Okay, I know I said a week… but a week turned into a week and a half… and then three weeks… and then a month… and then three months… and when I find a good, convincing excuse for that, I'll get back to you on it. But I'm sure you'd rather read the chapter than my author's note anyway.

Disclaimer: Got a trivia question for you: Is my name Rumiko Takahashi? If you said no, then you get a new chapter! Congradulations!

Forbidden To Love

Chapter 2: Captured

By: Kaji-chan

So now the real battle begins.

Her eyes were transfixed on the overshadowing cluster of youkai before her. Many of the youkai she had fought previously had been some type of humanoid or another. So, in many senses, this battle would be much easier than would have normally been, considering that she would not hold herself back. If they looked like monsters, it would be much easier to convince her conscious that killing them was for the better of humanity.

Which, without much doubt, it was.

Kagome bit her lip, concentrating on her powers. If she could concentrate enough, she could probably purify enough of them to escape without harm, but her odds were beginning to slim as she saw more appear behind him. She had never fought with so many at one time before, and certainly by herself.

This was certainly boiling down to be her moment of truth. If under other circumstances, she might have found humor in her misfortune, but it seemed that she would have to save such feelings of abnormality for later. She began to focus on their jyaki, realizing just exactly what kind of hole she had dug hereself into... and it seemed to be a pretty damn big one. "Dammit…" she whispered, the profanity awkward on her tongue.

She began to sum up some of her energy, assuming that they would attack in waves rather than as a whole. She began swimming backwards to give her enough space to summon some spiritual power for such a large excorsism, her hands twisting nervously over the smooth metal of her staff.

The hanyou smirked at her, his arms crossed as he numbered his odds against her. She returned his smirk with a determined glare, challenging him. He did not dissapoint her challenge. "Kill her."

Just as she had predicted, the first wave came at her; fangs, swords, and talons flexed and prepared to tear flesh. She held her staff before her, eyes closed in concentration as she found a spiritual equilibrium, balancing out her emotion to keep calm and collected, waiting for the perfect moment.

There.

She clasped her hands together, concentrating her energy for a short moment before throwing it out of her, feeling a wave of purification shoot out of her body, obliterating the enemy as it tore throught them. She opened her eyes, a small smile on her face as she observed the hanyou's irritated expression through the soft purple glow which surrounded her body in the aftershock.

He sent a second wave towards her, his anger visibly growing as they feel to the same fate as the first; not a single trace was left of them but the soft twinkle of purified sparkles as they blinked and faded around her. He singnaled for a third wave to attack her. She smiled. This would be an easy win if he continued to--

Suddenly, he backtracked, pointing at half of the attack force. "You!" he barked as they were but seconds from the outskirts of her purifying range, "Follow those two! They're headed for Dimetoria!"

Half of her enemies suddenly halted, redirecting their attack in the direction of Sango and Kouga, quickly catching up to their hastened escape.

"No!" screamed Kagome, her voice cracking in fear and desperation, her balance suddenly pitching forward as she lost her concentration, fighting forward to get to her friends. She needed to clear a path for their escape and protect it, or her fighting would be for nothing. Ignoring her opening for attack and forgetting the other approaching youkai, she placed a foot on the edge of the reef, pushing off with all her might and rocketing forward to cross in front of their approach.

They did not slow, barreling towards her. "You will go NO further!" she hissed the grip on her staff tightening. It was time to be serious. A familiar feeling began to pool at her fingertips as she felt the ancient power of her distant ancestors flow through her veins; the purifying power of the Mikos. Closing her eyes, she focused the energy through her fingers, into the staff's central power core, the crystal. The pale jewel nestled at the end of her staff began to glow softly, energy forming in its center and seeping a warming pulsation of light into the murky waters surrounding the princess. The light spread to her features, illuminating her angry and determined expression beneath its harsh glow. "I will not die here." she whispered, her voice a smooth monotone of perfection.

