"Some people are just born

with tragedy in their blood" – Donnie Darko (2001)

Chapter 3

Each guard put a heavy hand on Kagome's shoulder and rushed her out of the dungeon, steering her in the opposite direction of the barracks into a labyrinth of halls and corridors until they reached their destination. One of the men gripped the handle of a door, sliding it open slipping inside with Kagome in front. Abruptly, she was spun around on her heels and a large hand clamped down across her mouth before she had the chance to open it. Kagome's breath hitched and her heart began to race when she felt the sharp tip of a blade press against her belly, right below the delicate spot where the two halves of her ribcage met. She stared wide-eyed at one of the guards who searched her eyes before speaking to her.

"Listen, wench," he hissed, his voice somewhere between a whisper and growl, "you will stay quiet and not make a sound or I will lodge this dagger into your belly. Do you understand?"

Kagome made no indication that she understood, but the man removed the knife from her body and removed his hand a few moments later when he was certain she would not scream. The man in front of her turned to the other guard lingering in the door way and nodded before he disappeared. The guard with the knife reached around her back and cut her hands lose and Kagome brought her hands to her front to administer soothing ministrations to the delicate skin that had been irritated there by the course rope. She looked hopefully at the guard in front of her – was he helping her escape?

"Get undressed"

The color drained from her face. Kagome considered screaming because she'd rather be fileted alive than this. Anything but this. She took a step back from the guard, and then another, her eyes frantically bouncing from his hard eyes to his fingers clenching the hilt of the dagger tighter. Time stood still until suddenly the second guard returned and Kagome didn't think it could get any worse, until he turned around holding a worn-out yukata and set of rough-spun trousers.

"Now"

Understanding, Kagome hesitantly pulled off of her sweater and sheepishly tried to hide herself behind her hair as much as possible. The men didn't seem to care at all and waited for her to pull on the itchy pants that felt like they were made from a burlap rice sack.

"Your feet"

Kagome looked at the guard pleadingly but they didn't waver. Her first day back and she was getting the shoes robbed right off of her feet – unbelievable. She kicked off her shoes and socks and stood awkwardly in front of the two men as they looked her up and down. With a final nod the same guard who had returned with the clothes, took her clothes and disappeared again. Apparently, Kagome had broken some unspoken dress code and needed to look like a vagrant. She sighed as the remaining guard grabbed her wrists and bound them at her front this time. The second guard returned again, without her clothes, and with an actual rice sack. The first guard grabbed her hair, twisted it and piled it high on her head as the second guard prepared to slide the sack over her head.

"No, no this is unnecessary. I'll be quiet." Kagome insisted, not liking the direction this was going.

"You're not being quiet now." One of the men said, the sack fitting snugly over her head and the hilt of the dagger prodding her roughly between the shoulder blades. This must be her sign that it's time to move.

Kagome's bare feet padded on the wooden floors along with the muted steps of the two guards stealing her around corners and down halls. Before, where each man had a hand on her shoulder, there was now just one hand clenching the back of her neck, daring her to act out. Kagome's feet tripped down three steps and her feet hit the cold, hard, packed ground of outside. She wanted to thank the men for rescuing her, but stumbled over her own feet at the brisk pace she was forced to keep instead. In the distance horses squealed and pawed at the ground with their feet and the sound of the horses only got louder. The hand was removed from her neck and the ties at her wrist were fumbled with before she felt herself being secured to something. Kagome heard the men mounting their steed, the click of a tongue, and she was unexpectedly jerked forward into motion. Was she tied to the saddle? Kagome found herself praying for the first time in a long time, that nothing would spook these horses until they reached their destination.

The trio walked a short distance until they stopped at the sound of a man's nasally voice calling after them.

"Where are you going? Who is that you have there?" the nasally voice questioned.

"Gate master," the man seated next to her addressed the man, "We're off to the ruin to dispose of a prisoner." Kagome's breath picked up and foot, still in the saddle stirrup, connected with her ribs. They're at a gate – another gate – she's close to freedom. If she can get away from these two once they're out of sight she might have a chance before they can "dispose" of her.

"Which one might that be?" the gate master asked. The sound of papers shuffling.

