A/N: Another somewhat short chapter, but I put out two in a day and I'll most likely make it up with the next one. That one will probably be one of the longest yet, and will be told from the castle. It's about time we caught up with them, eh?
Moving on, there's going to be a slight overlay of time while I play castle catsup. I hope none of you mind, but if you do, know that it's necessary to set up the final confrontation. Then it's the final chapter -slash- epilogue before this story is shelved. Any final words, questions you would like to adress, creative criticism to make me laugh or point out a fairly large plot hole? I'll also love you and cite you if you point out any grammatical or spelling mistakes in my story...
Finally, like I mentioned in the last chapter, I would like to know if there are any endings you are totally against. Horror, sci-fi (yes, there is such a thing), happy, sad, angsty, action/adventure, complete fluff, random, etc.? I'll keep it in mind, even if I have the rough of the layout already planned out. Your input is important to me, I want to make this go down with as many happy readers as possible!
Two hours later, there was another knock at the door. Kagome and Souta were sitting inside and talking, Kagome telling her little brother all about her stay at the castle. She kept a few choice bits out, like the insults and swearing, for example, as he wasn't quite old enough to hear such strong language.
Kagome stood, just after telling her adoring and captivated audience about reading to Youko in front of the fireplace, and made her way to the door.
Night had long ago thrown itself over the world like a blanket, smothering the light and making it somewhat hard to see. It was cloudy outside, giving the impression that rain would cascade down on unwary travelers at any moment. It came as to some surprise, then, when Kagome peered out the window and saw a glittering sea of torches flickering just beyond the door.
A nasty feeling made itself known in the pit of Kagome's stomach, and she really didn't want to open the door. She jumped a good inch into the air when someone pounded on the door again. With a slightly shaking hand, Kagome opened the door slightly.
She was very annoyed when she saw Inuyasha standing there on her doorstep, but it was overshadowed by the unease she saw from the crowd of villagers standing just beyond him. It appeared as if every single soul living in their tiny, nameless town had appeared to follow him, and Kagome's feelings told her that it wasn't for a good reason.
She ignored the crowd and glared at Inuyasha, hiding her nerves behind a mask of anger. "What do you want, Inuyasha? I thought I told you to leave us alone." She made sure to put a healthy dose of venom into her voice.
Inuyasha looked down his nose at her. "You're mistaken, Kagome. You said for me to leave you the hell alone, or did you forget?" Angry muttering rose up from the crowd- most men believed that women shouldn't swear, since it gave them backbone and made them think for themselves. Most women believed that as well. "And I'm afraid that I can't comply with your wishes."
That ominous feeling increased. Kagome looked past the man standing in front of her, seeing so many people she knew. Kikyo, in all of her better-than-thou attitude, standing just a few steps behind Inuyasha with a sneer plastered over her delicate features. The butcher, who had been so kind to her and had always had a joke up his sleeve, looking at her with grave disappointment. People that Kagome had grown up with, whom had helped her and her family out when they were in a tight spot. Most surprising was Houjo, standing and shaking his head off to one side.
Kagome's momentary lapse in attention allowed Inuyasha to grab her wrist. "You're in danger, Kagome."
Kagome struggled, trying to pull her wrist out from Inuyasha's grasp. The dark haired drunk handed her arm to a burly person standing just behind him, his name momentarily slipping Kagome's mind. She tried to pull free. She wasn't strong enough to, and was dragged to stand at the bottom of her steps.
Inuyasha was left to sweep into her house. There were scraping noises and the like inside as he searched for something. Something which Kagome thought she knew would be.
Souta, blinking in confusion, was shuffled out by Inuyasha to stand next to Kagome. He looked up at his sister uncertainly. "Kag'me, what's goin' on? Why ur we out 'ere? Wha' 'bout pop?"
Kagome opened her mouth to say something, but a meaty hand came up from behind her and fixed itself over her mouth. Only muffled sounds of protest came out, and she watched wide-eyed as Houjo looked at her with pity.
The bookseller turned to Souta. "Hey, buddy. Kagome's been brainwashed, alright? Anything she might say will be a lie; anything she's told you is a product of her being under a lot of stress and manipulated by devils." The sandy haired young man patted Souta on the shoulder.
"Wot's branwashin'?" he asked. It was so innocent that Kagome sobbed. What were they doing?
Houjo looked down at the young boy and smiled. The smile made Kagome want to gag, it was so full of fervent belief in what he was told by Inuyasha and determination to stop something that wasn't happening. "Brainwashing is when someone tells you lies so many times that you begin to believe it."
