Disclaimer - I don't own Inuyasha. I don't claim to own Inuyasha. I never
will claim to own Inuyasha. So there! ^_^
A/N - YES!!! Mediaminer lets me read my reviews now!! XD I'm so happy! Anyway, I'm really sorry for taking almost a week to update. I wanted to finish the chapter on Monday...but as you can see, that was a frail attempt. ¬_¬ So umm...yea. Let's just get to the story, right? ^_^;
With You
Chapter 5
Dog Demon?
Inuyasha stood there in desperation, sparing a scant glance at each of his seven KOed victims as he tried to think of any promising ways to escape.
He didn't know what to do. He still had those damn chains on his hands, and his back was still bleeding like heck... So how was he going to get out of there? There was always that girl to think about too... he couldn't just leave her here.
Speaking of...
He looked over to see if she was okay... Apparently not. He balled his fists and clenched his jaw in anger as the asshole that had been threatening her life a few minutes ago was standing there harassing her. He was ordering her to stand up; only to watch her try to listen to him and fall down in anguish again, and then roughly dragging her up by her hair. Then he growled something in her ear and kneed her in the back, letting her carelessly drop to the floor. She was crying again too...
"Bastard!!" he barked ferociously at the man, shooting him a vicious look.
A few of the guards had taken several wary steps towards him, gluing their eyes to him incase he decided to slash them to bits. Now there was an idea...
But no, that wouldn't work. It wouldn't exactly solve all the problems he had at the moment...most likely, it would just have the opposite effect.
He was running out of choices...and he didn't have any time to waste...!
So he made his move.
~~*~~
If Kagome hadn't been petrified she would have sighed in pure relief when the man who was holding the dagger up to her throat sheathed it and stood up about a foot away from her. That freak had had an arm around her middle, pressing quite painfully against her rib cage. She wasn't sure if she'd broken anything, or if she was just a little bruised...but it still hurt.
These guards were really scaring the crap out of her. Why were they so cruel? And if they kidnapped her because she was the princess of the western kingdom, why were they treating her this way? (A/N - Oh great. When I wrote 'the western kingdom' it makes it sound like Kagome's a cowgirl or something... )
It had really surprised her when Inuyasha had out-and-out ripped half the wall down and came to her rescue. Then again, she hadn't exactly expected him to sit there and do nothing... what had she expected him to do? She was kind of curious as to why he had been so...upset, though. He'd even snapped at her when she'd tried to stop him.
She inwardly kicked herself as realization hit her; she'd told them he was injured! That hadn't been the wisest of choices... It put him at even more of a disadvantage. Now she understood why he'd wanted her to shut up...
Although, what had surprised her more than anything was when she'd fallen. He'd caught her so swiftly and sat her down so gently... she couldn't blame him for scolding her though; he was right. She should have been more cautions... but...she still had to wonder; where had mister tough guy gone for those three little seconds?
Savior or not, she was still a little bit upset with him. That jerk kept calling her a 'stupid girl', and it was kind of getting to her. That badass attitude of his just didn't go away, did it?
But... she wasn't too angry with him. After all, his wound had reopened when he'd smashed the wall...it must have been dreadfully painful... And he'd done it just to save her, so she really couldn't be upset with him.
Kagome dragged herself back to present matters as she watched some of the men clamp shackles onto his wrists and start to pull him away.
Now she was entering super super panic mode. They were taking him away...! That would mean there'd be no one to protect her from them!! Had he really been dumb enough to believe that they wouldn't harm her? He may have been a jerk, but she didn't think he was stupid...
But maybe...he was right. There wasn't anything he could do, was there? If he tried to fight, he'd probably kill himself from blood loss; the blood would flow quicker if he was fighting. Plus, he had restraints on his wrists, and she figured that it would be just a little bit tricky to hurl a blow with those on.
She flicked her attention back on Inuyasha as he jerked his chains out of the officers grasp and smacked him right in the middle of his face, delivering the same basic treatment to the six other guards that were surrounding him; his shackles whirling around as he went about his business.
Well, he'd proven her wrong.
"Get up, girl." Kagome looked up to see the man who'd threatened her earlier standing over her now.
But how was she supposed to follow his order? As she'd proven before, she couldn't stand up. She'd just fall back down again ...But she had to try anyway.
So she held her breath as she pushed herself onto her knees and tried to pull herself up off the cold floor, only to double over in pain as she fell back down in a heap onto the hard stone. The officer grabbed her hair and jerked her up harshly; she gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the hot tears falling from her eyes.
She just stayed there limply as he kept a firm grip on her long raven tresses. "You should learn to listen a little better, princess!" he spat as smacked his knee into her back and carelessly let her drop to the floor.
Kagome resisted the immensely strong urge to set free the sobs that the had locked up inside herself as she watched a few of her own tears drop to the ground in front of her. She pushed herself onto her knees once again, keeping her face low and out of the view of the unfeeling officer standing a couple of feet from her left side. Damnit! That man had just announced that she was a princess... did Inuyasha hear?
Finally, several of the other officers stepped towards Inuyasha slowly, watching him in an anxious sort of way.
But he didn't move; he just stood there. What was he doing?! He'd broken free (to some extent), so why wasn't he moving?
Then, in a flash, Inuyasha jumped between Kagome and her persecutor with an enraged look on his face. He grabbed the man by his throat and raised his claws -as far as his restraints would allow- to strike him.
