Me: Let it be known that the second chapter is here! (Lol!) Thank you to my wonderfully dedicated reviewers!

Disclaimer: "InuYasha" is property of Rumiko Takahashi, Sunrise, Viz, and all those other people who bring this series to us!

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Chapter 2

The others took a moment to digest what Shippo had just told them. It was only a few moments ago that they were dealing with a youkai after Kagome, yet at the same time another one had gone after Sango.

Inuyasha decided to be the first one to speak. "What do you mean he took her? Who?"

"This youkai named Kusari," Shippo answered. "He had these chains that could come out of his arms and he used them to take Sango away. She couldn't properly defend herself because of her injuries."

"No, this is my fault," Miroku said begrudgingly. "I told her to stay here instead of going with us. If she had come she probably wouldn't have been taken." He clenched his fist.

"If we go after them now we could catch up to them," Inuyasha interjected. He turned around. "Hey, Kagome..."

Kagome was tending to Kaede when Shippo had announced his news. She turned ashen-faced as soon as it reached her ears.

"We're going to go after them, alright?" Inuyasha continued. "Are you coming?"

Kagome got up slowly. Swiftly, she whirled round at Inuyasha, determination etched into her face. "Yes."

- - -

The group was soaring through the air, Kagome and Shippo riding Kirara, while Miroku had enlisted Hachi's assistance.

"Thank you for your help, Hachi," Miroku told his friend.

"Anytime, Miroku-dana," Hachi bellowed in his low voice.

Shippo gazed over Kirara's head down below. "If anyone can find Sango, it'd be Kirara."

"Mm..." Kagome nodded, though she appeared to be lost in thought.

Miroku noticed this. "Kagome-sama," he tried attracting her attention.

"Eh?" Kagome broke from her thoughts and looked over at Miroku.

"Are you alright?"

"Um... yes, I'm fine."

To try and get her to divulge her thoughts, he asked her, "Are you worried about Sango?"

Kagome stared back at Miroku, unsure of what to say. Of course she was worried. Those were her first thoughts. Those thoughts however, lead to other feelings... of doubt. She still cared deeply for Sango now, yet she was beginning to think that... maybe it was all a mistake. Maybe she really should have stuck with Inuyasha after all, despite whatever feelings he had for Kikyo. It might have worked out... or maybe not. All among them there were lingering feelings, and Kagome wasn't sure what to believe. Sango's earlier reluctance a couple of days ago was causing Kagome to contemplate over the whole situation. Maybe everything really was better before... or maybe she was just over-thinking everything.

Kagome's answer to Miroku's question was ambiguous. "I want to get there soon."

- - -

"Ungh..." Sango slowly opened her eyes, having been unconscious on the way to wherever Kusari had taken her. Around her neck and trailing down to the floor at a loose end was a chain, presumably the same one Kusari had used to abduct her with.

She realized that she was standing limply against the wall of a rather large room, and vaguely wondered why. She answered this herself as she tried to move. Sango found that her wrists were bound by shackles attached to the wall.

"So you're awake."

"Huh?" Sango looked to her right to see two other girls in the same predicament she was in some distance away. They appeared to be regular civilian girls.

"What's your name?" the girl who had spoken before asked her.

"Uh – I'm Sango."

She nodded. "My name's Rie – and this is Kokoro," she motioned at the other girl.

"We saw him bring you in," Kokoro responded. "So I guess he chose you to be his wife."

"What?" Sango's restraints clinked as she moved.

"You must be," Rie retorted, "since that's why we're here."

"You mean you were captured as his women too?" Sango asked them.

"No, we were caught by two of the other youkai," Kokoro responded sadly.

"Other youkai?"

"They're called the Metal Brothers," Rie explained. "There are four of them to be exact, each one having a different weapon or ability that has to do with metal."

"So the one that caught me... uses chains," Sango figured.

"That's correct," Rie agreed.

"Then what about the others?"

"The youngest of the group is Renkin – he can shape metal into whatever he desires," Kokoro told the taiji-ya. "He's the one who found me."

"Then there's Magu, who can pick up metal without physically touching it," Rie added. "He's the second youngest."

