Author's Note: Hello everyone, sorry for the delay! Let's get right to it.
Awesome Betas: Penthesileia, Not_Towa_Wakasa, Noir
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Chapter 45: Into The Wolf Den
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Kagome
It seemed like Kagome's back was nothing but a tight jumble of muscle and nerves, clenched and ready for the Wolf King to strike out at her like he had at Inuyasha. It helped only a little that he was holding her by the hand and not by her neck like most youkai had the habit of doing.
Will I ever be able to relax again? she worried, as the Wolf King lead her up the twisting, dark tunnels and then down a grouping of others. The possibilities of what he was planning rushed through her head, each sparking jolts of anxiety as she desperately tried to prepare herself for how she could escape each method of attack. It didn't help that the air reeked of sulfur, and as they moved deeper, the stench of sulfur grew stronger.
Her body screamed at her to just turn and run - to get out. But she fought the instinct. No way was she leaving Inuyasha in this deranged map of caves, chained up and defenseless… Even though he's turned into a total asshole, she thought. Still, full youkai or not, if she planned on leaving Wolf Territory alive, it was going to be with him in tow. She wouldn't accept any other outcome.
As Kagome saw it, her only option was to sit and wait until she could hatch an escape plan. ...Or until her powers returned, whichever came first.
Even now, she wondered, would the Wolf King lead her deeper and her deeper into the tunnels until she could no longer find her way out? Would he eat her, like she'd originally thought, despite his insistence that he wouldn't?
She didn't want to think about the other, terrible things that he might do to her.
...He was still holding her hand.
It was uncomfortable. Warm and a little sweaty. It felt strange. Different.
It wasn't Inuyasha's.
But still, she kept it there, worried that pulling away would enrage this youkai, just like pulling away now seemed to enrage Inuyasha. Her stomach churned as she again thought of his changes. As a hanyou, he'd always been a bit rough, a bit stubborn and resistant. But the way he acted towards her now...
She quickly blinked back her tears. She didn't want the Wolf King to think she was weak, so she dropped her gaze to hide them as they fell, trying to wipe them away and hoping it looked like she was wiping the blood and gore that had splattered onto her face instead.
It was then she noticed that the light from the jewel shards in the Wolf King's legs were no longer the only source of light brightening up the hollowed tunnel. She glanced up, curious, to see lit torches lining the walls every few feet.
She felt the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding escape from her lungs. It was comforting to know that at the very most, she had fire on her side. If she was left alone at some point, at least she'd be able to see.
Around the next bend the Wolf King stopped in front of a tanned hide. It was taught from wall-to-wall, leaving them unable to see what lay on the other side. Kagome didn't have to wonder for long, and couldn't help the small gasp that slipped between her lips when the Wolf King swept aside the covering, opening the threshold to a cavern.
Large and spacious, the rocky edges and ceiling of the room had been carved smooth. It was furnished with layers of pelts, piled on top of each other to create lofty spaces to lay down or sit comfortably. A rude table made of wood sat in the center, to the right of a largish, unlit fire-pit, with a bear pelt underneath, its eyes open and unblinking, it's jaw stretched as if frozen in its final roar.
Off to the far left was a… pool, maybe? It was natural, more of a spring, which explained the sulfur she could smell. It bubbled up crystal blue and clear from somewhere below. The pool was layered with three levels of shallow, rock-formed vats, each big enough to fit way more than one person. A mini waterfall spilled from the top vat into the middle, then into the lowest, a bubbling cascade of water. The sound of it soothed her soul.
"Where...?" was all she managed to ask, struck dumb by the beauty she hadn't been expecting. It had been so long since she'd been in a room so luxurious, by caveman standards at least.
"These are my side chambers, meant for the women of my choosing," he said matter-of-factly.
Okay. Okay, she'd question him about that later, when she'd felt him out a little more as was sure he wouldn't rip her head off.
"Kouga," a voice called from the cavern entrance, startling Kagome from her astonishment. Two wolf youkai, both female and lavishly dressed, stood waiting attentively at the entrance. Thick, red and gold fabrics with shimmering trim were folded intricately over their shoulders and torso, tied with twisted cords and gathered with ornate pins.
"Yes, enter," the Wolf King ordered.
