Miko-napped!
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A short distance from the massive slaughter of demons left over from Naraku's attack, Inuyasha's sensitive nose picked up several familiar scents.
"Go lower!" he demanded suddenly.
Boton immediately dived, certain they were being attacked by the way Inuyasha's voice had become so suddenly loud and gruff.
Inuyasha smacked his nose on the back of Boton's exposed neck and gravity pasted him to her back. When she righted them moments before hitting the ground, he yipped in relief. A few gulping breathes later, he considered pealing himself off of her. He decided he liked being closer to her and quickly abandoned that idea.
"What! What is it?" she looked around fearfully.
"I can smell my brother."
"Oh?"
"That way," he pointed. "I can smell Miroku and Sango too. They were leaving the battle..."
"Oh, Good! That must mean that they are okay," she breathed in relief. "Right, Inuyasha?" She didn't get a reply so she turned partially around to see his face. His eyes were closed, ears twitching slightly as he focused on his sense of smell. "Inuyasha?"
"I can't smell Shippo or Kagome..." he sniffed.
"Maybe they didn't come with the others."
"No. Sango and Miroku wouldn't leave her unprotected. And Shippo..." he frowned. "Wouldn't go anywhere without her."
"Where do you suppose she is then?" Boton sounded worried.
"There is only one way to fond out. That way," he guided her.
"Will we catch up to them?"
"Not today. This scent is at least a day old. We'll catch them tomorrow though."
"Okay," she nodded and took off again. "I hope that everyone is okay..."
"Feh! They are too stubborn to die. I'm sure they are fine..."
But Boton could hear the barely concealed worry in his tone and feel the tense bars of his arms encircling her. She wasn't sure who he was trying to reassure more...her or himself.
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Kagome woke up with her head pounding. Her brain felt like it was being hit with a hammer with every beat of her heart. Ouch...she thought. A moan broke form her lips before she could contain it.
Her mouth was dry and chapped, her lips which had been stuck together were now forced apart by her involuntary movement, causing tiny rips to appear in the skin and staining her mouth crimson. Where am I? And how long have I been here? She wondered, attempting to wet her lips with an equally dried tongue. First priority...water. Kagome tilted her head to the side causing the throb of her headache to increase. Scratch that...Tylenol...definitely Tylenol.
As soon as she managed to right her equilibrium, she realized that her priorities were severely screwed up. Water and Medicine were small matters to what mayhem was now befalling her accident prone form. The where, why and who surely needed to go to the top of the list...
"Hello?" she croaked. The sound of her voice in such a state was shocking and she considered placing water back up near the top so she didn't have to hear the scratchy hoarse sound be admitted from her own throat again.
She tried to force her eyes open but found them covered with some sort of cloth. A shuffling sound broke the stillness in the silent room. She tilted her head to the side, trying to follow the faint noise with her limited human senses. "Who's there?" she breathed, trying desperately to get a fix on her surroundings.
A gentle touch, barely felt, on her neck had her jerking back in surprise. A shudder of terror washed over her, turning her pounding head to thoughts of fear and worry. Her Miko powers weren't working! She could feel her priestess energies swirling inside of her with no outlet...The roiling emotions and confusion this revelation caused send her one step closer to the edge of panic.
"Kukukuku! So you are awake now, little human..."
I know that voice...that laugh...oh God, No! Kagome could feel her captor's evil aura sizzle where it came in contact with her own energy. She tried to grasp at her throbbing head and found her arms limited by several feet of cold chain. She sucked in a dep breath, the metal clinking together as she struggled.
Cold cuffs encased her slender wrists, the sharp edges cut into the chaffed skin. She ignored the warm trickle of blood that resulted from the fruitless struggle and tugged angrily at her bonds. "What do you want with me?" she demanded angrily.
She stopped her wriggling when she felt a hot breath on her cheek. Face pinched in horror, she lashed out blindly with her feet, trying for any sort of painful connection she could make on the bastard.
