Sorry for, like, not updating. And stuff. Here, will this make up for it?
I DON'T OWN INUYASHA.
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It felt good to be back, real good. But that good feeling was overshadowed by a darker feeling of ominous foreboding. Kagome shivered as she sat down in a small clearing with the Inu-tachi, plus Kouga.
"You alright, Kagome?" Kouga asked, noticing her shudders. Kagome smiled at him; it was sweet that he was worried about her- and opened her mouth to answer, but as always, Inuyasha had something to say.
"Kagome doesn't need you to worry about her," he snapped. Kagome scowled.
"Kagome doesn't need you to decide what she needs," Kouga retorted. Kagome smiled.
"She doesn't need a mangy wolf breathing over her shoulder and asking if she's okay every five seconds!"
Kagome scowled again.
"She doesn't need a possessive flea-bag tryin' to control her life!"
"What she doesn't need is you, you ugly piece of-"
"Maybe you should stop being such a control freak, you dirty son of a-"
Miroku, Sango, and Shippo watched them go back and forth, and watched Kagome's facial expressions go back and forth, and they sighed and shook their heads. Kouga and Inuyasha were both hopeless.
Kagome turned to Inuyasha. "Inuyasha?"
"WHAT."
"Sit." He went down like a rock, and Kouga cringed, torn between laughing and being afraid of Kagome. "Kouga?"
"Er- yes, my sweet flower?"
"Don't call me that. And don't kill Inuyasha. Can you tell if there's a hot spring nearby? I really need a bath."
"Uh, yeah, I think. That way, I think; I can smell it, it's not that far." Kouga pointed.
"Great." Kagome stood with a sigh, dusted off her skirt, and, stepping over the comatose Inuyasha, headed in the direction that Kouga had pointed in.
"Wait, Kagome," Sango called, going after her. "I'll come with you, in case the Band of Seven shows up."
Miroku stood as well. "I should come, too," he announced, clearing his throat. "It would be a tragedy if our dear Kagome were kidnapped again, along with Sango. Er."
Everyone glared at him. Miroku decided it would be best if he sat down.
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The hot spring was refreshing and, thankfully, quiet. Sango seemed to realize that Kagome had a want for peace, and she said not a word while they soaked in comfortable silence.
The silence was broken- only once. The bushes rustled, and something- someone?- hissed quietly.
Eyes narrowing, Sango reached for her Hiraikotsu. She gasped when she realized it was gone.
"It was just right here!" she hissed to Kagome. Kagome shrugged, looking suspiciously at the spot where the bushes had moved.
"Maybe we should go back..." Kagome suggested.
"It's probably just a small demon," Sango assured her. "And I probably just left my Hiraikotsu back at camp, and didn't realize it."
"Sango, I'm sensing some Sacred Jewel Shards," Kagome murmurred, still watching the bushes.
"What?"
It was at that moment that the inhabitants of the bushes decided that their cover had been blown, and, in order to distract Sango, expertly threw the Hiraikotsu at her from their leafy hiding place. While Sango was preoccupied with catching her weapon, someone roughly snatched Kagome out of the warm waters of the hotspring and threw her to the ground. Curling up to cover herself, Kagome glared up at-
Jakotsu, who sneered down at her.
"Get some clothes on, wench," he ordered, and Kagome groped around for her clothes and tugged them on.
"HIRAIKOTSU!" Sango roared, throwing her weapon at Jakotsu while trying to cover her body. Jakotsu barely had to duck, and focused his attention on Sango, who tripped over herself as she pulled on her clothes and tried to catch the Hiraikotsu at the same time.
"Oh, ew," Jakotsu gagged. "Women parts."
Sango turned red (with both anger and embarrassment) and dove for her weapon.
As this was happening, Inuyasha and the others burst through the trees, weapons drawn. Jakotsu sighed.
"Oh, Inuyasha," he breathed. "While I am happy to see you, I'm afraid I didn't come for you!"
"Where are the rest of your stinkin' zombie friends?" Inuyasha demanded.
"Yeah, I can smell 'em all over the place!" Kouga added. Jakotsu just smiled.
"I guess," on of the bushes surrounding the hot spring sighed, "our cover has been blown."
"Like it wasn't before?" another bush retorted.
Bankotsu stood up from his hiding place, resting Banryuu on his shoulder. "No, it wasn't." He smirked cockily at Inuyasha. "Jakotsu, grab the girl and let's go. We don't have much time to waste here."
Groaning, Jakotsu picked Kagome up and tossed her over his shoulder. "Ugh."
"Renkotsu, if you would?"
Renkotsu leapt from his hiding place and landed on the other side of the hot spring, took a dramatic swig from his gourd, and spat fire at the Inu-tachi. They scattered, Kouga howling about his tail, which had caught a spark and was burning, while the Band of Seven made their escape, accented by Ginkotsu shaking the earth as he rumbled along.
The flames cleared, as Kouga leapt into the hot spring to extinguish his flaming tail, and, as expected, the Band of Seven was gone.
"Damnit!" Kouga spat, water dripping from his hair. "They got my Kagome again!"
"Your Kagome?" Inuyasha repeated. "When the hell did she become yours? And where could they have taken her?"
"They'd be fools to return to their castle; we'd find them in no time," Miroku said thoughtfully, examining a scorch mark on the hem of his robes. "And they couldn't have gone far. Which way did they go?"
Unfortunately, in the frenzy and chaos that the fire had created, no-one had managed to see which way the Band of Seven had gone in. Sango sighed, strapping the Hiraikotsu to her back.
"We'd best just choose a direction and go that way. We know they're somewhere. We just have to find them." She picked up Kirara. "Which way?"
"That way," Kouga said.
"This way," Inuyasha said.
They glared at each other, and before anybody knew it, an argument had burst into existence. Miroku shook his head.
"We are getting nowhere," he grumbled.
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"I hate all five of you," Kagome spat, glaring up at Ginkotsu, whose body (lap?) she sat on. He made an unintelligible noise at her, rumbling happily along.
Triumphantly, Bankotsu reached down and snatched the jar of Jewel Shards off of its chain around her neck. "It doesn't matter to us. We don't care whether you hate us or not." He smirked at her, admiring the Jewel Shards in the jar. "But you'll be helping us find the other Jewel Shards, right?"
"Hell. To. The. Naw," Kagome snarled. Bankotsu yanked her hair. "Ow! Ow! Ow, okay! Okay! I'll find the Jewel Shards!"
"Then we have an agreement." Bankotsu nodded. "If you ever find a Jewel Shard with anyone other than me, it better come to me." Here, he glanced at Renkotsu. "Okay?"
"Yes!"
"Yes, what?" Bankotsu pulled her hair again.
"Y-yes, sir?"
"Wrong. Jakotsu?" Jakotsu happily reached over and began to pull at her hair as well with his left hand.
"Yes! Yes, Bankotsu?" she cried, reaching back to touch her stinging scalp.
"Close." Bankostu pulled harder, as did Jakotsu, who appeared to having more fun than he should've, adding his right hand to the fun.
"Yes, Lord Bankotsu!"
"There we go!" Bankotsu cried, releasing her. Jakotsu did the same, reluctantly.
"Gesh, where are we going, Big Brother?" Ginkostu asked, coming to a slow stop and looking down at the smaller man.
"Yes; we've just been riding around aimlessly," Suikotsu added. He looked around. "It appears that the sun will set soon."
"We keep going till we get tired or we come across a demon." Bankotsu shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we'll find a village to plunder." He noticed Kagome glaring at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Kagome kept silent, wishing that Inuyasha, Kouga, or anyone would get her away from them.
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Well. Are you all happy now?
Review.
