AN: I promised an update and here it is! We got some really great and angry reviews for the previous chapter... ::grins:: Great! I'm happy you all liked! Well, maybe 'liked' isn't the right word... But hey, we all knew Naraku was a cruel bastard... We just fined that point out a bit.
Thank you to all of those who reviewed, please keep on reviewing! We love your feed back! And Inuyasha rules. Shame we don't own him... Yes, that was a disclaimer in disguise.
Once again, thank you for reviewing, keep doing so and enjoy the story! Ja ne! Except another update – soon!
Like the city Inuyasha had stormed with his pirate companions, the castle was dark and quiet, but that was not because of night or slumber. Death had settled on the castle, death to any who dared speak a word of truth behind the walls, letting lies and shadows fester and create a plague of wickedness that only served to feed the King who sat on a throne not his own, and spread fear among those he commanded.
Inuyasha could smell her. He could smell her from far away, a beacon of truth in the dingy city. He raced down the stairs to the dungeon. Unlike the dark cellar where Sango was kept, this one was made for people of higher birth. The doors were not iron bars, but solid wood doors. The windows were barred, while Sango had no window. And the furnishings were lavishing. It was like a scene from a morbid play, where the lovers consummated their marriage amid death and decay. Inuyasha sniffed out the keys and unlocked the door to Kagome's cell. He tossed the keys on the ground in the cage, and shut the door before he rushed over and knelt by the side of his wife.
"Kagome?" He leaned over her curled form, held safely in the bed by soft sheets that gave no heat to the cold prison, his snow white hair turning bright gold in the light of the setting sun, outshone by the protective fierceness of his eyes. "Kagome?"
Her eyes fluttering open, Kagome forgot about the past day and wondered where she was. Why Inuyasha was waking her up like this and not with his usual tickles, sleepy kisses or sweet caresses. But then it all crashed on her like a wave hitting the shore, her brown eyes widened frighteningly huge. "I-Inuyasha?" Kagome gasped, like an animal caught in the path of a predator not knowing what to do for a moment and freezing in place, just to inch back a moment too late.
He smiled, but it was not the usual smile he wore with Kagome. It seemed more like a snarl, in the closing light of day. His fangs really did earn that title, now. He watched her freeze, and leaned over her further. "So, you're awake. When they kidnapped you, I thought that I had lost you." Inuyasha's voice implied laughter at some joke she couldn't possible hope to understand. Leaning his head down, he nuzzled her neck, lapping his tongue over the spot where he had bit her as if he could taste the blood afresh. It swathed her jaw line, and he gave a pleased shudder. "Have I ever told you how good your fear tastes?"
Kagome was already forgetting herself when he was leaning over, when he passed his tongue over her wound, the way he did often... Her eyes had even closed, but then when he spoke of her fear, they snapped open with a start. "No..." Kagome whispered and began fighting wildly, her hands smacking at him as she scurried away until she practically fell off of the bed putting it between them. "Wh... How could you... Stay away!"
"Stay away?" he repeated, letting the anger surge out of him. He flexed his claws and dashed over bed, seizing Kagome by her shoulders and shoving her back against the bed. He struck her cheek harshly. "I show you kindness, and now that I come to rescue you and only want to touch you in return for saving you, you tell me to stay way! Fuck, Kagome! I'm your husband! You should respect me! When I kiss you, when I touch you, you are supposed to be compliant!" Holding her down on the bed by her neck, one of his hands pulled at her shirt until her flesh was exposed to the cooling air. He ran his hands over her skin, not the least bit hesitant to use his claws. "Is that understood?"
"NO!" Kagome screamed the second her stomach was exposed.
She had to protect the child.
She had damned herself, but she wouldn't condemn a baby.
"You're not my husband!" Kagome screamed, struggling against him. Her legs kicking while her hands beat on him. "You've shown me more pain than kindness! Inuyasha! You swore you love me! If you do get off of me!" Kagome screamed when she felt blood run from when his claws passed over her ribs. Feeling a rush around her skirts, Kagome's eyes flared up with fright and she began screaming like a hissing cat.
"Get off of me!! Inuyasha!! Inuyasha!!" Kagome shouted pulling at his hair, scratching at his ears. Fighting him wherever she could. Feeling him force a knee between her legs, Kagome felt a tie to her heart break and she looked up at him with a new coldness. A new uncaring feel settled over her as she sank into a pool like a pebble. "You will not touch me, Inuyasha," Kagome whispered, her eyes drifting shut.
