Chapter 19

It was hard to say where they were. Kagome had tried to piece everything she could base on scents, the sound of their capturers' voices, any noise she could pick up outside of the car. They were dragged out the van once they stopped. She could hear Kimora grunting and whimpering, they gagged her to stop her from screaming. Kagome could feel her body shaking, her eyes burning red, her gums ripping as her fangs protracted.

"Don't hurt my daughter!" she bellowed. "I'll kill you!."

She couldn't recognize her own voice, it was low, guttural, escaping from the bottom of her stomach.

"What the hell, Archangel? I thought you said she's a human?"

"She…was." She heard another voice, assuming it was this Archangel answering, it sounded slightly recognizable but still she couldn't place it. There was also a hint of disappointment behind his soft tone.

"Hello?" Kagome cried, her capturers' pinned her against the van. "Please, if it's money you want, we will give it you."

"Aww, the rich bitch thinks she can buy us." One of them said.

"What do we about the kid, she wasn't part of the plan." The other asked.

"Don't touch the kid, please." She could hear Yura. "That's just monstrous. Stick to the initial plan. Why don't we let her go?"

"Quiet!" Archangel replied. "You no longer have any say in the matter. You messed up with that Russian kid, bring them up to the cell with that old filthy demon."

Kagome could hear the subway underneath her. The gust of urine breeze blasting up the grates below them. She zoned in, hearing the train stop, the conductor's faint voice announcing where they were. Final Stop, Bowling Green. This train will be out of service. Please stand by for the closing doors.

Bowling Green, she thought. They were downtown Manhattan by the Staten Island Ferry. They must have been somewhere remote to be out in the public eye during daylight hours and no one noticing them.

"Oh, sweet Kagome." She heard, the voice of Archangel. She could feel his breath against her skin. Her skin crawled feeling the slightest touch of his fingertips against her face. "What has he done to you?"

Sweet Kagome? Kagome frowned. Who was this person and how did they know her?

"Who are you?" she demanded as she flinched away from his touch.

"You'll find out soon enough." He said.

She felt multiple arms holding her as she was escorted inside a building into an elevator. She heard the elevator ding 3 times. 3rd floor.

"Mom!" Kimora cried.

The elevator doors opened. "Stay calm, sweetie. It's okay, I won't let anything happen to you."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep." She heard a woman's voice. It came out of nowhere as the elevator doors open wide. "She…smells different. Kagome snarled and the woman could see her fangs. "What the hell happened to her?"

"They did something to her, she's a disgusting demon now." Archangel spat.

"Watch it!" The woman barked. Hearing her defensive tone, Kagome assumed she was a demon herself, or a half breed.

"Someone please tell me what the hell is going on!" Kagome shouted.

"Now isn't the time." She heard Archangel say. "All will be revealed soon."

The capturers' took Kagome and Kimora down a corridor and into a large room. She could tell it was fairly large by how everyone's voice started to echo.

She could hear a metal door open and they pushed her and Kimora inside what she was assuming the cell. Once they were inside, Kagome yanked her blindfold off. She couldn't see, forcing her eyes to focus as she searched around her for Kimora's silhouette, the 4ft 6 frame child appeared behind her, removing her blindfold as well.

"Mom!" Kimora cried as she reached her little arms out. Kagome pulled her into a tight embrace, trying to prevent herself from breaking down in front of her.

Pulling her into a tight embrace, she saw something from the corner of her eye. A limp body facing down on the floor across the cell. Trying to stay calm, she pulled Kimora away slowly.

"Kimora, I need you to stay right here." She uttered, strictly. Kimora followed her gaze and gasped as she covered her mouth.

"Oh no, mommy. Is he dead?"

Kagome walked across carefully, looking around the room. The cell was about 900 square feet in a room of 2500 square feet. The floor to ceiling windows were covered in newspaper. Nothing else occupied the room aside from a single fold out chair facing the cell.

She could see the body moving. Whoever it was, he was breathing shallowly. Crouching over the body, she slowly lifted him to face her and she gasped.

"Lord Modo Kai?" she whispered, her voice shaken at the sight of his face. He was beaten severely.