"Inuyasha no!" Kagome choked as she grabbed the material that hung loosely around his leg; staring straight into his eyes when he turned to face her. (Not that he let go of a certain someone's neck, mind you. ^ ^;;) "Don't..." she started as she drew her hand back, lowering her gaze from his questioning one to the floor at his feet. "...Don't kill him."
No one moved as Inuyasha shot a confused, fiery look at her. "Why?!" he snapped "Why shouldn't I kill him?! He was hurting you on purpose! And enjoying it!! Him, that old bastard, and the guy with the whip over there." he jerked a quick glance at the other two men across the room "I really should just kill all of them!! Why in hell would you want me to spare those bastards?!" he shouted fiercely at her.
"Because it's not all their fault!" she shouted back, her voice hitching considerably. "That's how they were raised! It's how they were trained! Sure - they have free will, but that's all they know how to do, and it's all their told to do! So you just can't kill them for that..." she looked up at him pleadingly "Everyone deserves a second chance, Inuyasha. So please...just don't."
Inuyasha growled in frustration and gave the man a hard punch, sending him to the floor. He turned around and stared the older officer in the eye. "I swear, if you or anyone else here deals out any more brutal, unnecessary punishments, I'll come back here and kill you all. And..." he added with a slight smirk "If I were you, I'd be thanking this girl over here for saving your lives. If she hadn't said anything, I would have ripped you all to shreds by now."
Kagome smiled up at Inuyasha; she was proud of him - despite his attitude. He could easily have killed that officer -whether he was wounded or not-, but he didn't. So, did that mean that even Inuyasha had a little bit of good in him...?
She looked over to the other guards, wanting to see their reaction. Only...it wasn't what she thought it would be. They were all kind of... sneering...in a very bad sense. That didn't look so good...
She moved her eyes back to Inuyasha, wanting to see what he thought of the situation. He was intently watching the men with the same kind of bemused look she was wearing; he looked a little bit upset though...
Then she saw it. She saw why all the officers wore the expressions they did. "Inuyasha!! Look out for-!"
...too late. She was too late.
Kagome watched in horror as a sword was pierced straight through Inuyasha's back and the end of the blade protruded from his stomach. "No!" she silently screamed "This can't be happening! Inuyasha just can't die!"
~~*~~
Inuyasha gave a strangled cry and fell to his hands and knees, the chains clanking on the floor in front of him, as the razor-sharp weapon was wrenched back out of him. "D-Damnit..." he turned his head up weakly to see his attacker. His eyes widened in rage at what he saw. "Y-You...!!" he fumed "You bastard!! I let you live...! You ungrateful asshole!!"
The officer looked down at him smugly "Well...for you, sparing me was a bad choice." He began as he stepped closer to him, his sword still drawn "But for me...?" he said, cockily raising an eyebrow "Apparently, a very good one."
And this was a very bad situation. He didn't know how in hell he was going to get out of this mess he'd gotten himself into. He couldn't even gather enough strength to stand up and tear that guy in half... so how was he gonna escape with the girl alive? Things couldn't possibly get any worse...
"You know, I was never given any orders not to kill you..." he said in an idle tone as he looked over the blade in his hand. "And you're quite a nuisance...so..." he continued as he glanced down at the infuriated hanyou. "Why should I keep you around?" The guard raised his blade several feet above Inuyasha's neck "All I'd have to do is drop this, and you'd be dead. It's as easy as that."
Inuyasha glared hard at the man above him; this guy was such a bastard...didn't he get the fact that Inuyasha was a hanyou? All he had to do was squiggle out of the way. What an idiot...
But still, Inuyasha was running a little low in the energy area. 'Squiggling out of the way' might not save him completely...he had to get out of there right this minute. No time to beat up any jerks, no time to go bastard-bashing...he had to run for it, and that was that.
The officer, somewhat baffled as to why the boy below him wasn't cowering in fear of shouting in anger, snapped back at him. "What's the matter boy!? Do you want to die, by any chance?! I could kill you or your little girlfriend here any time I wanted to!"
Like he said, bad situation.
The officer gave him an unexpected kick in the side and sent him rolling into the knees of a certain girl.
"Inuyasha...!!" Kagome gasped and laid her hand gingerly on his arm, bringing the other to her mouth as she stared at him wide-eyed. "Y-You're so badly injured..."
"Got a problem, girl?" the older man took a few steps and stood in front of her as he spoke. "You're damn lucky I was ordered not to kill you." He said with a little bit of bitterness in his voice. "But..." he continued "They never told me I couldn't smack you up a little."
Kagome stiffened at that. "Ooh crap...I-I don't have any way out of this..." she thought as she recognized the feeling of panic rising inside her once again. Inuyasha was down and out; he hadn't opened his eyes at all. He wasn't dead though, she could feel him breathing.
"I-I..." she stuttered blankly and shifted back on the pavement as the man stepped over Inuyasha and moved towards her. What could she do...?! She hated feeling weak and helpless...unable to defend herself...
She scooted away frantically as he kept walking steadily nearer. Crap...
A light gasp flew from her as she hit what remained of the wall Inuyasha had shredded. Just her luck...
