Friends by Night, Enemies by Day

Author's Note: I'm a procrastinator….but I still get things done…

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and co.

Chapter 21: Struggle

"Argh, stupid piece of machine, why the hell won't you do your job right? AHHH!" Inuyasha yelled in frustration and kicked the washing machine. "Owww!" Inuyasha yelped and grabbed his throbbing foot…."Ok, maybe kicking metal wasn't the smartest thing to do." Inuyasha continued to glare evilly at the washing machine before sighing and walking towards the kitchen. "MOM! The washing machine isn't working properly!" When Inuyasha arrived in the kitchen, it was empty. He glanced up at the clock, it was almost 5 o'clock, his mom should have finished grocery shopping a long time ago. "MOOOM! Where are you?" Still no answer. "Oh well, maybe she decided to stop somewhere else." Inuyasha started to walk upstairs to his room when his stomach growled. "Ok, I'm hungry." Turning back into the kitchen, Inuyasha opened his favourite cabinet of ramen, took out the cup of instant noodles and boiled some water. While waiting for the water to boil, Inuyasha glanced around and saw a note on the fridge that Sesshomaru left behind. When the kettle started whistling, Inuyasha got up to pour the steaming water into the cup and took the cup back to the table when a red envelope on the ground by the dooor caught his eye. Placing the hot cup of noodles on the table, Inuyasha bent down and picked up the red envelope. The envelope was blank, it wasn't addressed to anyone and it didn't have a return address. Sitting down, Inuyasha opened the envelope, and unfolded the piece of paper. The sheet of paper was mainly blank except for a few words.

I will contact you within 48 hours with instructions, no funny stuff or else

Inuyasha was confused, the message didn't make any sense. Opening up the envelope again, he spotted something else. When it fell onto the table, the ramen was forgotten about and all Inuyasha could do was stumble out of his seat in shock and disbelief with his mouth left agape and stagger to the phone and dial Sesshomaru's number. On the table lay a picture. A picture of Akina and Kagome unconscious, tied up and gagged in the back of a truck.

Listening to the phone ring, Inuyasha slumped down onto the floor, grabbed the picture and stared hard at it. He just couldn't believe what he saw. A million questions ran through his mind. "Who? Why? How? When? Are they?"

"Hello?"

Silence.

"Hello?" Sesshomaru spoke again with a bit of annoyance in his tone. Almost about to hang up because the other person on the phone wasn't speaking, he heard a soft sniffle.

"Hello?" Sesshomaru asked for the third time.

"Sessh..Sesshomaru.." Inuyasha finally got out, trembling now.

"Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru asked, now very concerned. His little brother was calling him, which meant that it was an emergency and if he wasn't mistaken, his brother had stuttered.

"Inuyasha what's wrong?"

"Come…come..home."

"Inuyasha what's going on?" Sesshomaru asked, getting a bit frustrated that Inuyasha wouldn't just say what was wrong.

"They've got mom." Inuyasha sniffed as he traced her face in the picture.

"Who?"

"I don't know" Inuyasha cried. "Mom's been kidnapped."

Sesshomaru opened his mouth to reply but closed it. "Inuyasha, I'm coming now, don't do anything."

"Should I call the cops?"

"No, I'll take care of it. Go to bed."

Inuyasha slowly hung up. Taking one last glance at the picture, he laid the picture along with the note on the table for Sesshomaru to find when he got home. Spotting the ramen, Inuyasha sighed, dumped its contents and headed upstairs to sleep like Sesshomaru had suggested. Not bothering to change, Inuyasha just climbed into bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Kagome. They took Kagome." Her name kept running through his mind. "Kagome. They took Kagome. Kagome….Kagome." Suddenly, Inuyasha sat up straight.

"You're stupid!"

"I said you're stupid. Got a problem with that little miss princess?"

"Yeah, I do, Inuyasha!"

"I mean come on, chemistry tutoring. How hard can it be? You must really be dense upstairs to still not be able to figure out the simplest things!"

Get out of here! I hate you, you know that I HATE YOU!

"The feeling's mutual!"

Inuyasha clasped his hands over his ears as if trying to block out his own thoughts. And his eyes began to moisten. "The last thing I told her was that I hated her and now I'm not even sure if I'm going to see her again. Or if she'll want to see me again. What have I done? Kagome…."

Sesshomaru came home, as quickly as possible. He had excused himself quite rudely infront of his colleagues and grabbed the first taxi in sight. On the trip home, Sesshomaru's thoughts kept straying back to his conversation with Inuyasha. "What did Inuyasha mean that Mom was kidnapped?" Getting out of the taxi, Sesshomaru felt sheets of rain hit him. He didn't even realize that it had started to rain. Paying the taxi driver, Sesshomaru quickly headed home and opened the door. By the time, he was inside, he was already completely soaked but that was the least of his concerns. He could hear quiet sniffing coming from upstairs, definitely Inuyasha. Looking around, the house was basically completely dark and empty. Sesshomaru turned on the kitchen lights and immediately saw the envelope with a note and picture laid out beside it on the table.