Some of them hesitated and began to swim backwards in fear. Before they could get far, Kagome's eyes shot open, her smoky blue orbs hardened and cold as ice as her attck solidified beneath her fingertips. She felt a cry rip through her lips as she flung her energy forward, its purple hue tearing through the murky darkness of the waters.

The jolt of purifying energy shot forward, headed straight for the youkai soldiers, emitting a bright flash of light as it came in contact with the corruption of their bodies. The youkai screamed in agony as the purification spell consumed them, disintegrating every inch of youki in their souls and tearing mercilessly through their existence.

She turned briefly to watch them escape, a sigh of relief touching her lips as they swam out of sight.

More youkai approached the princess as she redirected her attention, and she realized she was far too outnumbered. Kagome's eyes remained cold, her grip on her staff not lessening in the least as she continued to chant, the glow of the jewel flickering back to life. She had almost no energy left in her. Perhaps it was time to use a spell to bide her time to escape. If she could cause some sort of distraction...?

Muttering a casting chant beneath her breath, she felt a tingling flare at her fingertips, draining nearly half of her powers into her final attempt before she feld. "Please..." she whispered, a blinding light shooting from her staff and blanketing the darkness with a bright, white light. As the light sustained itself, she turned in the opportunity for a quick escape.

Not wasting a seccond more, she desperately swam backwards to get out of range of their sight once the light died. She might have another few seconds if she was lucky. Another swarm began to approach her, and she bit her lip. Where the hell were they all coming from! She didn't have energy left to summon forth purification... Kagome twisted quickly, muttering another light spell hastily. The orb began to emit light once more as she thrust it forward with a powerful cry, releasing a simple blinding spell again as she continued forward. A beam of light temporarily blinded the pursuing youkai as she tried to make a run for it.

Before she could swim very far, a foot shot out and dealt a powerful kick to her head, feeling her body pitching forward as pain flowed from the wound and shocked her nerves into paralyzation. Kagome was rendered shocked, stars dancing before her eyes as the effect of the light incantation quickly faded. How had he...?

Her senses returned to her, and she curled up, clutching her throbbing temples. She felt a sting as the icy salt water touched the new open wound on the back of her head. She shakily turned to face the attacker, her head spinning so violently that her vision blackened. "If you come any closer, I'll kill you!" she screamed into the dark, wildly swiping her staff back and forth as she sensed the youkai surround her.

She was cornered.

She could hear the smirk in his voice. "Try."

Kagome bit her lip, her vision slowly returning. She could see him, though only barely as a red and white blob, floating before her. She backed away, rapidly blinking her eyes to clear their fuzziness. He followed her as she swam backwards, raising his hand in preparation to attack. "Stay away!" she cried, swinging her staff at him, clenching her teeth as he easily avoided its arc, continuing towards her.

Furious that she couldn't hit him, she used her advantage of speed against him and rocketed towards him, swinging her staff as hard as possible towards his head, her vision clearer now. He merely smirked at her, raising one hand to block the attack with his forearm, barely wincing as it slammed into his shoulder.

"Just give up," he mocked, grinning. "You can't win."

Snarling, she grabbed his arm, using the leverage to whip her leg around to whack him powerfully in the head, his surprise at her sudden attack evident in his expression, slumping away from her. Kagome took her opening, shooting off away from the group of youkai, leaving him in a mild state of shock.

"After her, you idiots!" she heard him bark at his hoarde. "We need her if we are going to find out where Dimetoria is!"

Youkai were already there, blocking her path of escape. Kagome didn't let off any steam and continued forward, using her forward momentum to slash through them with a powerful swing of her staff. Two of them dropped back from the impact in pieces, but the survivors grabbed her arms and waist, momentarily halting her. Her brow furrowing, Kagome took a deep breath, summoning forth the last bits of her energy, momentarily releasing her staff. Twisting, she threw the guards off her with a great extertion of difficulty and whirled on them, her hands splaying outwards, blasting them with a surge of purification energy.