Not to mention that any microscopic fleck of humor she might have had left inside her was blown away as he drew his leg back to strike her. She locked her eyes shut and let out a pained cry as she felt his boot slamming into her ribs. She didn't have to open her eyes to know he was going to do it again either...
Kagome released another shriek and drew a hand to her throbbing middle as she slowly opened one eye to look up at the man...but she snapped it shut again and yelped in pain as he hurled another blow. What should she do...?
"I-Inuy-yasha..." she gasped, as if he would suddenly get up and leap to her aid at the utterance of his name. Wishful thinking...
She creaked her eyes opened for a split second, just to see if her hopes had been high enough to change the direction that the current course of events had been going in.
Nope. She slammed them closed again and braced herself for the fourth hit. That had been a stupid notion...
A quick beat of silence passed, and all of a sudden, Kagome felt a slight...shove - ish. She was a tad numb...so it was a difficult to discern. Then she felt sort of...up. So that wasn't proper English, but still...that was how she felt. Like she was floating or something...her senses weren't responding to the coldness floor anymore. And what was that clinking noise she was hearing? Had the third hit been to her head...?
And why hadn't it hurt when he'd kicked her...? Or furthermore, had he kicked her at all? She peaked her eye open with slight anxiousness...
Kagome blinked in confusion. Yup, that last hit had definitely been to her head. Either that or that was really Inuyasha's blood stained haori two inches away from her nose. She looked up hopefully "Inu...yasha?" He didn't answer her, he just stood there.
For a second at least...
Another sudden action of his had her bewildered. He was all but heading straight for the guards...! What the hell did this nut think he was doing?! They were holding swords in their hands! "Inuyasha! What are you doing?!" Again, he gave her no response, but went about his business of confusing her. Did he really that stopping right in front of those crazy guards was the best of ideas...?
Speaking of crazy guards, what happened to that other guy?
She adverted her attention back to Inuyasha as he started to speak. "...Move." He ordered through hooded eyes.
The guards just shot him angry looks. "Know your place, boy!" the older one shouted as he drew his sword. Was it just her, or did all the older guards have the worst attitudes...?
"...I warned you." He spoke menacingly, bringing his face up once again.
Kagome gasped and stared wide-eyed at Inuyasha. His eyes...they were...
...red.
She might not have known much about Inuyasha, but she knew that his eyes weren't normally red - they were gold. And his voice wasn't usually like that...when he'd spoken just now, it had had a very...careless, almost...bloodthirsty tone. That wasn't right...
Kagome yelped as Inuyasha abruptly dropped her to the floor and raised his binded arm, stretching his claws and cracking his fingers. "...it's..." he started with an ominous tone as his eyes gleamed with fire. "...over."
She sat there in terror as Inuyasha jumped forward with inhuman speed and swung his claws, spilling the blood of the four guards that had stood there. W-what happened to him...?! She stared at him as he lifted his hand again to slaughter another group. He just couldn't do that... she wouldn't let him! "Inuyasha! Stop it!! What are you doing?!" she screamed at him frantically.
But he just ignored her, leaving her no reply as he slayed another group...
...with a smirk on his face.
All the tears that she had bottled up and begged not to spill slowly escaped from her wide eyes, running down her cheeks and dripping lightly onto the ground. "I-Inuyasha...?" Couldn't he hear her? Didn't he know that she was calling to him - begging him to stop?
He raised his arm again to butcher the last group of officers. She couldn't watch this happen...it was wrong...that couldn't have been Inuyasha. He was murdering all these officers with a grin on his face. That was completely wrong.
Kagome jumped up and ran to him, pushing down the overpowering, shooting pain that valiantly threatened to pull her down, and threw her arms around his waist, slumping against him for lack of strength. "...Stop" she whispered "Please stop." She buried her face and fisted her hands in the back of his haori, pleading with him as she silently cried. (A/N - We'll say she was a little to the left of the big gaping hole in his back... )
Everything was completely silent, with the exception of Kagome's nearly inaudible sobs, for a solid minute or two - until Inuyasha finally spoke up. "Ka...Kagome..." he said quietly and turned his head towards her "What... are you doing?" he questioned slowly.
She turned her tear-stained face towards his bewildered one. What had he just said? He'd...he'd called her by her name...she'd never heard him do that before. "S-sorry..." she apologized hastily and dropped herself down on the floor; she was so tired...But she wasn't done yet; she wanted to know if Inuyasha was really back in his right mind. "Inuyasha...? Are you okay...? What happened...just now?"
He was looking at her with such a perplexed, confused expression...like he was at a total loss. "I...I'm fine...I don't know what happened..." he trailed as he looked down at his hands. "What did I do?" he breathed, an ashamed tone in his voice as he sucked in a shaken breath.
Kagome was taken aback. He didn't know what he'd done? Didn't he know what had happened to himself? "You..." she looked at him with pity in her eyes "Inuyasha...y-you killed them."
"...Why...?" he whispered, a pinch of anger hitching his voice "...What happened to me?" he moved his gaze back to hers.
She shook her head solemnly and looked down at the floor. "I...don't know." What had happened? She wanted to know too... "Your eyes turned red...and then you..." she glanced up at him "Are you sure that you can't remember anything?"
"Nothing..." he looked back down at his bloodstained claws "...Their blood...my hands are covered in it." His voice seemed to falter slightly as he stared at his hands "I killed them."
