Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I wish I did but I do not. However, any OOC that is brought into this story belongs to me.
Author's Note: Hello everyone! I want to thank superemanand wolfshifter1001again for reviewing. Anyway, if you choose to flame me, BRING IT ON! Anyway, sit back and enjoy the next chapter of Regaining Time Lost.
Chapter 6: Kidnapped
Kagura awoke to the chirping of birds. She yawned and stretched. It had been a long time since she slept outside in the wilderness. Kagura actually missed it. She was trying her best not to give into her wolf instincts while being in the village. Kagura didn't want to attract any unwanted attention and make the villagers even more nervous. It was very easy to disguise herself as a human. It was no wonder that humans were getting killed left and right.
Kagura was away now and she could be however she wanted to be. Kagura shifted and felt something move against her side. She turned to look at Jaken snuggled close to her tail. Kagura stifled a laugh as the kappa youkai muttered in his sleep. He was was holding her tail as if it was a child's toy. He actually seemed sort of cute when he kept his complaining mouth shut. Kagura removed her tail from him as she stood. She stretched again and looked around for Sesshomaru. He was nowhere in sight.
'Probably off patrolling again,' she thought. Sesshomaru seemed a little antsy when he came back with a large boar. He had an odd expression when he brought it to her. Kagura would have guessed he was nervous but there was no reason for him to be and she was sure Sesshomaru was never nervous. Kagura did not know it was specifically for her until Jaken tried to pull a limb off to cook. Sesshomaru snapped at him causing him to wander off mumbling about being shunned. Kagura didn't know much about inu youkai nor ookami youkai. She knew she should have asked Inuyasha a few things because she wondered if the boar was something significant.
"Lord Sesshomaru would not like you leaving here," Jaken said. He woke up when Kagura moved but stayed silent.
"He doesn't like many things Jaken. I intend to retrieve fish for us. You can come along if you are so worried about my safety," Kagura replied as she walked away. She could hear Jaken standing and following in behind her. Kagura was walking slow so she didn't understand why the kappa youkai was behind her. "Walk with me not behind me," she barked at him.
"Watch your tone with me mutt! You are not my Lady!" Jaken hissed but he joined her side.
"No I am not but you could at least walk with me. I was the one that remembered you when we left," Kagura said, "And calling me a mutt doesn't bother me. If you intend to insult me, you need to do better than that toad."
Rin woke up lying face down on a futon. Her head was throbbing and she groaned in pain. The sunlight peaking in was causing her headache to intensify. She leaned up as she pushed the blanket from her body. Rin looked around and noticed that the hut was not Kaede's. She wondered how she got there and why her head hurt so much. Rin's forehead furrowed as she tried to remember what happened last night. She remembered a name: Lady Hikari. A sharp pain went through her mind causing her to double over. Rin gripped her head and stifled a yelp in pain. Something was terribly wrong. She couldn't remember what happened last night nor was her mind allowing her.
"Oh you're awake," she heard a male voice say to her.
Rin turned to the entrance of the hut and saw a young man enter the hut. He was the eldest son of the blacksmith. His name was Kyoto or something like that. Rin wasn't sure. She didn't want to think too much on it in fear of causing herself more pain.
"You had a rough night with all the celebration," Kyoto said.
"What celebration?" Rin asked.
"You don't remember, do you? You accepted my marriage proposal and you had too much sake," Kyoto explained.
"I did WHAT?" Rin exclaimed.
"Please calm down Rin. You said you were done being the slave of a demon and chose to be married to me. I was so pleased when you…" Kyoto started.
"You can stop now because I know that I could not, would not ever say such a thing," Rin said as she stood up. The word slave triggered another painful memory of Lady Hikari speaking of Sesshomaru. It caused her to yelp and stumble forward. Kyoto tried to catch her but Rin jerked away from her. "You stay away from me."
"Please Rin-san. Just lay back down. This is for your own good," Kyoto stated as he reached for Rin again. Rin slapped his hands away as she darted out of the hut.
Kagura swiped into the water. Her claws sank into the fish and she snatched it out of the water as she went for another. Jaken watched from his seat near a tree. He didn't really care for Kagura's unabashed mouth but she was a lady. She was more of a lady than most of the females Sesshomaru's mother brought around. Kagura walked with such air and confidence that it was unbelievable that she came from Naraku. She even thought of poor Jaken. Kagura did not know how much that meant to the little kappa youkai. He knew his Lord cared for him but it was good to see very blatant examples of such care every now and then.