They moved gracefully across the floor, their arms filled with oils and salts and fabric that looked like what might be clothing. Both women had solid, colorful stone pins held up by piles of hair, twisted and braided away from their face, eyes and lips painted, cheeks reddened.
For Kagome, it was the first time she'd seen a glimpse of youkai culture that wasn't monsters and blood and eating humans. They were tall and beautiful, and Kagome suddenly felt embarrassed in her frumpy jeans and sweater, covered in mud and gore, hair tangled and matted from her struggle against the wolves. It figured that even so far out in the middle of nowhere, the pressure to look sharp and put-together still plagued her.
The Wolf King turned to her, his mouth a hard line. "Ikue and Maho will help you bathe and dress. Breakfast will be served in a few hours and you will be my guest. I have matters to attend to, so be sure to sleep until then." He paused, then added: "You look like you have not slept in a long time."
Her lips parted, and she hesitated before attempting a guess at how to address him. "Your… highness…?"
"Kouga." Was it just her or did his lips pull up slightly at the corners?
"Kouga," she repeated. She wanted to tell him it was a mistake, that she actually couldn't detect the shards and then beg to let her and Inuyasha go. But the urge was irrational and she knew it. A response born from panic. Instead, she breathed out deep. "What will you do with Inuyasha?"
His chin jutted out, his eyes regarding her with what, ...wariness? Suspicion? She couldn't read his emotions as well as she'd come to read Inuyasha's.
"We'll discuss what is to become of the mutt and your future here with us in the morning. Ikue, make sure she is scrubbed well." Without a second glance, he turned and stalked out of the cave.
No! Don't leave me! she wanted to shout after him. She could feel the eyes of the two women on her back, could hear them whispering to each other. Kouga was obviously the leader of the wolf youkai in every sense of the word. She'd already seen those around him jump and hurry to carry out his demands, so it was unlikely that these two would disobey him and harm her.
But still.
She turned slowly, her eyes rising up to meet their yellow, curious ones. They also bore the slitted pupils that she'd come to associate with wolf youkai, enhanced by expertly applied makeup. It was a strange thought, that something Kagome considered so human was a shared custom with youkai.
She tried to smile. The corners of her lips lifted, uncertain as she felt out their response.
The one named Ikue sighed loudly. Her hair was a deep, dark red that popped every time light from the bath shone upon it. "Alright then, hurry it up," She said, reaching out to where she'd placed her armful of jars. "Undress."
No smiles, then. "Uh..."
The other, her hair a bright silver, rolled her eyes. "A human," she said, pointedly not at Kagome, "what is Kouga thinking?"
"Hell if I know," Ikue answered, opening the jars and moving them around the edge of the pool. "I heard from Ginta that she's not just a human. Something to do with a detection power she has." She straightened out and eyed Kagome up and down. "Help her undress, Maho. I think she might be stupid."
Kagome opened her mouth to retort, but Maho beat her to it, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "But she smells."
"Yes, all humans smell, and this one has been fumbling along in the forest for who knows how long, and with that dog," she said, bitterness and hatred threaded between her mention of him. "Just get her ugly clothes off."
Maho reached out towards Kagome, who jerked back, arms up, ready to fight if need be.
She huffed, offended. "What are you doing, you stupid girl? Get undressed!" She reached out again.
Again, Kagome stepped back. "I can do it myself," she managed, eyes darting from one to the other.
Ikue put her arms on her hips, as if talking to a petulant child. "Then take them off. We don't have all night, and Koga will be angry if you're not bathed and rested by morning."
"Don't I... Can't I have some privacy?"
"Privacy?" she laughed. "Humans and their modesty. Don't worry, little girl, we've seen naked humans before."
"We've eaten naked humans before," Maho corrected.
Kagome grit her jaw against the threat, her fingers fisting in her palms. She tried again to pull her powers forward with no luck. "I'd prefer-"
Ikue took a step forward. "There will be no privacy. Kouga has taken you under his wing, but it does not mean that he trusts you to be left on your own. You will undress here and we will bathe you so you do not stink up our home."
"I can wash myself," she insisted.
"Foolish human, shut your mouth and do as Ikue says," Maho snapped. She reached out and grabbed onto Kagome's wrist and pushed her forward, towards the pool.