"The old beggar that has been stealing from the markets the past few weeks. She's sick and causing too much trouble in the dungeons. We can't risk her infection spreading to anyone else." The guard said smoothly. This guard was lying to his superiors. He was busting her out of here!

"Is that why there's a bag…?" the gatekeeper sounded skeptical.

"Yes." The guard said, cutting him off too quickly.

There was a flurry of shuffling papers and the gate master paused before speaking again, "According to my records that beggar was disposed of earlier today."

The guard shifted uncomfortably in his saddle, or maybe he was perfectly at ease and just settling in, "No, we planned on doing it earlier today but didn't have the chance with that strange woman showing up." Kagome was rooting for the two guards in her head – what a save.

"Ah yes," The gate master rifled through a few more papers, "the one that wanted to see Inuyasha, was it? Just let me see her face and you'll be free to go."

There was a stiff, uncomfortable break in the dialogue. They were in trouble because she looked nothing like a sick old beggar, and definitely looked like the woman who showed up earlier raving about Inuyasha.

The guard began firmly, "We were urged to be hasty, we do not have time for these que—" the man was cut off by Kagome's lung crippling hacking. She forced herself to cough so hard that she doubled at the waist and caught herself on her knees with her elbows, pulling the rope attached to the saddle taut. If she needed to play the part of a sick beggar she could do it, as long as it got her out of this city. She coughed until she squeezed her lungs of any and all air, and then drew in a large shaky breath that rattled her lungs, which only sent her into a genuine coughing fit.

The gate master, obviously repulsed dismissed them, "Get her out of here before she infects the entire city!" he shouted, changing his mind quickly, before returning back to his very important sounding papers. "Go, go, go!"

Kagome could feel the shoulders of the two men, as well as her own, sag with relief before they clicked their tongues and their horses walked through the gates and out of the city. Several minutes passed before horses stopped and Kagome jerked to a halt. The bag was removed from her head and she looked up just in time to see the guard who had threatened her with the dagger earlier reach down and hoist her up onto the saddle in between his legs. Her wrists were still bound together and tied to the saddle horn as she had suspected, but this was infinitely better than walking with no shoes.

"I was going to sling you over the back of my horse for the rest of the journey, but you saved our asses back there with that little stunt so I'll give you the dignity of riding up front with me." The two men chortled in unison. The man situated his arms on either side of her and cracked the reins, setting the horse into an easy gallop down the narrow winding path. Kagome looked back over the guard's shoulder and couldn't see any sign of the city. She allowed herself to relax – marginally – because in truth she still didn't know where they were going, but her chances of escape out here were greater than in there. They rode in silence the entire way, only because the guards refused to answer Kagome's questions.

Before long, the woods they rode through thinned out into an inhabitable desert-like expanse of land. This barren wasteland, aptly named "The Ruin", was so dry that the ground under the horses beating hooves was cracked and there wasn't a single plant or speck of life as far as the eye could see. The horses didn't slow and they charged North, Northwest in the late blood red evening sun. Kagome sorely missed her coat and shoes now as the wind whipped her numb cheeks. Her toes, even curled against the horse's belly seeking warmth, were frozen.

The men stopped their horses once they reached a single dead tree twisting out of the ground, its gnarly knobby bark smoothed and weathered by the elements. They dismounted their horses and led Kagome to the tree where they sat her down and secured her against it with a rope around her torso. He tugged the rope, ensuring it was secure, Kagome rolled her eyes and asked him where she would go if she had the chance to escape. She eyed one of the horses and fantasized about stealing it and making a break for the woods. The guards unpacked their saddle bags and lounged around lazily, conveniently settling on the other side of the tree so Kagome couldn't see them and had to strain to hear their murmurs. One of the men circled around the tree with a leather canteen and a few strips of dried meat in his hand. He held the canteen to her lips and she drank from it greedily, savoring the cold rush of liquid washing away the dust and dirt that had collected in her throat over the course over the last several hours. He held the strips of meat to her mouth and patiently waited for her to chew and swallow a few of them before offering her the next.

"This is for being cooperative. If we had been caught we would have been executed on the spot." The man sighed. He suddenly looked less intimidating and more tired. Kagome decided to use this moment of potential weakness or vulnerability to her advantage.