Without a second thought, she grappled for her sinking staff and shot off again.

She gasped as guards used the distraction to swarm her, immediately forcing her arms to her sides and tying them down, preventing her from punching. "NO!" she screamed, twisting and rolling as she tried with all her might to get the restraints off of her, knocking a few youkai out of the way with her violent thrashing.

The hanyou swam over to her and pulled out a sword from a hilt on one of the guards, letting it glint threateningly in the dim light as he smiled pleasingly at her. Kagome didn't allow her fear to show as she growled at him. "Go ahead, kill me. You won't get any good out of it, you bastard! In the time it takes you to kill me, reinforcements will have already arrived." Kagome fought the urge to bite her lip at her bluff, narrowing her eyes in defiance.

He seemed to be amused by her words. "Don't be stupid. I'm not going to kill you," he drawled, his lips twisted into a humored grin.

"You won't?" she asked in faint surprise, her voice touched with a strong sense of distrust.

"Not yet, anyway We need you to find that lost city of yours," he replied, calmly. Kagome's eyes widened and she jerked at her restraints, pulling on the youkai holding onto her ropes as she got up in his face, a scowl molding her features. He only grinned.

Before she could register what was happening, Inuyasha used all his strength and slammed the flat side of his blade into her temples, knocking her into unconsciousness.

Inuyasha smirked as the miko princess fell limp and began to sink down to the bottom, her tight grip on her staff slacking and dropping it, a small trickle of blood drifting from the side on her head. Inuyasha grabbed her waist as she tumbled downwards and kicked her staff towards the guards, beginning to bark out orders to the officers. "You! Take a few soldiers and scan the area for any others. The rest of you, come with me to the surface. Do it!"

The officers scrambled to do as they were told and Inuyasha headed to the surface, the princess hanging limply underneath his arm. He looked down at her peacefully unconscious face, studying her face silently. He sighed irately, a small smirk on his face as he looked down upon her sleeping expression. "You're our ticket, princess."

Sango had to hold Kouga back as he fought harshly against her, trying with all his might to break her hold on him and kill the bastard. They had only half-heartedly swam a few meters, Sango--ironically--begging Kouga to turn back to check up on their friend. What a mistake that had been. And now that the murky waters had begun to clear up and they could see what was really going on from a safe enough distance, holding him back from doing anything really stupid was becoming more and more difficult.

"Kouga! Don't be stupid! If you go out there now, you'll be killed!"

He continued to struggle, growling obscenities underneath his breath. "That fucking bastard… wait 'til I get my hands on you for fucking touching her!" he snarled, "I'll tear you into so many FUCKING pieces…"

Sango strained against his struggling. "Kagome-chan would never fogive me if I let go out there and get yourself killed!" He growled, thrashing against her. "She is stronger than the both of us combined! If she couldn't handle them--" she cried, trying not to be too loud as to attract any unwanted attention.

"Let go of me Sango, I'm going to fucking KILL him!" he growled, watching with a growing anger as they began to disappear towards the surface.

"No--Listen to me! Kouga!" He continued to fight as they faded from view, snarling visiously. "Stop it! KOUGA!"

He suddenly ceased, his struggles weakening and subsiding as he watched them dissapear from view. He snarled, yanking his arm out of her slackened grip, glaring off to the side as she paused uncertainly. Sighing noticeably, he turned his eyes to her, whispering quietly, "Let's go back and notify her mother."

Sango nodded and the two led the small party back to the city to inform the rest of Dimetoria of their princess' departure and to think of a plan to get her out.

Inuyasha leaned against the wall of the cabin, staring out across the outstretch of sea, the wind whipping against his face. He frowned, his nose twitching from the salty stench that assaulted his nose upon each intake of breath. He hated the ocean.

Yet, he could manage to ignore such irritations today. His gaze dropped from the ocean, and he turned to the door behind him, leaving the boat deck and disappearing into the small cabin. He closed the door behind him, turning his attention to the still form of a woman, lying upon the floor at the other side of the room.