Begrudgingly, Kagome did as she was told. Hands shaking from exhaustion, from fear, from frustration and anger and hatred, she slowly pulled her sweater up over her head, folding it as best she could and laying it onto the pile of fur pelts that made up the bed. She unhooked the button of her jeans, slipping them off inch by inch. The jewel shards were nestled there, inside her pocket, still wrapped up in the ripped patch of Inuyasha's white tee. She carefully gripped her jeans in her hands as she stepped out of them, keeping the jewels hidden within. She folded those as well and placed them on top of her sweater and moved to her undershirt next. It was caked with sweat and blood, and it felt crunchy in places as she pulled it off her skin.
Ikue and Maho both watched, indifferent. Bored, even.
Finally naked, and well aware of how bad she actually stunk, Kagome took the few steps up the lumpy rocks that curved around the edge of the pool and slipped in.
It was glorious. The water was warm - so warm - and it was a clear, blue color that seemed lit up from below. It took a few moments to realize that there were dozens of glow worms hiding amongst the crevices of the rocks, which created the luminosity.
She felt hands in her hair, rough, claws scraping at her scalp as Ikue scrubbed her head with a sweet smelling soap. It lathered and foamed, and when instructed her to dunk her head, Kagome obeyed, staying underwater as long as she could, relishing the way the warmth enveloped her before coming up for breath.
She listened as best she could to the two women chatter, but it was hard to stay focused when the white, powdery stuff that Maho used to scrub at her skin smelled so good. It was hard to stay focused as Ikue turned Kagome so her gaze faced the wall of the cave and began to detangle her hair, twisting and pulling at the strands. It was hard to stay focused as the sulfuric water soaked into her body and warmed her bones, lulling her into a trance.
"Will he bed her?" Maho was asking. She had finished scrubbing at Kagome's back and was now shuffling around the middle of the room.
Kagome bit back a moan. No, no, she didn't want to listen to this. She wanted to stay blissfully unaware and never step out of the water, to cocoon herself in the tub and block out the world. She tried to dunk back under the water, but Ikue caught her arm and pulled her back up.
"You never know, some youkai like to keep humans around for pleasure," she said matter-of-factly, releasing Kagome's arm and continuing to detangle her hair. "Although it's hard to imagine Kouga lowering himself to such… unpleasant means…"
"He couldn't possibly be that desperate."
Ikue sighed, seemingly unaware that she was pulling a bit too hard at Kagome's hair. "What do you even care, Maho? It's not like you're in the running."
Kagome managed to turn enough to see Maho step away from prepping her bed. She pushed her bottom lip out, her brows furrowing. "You never know…"
"Kouga understands his duties well, he will not sully his royal line," Ikue insisted, finishing with Kagome's hair and stepping back. "Come now, Maho, get her up."
Kagome clenched her jaw and resisted slapping up the water into Maho's face as she reached in and pulled her from the bath.
Just wait it out, she repeated to herself. Just wait it out.
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Kagome lay in the bed of pelts. It was softer than what she'd been accustomed to sleeping on lately, but it wasn't exactly soft. The layers were heavy, and she was already sweating due to the thick, incredibly soft fabric that made up her nightgown. Despite winter creeping ever closer and the brisk wind whistling through the open tunnels, she was overheated.
The relief she had felt at Ikue and Maho's departing had long ago evaporated, and a tangle of nerves had taken its place. She turned onto her side, restless and wide awake, trying to calm her thoughts, trying to convince herself that by keeping her mouth shut and going along with the wolf youkai, everything would be okay. That she was doing the right thing.
Her nerves stayed where they were. It didn't help that every time she closed her eyes, the horrible events that had taken place over the last few weeks flashed behind her lids.
She thought back to the tentacle youkai - Naraku, Shippou had called it, and how it had slithered itself around her again, squeezing at her neck as she desperately attempted to pool her powers into the arrowhead and stab the rubbery appendage with it.
But it hadn't worked.
It wasn't working.
Running back towards Inuyasha through the forest, desperate to get back after abandoning him to fetch her cobbled-together bow and arrows, she had tried to gather her powers, to no avail. Even as she lay over his shoulder as he ran from the wolfpack, and she pushed herself up to aim her arrows, there was nothing. Nothing but the wood and her fingers and her desperate plea for them to hit their mark.
Which they did, thank the gods.