After collecting a dozen, Kagura proceeded to descale them at the bank of the river. She was almost done when she was assaulted by a scent. It was a familiar scent that caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. "Hn," Her nose twitched as she inhaled again. Kagura cursed herself for not using her senses more often. She should've smelled him coming long before he arrived. Kagura's eyes darted towards the tree. Jaken was sitting quietly with his staff ready. He hadn't been able to warn Kagura in time since Jaken was in and out of sleep.
"Oie, wench," a male voice said behind her, "bringing a gift to your new pack?"
"I told your wolves that I will not be joining your pack," Kagura said as she continued descaling the fish.
"You don't have a choice," Kouga replied.
Kagura groaned as she stood up and turned around. "What don't you get about the word 'no'? I do have a choice and I am NOT going to join your pack." Kagura said firmly as she turned around with her arms crossed. She may have not recognized his scent immediately but she knew that damn voice anywhere.
"Still the bitch as always," Koga said, "I requested your presence Kagura. Since you are ookami now, you have no choice but to be accepted into my pack or be driven out of my territory. Since we have a shortage of females, the second option is out of the question."
"Your pack doesn't control these lands Koga. And what makes you think that I would bow my head to a mangy wolf like you?" Kagura growled.
"How dare you speak to me like that you fucking omega mutt!" Koga growled out. He moved towards her and Jaken sent a blast of fire from his staff. Koga nimbly dodged it. The distraction gave Kagura enough time to retrieve her fan. She jumped back and flicked her wrist sending tornadoes toward Koga. Koga jumped out of the way of them chuckling. He was well aware of the kappa youkai over near the tree. The idiot would play right into what he wanted. Jaken sent another blast of fire that singed Koga's feet a little causing Koga to snarl as he dodged more of Kagura's tornadoes. Koga turned on Jaken with his claws raised.
"No you coward! Your fight is with me!" Kagura growled as she ran over. She couldn't use her fan because Jaken would be hurt in the process. Kagura had no choice but to try hand to hand combat. She threw a punch at Koga and Koga quickly grabbed her wrist.
Koga smirked and said, "Dumb bitch." Before Kagura could react, his hand gripped her throat. Her head was slammed hard against a rock and blackness enveloped her.
Kohaku returned to the village at dawn. He couldn't find Kirara anywhere and she never stayed away for this long. Kohaku thought maybe it was her mating season but it was too early for that. He also was baffled that she could speak now. Kirara never spoke during the entire time he was with her nor with Sango nor with his father. Where did that new ability come from? Kohaku believed Kirara was full grown. Maybe she wasn't. Maybe she was capable of obtaining a humanoid form and that was what was going on but he was sure she would have obtained it already. Kohaku heard someone yelling and walked in the direction of it. It was probably little boys teasing the little girls with a snake or something. Unfortunately that was not the case.
Kohaku saw Rin backing away from a man. Rin was trying her best to get away from him. She brought her hand up and slapped him when the man looped his arm around her wrist to pull her to him. The man slung her to the ground and snatched her up again. Kohaku caught the man's arm and whirled him around. His fist connected with his face. As the man fell to the ground, he got a clear look of his face. It was that damn Kyoto. Kyoto and Kohaku had a mutual hate for each other. Both were vying for Rin's affection long before Rin was fully aware of their existence. Kyoto was popular among the men just like Kohaku but he was too aggressive. Kohaku heard many things about some of the women as well as his Kyoto's mother obtaining really nasty bruises after being around Kyoto. Kohaku would not allow him to be rough with Rin.
"You do not put your hands on her again," Kohaku warned as he gripped Rin's hand.
"She belongs to me. She agreed to it," Kyoto replied as he stood up.
"I agreed to nothing!" Rin exclaimed, "Something happened last night Kohaku-san. I need to get to Inuyasha and Kagome-san."
"You are not going anywhere near them. You are my wife," Kyoto declared as he reached for Rin.
