Disclaimer:

I FOUND HIM TAKAHASHI! ::chases Inu-kun::

Inu: ACK! ::evades:: GO AWAY!

Chapter 9

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Kouga

"What the hell are you doing, Kouga?!" Kagome shouted and pounded on his back. "Lemme go!" His grip grew even tighter as he zigzagged through the woods.

"Be quiet, wench," he snarled. His voice was rough and didn't seem to be his own anymore. She looked down and pounded her fists against his armor again. Having no affect, she reached down and grabbed his tail gruffly and pulled hard upward. He howled in pain and dug his nails into her thighs, making her squeal in pain. "Stop struggling!" he hissed, his voice turning slightly feminine.

Kagome looked at him with a curious glance. She took a suspicious sniff in the air and realized that it wasn't Kouga's regular scent.

"You're of Naraku's blood!" she shouted and squirmed more. The guised person cackled and clung to her even tighter.

"Well of course. Did you really think that the man that adores you so would capture you like this?" the person sneered, the tone turning completely from masculine to a silky, feminine voice. The tail in Kagome's grasp began to spasm as the fibers in the hair turned from course brown to smooth black.

She let it go in astonishment as the running feet below her changed too. The wooly fur shoes that Kouga normally wore changed into narrow, bare feet; the skin became pale from the tan of Kouga's usual hide. In the place of Kouga's pelt, a long, flowing, black kimono merged. Right beneath Kagome's body, the kimono continued, making a narrow, sleeveless black top. A purple obi wrapped around the woman in mid air and tied neatly behind her. The woman's hair stayed the same color, but the ponytail unraveled and grew into long, wavy raven hair. The large hands on Kagome's legs felt like they shrank slightly and became less callused; the claws lay imbedded in Kagome's skin, nonetheless.

Kagome couldn't see her face, but she knew she must look like Naraku with the hair behind her. The woman stopped suddenly and hopped up a tree.

"Oye! What are you-"Kagome began just to be cut off by the woman's hand over her mouth.

"Be quiet," she muttered, setting the hanyou down on a branch. Kagome looked up at her, noticing that she was right. The woman had most of Naraku's features: the narrow, red eyes; the pale complexion; the long, pointed nose; the tightly curled lips. All that was different was the purple diamond shape upon her left cheek and the fact she looked a bit more feminine in her eyes.

The woman looked down at the ground and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small pouch. She reached into the pouch and sprinkled out some dust that gave off blue sparks when it hit the ground around them. She threw the sparks upward and over them as well. Kagome blinked and sneezed, despite the woman's hand over her mouth. The woman's nose wrinkled and she shook her hand in disgust.

Kagome quickly realized why the woman had hopped up the tree. Inu Yasha ran passed with Ryoko and Shippo sniffing around behind them.

"Wait! We're up here!" she tried to shout out, but no words came. She tapped her throat with two of her fingers and tried again. The girl looked down at her and smiled, her elfin ears twitching slightly. Kagome glared at her and attempted to mover her legs, but she couldn't stand. She tried shouting again, but the same thing happened: nothing. Inu Yasha got out of hearing distance and sensing distance and Kagome crossed her arms angrily. 'He couldn't even sense me,' she thought and looked back up at the woman.

"They can't hear, see, or smell us while we're under this spell I cast," she told Kagome through her thoughts and tapped her pocket within which the pouch was.

"Why are you doing this?" Kagome sent back to her angrily.

"I don't ask questions. I do what I am told. Master Naraku tells me to fetch Kagome; I fetch Kagome. I'd kill myself if he so pleased it," she sent back with little emotion. The hanyou nodded, still glaring deeply at her.

"What is your name? I need to know the name of the person who kidnaps me," she demanded.

"Master Naraku dubbed me Kyoko. As you can see, it is fitting," she replied. Kagome said nothing. "For you see, I can mimic any living creature on this planet."

"I figured," Kagome stated quickly, knowing that the name 'Kyoko' meant 'mirror'. The woman kneeled beside her and looked at her intently, gripping the hanyou's chin firmly.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Kyoko said and narrowed her eyes, studying the girl. Kagome pulled her head away.

"Keep away from me," she spoke firmly. Kyoko's expressionless face curved up in an evil smirk. Without warning, she grabbed up Kagome and hopped out of the tree, racing off into the woods in a different direction than Inu Yasha, Shippo, and Ryoko.

Later

The woods became thicker and muggier until they came upon a huge bog. Kyoko hopped from rock to rock to avoid the bubbling water with god knows what beneath it's surface. The misty fog began to clear as she set foot on hard ground. She walked to a shimmering barrier and passed through with no effort. She let Kagome drop and stopped in her tracks. Kagome rubber her head and looked up at her angrily.

