A/N: To A. Nonny Mouse who implied I was plagiarizing someone's fic: I got really ticked after I read your review, so I typed up 'White Dog' on the search engine and I read the first story that came up and I realize 'The White Dog' and 'Mark' are extremely similar since Inuyasha and Kagome both end up in a cave and Kagome is claustrophobic in both fics. But I DO NOT PLAGURIS OTHER PEOPLE'S FANFICTIONS! Mark has nothing to do with 'The White Dog' and I have not heard of that fic until now. Once again: I DO NOT PLAGURIS!!! I have the rest of 'Mark' planned out, and it differs greatly from 'The White Dog.'
If you don't believe me, TOUGH. You'll just have to wait and see. Now I'm pissed since someone would actually imply I plagiarize. Sorry this chapter is a bit short, I just didn't feel like writing after Nonny Mouse's review.
To the other reviewers: Thanks for taking the time to leave a message; huggles to you all. And to KOGA'sgurl, no worries; some Koga/Yume fluff is on the way! ï
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha
-Mark-
Slashing one last time at the demon and knocking the tail away from himself, Inuyasha sped towards Kagome. It was now or never, he had to defeat the demon, grab the shard, grab Kagome, and run like hell. But where was Yume? He had expected her to be around somewhere, racing towards them to help fight against this damn thing. And if she was in trouble, he wound of heard her howl, so it couldn't have been that.
Now or never.Inuyasha placed himself in the little space left between Kagome and the army of the small army, his hold on Tetsusaiga tightening. Now or never. He gritted his teeth hard, clenched down and ground them until he felt he had none left in his mouth. He'd have the grab the jewel shard as fast as he could and, to make things even more dangerous, he had to do it with Kagome on his back or he wouldn't be able to jet fast enough."Kagome! Climb on, now!" Inuyasha ordered, but Kagome only stared straight ahead, eyes distant. "KAGOME!" That snapped her slightly out of her reverie and she looked up at Inuyasha, or where she thought him to be. "Get on my back, NOW!"Kagome instantly did as commanded, wimpering and feeling her way towards him. Inuyasha moved back towards her to make matters easier and used one hand to guide her. The moment she felt his haori, she jumped upon his back and held on fiercly, wimpering. He had to get her out of here, soon, before she went insane with panic.Now or never and risk Kagome's sanity.Both hands were now on the hilt of his sword and his teeth were grounding each other again. This was it, if the place caved in before he could get through the tunnel, then it was going to cave in. This was it, now or never."KAZE NO KIZU!"
-With Yume –
Yume wrapped her arms around the snake's thick neck and squeezed. Her arms weren't even close to touching but it didn't matter. If she squeezed hard enough the esophagus would be crushed and the snake would no longer be able to pull in a single breath. Or so she hoped. And maybe, if she wasn't underestimating the little strength she had left, she would be able to rip the snake's entire head off.The snake thrashed violently, constantly whipping out it's tail and cracking her in the back with it. She didn't cry out in pain, for she was beyond crying out, beyond normal agony. Her body felt like it was lit from within, her back alone had to have been ignited, and she would have sworn it. Her head was dizzy with the agony, but she wouldn't give up, not now. That was all she needed, to fuck up and die down here when Inuyasha or Kagome or both might need her alive.Kami-sama, she had to live.
She felt a ripping sensation from near her chest and she put an extra hard squeeze. The snake was slowing in it's thrashing. Yume couldn't see a thing, she was blind with pain, all she knew was that she was holding on and that her view was slowly turning black as it had done when she was in the snake's throat. It had started slightly at the corner of her eyes, but now it was moving it with each violent thrust the snake made, moving to cover her vision and make her an easy meal even if the snake was dying. Another rip.Yume had had enough, this had to end, now. She had to be the victor. Ignoring the violent pain in her back, she made her legs move and placed her toe claws deep within the skin of the snake for traction. She then squeezed the thickly muscled neck and, in one quick motion, ripped the snake's head clearly from it's body. So the ripping had been the snake's scaly hide.The black completely closed in then and she had a brief sensation of falling before her eyes closed and her body sagged. She could feel nothing now, not even when she hit the rocky bottom, and all she could see was black. No pain met her while she was in this state, she was at peace, eyes closed, body spread eagle. The rest of the snake body crashed around her in a grotesque, almost square looking frame with Yume as it's center piece, lying as still as the snake itself.Sango was getting antsy. Something was wrong, something bad. She didn't know what, but she knew she wasn't the only one feeling this. Miroku constantly played with his prayer beads, gazing intently into the dark cave. The sun was heading down now; Inuyasha, Kagome, and Yume had been in the cave for a good part of the day. And that was never a good sign.Kirara paced the ground restlessly in her transformed state, growling and seeming to mutter to herself, stopping a few times to gaze into the deeper parts of the cave. The cat-demon was waiting for any sign of them coming up through that darkness, perfectly fine and with a jewel shard to boot. But she knew better than that, there was something terribly wrong and it had to do with the three deeper within the cave.Shippo played near the entrance of the cave, but Sango knew with one look that he was not into the game. He kept stopping and staring into the cave, a solemnly anxious look on his face, then he would go back to pretending to play. At one point he had asked when Kagome would be back, but no one answered him. No one knew.