"And the one who caught you," Sango assumed, to which Rie nodded. "So Kusari is..."

"The second oldest," Rie finished. "The oldest of the brothers would be –" but Rie was interrupted by a knocking at the door.

"Hello!" someone on the other side said in a singsong voice. The door slid open to reveal none other that Kusari, grinning broadly. "Oh, Sango-chan! Up and at 'em I see!"

"I'll be up and at you once I get out of these chains!" Sango said heatedly. "And don't call me 'Sango-chan'!"

"Heh, heh!" Kusari continued to smile casually. "Well don't expect to get out of those by yourself – my chains are quite strong. Plus, I like 'Sango-chan'."

"Kusari, what are you doing?" came a deeper voice from behind. Another youkai had walked in behind Kusari, a youkai slightly taller than him.

"Ah, Yaiba onii-san!" Kusari brightened.

'Onii-san?" Sango thought in her mind. 'So he's the oldest...'

"I was just talking with my future wife!" he chattered on. "It's too bad yours got away, otherwise we all could have been married at the same time."

"Humph..." the youkai named Yaiba leaned against the wall, folding his arms. "I would have gotten her if it wasn't for those interfering nuisances."

"Can you at least tell me what she looked like?" Kusari requested of his older brother with interest.

"Hm..." Yaiba thought back. "Well... she had these round, dark eyes... raven-coloured hair that went down about halfway her back..."

Sango inwardly groaned. Like she wanted to her some brute talk about some girl he wanted to make off with.

"I've never seen clothes like hers before though," Yaiba continued. "It was this green and white thing with this short kind of kimono."

'What?' At this, Sango couldn't help but take a mild interest in Yaiba's story.

"Did you happen to catch her name?" Kusari wanted to know.

"Mmm..." Yaiba tried to recall what those others had called her. "I think the Houshi called her 'Kagome' or something like that..."

This ultimately confirmed Sango's suspicions about the girl Yaiba was talking about.

"You stay away from her!" she shouted suddenly, the others in the room staring at her in surprise.

"Hm?" Kusari blinked. "Sango-chan, you know this 'Kagome' Yaiba found?"

"Yes, I do!" she retorted. "And those 'nuisances' as you called them happen to be my friends."

"Humph." Yaiba stood up. "No doubt they'll be searching for her then," he told Kusari. "Let's go and tell the others."

"Aw..." Kudari moped. "Well I guess I'll see you later, Sango-chan." He waved back at her. "And who knows... maybe Yaiba will convince your friend to stay with us."

"I doubt it," Sango replied darkly.

Kusari simply grinned at her in his usual way, sliding the door shut behind him.

- - -

The residence of the Metal Brothers was actually quite extravagant. It was rather large like a palace, with patches of greenery here and there around the building. Inside one of its many rooms, two of the residents were causing quite a ruckus.

"Ahhhhhh! Magu, let go!" The youngest of the Metal Brothers was being swung around the room, gripping onto his sword for dear life.

"Give me back that sword!" Magu swung his arms about, having taken control of the weapon in his brother Renkin's hands.

"But I'm going to fix it!" Renkin argued as he landed back on the ground.

"Forget it!" Magu shot back. "Every time you try to fix something, it just ends up in worse shape than before!"

"That's not true!" Renkin cried. "I just use a little innovation!"

"Renkin, swords aren't supposed to look like clubs!" Magu drew one such example of what Renkin did to one of his swords from the side of the room. He held up what looked like a blob of metal on a handle. "Give me that sword – I'll fix it myself."

"But I want to do it!" Renkin then proceeded to shape the katana by placing his hand on it. Right when it started to glow though, Magu yanked on it, dragging Renkin though the air."

"Let go!"

"No!"

It was at this particular moment that Yaiba and Kusari walked into the room, ducking as Renkin whizzed above their heads.

"What are you two doing!?" Yaiba bellowed at his brothers.

Hanging from the air by the katana, Renkin answered, "Magu's trying to take my sword away!"

"My sword, you mean," Magu snapped at him.

"Enough, we don't have time for this," Yaiba told the two.