Lord Modo Kai wasn't a very nice person. She had run ins with him at the clan meetings over the years, he never hesitated to make her feel unwelcomed. Lord Modo Kai was an elder for the Nekochiba tribe in Eastern Asia. He followed Inutaisho's clan for decades but has talked about disbanding if Sesshomaru didn't bear a son. He was also not too keen on her as Sesshomaru's mate but to appease and respect Sesshomaru, he was forced to be nice, but Kagome could always sense the hatred.

His eyes were swollen and sealed shut, his lip was busted, nose broken in. She tried to lift him up but realized his shoulder was dislocated. He yelped when she accidently brought his arm back down.

"I'm sorry…" Kagome whimpered, wondering if what happened to him will happen to Kimora or her. "Lord Modo Kai, it's me Kagome. Can you open your eyes?"

His breathing was labored, his broken nose whistling every time he inhaled. Blood covered his face. Groaning, he could only open one piercing yellow cat eye.

"La—Lady Ka—goh-" he panted. "goh…me"

Yura walked into the room holding a glass of water. Kagome glowered as she cradled Lord Moko Kai's head in her arms.

"Yura," Kagome gritted, feeling betrayed. "What the hell is going on, what happened to him? Why are we here? Are you a part of this?"

"Kagome, please…" she set the water in front of Kimora.

"Don't touch that, Kimora." Kagome scolded.

"It's not poisoned." Yura sighed. "Look, I'm just going to get right to it. I really tried to warn you, I tried to keep you out of this. This has nothing to do with you. You should have left him."

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome's voice broke. "What—I don't understand. What does me not leaving Sesshomaru have to do with this?"

"He wasn't supposed to come back from Austria." Yura explained. "If only he had just died when his car went over the bridge."

"Jesus…" Kagome cried. "What is wrong with you? You've been in our lives for the last ten years. How can you say such a thing?"

"I had no idea up until the last six months how much Sesshomaru was involved in my life being the disaster that it is. He tore my family apart. My father killed himself because of your husband's cruel life sentence, and my brother, he didn't even help him at all when he was sentenced to jail for nine years for minor crimes. No, he was too concerned with humans and half breeds to even give a shit about his own kind! Hiten's criminal acts should have been misdemeanors, he was only 18 at the time, he didn't know any better."

"I didn't know you had a brother. Why have you never come to me? You know if you did, I…I could have spoken to him. We could have resolved this!"

"We have surpassed the point of absolving this ages ago. He needs to be dethroned!"

"Relax, Yura…" a husky voice cooed. A woman walked in wearing a white suit, onyx pearls decorated her long neck, her teal wispy hair tied up in a long pony tail. She narrowed her aqua green eyes at them. Kagome furrowed her brows at her.

"I know you…" Kagome said, gripping onto the bars.

"You should." She said.

"Shurran?" Kagome said, and looked at Yura. "You two know each other?"

"Mom, mom…that's Arahim's mother." Kimora whispered.

Shurran's head snapped. "What did you just say?"

Kagome covered Kimora. "She doesn't have to tell you anything?"

"Oh, it's so cute how you think you have a choice. You stupid bitch. Have you considered the position you are in?" Shurran snarled. "How do you know my son?" she looked at Kimora.

"He goes to my school." Kimora said, her voice very small and faint.

"I guess his father must have ran circles around you, Kagome. You just have that special something, don't you? Sesshomaru, Sasuke…" she cackled. "I just don't see it."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about." Shurran snapped. "We both know that I was supposed to be Sesshomaru's wife and we were to lead the Jade Order. You messed that up. Did you also know that Sasuke didn't want to marry me because he was still hung up on you?

"I didn't make anyone do anything, you can't hold that against me!" Kagome shouted. "Shurran, this is completely immature."

"It is truly laughable that you think this whole thing is about you." Shurran cackled. "Unbelievable."

Yura sighed. "Can we get this over with? When are we calling Sesshomaru?"

"What's the rush?" Shurran spat. "Let him suffer. Besides, Archangel wants a one on one with this bitch…" she stopped. "Surprise, surprise…another one of your fan boys."

Kagome looked over her shoulder back at Lord Modo Kai. "Yura, please get some help. Lord Modo Kai isn't going to make it."

