Trapped in the Threads of Fate

Disclaimer: Tears streaming down face Please don't make me say it! Sniff, sniff Hearing lawyers in the background getting ready to sue Fine . fine! Clears throat I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters associated with the anime or series. Not like I have any money in the first place! Sticks tongue out at lawyers and scurries into a corner to sulk

A/N: Well, it's another day and here's another chapter. Hope you aren't too mad for the delay! I know I didn't wait for the seven reviews, but I pretended that my friends and family that read it and told me what they thought counted, so it did actually add up to seven! And thanx to all those who reviewed, I love you all! And as for those who read but did not review . well . I forgive ya! ^_^ But please don't be shy next time. Even just a small note will make me happy! Yeah, I know I'm pathetic, but I don't care!! ^_^ Not much else to say right now, so on with the story .

~**~

Recap of Chapter One

As she rounded a corner, Kagome decided to steal a glance behind her in the direction of her pursuers. They were just rounding another corner, and unfortunately for her, they saw where she went. "Get . Back . Here . You Bitch!" screamed one of them through heavy panting.

That was the last thing Kagome heard before she plunged face first into a carpet of dirt.

Chapter Two: Castle of Death

'Oh, that hurt!' Kagome rubbed her head as she scrambled to get up. She could hear her pursuers getting closer by the second. 'Think fast Kagome,' she scolded herself while scanning her surroundings for a safe place to hide. Looking to her left, she saw an opening in a bush just big enough for her to crawl into.

Rushing to the overly large bush, she dived into the hole just as the two strangers following her rounded the corner. Kagome held her breath as she moved as fast and quietly as possible to the other end of the bush, which was surprisingly far away. 'Please, oh please . Kami don't let them know I'm here!' she prayed as countless branches clawed at her face, hands and knees. She could hear her pink sweater and black pants rip as she forced herself through the bush. She could feel the accumulating scratches on her face and body, not to mention her hair kept getting caught in the branches. The infuriated yelling of her stalkers could be heard in the distance. Before emerging on the other side of the bush, Kagome cautiously stuck her head out and scanned the surrounding area.

'Finally, I'm safe,' breathed Kagome. Dusting herself off while she stood up, she spun around at a grating noise behind her. The hole she had just come out of was closing . by itself. Gasping, Kagome took a couple steps backward as her hand shot up to cover her mouth. 'How in the world did that happen? A bush can't do that by itself . could it?' Kagome looked for anyone who could be controlling the branches. Not seeing anything in the dark but a sudden thick fog, she decided to investigate the bush up close. But as soon as she stepped close enough, it seemed to grow thorns all over its branches. "Ow!" she screamed as the thorns bit into her outstretched hand. She quickly drew her hand back, grasping it to her chest in pain. 'Stupid bush, that really stung!' Kagome thought as she mentally kicked the bush.

Turning in the opposite direction, Kagome gave up on the bush. Looking at the fog, she came to the conclusion that it was probably thick enough so that she wouldn't have a very large chance of bumping into the two perverts again. As long as she stayed quiet, she should be fine. And hopefully they hadn't heard her previous scream!

She started walking away from the bush and soon emerged from the fog. Kagome gasped as the moonlight uncovered a beautifully kept orchard. 'It look almost too perfect. Like one of those pictures made from a computer program,' she thought as she walked up to an orange tree to see if it was real. Every single one of the trees had perfect leaves, branches, and bark. Not to mention that all the different kinds of fruit were flawless. Even the grass around the trees was soft and lush. A sudden chill crept over her as it suddenly dawned on her that there were no animals around at all. Not one chirp, hoot or howl. Only the faint sound of bees in the distance. Even at this time of night there was usually at least some animal making a noise. A/N: Naraku's bees . Naraku's bees! . maybe?

Hugging herself, Kagome walked down the single stone path that seemed to progress out of the orchard. 'It's probably well past two o'clock now,' she figured. Looking at the night sky, the half moon was bright and the stars sparkled. As far as she could tell, there wasn't a single cloud to be found. The air smelled faintly of morning dew. Looking down at the path she was following, she realized that the stones were actually made of marble. 'Wow, the people that live here must be rich,' she silently mouthed to no one in particular.

