A/N: Just one note today aside from my thanks to those of you who sent me those wonderful reviews...please try and refrain from being rude to me in your reviews, all right guys? If you think it sucks, that's fine, but a reviewer called dtch posted a rather rude comment on my story. As I've said before, constructive criticism is great, liking my story is even better, if you think it sucks, that's fine too...but there is no reason to be vulgar or rude about it.

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Unspoken
Chapter Four: Tasukete

Coming to pick her up? The phrase ran through Kagome's brain a thousand times as she paced around her bedroom. She plopped down onto her bed and sighed deeply. She frowned. Inuyasha's human night was coming up very soon. If Kouga hurt him, he wouldn't be able to heal in time. Besides, she didn't want Kouga to hurt him...her or Inuyasha? Her shoulders fell. She knew what was going to happen.

Again the phone rang. Kagome jumped at the sound, and stared at it a moment. Finally, she answered it. "He...hello?" she stammered.

"Kagome?" It was Sango.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Hi, Sango. Have you guys...have you figured out...how we are going to...?"

Sango shook her head, although she knew her friend could not see the negative gesture. "No, Kagome. Sesshoumaru is trying to set that up..."

"Oh," she coughed. "I..."

"Kagome?" She now heard Inuyasha's voice.

She blinked, but Inuyasha was quick to explain. "I had to talk to you, Kagome. I had to know you were all right. And Sango had three-way. I know I just saw you, but..."

"I'm...I'm fine, Inuyasha..." she lied.

"Kagome, what's wrong?" he demanded, sensing the falsities in her voice.

"Nothing." She said, a little too quickly.

She gasped as she heard the front door of her home creak open. Kouga was standing in her doorway. Her eyes widened and she yelped into the phone. "I have to go! I...!"

"Kagome...I guess you've made your decision, then?" Kouga smirked.

Inuyasha's ear twitched, but he stayed silent.

"I won't let you hurt him, Kouga." Kagome's voice shook with her reply.

"I see..." he tapped his foot. "You realize, someone has to be punished for your disobedience..."

"I...I know..." Her hand shook. Inuyasha still listened on the line, but Sango remained quiet. "Kouga, please don't...in front of my brother...Souta is upstairs...I...I don't want him to get hurt..." her voice broke.

It was then that Kouga noticed the phone. "Who the hell were you talking to?" he demanded.

Kagome shook her head, hard. "Just Sango...I'll..hang up..."

"Kagome!" Sango managed to cough.

"I...gotta go. Kouga is here and he doesn't want me on the phone, Sango. I'm sorry...I...I'll be fine. I promise..."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sango gasped. "Kagome!" The only reply was the click of the receiver. Kagome had hung up the phone.

Kouga blinked. "What the hell was that, Kagome?"

"She called me, Kouga..." Kagome defended herself. "She's my friend..."

He growled. "After that stunt you pulled, you expect me to believe that? She's not your friend, Kagome! I am your friend!" He advanced toward her, grabbing her arm forcefully.

She yelped. "Kouga...please!" she pleaded. "My brother..."

"I don't care, Kagome!" he yelled, jerking her forward.

"Let go!" she screamed, tugging her arm away. "You have no right to touch me!"

He slapped her across the face hard, and she fell to the floor, holding her cheek. Tears stung in her eyes, but she was not about to let him see her cry. He laughed. "What did you think you were doing, Kagome? I own you now. You need to start remembering that."

"Not for long..." Kagome muttered low under her breath, but the wolf's sensitive hearing caught her comment.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing..." Kagome snapped.

"You're coming with me," he said, quickly jerking her up and dragging her out her front door.

Souta's eyes were wide. He had seen everything. He watched the wolf drag his sister out the front door. Racing down the stairs, he grabbed the phone off its hook and hit the redial button as fast as he could.

"Hello? Hello!" he screamed into the phone.

"Souta? Is that you?" It was Sango's voice he heard on the other end.

Souta gasped. "Kagome...she was...he came here! I saw him hit her! He just dragged her out of the house...she's going to get hurt..."

Sango did not need to ask who Souta was talking about. Her face paled. "Kagome..." she whispered. "Do you know where they were going?"

Souta shook his head. "No! I just heard him say that she had to come with him...he said he owned her. What does that mean?"

"Never mind, Souta. I...I have to go. Stay at your house, all right?" With that, there was a click, and Souta slowly placed the phone back on the hook.

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"Sesshoumaru! Come quick!" Sango breathed into the phone. "I think that Kagome is in trouble!"

Sesshoumaru heard Sango's words, but it took him a moment to process them. "Kagome is in danger?" He paused. Somehow, the wolf must have found out about Kagome's visit to his office. But then...if that was indeed the case...

"Oh, no..."

"Sesshoumaru?" Sango frowned impatiently. "Are you still there?"