"Kukukukuku!" the figure breathed.
She shuddered, wanting to wipe away the foul touch of that breath.
"What do I want...Kagome...isn't it?"
She winced and gritted her teeth.
"Where are the jewel shards?"
The shards! Kagome thought, panicking before she reminded herself that Kurama had them.
She laughed then, a soft bell like sound of genuine amusement that had her worrying for her own sanity. She could feel the surprised withdrawal of Naraku's youki before it exploded around her with the stunning force of his anger. Her head snapped back when his fist connected with her chin. Almost instantly, she felt the cool darkness descending back down around her.
When she came to, minutes later, she found her already unbearable headache had intensified and that she could taste blood in her mouth. She had bitten her tongue, its raw pain throbbing in time with her jolted brain.
Noticing her stirring, the evil youki threatened to smother her again as Naraku appraoched. "You will tell me where the shards are." he demanded.
Pinpointing his direction by sound alone, since her eyes were still covered, she spat blood at him, hoping for a score.
The low growl was terrifying and strangely satisfying. Yes! She cheered to herself. Got him!
This time, the fist wasn't all he limited himself to. Kagome bit back a scream as razor sharp claws dug into her shoulders.
"Bitch!..No matter...you will tell me. I have my own methods of...persuasion." Kagome could hear the smirk in his voice even if she couldn't see it.
"Go fuck yourself."
She heard a chocked gasp from the monster in front of her and had to remind herself that in this time period, women never said such things...if they talked at all. She grinned, her bloodied face twisting in a lopsided manner due to the swelling from his earlier blow, think of all the curses and expressions her modern vocabulary could muster together on such short notice.
"Interesting..." the dark voice murmured. "I wonder, is that even possible?"
Kagome almost killed herself then and there, choking, and saving Naraku the bother. "Sick bastard..."
The claws dug deeper, pulling a reluctant whimper from her. "Don't make this more difficult...Kagome. Tell me where you have the shards."
She snorted. It was obvious he had not understood the meaning behind her previous phrses and had taken it, well, literally. She shuddered, repulsed by the demon's closeness, and intentions. She decided to try a more common phrase he's understand. "Go to hell."
A short silence had her worried. Then, Naraku loosened his hold on her, pulling his talons from her skin in slow increments. "Tell me, do you mean to say that the shards are in hell, or," he dug the claws back in, deeper then before, "are you insisting on drawing this interrogation out by insulting my being?"
"Take-take your pick!" she hissed. "Either way, you will lose this battle, you-"
"So you will not tell me the location of the remaining fragments?" His voice was low and dangerous, as he released her and stepped back.
Kagome couldn't help herself. "Awww! You win a cookie!" Though he didn't comprehend her strange phrasing, he knew sarcasm when he heard it. This time, Kagome didn't even feel the blow, she just sank into darkness....
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"Inuyasha!" Boton gasped as he jumped off the oar flying quickly through the forest. She came to an abrupt halt, scanning the forest floor in concern.
She followed the flash of red and silver until she found him cradling a furred body in his arms. The fluff turned out to be a cream and black two-tailed cat. "It's Kirara..." he said, sensing her hovering behind him.
"Is she okay?" Boton watched the shivering ball with worry.
"I think so. Looks like she's been following Sango's scent..."
Kirara pried open one red eye and recognized Inuyasha. She quaked in his arms, and mewed pitifully. Part of her fur was dyed a sticky red from a deep gash scored through her side.
"Oh, my!" Boton jumped down and snatched the neko youkia from Inuyasha's tentative grasp.
"Hey! Be carefu-"
Boton ignored him and focused her powers on the cringing cat demon. A soft glow consumed her hands.
"Oy. She ain't dead yet," Inuyasha protested.
"I'm healing her, not killing her!" Boton huffed.
"Oh..."
Boton sighed and rolled her eyes. Just because she was a deity of death didn't mean she was all about killing things. In fact, dead things gave her the creeps...ironic, ne?