Kagome suddenly remembered something. She and Inuyasha had kind of been lost in some far off world or something...but what had happened to the last few guards? She shot a curious glance in their direction and her mouth opened in mild surprise.
"P-Please..." the one in front stuttered as he dropped to his knees. "D-Don't kill us...!!" she watched in amazement as all the others did the same.
"Don't plan to..." he muttered angrily and shook his head as tuned to Kagome. "Can you walk?" he asked gruffly. Well that was a sudden attitude change...
But to answer his question; could she walk? She wasn't exactly sure...When she'd ran over and tried to stop him, she had felt like she'd collapse from the pain...So she really preferred not to walk...but she didn't want to make Inuyasha carry her either. His wounds were ten times worse than hers...How the heck was he still alive anyway? "I think I can..." she answered hesitantly.
He watched her skeptically as she tried to stand up. What did she think he was, stupid? He knew she couldn't walk, he'd seen her try to stand up earlier.
'Wait...if you already knew, then why'd you ask?'
'Umm....'
...Okay, so he didn't have an answer for that one.
Inuyasha saw her cringe in pain and slump back down onto the floor. "Don't be stupid, girl." He said strictly as he knelt down next to her "You can't walk, so don't pretend."
A tiny match was lit inside Kagome when he'd called her 'stupid' again. For a few minutes, she thought he'd actually be decent and call her by her name from then on.
According to the grapevine, he didn't plan on it.
Inuyasha scooped her up in his -still chained- arms and walked to the cell door, opening it calmly enough, without looking back at the pleading guards. She sucked in the burning pain in her middle and glanced up at the tranquil expression he was wearing, and then out at the hallway they were entering, examining it cautiously. "Inuyasha...we should be careful. There'll most likely be more guards hanging around-"
"I know." He replied snippily, his expression unchanging as he glanced both ways down the long corridor. "Which way did they bring me from?" he asked blankly without looking at her.
"Umm...that way I think." She pointed to his left. He nodded and made his way down the hall at a moderate pace, following the twists and turns rather smoothly. Whoa...where in hells were all the guards? Had they all gone down to her cell? No...there had to be more than that...
Kagome looked up at Inuyasha inquisitively; what was he sniffing at? Or, to rephrase the question, why was he sniffing? He'd said he was half demon...but what was his demon half? Fox...or wolf, perhaps? She was curious... "Inuyasha?"
"What?" he responded breezily, once again, not bothering to look at her.
"You said you were half demon, right?"
He seemed to stiffen at that statement, but nevertheless, answered her with a nod.
"So..." she continued tentatively "What's your demon half? Are you half fox demon? Or half wolf demon...? Or-"
"I am not half wolf demon!" he snapped and shot her a glare. She hadn't missed the way that he'd cringed when he'd said 'wolf', either. "I'm half dog demon..." he grumbled, looking forward again.
She frowned at his attitude. What was so horrible about that? Personally, she though his ears were really cute. Not to mention the hair and the awesome claws...
Speaking of...! "I'm-"no wait... This may not have been the best of times to ask how he learned 'Sankontetsou'. He was probably a little depressed... after all; he'd just killed a lot of people.
Kagome kind of wondered why he wasn't all down in the dumps and miserable. She would have been. Or... had he killed before...? She didn't think he would have; he didn't look like some crazy murderer to her...but it was still a probability, a very small one from her point of view...
"You're what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her as he walked.
"Huh?" she was a little befuddled. What was he talking about...?
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her "You said 'I'm', so I asked you 'You're what?'"
"I'm..." "Okay Kagome, think of an excuse, and do it fast..." "...tired?" she answered slowly. Well that was brilliant...
'You're tired...' he snorted to himself 'You're not the one who's been fighting...not to mention the hole in my stomach.' "Whatever..." he mumbled as he looked forward, only to stop abruptly.
Kagome gazed up at him as he stood there with a slight grin on his face. "Just as I though..."
"What?" she questioned eagerly "What are you talking about?"
"This," he stated, gesturing to the door in front of him. "Is out exit."
She turned her head expectantly, wondering why he was so confident all of a sudden. "How do you know that isn't gonna lead us into a pool of guards...?"
"Oh, it probably is." He nodded with sort of a... mock cheeriness. What was with him and his mood swings...?
"So...you could care less if the guards out there just happen to come after us...?"
He shrugged indifferently "I'm not really worried about that - I can outrun them any day."
Kagome just gawked at him. He really was an idiot, wasn't he...? "Inuyasha! That's ridiculous. Number one, you're injured; badly. Number two, you'd be carrying me; that'd probably make it a little more difficult as well. And number three, you don't know how many men are out there! There could be thousands for all you know!"
He gave her a flat look "Do you seriously think that there will be thousands of guards out there?"
"You know that wasn't the point!" she growled back at him.
"So?"
"Ugh!" she bellowed. "Fine! Let's just go out there, and if we die, we die!"
"And here I thought you were an optimist..." he grumbled as he stepped up to the door. "Well, here goes nuthin'!"
A/N - Bwahahaha! An evil cliffy! XD Hahah- Sorry. V_V In all honesty, I really don't end where I do on purpose, it just happens. ^.^ And I'll apologize again for taking almost a week to update. I really don't mean to take so long... ^ ^; eep... so yea. Please excuse my spelling errors, grammar errors, any OOC ness I might have accidentally stuck in there, and my incredibly uncreative chapter names. Ja!
