Niko Mane: Wow, another chapter. Boy have I been working overtime!
Chapter 5: Complications
One day later…
Inuyasha blinked his eyes wearily, panting and leaning against a tree. The sun was beating heavily down on his tired body.
He had been running nonstop along the river, and even though he had more stamina then a mere human, he needed a break or he would collapse. He slid down and soon fell asleep.
When he awoke, the sun was setting. Inuyasha yawned and stretched, thankful that the air was cooling down. He was about to set off again when he spotted smoke from a campfire wafting up from the trees nearby. He raised his head, sniffing carefully.
The scents of quite a few humans reached his nose. Inuyasha cocked his head in confusion. Who would be out here in the middle of a youkai infested forest?
Curiosity got the better of him. Inuyasha approached the source of the smoke. What he found was a small clearing with a newly made campfire in the center. About ten human men surrounded it, some talking in loud obnoxious voices, and some drinking sake.
Inuyasha almost gasped out loud when he realized that they were members of The Black Sun. The Black Sun was a widely known black market slave organization. They kidnapped people from their homes, mostly children, and sold them as slaves. And not just humans but demons too, although they were hard to come by, making them much more valuable. They sold every type of slaves there was, even pleasure slaves.
Inuyasha crouched down low, praying that they wouldn't notice him. Luckily, they didn't. The little hanyou started slowly backing away… Getting farther and farther away from the dangerous humans, inch by tedious inch.
snap went a twig under his foot.
Suddenly Inuyasha was grabbed roughly by a pair of hands and tossed into the clearing.
"My, my, what do we have here?" chuckled what seemed to be the leader of the group. Soon the others joined in laughing cruelly.
"Is it a youkai?"
"No stupid, it's only a hanyou."
"Oh ho, what's this? He's in his first heat by the looks of him."
"Imagine how much he would sell for!"
"Or we could keep him for ourselves…"
"Don't count you chickens before they hatch boys. We still have to catch him." The leader cut in. They nodded and started circling the frightened hanyou.
"Oh, come on boss. This squirt's not goin' anywhere." One of them jeered. Anger sizzled up inside Inuyasha, breaking through his fear for a brief moment.
He suddenly rushed towards the laughing human raised his claws. As the man gasped and prepared to parry his attack, he was surprised yet again when Inuyasha made a dive. Now on his belly, Inuyasha skidded in between his legs. He was behind the man now, so he flipped onto his back and swiftly kicked him foreword with both feet. The man staggered and almost fell into the fire, giving Inuyasha time to escape.
But, as to be expected, there were frantic shouts of "Quick, get him!" and "Don't let him get away!". Inuyasha wasted no time in getting well away from the clearing, but they were catching up. 'These humans are fast! I need to find a place to hide, and quick.' Inuyasha thought frantically. Finally, he found a small tunnel, almost big enough for him to stand in, but not quite. He crouched down and hastily crawled inside it. Luckily the tunnel eventually opened up into a larger chamber. Inuyasha was safe… For the moment at least. Even if they did find him, there was a different exit on the other side of the cave.
And so there he waited, in almost complete darkness. He shivered. Even though it was still warm outside from the sun's heat shining down all day, it was bitter cold in this cave. It must be quite a ways underground. A sudden shout from the entrance of the cave made him jump.
"Hey little hanyou, why don't you come out of there for a sec?" Inuyasha recognized the voice of the leader.
"Yeah, we aren't gonna hurt ya!" added another voice. Inuyasha frowned. 'Yeah right. Well, they obviously think they sound nice.' He crawled over to the other exit. He was about to start coming out when he saw about half of The Black Sun standing there, waiting for him. He gasped and went back into the cold, and yet secure cave. There was cruel laughter from both sides.
"See? You can't escape. Just come on out." The leader called again.
"No way!" Inuyasha yelled back in defiance, his voice echoing slightly. He heard an exasperated sigh.
"He can't stay in there forever boss."
"Yes, but we can't sit here all day."
"We could go in after him."
"No, I have a better idea. Go and get some dry wood. We'll smoke him out."
In only a few moments, firelight lit up the previously dark cavern.
Inuyasha tried to stay low and avoid it, but the smoke started choking him. Coughing, Inuyasha moved over to the exit to try to get some air, but the men were still there waiting for him.
But at this point Inuyasha couldn't breathe. He could hardly see either. The smoke burned his eyes unbearably.
Inuyasha had to admit, he was screwed.
Niko Mane: Bum bum bum bum! So, you like? I hope you all had fun over the holidays so far! I have! You know the drill, please read and review!