Trapped in the Threads of Fate

Disclaimer: Well, we all know the drill by now, so blah blah I don't own Inuyasha and gang blah blah.

A/N: Just wanted to let you peeps know that I've started to post my progress in my bio on ff.net. So, if you are anxious and are seeing that I'm not that far in the next chappy, feel free to e-mail me. Just please don't e-mail me within the first week after I posted the latest chappy, cause I'm only human...not to mention a busy university student. And just a little complaint that I have, and I know that this is most likely childish, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Where are all my regular reviews? I got a couple of the regulars, but did the others just die? Or maybe you're punishing me cause I take to long to update? Why why why? Okay, I'm done complaining now. Here's the next chappie. And don't forget to review when you're done reading!

~*Recap*~

Realizing that Kagome meant to look under the mattress, Inuyasha immediately lifted it up. And no sooner that that had been done, the thumping and pulsing stopped completely, leaving a very dizzy Kagome.

Once she regained her composure, Kagome reached under the bed and pulled out the object of her misery. "THAT BAKA HID IT HERE?!" yelled Inuyasha as his golden eyes rested on a familiar sword hilt and sheath in Kagome's slender hands. "I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL HIM!"

Sango and Miroku ran to see why he was so upset. "Looks like it was right under your nose the whole time!" teased Miroku. This earned him a swift kick in the knee.

~**~

Chapter Eleven: The Secret of the Vines Revealed?

"I thought you already looked in here?" Sango said while Inuyasha took the sword out of its sheath.

"Feh! Of course I did!" Inuyasha said with irritation evident in his voice. Then he added in an almost inaudible tone, "Just didn't think to look INSIDE the bed!"

"Lady Kagome, has the noise stopped now?" Miroku asked when he noticed that the girl didn't seem to be straining to hear them anymore.

Kagome looked up to him from her position on the floor. "Yes, thanks for asking!" she smiled.

'That's good! I hated seeing her like that! I felt helpless and I HATE feeling that way!' Inuyasha thought while he pretended to look at his sword instead of watching Kagome from the corner of his eye.

"Say, Inuyasha? Did your sword look like that before? It doesn't look like it's in good shape at all," Kagome inquired.

"Yup!" Inuyasha replied upon the inspection of the blade. "It'll look better once I master it!"

Miroku gave him a doubtful look, "What's so great about this particular sword anyways? We found plenty of swords that were in near mint condition when we were looking for this one. It looks like a piece of junk to me!"

A growl emanated from Inuyasha's throat milliseconds before he whacked Miroku over the head. "It was given to me be my father, Bouzo! And it might be the only thing that can rip those evil vines to shreds!" An eerie glint found its way to Inuyasha's golden eyes when he thought of the joy that that would bring to him. 'Not to mention Kagome running into his arms and...'

"How does it work?" Kagome interrupted his thoughts as she stood up to get a better look at the weapon.

"I'm not sure," answered Inuyasha while his gaze fluttered to her. 'She doesn't even seem to acknowledge how beautiful she is... Wait a sec! ...Where did THAT come from?' thought Inuyasha as he tried to shake all thoughts of the girl from his mind. "I'm gonna go practice!" he said abruptly. And with his rusty sword in hand, he left the room.

"Go Make Supper!" Sango said through clenched teeth when she saw the look Miroku was giving both Kagome and herself. "I'll beat you to a lifeless pulp if you don't leave NOW!" Sango growled when Miroku didn't seem to notice that she had said anything at all.

Miroku smiled at the girls, keeping in mind that Sango's fists were balled so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. "If you need anything, you know where to find me!" he said as he walked out the door.

When he was gone, Sango unclenched her fists, "I despise him so much!"

Kagome smiled, "No you don't!" Noticing Sango's sudden glare directed at her, Kagome decided to hightail it outa there.

"TAKE IT BACK!" Sango yelled.

"NEVER!" Kagome answered. And to add to Sango's embarrassment, Kagome decided to laugh evilly.

"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR SAYING THAT KAGOME!" Sango yelled as she ran into the hall to chase after the girl. She could hear Kagome's footsteps run up one of the staircases.

