Apparently I'm the only one who hated that last chapter. Honestly, I felt terrible about it, but you all were so positive…thank you, thank you, thank you! I really am my own worst critic…
Disclaimer: No tengo el Inu-Yasha. Tengo trés reglas morados, pero no tengo el Inu-Yasha. Es muy raro lo que enocontrar cuando estás limpiando tu cuarto… (I don't own Inu-Yasha. I own three purple rulers, but I don't own Inu-Yasha. It's very strange what you find while you're cleaning your room…)
Evil Thing O' The Day: The Sci-Fi channel doesn't have Babylon 5! I feel cheated! (But they DO have a lot of Stargate, so all is not lost)
Myinuyasha04: yeah, right about now I want to kill him too. And thank you for the ramen…I needed it…
Tievel Turiel: Darn Trubbie…and thank you for the time. Lucky lucky you are so far on your memorizing…sniff sniff
Jojodacrow: Thank you for letting him breathe…hmm, now that you mention it, I agree. The events are better in ch. 12, but the writing better in ch. 13. And I am sorry about Koga being so evil. I don't know what possessed my muses…don't worry, I'll make him semi sane (but it might be kinder not to as myinuyasha04 has dibs on killing him after the story ends…--;)
Kokuei: hmm…oh well, I'm going to use her anyway. Actually, I kinda like her, because Koga totally needs a girl…just not Kagome…
On with the insanity…
"All right, I think ye be ready to leave," K said. "Except—Shippo, where be the stethoscope?"
Sango blinked as the red-haired fox demon began frantically searching. "K, why do we need a stethoscope?"
"The well spell."
"That thing Miroku forgot?"
"Hey! I had a lot on my mind!"
"Yes, that. It's linked to the Pier. Once ye have Kagome, squeeze it and it will bring ye back here. It's spelled for four humans and a cat demon, so it will only work if all five of ye are together."
"Why a stethoscope?"
"Well, it was either that or a cue ball."
"All you had was a cue ball and a stethoscope?" Sango asked, disbelief written all over her face.
"Yes, actually…"
"Well, whatever. I'm glad we have it," said Miroku.
"Yes," Sango agreed, accepting the stethoscope from Shippo. "I don't suppose you made one to take us there? No, I guess you wouldn't have anything to link it to. All right, boyos, let's go."
'' '' '' '' ''
Flying high above southern Wisconsin, Sango smiled and leaned back against Miroku. "Hey monk."
"Mm?" he replied, tightening his hold around her waist.
"With everything that's been going on, I never got to tell you."
"Tell me what?"
Sango smiled lazily, eyes closed. "That I love you."
Miroku leaned around and kissed her, laughing into her lips as she yelped and squirmed. "I didn't think you had to say anything," he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
"Hentai!" Sango muttered, and she slapped him, though not nearly so hard as usual.
"I didn't touch anything!" he protested.
"It's the thought that counts."
"You are entirely too disagreeable…" he grumbled. "But I love you anyway."
"Good. Now that we've got that established, would you two stop being so mushy?" grumbled a certain forgotten hanyou.
Sango and Miroku turned complementary shades of red. "Sorry, Inu-Yasha," Sango said, laughing a little nervously.
"Don't worry, you'll have your turn soon enough," Miroku added slyly.
"Miroku!" Sango protested, swatting at him again. "We still have to rescue her first!"
"And I would appreciate it if we could keep our minds on that and not on each other!" Inu-Yasha said emphatically.
Sango smiled sympathetically, leaning around Miroku to pat his shoulder. "Don't worry, Inu-Yasha, Kagome's a strong girl. She'll be fine."
"I hope so," he said gruffly, and for a moment his worry showed in his eyes. He shook his head and it was gone, replaced by his customary barrier. "Now stop flirting and steer the cat!"
"You don't steer a cat," Sango argued, and, bickering amiably, the three spies and their 'steerable cat' made their way north to Door County.
'' '' '' '' ''
Once more Kagome opened her eyes from sleep. She had no idea how long she'd been asleep, but Koga had always been impatient, so if that part of him hadn't changed…
A sliver of light appeared at the other end of the warehouse, startling Kagome—Koga had turned the lights off as he left the day before, probably as punishment for reminding him of Ayame.
[Inu-Kag Make Out Scene NOW!!!!
Yeah, my BFF is back. Let's ignore her, shall we?]
Ayame was an artist at Feudal, and they occasionally worked together on stories. Shortly after Kagome and Koga began dating, Kagome had discovered Ayame was Koga's ex. Ayame maintained that she had no problem with the relationship, but Kagome knew better. Each obviously harbored affection for the other still, and that had been another reason for her leaving Koga.
All of this chased through Kagome's head in the second it took for the door to open, and then the lights flickered on to reveal Koga crossing the warehouse floor to her. He skirted the lone pile of unsteady crates and reached her side faster than she would have thought possible.
"Ah, you're awake," he said pleasantly. "How was your rest, my dear?"
"I am no one's dear, least of all yours," Kagome said icily.
