So I'm going through my edits and I realize that I hadn't checked through this chapter (even though I wrote it only a few days ago) and I should probably check it up on fluidity, concerning the fact that I wrote it before editing the first two chapters of this story... So, anyway, I'm going through it, and I realized that I had completely gone off in the wrong direction, and I ended up having to write the whole thing over.

It sounds a lot better (and goes along with the plot a lot better), though some of the dialogue between Inuyasha and Kagome seem a bit awkward to me. Does it to you? Well, wait, you haven't read it yet, have you? sigh I'm finished ranting; onwards.

Forbidden To Love

Chapter 3: Claustrophobia

By: Kaji-chan

A soft, purple glow lighted upon the horizon, and Kagome looked up, gazing upon it with the strange content of confusion. What was that light?

She felt herself stumble towards it, a hand stretching forward as she reached out for the illumination. There was something about this light... something that warmed her inside, filled the hollow space left behind by the absence of her memory.

As she drew closer, she felt each step fill her with an incredible revitalization... almsost overpowering in her strength. Her feet dragged against the ground as she pushed forward, her fingers extended towards her destination.

And then, suddenly, the horizon dissappeared, the once bright light now merely a darkening glow. She found herself swallowed in black, and all that remained was the dim, fading purple light beyond her. "Ma--matte..." she whispered, her walk slowing to a halt as she stared longingly towards the disappearing light.

Her eyes trailed down towards her hands, and a gasp locked in her throat. "Wha..."

She couldn't see her fingers.

She jerked her gaze to her clothing, watching, horrified, as it, too, was slowly disapearing. Black was slowly creeping up her sleeve and soaking into her skin as it began to bleed into the surrounding darkness and faded from her sight. "What is happening to me!" she cried, wrapping her arms around herself as if in attempt to stop from fading completely.

Kagome's body went rigid, feeling that strange warmth inside of her suddenly spike and strengthen, pain shooting from her core to every end of her body. She dropped to her knees, a gasp of pain escaping her as the black continued to consume her. Her eyes slowly trailed from her fading body to the spot of the faded horizon, staring helplessly into the purple glow.

Her eyes widened as they came to focus on the light, breath catching painfully in her throat as her eyes barely made out a the unmistakable shape of a figure masked against the soft hues. Their long robes billowed in the hollow, solitary wind of the darkness, whipping their hair about them. She blinked, focusing upon them, watching through clouded eyes as the pain began to creep up through her chest. The figure paused and turned, seemingly noticing her as they turned their head to regard her.

Her lips parted to scream for help, but the darkness had already constricted her neck, fluttering against her jaw and absorbing the light tickle of her hair. They turned completely, facing her, but did not move forward to help her. She squinted, trying to see their face, trying to recognize it.

Before she could see their face, the darkness had begun to swim her vision, swallowing her sight and numbing all of her pain as she felt her eyes slowly drift closed, only two blurred colors lingering before she faded completely.

Red and...

White?

Kagome felt her head swim dangerously as she shot up, clutching her throbbing skull and trying to adjust her swimming vision. A twinge of pain emerged from the back of her head, and she reached a hand back to gently touch the tender area. She winced when her fingers flaked off some dried blood that had matted her beautiful black hair, and immediately drew back the probing finger. "Ite…"

A wave of fatigue washed over her, and her vision once again began to reel out of focus. Her wounds must have been severe to cause her to be this exhausted; the amount of energy usually required to heal a wound was never as great as it was now. She let her eyes drift shut as she focus her senses on the aching all over her body... silently assessing the damage. She bit her lip. It looked as if she would be spending the next day or so fading in and out of consciousness from exhaustion at the rate she was healing.

Kagome sighed softly, leaning back a bit to rest her head against the wall behind her. She reared forward with a sharp gasp as her back touched the jagged edges of a cold, stone wall.