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "We have to find her, quickly, Sango. And Inuyasha must not know about this until after we've found her. If you find her, bring her to my office. Remarking her could kill her if we aren't careful, but if Inuyasha doesn't do it soon, Kagome may be lost to us...We have to figure out something to help her..."

"Don't say that!" Sango scolded. "I'll find her, Sesshoumaru...I will..."

"Do so quickly." Sesshoumaru snapped.

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"Maybe this will teach you not to disobey me, Kagome!" Kouga raged. "You should have done as I told you! I told you to stay away from him! Why you wouldn't listen, I don't know...but defending him? Now that is the stupidest thing you could have done, stupid wench! Why would you do that when you knew better, huh? Huh?" he screamed, raising his hand to her again. "Answer me!"

"I can't..." Kagome whispered back. "I can't let you..."

"Answer me!"

"I...love...him..." Kagome spat.

"What!"

"I. Love. Him." Kagome repeated slowly. "I'm not going to let you hurt him..."

"You'll regret that..." Kouga promised her.

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Kagome blinked. Her head was throbbing, but she was getting so close. She was almost there...almost safe. She could see the building. Although her vision was blurred and distorted, she could tell the building was not far off. Just a few more steps, and she would be there...

She walked slowly through the doors, glancing at the secretary before collapsing onto the ground in a heap.

"Sesshoumaru!" the secretary screamed. "Hurry! There's a girl here! I think it's...I think it's Inuyasha's friend, Kagome!" she called. "Something's wrong, Sesshoumaru! She's in really bad shape!"

"What?" yelped Sesshoumaru, running into the entry hall and dropping to his knees. "Kagome!" he gasped. "Inoe, call Lady Kaede! Tell her Lord Sesshoumaru needs her to report to him immediately. Tell her to bring the jewel. We have got to get Kagome and Inuyasha out of here. She will know what I speak of."

The secretary nodded, and quickly began dialing numbers on her phone.

Sesshoumaru cradled Kagome's head in his lap while he dialed Sango's number on his cell phone. After a moment, she answered. "Sango...go pick up Inuyasha and Miroku and bring them both to my office. Kagome is here..."

"What do you mean, she is there?" Sango frowned.

"She wandered in here before she fell unconscious. She's hurt badly. Bring Inuyasha and Miroku. There is something important that we all must do."

"What are you talking about, Sesshoumaru?" Sango's voice was confused.

He sighed. "We are all going back. Everything will be revealed to you soon enough. Just make sure that you all get here. Got it?"

Kagome began to stir. She groaned. "Sesshoumaru..." she whispered. "Don't let him hurt Inuyasha..." she gasped. "I told him the truth...and he isn't happy about it..." She closed her eyes once more, and sighed deeply, slipping back into unconsciousness.

"You won't have to worry about that soon, Kagome..." he promised. "I'm going to make sure that we are all going to be safe."

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"Lord Sesshoumaru, what is so urgent that ye had to call me..." Lady Kaede did not finish her sentence, for when she laid her eyes upon the battered and bruised reincarnation of her elder sister that was unconscious in Sesshoumaru's lap, nothig more needed to be said. "That poor child..." she whispered. "I thought something was amiss the other day when she showed up for class hours early..." She cleared her throat. "Tell me how this happened."

Sesshoumaru sighed deeply. "Have you brought the jewel with you?"

After a moment, the old woman nodded.

Sesshoumaru continued. "The girl has been unwillingly marked by the wolf, Kouga. As you can see, he has taken a rather violent approach to their relationship. It is my suggestion that we take everyone back."

"Take them back?" the old woman gasped, her eyes widening in pure shock. "But what about...?" she began.

The demon lord cut her off. "We do not need them to forget everything. We already had to do that once after Kagome completed the jewel. In fact, that would ruin everything. Especially after Kagome and Inuyasha have admitted feelings for one another. But it would be safer for all of us, the girl in particular, to go back to the warring states era. You have the completed jewel, and without the shards in his legs, there is hope that Kouga will be unable to follow us down the bone-eater's well..." he explained. "I fear if we take our chances remaining here any longer, Kagome may become a victim of circumstance...We have to get everyone somewhere safe if Inuyasha is to free Kagome of her bind to Kouga..."

Lady Kaede shook her head. "When will the others be here?" she sighed in defeat.

Sesshoumaru paused to think a moment. He nodded. "Any minute now." he promised her.

"When they arrive, I will do what needs to be done," Kaede said under her breath, removing the glittering jewel of four souls from her pocket. "But I can not promise that this is the best of ideas. After all, the only way to really get rid of the jewel is to make a wish that is completely unselfish...and I don't think this qualifies..."

"With that, we will have to take our chances..." said Sesshoumaru, his voice becoming even more serious. "Because we can not allow this to continue anymore..."

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A/N: So there it is. The next chapter to this and to Complicated will be out soon, as I don't have to work tomorrow. Joy! Please review and let me know what you think!