Kohaku gripped Kyoto's wrist and turned it in the wrong direction. Kyoto dropped to his knees in pain as Kohaku applied more pressure. "You heard what Rin-san said. She does not belong to me so you leave her be or you will regret it. What will you do for a living if your hands are horribly mangled?" Kohaku said. His threat did not go on deaf ears. Kyoto could tell how serious Kohaku was. He never saw Kohaku look like that before. When Kohaku released him, he did not move to stop them when Kohaku picked Rin up and walked away. But this was not over. Kyoto would have Rin no matter what.
Kagome looked back at the hut that she called home for five years. She thought that she and Inuyasha would raise many children and grow old here. Unfortunately, that was not meant for them. Kagome would turn down any hut, any village to keep her family safe. What happened to Inuamaya was enough for her to start packing everything that was worthy of keeping immediately. Kagome would have left last night if Inuamaya was able to travel.
"Kagome are you ok?" Inuyasha asked.
"Yes I am fine," Kagome replied as she came to stand by Inuyasha's side.
"I believe that Kagome-san may be reminiscing," Miroku stated as his family walked up the hill towards them.
"Yes just a little. We made so many memories here. We started our journey here Inuyasha," Kagome said.
"We can make new memories Kagome," Inuyasha stated.
"Kagome-san! Inuyasha-san!" Rin exclaimed while Kohaku sprinted towards them. Kohaku sat Rin down and Rin steadied herself by holding onto Kohaku's arm.
"Oh oh, Kohaku-san, have you finally found your courage?" Miroku teased.
"Huh? What? NO!" Kohaku said as he blushed. Miroku was going to be the death of his one day. He tried to mask his expression before anyone noticed that he was blushing. "Rin-san needs to tell you something."
"Last night, I," Rin started. She paused for a moment as she tried to gain enough strength to speak. "Last night I was invited to a village meeting. They've been..they've been having them for months. I was never invited until now. There was a lady there. She wanted to know about you Inuyasha-san. She…she wanted to know your weaknesses." Rin swooned and Kohaku caught her. She was pale, sweating and unconscious. Inuyasha sniffed at her and his nose wrinkled.
"She's been poisoned. It's not enough to kill her but this has to work out of her system," Inuyasha said.
"How do you know this?" Kohaku asked as he held Rin in her arms.
"I've encountered it before," Inuyasha replied, "We need to leave now."
"What is wrong Inuyasha? We have yet to speak to Kaede-sama," Sango said.
"I know already child," Kaede said as she slowly approached them. She woke up early this morning and did not see Rin. Kaede felt a bad aura and feared the worse. She knew of the village's meetings. Kaede was invited to the meetings before and she gave them an ear full. It didn't surprise her that the invitations stopped. What she did not like was that Rin was invited. She was sure they tried to sway the young woman but she wondered how far they would go to achieve it. Kaede witnessed the scuffle between Kyoto, Rin and Kohaku. She moved as quickly as her old legs would allow to get to them.
"Kaede-sama, we were coming to say goodbye," Kagome stated.
"Aie child, I know. Ye are leaving none too soon. This village has been corrupted. Ye need to leave now," Kaede said, "There is no time to explain."
"Come with us Kaede-sama," Kagome said.
"No child. My legs are weary. I will not make the trip," Kaede stated.
"I would rather have you pass on with us than here where you are not among loved ones Kaede-sama," Inuyasha said. Sango, Miroku and Kagome were stunned into silence. Inuyasha never spoke to or about Kaede in the proper way until now. Inuyasha always thought highly of Kaede. She was a mother figure to him in some ways and he had known for a long time that she was dying. He could smell it on her and kept her secret. Inuyasha would not be able to live with himself if he allowed her to pass on alone.
"..Inuyasha…" Kaede said with a smile, "I shall accompany ye. We must hurry before they catch on. I am sure Kyoto will be alerting soon.
"Kohaku where is Kirara? Kaede can ride on her," Sango suggested.
"She turned up missing. She ran away. I've been searching for her," Kohaku said.
"I'll find her," Shippo said, "I caught her scent on the way here. I'll meet up with all of you."
Author's Note: Yay for another chapter! I am trying to crank these chapters out as quickly as possible. So yeah, I am pleased with how well the story is going. Kirara will make her grand appearance in the next chapter. I hope you all enjoyed. Please review and stay tuned for the next chapter of Regaining Time Lost.