"That's the point…" Yura pressed her lips tight, her tone cold but her eyes showed sympathy. "Look, Kagome…I really don't expect you to understand. I wasn't always a monster, they turned me into one." She glared at Lord Modo Kai.

Kagome couldn't believe the situation she was in. It had never occurred to her that Yura held on to so much hate and anger for such a long time. Yura and Shurran left Kagome and Kimora alone in the room with Lord Modo Kai. After removing her cardigan, Kagome poured the water from the glass Yura left behind onto it and bent back down near Lord Modo Kai. Gently she dabbed the wet cardigan onto his skin, his beaten face becoming more visible.

He gently raised his shaking hand to cover hers and his gaze fell to the side at Kimora.

"You need to get your daughter out of here."

"We are all going to get out of here." She said. "Please don't speak, save your energy."

Kimora pressed her fingers into his shoulder blade feeling the detached bone. She grabbed Lord Modo Kai's wrist, pulled his arm forward and straight and they all heard a crack. He let out a curdling yelp. After a few pants, he looked to the side of shoulder and raised it. Kagome stared in awe.

"Baby….how'd you learn to do that?"

"Grandpa." She said, nonchalantly.

Lord Modo Kai breathed heavily as he moved his shoulder. "Thank you…child."

"What else has Grandpa taught you?" Kagome asked.

Kimora shrugged, averting her mother's gaze.

"What happened earlier today? Why were you scared?"

"I…had a bad dream and I…"

Kagome studied her daughter momentarily. Kimora had a bad feeling and needed to come to her job and ironically they get kidnapped. Thinking about the past year, recounting every scenario from the nightmares at night, to the eerily daily predictions that had been becoming more and more accurate. The smell of sage in her bedroom, the crystals underneath her pillow. Her grandfather had been around a lot more lately and she never thought anything of it until now. Something she had suppressed herself when she was a young girl.

"Kimora…it's okay, you can tell me. I won't think you're crazy."

Kimora bowed her head, her silver hair falling in front of her face. She twirled it and lifted her hazel brown eyes to meet her.

Kagome smiled. "You know…I never told your father this…but, when I was your age, I used to be able to see and hear things that others couldn't. I never wanted to admit it because I would get teased at school. I didn't want to be different so I tried to ignore it. Yeye told me that it was a gift from our ancestors, but I didn't want it and I would ignore what they would tell me. As I got older, the voices and the visions stopped…and it never came back. Every now and then, I'll get a dream that eventually comes true. Yeye said our ancestors took my gift away because I didn't honor it. Sometimes, I regret being so afraid, I sometimes miss the gift of knowing. So you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but know, that I believe you and whatever you're feeling or have felt, don't be afraid of it."

Kimora's lips twitched and she hesitated a nod. She wasn't ready to talk about it but she was relieved to know her mother could possibly understand her.

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Sesshomaru and Koga arrived at the manor. When they got out, the entrance was filled with hundreds of clan members getting in. They parted a path for Sesshomaru to pass. He took quick notice of their expressions, the way they stared at him, was it pity? He remained calm, searching the crowd as he made his way to the Great room. He saw Samara in the corner with his father and mother, her eyes red and puffy. Arahim was beside her along with his father Sasuke.

Haji and Remy were in another corner, their heads bowed as they were reprimanded by their lieutenant Mudama.

"Where's Kagome and Kimora?" he said, his tone slightly shaky. He looked over his shoulder at Koga who was right behind him. He looked at him sympathetically.

The room went quiet and he spun around, still searching. He felt a heaviness weigh upon him, sensing the despair of the room, how Koga refused to meet his eyes.

"What aren't you telling me?" Sesshomaru's face softened for a second but quickly resumed to its callous nature.

"There was another alert…"Koga murmured. Anxious over how the next minute would turn out, he met eyes with Sesshomaru's father across the room. "Kagome and Kimora are….missing."

Inutaisho made quick strides over to him but it was too late. Sesshomaru lunged his arms and pulled Koga by his collar.

"How dare you withhold something like this from me!"

Samara gasped. "Father!"

Sesshomaru started to pant, his body filling with rage. His eyes shifted into a dark crimson red.

"Son…" Inutaisho gently put his hand over Sesshomaru's wrist as he gripped Koga's collar tight. Koga remained solemn, making no effort to pull away or fight back his distressed friend.