Before Souta could answer, Inuyasha spoke up with a booming voice. Kagome looked up along with anyone else, and her heart sunk as she saw her mirror clutched in one of his grimy hands.
"Fellow men, fair maidens! In fall, we lost Kagome in the forest bordering our lands. We had thought she suffered the same fate as everyone else who had ever ventured into those dark and evil depths. But then she returned with her brave younger brother. And, when I went to see her, she was spouting meaningless nonsense about kind and generous demons!"
The crowd gasped. Kagome wanted to shut her eyes, turn off her hearing, or shake her head and scream that they were all wrong, that the people at the castle would never do anything to the village! But she could only watch with horror as the village began to become riled by Inuyasha's speech.
"They told her lies, made her believe that they would never hurt us when they were really getting us all fattened up for the cutting block. And how do we know? How did Kagome prove to me, fighting this witchcraft even as it held her in its clutches, that these animals were after us." He gazed into the mirror.
Kagome willed it to show something harmless, or, better yet, nothing at all. But like all sorcery in every fantastical story Kagome had ever read, the magic worked for anyone who had the enchanted object.
When the mirror was turned towards Inuyasha's fanatical audience, it was a picture of Youko. Kagome knew he was harmless, but from the picture of him arguing with Yuusuke (who looked perfectly human and rightly wary of Youko's infinate and fairly crude temper), it didn't work in Kagome's favor. Youko was baring his teeth in arguement, snapping and flexing clawed fists at his side. Kagome had been told that was one of his nervous habits, and knew that he wouldn't hurt one of his friends.
But the others didn't know that, and Inuyasha used that to his advantage. "He's getting ready to come after us, him and the rest of his demon horde. They'll come after us when we least expect it, in the night when we're all tucked in our warm beds and dreaming of better times! They'll come and take us as food, snatching up women and children alike. They'll turn us into slaves, made to dance at their beck and call. We cannot allow that!"
A large cheer rose up from the crowd as he continued his rave. "They'll slaughter us like mindless sheep unless we do something about it! We cannot let ourselves be wiped off the map, we cannot let this continue. We must do something!"
Inuyasha's words brought a spark of inspiration to the captive woman. Kagome bit the hand that blocked her mouth, and was glad to hear the yowl that followed. The hand was taken from her mouth and the one that had been holding her into place was pulled back as well.
She ran forward and dodged the people, leaping at the mirror in Inuyasha's grasp. There was a gasp of shock as she grabbed hold of the enchanted object. "Let go! Youko would never hurt anyone, he can't! That's part of the spell that's holding all of them, is that they can't raise a hand against any living being."
Inuyasha backhanded her and Kagome fell back to the ground. The mirror was still clutched in his hands, the raven haired man's grip so tight around the handle that his knuckles were bleached white. Kagome met his eyes and wished she hadn't; that wasn't the gaze of a sane person.
Inuyasha spoke at a growl, yet it carried to even the edges of the massive sea of bodies. "You're ill, Kagome. They have you thinking that they can't hurt a living creature, yet they have by taking away what makes you you." Hands grabbed Kagome and lifted her to her feet, holding her there in front of Inuyasha. "Don't worry, though. Soon the spell shall be broken and you can be free again." With a nod, the two men holding Kagome began to drag her away.
She kicked and screamed. "Don't hurt them! They wouldn't do anything, why won't you listen to me?" They just stood there and watched as she was carted away from them. The butcher still looked at her with disappointment, Houjo's gaze was still filled to the brim with pity for the young maiden. And yet none of them lifted a finger, even when it was obvious that Kagome was starting to bruise.
It came to a shock to everyone when Souta ran up to his sister and grabbed her skirt. The two men stopped pulling her and stood there dumbly.
Souta spoke directly at Inuyasha. "How can ye go an' be sayin' my sis's crazed 'nd sick in th' 'ead? She ain't told no lie in 'er life, an' ye know 't!" He stared up at Kagome. "I 'member meetin' some o' thems a' th' castle, and they was nice t' me. 'Specially Yuus'ke." He smiled.
Kagome returned the smile, glad that her brother had been there long enough to see the kindness of the inhabitants before they were forced to leave.
Then a third man picked Souta up like a sack of potatoes and threw him over his shoulder. Inuyasha screamed at the people, saying that 'the boy has been bewitched as well!' Neither sibling could do anything but scream at the newly made mob as they were taken to the village and thrown into one of the innermost cellars- the butcher's, to be precise.
