I'm so…*sniff* proud of myself. I thought I'd never update this story, but….*bursts into tears* I actually did it! I think it was the reviews… thank you all…. I love you!
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Kagome began to regret what she'd said. Maybe blowing up the way she had at Inuyasha had been uncalled for. She reluctantly swallowed the contents of the vial Suikotsu had shoved past her lips and was immediately attacked by a bout of dizziness.
"What was that?" she demanded sleepily of Suikotsu.
"Sleeping potion," he replied simply.
"Wuzz that really… uh, really called for…?" Kagome slurred. The stupid potion was taking effect awfully fast, she noticed.
"Yes," Suikotsu told her with a smile. "We can't really have you changing your mind all of a sudden, now can we?"
"Suikotsu's right," a new voice said by Kagome's ear. She was concentrating to hard on keeping her eyes open to look to see who it was, but she knew. "What if you decide you'd rather see your friends again? We can't have that. Not only are you good bait, your ability to sense the Shikon jewel shards is useful."
"Just go too sleep," Suikotsu said, not unkindly. "Things will look a lot better when you wake up."
Kagome was too tired to argue. Her eyes fluttered closed, she let her head fall against her chest, and she fell forward. Suikotsu caught her easily.
"Ugly wretch," Jakotsu sniffed snootily, covering his nose with his sleeve.
"Like you've got room to talk," Renkotsu said.
"Shut up!"
~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~
Like Suikotsu had said, Kagome found she did feel very good when she awoke.
That made her quite irritable.
"I see you've woken up, wench," someone spat from a corner of the unfamiliar room Kagome was in. Kagome sat up and turned her head so quickly, she heard the bones click.
"It's you!" she said. "Uh… Jakotsu, is it?"
Jakotsu turned his head away from her. "Don't talk. Your voice grinds on my nerves."
Kagome felt anger bubble up in her chest. First Inuyasha, then this cross-dressing homo? Did everyone think she was some toy they could abuse however they liked?
"Listen, you," she spat, "I've had enough of you pompous men talking about me like I'm some useless, weak little girl! I want some respect, you hear me? Why do you hate women so much, anyway? People can hardly tell you're not female!"
Jakotsu glared at her. Kagome stared right back just as fiercly.
They fell into a tense, awkward silence.
"Big Brother Bankotsu told me to watch you," Jakotsu muttered abruptly.
Kagome said nothing.
~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~
The wind whipped Koga's high ponytail up behind him, and a smirk graced his features.
He could smell Kagome's scent.
Something confused him about it, though. It was spread across a wide area. He could smell Inuyasha's scent, too- but Kagome's scent was beside him and it seemed she'd moved away from him.
What troubled him most, though was that her scent mingled with the Band of Seven's.
Koga burst from the forest and practically stepped on the demon slayer that traveled with Inuyasha.
"Oh!" she cried. "Koga!"
Koga had braced himself for Inuyasha to immediately throw himself at him, but the impact never came. He relaxed. "Hey," he said. "Where's Kagome?"
The demon slayer- Sango, Koga remembered her name was- seemed reluctant to answer. "Well- you see, that's… Kagome's…"
"Kagome's gone," the fox demon, the little cub that always hung Kagome, whispered.
"Gone where?" Koga asked, oblivious to their (actually quite obvious) depression. "Back to her village?"
"No," Kagome's monk friend sighed. "Gone. With… the Band of Seven."
"…with…"
Kirara, sensing another explosion, dived for cover behind Sango.
"WITH THE BAND OF SEVEN!!!!!!?????" Koga roared.
Shippo- that was the fox demon's name- burst into tears. Sango looked away, and the monk stared at the forest that edged the once-pretty-field-now-old-battlefield they were in.
"Inuyasha is to blame," he said.
"You stupid mutt!!!!" Koga bellowed. "Get out here and fight like a man! I bet you gave Kagome to those zombies!! Or did you let them kidnap her?! Either way, you're dead!!!"
Inuyasha leapt from his (quite invisible) perch in the tree. "You tryin' to pick a fight with me, wolf?" He asked calmly. "I'm not in the mood."
"You mangy mutt," Koga growled. "You can't just brush me off like that!"
He prepared to attack the half demon but was halted by Miroku- ah, that was his name- calling out.
"Instead of fighting, wouldn't it be more productive to search for the Band of Seven's castle?" he asked.
Koga was about to reply that no, it wouldn't, or at least not until he pounded Inuyasha's head into a puddle of blood, but Sango interrupted him with, "Miroku's right. Who knows what they could be doing to Kagome?"
Inuyasha and Koga perked right up at that. "You're right! My sweet Kagome could be in danger! See you later, muttface, I'm going to-"
"Wait, Koga, don't you ever listen? I'm not done."
Koga stopped and tapped his foot impatiently. "Well, get on with it! I've got a girl to save!"
"I was thinking…" Sango explained, "that we should join forces to look for Kagome. Not only would it help us fight the Band of Seven, but it would be easier to find Kagome with more demons to sniff her and the Band of Seven out."
"She's got a point…" Koga said slowly.
"There's no way in Hell I'm traveling with that wolf," Inuyasha said angrily.
"Do you want to find Kagome or not, Inuyasha?" Miroku snapped.
"…"
"I'm perfectly okay with it!" Koga announced. "Along as I find my Kagome, it's alright with me!"
"Then it's settled," Sango said. "We'll travel together to find Kagome!"
"Hey!" Inuyasha yelled. "I didn't say-"
"It's over, Inuyasha. Koga will travel with us, whether you like it or not."
Inuyasha grumbled, but said no more about the subject.
"We should get going," Miroku said. "The sooner we start, the faster we'll find Kagome."
"Alright," Koga said.
And so they went.
~/~/~/~/~/~/~
Inuyasha and co. had only been traveling for a short while when Koga asked why and/or how had Kagome been ended up with the Band of Seven in the first place.
"She went willingly, actually," Miroku said. Inuyasha was silent.
"What?" Koga cried unbelievingly. "Why?"
"Inuyasha," Miroku glared at said half-demon, "said that Kikyou was better than her. Kagome started to scream at him, and, just as she finished, the Band of Seven appeared. Bankotsu called her pretty, scooped her up, and they were gone. Kagome didn't struggle in the slightest."
"She said," Sango said, "that she'd rather help them than stick with Inuyasha. I guess… she wasn't joking."
Nothing more was said.