'She can't deny it forever! Sango has feelings for Miroku and I'm positive about that! After all, she does call out his name at night when she wakes up from a bad dream. And I KNOW she would LOVE it if he would be the one to comfort her!' thought Kagome while she took the stairs two steps at a time. Once she got to the forth floor, she gave up on the stair- master-extreme and tried to find a room she could hide in for the time being. Finding a room filled with fabrics and old-fashioned sewing machines, Kagome speedily ducked in.

'Good thing I found these clothes today. I would've never been able to stay ahead of Sango with a kimono on!' Kagome thought as she dove into a pile of fabric.

"YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER!" Sango called as she reached the forth floor. 'If only I had Inuyasha's sense of smell, I'd be able to tell which floor she's on! I'd be able to tell exactly which room she was in too! It'd be a piece of cake!' thought Sango as she looked around the halls of the forth floor. Suddenly deciding to look at the floor itself, Sango was able to make out recent disturbances in the 500 years worth of dust.

There were some quite large scuffmarks going off to the right, while only some slight marks off to the left. They were both quite recent, but the back of her mind was telling Sango to go right.

"I know which room you're in KAGOME!" called Sango as she reached the door where the large scuff marks led to. Hand on the door, she pushed it open expecting to see Kagome somewhere in the room. But she was nowhere to be seen. What she DID see surprised her.

"Miroku? Oh my gosh, what happened to you?" she asked his still form as she rushed over to him. "Miroku are you alright? Can you hear me?" Sango was worried now, it was like talking to a brick wall.

'Oh Kami, please make him be alright!' she mentally prayed as she took in the sight before her. There were thorny vines completely covering the wall he was held up against. The thorn-filled vines were wrapped all around his bloody body. They seemed to concentrate the most on his right hand. His head seemed to be able to freely move around even though he was unconscious and the vines and their thorns were wrapped around his mouth. His head was slightly bent down. And in the dim room, it was hard to make out if his eyes were open or not.

'Looks like whatever did this to him didn't want him to make a lot of noise! He probably fought back by the way those vines are situated! He probably was ambushed! Otherwise he would have used that Air Void thing in his hand! Oh Kami...Miroku, if you're dead I'm gonna KILL you!' thought Sango as she slowly advanced on the lifeless form of Miroku.

"Miroku?" Sango said in a small but audible voice. She was almost close enough to start trying to get those vines off of Miroku. 'Maybe I can get him free before whatever did this to him comes back!' she thought as her hand reached out to start with the thorny vines that were wrapped around his head.

Then, suddenly Miroku's violet eyes shot open, "Mmgf fmgh Hfm! Nnm fgmh mgfhn!" He seemed to be pleading with her urgently.

"Don't worry! I'll get you out of here in no time!" Sango smiled as her hand grasped a vine and attempted to rip it off. The thorny vine seemed to tighten at her touch and Miroku let out a painful yelp. But that didn't stop his incessant muffled message. Sango barely noticed his violet eyes shifting from her to something behind her.

The door slammed shut making Sango jump from surprise. With that surge of adrenaline, she was able to free Miroku from the confining vines around his head.

"LOOK OUT!" he yelled when his voice was finally able to operate correctly. But no sooner than the words were out of his mouth, Sango was yanked roughly to the cold stone floor. Miroku began to struggle against his captor with renewed strength. "SANGO!" he yelled when he saw a vine with thorns like spearheads rush at the girl.

All the Taijiya training came flooding back to Sango in an instant. She narrowly dodged the deadly thorns that came at her. She had to get the vine off of her ankle or it would hinder any evasion she would try. Too bad she had decided to go barefoot today! Sango would have just kicked it off, if only it wasn't for those razor-sharp thorns.

Miroku kept up his intense struggle. The evil vines didn't seem to be holding him back with as much force as before. 'Crap! It's concentrating it's focus on Lady Sango!' he thought as he made an effort to struggle harder. He was already covered in his own blood, so it really didn't matter to him that he would loose more with his renewed struggle.