The picture captured his attention first, and upon seeing it, he instantly recognized his mother and then saw another young girl beside her. Her face was familiar. Kagome. She was Inuyasha's friend. Next, Sesshomaru picked up the note and read the words neatly typed on it. "Damnit." Sesshomaru exclaimed in anger. "Who would do this?" Not wanting to think about the subject anymore, Sesshomaru took up the envelope, picture and note up to his room and left them sitting ontop of his drawer and decided that a night of rest would help to clear his head.

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Kagome moaned as she began to come to. Her head was feeling a bit dizzy and she couldn't see anything. When she tried to move, she suddenly realized that she was being restrained. As she began to gain more consciousness, Kagome realized that she had been gagged and bound, her hands tied behind her back around some sort of pillar and her feet tied together to prevent movement. The room she was in was large and empty save for some other pillars holding up the building. Suddenly a large flash filled the room and Kagome saw another shadow also tied up to another pillar at the opposite side of the room. "It's raining" Kagome realized. Looking around some more, hoping to find out more clues about her whereabouts and the other figure, she couldn't find anything. The room was once again pitch black. "Ok, Kagome, now let's retrace your steps today and find out where exactly you are and why? The last thing I was doing….I was at the shrine, sweeping and then Ms. Taisho….oh my gosh! Ms. Taisho, she disappeared and then someone drugged me…and…" Kagome suddenly started to squirm and try to free herself of her bindings and see if Ms. Taisho, the other person in the room with her was ok. Another flash filled the room and Kagome saw the limp figure of Ms. Taisho and the room went dark again. Loud thunder crackled and boomed. Suddenly a door opened, light entered the room harshly blinding Kagome for a few moments before a shadow towered over her.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Kagome's head shot up so fast that her head hit the pillar that she was bound to. She knew that voice. That bone-chilling voice. It was Naraku.

"Now now Kagome, I see that you're awake." Naraku smiled menacingly and crouched down to untie the gag around Kagome's mouth. Kagome watched his actions carefully, glaring at him the entire time. When the gag was finally off, Kagome clamped her mouth down. "Oh Kagome, cat got your tongue?" Naraku smirked and grabbed her chin. Kagome struggled and finally opened her mouth.

"Let go of me Naraku."

"So you can talk. Hahaha, well then Kagome dearest, can you be a good girl?" Kagome gave no response. "Well then fine, I'm going to untie you, you have five minutes to eat"
Naraku slid a plate of cold noodles beside her. "And then, I'll be back to tie you up again." Again Kagome gave no response. Naraku untied her and walked out the door, leaving it slightly open so that light would filter into the dark room.

Kagome rubbed her wrists, they were really sore. She looked down at her 'food'. "I bet he poisoned it or something, better not risk it." Kagome then crawled over to Ms. Taisho and began to untie her as well, through the ongoing thunderstorm and Naraku's entrance, she was still unconscious. After Kagome finished untying her, Akina started to come to. "Ms. Taisho? Are you alright?"

"Kagome?"

"Yes, Ms. Taisho, it's me Kagome."

"Where are we dear?"

"I'm not sure. Can you move?"

"Um, yes I think so."

"Okay, then we have to try and escape now." Getting up, the two women crept towards the door, seeing that the coast was clear, they carefully snuck out making it down the hallway before they rounded the corner and a large man in a black suit also turning the corner ran into Akina. Both women ran but the man grabbed Akina's arm.

"Kagome, run." Akina yelled.

"But.." Kagome turned around and saw that Akina had been re-captured.

"Kagome!" Akina yelled again. This time, Kagome nodded.

Kagome ran, ran really fast. The man was too slow and was still holding onto Akina. Kagome turned her head again to look back one last time and saw that the man was dragging a reluctant Ms. Taisho back into the room they escaped from while calling for backup.

Oomph. Kagome ran into something…or someone. "Ahh Kagome, just couldn't get enough of me huh?" Kagome's eyes opened in shock, she had run into Naraku. Naraku grabbed Kagome's arm so roughly that she winced from the pressure. Naraku dragged Kagome back into the room where the other man was finishing tying up Akina. Kagome struggled greatly when Naraku forcefully pushed her against the pillar. Kagome tried to grab anything, flailing like a crazy maniac. Kagome grabbed onto Naraku's hair and pulled until he yelped so loud that he slapped her sharply across the face. Kagome was stunned for a minute but continued her assault. "Let me go!"

Kagome's kicks and squirming was quite annoying Naraku and getting fed up with her. "Kagome, stop." Naraku yelled.

"Make me!" Kagome screamed back at him

A frustrated Naraku grabbed her head and slammed it aginst the pillar. Kagome opened her mouth from the shock and pain before her world darkened again. "No." Kagome gasped before falling unconscious once again. Akina gave a muffled scream when Kagome's head made contact against the cold cement.

"That ought to shut you up." Naraku said, signalling to the other man to tie Kagome up also before spitting on the ground and leaving.

Author's Note: A shorter chapter than usual but hmm I'm the author and I get to choose how long mychapters are. I esp. liked the ending…a little violence! Yes! Hahaha…well, tell me how it is. Inuyasha is prob. OOC but eh…whenever I find the time, I will edit…probably the entire fanfic, change up the scenes and dialogues a little so things aren't as OOC. Thanks for reading everybody!