Summary: AU. OOC. Inuyasha and new girl Kagome's hate-hate relationship lands them in a very scary and very dangerous predicament…

~ Taken ~

lockdown

"So, are you gonna tell me your name?"

The girl grunted and slid further down her seat. "How'd I get stuck sitting next to you again?"

"Tell me your name and I won't bother you anymore."

There was a silence between them as the teacher continued talking about the daily schedule. Finally, she sighed as she buried her face in her sweatshirt. "Kagome. Kagome Higurashi."

"My name's-"

"Inuyasha Takahashi," she smiled slightly.

"For a new girl, you seem to know a lot about me. You interested in me?"

She laughed softly. "Not a chance, dog boy."

Inuyasha smirked at the nickname. "And yet you're sitting next to me."

"There's a seat chart, smart one. And didn't you say you would leave me alone?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I lied. Sue me. So, Kagome," - he let her name roll off his tongue, liking the sound of it - "are you interested in going to see a movie with me tonight?" Oh yeah, he had her now.

"Nope," she said, popping the p happily.

Inuyasha scowled. "Why are you so happy that you rejected me?"

"I'm happy because I'll go to sleep tonight alone, knowing that there won't be some douchebag using me for sex."

Inuyasha's scowl did not disappear. "Rude."

Kagome shrugged. "The truth hurts, man. Get used to it."

Inuyasha's glare deepened, if that was even possible. "Bitch."

Kagome snapped her gaze to him. "Excuse me?"

"I called you a bitch. You deaf or something?"

"I wish I was," she said, glaring at him.

"You annoying whore!"

"Chauvinistic pig."

"Fucking slut!"

"Incompetent fuck. You're just mad because for the first time in your life, a girl is not attracted to you. How sad."

Jesus Christ, her glare was so icy it could freeze the depths of Hell. Despite how annoyed he was at her, he was admittedly a little turned on too.

The two glared at each other before Mr. Nakasone glanced in their direction. "The two of you, stop flirting and pay attention."

Inuyasha and Kagome's faces turned equally red before they both huffed a little and turned back to face the front of the classroom.

"Alright, because today's the first day of school, I'm gonna let you guys relax a bit,"Mr. Nakasone said. "That doesn't mean you get to screw around and cause a racket, do I make myself clear?"

Without giving any of his students a chance to respond, he continued. "Good. Now for the next forty-five minutes, please get to know your new classmates, talk quietly, and please, for the love of God, don't act like uncivilized gorillas. Thank you."

Uhh… okay?

After a while, the tension that was there prior to Mr. Nakasone's announcement seemingly disappeared, and students began talking again.

Eventually, Inuyasha and Kagome started up their quarrel again as well - if not a little softer.

"I cannot believe you got us in trouble!" Inuyasha hissed.

"That wasn't all my fault," Kagome hissed back. "It was your fault, too."

"No!"

"Yes! You were the one who called me a bitch!"

"Because you were being one!"

"That doesn't justify anything!"

"Never said it did!"

"Asshole!"

"Bitch!"

"Inuyasha and Kagome," Mr. Nakasone scolded once more. "Stop talking!"

"Everyone else is talking!" Inuyasha snapped in response, his blood already boiling from his heated exchange with Kagome.

"You're being exceptionally loud, that's the problem."

"We're not!" Kagome defended. "The other students are being louder."

It was true. Even then, some of the other students paid no heed to the conversation between the two students and their teacher. Not a lot of them could hear it.

Mr. Nakasone inhaled deeply in frustration before simply turning around and walking back to his desk.

The students in the room who could hear what was going on rolled their eyes when - surprise, surprise - Inuyasha and Kagome went at it once more.

"See what I mean?"

"Again - that wasn't all my fault!"

"It is too! You started it!"

"'You started it'? What are you, three?"

"Why you little-"

"They're like a match made in Hell," someone commented dryly, and a few people surrounding him laughed.

"Enough!"

The room went deathly silent.

Then, finally, "Kagome Higurashi and Inuyasha Takahashi. If you don't mind, please take this to Ms. Kaede."

Both of them scowled as they got out of their seats, grabbed their bags, and stomped out of the classroom.

Before they left, Mr. Nakasone called after them, "And please, take the shortcut that goes around the side of this building. I don't want all the classes to have to listen to your senseless bickering."

"This is all your fault, you know," Inuyasha snapped, slamming the door. Kagome winced at the sound.

"Shut your pie-hole, Takahashi, there are other classes in session! God, be more considerate!"

"That teacher hates me, you know!" Inuyasha snapped, completely ignoring what she had just said. Despite this, he dropped his ranting down a few notches. "I don't even fucking know why, he just does! What was I even doing? This is so unfair!"