"We're here. Come with me, now," Kyoko muttered and walked ahead. Kagome decided against it and ran the opposite direction towards the swamp again. Kyoko did nothing, but continued to walk ahead. The hanyou ran at full blast toward the barrier, but to no avail. She sprinted headfirst into a wall of electricity. She screamed in pain -her voice back now- and fell backward, scalded and in shock.

Her body began to hover toward Kyoko slowly as she looked upward toward the gray sky. The smog cleared soon and they were in a clearing, staring at a gargantuan stonewall: Naraku's palace. ((::enter scary Naraku music here::))

Kyoko jumped upward and Kagome's body floated behind. They made it over and began to trudge to the courtyard. Kagome sat up, still hovering, and flailed around, attempting to get out of the hovering hex. The charm died right in the front of the main door. Before them sat the notorious villain, Naraku.

"Insolent scum!" Kagome shouted and stood up, her hands balled in fists. Naraku chuckled slightly and kept still.

"Won't you be a wonderful member of our growing family," he stated and waved his hand toward two doors to his left. They lit up and slid open slowly. To Kagome's horror, she saw an unconscious Kouga, Sango, and Miroku.

"How did you get Houshi-sama and Sango-san?" Kagome shouted, getting ready to charge the hanyou. Naraku smirked venomously and waved his right hand and Kagura and Kanna walked out of the shadows. Kagome roared and charged toward the trio. She was caught by surprise when Kyoko quickly grabbed her by the wrist and twisted it behind her back. She then stuck a knife right beneath her chin. Kagome stood still and glared at Naraku as he chuckled again.

"Once the stronger ones left to search for you, I told Kagura and Kanna to grab up your friends," he sneered. The gray clouds turned dark and eerie as though they changed with Kagome's mood.

"Leave them alone!" Kagome shouted. Kyoko cut her off with pressing the dagger closer to her throat. Naraku's smirk widened.

"And what might you do about it?" he sneered.

"I'll rip your balls out and shove them into a new hole in your throat!" she shouted. Kyoko pressed harder onto her neck.

"I'm sure," Naraku murmured. He nodded slightly and Kyoko nodded back. The youkai pressed roughly into her neck and slid the blade quickly through her neck. Kagome's eyes widened as she dropped to the ground, clinging to her gushing throat. Naraku cackled as she sputtered out blood and coughed repeatedly, attempting to breathe. "Who has a new hole in whose throat, eh?" he jeered. Kagome looked up at him with bloodshot eyes.

"A-a-aass-s-s-s," she stuttered as the blood poured like a spout from her gashing wound. He chuckled again. She inched toward the evil man, leaving a trail like a slug's behind her.

"Why try when you can't succeed?" he muttered.

"I c-c-ca-an. I'm-m n-not the h-h-hum-man-n y-you used-d t-t-to kn-n- now," she slurred. Naraku grinned wryly. She inched forward on hands and knees, as she drowned in her own blood. She heard it inside her body as her lungs filled up with the crimson syrup. She dropped to the ground and unwillingly threw up, her body trying to get rid of all of the blood.

"It doesn't matter if you're human or youkai. A slit to the throat is a death sentence. I fear you only have a few more moments to live," he scorned, though he was surprised that she had held out this long.

'What am I going to do?' Kagome thought dizzily as the loss of oxygen was getting to her head. She looked up at the villain and saw that there were many of him. She could barely lift her head up and it fell back down as she closed her eyes. Her senses were going crazy for several minutes before they shot out entirely.

Kagome

"Where am I?" Kagome asked aloud to no one in particular. She was in a pitch-black room with a circled limelight surrounding her. She froze in her spot when she heard the padding of footsteps behind her.

"So, you're dead now, I see," a familiar, deep woman's voice uttered. Kagome turned around and saw a spotlight upon the black ground. A sandaled foot stepped into the light and then the rest of her figure. The proud miko that was nearly identical to Kagome-when she was human, that is- stood before her firmly.

"I... I'm dead?" Kagome asked and looked at herself. She jumped in shock when she saw that she was her regular human self. "How did this-"

"I will not let you die this way," Kikyo interrupted, "at the hands of that pitiful Naraku. Even you deserve a better death," she finished. Her body began to glow with a violent white light as balls of the soul she stole from Kagome so long ago swarmed around her.

"Wait! I have so many questions for you!" she shouted and began to run toward the fading priestess.

"They will be answered in time," the pale woman replied, her voice echoing throughout the dark room as she faded into the mist. The glowing balls of soul circled around Kagome's body as her own began to glow intensely. One by one they hit her harshly, entering her body rapidly. She fell to the floor when the last of her soul was blasted into her.

"Kikyo," she whispered and closed her eyes, a small smile across her frail face.

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So many interesting twists in this chappy! Gotta love it! I'll try and update soon! Ja ne!