A/N: Thank you for responding to my question you guys! That means you're paying attention to the stories. So I said I will mention you and I will.

Here goes!

Kaitlynpope77

Reader238

K (And she's the 250th reviewer! Congrats!)

Babycakes214

Rachika

Drama Kagome

Inu'sgirl4ever

Kata

Thanks you guys!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

Disclaimer 2: The part where Kagura is put in was an idea given to me by reader 238!

Chapter 21: Escape

I held my breath as the door opened to reveal Inuyasha, a gun in his hand and worry plastered on his face. For a second, time stopped completely and there was nothing else but Inuyasha.

I bit my lip to make sure that it wasn't a dream. "Inu – Inuyasha?"

At the moment I said his name, he ran to me. "Kagome! I thought you were gone." He tried to hug me, but the chains on my wrists weren't letting me. He frowned and grumbled about it, but I was just happy to see him. Millions of questions were circling in my head, but I needed to know the first one.

"Inuyasha, how did you find me?"

Inuyasha smoothed out my matted hair and held my cheek with his other hand. "I saw you get taken by that man. I ran inside the store to tell Kurena and she pulled up the security tapes. I saw Takeshi, Kagome. I swear I'm going to kill him for what he's done to you."

I shook my head. "But how did you find me here?" That was the most puzzling part.

Inuyasha smiled a little. "I asked my dad. Turn's out, Takeshi's pretty well known as Naraku's underling. I figured since Kikyo would get his position, being his daughter and all, that you would be here. The police were supposed to be coming, but I was going to get you out first." He kissed my forehead, and the tingling sensation I thought I was never going to feel again, ran down my spine to my toes.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but do you mind taking these off?" I rattled my chains, much like a ghost would. "They're hurting my wrists." Again, he frowned and his eyes turned cold. He pulled away and raised the gun he had. My eyebrows immediately went up.

"What are you doing with that?"

Inuyasha cocked the gun and pointed at my wrist. "Getting those chains off, obviously."

"But you don't know how to use a gun!" I shouted, watching as he took aim. I swear, if he blew my hand off, his would go too.

Inuyasha laughed softly. "Kagome, when I told you I had been in a lot things, I meant it. That included gun shooting." He glanced at me one more time. "Don't move. I have the best aim anyone could ask for, but still, don't move, okay?"

I nodded meekly. I gulped as Inuyasha re-aimed. He pulled the trigger and I gasped at the sound, but felt relieved when I felt my hand was free. He gave me a cocky smile and then aimed at my other hand. Again, true to the wimp I am, I closed my eyes from the slight possibility that I might walk out with a blunt hand, but Inuyasha was able to shoot it and release me from the chain. I sighed and rubbed my wrists to try to get the blood flowing, but Inuyasha whisked me out of the room.

"Be quiet. We have to make sure no one sees us." His grip tightened on my hand. I gulped as we went from hall to hall, making sure no one was there. Oddly enough, no security guards were posted anywhere. Inuyasha stopped me in the middle of another hall and pushed me into another room, signaling to me with a finger on his lips. He turned and raised his gun at the person who now entered the hallway.

"Well, if it isn't Inuyasha. Coming to save Kagome?" I gulped an pressed myself against the wall, but I peeked through the crack of the door. I could see Takeshi standing outside with a gun of his own. His hair was in his eyes, a hint of madness in them. I looked around the room to look for something to use, anything. To my dismay, my eyes located nothing. I focused my attention on the duo outside.

"You're a little late. She' probably already dead."

I saw Inuyasha cock the gun again. I was afraid he was going to kill him. I was about to run out, when I saw another woman with dark hair and red eyes appear behind Takeshi. She held a huge pot over his head, but when she caught Inuyasha's eye, he signaled for him to be quiet.

"What? Speechless because the woman you love is dead? Really, I don't know why Kikyo bothers about you if the only who could really love her is me!"

So that why he hated Inuyasha with a passion! This guy was in love with Kikyo, but Kikyo was in love with Inuyasha. What a love triangle! I shook my head and focuses on the woman again.