~Eternal White~
A/N - YES!!! Mediaminer lets me read my reviews now!! XD I'm so happy! Anyway, I'm really sorry for taking almost a week to update. I wanted to finish the chapter on Monday...but as you can see, that was a frail attempt. ¬_¬ So umm...yea. Let's just get to the story, right? ^_^;
With You
Chapter 5
Dog Demon?
Inuyasha stood there in desperation, sparing a scant glance at each of his seven KOed victims as he tried to think of any promising ways to escape.
He didn't know what to do. He still had those damn chains on his hands, and his back was still bleeding like heck... So how was he going to get out of there? There was always that girl to think about too... he couldn't just leave her here.
Speaking of...
He looked over to see if she was okay... Apparently not. He balled his fists and clenched his jaw in anger as the asshole that had been threatening her life a few minutes ago was standing there harassing her. He was ordering her to stand up; only to watch her try to listen to him and fall down in anguish again, and then roughly dragging her up by her hair. Then he growled something in her ear and kneed her in the back, letting her carelessly drop to the floor. She was crying again too...
"Bastard!!" he barked ferociously at the man, shooting him a vicious look.
A few of the guards had taken several wary steps towards him, gluing their eyes to him incase he decided to slash them to bits. Now there was an idea...
But no, that wouldn't work. It wouldn't exactly solve all the problems he had at the moment...most likely, it would just have the opposite effect.
He was running out of choices...and he didn't have any time to waste...!
So he made his move.
~~*~~
If Kagome hadn't been petrified she would have sighed in pure relief when the man who was holding the dagger up to her throat sheathed it and stood up about a foot away from her. That freak had had an arm around her middle, pressing quite painfully against her rib cage. She wasn't sure if she'd broken anything, or if she was just a little bruised...but it still hurt.
These guards were really scaring the crap out of her. Why were they so cruel? And if they kidnapped her because she was the princess of the western kingdom, why were they treating her this way? (A/N - Oh great. When I wrote 'the western kingdom' it makes it sound like Kagome's a cowgirl or something... )
It had really surprised her when Inuyasha had out-and-out ripped half the wall down and came to her rescue. Then again, she hadn't exactly expected him to sit there and do nothing... what had she expected him to do? She was kind of curious as to why he had been so...upset, though. He'd even snapped at her when she'd tried to stop him.
She inwardly kicked herself as realization hit her; she'd told them he was injured! That hadn't been the wisest of choices... It put him at even more of a disadvantage. Now she understood why he'd wanted her to shut up...
Although, what had surprised her more than anything was when she'd fallen. He'd caught her so swiftly and sat her down so gently... she couldn't blame him for scolding her though; he was right. She should have been more cautions... but...she still had to wonder; where had mister tough guy gone for those three little seconds?
Savior or not, she was still a little bit upset with him. That jerk kept calling her a 'stupid girl', and it was kind of getting to her. That badass attitude of his just didn't go away, did it?
But... she wasn't too angry with him. After all, his wound had reopened when he'd smashed the wall...it must have been dreadfully painful... And he'd done it just to save her, so she really couldn't be upset with him.
Kagome dragged herself back to present matters as she watched some of the men clamp shackles onto his wrists and start to pull him away.
Now she was entering super super panic mode. They were taking him away...! That would mean there'd be no one to protect her from them!! Had he really been dumb enough to believe that they wouldn't harm her? He may have been a jerk, but she didn't think he was stupid...
But maybe...he was right. There wasn't anything he could do, was there? If he tried to fight, he'd probably kill himself from blood loss; the blood would flow quicker if he was fighting. Plus, he had restraints on his wrists, and she figured that it would be just a little bit tricky to hurl a blow with those on.
She flicked her attention back on Inuyasha as he jerked his chains out of the officers grasp and smacked him right in the middle of his face, delivering the same basic treatment to the six other guards that were surrounding him; his shackles whirling around as he went about his business.
Well, he'd proven her wrong.
"Get up, girl." Kagome looked up to see the man who'd threatened her earlier standing over her now.
But how was she supposed to follow his order? As she'd proven before, she couldn't stand up. She'd just fall back down again ...But she had to try anyway.
So she held her breath as she pushed herself onto her knees and tried to pull herself up off the cold floor, only to double over in pain as she fell back down in a heap onto the hard stone. The officer grabbed her hair and jerked her up harshly; she gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the hot tears falling from her eyes.
She just stayed there limply as he kept a firm grip on her long raven tresses. "You should learn to listen a little better, princess!" he spat as smacked his knee into her back and carelessly let her drop to the floor.
Kagome resisted the immensely strong urge to set free the sobs that the had locked up inside herself as she watched a few of her own tears drop to the ground in front of her. She pushed herself onto her knees once again, keeping her face low and out of the view of the unfeeling officer standing a couple of feet from her left side. Damnit! That man had just announced that she was a princess... did Inuyasha hear?
Finally, several of the other officers stepped towards Inuyasha slowly, watching him in an anxious sort of way.
But he didn't move; he just stood there. What was he doing?! He'd broken free (to some extent), so why wasn't he moving?
Then, in a flash, Inuyasha jumped between Kagome and her persecutor with an enraged look on his face. He grabbed the man by his throat and raised his claws -as far as his restraints would allow- to strike him.