"We're expecting company!" Kusari beamed.

"What?" Magu let Renkin down abruptly, his brother falling with an "Augh!" to the floor. Completely ignoring that, Magu inquired, "What company?"

"The girl Yaiba onii-san wanted and her companions. They're apparently buds with the girl I brought," Kusari said as he jutted a thumb behind him.

"When they find the other girls they'll probably want to take them back to their village," Yaiba expanded on the situation.

Renkin's eyes widened. "What? Not Kokoro-chan!"

"Humph." Magu crossed his arms. "They can take that Rie back if they want. She's so temperamental. Even when I first met her she was beating some guy over the head. I don't know why I bothered bringing her here."

"Because you liiiike her," Renkin said teasingly, to which Magu bopped him on the head. "Ow!"

"Shut up!"

"In any case," Yaiba went on, "we should be ready for when they arrive."

"Right!"

- - -

Kirara and Hachi landed outside the Metal Brothers' expansive abode with the others. After Miroku dismissed Hachi, they went up to the front of the home.

"So this is where they live," Miroku said as he glanced around.

Inuyasha sniffed. "Smells like it." He reached for the door when a chain came at him, grabbing his wrist. "Gh!"

They all looked up to see Kusari, sitting on a branch at the other end of the chain. "Didn't anyone ever tell you to knock before coming in?" He jerked Inuyasha to the side, using his chain like a ripcord.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped.

"It's him!" Shippo cried. "The youkai who took Sango!"

"Ah, the little kitsune," Kusari recognized him as. "Nice to see you again!"

"Where's Sango?" Miroku demanded.

"Oh, don't worry about her," Kusari said lightheartedly. "She's fine; can't say the same for you though."

"Uh-!" Miroku sidestepped out of the way of Yaiba's blade as he came down behind him. "You again!"

"The name's Yaiba," he smirked. His eyes shifted to Kagome. "Couldn't keep away from me, huh?"

Kagome straightened up. "Yeah, right!" she said indignantly. "I came here for Sango-chan!"

"Well you might as well stay here then." Yaiba reached for Kagome's hand.

"Get away from her!" Inuyasha ran up with Tessaiga in tow. He lifted Tessaiga up, only to have it pulled back. "What the - ?" Inuyasha looked back to see another youkai clad in green, holding his hand up at him. Apparently this guy was holding back Tessaiga somehow. Inuyasha tried pulling back, but the force was too strong. He decided to ram into the youkai with Tessaiga. "Yaarrrrgh!" Just before he made contact however, the youkai stopped him in his tracks.

"Humph. Did you seriously think that was going to work?" He sent Inuyasha back flying.

"Ouh, way to go Magu-pon!" Kusari cheered from above.

"Don't call me 'Magu-pon'!!" Magu shouted hotly at his brother.

"Come on." Yaiba tried pulling Kagome inside.

"No!" Kagome kicked him in the shins.

"OW! What the heck do you think you're doing!?" Yaiba rubbed his leg. "Huh?" Yaiba looked back to see Miroku swinging his staff down. He quickly blocked it with the blade from his arm.

"Kagome-sama!" Miroku instructed her. "Go and look for Sango!"

"Alright!" she nodded. Just as she turned though, Kusari swiftly coiled her up in his chains and yanked her backwards. "Ahh!"

"Sorry, that's not how this works!" Kusari called. "Whee!" He hopped off the branch he was on to haul Kagome up from off the ground. "There, this should do!" he said as he tied the other end around the tree trunk.

"Hey, let me down!" Kagome kicked at the air.

"Sure, after we get rid of your friends here. Huh?" Kusari leaped up as Kirara charged after him, landing on her back. "Whee! Free ride! Woah!" Kusari hung on as Kirara tried to buck him off. "Hey, this is fun! Ha ha ha!"

Magu watched this little escapade in front of him. 'No way he's older than me...'

"Gah!" Inuyasha sat up. "I'll show you, you little... Huh?" Inuyasha did a double take as he looked at Tessaiga. Attached to his sword was a bunch of different pieces of metal. "What the heck!?" Hearing stifled giggles behind him, Inuyasha whirled around to see the youngest of the Metal Brothers with several bits of metal in his hand.