Right at that moment. The woman let out a cry and smashed the pot on Takeshi's head, making him fall limp onto the floor, unconscious. I ran out to Inuyasha who now had the gun pointed at the woman who had potentially saved Inuyasha's freedom.

"Inuyasha, don't shoot!" I laid a hand on his arm, but he didn't budge. The woman on the other side sighed and held up her hands in defeat.

"Look, I don't have anything on me. I'm a good guy." She laughed and for some reason, I believed her. Inuyasha seemed to as well and lowered his gun. The woman smiled at me, her red eyes bright.

"You look so much like your father, Kagome."

I froze and then took a cautious step further. I gulped and in a small voice I asked, "You. . You knew my father?" Inuyasha held my hand to keep me from going forward. The woman's were wet and I realized she was crying. She nodded and held a hand to her mouth. After a few seconds, she spoke again.

"My name is Kagura. I knew your father when he started investigating the murder case of Izayoi Takahashi." I felt Inuyasha freeze as she motioned with her hand to Inuyasha. "At the time I met him, I was working with Naraku, but not willingly. My family had sold me to him to pay off the debts they owed to him."

We stood there in silence as I waited for her to continue. It seemed hard for her, as the tears cascaded down her cheeks. "Your father needed someone on the inside to get information and I gladly took the job. No one else knew but the police, and he swore to me no one in Naraku's mob would know. I gave him very valuable information, but I never wrote it down for fear I would be caught. When he had finally gotten a break in the case, he tried to call me, but the lines had been tapped into. I wasn't found out, but he was."

I held my breath as I watched Kagura continue to explain her part in my father's history. "Naraku found out and he ordered his death. I wasn't punished, because no one found out." She burst out into fresh tears, causing me to feel sympathy for her. I knew what she was coming from. "I felt so horrible after that. Every year on the day your father died, I visit the cemetery but I can never bring myself to go near. He must hate me now."

That's what did it. I broke free from Inuyasha's grip and ran to Kagura, encasing her into a hug. I patted her back as she eventually stopped crying. She glanced up and smiled.

"It's okay." I tried to say it with as much feeling as I could. She smiled.

"Thank you, Kagome."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Inuyasha finally react. "Um. . . Hate to interrupt but we have to get moving." He glanced around to see if there was anything or anyone potentially life-threatening. I nodded.

Kagura glanced down the hallway. "Come, this way. It's the fastest place out of here." She went ahead of us and we followed her out. We made it to another hallway, bigger than the one we had just left. She rounded the corner and so did Inuyasha, but the bigger room with the paintings caught my eye. I suddenly remembered the last

"It's in the 9th place, in the vault centered around the painting."

As I looked at the paintings, I knew what my father had been talking about. I ran inside, but suddenly felt someone grip my wrist. I was about to gasp but then I noticed who it was.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha whispered harshly. "What are you doing?" I saw Kagura behind him. I pulled free and ran into the room.

"There's something here that my dad told me about." I glanced at Kagura, hoping she might know something. She shook her head at me. "Right before my father died, he told me something." I started to feel around the paintings, to maybe find a vault or something like that. "He said, 'It's in the 9th place, in the vault centered around the painting.'" I ran to the other paintings. "I'm sure he meant this room."

Kagura slowly nodded. "That makes sense. Your father told me Naraku had hidden the evidence." She slammed her fist in her palm as a look of enlightenment struck her. "That's it! That's what he wanted to tell me over the phone!" She ran to me and began to feel around the paintings as well. Inuyasha sighed and began to look too.

"What is it exactly what we're looking for?" Inuyasha asked, looking at the paintings. To tell you the truth, as I stepped back they seemed to be ordered weirdly. They were placed oddly in twelve different shapes.

"In the ninth place . . ." I whispered to myself. I turned to the other wall and counted the different shapes. The ninth one was a circle with it's center marked by another, smaller painting of the Naraku himself. I pretended to gag.

"Guys, I think it might be here somewhere." Kagura and Inuyasha were there in a flash. I turned to them, explaining my theory. "This circle is the ninth shape here and it's the only circle with it's center marked."