Sango was finding it harder and harder to dodge the possessed vines. She couldn't seem to get the one around her ankle off, and it was becoming a great chore to use that leg. Every time she moved to evade an attacking vine, the one around her ankle would tighten and yank her carelessly to the floor. 'This is getting old FAST! If only I had my boomerang here, I wouldn't be having as much trouble!' she thought as she went crashing to the floor for the umpteenth time.

'At least Miroku's not being attacked! I don't think I could've helped him if he needed it!' thought Sango as she stole a glance at the boy.

"ROLL!" Miroku yelled when he noticed the attention he was getting.

Sango rolled just in time to narrowly miss a deadly vine. "Thanks," she breathed when she got into a crouching position.

"Forget about me! There's no way you can fight this thing without your weapon!" scolded Miroku as he finally got his left arm free. Then, as an afterthought he added, "Just get out of here and make sure Lady Kagome's safe...and go get Inuyasha!"

Sango mentally cursed herself for forgetting about Kagome as a thorn nicked her right arm. "I wish I could!" Sango said as she jumped to avoid another threatening vine. She could feel herself slowing down. It was like the thing was deliberately trying to tire her out. She barely noticed the amount of blood she was loosing from the thorny vine attached to her ankle along with the random scratches she was getting from vines she couldn't dodge.

Miroku was beginning to realize how futile his desperate struggles were along with the very professional, but equally futile attempts Sango was making to evade the vines. Then he noticed it, out of the corner of his eye. A vine ready for the kill, ready for the moment he got his second hand free. He looked at it dead on, as if daring it to strike. It didn't budge, but it led Miroku's vision to notice the five strategically placed vines aimed at Sango. There was only one thing left to do. "INUYASHA!!!" Then the world went pitch black.

Sango had known it, she wasn't blind. Those five deadly vines had been following her every move since the door slammed shut. Life just wasn't going their way when Miroku let out that last yell of hope. It was the end of both their struggles. The last thing Sango saw was Miroku's limp and bloody body finally falling from his confines before her world went painfully dark as well.

~**~

"What was that?" Kagome whispered to herself when she thought she heard screams of bloody murder. She slowly decided to leave her hiding place to check if she was hearing correctly. But all noises stopped, it was dead silent.

Kagome held her breath and strained her ears. But for some odd reason, her pounding heart just seemed to get louder. 'Somehow, something just doesn't feel right!' she thought to herself as she tiptoed to the door. 'Sango should've found me be now! And I should be on the floor begging for mercy from her tickling!'

Cautiously, Kagome put a hand on the door. For some unknown reason, she wanted nothing more than to crawl back into the warm pile of fabric she had been hiding in for the past forty-five minutes.

'Sango's probably doing this on purpose! She's probably right outside this door making strange noises on purpose! What better way to get back at me than to scare me! Yeah, that's it. Sango's just getting back at me,' Kagome thought as her grip tightened on the door.

Slowly turning the knob, Kagome cracked the door open just enough to see out into the hall. 'There she is!' she silently mouthed as the corner of her hazel eye caught some movement.

But before she knew it, the sight before Kagome turned horrific. There were thorny vines covering both Sango and Miroku's bodies. They seemed to be carrying her friends somewhere. The vines moved along the hall half-dragging two very battered and limp bodies. There was blood dripping on the floor. It looked like they had both lost a considerable amount of it from the sharp thorns that were embedded into their skin.

Kagome couldn't tell if they were still alive or not. Miroku's head was bend down in front of him so that his bangs were covering his violet eyes. And Sango was bent in an awkward position, seeing as her own head was bent back. Kagome could see that her eyes were closed, her jaw was slack, and there was blood running from her forehead into her hair.

First instinct was to scream her little head off. But for some reason she couldn't. And it wasn't just because she was paralyzed with fear for her friends. She hadn't noticed at the time, but something smooth had snaked over her mouth, preventing her from uttering a sound. Then she noticed that the cracked open door was silently closing. There was something around her waist too, so Kagome looked down.

Soon, Kagome found that her second instinct at that moment was telling her to get away from the smooth emerald green vine that was dragging her away from the door. This time her body worked. And with all her might, she tried her hardest to get away from its grasp.

