She looked up the steps of the shrine and could see her grandfather standing there, next to a male and female she had never seen before. Neither were involved at the crime scene she had witnessed earlier, so she wondered if they were indeed close to the man, or just hired goons. She nodded at the two of them before placing a few dvds on the ground. "A show of good faith," she said. "I'll come with you willingly after you let my grandfather go. I'm not moving until he's off the Shrine properly completely." She didn't even look at him, knowing that if she did she would break down.
"Very well then," the female spoke and collected the dvds while pushing the old man toward the shrine steps. She spoke to him as he left. "Don't speak to her old man or all guarantees are off. If you want to see her alive you'll walk straight down and keep your mouth shut."
Kagome resisted the urge to roll her eyes, knowing the threat was empty. If Naraku had his way, she was going to die anyway, regardless of whether or not her grandfather spoke to her. But she didn't want anything happening to him. She knew as soon as he got to the bottom Inuyasha would be there to make sure he was safe and brief him on everything. She didn't have anything to worry about there, and her poor grandfather wouldn't worry for too long. She couldn't say anything right now without giving anything away. She watched silently as he made his way down the steps before turning back to her new captors. "Where do I go?"
"Follow me," the woman turned on her heel and walked inside, while the young man held back to follow Kagome in. She knew this house like the back of her hand, she grew up here and had provided all of the detailed plans to the house to both of the boys. It gave her a nostalgic feeling to see this place after avoiding it for years, and she knew after this, all of the happy memories the house gave her would be tainted. She would forever remember the time Naraku interfered and destroyed the peace and serenity of the place.
She stepped into the living room and saw the man sitting on the easy chair. He was well dressed, Armani if she was correct, something that only money could buy, and impeccably groomed. His long brown hair hung in loose waves down his back. His very being exuded power, maybe not as much as Sesshoumaru, but enough. He must be Naraku.
"Kagome Higurashi," he drawled out. "Thank you for joining us. Please take a seat," he gestured to an empty seat on the couch, then turned to his two goons, for lack of a better word to describe them. "Kagura, Kohaku, you two are to remain by the front door to make sure Miss Higurashi was not followed."
"My grandfather's to remain safe!" Kagome bit out, hoping that he wasn't sending one of the two after him.
"For now," Naraku qualified. "I only agreed to release him. There's nothing stopping me from going after him again once this is all over. That wasn't in the agreement."
"If that's the case, you'll never get the jewel," she bluffed, hoping he wouldn't fall for it.
The man had the audacity to smirk. "So you have the jewel, just as I thought."
Kagome immediately recognized the error of her words and part of plan A just backfired on her. He now knew that she knew she was next in line for the jewel. She had already lost some of the element of surprise. "That doesn't mean you're going to get your hands on it. I don't know where it is," she answered honestly.
"I'm sure you don't, but that doesn't mean you can find out. Your grandfather is safe for now, but your brother certainly isn't. Hakodoushi," he called out.
Kagome watched in horror as a young child dragged her brother out into the open, a blade at his jugular. "Souta!" she cried.
"Now now Kagome," Naraku practically purred. "Souta isn't here to make nice with you, he's here as insurance." He stood from his seat and walked toward her, leaning in close and making eye contact so that she wouldn't misunderstand what he was about to say. "You're going to get me the jewel, I'm confident about that. And you're going to do it by the end of the week, or else Souta will not live to see his next birthday. Then, we'll go after your mother, and your grandfather, until you have nothing left in your life but yourself, and even you aren't safe from me." He watched arrogantly as her brave façade started to crumble. "Now, let's try this again. We do you think we should start looking for this jewel?"
"I don't know," she whispered while glancing at her brother, hoping that Naraku doesn't become impatient with her and take it out on her brother. "I've been trying to narrow it down, but I haven't the slightest idea."
"Well, let's start with your notes. Take a logical guess. Your brother doesn't have much time."
Kagome closed her eyes and said a silent prayer, hoping that she could distract them enough until Inuyasha showed up. Where was he anyway? What if he couldn't get inside without being seen, or worse yet, caught? She didn't want to think of what could happen to either of them if that was the case. She grabbed the discs that were now sitting at feet and looked at Naraku expectantly. "I need a computer."
"Is everything on there?" he asked?
She nodded. "Well, almost. The last few things I had done I hadn't saved to my computer yet, so I don't have those saved. But there was very little there, which is why I hadn't saved it."
She watched in horror as Hakodoushi pressed the knife closer to Souta's throat. "I mean it, the only thing I had worked on was a genealogy that proved I was next in line. You already knew that! I didn't want that saved, which was why I didn't."
"Very well, let's continue." Kagura walked into the living room with a brand new state of the art laptop. "You can use this, now put in the discs."
Kagome slipped the dvd into the computer and waited as the files were loaded onto the screen. She was thankful she had been selective in the information she had copied, and even more thankful that she paid somebody else to transcribe her interviews and the files were never on her computer. She didn't want to put more people in danger.
She heard a quick shuffle above her, a sound that was not natural to her house, and she thanked her stars and held in a much tempted sigh of relief. That had to be Inuyasha, he was still safe. Looking back to the computer, she tried to think of a way to keep Naraku distracted.
"This document here is the history of the jewel, I'm hoping by following this we can get a clue as to how to find it today. We can't understand the jewel if we don't know how it began," she explained hurriedly. She looked up from the screen and saw a flash of silver.
Sesshoumaru.
He was already in the room and Naraku had no clue.
She saw a second flash of silver, and knew that was Inuyasha. Somehow she had become so in tune with him, and instinctively knew he was heading toward Souta. She wasn't so suddenly worried for the safety of her brother anymore.
"I've looked at it, and I've read it, but I haven't studied it in depth. I didn't think it would be that important to me."
Naraku simply stood there, an arrogant smirk on his face. She figured he thought he had won. How dead wrong he was. She kept her eyes on the screen so as not to give anything away. It was imperative for the success of their plan. However, she cringed as he began running his hand through her hair, an intimate gesture only meant for a very close friend or lover, yet he did so as if he had every right. She could feel him moving closer to her, and then pressing against her back. She shuddered as he chuckled and moved his hands to rest on her shoulders. She was suddenly very scared.
"Please don't touch me," she whispered, setting her pride aside for her own personal comfort. Naraku scared her, all of the stories about Kikyou came slamming back at her.
"You're mine, Kagome," he leaned in close and spoke to her, his breath hot on her ear. "I can what I want with you, when I want to. There's not a thing you can do about it. I hold all of the power here, I hold all of the cards, and I will play each one as I will."