"What are we doing out here?" Kagome asked. She uncrossed and recrossed her legs and buried them underneath her thighs – they were getting cold again. The guard, realizing his mistake, masked his face with a hard expression once again and walked away. Kagome strained her neck to watch him return his food and water to his saddle bag and unenthusiastically flopped on the ground next to his horse across from his cohort.

"If you aren't going to kill me can you please just let me go? I understand you don't want to get caught so I'll travel in the opposite direction of the city." She tried again. She was ignored.

"Listen I-" She started but was interrupted by the other guard.

"You're as good as dead out there if we let you go. Trust me when I say you'd rather us kill you than set you lose out there with whatever finds you." He explained languidly.

"Demons? You mean demons? I can take care of myself. Please just let me go!" she pleaded.

The men snorted and taunted her, "Sure you can, 'miko'."

The fiery red sun was setting over the flat horizon and the temperature was dropping. Kagome knew it was a bad idea to sleep when you were cold, but she was so, so tired. She tried her best to situate herself between the finger-like roots of the tree comfortably and doze off. Only minutes later, or maybe an hour later Kagome heard the distinct sound of several horses thundering toward their camp in the distance. Kagome opened her eyes and spied the illumination of a small fire at the camp and heard the rustling of the two men clamoring to their feet. The hoof beats were louder now and approaching quickly from behind Kagome and she found herself praying for the second time today that it wasn't more city guard. She shrunk herself behind the small tree and held her breath, listening to the interaction that followed.

The horses stopped and a voice commanded the attention of everybody in the area, "You summoned us?" His voice was smooth like whiskey and dangerous.

"Uh, yes." Said one of the guards, fumbling over his words, "We – we have one. Another one."

"Is that so?" came a second voice that made her skin prickle. She did not like these new men at all.

"Go check." Instructed the first voice again. Kagome quietly drew her legs in to her chest and screwed her eyes shut. They weren't talking about her. She wasn't here. She was invisible. She heard a man dismount his horse and quickly approach her hiding place. She turned her face away but apparently not in time.

"It looks like one." Confirmed the second voice, closer than before. Kagome dared to steal a glance but the man was already gone.

"She's scared. I can taste it." Rumbled a third deep voice. She was scared, very scared, because there was a lot of unknowns right now and Kagome's brain couldn't come up with any reasonable answers that would explain what the hell was happening.

The sound of clattering and clinking of coins filled the chilly night. There was a flat silence before the first voice barked "You don't need to count them. It's the standard rate. It's all there."

Are they SELLING me? She thought, a large tangible bundle of panic rising in her chest. She struggled against her restraints but it was no use. The only time humans sold other humans were into slavery, and Kagome couldn't allow herself to get sold into slavery. She bent her neck down and tried catch the ropes binding her wrists in her teeth.

The guards stomped out their dwindling campfire, mounted their horses, and disappeared into the night. That was it. She was now in the care – or lack thereof – of these new men. All was quiet, and Kagome stopped biting at the ropes on her wrists and pressed her head back against the trunk of the tree. She heard nothing and took the opportunity to swallow hard and steady her breathing, hoping to ease the knots coiled in her stomach. Suddenly, without warning, another bag was shoved over her head and she was ripped away from the trunk of the tree. She shrieked, kicked, and screamed. Whoever held her maintained an iron grip as they transitioned her from the ground, to their shoulder, to the back of another horse.

"Put me down! Stop it!" she screeched, but her screams quickly devolved to wails and choked sobs, "Inuyasha! Inuyasha!" She cried out into the darkness, still clinging onto a sliver of hope that he might somehow hear her and come to her rescue. She was so, so alone. The men laughed in chorus and mounted their horses.

"Money well spent." Said one of the men, Kagome didn't know who, sending the three into another round of laughter.

They rode through the night without stopping or slowing. For hours on end Kagome lay rigid, molding her body against the rump of the horse afraid she'd be jostled off if she didn't. Her hands felt like swollen flippers because they were still bound at the wrist and receiving very little blood flow with her weight laying on top of them. She was hungry, tired, thirsty, confused, but at least she wasn't as cold anymore. Heat rolled off of the horse in waves and brought her back from the brink of hypothermia, which was a relief, because these scraps of clothing she'd been given weren't doing her any favors.

