The betrayal

Enjoy reading and please review and give me some critiques.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Only the plot of this story belongs to me. *Leaves house to meet Mrs. Takahashi and talk about ownerships.*

Chapter 4

"Kagura, where are we? And where's Naraku?" Indeed Naraku was nowhere to be seen. But neither were Kanna or any other demons. Mom, Sota, Grandpa, please be alright.

Then a door in the wall, that, as far as Kagome remembered, wasn't there before, opened. And out came Kanna.

"Kanna. Where's Naraku?" To Kagome it seemed as if not even Kagura knew a lot about her 'master'. "He's gone out. He lets you inform to bring the hostage into the prison in the nearby room and setting up your trap." Kagome didn't like what the mirror demon was saying. "Alright." Kagura answered calmly. She took Kagome to the other room, entered, closed the door behind her and locked it.

The environment in this room was not really looking like it would in a basement but rather a cave. The walls didn't go straight up to connect to the ceiling in a right angle. They didn't really end at all and met in the middle of the room. The room was more or less round with a diameter of something around 15 metres. On the right at the back stood a chair. Actually, it was more of a throne than a chair. The throne stood on a podium. The stair up to the throne was decorated with a red carpet. The throne itself was made from stone. The back of the majestic chair was something about two metres high and had a picture of the jewel engraved on it. The top of the back was 'adorned' with spikes standing out of the side of the back. The arm of the throne was very wide. Different kinds of patterns were engraved on them.

Everywhere around the throne were standing all kinds of different pots. Some pots were made out of clay, others of ceramic and others of iron. They had all kinds of forms and colours. It left Kagome wondering what was inside of them.

On the other side of the room, in the wall, there was a classical prison. The cage was made out of iron bars and the door was lockable with a normal keypad. Kagura brought Kagome to the cage, lying her down inside of it. "Ok, listen to me. We have little time." Kagura started. "After I lock the prison, I'll hide the key inside of the throne. It can be found by pressing the jewel on the throne. If someone different from me, Kanna or Naraku does this, the trap will be activated. Several keypads will appear all over the cage and the iron bars will start moving towards you. All of the keypads will look the same and only one of them is the right one to unlock the prison. Every wrong attempt to open the cage with a keypad will result in the bars accelerating. And don't think the right keypad is the one I close. The right keypad changes every time I close the prison." Kagura had a really cold tone. To Kagome it sounded, as if the wind demon was never even on her side. "Kagura, this is too dangerous. How long does Inuyasha have time after the iron bars start moving?" "Don't worry, normally it would only be enough time to open about five out of twenty keypads, but I'll have it arranged for about fifteen keypads." This didn't really help Kagome. "That's still too dangerous. What if Inuyasha doesn't find the right one? I would die." "You won't die, Kagome. Don't you trust your boyfriend?" Kagome blushed. "He's not…" "That doesn't matter right now. If he really wants to save you, he'll be able to. And as long as he doesn't try to destroy the locks, everything is okay. I have to go now." "And what happens if he does so?" Kagura looked at her. She kept quiet for a moment. Then she said "The bars will immediately crush you." With this she stood up, locked the prison, hid the key inside the throne and walked towards the door. "Kagura, wait. Could you please untie me?" But she already closed the door.

The shock still lay deep within Inuyasha and his friends. Shippou, their dear friend and something like a son to all of them, died. He got devoured by a flame. "A flame, goddammit! What kind of joke is this? We lost Shippou to a flame." Inuyasha said, beating his healthy right arm into the ground again and again. Again and again. Again and again. "Dammit!" Another hole in the ground. "Dammit!" Another one. "DAMMIT!" And one more. Inuyasha was blaming himself for not being able to use his Tetsusaiga. "Inuyasha, calm down. There's nothing we can do anymore." Sango was trying to comfort the mourning half demon despite being completely sad herself. Tears were visible at the side of her eyes. She hugged Miroku, searching for comfort and warmth herself. Then the tears started to flow down. "Why? Why did he have to die? And this cursed sadistic flame is even enjoying it."