But she couldn't budge the vine and her emotions were going haywire. Her knees gave out and Kagome found the vine gently placing her on a pile of fabric. There was only one thing her mind told her she could do. So she cried.

'I don't want them to die! Sango...Sango should be making me pay for what I said! And Mi...Miroku should be in the kitchen like Sango told him to! Why was he up here? Why did I bring Sango up here? Why are they dead and not me? Where was Inuyasha when they needed him? Is he dead too?' Kagome's mind reeled. So many question...so much pain.

'I have to help them!' she suddenly thought in a determined manner.

Then she noticed the emerald green vines again. 'Are they trying to sooth me?' thought Kagome when she felt the gentle rubbing on her back. Then it hit her like a freight train, 'There are two different vines!' Her eyes went wide as she realized the differences. 'The vines keeping us in are rough, violent, and full of thorns. But the vines all over the castle are smooth, a pretty shade of green, friendly, and full of soft leaves. Why didn't anyone notice before? Why didn't I notice before? For Kami's sake, this vine saved me when I fell from that building!'

Kagome decided to take the gentle approach. Even though she was terrified for Sango and Miroku, she needed to get this friendly vine to help her. She wiped the tears from her eyes and carefully tried to pry the smooth vine from her mouth. To her great relief and surprise, the vine gently let go and moved to brush some raven black hair out of Kagome's eyes.

"Thank you," Kagome whispered gratefully. This was now the second time that this vine saved her. A blush rose to her cheeks as she remembered that this vine was also the one to make it possible for Inuyasha and her to dance. She made a mental note to thank the vine for that later.

Kagome looked around the room, "Can you understand me?"

The vine carefully moved to spell out the letters ~y~e~s~ with its body.

Kagome smiled weakly, "I need your help! I need you to go get Inuyasha! He's the guy with silver-white hair, cute puppy-dog ears, and golden angel eyes. He's the only one that can fix this! So you need to bring him here or something!"

~A~l~r~e~a~d~y~ ~d~o~n~e~!~ spelled out the emerald green vines.

"Good!" Kagome smiled with relief.

"Too bad he's already too late!" came an unfamiliar male voice from the back of the room.

~**~

"WHY WON'T THIS USELESS THING TRANSFORM FOR ME?" Inuyasha growled as he thrashed the rusty sword at the thorny vines in front of him.

He had gone to an area of the grounds that was farthest away from the castle. Far away from any distractions, so he could get optimum concentration for mastering the blade.

"I couldn't transform it five hundred years ago, what's any different now? It's the same rusty old sword with the same frayed hilt. And the same DINKY SHEATH," he all but yelled as his frustration got the better of him.

"You're a dull piece of crap! You're good for nothing! Heck, Sango's boomerang is sharper than you!" said Inuyasha through clenched teeth. His grip on the hilt was so tight that his knuckles were beyond white. He had a death glare boring a hole into the blade. As if threatening the sword itself would make it stronger.

His silver ears twitched back in the direction of the castle. He could faintly hear Miroku's voice yelling his name. 'He probably groped Sango again and thinks I'll come help his perversion... Well, does he have another thing coming,' thought Inuyasha as his anger rose a couple notches at being distracted from the sword at hand.

"WELL, I'VE GOT NEWS FOR YOU MIROKU! YOU CAN DEAL WITH THIS ON YOUR OWN! I'M BUSY. YOU CAN GO SCREW YOURSELF AND WHINE ALL YOU WANT ABOUT SANGO HITTING YOU FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME!" he yelled into the distance as his anger dissipated by half.

Getting back into his made-up sword-fighting stance, Inuyasha prepared to strike the thorn-filled bush again. But just as he was about to lash out, he heard something slither in the grass a few feet behind him. "A moving target," he whispered as he spun around and thrust the blade towards the intruder.

An inch before dull blade would've hit target, Inuyasha froze. The smooth vine that he was going to attempt to annihilate had spelled out ~H~E~L~P~. "What? Asking for mercy?" scoffed Inuyasha.

~K~A~G~O~M~E~ ~N~E~E~D~S~ ~H~E~L~P~!~

"What?" Inuyasha asked in complete surprise.