"Inuyasha no!" Kagome choked as she grabbed the material that hung loosely around his leg; staring straight into his eyes when he turned to face her. (Not that he let go of a certain someone's neck, mind you. ^ ^;;) "Don't..." she started as she drew her hand back, lowering her gaze from his questioning one to the floor at his feet. "...Don't kill him."
No one moved as Inuyasha shot a confused, fiery look at her. "Why?!" he snapped "Why shouldn't I kill him?! He was hurting you on purpose! And enjoying it!! Him, that old bastard, and the guy with the whip over there." he jerked a quick glance at the other two men across the room "I really should just kill all of them!! Why in hell would you want me to spare those bastards?!" he shouted fiercely at her.
"Because it's not all their fault!" she shouted back, her voice hitching considerably. "That's how they were raised! It's how they were trained! Sure - they have free will, but that's all they know how to do, and it's all their told to do! So you just can't kill them for that..." she looked up at him pleadingly "Everyone deserves a second chance, Inuyasha. So please...just don't."
Inuyasha growled in frustration and gave the man a hard punch, sending him to the floor. He turned around and stared the older officer in the eye. "I swear, if you or anyone else here deals out any more brutal, unnecessary punishments, I'll come back here and kill you all. And..." he added with a slight smirk "If I were you, I'd be thanking this girl over here for saving your lives. If she hadn't said anything, I would have ripped you all to shreds by now."
Kagome smiled up at Inuyasha; she was proud of him - despite his attitude. He could easily have killed that officer -whether he was wounded or not-, but he didn't. So, did that mean that even Inuyasha had a little bit of good in him...?
She looked over to the other guards, wanting to see their reaction. Only...it wasn't what she thought it would be. They were all kind of... sneering...in a very bad sense. That didn't look so good...
She moved her eyes back to Inuyasha, wanting to see what he thought of the situation. He was intently watching the men with the same kind of bemused look she was wearing; he looked a little bit upset though...
Then she saw it. She saw why all the officers wore the expressions they did. "Inuyasha!! Look out for-!"
...too late. She was too late.
Kagome watched in horror as a sword was pierced straight through Inuyasha's back and the end of the blade protruded from his stomach. "No!" she silently screamed "This can't be happening! Inuyasha just can't die!"
~~*~~
Inuyasha gave a strangled cry and fell to his hands and knees, the chains clanking on the floor in front of him, as the razor-sharp weapon was wrenched back out of him. "D-Damnit..." he turned his head up weakly to see his attacker. His eyes widened in rage at what he saw. "Y-You...!!" he fumed "You bastard!! I let you live...! You ungrateful asshole!!"
The officer looked down at him smugly "Well...for you, sparing me was a bad choice." He began as he stepped closer to him, his sword still drawn "But for me...?" he said, cockily raising an eyebrow "Apparently, a very good one."
And this was a very bad situation. He didn't know how in hell he was going to get out of this mess he'd gotten himself into. He couldn't even gather enough strength to stand up and tear that guy in half... so how was he gonna escape with the girl alive? Things couldn't possibly get any worse...
"You know, I was never given any orders not to kill you..." he said in an idle tone as he looked over the blade in his hand. "And you're quite a nuisance...so..." he continued as he glanced down at the infuriated hanyou. "Why should I keep you around?" The guard raised his blade several feet above Inuyasha's neck "All I'd have to do is drop this, and you'd be dead. It's as easy as that."
Inuyasha glared hard at the man above him; this guy was such a bastard...didn't he get the fact that Inuyasha was a hanyou? All he had to do was squiggle out of the way. What an idiot...
But still, Inuyasha was running a little low in the energy area. 'Squiggling out of the way' might not save him completely...he had to get out of there right this minute. No time to beat up any jerks, no time to go bastard-bashing...he had to run for it, and that was that.
The officer, somewhat baffled as to why the boy below him wasn't cowering in fear of shouting in anger, snapped back at him. "What's the matter boy!? Do you want to die, by any chance?! I could kill you or your little girlfriend here any time I wanted to!"
Like he said, bad situation.
The officer gave him an unexpected kick in the side and sent him rolling into the knees of a certain girl.
"Inuyasha...!!" Kagome gasped and laid her hand gingerly on his arm, bringing the other to her mouth as she stared at him wide-eyed. "Y-You're so badly injured..."
"Got a problem, girl?" the older man took a few steps and stood in front of her as he spoke. "You're damn lucky I was ordered not to kill you." He said with a little bit of bitterness in his voice. "But..." he continued "They never told me I couldn't smack you up a little."
Kagome stiffened at that. "Ooh crap...I-I don't have any way out of this..." she thought as she recognized the feeling of panic rising inside her once again. Inuyasha was down and out; he hadn't opened his eyes at all. He wasn't dead though, she could feel him breathing.
"I-I..." she stuttered blankly and shifted back on the pavement as the man stepped over Inuyasha and moved towards her. What could she do...?! She hated feeling weak and helpless...unable to defend herself...
She scooted away frantically as he kept walking steadily nearer. Crap...
A light gasp flew from her as she hit what remained of the wall Inuyasha had shredded. Just her luck...
Not to mention that any microscopic fleck of humor she might have had left inside her was blown away as he drew his leg back to strike her. She locked her eyes shut and let out a pained cry as she felt his boot slamming into her ribs. She didn't have to open her eyes to know he was going to do it again either...