She was right. The flame seemed to be getting more and more satisfied by eating Shippou, slowly going back in the process.

"Inuyasha, I'm sorry, but we can't grieve for Shippou here. We have to save Kagome." Miroku was talking calm and stroked Sango's back. "SHUT UP! You're the one who told me to try and burning my hand. You're the one responsible for my arm being injured. You're the one responsible for me not being able to use Tetsusaiga. You're the one responsible for not protecting Shippou. You are the cause of his death." "Inuyasha?" Sango has never seen her silver haired friend so upset. Miroku looked to the ground, a hurt look on his face. "I know. And I feel terrible for it. But I can't change what's already happened. That's why we have to get going now. Our time is limited and I don't want to see someone else dying." "And what do you want to do now, genius? We didn't solve this quiz yet and I won't risk another life for this piece of crap." "And you don't have to." All of them froze in their place. Was that… "Shippou?"

Kagome was getting bored. She still lay inside the cage, tied up and not really able to move a lot. It was only ten minutes since Kagura left, but it felt like hours. She lost herself in thoughts again.

I wonder when Inuyasha will come? Will he even come? After all, I did sit him pretty hard back then. He probably hates me now. I shouldn't even hope for him coming for my rescue. I screwed up really hard this time. But even so, we had lots of situations like this. He will come. I just know he will. He would never let me be in the enemies hands. And what's more, he needs me to find the jewel shards. Without me, it would be too hard for him to find them.

Then it hit Kagome.

That's probably all I am to him. A shard detector. A finder. A tool. A mere boring human to find his beloved shards. That's right. He won't ever feel about me the way I feel about him. He still loves Kikyou. He would never love someone except for her. When all of this is finished and we got the jewel, he'll become a full-fledged demon and I'll return to my world. Then I'll never see him again. Forever.

Then she heard the door open.

"Hello Kagome. How are you?" It was Naraku. The evil mastermind. The source of all the grief and sorrow they had faced so far. "Why the long face? What's the matter, Kagome? Is something troubling you? You can tell me if you want to." Kagome didn't send him one single glance. She continued to stare at the wall behind Naraku. "You know, it's not very nice to ignore someone." No reaction. Then Kagura entered. "Oh, Kagura. Did you do something to her? She's ignoring me. And why did you tie her up like that? I bet it must feel very uncomfortable." "I didn't do a thing to her. I only tied her up so she wouldn't resist me." Kagura was speaking calmly. "Kagome, is that true?" Naraku turned his gaze towards Kagome, sending a chill down her spine. She was getting nervous. It would be hard to lie to Naraku. She mustn't smile or wink with her eye. A simple 'yes' should be enough. Don't make a face, don't move, just say "Yes." Kagome praised herself inside for pulling this off. But then she made a fault. She looked to the ground.

Naraku arched a brow. He looked to Kagura. Back to Kagome. Kagura again. "Fine." Kagome still didn't feel safe. And her feelings didn't betray her. "But tell me one thing, Kagura. Kagome is not the type to give up without fighting. How did you tie her up without hurting her?" This was bad. Naraku was about to find out the truth. "She did fight back. But I was faster than her and destroyed her bow. And since she knew that she had no chance of winning anymore, she gave up." It was impressive how calm Kagura could stay. "Kagura. Why are you lying to me?" Naraku's mood was not readable at all. He had a perfect poker face. "Why should I be lying?" The tension in the air was insane. Neither of the arguing parties wanted to back off and tried to bring their thoughts through to the other.