When they reopened they were a dark shade of brown, almost mournful. "Ever again," she warned and blasted him away as she threw up a shield of purifying power around her. Sitting up, Kagome ignored the burning at her sides and rearranged her clothes hurriedly. "Stay away," she begged, not believing this was the same man she loved... had married... had created a life... No. It wasn't him. Could never be him. It was the other. Any other would be better then him.
"Fuck, Kagome," he repeated. He laughed at her as he picked himself off the wall, staring at her shield. "Do you think you can keep that up forever?" His eyes narrowed. "Eventually you'll tire, and then I'll teach you what it means to be a wife. Then I'll teach you respect. When your husband comes to you, you're not supposed to tell him to 'stay away'. You welcome him. I see that you've forgotten that. I'll make you remember, Kagome."
Kagome shook her head, getting off of the bed and noticing, for the first time, her bow and arrows neatly left for her on a chair. Looking around the room, she didn't recognize it. But she meant to leave it all the same. Sporting the quiver sideways over her back, Kagome picked her bow up in her left hand. Her right hurt too much, the slashes at her side making her whole right side ache. "Why did you change?" Kagome whispered, remembering how soft and gentle he was... A flash invaded her memories as he pounded down upon her, demanding of her to take her words back, spitting that he hated her. Or was it that she hated him?
Kagome lost her balance and stepped back, her hand going up to touch her forehead, as though that could offer her a much-needed anchor. Shaking her head, Kagome refocused her gaze on him. "I divorce you, Inuyasha. You won't touch me again," she warned, still keeping the shield up. "Leave me be. You're home. Get away from me. I beg," Kagome whispered, not ready yet to really fight him, but slowly it was building up within her, the will to fight him back and physically wound him.
"You won't teach me anything," Kagome said, feeling like she had just stepped out of her body and stared at the shell that just seemed like her. Pulling an arrow out of the quiver she strung it and let it fly, aimed for his shoulder. "I will teach you the meaning of hurting a woman. You won't hurt me, ever again. Inuyasha," Kagome threatened, her eyes dashing towards the door.
He let her arrow pierce his shoulder, heedless to the pain but howling all the same. He stepped forward again, and he was shot again. Inuyasha clutched his shoulder, his golden eyes burning ferociously. "You can't divorce me. I'll never be gone until that mark is off your neck! You're in me, Kagome, and I am in you, in so many more ways than one!" He stumbled forward, knowing that Kagome could not hurt him if she let fly another arrow. "Run, Kagome. Run!" he snarled. "When I'll find you, I won't give you the chance to fire another shot."
Kagome didn't need to be told twice. She ran out of that room like a rabbit away from a wolf. Hopefully there wouldn't be another time, but if there was... Kagome ran around a corner and wiped her eyes. She wouldn't shoot at his shoulder. Not this time.
His taunting voice echoed in the hallway. Sango could hear it from her cell. Why was he yelling at Kagome to run? "Inuyasha?"
"Meow."
"Inuyasha doesn't meow." She looked down in her new cell, and fount the demon cat winding around her feet. This time Sango wasn't chained to the cell wall (having not given Kagura or any of her other demon "baby-sitters" the chance to get close enough to undue the manacles still hanging off her wrists and ankles). Sango scooped the cat up, receiving a lick on her cheek in greeting. Her brown eyes were warm as she placed the cat on her shoulder. "If Inuyasha's here, then that must mean Miroku is too. I guess it's time. Are you ready?"
The demon cat nodded, her tails swishing like a cat about to pounce on a mouse. There was no guard, luckily. Sango supposed that after her initial break out, they had assumed that she would not try it again, her packs gone and her hope dashed by Kagura's beating. But they had not caught the feline, nor had they found the hair brush that housed her only weapon. Sango thanked the cat again for being smart enough for hiding the hairbrush, and then lopped the lock off, walking right outside.
And seeing Kagome. Sango waved, taking off, not quite sure if she was more worried or happy at seeing her friend. "Kagome! I should have known you'd come too!"
Kagome stopped, for a moment a brief smile passed her worn out face. "You're safe. I'm glad," Kagome whispered and stood still leaning against the wall, Kagome allowed herself the indulgence of breathing to catch her breath. "Miroku was worried..." Kagome gulped, her eyes shutting tight at the thought if Inuyasha.