Kagome released another shriek and drew a hand to her throbbing middle as she slowly opened one eye to look up at the man...but she snapped it shut again and yelped in pain as he hurled another blow. What should she do...?
"I-Inuy-yasha..." she gasped, as if he would suddenly get up and leap to her aid at the utterance of his name. Wishful thinking...
She creaked her eyes opened for a split second, just to see if her hopes had been high enough to change the direction that the current course of events had been going in.
Nope. She slammed them closed again and braced herself for the fourth hit. That had been a stupid notion...
A quick beat of silence passed, and all of a sudden, Kagome felt a slight...shove - ish. She was a tad numb...so it was a difficult to discern. Then she felt sort of...up. So that wasn't proper English, but still...that was how she felt. Like she was floating or something...her senses weren't responding to the coldness floor anymore. And what was that clinking noise she was hearing? Had the third hit been to her head...?
And why hadn't it hurt when he'd kicked her...? Or furthermore, had he kicked her at all? She peaked her eye open with slight anxiousness...
Kagome blinked in confusion. Yup, that last hit had definitely been to her head. Either that or that was really Inuyasha's blood stained haori two inches away from her nose. She looked up hopefully "Inu...yasha?" He didn't answer her, he just stood there.
For a second at least...
Another sudden action of his had her bewildered. He was all but heading straight for the guards...! What the hell did this nut think he was doing?! They were holding swords in their hands! "Inuyasha! What are you doing?!" Again, he gave her no response, but went about his business of confusing her. Did he really that stopping right in front of those crazy guards was the best of ideas...?
Speaking of crazy guards, what happened to that other guy?
She adverted her attention back to Inuyasha as he started to speak. "...Move." He ordered through hooded eyes.
The guards just shot him angry looks. "Know your place, boy!" the older one shouted as he drew his sword. Was it just her, or did all the older guards have the worst attitudes...?
"...I warned you." He spoke menacingly, bringing his face up once again.
Kagome gasped and stared wide-eyed at Inuyasha. His eyes...they were...
...red.
She might not have known much about Inuyasha, but she knew that his eyes weren't normally red - they were gold. And his voice wasn't usually like that...when he'd spoken just now, it had had a very...careless, almost...bloodthirsty tone. That wasn't right...
Kagome yelped as Inuyasha abruptly dropped her to the floor and raised his binded arm, stretching his claws and cracking his fingers. "...it's..." he started with an ominous tone as his eyes gleamed with fire. "...over."
She sat there in terror as Inuyasha jumped forward with inhuman speed and swung his claws, spilling the blood of the four guards that had stood there. W-what happened to him...?! She stared at him as he lifted his hand again to slaughter another group. He just couldn't do that... she wouldn't let him! "Inuyasha! Stop it!! What are you doing?!" she screamed at him frantically.
But he just ignored her, leaving her no reply as he slayed another group...
...with a smirk on his face.
All the tears that she had bottled up and begged not to spill slowly escaped from her wide eyes, running down her cheeks and dripping lightly onto the ground. "I-Inuyasha...?" Couldn't he hear her? Didn't he know that she was calling to him - begging him to stop?
He raised his arm again to butcher the last group of officers. She couldn't watch this happen...it was wrong...that couldn't have been Inuyasha. He was murdering all these officers with a grin on his face. That was completely wrong.
Kagome jumped up and ran to him, pushing down the overpowering, shooting pain that valiantly threatened to pull her down, and threw her arms around his waist, slumping against him for lack of strength. "...Stop" she whispered "Please stop." She buried her face and fisted her hands in the back of his haori, pleading with him as she silently cried. (A/N - We'll say she was a little to the left of the big gaping hole in his back... )
Everything was completely silent, with the exception of Kagome's nearly inaudible sobs, for a solid minute or two - until Inuyasha finally spoke up. "Ka...Kagome..." he said quietly and turned his head towards her "What... are you doing?" he questioned slowly.
She turned her tear-stained face towards his bewildered one. What had he just said? He'd...he'd called her by her name...she'd never heard him do that before. "S-sorry..." she apologized hastily and dropped herself down on the floor; she was so tired...But she wasn't done yet; she wanted to know if Inuyasha was really back in his right mind. "Inuyasha...? Are you okay...? What happened...just now?"
He was looking at her with such a perplexed, confused expression...like he was at a total loss. "I...I'm fine...I don't know what happened..." he trailed as he looked down at his hands. "What did I do?" he breathed, an ashamed tone in his voice as he sucked in a shaken breath.
Kagome was taken aback. He didn't know what he'd done? Didn't he know what had happened to himself? "You..." she looked at him with pity in her eyes "Inuyasha...y-you killed them."
"...Why...?" he whispered, a pinch of anger hitching his voice "...What happened to me?" he moved his gaze back to hers.
She shook her head solemnly and looked down at the floor. "I...don't know." What had happened? She wanted to know too... "Your eyes turned red...and then you..." she glanced up at him "Are you sure that you can't remember anything?"
"Nothing..." he looked back down at his bloodstained claws "...Their blood...my hands are covered in it." His voice seemed to falter slightly as he stared at his hands "I killed them."
Kagome suddenly remembered something. She and Inuyasha had kind of been lost in some far off world or something...but what had happened to the last few guards? She shot a curious glance in their direction and her mouth opened in mild surprise.