A small smirk lifted his features, and he made his way over to her, kneeling beside her body. It was certainly luck to stumble upon her outside of the city's limits, and even more fortunate to have the chance to capture her. She would certainly be of great use to him, if he could get her to talk, which, he added with a smirk, wouldn't be very difficult.

This woman, though...

His smirk faded, and his eyes swept over the features of her peacefully slumbering face. A frown crossed his features, and his eyes hardened. There was no mistake; this bitch was the spitting image of Kikyou. If her hair were a bit longer... straighter... darker... there would be no misconceiving it.

There was something strange about her. She had almost the exact same feel as Kikyou as well. He had almost thought it was her at first, but... that would be impossible. He drew in a breath, his brows drawing lower as his nose twitched in unfamiliarity.

Her scent, however... Her scent was much different. Her scent as softer, almost sweeter than Kikyou's. He had always thought of Kikyou's scent as a strong, encompassing scent, often, upon his recollection, resembling the transitions of fall to winter. Her presence reminded him of the colder seasons, almost chilling but, somehow, very peaceful and calm.

But this woman; she was so alive. Her scent wasn't sharp and brusque as Kikyou's was, but, even though it was gentle, had a certain spice and rebellion to it. It seemed, though, as he drew in another deep breath, that they both held a peaceful edge to it. He snorted, pushing her smell from his nose with a grimace. As if she could be Kikyou.

He stood with another snort, brushing his claws against his nose as if to shoo her away from his senses. "Stupid bitch..." he muttered, turning to gaze out of the window.

He paused, looking back over his shoulder at the unconscious figure. After another few moments, he crossed his arms, turning a bit more to stare at her features with a curious frown. "Who are you...?" he mumbled.

"Inuyasha..."

Inuyasha shook his eyes from the woman, turning to the door as it swung open, an old, nasty looking snake hybrid sneering through the crack. "What the hell do you want?" he barked, stepping away from the woman and folding his arms into his sleeves with an irritated grunt.

"We have arrived," it hissed, turning slitted eyes to the fallen miko's form. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he observed the smirk upon the youkai's face, watching him bare his teeth greedily. "And what of the girl?"

He turned his nose up to the low youkai, taking a protective step before her and flexing his claws. "She's my prey. I'll do with her what I wish, low life."

His smirk quickly changed to a glare in response to his threat, retracting slowly from the doorway into the darkening outside. "Fine... hanyou." Inuyasha bared his fangs, clenching his hands into fists. "If you weren't under Naraku's protection, hanyou, I would tear you apart for that."

"Keh," he sneered, one eye twitching as he supressed his own anger. "Watch your fucking mouth, before I take care of it for you." He flinched, but did not take the incentive to leave. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed, and he held his flexed claws before him threateningly. If this low life wouldn't respect his authority, he would certainly respect the prospect of his own deminse. His voice dropped low, and he sneered. "Get out."

The door slammed behind him, and Inuyasha dropped his fists, the anger fading slowly from his eyes. "Bastard..." he hissed at the closed door, shrugging his shoulder as he turned to glare half-heartedly at Kikyou's imitation. His glare, too, began to fade, and he crouched by her form, staring upon her features with an irritated perplexity. "Who are you?" he repeated.

It seemed that Kikyou had finally come back to haunt him.

"Captured...?"

Kouga and Sango bowed their heads in aknowledgement. "Hai, Jo'ou-sama," they whispered, Kouga's tone choked.

The queen raised a hand to her lips, blanketing the soft gasp rising in her throat. Captured! Kagome was in the hands of the enemy? Her only daughter?

She sighed deeply, feeling a tight squeeze in her chest, clutching her pain with a trembling fist. Closing her eyes, the queen turned to face her daughter's two friends with a solemn smile. "Please, do not bother with formailites."

