Author Notes: I found what I'm good at! XD I'm good working with old and broken pictures and fixing them! =D That's why I couldn't update earlier this chapter, I was working! Woooo! I'm so happy! X3 Anyway, enough with the chat I hope you like this chapter, even if it's a bit shorter than the other ones hehehe ^^ see you next Friday!

Disclaimer: Besides the plot line, I don't own anything. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Yomiuri TV Corporation. I'm not getting any profit from this story; this was just made for fun.

Warning: Maybe there is bad language? I'm not so sure what you consider bad language... ^^U

Thanks to: My beta reader, PandaStarz, for her wonderful work on this chapter.

Slavery.

Author: MikoAucarod

Chapter 20: Detector.

"Where are they?" Mrs. Higurashi paced the living room from one side to the other, staring every couple of seconds towards the wall clock. Near her, sitting on the couch, were Lady Kaede, old Myouga, and Shippo, who had a expression that claimed: 'Say anything to me, and I'll start crying.'

Kikyo was standing at the side of the window looking towards the garden, staring at the forest, hoping for their return.

The storm kept falling and it seemed that it wouldn't stop any time soon.

Inuyasha and Kagome had left around noon and it was now 1 AM. They hadn't called or appeared the whole day.

It was then that the front door opened with a thud, making everyone jump in surprise. Kagome was standing there, resting her weight against the doorframe.

Her hair was a complete mess and all wet because of the rain and her entire body was covered with dirt and mud. Her face was distorted with desperation and when she saw her mother, Kagome tried to run towards her, but after a few steps, she stumbled and fell to the floor. Everyone ran to her and tried to help her.

Her eyes were swollen from all her crying.

"Kagome, my dear. For all heavens! What happened to you? Where's Inuyasha?"

Kagome observed Kikyo and began crying again, shaking her head. She couldn't do it. She didn't dare to take Kikyo to that place but neither could she abandon Inuyasha just like that. Her body couldn't stand all the pressure.

"Naraku-" was the last thing she managed to say, as a whisper, before blacking out into her mother's arms.

"Inuyasha."

"What's wrong, Miroku?" asked Sango, looking towards her friend. It was noon and they had been watching TV after their lunch, when suddenly the monk had stood up. He began to walk towards the room's exit, glancing at Sango when he reached the door.

"Don't worry, Sango. I- can I use the phone? I would like to talk with Kouga for a while."

The young girl, feeling puzzled by the sudden desire of the monk to talk with his friends, only managed to nod, but then she looked towards the TV and lost all her attention towards him.

Miroku took the phone from the dining room and walked to the terrace of his home, but before he could dial the number, the phone rang.

It was Kagura's house number.

"Hello?" he asked when he picked up.

"Did you feel it?" It was Sesshomaru.

"Yeah, I was about to call Kouga."

"I have him here on the other line, give me a second."

"Ok."

After a few seconds, Kouga's shrill voice could be heard.

"In what kind of problem has that mutt gotten himself into now?"

"Calm down, Kouga. We don't know for sure, but if the three of us could feel it, then it's probably that he is indeed in some kind of trouble," the monk tried to say, but Sesshomaru replied.

"Never, over the past 200 years that we have had the order of protecting each other, have I ever felt anything similar to this, Miroku. Inuyasha is in great danger, and you know it."

"Yeah, well… I'm trying to think posit-"

"To hell with positivism, monk! Isn't he supposed to be safe with Kagome and her family? What if Naraku already got his hands on them?"

"Kagome assured me that they were safe and sound when I saw them this aftern-"

"Sesshomaru?" asked the youkai wolf when the silence stretched enough to be awkward.

"The center of the city," the daiyoukai said suddenly. His mind was racing, filling in the dots and imagining the scenario. "Even when they were disguised, Naraku may have recognized them."

"If that's the case, then maybe Miss Kagome is in danger too, remember that she and Kikyo look alike, what if while being in disguise Naraku thought she was Kikyo?"

"Maybe he attacked them at the city."

"Has anyone tried to communicate with them?" A feminine voice could be heard and the three Slaves jumped in shock. Miroku turned around; Sango was looking at him, with the living room phone on her ear. She looked a bit shocked, but was trying to keep her cool.

'Of course,' thought the monk, 'when the phone rang, Sango should have answered it almost by instinct. – After all, the 80% of the calls to home are for her.'