But when Inuyasha became overpowered by sheer numbers, she could do nothing but aim and fire her arrows, trying not to think of what would happen when she ran out.
And when the wolf youkai gripped her by the throat and dangled her over the cliff edge, her powers still would not come. It was as if they had abandoned her. She could no longer call up the only true defense she had against the youkai.
I was weak and pathetic before, but there's no doubt about it now, she thought. Without her powers and without her bow, she really was nothing but a shard detector.
So what were her options?
She couldn't fry Kouga, or the two youkai women who had forced her to bathe, so she couldn't possibly get Inuyasha out of the cave and away from Wolf Territory. She couldn't do anything but lay there and worry.
What had happened to her? Why was she broken?
Shippou was also a cause for concern. When she'd last laid eyes on him, he had been standing at the lip of their makeshift home, his eyes wide and shining in the firelight as she ordered him to stay put.
...Was he still in the cave, hiding behind her giant, yellow pack and waiting for her to return?
Kagome sat up and slipped out of bed, as quiet as humanly possible. She could no longer just lie there and roll around with her stomach tied in knots. The stone floor was cold and hard against the pads of her feet, chilling her toes despite the warm humidity of the room. Slowly, she moved towards the hallway, pulling aside the flap to the entrance.
It was dark, save for the single, lighted torch to the left. It was high above her head and she had to stretch up on her toes to reach the crude, wooden handle. She glanced back into her room, her eyes landing on her clothes still folded neatly at the foot of her bed. Should she grab the jewel shards?
...No, they'd probably be safer where they were, nestled tightly in the offending smelling fabric. No one would want to get close to them even if they knew they were there. Mind made up, Kagome crept out into the hallway. The light cast jagged shadows across the walls as she moved, trying to remember the twists and turns Kouga had led her down earlier.
What the hell do you think you're going to accomplish? she berated herself as she wandered through the dark. Even if you manage to find Inuyasha, how are you going to free him and get him out of Wolf Territory without him going postal and murdering more wolves?
She pushed forward, but no matter how many turns she made, nothing looked familiar. It became apparent that yeah, she was completely lost. She wasn't even aware at this point whether she was moving deeper into the mountain or not. She had no sense of which way was which.
Taking in a deep breath, she turned back. Obviously this had been a stupid mistake. She should just go back and wait for the wolves to fetch her.
Like a good, little girl, she sneered to herself, hating the way Kouga had effectively trapped her in the cave. They hadn't even left a guard outside her room in case she tried to escape. They were so damn sure of the control they had over her freedom
"Get a fucking grip, Kagome," she mumbled to herself. She was so angry and focused on trying to find her way back that she didn't notice the purplish glow in the dark as she turned the bend, and let out a short scream when he appeared before her.
The fur band was gone from his forehead, a hair tie no longer holding up his hair, leaving it to fall around his face. It was longer than she'd originally thought, down past his shoulders. HIs armor was gone, only a pelt around his hips remained. His eyes burned yellow in the dark.
"Kouga," Kagome breathed, willing her beating heart to slow, "you scared me." She kept her gaze on him, but slipped her right foot back, ready to dart away if need be. Not that it would help. Stupid youkai and their ridiculous speeds.
But Kouga didn't move to grab her. In fact, he stayed stock still, as if made from stone.
"Where are you going, detector?" he finally asked, his voice low and even. Soft, even? Was it her imagination, or was he trying to keep her calm?
Kagome cleared her throat and kept her voice as steady as she could manage. "I want to see Inuyasha."
His lips pulled down at the corners. "He's dangerous. Don't think he won't harm you as he is now."
"I'm aware."
He fell silent, his eyes calculating. After a moment, he let out a heavy sigh. "You're going the wrong way," he said, turning and motioning her to follow him. "You'll get lost wandering around. Daybreak is only an hour away. Come and eat."
She hesitated. "I'm in my pajamas."
He turned to glance at her over his shoulder. "I see that," he said, an amused smile on his lips.
"Maybe I should change first?"
"Don't bother. Breakfast will be held privately in my chambers, and I will see you dressed well enough for the ceremony at sunrise. We will simply be discussing your future here with us."
Kagome bit her lip as she once again followed him, fighting the urge to reply: what future?
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Hope you all have a great week!
~SugarRos
