A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Ali for taking the consideration to contact me personally and remind me I still had fans out there. Thank, sweets::Huggles:
… You, Microsoft! Grrr.
-- You Get What You Pay For --
-- Chapter 4 --
-- Explanations Over Dessert --
As far back as Kagome could remember there had only been three times where she prayed hard to every deity Grandpa ranted about of to allow her to survive: once, when she was ten, a giant roach had flown and nested in her shirt; once when the roller coaster she rode stopped abruptly for a full minute upside down; and now. The sound of hangers and clothes being shoved out of the way was worse than finger nails scraping across a blackboard.
"Just because your eyes are closed, don't mean you're invisible." The voice above her retorted dryly. Kagome cracked an eye open at peeked at her finder. His eyes widened. "You." He hissed.
"Uh-oh." Kagome squeaked as a leathered-covered hand grabbed her arm and forcefully threw her out of the closet. Luckily she landed on the bed and avoided serious injury from possibly smashing her head against the wall. The black-haired boy ran from the door to the side of the bed as the white-haired one stalked up to more-frightened-than-ever Kagome.
"Who said you could ever pop your little head up around me ever again, eh?" Inuyasha snarled. Miroku placed a claming hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Inuyasha," he said, "That's no way to treat a lady."
"Take a closer look, bouzu," Inuyasha scuffed. The calmer man's eyes widened in realization and a breath escaped his lips.
"Yeah." The ill-tempered man said and focused his attention on Kagome. "What are you doing here and in my CLOSET?"
"Um," Miroku spoke up, "That's my closet."
"SHUT UP!" Inuyasha roared. "I don't need you correcting me in front of this bitch!" He reached down and grabbed the girl by the collar of the shirt and pulled her face close to his. "Listen well, Kikyou." He hissed through his teeth, "You have 'till the count of four to tell me why you've—"
He paused.
He sniffed.
She blinked.
His eye twitched.
"Who the fuck are you?" He asked.
"Not whoever you think I am!" She yelled back. With a quick release she bounced back onto the bed while Inuyasha looked at her dumbfounded.
"How can-- you look exactly like her, but you smell completely different." He gritted his teeth and ran his hands over his face.
"What's your name, miss?" Miroku asked.
"Kagome." She replied. "Kagome Higurashi."
"Higurashi?" Miroku repeated.
"Hey! You're that chick that ran away from home!" Inuyasha pointed out.
"What! I certainly did NOT run away from home." She stumbled, flabbergasted. "I was kidnapped by some creep who really needs a hair cut." Kagome didn't know weather to feel angry or upset.
"Well Asian reporter, Trish Takanawa, says differently." The owner of white hair blunted out dully. Kagome bolted through the door in front of the television.
"Trish Takanawa, live, on site at the Higurashi shrine where we are going on day eight of Kagome Higurashi's disappearance. Police first thought it to be a run-away case but the owner of the shrine declares differently." The woman turned to an old man while a young boy was attempting his best to comfort his sobbing mother.
"Grandpa, Souta, Mother!" Kagome shouted at the television as the two men walked back into the room.
"My dear grand-daughter couldn't have run away! There is an ancient legend of runaways I used to tell her every night before she went to bed! And that legend is--" Souta had come up and pushed his grandfather away towards his mother.
"We know my sister didn't run away because the house was trashed. At first mom told the police Kagome was just really clumsy but we know she couldn't have run away!" The boy fought back an onslaught of tears, clenching his fists.
"Oh Souta." Kagome whispered, feeling her own tears prick up. The reporter went on to tell how the police have now issued a missing persons report but was cut off halfway when a click of the remote shut the TV down. There was a bit of silence in which Kagome started to sob freely. Inuyasha looked over to his companion with an annoyed/what-the-hell-are-we-supposed-to-do-now look. Miroku held in a sigh and removed his handkerchief from his back pocket, kneeling by Kagome and handing it to her.