"I know they're living at Kaede's house, they just told me that, but I don't have a num-"

"Guys!" exclaimed Kouga, terrified. It wasn't necessary; the three of them had felt it. A huge crushing inside their chests, as if something were pressing with great force their entire torso. Dangerously near to their hearts.

They needed to find Inuyasha and they needed to do it now!

"No, Kikyo!"

"But it's the only way!"

"My dear children, please calm down, we still have time to-"

"No, Kaede! I'm sorry but there's no other way and we don't have time. I've already told you if Naraku wants me then why should you be involved in this? Look at what happened with Inuyasha!"

"But Kikyo…" Kagome pressed her head against her hands, tired. It was around 2PM – she scolded herself for having slept so much – and she only had a few hours left to obey Naraku's order or then who knows what could happen to Inuyasha. But neither of the options were good!

"Kagome…" Kikyo placed her hands on her cousin's shoulders and forced her to look at her own face. "Listen to me. I'm not asking for your permission. It's my decision to go. This isn't only for Inuyasha. All of you will also be in danger if we don't end all of this right now.

Kagome sighed. Kikyo's expression told Kagome that she had made her decision, and she knew that her cousin wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. She was already tired from all the discussion.

"We'll go… But promise me that we'll do everything within our power and manage to return the three of us."

"But Kagome, Kikyo!" Mrs. Higurashi exclaimed, terrified for her daughter's and niece's wellbeing, but Myouga placed a hand on her arm and made her stop.

"I'm afraid that there's nothing that we can do."

"They'll know how to get out of this," Lady Kaede spoke, solemnly. She observed both girls with pride and fear. It was true that their method would cause less harm to the family and beloved ones… it was just a waste give Naraku more heads.

Even if that thought didn't make the situation less painful.

"I didn't know my mom could cry that much… I…I feel awful."

"Kagome, let's just end all of this," was Kikyo's ultimatum, even when her face looked the same or more devastated than Mrs. Higurashi had looked when both girls left.

When they got to the city, Kagome began to panic, when she noticed a big problem.

"I can't remember where the alley is. I don't even know where they took Inuyasha! What the hell was I thinking?" she yelled, looking at the streets, trying to remember some building, any signal that could be familiar to her. But when the storm had begun, Inuyasha had moved so fast that she couldn't really see where he had taken her."

"Calm down. We will find the place. Naraku will have what he wants and everything will return to normality."

"I don't want to see Naraku! What I want to know is where Inuyasha is!"

After her claim, a glow emerged from the pockets of her jeans, making both girls stare at the place with surprise.

Kagome pulled out what she had in her pocket. It was the bag with the stones that Mr. Kei had given to her almost a year ago. They were glowing brilliantly.

"What's that?"

"I'm not sure… this…" Kagome took one of the stones out of the bag, at the next moment, the ones that were left stopped glowing, while the one on her palm began to emit a powerful brightness, which then spread to form a delicate line, pointing to a direction.

"Kagome… do you think that stone-?"

"It's guiding us towards Inuyasha, I'm sure!" cheered the girl, happy. They wouldn't have to go to the alley and confront Naraku! They could find Inuyasha and escape with him.

Both of them began running towards the direction that the stone was marking and after a while – they didn't stop to check the time – they arrived at a semi-abandoned zone of the city with lots of old buildings, mostly all of them empty.

The stone signaled the path towards one building in particular and when they got near the entrance, the delicate line of light began to point upwards them, meaning that Inuyasha was at one of the superior floors.

Finally they reached the fifth floor and the glowing became more and more intense, it was almost blinding. They were getting closer.

Kikyo began to look around her, afraid. They hadn't seen anyone else there, not at the stairs, not at the hall…. It was weird. Naraku wasn't careless. There had to be someone on guard.

"Hurry up, Kikyo. This way!" Kagome hurried towards a near door. Inuyasha was right on the other side.

"Wait, Kagome! You don't know wh-!" Kagome opened the door, which wasn't locked and she paralyzed at the sight before her. Kikyo, standing behind her watched with similar terror at the same place Kagome was staring at.

Inuyasha was there, lying on the floor, curled up with countless wounds throughout his body, both from blades and bullets. His torn clothes and his hair were completely covered with dirt and blood, his own blood. His breathing was labored and it seemed that he couldn't even stand up if he had tried to.

But what shocked them the most wasn't to see the boy lying at the end of the room, but to see in front of him the seven warriors standing around him, preventing them from coming to his aid and in front of all of them, there was Naraku, pointing at the girls with his gun.

"Make a single movement… and you're both dead."