Very suddenly, and to the stun of them all, the entire mountain shook, then fell still."What was that?!" Shippo yelled worriedly, jumping up from the ground and racing in after Kirara. Kirara stood a few feet into the darkness and perked her ears. When whatever she was listening for reached her tall ears, she let out a tremendous roar and started forward at a run. Sango, slightly surprised at Kirara's sudden take-off, but not too surprised, ran after her and called for her to stop. Kirara did and waited non-to-patiently for Miroku, Sango, and Shippo to sit upon her back.Shippo barely got a good enough hold on Miroku's robs before Kirara sprang off.
"WAAA-WAAA-WAAA!" Shippo yelled each time he was sure he was going to fall off, but never did.Kouga neared the entrance of the cave carefully, a few minutes after Kirara made her rampaging run into the rest of the cave. Their scent was still fresh and he didn't want to get in Inuyasha's way. His thoughts, surprisingly, haven't been about Kagome the last two days he had spent away from her.
Instead, they had turned towards that other woman, the she-wolf-demon. That she-wolf had stood up to him defiantly and with a particularly strong will. She had also opened up Kouga's eyes, thinned his thick head, about the situation between Inuyasha and Kagome.
Through those two days, Kouga couldn't, wouldn't stop thinking about her. She haunted his dreams for kami's sake! He couldn't focus when the rest of his tribe asked him questions, he just answered with yes's and no's until they finally asked what was wrong. True to his nature, he snapped at them and ran off, leaving them confused and bewildered.So he had set off to find her again, just to at least see her. He knew she was with Inuyasha's group, since that was the last place he had seen her and since Inuyasha looked at her with as much respect as he could muster. That was another thing that captivated him; she had gained Inuyasha's respect.The other thing that totally held his attention was her exquisite beauty.But that wasn't the only reason he had come to see her, following the scent of the group for a good half-day. He had a bad feeling that she was in trouble, that her and perhaps the entire group was in trouble. It was just a feeling, but it made him anxious to find out if he could be any help.Now he was here, at the mouth of the cave. When he stepped in a few feet, he saw Kagome's book bag and a few bloody rags discarded in a corner. Each rag had a different scent and Kouga distinguished Kagome's first, then hers. So she was wounded. He growled despite himself and moved away from the rags. Their scent led him deeper into the cave, into the darkness.His feet made him follow the scents before his mind could even decide properly. Before he knew it, he was at a fork in the road, where many of the scents went one way and only one, her scent, went the other. He quickly opted for her scent, since his bad feeling mostly arose her image in his mind, and plunged down the left tunnel at the first fork.
To his amazement, Kouga came to the edge of a cliff with water about a half-a-mile below. He couldn't see much over the jutting rocks of the cliff's embankment, but he could smell. So many scents struck his nose that he was struck dizzy with them. Too much information! He thought to himself with his hands over his nose.
When he gained himself again, he sniffed the air very tentatively. He could make out the stench of some horrible, lingering odor, then, underneath that, he could smell her blood. A lot of her blood. It all was wafting up from below, on a barely noticable, but still there, breeze.Horror struck him. What if she was dead? Without thinking sensibly, he jumped off the cliff. The ground rose to meet him, but it wasn't the ground he stared at. It was the image of Yume lying in her own blood and the gore from the snake's severed head with the body lying around her."Kami-sama.."