"What?" Her head snapped around, feeling the sharp edge of a metal collar bite into the already sore area around her neck, chains clanging together as they were reawakened from the prone resting position at her sides. She instantly regretted the action as her head throbbed from abuse, blinking for a moment as she waited for the focus of her vision to return from its blurred state. It took merely a few breaths before realization hit her; she was in a dungeon. "That's right…" she hissed under her breath, "I was abducted by them…"

But then again, this was her usual reaction; the one she had every morning for the past four days as she woke up on the floor of a musty dungeon cell with scattered thoughts. It was as if the blow to her head had caused minor memory loss every morning after she awoke from the same disturbing dreams she had been suject to recently. Not that these foreshadowing psychies were of much help to her current mental and physical conditions. Just thinking about the burning sensation of purification flames engulfing her body sent her head bound for a week of headaches. She decided to not dwell on the reoccuring nightmares for now.

The miko princess attempted to stand, but her ankles were bolted into chains, and her injuries were not seeming to cooperate with her demands. Squeezing her eyes shut, she collapsed again, her hands falling out to pad her fall. With a sigh or irritation and further inspection, she found that her wrists were still bolted as well. "Chained cuffs. Fantastic…" she muttered in annoyance, realizing that her plans of escaping single handedly had suddenly come crashing down upon itself. There was no way she could get out when bolted to the ground by metal chains… and, of course, there was also the slight impediment of dried blood and unpleasant bruises affectating areas of her body from slow-healing wounds. Not that she hadn't realized this every morning... it just seemed to come back to her in pieces during her first ten minutes of waking moment.

She looked down at her hands, sliding the slightly loose metal shackle on her wrist up her arm a bit--or what the constraint of the shackle allowed--revealing a red rash, irritated by the constant rubbing of the bearings against her skin during her fitful slumber. She ran a finger over the sensitive area and drew back a hiss of pain. "Curse them…" she hissed, her hand loosely encircling her sore wrist.

"You're the one who's cursed, princess."

Her head shot up and spun to face the source of the voice, causing her mind to spin and pulsate painfully again. She fell back a bit, her hands shooting out behind her to catch her fall backwards, her eyes blurring as her head throbbed at her painful action. She hissed, clutching her temples as her eyes came slowly into focus.

When her vision finally cleared, she slowly looked up and frowned, ascertaining that he was too shadowed to be seen. Just how long had he been standing there, and how was it that her injuries had weakened her powers so greatly that she had not noticed his presence? Though her thoughts recollected slowly, she was sure that she had not been visited previously. Perhaps they decided letting her rot in a cell for four days would break her enough for iterrogation? "Are you so afraid of your enemy in chains that you would not show your face, captor?" she said, spite coloring her voice to a dark undertone, which was cracked from days of disuse. Even in anger, she could not surpress her habitual etiquette.

"Strong words, princess," he replied, a travestying tone to his voice.

Her eyes narrowed at his mockery of her, of her responsibilities as a leader of her people. But how would such a savage know anything of responsibilities? She snorted in mal contempt. "You're lucky that these chains are the only thing holding me back, you... you coward!"

Her voice was awkward and childish, and she frowned upon herself. She couldn't liberate her words, she couldn't speak their profanity. They screamed freely in her eyes but fought harshly against her lips.

She could feel a heightened glare burn into her, and eyes, hidden in the murky light of the dungeon, boring into her. There was a tense silence in which the detached voice studied her, seemingly amused by her petty insult but incensed by her eyes. The voice continued after a long moment, a light hint of threat in his voice as their formalities fell on ice. "You should know your place, miko filth."

Kagome's eyebrow twitched at his reference to her people. "How dare you speak to me that way..." she hissed, her hands curling into fists as she seethed in anger.

He chuckled, and she saw him cross his arms in the dim light of the dungeons. "Well, aren't you the spiteful little bitch."

"You... bastard." She hissed in retort, the vulgar word foreign on her pure and mannered tongue. "What do you want with me?"

He chuckled once more, his tone of voice wearing a devious smirk. "To find Dimentoria, of course."

"Oh?" Kagome's graceful eyebrow was drawn down into a contorted scowl, her refined speech now lowered to a sneer as she replied, "I'll never tell you anything. If you think I'm your ticket to the destruction of my own people, then you are better off kissingthe foot of my grave."

"Do you think you have a choice?" he asked, almost as if he was angered by her constant refusal to submit to him. "The longer you hold back your information, the longer your suffering. Until you tell us what we want, you can starve. You can't afford to strain your powers so thin, lest you die of your injuries."

Kagome could feel her blood run cold. She couldn't lie to herself; she knew his words were true. If she continued to fight them and was forced to starve herself, she wouldn't have enough energy to heal herself and keep her body alive enough to insurrect them. Her chest constricted.