Sango bit her lip, nodding. It was painful to watch the expressions flicker across the queen's face as they told her the condition of her daughter's absence. After knowing the queen for almost the entirety of her life, Sango had grown to love her as the mother she never knew as a child. Kagome's mother had always been there for her with open arms, loving her as if she was her own. Sango never deserved the kind treatment she recieved from such a selfless individual as the woman standing before her. Speaking to her of her daughter's kidnapping was as if she was breaking the woman's heart with her own hands. Her eyes fell closed in shame.

Two hands touched her cheek with a light, careful tone. Sango lifted her chin, her eyes fluttering open to gaze up into the queen's face. "Sango... she whispered, "daughter..." Sango bit her lip once more. "Please. I do not blame you for her capture anymore than I blame the ocean for it's existence around us."

Sango gazed into her eyes, her tone soft and gentle against her hollow hearing. "Everything has a purpose, just as everything serves a purpose. Your duty was to protect my daughter to your fullest extent, in which you preformed exceeding any expectations I preceeded. Do not blame yourself for fate, for that is far out of your reach of conrtol." Sango drew in a deep breath, calming herself by the older woman's words of wisdom with a nod. The queen smiled gently, her hand cupping Sango's cheek and stroking her long, brunette tresses in a soothing, mother-like fashion.

"It's my fault, Jo'ou-sama. I take full responisibility."

The queen straightened, her gaze falling from Sango's to rest on the turned back of Kouga's form. "Kouga, it is not your--"

"It IS my fault!" he cried, his head bowing in shame. "I shouldn't have listened to her... I should have took her place. I should have protected her."

"It is not your fault," the queen argued, her tone restrained.

Kouga turned to face her, his expression torn and his eyes trembling. "How could it not be? It's my duty to protect the princess... it was my duty to risk everything to keep her from harm--"

"Which you did, Kouga." He looked away from her piercing stare. "I will not prosecute you for following a direct order from my daughter. It is your duty to listen to orders before it is your duty to defy them."

He remained silent.

The queen sighed softly, clasping her hands loosely in front of her. "I will not tolerate anyone else accepting the blame for such an incident. It was niether of your faults," she repeated with a solemn closure.

"But it was my--"

"Jo'ou-sama--!"

"NO!" she reponded, her tone harsh with authority. "This conversation ends here. You will exit this room, but your conversation and any guilt you hold will be left behind as soon as you step into that hallway. Is that understood?"

She waited for their nods of understanding before she continued. "Furthermore, I do not want to hear of this again lest it is pertaining to the subject of bringing my daughter back home." Kouga bit his lip and bowed his head further. "As your first course of duty, you will summon a research team and you will find out where they are keeping her. Do not report back to me until she is found, understood?"

Sango and Kouga dropped to a knee, bowing their heads to their superior. "Hai, Jo'ou-sama."

The queen watched them in silence for a moment, as if collecting her thoughts. "You are dismissed," she whispered, her voice calm and gentle once more, almost apologetic in it's tone.

They bowed their heads in recognition, both standing in unison and turning, walking calmly out of the doors to disappear into the corridor. The queen watched in silence as the doors swung shut, masking the room in a blanket of stillness once more.

She tentatively made her way up the smooth, marble steps to the throne, pausing before it. Her hand brushed against the finely crafted oak, faintly admiring the soft, delicate designs inscribed onto the arm rest. Her hand trembled, and she stumbled forward, gracefully into the chair as tears shimmered in her eyes. A hand snaked up and covered her eyes, a sob wracking her chest as she bowed forward, crying softly into her hands. "Kagome..."

Kouga paced the length of the hallway with a tangible anger highlighting his form, his steps loud as they echoed down the corridor. "That bastard... that fucking bastard!" he ranted, his clenched fists shaking in fury.

Sango winced, quickening her steps to keep up with his long strides. "Kouga... now is not the time to get angry."

"Of course it's not the time to be angry! I'm fucking FURIOUS!"