Kirara struggled when the wound finished closing and examined herself, and her two rescuers. She blinked her large orange red eyes at then and mewed again.
"Kirara, you okay?"
"Mrrr..."
Inuyasha placed a hand on Boton's pink clad shoulder and bent down to get a closer look at the revived Neko youkai. "Hm. You look fine. Can you travel?"
Again the affirmative purred meow assured the moody dog.
"Right. Let's go then." Inuyasha waited for Boton to work her magic and settled behind her again, the exhausted cat curled in a loose twist n the Ferry Girl's lap.
"It's obvious something happened," Boton began tentatively.
"I know," Inuyasha replied.
"Do we have to follow their scent?"
"What? Why?"
"Well, it's just that I could go faster, you know."
"How fast?"
Boton smiled and lifted them above the treetops. "Hold on now," she remarked. She pointed them in the general direction they had been traveling previously and gripped her oar tighter in her fists. "Here we go!"
Inuyasha closed his eyes as they were jerked forward, he almost demanded that she take them back so that he could retrieve his stomach which seemed to have been left behind..."Next time," he gulped, "I'm steering."
Boton giggled madly and ignored the blurred earth tones whizzing past, beneath their feet. "Don't worry Inuyasha," she called over the force of the wind, "We'll be there very soon!"
"F-feh!" was all he managed.
Her answering chuckle sent his heart tripping through his chest.
"Feh!" he repeated, but with more amusement then gruffness. She certainly knew how to soften his attitude...and harden his resolve. He nestled his chin on her shoulder so he could see where they were going and used his proximity as an excuse to smell her intriguing scent.
Boton turned her head in surprise a the suden contact and found herself kissing the demon dog's suddenly pink cheek.
She puleld back. "Oh, dear," she murmurred.
He blushed brighter but stayed where he was, eyes directed ahaed and ears half cocked in the wind. " S'okay..." he muttered.
She grinned and place a very deliberate kiss in the center of the very reveling blush in the exact same place as the last accidental one. "I know."
"Feh!"
She merely laughed again.
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Sesshoumaru ended up carrying the human boy as they neared the end of their panicked journey to the Miko girl's well portal. The other two, though also human, were doing a passing job of keeping up with him. Even in his weakened state, he was still faster then they were.
He was no easy target nor did he take his growing debt to the human girl, now being threatened, lightly. As they grew closer to the village of the old shrine priestess Kaede, Naraku's scent increased in its rancid potency.
This threat was very real and could have very troublesome consequences should the hanyou spider succeed in what ever maligneat plans he was concocting against the Miko. Sesshoumaru tried again to incese the pace, but even he could not maintain the speed he needed to beat the real Naraku to the well.
Sesshoumaru cursed Naraku in his head, a red rage slowly infiltrating his practiced calm. The poisoned wound in his shoulder had finally healed over, but he was weakened. The constant activity and fighting had even worn him down. And now, with three humans, he couldn't create a cloud of his youki to ride upon like he had to take Kagome back to her home after the battle. That damn demon would pay, this Sesshoumaru will guarantee that!
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Okay, guys there was over eighty reviews last time, so I can not make too elaborate responses here...but THANK YOU for reviewing and encouraging me to overlook my own self-made obstacles to post again! There will be a four or five chapter update next time to make this up to you! I'm so sorry for breaking my run of updates and making you wait. It shouldn't happen again... unless some catastrophe befalls me, I will be back on track for weekly updating!
So, there is much more to come and keep reading!
To my reviewer...I didn't mean to make you cry! Well, yeah I did...but still, it was supposed to be emotional so I guess I did good!
okay! Here we go!
This was dedicated to my MOTHER since she knows of all the stupid things I've done that easily top the dropping the story in the fire thing....and since she does read...but doesn't review, Sigh. She calls me instead! Hehehehe. And , my little brother who would review if the stupid Navy would invest in a computer that worked!
And thanks to:
Elwyndewen Startree
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^.^
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Kurama and Hiei's lovable Miko
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