"P-Please..." the one in front stuttered as he dropped to his knees. "D-Don't kill us...!!" she watched in amazement as all the others did the same.
"Don't plan to..." he muttered angrily and shook his head as tuned to Kagome. "Can you walk?" he asked gruffly. Well that was a sudden attitude change...
But to answer his question; could she walk? She wasn't exactly sure...When she'd ran over and tried to stop him, she had felt like she'd collapse from the pain...So she really preferred not to walk...but she didn't want to make Inuyasha carry her either. His wounds were ten times worse than hers...How the heck was he still alive anyway? "I think I can..." she answered hesitantly.
He watched her skeptically as she tried to stand up. What did she think he was, stupid? He knew she couldn't walk, he'd seen her try to stand up earlier.
'Wait...if you already knew, then why'd you ask?'
'Umm....'
...Okay, so he didn't have an answer for that one.
Inuyasha saw her cringe in pain and slump back down onto the floor. "Don't be stupid, girl." He said strictly as he knelt down next to her "You can't walk, so don't pretend."
A tiny match was lit inside Kagome when he'd called her 'stupid' again. For a few minutes, she thought he'd actually be decent and call her by her name from then on.
According to the grapevine, he didn't plan on it.
Inuyasha scooped her up in his -still chained- arms and walked to the cell door, opening it calmly enough, without looking back at the pleading guards. She sucked in the burning pain in her middle and glanced up at the tranquil expression he was wearing, and then out at the hallway they were entering, examining it cautiously. "Inuyasha...we should be careful. There'll most likely be more guards hanging around-"
"I know." He replied snippily, his expression unchanging as he glanced both ways down the long corridor. "Which way did they bring me from?" he asked blankly without looking at her.
"Umm...that way I think." She pointed to his left. He nodded and made his way down the hall at a moderate pace, following the twists and turns rather smoothly. Whoa...where in hells were all the guards? Had they all gone down to her cell? No...there had to be more than that...
Kagome looked up at Inuyasha inquisitively; what was he sniffing at? Or, to rephrase the question, why was he sniffing? He'd said he was half demon...but what was his demon half? Fox...or wolf, perhaps? She was curious... "Inuyasha?"
"What?" he responded breezily, once again, not bothering to look at her.
"You said you were half demon, right?"
He seemed to stiffen at that statement, but nevertheless, answered her with a nod.
"So..." she continued tentatively "What's your demon half? Are you half fox demon? Or half wolf demon...? Or-"
"I am not half wolf demon!" he snapped and shot her a glare. She hadn't missed the way that he'd cringed when he'd said 'wolf', either. "I'm half dog demon..." he grumbled, looking forward again.
She frowned at his attitude. What was so horrible about that? Personally, she though his ears were really cute. Not to mention the hair and the awesome claws...
Speaking of...! "I'm-"no wait... This may not have been the best of times to ask how he learned 'Sankontetsou'. He was probably a little depressed... after all; he'd just killed a lot of people.
Kagome kind of wondered why he wasn't all down in the dumps and miserable. She would have been. Or... had he killed before...? She didn't think he would have; he didn't look like some crazy murderer to her...but it was still a probability, a very small one from her point of view...
"You're what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her as he walked.
"Huh?" she was a little befuddled. What was he talking about...?
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her "You said 'I'm', so I asked you 'You're what?'"
"I'm..." "Okay Kagome, think of an excuse, and do it fast..." "...tired?" she answered slowly. Well that was brilliant...
'You're tired...' he snorted to himself 'You're not the one who's been fighting...not to mention the hole in my stomach.' "Whatever..." he mumbled as he looked forward, only to stop abruptly.
Kagome gazed up at him as he stood there with a slight grin on his face. "Just as I though..."
"What?" she questioned eagerly "What are you talking about?"
"This," he stated, gesturing to the door in front of him. "Is out exit."
She turned her head expectantly, wondering why he was so confident all of a sudden. "How do you know that isn't gonna lead us into a pool of guards...?"
"Oh, it probably is." He nodded with sort of a... mock cheeriness. What was with him and his mood swings...?
"So...you could care less if the guards out there just happen to come after us...?"
He shrugged indifferently "I'm not really worried about that - I can outrun them any day."
Kagome just gawked at him. He really was an idiot, wasn't he...? "Inuyasha! That's ridiculous. Number one, you're injured; badly. Number two, you'd be carrying me; that'd probably make it a little more difficult as well. And number three, you don't know how many men are out there! There could be thousands for all you know!"
He gave her a flat look "Do you seriously think that there will be thousands of guards out there?"
"You know that wasn't the point!" she growled back at him.
"So?"
"Ugh!" she bellowed. "Fine! Let's just go out there, and if we die, we die!"
"And here I thought you were an optimist..." he grumbled as he stepped up to the door. "Well, here goes nuthin'!"
A/N - Bwahahaha! An evil cliffy! XD Hahah- Sorry. V_V In all honesty, I really don't end where I do on purpose, it just happens. ^.^ And I'll apologize again for taking almost a week to update. I really don't mean to take so long... ^ ^; eep... so yea. Please excuse my spelling errors, grammar errors, any OOC ness I might have accidentally stuck in there, and my incredibly uncreative chapter names. Ja!
~Eternal White~