"Kagura." Naraku started talking again, still without any trace of anger in his voice. "Even if Kagome's bow was destroyed, she wouldn't give up and start running and calling for that dirty half-breed. And I don't think you would catch up to her until he would be there." Kagome felt guilty. Up until now, she couldn't assist Kagura at all. But she wanted to be of help. So she spoke up. "She did get me." "What?" Naraku was surprised to hear the girl's voice. "We were pretty far away from Inuyasha and Kagura fell two trees in front of me to cut off my escape route. If he even heard me, he would still be far away." Kagura seemed relieved. Kagome was pretty smart after all. This excuse sounded plausible.

"Kagura." Naraku suddenly held something in his hand that looked like a heart. Kagura's eyes widened. "How often did I tell you not to lie to me?" He clenched the heart. Kagura winced and fell on her knees. "Stop it." "I don't know what you're scheming, Kagura. But if you want to betray me, then you are going to die before you can do so. Got it?" Kagura was on her knees, leaning on her hands. She was coughing hard and just barely breathing. She managed to get a little 'Yes.' through clenched teeth. Kagome was completely shocked. "Stop this, Naraku. You're hurting her." Tears filled Kagome's eyes. Naraku looked down on her. "Who allowed you to speak?" His gaze at her was cold and filled with anger. He turned back to Kagura. "You'll go out there and kill Inuyasha and his group on every cost, even your life. Did I make myself clear?" He added one more squeeze to his command, making Kagura flinch. "Did. I. Make. Myself. Clear?" Kagura still struggling to breathe nodded. Kagome saw that the suffering demon was forcing herself to nod. "Good. Untie Kagome before you kill them." Naraku turned away and walked out of the large room.

As soon as the door was closed, Kagome worriedly looked after Kagura. "Kagura, are you alright?" Kagura looked really exhausted and blood dripped out of her mouth. "Shut up. I don't need your pity." Kagura played the cold, not caring for others woman, but inside she felt bad for yelling at Kagome for a reason like that. Even so, Kagome didn't back off. "Kagura, you're the one who said I should help you in escaping from Naraku. So let me help you." After this Kagura calmed down. "Do I look like I am okay?" Kagura slowly stood up. She went for the throne, still breathing very heavily. After pressing the jewel, a very small drawer came out of the back. She took out the key and pushed the drawer back in. She came back to Kagome and unlocked the prison. After opening the knot from the rope at Kagome's hands, Kagome removed the rope at her feet and stood up. "Thanks." "Don't thank me for something Naraku told me to do." Kagura sounded cold again. Then there was a moment of awkward silence. Kagura was the one to break it. "Well, guess I'll be going now. I'll have to fight your friends and lead them here without dying somehow." Kagura already turned and tried to walk away when Kagome caught her wrist.

"What is it n…" She couldn't finish her sentence as she was pulled into a comforting embrace. Kagura's eyes were wide open and she was stiff. "Kagura. I promise you, we'll help you. We'll find your heart and help you escape from Naraku. So don't worry. Together we can do it. I trust you." Kagura was relaxing. She had never felt something like this. The warmth of an embrace. The boundless trust of someone. She was completely flushed by Kagome's kindness. She was feeling some kind of… safe. Never would she even have imagined something like this. But now that she experienced it, she wanted more of it. She wanted to feel more of this warmth, this kindness, this safety. She didn't want Kagome to find out, but she gave in to the hug, relaxing her body, closing her eyes, digging her head in the crook of Kagome's neck and slightly hugging the kind girl back. It wasn't hard for Kagome to find out but she kept quiet and enjoyed the moment.

In those few seconds, nothing else mattered anymore. Kagome forgot that she was being held captive. She forgot that she could possibly die. She forgot about the dangerous trap. She forgot about Naraku. She even forgot about Inuyasha. Kagura forgot that she was in a bad situation, having to fight Inuyasha with Naraku watching her. She forgot about her trapped heart. She forgot about being a slave to Naraku.

This beautiful moment didn't last long as there was a scream heard from the other room, followed by a blast. Kagura immediately pulled back, closed the prison and hid the key to dash out of the door and face Inuyasha.