Chapter 47

The two women had been hog-tied, blindfolded, gagged and thrown over horses. Both wondered if the other was all right. After what seemed like forever, the horses stopped and the women were taken, roughly, into a house.

They were kept tied up, but their blindfolds and gags were removed. That's when they saw their abductors.

"You! You're the man from the marketplace!", Kagome spoke in English as her daughter looked at her confused.

"Yes, my lady. My name is Wendell, William Wendell. I come from London, England. And, as I said to you, your daughter intrigues me. So does your ... husband ... is it?"

"When my husband gets here, you'll be sorry. He'll destroy your sorry ass."

"My my, such language for a lady. I am waiting for him, my lady. You see, he'll be my star attraction and your daughter here,", he looked at Kaori and turned her chin in his hand as she growled at him, "She will be my slave."

"That will never happen. Like I said, my daughter could claw you to death."

"All fillies can be broken. Your daughter is no different. And you, you will be my bait.", he said, looking at Kagome.

Back at the village, Inuyasha and Yasha returned, hungry and tired. Inuyasha noticed that there wasn't any scent of food wafting from the house. Going inside, he saw Hiroshi, Jasmine, Kohana, and little Kazuo, but no Kagome. Or Kaori.

Looking at Hiroshi, he asked, "Where's mama?"

Jasmine piped up, "She was washing with Kaori."

'She should have started dinner by now.', Inuyasha thought as he walked out the door and headed over to the river. Yasha came running over to him,

"Oto-san, Mama and Kaori seem to be missing. The laundry is still there, but there appears to have been a struggle."

Inuyasha ran down to the river, and sure enough, his nose picked up three unfamiliar male scents. The women's scents were fresh enough to follow. He could also tell they had been taken away by horseback.

'Fools', he thought to himself, then said to Yasha, "Go over to Miroku's and Sango's. Tell them what happened. They'll help you take care of Kazuo and the others."

"Where are you going, Oto-san?"

"Where else? To get your mother and sister."

"Shouldn't I come with you?"

"No, I need you to stay here. Should something happen to me, you can lead Miroku to us. If you're with me, Miroku will have no one who lead him by scent."

Yasha nodded that he understood and headed back to the house. Inuyasha easily traced the horses scent deep into the Western Lands. Following the scents, he came upon a small castle in an old town. Some people still appeared the live in the town, but the castle appeared mostly deserted.

'Except for Kagome and Kaori.', he thought. Entering the castle, he focused on Kagome's scent first, as he realized the girls were separated. Hurrying down halls, he could tell he was getting closer. 'Fools think they can outsmart a dog's nose, do they?', he thought as he came upon a room where he could tell Kagome was.

Opening up the door, he saw Kagome chained up in the middle of the room.

"KAGOME!", he called out.

Kagome looked up at Inuyasha as her face registered relief first, and then horror and concern. Yelling back to Inuyasha, she said,

"Don't come any closer, Inuyasha. It's a trap!"

Ignoring her plea, Inuyasha started to run towards her, but aware of what she said, his senses were on high alert. Sensing the danger, Inuyasha pulled all sorts of moves, from jumping, rolling, and dodging to avoid all the trickery that had been set up for him. Getting to Kagome, he smiled a cocky smile as he kissed her and broke the chains.

"See, nothing to worry about.", he said to her.

"An excellent show as always, my love.", Kagome said, thinking the danger was over. As they stood up to leave, Inuyasha felt a sharp point in his hip. Looking down, he pulled a dart from his hip. He stared at the dart in confusion as he felt waves of nausea and dizziness sweep over him. As he fell to the ground the last word he heard was Kagome screaming his name,

"INUYASHAAAAAAAAAA!"