Snorting, she was still touched. "I'm sure he was. Probably didn't know what to do with himself." But her real feelings showed through when her look softened. "They didn't hurt him, did they? They didn't say anything about hurting him, but they didn't make it explicitly clear if he was safe or not. And do you know where I can find myself a weapon? I've got a lot of bodies to carve up in punishment for kidnapping me, those bastards...." She cracked her knuckles before noticing the swelling of Kagome's cheek. In fact, Kagome didn't look good at all. "Kagome? Is something the matter?"
Kagome rubbed her forehead where Kikyo and Naraku had tried to rub something. She ignored how warm it was and looked away from Sango. "He appeared to you that way too," Kagome whispered, her hand holding her aching stomach as she pushed away from the wall and began taking footsteps in the way opposite from which she came. "I can't face him like this," Kagome breathed, feeling the world swing again and wanting to cry for her friend. At least she was healthy. At least that, if nothing else.
Arching an eyebrow, Sango let the cat hop off her shoulder so she could try and slip herself under Kagome's arm. She seemed out of it, and dizzy, clutching her head and her stomach like that. Sango clucked her tongue worriedly. "Come on, Kagome. We'll go lie low and let the guys do the fighting for a bit, and then Inuyasha can carry you back home, and I'll be there to help fix whatever it is that's wrong, okay? I just want a really long bath first..."
Kagome jumped back from Sango and shook her head. "Don't mention him around me!" Kagome hissed venomously, looking around frantically. Slowly, Kagome's brown eyes settled again on Sango. "I'm not going back with you. He's not carrying me anywhere. I'll..." Kagome blinked then and stared. Really out of it and just now gaining her wits. "Sango!? What are YOU doing here??" Kagome asked and then looked around again. "Where is here?"
"Um... I was captured, and I broke lose and how the hell am I supposed to know?" She stared at her friend appraisingly, wondering why Kagome had jumped at her and was acting snappy. She was thinking of feeling Kagome's forehead, but was actually afraid that she would bite off her hand if she got close to her. "I mean, I just spend who knows how many hours in a fucking cell. I don't even know what time it is. All I know is there's a really bitchy girl who can control the winds, and another one who doesn't talk. Either way, whether you and... and him don't want to be around each other right now, it's kind of important we get the fuck outta this castle before Kagura decides to show up, okay?" she asked, her voice growing softer at the end as she stared at Kagome, still trying to figure out what was wrong.
Kagome nodded. "Not that way. That's the wrong way," Kagome said trying to clear through the mutter of her brain. She instead stared down the opposite direction of the hall. "Down that way must be it," Kagome whispered and felt a tremor go through her. If they met Inuyasha... Kagome closed her eyes. She still loved him, but she'd kill him. She had to.
"Come on," Kagome let out tightly backing up from the wall and proceeding down the hall. "We have to move quickly before the demons show up. By the way, congratulations on the baby attempts- Miroku couldn't help but tell, and your new found pet." Kagome said glancing over her shoulder warmly at the two tailed kitten, who was just SO CUTE! But when Kagome saw the cat's ears, they reminded her of Inuyasha's. How they always moved when she talked, how they flattened back when she yelled at him, the way their hairs stood on end when she raked her finger tips over their base... Kagome didn't know how much more she would be able to take.
Sango let herself be dragged along, though she still couldn't help but wish for a weapon, any weapon! She thought about what Kagome had said, her eyes staring at the hand mark on her cheek. There was blood seeping through the chest of her white shirt. She pulled the other girl to her stop, her eyes suddenly as protective as a mother bear's. "Wait a minute! Kagome... are you saying that Inuyasha did this to you? Yasha?" she repeated, using Miroku's name for the demon and hardly believing it. But her mind was pulling her back to the ship....
And so was the wind. Her hair lashed at her face. "Shit! Kagura!"
Kagura had a very determined and slightly pissed look upon her. "I thought we had a womanly trust between us," Kagura commented, slamming her fan shut. Narrowing her heavily shadowed eyes, Kagura noticed the other woman and cocked a thin brow. "You found a friend." She said and sighed, sounding bored. "You really are an annoying chit," Kagura said and lazily held out her arm at a 90 degree angle and dropped her fan open.
Smiling cruelly, Kagura raised both brows at the girls. With one fluid movement, she waved at them, the wind conjuring up behind her rushing past aimed for the girls.