The lid was clamped down onto them, and a chain wrapped around the handles to prevent their escape.
Kagome spent the next ten minutes pounding with all of her might, screaming her throat raw trying to reach someone who just might take pity on her enough to believe her story. She was just about to give up, when there was a return pound from the other side of the cellar door.
Muffled talking and the clinking of chains told the tale of someone trying to free her. Kagome and Souta both stood at the base of the exit, just waiting for their saviors to help them out.
It didn't surprise Kagome when Kenshin's hand dipped into the enclosure to help pull Kagome out into the night. It did give her quite a shock, however, when Miroku and Kouga were standing mere feet away trying to organize the heavy chain together. Her jaw dropped further, if it were possible, when Sango, the local seamstress, and Ayame appeared at her side.
"What are you all doing here?" she squeaked.
Miroku smiled brightly and Kouga shook his head. Miroku spoke up first, giving his reasons. "See, I never afore been un fer violencin', nor treatin' women 'n chillun with such a disrespectin' manner. I nev'r been known ye ta lie, Kag'me." Miroku's expression turned serious. "Nor 'ave I ev'r believin' In'yasha wudda gone thus far t' getye. 'E's none a sane no more, an't makin' me ashamed a havin' once called 'im friend if thus be what 'e wus hidin' allus time."
Sango shrugged. "I'm jus' 'ere a'cause he," she pointed to the player, "asked me t' 'elp ye."
Kagome turned to the other two, standing arm in arm, with suspicion. "I would've thought that you two would've been some of the first people to go with Inuyasha," she stated bluntly.
Kouga shook his head again. "I grew up while you were gone and realized that I thought of you as more of a friend than anything. I changed my opinions accordingly." Ayame agreed with him, and Kouga grew thoughtful. "Of course, I've never liked Inuyasha to begin with, so it's no big loss to me if he's going to his doom either way."
Kagome's face fell and she grew panicked. "That's right, how am I going to beat them there? I have to warn them!" She was about to take off running when someone grabbed her sleeve from behind.
She turned to face Kenshin, with Kaoru standing next to him holding the bridle of a plowhorse. "Hold up there, don't go charging in and making rash decisions. Here," he said as Kaoru handed her the reigns to the giant piece of horseflesh. "You take old Daisuke and ride as fast as you can to save your prince. We'll watch over your father and Souta until you come back to us." The unspoken if you choose to come back remained in the air.
Kagome nodded. She swung herself up onto the bare back, pulling the reigns with her. The horse danced under her, but Kagome kept her seat. Her skirts were kilted up to her knees, but she didn't care. She turned to voice her thanks when Miroku fixed her with an admonishing stare.
"Dun ye be thankin' us till ye get yer guy. Ye love 'im," he stated, "an' if any o' us deservin' some'un who love us wit' all thur heart, it be you." He pointed to the forest. "Now, git goin'!"
Kagome heeled Daisuke around and galloped off, not looking back. She rode as fast as she could, trusting the old horse to pick the best path.
Kagome found it eerie, not running into any of the cursed beings while she made her mad flight to the castle. It was even creepier when it began to rain. It wasn't even a small shower; it was a torrent, as if the heavens had decided to see just how much water could be soaked up into the ground until it became insubstantial.
To throw it off, she began to think about what Miroku had said. Ye love 'im. Did she really? She was so unsure, her emotions were all in a tangle...
Then something happened. She remembered the sheer panic at thinking she would be too late to save Youko, that he would be dead when she next saw him. She hadn't been worried about Yuusuke. She hadn't been worried about Yukina, or Shizuru, nor any of the other occupants that lived in Youko's palace. It had been only the silver haired fox demon that had held all of her worry and concern.
And it was with that clarity, the knowledge that she loved him with all her being, that Kagome rode up into the castle grounds. It was chaos, but Kagome was just relieved that she had made it to the place before much had happened besides old furniture being thrown out the shattered windows.
The feeling stayed with her until she looked up, only to see Youko and a shadow (most likely Inuyasha) dueling perilously on the rain-slickened roof. Kagome practically threw herself from Daisuke when one of them slipped and fell. She didn't even stop to consider that it was most likely Inuyasha- she would only believe that the one man to capture her heart was still alright and whole when she saw him with her own two eyes.
She fled up the stairs like a hawk, ignoring the fighting around her as she concentrated on her one goal: the roof.
End Chapter
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