Chapter 18: Too Many Questions

            Inuyasha paced the expanse of his hotel room from the glass door leading to the balcony over to the main entrance.

            "If you don't sit down, your gonna wear a hole in the floor." Commented one of the detectives now in the room.

            "I don't care. The moment this rain stops, I'm going out to look for her." Inuyasha felt like pulling his hair out and despite the detectives advice he continued to pace. Until the rain stopped he couldn't do much and when it did stop, he wasn't sure if he could do anything then. During the six hours he had been asleep, the wind and rain had already eliminated Kagome's scent. All of Inuyasha's ideas were coming up dead ends. Out of frustration he walked over and slammed his head against the wall, denting it. He leaned with hi head on the wall for quite some time.

            About ½ an hour later, someone totally unexpected burst into the hotel room and looking extremely surprised. "The manager called and told us!" Sesshoumaru walked over to his little brother, who was now in the process of banging his head on the wall repeatedly. Sesshoumaru grabbed the hanyou by the shoulders and pulled him away from the wall. The look in his brother's eyes was lifeless, as if he had forgotten his reason for living. 'This isn't like him. She's only been gone a few hours and he's acting like she's been gone for months.' He looked at Inuyasha then over to the detective to inquire what was wrong, who merely shrugged his answer, he then looked back at Inuyasha and punched him.

            Inuyasha stumbled back a few feet then fell over. He sat up shacking his head in an attempt to clear it. A second later he lunged at Sesshoumaru, knocking him to the ground, where he proceeded to punch his brother vigorously, despite his blocking.

            "Good to see you came to your senses. Now wanna tell us what happened?" asked Sesshoumaru as he shoved his brother off of him and sat up.

            Surprised by Sesshoumaru's words it calmed him just enough for him to explain. Inuyasha turned his head and glared at the floor. "Kikyo drugged us both and while we were unconscious…she kidnapped Kagome. I awoke 6 hours later and tried to follow but the rain had washed their scents away." He growled and punched the floor. "DAMN IT! I couldn't protect her!" A gentle pair of hands on his shoulders startled him. Inuyasha looked up to see Rin's smiling face.

            "Inuyasha, there wasn't anything anyone could have done under the same circumstances. You'll find her, you always do, right?! Now let's think about where she could have taken her, ok."

            With Rin's kind words he felt a little better. "Thanks Rin and your right, I have always found her. Hmmmmm…" Inuyasha started to think about possible locations. "I know nothing of the Kikyo in this time. In the past she was miko…AHHHHH, but there has to be at least 100 shrines in Okinawa." He was about to bang his head on the floor when the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted. Inuyasha looked up to see the tall, skinny man that was the detective.

            "Excuse me, I was thinking. Could it be possible that your wife was kidnapped in exchange for a ransom?! I mean, you being a Shirokiba and all, you name is very famous all over Japan. Could they want money?"

            Inuyasha shook his head and downcast his eyes. "Kikyo doesn't want the money, this is personal. She wants revenge……against me!"

            Sesshoumaru looked at his distraught brother then over to the detective doing the questions. "Are you the detective that is in charge?"

            "Hai, I'm Detective Sakaki Hiro!" He answered, very proudly.

            The eldest Shirokiba brother walked over and stood in front of Hiro, glaring. "And what are you doing to find my sister-in-law? Doesn't look like much."

            Hiro had worked hundreds of cases during his 21 years on the force, some very high profile like this one. But out of all of them, never did the family act like this. Sure the husbands were worried, but none of them were as emotionally crazed and beside himself as this boy was. Plus the other family members, who weren't even blood related seemed unhinged. 'What is it about this girl, to have made such an impact after being in the family only 2 weeks…?' Hiro thought as he stared at Sesshoumaru right in the eyes. He was a bit offended by the "not doing much" remark but he understood, considering the circumstances. He pointed over to several men and women looking over the room. "At this moment I have all my best people searching for clues. This Kikyo woman didn't leave us much to go on."

            Sesshoumaru glanced at Rin who was still trying to comfort his little brother. "What have you found so far?"