"There, there." The black-haired man rubbed the girl's back, his hand getting lower and lower--
Until a foot collided with the side of his head and knocked him away from the unsuspecting girl, now bawling into the cloth, and into a wall. Inuyasha growled in frustration at the noise. It was irritating as hell! He stomped over to the freezer, yanked out a carton, and stomped back over to the girl before shoving it in her face.
"HERE!" He shouted at her. She blinked and hiccupped, looking at the container of Chocolate Covered Cherry ice cream. When she looked up at him confused, he turned away, ears flattening to the side of his head, and muttered. "Jus' stop cryin'."
Kagome accepted the treat and muttered a thank you. Miroku jumped up, completely unhurt despite the fact he flew into a wall on the other side of the room, and guided the other two to the kitchen table.
"Well now that we've all calmed down, how about we hear your side of the story, Miss Kagome."
-- Reow --
An ice cream container later, Kagome had told the two everything that had happened to her starting with waking up the day she was abducted. Inuyasha stared at the table, more like glowered at it, while Miroku looked more concerned.
"Well, you did make an odd decision by jumping in the back of Inuyasha's truck. A very dangerous decision, but I guess its all for the best." Miroku shrugged then shifted, suddenly getting serious. "You see, Miss Kagome, the man who kidnapped you was Naraku."
"Mr. Creeper's first name is Naraku?" Kagome asked
Miroku smiled a bit. "We don't know his last name, but yes: Naraku is his first name. You see Naraku and his company are trying to create a special item. The process is similar to olden rituals and involves the essences of young women--"
"Mr. Creeper isn't trying to create some virus that goes out of hand and turns everyone into zombies is he?" Kagome asked worried. Inuyasha suppressed a smile.
"Um.. He most certainly is not. At least not that we know of. But I doubt he'd want to anyway. Naraku is kidnapping young women, looking for one who possesses the power to create the Shikon no Tama."
"The jewel that's supposed to be found in only a pure maiden?" Kagome knew all about the jewel, and all about the fakes she sold at her shrine each year.
"Exactly. The kidnappings have been going on for longer than you think. Naraku's company is powerful and will stop at nothing until he gets that jewel. No matter who he has to kill, he'll do it to get it."
"That means my family's in danger!" Kagome jumped up from her chair.
"Ah, yes I suppose. But not as much danger because you're not there." The black-haired man explained calmly, ushering her to sit back down. "Naraku probably has men stationed around the shrine day and night to wait for the moment you return so your best bet is to stay away for now."
Kagome's heart sank. Great, wasn't this cliché. But no matter how cliché it was, it still sucked. "So…" She started. "What are we supposed to do now?" Inuyasha suddenly let out a grunt, got up, and stormed to his bed room, slamming the door.
Miroku shook his head. "Ignore him." Kagome nodded. "For now, we can do little but wait and think of a plan. Predict where he's gonna attack next."
"And how will we figure that out?"
A dreamy look filled Miroku's eyes and he smiled widely at her. "I have my ways." He stared dreamily into space before shaking his head and addressing her again. "The couch folds out so you can camp here tonight. Tomorrow we'll talk more." After finishing up on the computer, Miroku waved her good night and retired to his room. Kagome turned over, pulling up the covers. She hated this and wanted to go home.
-- Reow --
Inuyasha rolled over and sat up. Stupid dreams woke him up. The clock told him he was up three hours before the sun. Good time for pointless infomercials. The couch was folded out, but he took no notice of it being unusual and plopped down on his stomach. After flipping through every channel at least three times, Inuyasha stopped on a device that advertised weight loss in space. Pretty pointless, but a great thing to sleep to. So the young man dozed off into a deep sleep again, never noticing the girl in the same bed as he, never noticing her roll closer to him unconsciously, never noticing his internal defending instincts kicking up and making him hold her close so the Boogie Man wouldn't attack.
-- -- -- --
A/N: My hand hurts so badly from typing. Took too long to get this out. Its 5.25AM. I'm tired. Next Chapter: Badges and Bruises