"Meanwhile, we'll purge the waters in our own search. It's your own choice, miko, but if you want to help your own people, you'd be wise as to not be stubborn... there are many ways we can persuade you--forcefully--if necessary."

Kagome jumped forward suddenly, ignoring the surge of pain from her head and pulled forward, raising a glowing first to strike him with a fierce growl, purification energy swirling around her form. The light from her fist fluttered across is face, revealing to her his wide, fang-exposing smirk. She narrowed her eyes at his cockiness, pulling back her hand to shoot her deadly purifying powers towards his form, but she felt something tug at her neck. Her eyes widened. It wasn't the metal collar.

She barely managed to gasp out a raspy "What the—" before the light tugging immediately turned into an intense burning that sent electricity all through her body, causing her form to seize in shock. Her body shuddered once before her vision swam again and she collapsed to the floor in a crumpled heap. "What," she wheezed, "…is this?"

Kagome saw out of the corner of her eye as the man crossed his arms, taking a small step forward, towards the small ray of light that filtered into the dark dungeon. "It's a collar for you. Consider it a way of keeping you in line."

She squeezed her eyes shut in the effort of turning her head to face his form, slowly opening them to stare up at him. "How… how dare you…"

Kagome held back a gasp as she finally got a good look at him, realizing it was the same man who had led the attack against the borders of her city… the one who had captured her. Except... now she was able to look at him without the murkiness of bloody salt water clouding her picture, and was somewhat surprised by what she saw.

He was tall and lean, though she didn't have to second glance him to know that there was formidible power coiled beneath the concealing cloth of his baggy, red clothing. The long, silver hair which cascaded down his back--which, oddly, was far longer than hers and almost reached past his waist--was a stark contrast to the dark shade of his old, traditional attire. She had heard that there were those who still retained the custom of the olden days, from before the ancient times when demons were supposedly erased from all existance, but she had never seen one who did. His gold-tinted eyes glared down at her with a mocking glint to them, looking down at her subdued form over the bridge of his nose with a cocky grin.

There was something familiar about him... something that tugged at the back of her subconscious. She pushed it away, not particuarly enjoying the feeling of nausea that followed the probing of her memories. It seemed as though her amnesia wasn't about to allow her access to that forgotten past just yet, especially not when she was trying to deal with such a severe blow to the head...

But, from a common observation, he was obviously a demon, though she could tell with a quick rendering of his aura that there was something odd about him. Kagome frowned at her captor, who only returned it with a wider smirk, his fangs overlapping his lips in a cruel sneer of ridicule. She blinked curiously, however, at two white ears atop his head, twitching in amusement at her paralyzed form lying motionless on the ground. She was taken aback by their austere dissimilarity to his overall fierce and gruff appearance. Not that it took away from his ability to be fairly intimidating.

So, a dog demon, was he? It seemed, after noting the slip in his appearance, that he was having trouble upholding his human guise. Though, to be unable to completely transform into and hold a human form was a sign of either a weak youkai... or...

She had heard of such a thing... that youkai offspring mixed with other, outside blood would sometimes result in the lack of a second form. Rather than having the luxury of switching between two forns, they were mishappen with physical traits incorporated into what would be their original and only form, or vis versa. In this one's case, it seemed that he was fortunate enough to have a form with only slight alterations.

Did that mean he was a hanyou? It would appear that his second half was... but could it just be a mutation? She took in another pulse of his aura, her breath catching in her throat. He wasn't just half youkai, his other half was human.

He smirked again, cocking his head upwards a bit, misinterpreting her surprised stare. "Did you think you could get out alive? That we would all just bow to your whim and allow you to slip from our grasp when the destruction of the rebellion is so close?" Kagome's fists clenched. "Sorry to disappoint you."

"You…" she sneered, her previous air of curiousity dropping in an instant to be replaced with a boiling anger. "Don't assume that these restraints will keep be at bay for long. When I escape, I'll take no hesitation in killing you!"

He seemed to take her threat lightly. "You have quite a foul mouth for royalty," he said, his eyebrow cocking.

She forced a phony smile. "I could say the same to you, general."

"Do not put me on the same level of a human, miko."