Now that one survival task was checked off of her to-do list, she was able to start thinking about what her options were going forward. Escaping didn't seem probable. She wasn't dressed or geared to traipse around an inhospitable landscape. She didn't have weapons or a sense of where she was, either. These men had to have an ounce of humanity, buried somewhere in them. Even if they sold and bought humans, they had to have a weakness – she just needed to exploit that weakness. The first chance she got she would plead to their compassion and make sure they knew she was useful alive and unharmed. She could offer protection, she knew how to heal, she could take care of herself, and she knew Inuyasha – the man of the hour, apparently.

She was valuable, she convinced herself. She repeated those words like a mantra to herself for hours until the horses slowed to a stop. It was showtime.

Kagome choked when the collar of the thin, worn yukata tightened around her neck - someone had grabbed the back of it and ripped her off of the horse. She toppled, knees over head on the ground, rolling back against one of the man's legs before she was, again, man-handled by the back of yukata. Someone held her in a standing position and in place by the collar of her yukata and Kagome began to silently recite her mantra.

"Alright, let's have a look at you" said the dangerous and smooth voice.

The sack was lifted from her head and before Kagome's eyes even adjusted to the early morning light of dawn and her surroundings she shouted, "I am valuable! I'm more useful to you alive!"

Silence fell on the group as everybody digested the moment. Kagome cracked an eye open, and then the other and took in the scene. They were out of the ruin, surrounded by lush forest again, and nestled against a mountain range. The early morning sun had just begun to peek out over the horizon, dying the clouds pastel pinks and bright oranges. The horses, massive brutes of animals, were roaming loosely at the grassy bank of a river the group stood by. The men in front of Kagome, were hardly men, they were youkai. Kagome had been sold to three youkai and now she was in some undetermined location, alone with them. That modicum of miko power was pretty damn useless if she couldn't even sense that the three men who had taken her were demons. Kagome tried to swallow but her tongue felt too large in her too dry mouth. She'd intended to plead to their humanity, but what humanity?

"It's been awhile since we've seen one of these." Said the one with the voice that made her skin crawl. He had sharp, yellow eyes and scaly skin. His eyes darted nervously between the man to his right and the man holding Kagome in place.

"Shit looks like hell but it's definitely one of them" said the third man, the one with the deep grumbly voice. He had an ogre-like appearance, with blue tinted skin and large gnashing teeth.

Kagome scrunched up her nose and words flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself, "It's been 50 years since you've last seen what? A woman? I'm not surprised. And sorry I don't look 'good' enough for you but I've been-" she shouted but was cut off with a blunt smack to the face.

The first man, the voice like poisonous whiskey, had lifted a hand and smacked her with the back of it. The skin on her cheek screamed in pain and she turned back to glare at him heatedly. He remained expressionless in turn as he wiped off a hand onto his intricate haori and slowly lowered it to his side. Compared to the others he looked relatively human, that is, if he didn't have one curled mangled horn sticking out of the left side of his forehead. He studied her carefully with his thoughtful eyes, one icy blue and the other bright red, before he came to a decision.

"Ryuu," started the horned man, getting the attention of the blue-skinned brute, "take her to the river and drown her."

He said as calmly as he would tell someone to pick up an ingredient on their way through the market. The horned man turned his back and walked away, settling on a rock facing the river. Kagome's stomach dropped to her knees and she heard Ryuu's lips curl into a smile.

"No wait this is a mistake! I don't know who you think I am but I'm not her!" She desperately cried out, grasping at straws. Ryuu did not pause as he dragged her toward the water. She didn't bother calling out for help this time – she knew nobody was here to save her. It was her versus three demons and the odds were not looking good in her favor.

"We know you aren't her." Said the lizard-looking man. Kagome stopped fighting against Ryuu for all of two seconds to acknowledge that what he said didn't make sense.