~N~O~W~!~ spelled out the vine.

That's all that Inuyasha needed before he took off like a speeding bullet towards the castle. The smooth vine kept his pace and as he got closer, made an arrow that pointed up. His grip on the now magnificent blade tightened as he jumped into the air. He landed on a third floor windowsill and the smell of blood hit him like a brick wall.

A scream was heard just as he saw two figures broke out of the window above him and headed to the roof. Shards of glass showered down around him while he sheltered his face. When the unwanted shower of glass stopped, Inuyasha vigorously shook the pieces from his silver locks of hair.

Then, a sickening scent from his past intruded Inuyasha's senses. Golden eyes went wide as his memory clicked into place. Flawless blade in hand, he leapt from the window and practically flew up to the top of the castle.

Inuyasha's bare feet landed soundlessly on stone as he took in the sight played out before him. There were thorny vines everywhere. But they seemed to concentrate on the area where the scent of fresh blood was prominent. Inuyasha could barely make out Sango's bloody and unconscious form through the mass of vines. And all he could make out of Miroku's form was the hand that was wrapped in rosary beads. The vines didn't seem to like the holy aura coming off them. But what made Inuyasha's anger flare up the most was the silver haired youkai that had his unworthy hands on Kagome's struggling body.

The youkai noticed Inuyasha's presence almost immediately. He pulled Kagome close to his powerful body and put a dangerous claw to the bottom of her chin. Kagome's head lifted on instinct, but she had also caught the flash of red that appeared on the roof of the castle. The expressionless youkai bent his head to smell Kagome's hair before speaking in an equally emotionless voice, "Does this petty human mean that much to you? Her scent is quite invigorating, but I see her as a piece of useless flesh that should be thrown in the trash!"

A dangerous growl emanated from Inuyasha's throat as he took one step forward.

"Ah ah ah. I wouldn't move any closer if you don't want me to 'accidentally' let my poison leak into her weak little form!" said the youkai as he pressed a little harder on Kagome's vulnerable skin.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Inuyasha yelled as his voice and eyes gave away his true feelings for Kagome.

An arrogant laugh escaped the youkai, "You are in no position to threaten me, so I wouldn't even bother unless you intend to beg. Begging can be quite amusing when it comes from your meager mouth!"

Kagome held her breath as she felt the unnatural heat from the claw radiate black energy. If she would so much as swallow her life could end.

"I'll never beg to you!" ground out Inuyasha.

"Pity, I was in the mood for something entertaining! Oh well, looks like it's all business when my little half-brother is around," said the youkai. He had to hold back a snicker as he felt the girl pressed into him freeze from shock. "What? You didn't tell this wench about me! Or maybe you did and she's frozen from pure terror from meeting the dreaded Sesshomaru!"

"Fuck You!" Inuyasha spat.

"Tsk tsk tsk. And here I thought you would be happy to reunite with you obviously more powerful older brother!" teased Sesshomaru in an emotionless tone.

"You're full of yourself!" Kagome whispered in a hoarse voice.

"And the bitch speaks!" Sesshomaru said as his claw left her chin and his hand went to squeeze her throat in one smooth movement. "You should learn to keep your mouth shut when around a REAL youkai!"

"If you harm a hair on her head..." Inuyasha snarled as he discreetly took a few steps closer to the couple.

~**~

A/N: Well, that's another chappy down for the count. Hmm, looks like I took a real long time to update this one...grr, why do I do that to you peeps? Honestly, I think school is a big factor plus...well, you don't need to know about that! But anywho, hopes yous liked this chappy...I'm not too sure if I do, but I guess I'll just post it and hope for the best! Oh, and I have a new story started too. I only have one chappy finished and that's all that's posted there. And I know that the summary says there's a curse, but I promise that it's coming, I mean in this ficcy Kagome didn't find the castle till the second chappy, so why does the curse have to be there in the first chappy? Well, I'd love to hear yer thoughts on this chappy and my new fic if your willing. So please review, cuz it would make this authoress so happy if you did!

KrysTheAngel ^_^

December 2003