'Maybe if I follow this trail, it'll lead me to someone's house. And if I'm really lucky, they'll have a phone I can use to call Grandpa with!' Kagome hoped as she walked along the seemingly never-ending path in the moonlight.

Just when she was about to give up all hope of finding any sort of civilization, her eyes widened. She could not believe what she was standing in front of. The biggest castle she had ever seen loomed in front of her field of vision. 'Who am I kidding, this is the ONLY castle I've ever seen!' She thought to herself as she stood gawking. It was still enormous, no matter how she looked at it. And it wasn't one of those run- down castles she saw in magazines either. She probably would have thought that it was just built recently, had it not been for the vines that seemed to almost completely cover every wall, without consuming the castle's ominous look of beauty.

Suddenly forgetting all thoughts of being tired, Kagome broke into a run. She just had to see if the castle was real or not.

Not long after, Kagome arrived breathless at the entrance. Quickly gathering up all her courage, she knocked on the door. And to her surprise, it just swung open. "He . hello?" she asked, gingerly peeking inside. "Is anybody there? I'm kinda lost. 'Boy was that the understatement of the year?' I was just wondering if I could use your phone?" She loudly whispered into the emptiness as she stepped into the entrance.

'Huh, I guess the wind blew the door open!' Kagome concluded as she looked around the room. The dim moonlight filtered in through a single stained glass window at the other end of the room above the split staircase. Curiosity got the better of her as she decided to explore a little. "I hope you don't mind if I take just a little look-see around," Kagome whispered just in case, if not only to calm her nerves.

Walking to the nearest door on her right, Kagome uncovered a very well stocked library/entertainment room. Complete with a beautifully polished grand piano. "Wow!" she smiled as she ran her fingers over the dust-free instrument. 'Someone must live here,' Kagome silently thought to herself as she eased herself onto the piano bench.

"Hope you don't mind if I play a little something," she happily smiled as her slender fingers itched for the keys. A/N: Forgive me! I know next to nothing about pianos! Closing her brown eyes, Kagome played the first few notes of her favorite piece. 'Dearest' was a song her mother had taught Kagome when she was still alive. Smiling to herself, Kagome let the music flow out of her.

*~Flashback~*

"Kagome, do you know why I like this song the best?" asked her mother. She looked at her daughter with laughter evident in her eyes.

Sitting down on the empty side of the bench, a thirteen year old Kagome smiled at her, "No mamma, why?"

Starting to play the melody, her mother smiled sweetly, "Because your papa used to sing it to me when we were first dating. He had such a wonderful voice . it would always make me melt."

"Can you teach me how to play it too mamma?" Kagome eagerly asked.

"I think that would be the best mother's day present ever!" she said as she stopped playing and embraced her daughter in a warm hug. They both laughed.

*~End Flashback~*

As she finished the song, a single tear found it's way down to her chin. Completely oblivious to the fact that she wasn't alone anymore, she wiped the tear away wither her now ragged looking pink sweater sleeve.

Standing just on the inside of the doorway was a small three-foot creature. It's face looked like a toad. It was green with random warts all over. It had a smirk on its toad-like face as it cocked its head to the side and watched Kagome wipe away her tear. Its rather large muscles flexed as it slowly crept up behind the unsuspecting girl. Deadly claws flexing, it reached out its hands as if to grab her neck.

And as if on que, a light breeze blew past Kagome. "Ew, something smells rank!" she breathed as she scrunched up her nose.

This made the toad creature jump with a start. It had not expected her to say anything, so it took a couple paces back again, only to make another attempt.

Hearing a sudden scuttle of feet behind her, Kagome leapt off of the piano bench while turning around. She was just in time to see the toad creature smash into the keys of the piano, making a loud scraping noise. And just seconds later a, "You . Pathetic . Wench!"