"How do you like your new katana?" he chortled.

"What!?" Inuyasha loomed over him menacingly. "You..."

"Eep!" Renkin shot up and ran towards his brother. "Magu!" He hid behind him.

"Eh? What are you doing?"

"He looks angry!" Renkin squeaked.

"Quit being so wimpy and fight him!" Magu saw Inuyasha stomping towards them. He lifted his hands up and stole away Tessaiga from Inuyasha's hands. Pushing, he sent it back at him, jabbing the ends into the ground to pin Inuyasha underneath.

"Hey! What the heck!?" Inuyasha was relieved to find that the Tessaiga soon after went back into its smaller form. "Ah, Tessaiga..." he examined his horribly deformed sword. "Darn you... Arrrrggh! Sankontessou!"

"Ahh!" Renkin and Magu jumped out of the way before Inuyasha could slice them into pieces.

Magu used his powers to take the excess metal Renkin had, and threw them at Inuyasha as if they were darts. Inuyasha meanwhile, whipped out Tessaiga and swung at the incoming scrap metal, sending it flying... at Kagome.

"Ahh!" Kagome squeezed her eyes shut as the bits of metal zipped past her, somehow managing to miss her completely. Nevertheless, Kagome shouted, "Inuyasha, you idiot! Watch what you're doing!"

Yaiba and Miroku were still battling it out, each blow they made or blocked, resulting in a sharp 'clang!' Miroku swung and Yaiba leaped back, landing next to his brothers. To round it all off, Kirara finally managed to buck Kusari off, landing flat on his back in front of the rest of the Metal Brothers with an 'Ouf!'.

Inuyasha, Miroku, and Kirara gathered around them, staring sternly at the four youkai brothers.

"Care to take us to wherever you've got Sango holed up now?" Inuyasha said scornfully.

"Why do you want to take them away?" Renkin whined rather childishly.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "Them? You mean you've got others here too?"

"How else are we supposed to get anyone to stay with us?" Yaiba retorted stoutly. "No woman wants to go off with a youkai somewhere – they get the idea that we want to torture them or something."

"Huh?" Inuyasha got somewhat confused.

"Wait," Miroku started, "you mean you actually want to have serious relationships with these women?"

Kusari shrugged his shoulders. "Why not? Not all youkai are brutes like this guy," he pointed at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha's state of mind changed completely. "What!?"

"He kind of has a point," Shippo muttered. "Ow!" Inuyasha smacked him on the head.

"If you really want to have a true relationship, the other has to be willing," Miroku pointed out to the brothers. "It shouldn't matter to them that you're youkai. Just take things slow and easy."

"Look who's talking," Shippo continued to murmur his remarks. Kirara growled to show some sort of agreement with the kitsune.

Yaiba frowned. "So... if I take it easy with that girl, she should start to like me?" He was talking about Kagome of course, who was in the process of squirming around in her metal bindings and wondering what the heck was taking the others so long to get her down.

"Oh, no; not Kagome-sama," Miroku shook his head. "She's kind of already spoken for you see."

Yaiba's face fell at that. "What? Don't tell me it's this lousy hanyou here."

Inuyasha fumed. "You know, I'm getting really tired of people insulting me!"

"No – not anymore anyways," Miroku replied casually. "It's actually... Sango."

At this, all four of the Metal Brothers' jaws dropped. "WHAT!?"

"Sango-chan!?" Kusari lamented. "My Sango-chan?"

"Kagome-sama's Sango-chan," Miroku corrected him.

"Miroku, why are you telling them all this?" Inuyasha inquired in agitation.

"Because it's the truth," Miroku responded matter-of-factly.

Yaiba and Kusari were sitting on the ground, looking utterly shocked and desolate.

"Oh, cheer up!" Miroku encouraged them. "There's much fun to be had here."

"Huh?" the brothers just stared at the monk confusedly. Realizing this, Miroku bent down and whispered something to them. The expressions on their faces altered slightly afterwards. "Are you sure?"