She narrowed her eyes at him, leveling his smirk with a cold glare. "I can't wait to wipe that smile off your face," she hissed, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides, a faint glow lingering at her fingertips.

He merely chuckled as he turned to leave. "You'll be begging for mercy at my feet within the next week, miko filth," he said, his mocking formailty returned.

"Don't be so sure, hanyou," she spat in response.

She could see him bristle, a small frown tilting against the smirk upon her lips. "I'll be using any means to get what I want from you, you bitch," he said, his voice almost a growl, "And when it's all over, we'll either keep you for ransom or kill you." He took a step towards the cell door, his shadow creeping upon her and darkening his features as a newly kindled hatred smoldered in his eyes. "It would be much easier for me... if you were dead."

She felt a bile rise in her throat at his threat, but hid it well. Kagome snorted irritably and pulled against the shackles so she was as close to him as possible, pushing up her chest in defiance and narrowing her eyes. "Hah. You'll never get the chance to," she mimicked with a mocking tease, "because I'm not telling you anything."

He was unflustered by her weak threat, snorting roughly in her face as if to prove his immunity. She turned her face away in disgust as his warm breath curled over her nose like long, gnarled tendrils of acid contempt, his eyes glaring into her turned cheek, merely inches away. "Your threat is nothing," his spat, spearing her repulsed expression with disdain. "I can see the fear in your eyes. Breaking your weak protests will be nothing as long as we hold your people at gun point."

Kagome felt herself take a sharp intake of breath; her pride and egotistic notions deflated instantly as her weaker, concerned emotions for the safety of her people overtook her. Her eyes snapped back to his, immediately hating them. "You wouldn't…" she whispered.

He pulled his face back, uncomfotable and unappreciative of her suffocatingly repulsive proximity. "Before you die, miko, I will come to see you." Kagome's lips thinned as she held back a sneer. "Perhaps then you will speak." He turned to leave, but paused, turning to glace over his shoulder with a small smirk, as if revisited by some fair humor of sorts. "Just know this," he said coldly, "that no matter how hard you fight, you will die. But, if you surrender, you may live to see the fall of your petty rebellion." He smiled coldly, turning to leave Kagome and the dungeon to herself as he spoke over his shoulder, "Think about it, princess."

The main door slammed against the rust of its frame with a splitting screech and loud bang, resonding painfully against the stone walls and scraping against the inside of her ears. The echo faded along with her strength, her knees buckling as she slipped once more to the cold, rugged surface of her cell floor, feeling a reflective, cold feeling wash over her. The cold, indifference of impending solitude.

It seemed like she would have a nice, long time to formulate an escape plan.

That woman...

His eyebrows drew low over his eyes, and he stalked awkwardly down the hallway. What was it about her that set him so much on edge? Was it just his youkai blood reacting violently against her miko powers? Was it old feelings that were beginning to resurface upon seeing that face? Was it fear? Guilt?

He felt a growl roll up his chest. Fuck.

He shook his head with a snarl, as if to banish the annoying questions that plagued his mind with an irritating persistancy. He hated seeing her. Everytime he laid eyes on her face, all he was rewarded with was an assault of unwanted memories best left buried.

Was this some kind of punishment? Something sent to curse his existence with pity...? Or guilt...? Regret, even?

She may not have even known when she awoke, but she had been unconscious for almost a week, frozen in time and in reality. He knew this because her wounds had not healed at all during the time she lay in that dungeon until recently, just about this morning when she had began to peel back through the layers of unconsciousness and her body began to take away the black of her bruises and crust over her blood. It was probably a good thing for her that she had healed over her free-flowing wounds before she slipped into that almost death-like state on the ship ride back. Or was it?

As if to distract his thoughts, he found himself standing before a tall, familiar, metal door. He stood before it, waiting patiently for it to slide open before stalking through it to meet with a smaller, private corridor. It, unlike the dungeons from which he had just come, branched to a strong contrast of traditional japanese flooring and surroundings. Rather than the rough, uneven stone floor and walls, it was lined with a soft, thatched tatami mat that stretched the length of the hall. The corridor, however, much like the dungeon, was dimly lit, and in the air hung a heavy, staunch smell that was almost suffocating in its weight.

Perhaps the cause of that was the suffocating jyaki that clung the to air.