Koga tutted and shook his head. "You really should be more polite to those who hold your life in their hands."
Kagome winced. All the bravado in the world did her no good against that single, unchangeable fact. "Why are you keeping me here?" she asked wearily. "I'm of no use to you if you can't get the Jewel."
"Ah, but who said we couldn't get the Jewel? Simply because I cannot remove the Shikon no Tama, you assume no one can. But when you assume—"
"You make an ass out of u and me," she finished sadly. It was a favorite saying of his, and had been ever since she knew him. That was what was killing her about this—Koga seemed so different, yet he retained small pieces of his old self. The darkness has been meshed so completely in him, she thought with a writer's poetic image. Can anyone purify it? Aloud she asked, "So if you can't remove it, who can?"
"I don't believe I shall tell you that. But don't you worry, he'll be here soon," he called cheerily as he left her.
Oh, wonderful…What on Earth am I going to do? I can't use my powers—she had tried already to remove her manacles, but they had obviously been designed with miko in mind, for she couldn't summon even the smallest bit of her magic—and Inu-Yasha and the others will have been delayed by that storm from earlier. We never get storms that violent—I wonder what it was? (A/N [cough]tornadoes[cough])
'' '' '' '' ''
"All right, Kirara, down now," Sango whispered as they neared a dock studded with warehouses. The cat demon landed silently and waited for her charges to dismount before changing with a poof back to her kitten form.
"K said she was in warehouse 383," Miroku said as Sango transferred the small yellow cat into her backpack. "So let's see…that's 389, so…"
"Thataway," said Sango, pointing. She crouched low to the ground and began to creep along the rows of concrete shoeboxes. "388…387…386…" she whispered as they passed each warehouse. "385…384…38—whoops," she said in surprise, pulling back into the shadows of building 384.
"Sango, what—?" Inu-Yasha began but she clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Shh…" she said, putting a finger to her lips. Guards, she mouthed as an added explanation, jerking her head in the direction of warehouse 383.
He nodded his understanding and she removed her hand from his mouth. Miroku tapped her shoulder and handed her a small notebook and a pencil.
Plan? She wrote, then gave the pad to Inu-Yasha.
He thought for a minute. Kirara.
?
Diversion. Change to large form.
OK. She gave Miroku back the notebook and retrieved a sleepy Kirara from her pack. She bent to whisper in the kitten's ear.
Kirara trotted off the way they had come, and several minutes later they heard shouts coming from building 389. The two wolf-demons guarding Kagome's prison ran off, presumably to help deal with the 'attack'.
They set off again, this time with Inu-Yasha in the lead. The trio reached the door unhindered, and to their surprise found the great iron door unlocked.
Trap? Sango mouthed at Miroku. He shook his head 'no' and gestured to Inu-Yasha. The hanyou sniffed the air and apparently found nothing wrong, for he slipped into the warehouse. Miroku went in next, holding the door for Sango and then propping it slightly open with a stick so that Kirara could make her way back to them.
"Who's there?" called a hoarse voice. Inu-Yasha's ears pricked up as he recognized Kagome's gentle tones. He rushed to her side, eyes widening as he took in the sight of her.
Her wrists were chained above her head, and heavy manacles hung also from her ankles. Her skirt was torn, revealing the pair of shorts she wore underneath, as well as a pair of slashes that had loosely scabbed over. Her legs were caked with blood. She was dirty, and bruised, and had several small scratches on her face and neck.
"Inu-Yasha…" she whispered, and he lips bled as she spoke.
"Kagome…" He wanted to hold her, kiss her, touch her, assure himself this broken woman before him was real. But there was no time; soon Kirara would return, and with her Naraku's demons.
Shaking himself as from a daze, he carefully sliced through the chains binding her ankles. Then he reached up to her wrists, putting his free arm around her waist so she would not fall. Inu-Yasha cut first one, then the other, and caught Kagome as she flopped heavily against him. The tattered remains of her skirt fluttered to the ground as he shifted her weight so he could carry her in both arms.
"Where—" he began as Sango and Miroku joined them at the end of the building.
"Here," Sango cut him off, holding up an indignant Kirara with one hand. She raised the other, showing him the stethoscope. "Are we all ready?"
Inu-Yasha nodded and she squeezed the pad as hard as she could. White light flared—Kaede's miko power—until they couldn't see. Each felt a strange jolt in the pit of his or her stomach, and then they were moving, though at the same time it seemed as thought they were standing still.
Koga burst into the warehouse in time to see a flash of light and then nothing. Blinking stars from his eyes, trying his best to focus, he heard one of his men speak, echoing the question ringing in his mind.
"What in the hells…?"
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Lalala…I have just been adding chapters left and right. Originally this was supposed to be 18—now it's looking like 21. But who knows where my manic muses will take this…
[sniff sniff] We were going to go to Chile this summer, but now we're not. It looks like now we'll be going to Seattle instead, and riding the Empire Builder (transcontinental train) back.
Next Chapter: let's just say I think you'll all enjoy it…muahaha…and it's already written so look for it tomorrow
¡Adiós!
—Myriadragon