"Mm!" Miroku nodded brightly. "Show us where Sango is and you'll see."

Agreeing to find out if what Miroku proposed was true, they went over to where Kagome was to let her down.

"Eh?" Kagome looked round at them as her feet touched the ground. "What's going on?"

"The brothers have agreed to take us to where Sango is," Miroku informed her.

"What? Why?"

"The brothers have learned the error of their ways and are going to take a more proper approach with women," Miroku said in a proclaiming fashion.

Kagome didn't believe this explanation to be entirely true, but at least they were getting what they came here for. Thusly, Yaiba led the way for the others to the room where the brothers' captive women were.

"They're in this room," he told them.

Kagome stood in front of the door and knocked on it. "Sango-chan?"

Inside, Sango lifted her head up and gazed at the door. "Kagome-chan?" she responded slightly unsurely.

Hearing the taiji-ya's familiar voice, Kagome's face lit up considerably. "Sango-chan!" She reached for the door to open it, but found that it was somehow stuck. "What?"

"Oh, it gets like that sometimes," Kusari piped up as he looked around the others. "Let me just..."

"Inuyasha," Kagome called for the hanyou. "Can you come over here?"

"Huh?" Inuyasha wasn't sure what Kagome had in mind, but he did as she requested anyways.

Kagome positioned him to stand in front of the door. When she was satisfied with where he was, she drew in a deep breath, and... "Osuawari! Osuwari! Osuwari!"

"Argh! Augh! Arh!" Inuyasha slammed face-first into the door, smashing it open with bits of wood and dust flying everywhere.

On the other side of the doorway, Sango and the others were startled when all they saw was debris and dirt billowing upwards.

"Hey!" Magu shouted in protest. "Do you usually come over and wreak other people's homes whenever you please?"

Kagome wasn't paying any attention however, as she hopped over Inuyasha into the room. Not taking a second glance, she rushed up to Sango and flung her arms around her. "Sango-chan! I'm so glad you're okay."

"Gr..." Inuyasha gingerly looked up from the floor. "Kagome! Couldn't you have waited for Kusari to open the door?"

"Sometimes love impairs our better judgment," Miroku said in a dream-like tone. "So," Miroku glanced over at the Metal Brothers, "what do you think?" The fact that Yaiba and Kusari wouldn't stop staring at the two girls made Miroku content in the fact that he probably knew what their answer would have been.

The other two girls, Rie and Kokoro, gawked at the sight of Kagome nuzzling her face against Sango's. Never before had they seen behavior like this. They caught Sango's eye, who seemed to be rather flustered at the fact that everyone else was watching them.

Magu and Renkin drew the attention away from them as they went and unlocked the manacles around Rie and Kokoro's wrists.

"What are you up to?" Rie frowned at Magu.

Magu gathered up his thoughts. "I figured... this wasn't the way to treat you properly. If I really want you to be my wife, then I should... be nicer..." he glanced to the side.

"Huh?" Rie took another look at Magu. "Are you saying... you like me or something?"

Magu turned to face her, his brows furrowed. "Why else would I bring you here?"

Rie blinked at him. Then she broke into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Magu stipulated.

"Nothing," Rie answered as she straightened up. "I guess if you want, I'll stay a little while longer."

"Really?"

"Sure, but only a little while. I still have a family to go home to you know."

"Right, I understand."

Content with each other, Magu and Rie looked beside them at Renkin and Kokoro, having made a similar success. Renkin was blushing as Kokoro smiled at him.

Kusari walked up to Kagome and Sango. "I guess I have to undo yours too." He obligingly removed Sango's shackles from around her wrists. She gratefully thanked him and rubbed her wrists. Kusari nodded. "I suppose our love is a forbidden one," Kusari said with exaggeration in his voice. "But remember this, Sango-chan – I will always be here in case you change your mind."

"Uh... sure..." Sango lifted up the remaining chain at her neck. "Do you think you could take this off too?"

"Oh..." Kusari examined the chain. "Yeah, about that... right now... it doesn't."

There was a brief moment of silence. "WHAT!?"

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Me: Well, there goes the second chapter! Ja ne!