"But then what about the next part of the phrase? 'in the vault centered around the painting'?" Inuyasha asked, confusion in his voice. "How can a vault be centered around a painting?"

I thought for a minute. "Maybe the vault is around the center?" I turned to the paintings and their weird order again. I stood on a chair and reached for the top portrait. I lifted it and sure enough, there was a vault.

"I found it! It has to be it." I reached to open it, but Inuyasha tugged my ankle before I could. I looked down at him with incredulous eyes. "What?"

Inuyasha glanced up. "Let me do it. You never know what kind of traps a house like this has." He climbed onto the chair as I climbed off and faced the portrait. As he looked at it, I suddenly realized we had no code or password, but I don't think it was necessary as Inuyasha took a simple pin from out of his pocket and started to pick the lock.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't tell me. When you were in all that shady stuff, you found out how to pick locks?"

Inuyasha laughed. "Of course. How else was I supposed to escape from the jails?"

I did a double-take, but decided not to ask. After a couple of minutes, Inuyasha cried out.

"Got it!" I leaned in on the chair and watched as Inuyasha slowly opened the vault door.

He gasped and glanced down. "Kagome," He called. "Come up here."

I climbed the chair carefully and peered in beside him. Inside the vault, I saw a black gun and two files holders. I carefully picked out the folders with my hands, blowing the dust off of them. As I examined them, I noticed that not only was my father's murder case there, but also Izayoi's, Inuyasha's mother. I turned to him, gulping as I held out the file. Kagura watched silently beneath us. I heard Inuyasha's intake of breath as he opened the case file.

"Kagome," He whispered. "You know what this means?"

I nodded. "Our parent's murders are connected. And I think I know how." At that moment, we both looked at the gun inside the vault, silently agreeing with each other. This was the gun that had killed my father. This was also the gun that took Izayoi's life. Tears sprung before I could realize. Inuyasha grabbed a cloth that was near and grabbed the gun, carefully making sure that he didn't touch it.

"This is will definitely put Naraku in jail for good." Inuyasha glanced at me and then at the gun. "We have to make sure the authorities know what we found here."

"Not over my dead body."

We both spun to see Kikyo, holding a pistol in her hand. "Get off the chair, or I'll shoot!" Kikyo screeched. Both Inuyasha and I jumped off the chair and huddled toward Kagura, who was now wringing her hands.

Inuyasha pushed me back behind him. "Kikyo, put the gun down. We already have the evidence to incriminate your father. Just face it."

Kikyo shook her head. "No one is going to leave this room alive!" I peeked around Inuyasha's shoulder and saw that Kikyo was visibly shaking now, the gun in her had with her. I was afraid she was going to shoot without warning.

"Kikyo. . ." Inuyasha said menacingly. Kikyo's expression was anger and the tears were falling down her cheeks.

"Shut up!" Kikyo shouted through her tears. "You don't know what you've done to me! I wanted you to be with me!"

I glanced at Inuyasha, whose gaze had hardened. "You wanted to be with me, even though you knew what your father did to my mother?"

Kikyo whimpered. "But. . . I love you!" She whispered harshly, her voice heartbroken. "I did everything to try and get you to like me!"

"But I don't!" Inuyasha yelled. "You don't love me. You're just obsessed with me." He moved toward the door, pulling me with him. Kikyo stopped us, her gun pointed at me now.

"I know what I have to do. I have to kill her, don't I?" She cocked the gun and I started to fear for my life. I let go of Inuyasha and pushed him back, so he wouldn't get hit if she did fired.

"Kikyo, stop it! You're only hurting yourself!" I yelled at her. She shook her head, a sick grin creeping into her face.

"The only one who's going to get hurt is you." My eyes zeroed in on the trigger, which she pulled back and let loose. I closed my eyes as I waited for the impact.

"KAGOME!"

A/N: Ha, I'm so mean, aren't I? You're lucky because I had originally made this to be the last chapter. But since I'm so nice and because I didn't want the story to end so soon, I made it a little longer. I better not hear any complaints!

So now what will happen?

REVIEW PLEASE!