"If you know I'm not her then let me go!" she screamed, swinging her fists and trying to wrench free. The collar of the yukata began to rip and Kagome thought she had her chance of escape, but Ryuu readjusted his vice-like grip to the back of her neck. Ryuu dragged her into the icy stream after him and she began to viciously bite and tear at the rope binding her wrists with no luck.

"No! No!" she screamed over and over again until the moment Ryuu forced her head under the frigid frosty winter morning water.

It took several moments for Kagome's brain to kick into gear after the initial shock of being submerged head-first into glacial water. She fought and writhed against his grip but it was useless, she was no match for his strength. Kagome's didn't have much time until her lungs constricted, her vision blured, her muscles lost their vigor, and her brain shut down. She reached out in front of her blindly latching on to Ryuu's leg and pushed away from him with all of her might. Ryuu, in response, ground her flailing body harder against the rocky river bottom as if he wanted to bury her in a shallow watery grave right then and there. Her lungs felt like they were inverting on themselves and she knew with chilling certainty the end was coming.

The first time Kagome got in trouble with her mother, real trouble, was when she had punched the neighbor's prize poodle square in the nose. She'd been maybe 8 years old and exploring the neighborhood with a scrappy boy in her class she fancied. He wasn't afraid of anything, he assured her, and that's how they ended up in the neighbor's yard, face to face with a poufy pompous-looking poodle. It bared its teeth at the two pint-sized intruders and growled menacingly at them. The boy did not come to the rescue and opted to run for the garden exit leaving Kagome a barrier between he and the animal. The dog charged at Kagome and reflexively she drew back her arm and clocked it square in the nose. The poodle yelped and cried until the owner came out and shrieked at Kagome for injuring her show dog. The animal was fine, but Kagome was given a lesson on Fight or Flight responses that day by her mother.

Everything that followed happened too quickly for Kagome to process, but that was the benefit of fight or flight instincts – you didn't need to think. You just act.

A light blinded Kagome and she pushed away from Ryuu's leg. Coincidentally, Ryuu's grip loosened from her neck and she twisted free, gasping for breath, heaving cool air by the mouthful into her lungs. Ryuu was hollering and thrashing in the water. Kagome didn't care. She stumbled through the choppy river and struggled to find her footing, tripping over her feet and lose rocks. As soon as she hit the opposite river bank adrenaline hit her bloodstream and she took off tearing through the woods faster than she'd thought possible for someone who'd just nearly drowned. Kagome pumped her arms and willed herself to move faster even though she knew it was unlikely she'd outrun demons.

Unexpectedly, Kagome ran full-tilt into an unmovable force and bounced off of it, skidding back on her butt. She looked up just in time to be swept off of her feet by the front of her yukata and pinned against the trunk of a tree. It was the horned man. He looked like he was trying to scowl at her, but he couldn't hide the amusement dancing in his eyes. Kagome lifted her still bound wrists and grasped his arm with her numb fingers trying to push him away from her. Her attempts were fruitless so she turned her chin as far away as she could and looked down her nose at him - glowering. This is where he killed her for trying to escape but she would not be afraid. They stared at each other very many long, hard moments before the horned man spoke.

"It seems I misjudged you, priestess. You damn near purified Ryuu's leg off. It looks like you'll be coming with us." The man chucked, running a hand through his long wild hair in bewilderment, shrugging one shoulder nonchalantly.

"So, I'm safe?" Kagome choked out.

"No." The man replied, amusement still dancing in his eyes.

He dropped Kagome and she crumpled to the ground. She hadn't realized it, but she had been holding her breath since she surfaced at the river. She drew in several labored breaths and rasped desperately trying to fill her lungs to max capacity. The man didn't seem to care and heaved her up by her arm and forced her to stand. She trembled on her feet, the sudden rush of oxygen and the abandon of adrenaline left her feeling exhausted and dizzy. The world tilted on an unbalanced axis in front of her and she faltered forward, falling to her hands and knees. The man groaned, annoyed, and in one swift movement threw her over his shoulder and began to stride easily back toward the stream. Kagome's body decided it was a good time to stop fighting and rest instead, so she was swept underneath an intense wave of drowsiness.

The horned man felt her go limp. He tightened his grip around her body with one arm, reached across his body with the other and gave the backs of her thighs a couple secure pats as he strode into their camp.