backed away from the prince. He had never raised his voice past the smooth baritone it always was, but there was something deadly in the monotone.
Inuyasha and Sanyen came walking into the dungeon then. They were both wearing looks of excitement. "Sess," the hanyou began. "You really should go to Father's office.
"I am a little busy at the moment, Inuyasha." The prince replied, tightening his fingers even more.
"Right, I see that. But somehow, Kagome managed to get a message out from wherever in the seven hells she is. The old man thought you might want to read it." Inuyasha retorted in an off hand manner.
He watched in amusement as his half brother dropped the disgraced princess's throat and spun to face him. Yukami hung limply from her bonds, gasping for breath.
"If you are lying…" Sesshomaru said threateningly.
"Would I lie about something like this?" Inuyasha demanded. Sure his brother was becoming less of an asshole, but he really did have his moments.
The white prince was off in an instant. The hanyou shook his head and walked over to Kikyo, who was surveying the acid burns around Yukami's neck. "I fear if the prince continues to lose his temper, there will be nothing left of her to answer to Kagome."
Inuyasha snorted. "This ain't him losing his temper. This is him relatively calm. If he had lost his temper, more'n just her would be burned."
Sesshomaru reached his father's office and paused. He wanted to fling the door open and demand answers, but there was the possibility that Kagome's captor might be in there. It would not do to show his frantic mood to them. So he took a deep breath and carefully allowed the emotionless mask to settle over his features and a hardness to creep into his eyes. When he deemed himself ready, he knocked on the door.
"Come." InuTaisho called. He had known the minute his eldest son had arrived outside the door and nodded his approval to the measures the prince had taken to appear collected. "Ah, Sesshomaru. Allow me to introduce to you Bankotsu, he is formerly one of Okudo's men, but thanks to the Lady Kagome, he is now our agent."
Golden eyes narrowed. "Okudo was your master?"
Bankotsu nodded quickly. "It wasn't by choice, Your Highness." He jumped up from his chair to bow to the prince.
The king quickly filled his son in on what Bank had told him. Sesshomaru turned back to the man. "And so you will help us." It wasn't a question.
"Lady Kagome promised that you were going to kill Okudo when you found him. If that's so, then my brother and I will be free and in your debt, your Highness."
"You kidnapped my betrothed." Sesshomaru remarked. "What makes you think I will not simply kill the both of you along with your master?"
Bankotsu hung his head. "If that is to be our fate, then we accept it. Anything is better than living like this."
The inuyoukai prince considered the man for a moment, then nodded curtly. "Inuyasha spoke of a message?"
"Lady Kagome wrote it with her own hand." Bank pulled the missive out of his pocket and handed it to the prince. "She is well now, but…Naraku does not plan to keep her that way for long. If you are to save her, then it must be soon."
Sesshomaru didn't even respond to that. He unfolded the paper and inhaled the scent. It had been written by Kagome, alright. He would know that scent anywhere.
Sesshomaru,
Be nice to Bankotsu, he risked a lot to get this to you, so please, keep the threats to a minimum. If what I have been told is true, you have no idea where I am. Naraku says that's because I'm being held in a place that is not in the same dimension as where you are. I have no idea what that means, but I'm sure Bank can tell you how to get there. Please trust him. He might be my only hope. Our only hope. Oh, and by the way, if you capture Yukami, which I'm sure you will, save a piece of her for me. I love you.
Kagome
Both InuTaisho and Bankotsu waited with bated breath until the prince had read the note three more times. He looked up at them with a new fire in his eyes. "Father, tell Inuyasha to prepare the guard. I know where she is now. You," he pointed to Bank. "will show me how to get there."
Kagome was nervous. The brothers had agreed to help her since it was in their best interest. Jak had created a diversion with the flying steeds they had used to get her here, and while Naraku was busy with that, Bank slipped out, headed to the West with a note to Sesshomaru from her, nestled in his tunic pocket.
The girl jumped as the door to her cell slid open and Jakotsu entered with a tray of food. "Here you go, sweetie." he said.
Kagome accepted it and began to eat. "What's happening?" she wanted to know.
"Naraku has the horses back under control, but I told him they were spooked by a kitsune group. He ordered me to send Bankotsu after them."
The miko grinned. "Wow, that worked better than I thought it would. Now we just have to wait."
"Tell me something, cutie." Jak asked after a minute. "Why are you so certain your prince is going to come for you. I mean, even though he knows where you are now, wouldn't it just be easier to find himself a knew woman and move on."
Kagome shook her head. "Sess isn't like that. You haven't seen a good example, but inuyoukai are loyal to a fault."
Jakotsu sighed. "It must be lovely to have someone love you like that."
"It's actually a little scary." Kagome admitted. "I've never…loved or been loved like this."
"You are one lucky lady." Jak insisted. "You know, aside from all this."