            "Not much I'm afraid. It seems she stole two cook uniforms and that's how she got out unnoticed. The manager said he saw one cook carrying another outside, said the one had been dumped and was drinking so they were taking them home. I also have someone analyzing the drug used. Other than that all we have are a few smudged finger prints." Hiro told him and finished just as his cell phone rang, which he quickly answered. After receiving his new info, Hiro quickly told Sesshoumaru. "Well it appears that the drug used is from a rare plant. It only grows in 3 places here. 1 in a park on the other side of town and the other 2 are at shrines. Apparently the plant can render someone unconscious from 5 to 10 hours and starts working in about 30 minutes."

            "Will it harm the baby?" asked a very worried Rin from beside Inuyasha.

            "Baby? What baby?" questioned Hiro, his face showing he was extremely shocked.

            "You didn't tell him?!" scolded Sesshoumaru.

            "I didn't get a chance to. Everything happened so fast and there were so many questions! Inuyasha hung his head in shame.

            Sesshoumaru sighed and looked back to the detective. "My sister-in-law is about 2-3 months pregnant!"

            "Oh great. That makes things more complicated. Oh and the plant shouldn't have harmed her or the baby." Hiro shouted a few words to his investigators then started o think in silence.

            To Inuyasha it almost seemed like the world was in slow motion sometimes. It also felt like his brain and mouth weren't working together. "Hey detective, didn't you say that plant grew at two shrines?"

            "I did."

            "Where at from here?"

            "The Morning Mist Shrine is about 8 miles Eat of here and the Mountain Lily Shrine is about 7 Northwest of here. Why?"

            Inuyasha sat thinking for a moment then got to his feet. He looked at his brother and the detective with a very determined gleam on his face. "Detective you go to the Mountain Shrine, I'll go to the Morning one. If Kagome isn't there, go to the other shrine. I'm positive Kikyo has her at one of those shrines." Without another word, Inuyasha bolted from the room, heading for the Eastern shrine.

~***~

            Kagome slowly regained consciousness and found her wrists were being tightly bound to the wall above her. Despite the darkness of the room she tried to look around. Only a little moonlight filled the room, entering through the partially open door in front of her. When her eyes adjusted to the minimal light in the room she quickly glanced around. The room was empty except for a small alter on the wall to her left and a large jug on the wall to her right. The sudden tightening of the bounds on her right wrist directed her attention to that direction. "Kikyo! So it was you."

            Kikyo sneered at the girl next to her. She tightened the rope3s even further eliciting a cry of pain from her captive. "Yes it's me. And as my life was cut short and you got to be with Inuyasha, now the tables have turned. Your life will be shortened and I will be with Inuyasha."

            "He won't go back to you. He knows you're the one that sent the notes. I bet he's on his way here right now." Kagome growled every word at the ex-miko, anger slowly rising to the surface.

            A malicious laugh erupted from Kikyo as she bent down and picked up her bow and arrows, then started to walk toward the door. "That hanyou isn't smart enough to figure out my plans. He'll think you were randomly kidnapped. I'll go to comfort him and he'll take me back."

            "NO HE WON'T!" shouted Kagome, her usually calm demeanor fading. "He's a lot smarter then you give him credit for. And besides, he used the jewel to cross time to be with me. He didn't use it to make you a live human, did he, I wonder why. OH ya, because HE LOVES ME!"

            "That's ENOUGH! Time for you end." Kikyo stood several yards in front of Kagome. She strung an arrow on her bow and took aim directly at Kagome's heart.

            "Oh I see. You pierced Inuyasha's heart and sealed him to a tree. So your gonna pierce my heart and seal me to a wall." Kagome spat her words at Kikyo, adding venom to each one.

            "SHUT UP!!!" shouted Kikyo. "This arrow won't seal. It will kill!"

            Kagome was worried now, but there wasn't anything she could do but hang there. She watched Kikyo take aim again, grin evilly and then release the bow string. Time slowed as the arrow flew at her. The seconds turned to minutes as the slender wood shaft drew closer and closer. Kagome closed her eyes as the arrow tore threw her robe and into her chest. The metal quickly going threw her and into the wall behind. She looked down at the arrow piercing her chest. Tears started to fill her eyes. "Inuyasha, thank you…" was all the whispered as everything went black and her head dropped to her chest.

~******~