He snorted, as if to push the stangnant stench from his nose, making his way down the hall in long, brusque strides. He could feel the overhanging presence of youkai, swarming above and below him, sensing their presence through the walls and behind dark doors lining the corridor. He was used to it by now. Just as he was used to this long, long walk. A walk that he was not looking forward to.

But no matter how briskly he walked, nor how distracting the foul smell of the surrounding air, or how annoying the heavy presence of youki around him, he couldn't seem to shake her face from his mind.

What was this? Some kind of bad karma? His lips curled into a sneer. What a coincidence it was that she happened to be a miko.

A fucking miko.

And to think that they would be the spitting image of each other? Perhaps that would explain his immeadiate resentment towards her. It would solve so many problems if he would just be allowed to kill her. There would be one less miko lining the defenses of Dimentoria and one less miko plaguing his mind.

But, he supposed with an inward groan, it wasn't that simple.

Without this woman's information, they would be unable to find Dimentoria. It didn't matter how long they searched for it. But, with her here, they would be unable to keep up their barrier around the city, and their defenses would be much weaker without her annoying "foresight". So, in fact, her capture was nothing but an advantage for him, and certainly the worst that could have happened for the resistance. Unfortunately, he was unable to see past his own, more personal problems.

And this woman was certainly a personal problem.

Yet, for some odd reason, despite his enourous resentment and hatred towards this... this bitch... he still found himself wandering back towards the dungeons, standing before her cell and staring helplessly at her unconscious form with a strangled curiousity. Her resemblence, her haunting features, framed by the hair wrapping around her neck and splaying haphazardly around her as she lay upon the cold, stone floor, absurdly facinated him.

Why was she here? Now? What was her purpose? Was he so tied to Kikyou's destiny... that their fates were so closely twisted around each other that she would haunt him even after her death? His lips drew back into a sneer.

He had finally reached the end of the seemingly endless hallway, finding himself before a large, black shouji. He released a slow, calmed breath, and flattened a palm against it, sliding the door open and pasuing before the entrance.

"Ah... Inuyasha... I have been waiting for you."

His eyes narrowed, but he did not respond, simply taking a step into the room and sliding the door shut behind him with a careful slam. Inuyasha paused, folding his arms into the folds of his haori and turning to the source of the voice, his eyes falling to rest upon a huddled, shadowed figure in the corner. It would have been impossible to see his form in the suffocating black surrounding the room, if not for the soft, unnatural glow eminating from a small, open window in that corner, casting strange shadows upon the various objects in the room. "Yes," he said, "What do you want?"

A dark, omnious tint surrounded the man's form, and he did not move in the slightest as Inuyasha spoke, merely continuing to gaze out of the barred window with an impassive expression in his darkened eyes. "What is the news of the city?" he asked, his voice deep and slick.

Inuyasha's nose twitched. "Nothing was found," he responded, masking his tone with a rough, awkward response. Why hadn't he requested this information days ago when they had returned?

"I see," he replied. He still did not move, watching out of the window distractedly, the pale, red glow of the outside casting eerie shadows upon his features. "Anything else? Anything... that I should be aware of?" He turned ever so slightly, his head tilting in Inuyasha's direction just enough so that he could focus his dark, crimson eyes upon him with a chilling scrutiny.

Inuyasha did not reply at first, his thoughts immediately redirecting to the motionless body, lying quietly before his eyes. He was quiet, his brows furrowed as he debated with himself. "No," he said, finally, his tone rough. "Nothing else."

The eyes did not move from him, merely staring at him, penetrating through him for any sign of deciet. Inuyasha held himself firm, his eyes not moving from the direct contact and gripping his arms underneath his sleeves. A small smirk stretched across the man's features, and he turned his head to him completely. "Is that so...?"

Inuyasha returned the smirk with a sneer. "I hope you aren't lying to me..." he said slowly. Threateningly. "Are you, Inuyasha?"

A sudden movement behind his shadow caught his eye, and his breath caught in his throat. What the...?

A young girl emerged from the dark of the corner, stepping forward into the solemn, red glow from the window. Her eyes were black, wide, and souless, framed by short, white hair and pale skin. Her small hands were wrapped around a large, circular mirror, and she held it to her white, kimono-clad chest. Inuyasha felt his chest clench as he bit back his surprise. Where the hell had she come from? And why didn't he sense her!