"I'm sorry…"Koga said. "I needed to keep you calm until we got here. You don't…think rationally when it comes to her."

"Koga's right, son. Please release him. He did this because he cares."

"My wife and daughter are nowhere to be found and we have wasted time because you fools think I can't handle it?" Sesshomaru shouted, his eyes turning a darker shade of red.

Saya ordered the guards to escort everyone out of the Great room for privacy. Everyone left except for Arahim and Sasuke.

Sesshomaru released Koga and spun around to face Haji and Remy. Both guards dreading what he would do to them.

"How could you both fail me?" he stormed at them but Samara ran in between them and placed her hands on her father's chest.

"Father!" she cried. "Please. Is there any reason to place blame right now? Look at their faces, they are already stricken with grief and regret. Please be strong for us, Kimora and mother are out there right now!"

Sesshomaru paused, feeling the tension in his muscles release. He cupped his hand over hers and put his other arm across her back, pulling her into an embrace. Seeing Kagome's compassion in her, he gulped back the fear and looked at his father pleadingly.

His father understood. Sesshomaru was looking to him for guidance, for strength that he didn't have to prepare for the worse. It was true, Kagome always held the power to cloud his judgment, even more so, his daughter was in the picture. He knew he had to stay strong for Samara but there was doubt.

Doubt that he could ever survive if anything happened to Kagome and Kimora.

"We will get to the bottom of this." Inutaisho said, waving his hand over to a desk in the corner. Sesshomaru's files were scattered across it. Sasuke and Mudama were looking over it.

"What is he doing here?" Sesshomaru asked.

His father sighed. "Sasuke has come to our aid, bringing his members of the Shirohyoma tribe. We need all the help we can get. Despite to your liking, Sasuke obviously cares about Kagome, that motivation can be an asset to us."

Sesshomaru frowned when he noticed Sasuke looking over Kimora's sketchbook with Arahim. He sauntered over with Samara in his arm and the both looked up at him.

"Sorry, my lord. I had to show him." Arahim bowed.

"Show him what?" Sesshomaru spoke, casting intermittent suspicious looks at Sasuke.

Sasuke shared a look with Arahim and then met eyes with everyone in the room. Lady Luciana walked in with Lord Hideko, Sasuke's father.

"Please forgive me, Lord Sesshomaru." Sasuke ripped one of the pages from Kimora's book.

Sesshomaru grabbed Sasuke from the neck and a growl escaped his chest, like a tiger about to eat its prey. Lord Hideko leaped toward Sesshomaru and revealed his fangs. Lord Inutaisho and Saya blocked him and revealed their fangs. All of their guards drew guns at Sasuke and Han Hideko.

Despite Sesshomaru's tight grip around his neck, Sasuke crumpled the page. "I had to do this, my lord. For my people."

Arahim interjected. "My Lord, please let us explain. I am sorry, Samara…but he has to know."

Samara lowered her head, glanced at her father and gave Arahim and approving nod.

Arahim lowered his head, slightly ashamed for betraying Kimora in her absence. "Kimora has been getting nightmares, as a lot of people in this room knows, but she's able to see things that she shouldn't know. That page my father is holding, it is a symbol of our crest that has been buried since your tribe claimed the throne centuries ago. Centuries, yet Kimora saw it in her dreams. You know it is tradition that a crest remains unknown until its time to reign. Please allow us to keep our secrecy."

Lord Inutaisho relaxed, told all of the guards to lower their weapons and pulled Saya away, who was still showing her fangs at Han Hideko. Sesshomaru released Sasuke from his grasp. Lady Luciana was beside Koga, holding on to her chest with one hand and gripping his shoulder with the other.

"I am appalled by this behavior." She said. "Lord Sasuke, Lord Sesshomaru, we have our youngest generation in our presence, please maintain an honorable demeanor as they are in their most influential age. I understand this situation is most distressing but let us listen to the boy."

Arahim sighed. "I think I have an idea who's behind this."

He took a moment and flipped through the sketchbook. The image of the woman in the blue hair. He presented it for everyone in the room to see.