The miko could hear the sadness in the man's voice. "I have a proposition for you, Jakotsu." she said after a minute. "I'm sure after this, Sesshomaru is going to refuse to let me out without bodyguards of some sort. It would be nice to have one who also knew something about fashions as well." She gestured to the man's latest outfit. It consisted of a pair of wide legged tan breeches that looked like a woman's skirts, and the fitted bodice of a gold gown.
"Really?" Jak squealed. "I am so sorry I said you weren't pretty when I first saw you. You are the absolute best!"
Sesshomaru stood tall and proud at the front of the rag tag group of rescuers. It surprised him how willing he was to accept the change in his plan. At first, he had been intending to take the guard with him, in a show of force. Now though, he was going with the assorted members of the household who wanted to fight to bring their Kagome back.
Inuyasha, Sanyen, Kuisotenboru, and Kikyo were directly behind him. Koga, Ashiteru, and Tsubame were behind them, flanked by a medley of Western and Southern guard members. Shippo was left with the king to keep watch over Yukami.
Suteki and Mitsuko were there as well, to take Okudo into custody. Or so they thought. Sesshomaru fully intended for him to die in the fighting.
Bankotsu was beside the prince. The inuyoukai knew of the rift in time and space. He had heard of it a century ago, but had paid it no mind. The abnormality had started in a well far to the east, but had spread. The inuyoukai council apparently used the space to hold their prisoners now, though only Okudo and his son knew about it. Bank was needed to show the prince how to get through the rift and to his beloved.
He turned to address his followers. "If all else fails, continue fighting." he said. "Once I have ensured that the Lady Kagome is safe, I will kill any who would stand in our way." Sesshomaru looked to Bankotsu. "You are to find your brother and get out of the way. I will not risk lives for yours."
Bankotsu smiled his first true smile in decades. "Do not worry, your Highness. Jak and I will cause you no trouble. If we can, we'll even lead Naraku to you."
Sesshomaru nodded and lifted his head to the sky. A feral howl ripped from his throat. It was echoed by shouts from those behind him. For a moment, the prince felt more powerful than he ever had. This was what it was to lead. All that was missing was his miko by his side.
Without warning, Sesshomaru lurched into movement, sprinting in the direction he knew the rift to be. Despite the fact that Bankotsu appeared and smelled human, he was keeping up easily. "I should go through first." he said. "Jak probably came up with some reason to justify my absence, and I can keep the sentries off their guard until you attack."
The prince agreed that was a good idea. They ran for what felt like hours until Sesshomaru stopped and lifted his hand for quiet. There, in front of him, was a disturbance. It smelled foul and wrong to him and he knew that this was where they were keeping his Kagome.
Bank nodded and slipped into thin air. He would signal when the time was right.
Jakotsu stiffened suddenly. "Bank's back." he said. "This could be it."
Kagome stood up and sent her powers out. It was faint, but she could feel Sesshomaru at the edge of her senses. Excitement bubbled within her. "It is." she replied.
"I have to go keep Naraku busy so they can get in." Jak told her. "You'll be alright?"
The girl nodded. "I'll have to be. Go."
It was agony, the waiting. She heard yelling and several guards had run by to ensure that she was still locked up. She knew the moment Sesshomaru had burst in. Wave after wave of his youki went up as he fought his way to her.
Suddenly the door was blasted open, and she was knocked back. In the rubble stood Naraku, his face deceptively calm. "Well, I hope you're happy, cousin." he said. "Thanks to your meddling several of your friends will die this day. Not to mention your beloved prince."
Kagome snorted. "You know nothing about him if you believe that."
"He might not die in the flesh, my dear." Naraku retorted. "But with your death, he will die in spirit. Make no mistake, I am here to kill you, and I will ensure that your Sesshomaru feels it in his very soul."
In that moment, Kagome felt angrier than she ever had. Here was someone that was once considered family, trying kill her, and hurt someone who had never done anything to him. The force of her anger made her powers flare white hot, and without her even trying, the shackle on her ankle splintered and broke away.
Balls of pink fire leapt into her hands and she threw them in the direction of her cousin without even thinking. Kaede had told her about this. It was the reason she had to meditate to keep her control. A miko in righteous anger could demolish an entire youkai clan, or so she had been told. With the power that was coursing through her, Kagome believed it.
Naraku dodged most of the blasts, with one catching his arm and leaving it a smoldering ruin.
"What, no more clever cracks, Naraku?" Kagome demanded and even her voice was laced with power.
It was this that called to Sesshomaru. He was outside of the fortress fighting those blasted ink demons again. Them, and hordes of regular small fry demons that were mixed in. Suddenly a white hot flash of awareness streaked through his mind. Kagome was aware of what was happening around her and she was angry. Something primal overtook the prince then and his only thought was to get to her.
A/N: Hmmm. What a perfect place for a quasi-cliffhanger. If I had gone any farther, I would have written out the whole conflict in this one chapter, and I don't want that. So we'll rest here. Finally this story is winding down. There will be a couple more chapters dealing with this little fight, some stuff about the council, and finally, THE WEDDING! So stay tuned. As always, thanks for the reviews (nearly 300!) and let me know what you thought of this.