"Kanna..." The man regarded her smoothly, not turning to awknowledge her, his eyes never leaving Inuyasha's. He noted that his smirk didn't seem to fade, either. "What are you hiding from me?" he asked, though it didn't seem to be a question. "You wouldn't want me to become angry, now, would you?"

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

His hand reached over to the young, pale child, brushing his fingers upon the surface of the mirror. Ripples undulated from his fingertips, and the mirror's image began to transform, becoming darker. Inuyasha felt his nails bite into the flesh of his arm as his clenched his fingers. Before him appeared a familiar form, its focus upon a bowed head, soft black tresses shadowing the features of a pale, weak woman, hanging solemnly from her chains.

"Who could this be...?" he asked, watching Inuyasha's expression with a strange intensity. "Could it be... a miko, perhaps?"

Inuyasha's eyes shot from the mirror to his, amber locking with red as he held his breath, eyes well schooled.

"You weren't going to keep this from me, were you, Inuyasha?"

He bit his lip, feeling his fang bite uncomfortably into his lip as he held back his response. He wouldn't allow him the satisfaction of giving him the answer he wanted.

The man's eyes narrowed, but rather than in anger or irritation, in a twisted humor of odd sorts. "Of course, I'm a forgiving man," he said, his voice colored with a well supressed mockery. "So I will allow you from any punishment, as I had known without your informing."

He stood, motioning off-handedly at Kanna, who bowed, swiping her hand across the mirror and diminishing the image, slowly slipping back into the shade behind him. "This is what I will do, Inuyasha, and you are fortunate that I am so generous to you." Inuyasha's lips twitched. "You will bring her to me when she re-awakes, and she will be under my supervision."

A growl rose in his throat, and his hands slid from his sleeves to fist at his sides. "She is my prisoner. You told me that any human I capture would be under my inquiry, and I would itterogate them, Naraku."

The man, Naraku, smiled. "Of course. You will be free to interrogate her at your own will. But she will stay with me." Inuyasha could feel his fists shaking in rage. Naraku raised an eyebrow, watching his seething form with a twisted pleasantry. "I would watch yourself, Inuyasha. If it weren't for my generousity, you would not be here to shake your fists at me."

He bit back his snarl, swallowing and unclenching his fists with great reluctance.

"I will not allow such a precious prisoner as this woman to be abandoned by your careless watching. You will bring her to me in two days time." Inuyasha opened his mouth to argue, but he was effeftively silenced. "You may leave, now, Inuyasha."

He bowed his head curtly, baring his fangs beneath a swallowed growl, before turning on his heel and heading towards the door.

"Kagura..." Naraku said, turning his eyes to the side. "Come here."

The thick, straining air uplifted, a strong wind swirling through the room, lifting the darkened, coiled lengths of the man's hair lightly from his shoulders. Inuyasha paused before the door as the gust of wind sharply slid it open to reveal a figure in the dark hallway. "You rang?" came a feminine voice from the shadows. His hair lightly settled upon his shoulders as he focused upon a woman's figure, who had casually walked through the open shouji at the end of the room, brushing by Inuyasha without a second glance to stand before Naraku. She tapped a fan to her darkened lips, a small smile upon their crimson hue.

"Kagura..." he repeated, smirking as he watching Inuyasha's shoulder's tense. "I need you to run an errand for me."

She raised an eyebrow, her lips parting as she shifted her weight, cocking a hip to one side. "Oh...? And what would that be?"

Inuyasha took one last glance over his shoulder to send a glare at Kagura's turned head before continuing out the door, slamming it incremoniously upon his exit. He paused, however, his ears perked as he listened through the thin wall for Naraku's order.

"I need you to deliver a message..."

He lingered for a moment, listening quietly. Wait... why did he care what the fuck Naraku was plotting, anyway? He snorted, turning his head sharply from the doorway and stalking off down the hallway. Hmph. If he was going to have to give up his prisoner to Naraku in three days, then he wasn't going to waste them.

It was time to find out a little bit more about this Kikyou impersonation.

That's it for now. I know its a bit short, but you can't win 'em all. At least you can expect a long chapter next time, ne? See you soon!

Chapter Four: Escape