"This resembles my mother a great deal…and needless to say, I'm sure of whom, Kimora has never met. Yet here she is, in her sketch, along with our family crest. There are other drawings, words, that are very concerning and as you flip through the pages, it just gets darker. A lot of it is of Lady Kagome, and the drawings are quite disturbing. It is odd that she drew all of this weeks and even months prior to this happening. The fact that she panicked at school right before they brought her to her mother's job and then they disappear can't be a coincidence. So it's safe to assume, in my opinion, that my mother has something to do with this, especially after this last drawing that Kimora did yesterday. It's a sketch of a crescent moon impaled by a sword."

Arahim's face went long as he pulled up his shirt, revealing that same symbol on the right side of his hip. Everyone including his father was surprised.

"Where did you get that?" Sasuke asked.

"Before mother left…" Arahim said. "When you were away on business, father…she would have me attend these meetings. I didn't know it at the time that they weren't of the best intentions. She said the symbol meant victory for our clan but once I found out, I started to contest. The day she left, she begged me to join her and I said no. She then said from there on, I was a motherless child."

Sesshomaru inspected the tattoo. "Why would your mother make you get a symbol created by a human gang?"

Lady Saya ambled closer, stroking her pearls and seeming cautious. She cleared her throat and looked at Sesshomaru.

"It wasn't created by the humans." She said, with deep regret. "That symbol…was created for the Jade Order...by me."

"Saya?" Inutaisho asked, in disbelief.

"I created that symbol after you exiled me after the divorce, I was just so angry at you. When I started the Jade Order, the clan was new and misguided and my goal at the time was just to get back at you, so I created it. But I only showed Shurran over ten years ago, it was over brunch after we had a few glasses of wine. It never went through since Sesshomaru didn't take over the clan."

"Do you still keep in touch with anyone from the Jade Order?" Inutaisho asked.

"Not at all. Once I came back to follow Sesshomaru, they denounced us. But it does make sense now, why she would be involved in this, you had her father executed."

Sesshomaru remembered who she was at that moment. His mother had tried to set him up with her when he was in search of a mate. She had caused a lot of problems for him and Kagome in the beginning of their relationship. Lord Tsuyoko, Shurran's father, was behind the death of Inuyasha's mother, unbeknownst to his father.

"But what does Yura have to do with this? And this Archangel? Why would this Archangel be using a symbol created by the Jade Order?" Koga intervened.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Inutaisho said. "I have this innate feeling that two separate entities have united against you, my son. I wouldn't be as surprised to come find that the Jade Order had been recruiting humans to increase its numbers. Let's just say, for arguments sake, Shurran was trying to continue your mother's mission…" Inutaisho gave Saya a disapproving side glance. "We could run names in the database of those who chose not to follow us and start from there."

Sesshomaru tried to stay focused. Koga was right, he couldn't maintain rationale. Everyone was talking but he just couldn't hear them. Kimora's laugh sounded in his thoughts, her little smile and how her fangs would peek through from her overbite. How terrified he felt not knowing if he would ever see her again. Images of Naraku's dead body flashed through his mind. He flinched at the thought of getting another video with his wife and daughter following the same fate.

Inutaisho could sense the pain and struggle his son was going through right now. He remembered the pain he felt when Inuyasha's mother passed. How Sesshomaru stepped in to help him, taking care of Inuyasha while he was crippled by her loss.

"Son…" he said, breaking Sesshomaru away from his dark thoughts. "Why don't you go to the DDC and see if there are any files we don't have here, perhaps have Koga interrogate the inmates at the penitentiary, once you have it, fax it over here so we can do some reconnaissance. Let's find out who this Archangel is."

Sesshomaru nodded and looked down at Samara. He caressed the side of her face. He passed by Koga and didn't say a word to him. Still upset at him, he was sure. Koga sighed and watched him stop at the doorway. He bristled over his shoulder at him.

"Are you coming?" Sesshomaru asked.

Koga sighed with relief, nodded and didn't waste another second to follow. He knew he had a lot to make up for betraying him.

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Author's note:

Hey, everyone! I have the next chapters written, facing a little writer's block and anxiety with the outcome so editing as well. ::crosses fingers::

Doing my best to get over it.

I hope you guys follow me to stay in touch once I'm done with this story 3

Be safe, be well, and be grateful.

Until then. ;)