Sango smiled nervously.

"There is no way I am leaving Kagome to those youkai bastards, no fucking way!" He whirled around the corner, heading straight for the research lab.

"Kouga..." Sango began hesitantly. Perhaps now would be a bad time to remind him that he was a youkai?

"No! We are going to find her NOW, we are going to prepare a search party NOW, and we are going to find her NOW!"

The taijiya slowly inched away from his seething form, her eyes apologetic as she followed from a safe distance towards the research lab. She had seen him get angry before, but never like this. Sure, he was worried about Kagome, but so was she. You didn't see her stomping around the base and throwing a temper tantrum. Now was certainly not the time to be acting so childish when something as important as her friend's safety was at hand.

The wolf youkai wasted no time, kicking open the doors with such force that it knocked one of them off their hinges, the door handing from the door frame at a dangerous angle. The scientists and technitions all paused, turning to gaze upon the scene in surprise and fear, freezing as they watched him stalk to the edge of the lab. "YOU!" he bellowed, whirling and pointing a finger a one of the fear-stricken scientists, anger glinting in his eyes, "Up here, now!"

The man didn't have to be told twice. He fumbled out of his chair, scrambling up to stand a safe distance from Kouga's seething figure. "You!" he pointed, "You! The one over there with the glasses, yeah, you! Up here now!"

One by one, the selected researchers scrambled up to form a line along the wall nearest the commanding officer. "Who is familiar with power fluctuation locations? You, up here!"

Sango watched wearily as Kouga selected a team of about ten, barking out orders at them and pointing them to respective tasks. If he didn't surpress that anger of his, there was no way they were going to find Kagome. She sighed, deciding that opening her mouth and telling Kouga to "chill" wouldn't solve much and she would still be stuck standing there with nothing to toil conscious with. Sending a curt nod his way, she turned on her heel and exited the research lab.

She hadn't taken more than three steps out of the double doors before the familiar caress of a sneaking hand fluttered across her shoulder. Sango gasped, raising her hand to whirl and slap the offender, but was pulled into a chest, her arms trapped to her side by a humorous embrace. "Sango... did you miss me?"

"If you don't take your hands off me," she threatened, her eyes closed and twitching in irritation, "I will personally give the scientists in that lab a reason to add a third gender to their research records."

"Ma, ma, Sango..." he said with a resignated sigh, releasing her reluctantly.

Sango shot away from him, whirling around with a slap ready and itching at her fingertips. "Houshi-sama!" He held his hands out in apology, smiling with child's innocence as he chuckled at her reaction. She paused, her hand twitching as she studied his expression. Either she wasn't paying enough attention or he was just getting too fast for her, the latter to which she took a wary mental note. Though she wanted to be terribly angry at him, its potency seemed to die in her eyes. Her tone quieted as she allowed her hand to drop to her side, her lips pursed. "You're out early," she mumbled, changing subject as to halt any questioning of her rare forgiveness.

"I was let out on good behavior," he replied, a smile twitching on his lips.

Sango kept in a snort, eyeing him with a distrusting glare. "Or you let yourself out."

The monk sighed. "Yes, being head of the monestary always lent me some advantage..."

"I think it's a crime that you have no superiors," she retorted, starting off down the hall again.

He trotted after her, evening his stride to match hers as he walked with her down the hallway. "Kagome-sama is my superior, Sango, as is the queen herself." She glanced at him with a wary eye, seemingly taking a cautious note of the distance between herself and the monk beside her. "Yare, yare, I will not touch you."

"I don't trust you."

Sigh.

"Will I ever gain your trust, Sango?"

"No."

"But I have yet to betray it, so how could it be lost?"

"Please remove your hand."

"...ah..."

I thought I'd end on a more humorous note, since this story in particular is going to be quite... serious... So, some mention of "Naraku", eh? That should make things more interesting. Hope to see everyone soon!

Next chapter: Claustrophobia