Wincing visibly, 'That has got to hurt!' Kagome reached out to help who she thought was a very small old man, "I am so sorry! I didn't know if anyone lived here, and when I called out no one answered. So I kinda assumed that everyone was sleeping or gone. I just started to play on the piano without asking first. It was wrong of me and I apologize. I was just wondering-"

"Shut up!" screamed the toad man. Kagome stared at him in utter shock as she finally saw his face. She opened her mouth as if to say something when he cut her off. "I guess I should thank you," he said in a much calmer voice.

Kagome could not break her stare, 'He . he's not human! Oh Kami, what if there are more of them and they aren't friendly! What if he killed the owners of this castle and now wants to kill me! What if he's a science experiment gone wrong and now he wants to take over the world! What if-'

Her over-active imagination was cut short when the little toad man abruptly jumped onto the lid of the piano so they were standing at eye level. "By playing this contraption," he said pointing to the piano, "you woke me from my five-hundred year slumber." Giving Kagome the evilest look he could muster, "And I, Jaken, shall thank you. By letting you have the privilege of being my first victim!"

As the moonlight reflected off Jaken's dangerous claws, what he had said finally dawned on Kagome. 'This dried-up green monster is gonna do something bad, I can just FEEL it!' she thought as she screamed and dove out of his reach. Unfortunately he was fast and she had just crashed into a rolling ladder, sending it rolling off in the other direction.

Jaken grabbed her ankles and let his claws dig deep in her skin, causing her to bleed. Screaming in pain, Kagome grabbed the first book she could and threw it with all her might at his head. But he didn't release his grip, he only laughed and dug even deeper.

'He's gonna rip my feet off if I don't do something fast!' Kagome started to kick her legs out and successfully connected with Jaken's left cheek. Releasing his death grip, he went sprawling back a few feet. Kagome had just enough time to scramble to her feet before he threw himself at her and attached to her back. "Get offa me you bug-eyed FREAK!" she screamed as she used all of her strength to rip him off her back and throw him into the nearby fireplace.

A loud click was heard as Jaken collided with the logs in the fireplace. He sat stunned for a while as Kagome used her reserved leg power to run around the blue velvet love seat, towards the French doors that led to the hall, that had the door she had used to enter the castle. Seconds before she reached the French doors, Jaken appeared in front of her as she skidded to an abrupt halt. "You won't get away from me that easily, Wench!" Jaken's yellow eyes spelled Kagome's misfortune as he thrust himself at her throat.

Gasping at the sudden contact, Kagome fell with a thud to the hard floor. Again, Jaken's deadly claws found her skin as they pierced through, drawing fresh blood. His grip didn't loosen either, and Kagome's head was starting to get foggy. Her hands automatically went to his face to try to push him away. But alas, her attempts were futile as his crushing grip was starting to make her vision blur. Hope was quickly fading as hot tears streamed down her face. 'I don't want to DIE!'

The silence was getting unbearable, just when the French doors crashed open, sending glass flying. Jaken's head snapped towards the direction of the disturbance and his eyes grew to saucers. Completely forgetting about his own prey, he released Kagome's neck from his hold, just as her world went black.

A white blur sped towards Jaken, giving him absolutely no chance to run. "Thanks for setting me free toad boy!"

"What?" Jaken starred in horror as his own neck snapped and he breathed his last breath.

"Yeah, you fucking loser. YOU set me free by moving the fireplace logs over the switch in the back," chuckled the white blur. "Now . what were you playing with here?" he bent down to inspect the awakening girl.

Kagome's vision was still a blur as she came face to face with an angel. All she could make out was a golden glow covered in white . or was it the other way around?

"Are you alright?"

~**~

A/N: Hope you liked the second chapter! I tried not to do another cliffhanger, so I hope you're happy! ^_^ And I'll only give you one guess for who the white blur/angel is. I'll update once I get a few reviews for this chapter. Be thankful I didn't give a limit this time! ^_^ I'm still looking for a job, so that gives me lots of time to write my chapters, but that could change if I get this job. But I really don't think it will hinder the progress too terribly much. Well, my cat's calling me to let him inside the house. Ja ne! ^_^

KrysTheAngel

May 2003