CHAPTER 3

A/N: A big thanks to Tempest 78 and her loyalty to this story. She gave me the idea for this chapter, so a shout out to her. Also, I don't own this.

Bankotsu noticed the little miko stealing glances at him and he smirked, 'this girl can sense the jewel shards. And she's a lure for Inutrasha. A two for one.'

'I wonder why his shards aren't as tainted as the others' shards.' Kagome thought, as she fired another arrow. Suddenly, an arm came from behind and captured her.

"Let me go!" she yelled. Her captor chuckled and Kagome turned bright red, 'B-Bankotsu! Ah…' Kagome struggled only to have Bankotsu clutch her tighter. Inuyasha was about to go fetch her from the dead mercenary's grasp, but he was cut off by Jakotsu.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled. (This author notes that Inuyasha is actually only capable of yelling Kagome's name. Well, it's true.) Kagome tried to claw at Bankotsu's arm, only resulting in laughter from the mercenary.

'Come on! This is pathetic!' Kagome yelled mentally, 'at least TRY to make the want for freedom evident!' With this thought, Kagome struggled and kicked a bit more ferociously. Bankotsu's chuckle made her look up, 'I wonder why his shards are only slightly dark, instead of completely black like the other members of the Band of Seven.' Bankotsu looked down, sensing Kagome's stare. He smirked and Kagome turned bright red.

'Inches away… Oh, Kami-sama! What am I thinking? He's the enemy!' Kagome turned away, even redder than before.

"Turn out, men!" Bankotsu called. The Band of Seven members ran into the forest, taking Kagome with them.

"DAMMIT!" Inuyasha yelled to no one in particular. Miroku sighed and put a hand on the pissed hanyou. Inuyasha growled and shoved it off. Sango sighed and held a crying Shippo.

"We'll find her," Sango said. Miroku and Inuyasha nodded and they started the trek into the forest.

MEANWHILE:

Kagome looked on in horror as Bankotsu cut a man's head off.

'How can he be so monstrous while having only slightly tainted shards!' Kagome yelled in her head.

'This man is an enigma,' she concluded, sighing.

Bankotsu came back into the forest's hidden clearing, "C'mon wench."

Kagome glared, "it is Kagome. KA-GO-ME!"

Bankotsu chuckled, "Nice spunk, I like it." Kagome turned bright red and huffed, spinning around. Suikotsu chose this moment to come into the clearing, carrying a full grown buck.

"Jakotsu caught dinner, Aniki."

"Good," Bankotsu turned to Kagome, "start a fire," he commanded.

"Ah… yes!" She set off to find firewood. (A/N: Sorry for interrupting, I really hate doing this, but I'm making Kagome a bit smarter. She doesn't have her pack, so I had her live off the land. Don't like this, stop reading here. Bye.) Kagome grabbed leaves for kindling and some large twigs. She started to skip back to camp, but stopped after she remembered who she was with. She quickly made a small fire pit with river stones. Going back into the forest, she grabbed two dry river stones. She trudged back into camp, noting that the three men were gone.

'They're probably preparing the deer for cooking,' she thought. Kagome knelt by the fire pit and chipped the two dry rocks together. They sparked and some leaves began to smoke.

'Thank Kami for having Sota teach me basic survival skills when I last went home," she chipped the rocks together again and some leaves caught fire. She blew on these leaves and prodded them with sticks. The sticks crackled and caught fire. Kagome went back into the forest and gathered extra firewood. She returned to the cooking deer.

Bankotsu looked at Kagome, "nice job, girl."

Kagome huffed, 'at least it's not wench.'

Suikotsu motioned to Kagome, "sit and eat, you'll need to keep up your strength."

Jakotsu glared at Suikotsu, "damn you for having a doctor side."

Bankotsu gave a look to Jakotsu and the feminine mane shut up, "we need her to be as healthy as possible in order to find the shards."

Jakotsu sighed, defeated.

Kagome walked over and seated herself on the opposite side of the fire, away from the three mercenaries. Suikotsu, who was nearest to her and in his 'good doctor mode', handed her a piece of the buck's thigh.

"Thanks," Kagome whispered before she took a bite. Suikotsu nodded and continued eating. After the meal, the sun started to set.

"Shit, I thought we could've gotten farther today. Aw, well, looks like this is camp." Bankotsu stated.

Kagome looked into the sky, 'I wonder what tomorrow will bring,' she thought. 'Come get me soon, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku.' With that, she snuggled down into a comfortable position by an unoccupied tree close to the fire. Sighing, she fell asleep.

This is mostly going to follow Kagome, but will flash back to the rescue group every so often. I'm only planning for about ten chapters or so, but that's highly unlikely. Thanks again to Tempest 78, my idol and the one who got me hooked on BanKag. Kira out.