"Would you shut the fuck up? This is your fault as much as it is mine!"

"Fucking bitch," he growled.

"Inconsiderate bastard. I have all day to trade insults, you know."

Another growl. "Thanks to you, I have to go to the principal's office!"

"It's not like you're the only one going. Stop whining."

"I am not whining!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Why, you-!"

Their bickering continued all the way down the hall, out the door, and around the side of the building, just as Mr. Nakasone had asked. God, the guy was such an asshole.

"I don't know how I can still stand to hear you talk and not go insane!"

"A little brother, probably?" Inuyasha smirked. Oh yes, she was cute when she was angry.

Kagome stiffened immediately. Inuyasha saw this and his smirk widened, taking her reaction the wrong way.

Then she turned to him, all evidence of being angry gone. In fact, her face looked devoid of any emotion at all. He swallowed, the smirk sliding off his face. Yeah, she was hot, but when she was like this? Inuyasha felt like utter shit. And he didn't like it in the slightest.

"I had a little brother."

Then she turned and kept walking.

Inuyasha stood there a minute, trying to figure out what the hell she meant by that, before realizing she was ahead of him. So he ran after her. "Kagome, wait!"

Just as she was about to turn another corner, he grabbed her wrist and turned her around. She looked genuinely hurt, and Inuyasha opened his mouth to apologize.

Suddenly, without warning, alarms blared all over the school. There were so many ear-splitting rings that neither of them bothered to keep track.

The P.A. system attached to the wall above them crackled to life.

"Emergency. An armed suspect is on campus. Go into the nearest room and lock the door. This is not a drill. I repeat - this is not a drill!"

"Oh God, oh God, oh God-" Kagome closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to her calm herself down. "Oh no. Inuyasha-"

"Come on. We need to find a room."

He grabbed her arm and ran down several empty corridors, trying every doorknob. They were all locked. In fact, there wasn't anyone in any of the rooms anyway. Just bloody peachy.

Inuyasha flung open the door to the building they had just exited not ten minutes ago and raced down the hall, looking around wildly for the nearest classroom, his long fingers wrapped tightly around Kagome's wrist.

Within moments, they found one. He tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"Shit," Kagome murmured. They stared at each other hopelessly before something to her left caught her eye.

"Look!" She pointed to a door that read Ladies' Restroom.

"Oh, hell no," Inuyasha said, backing away. Kagome glared at him.

"Listen, I don't give a damn about your pride," she hissed. "If what you said is true, it's about life and death here. Would you rather spend an hour or two in the women's restroom while they get the intruder out or die?"

"Die," he replied indignantly.

Kagome sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but if you go into this bathroom I'll… I'll… I'll go on a fucking date with you. Alright?"

Inuyasha grinned. "Let's go!"

Kagome rolled her eyes before running into the bathroom, Inuyasha right behind her.

She closed the door softly before realizing that there wasn't a lock.

"Oh my God, just our luck," she muttered. Inuyasha looked over at her, puzzled.

"There's no lock," she whispered to the white-haired boy. "So we'll just have to be quiet and pray to all the gods we know that they won't think to search in here."

He nodded before grabbing hold of her waist and backing into a corner. Inuyasha's breath came in quick pants above her head, while Kagome's was much slower. But she didn't feel any less panicked - Inuyasha could smell it on her.

And then, the door opened with a swish.

Both their bodies tense in unison and they locked eyes as they huddled together even closer.

"'Anyone in here?" a voice asked.

At first, Inuyasha was relieved and was about to respond, but Kagome's hand went to her mouth in horror, her eyes welled up in tears and she clenched her trembling fingers into his shirt tightly. Inuyasha closed his mouth almost immediately.

And then a man rounded the corner and spotted them.

"Found you!" a man cried happily.

Kagome turned to face him, rosy cheeks stained with tears. "Kouga…"

So she knew this guy. Inuyasha's hold on her tightened.

"How ya doin'?" 'Kouga' grinned before noticing Inuyasha holding her. The grin immediately disappeared. "So… makin' out with boy-toy over here, eh?"

Inuyasha opened his mouth to respond smartly, before noticing the sharp, shiny object in Kouga's hand.

Kouga smirked. "Let's go, 'Gome," he said, tugging the girl out of Inuyasha's grasp. "We've got things to catch up on."

"Don't call me that," she whispered, trying to retract her arm. "Let me go."

Kouga only grinned wider.

An overwhelming feeling of protectiveness came over Inuyasha and he didn't know why, but still he growled, "Let go of her. Now."

Kouga stopped in his tracks and turned towards the dog-eared male. "Excuse me?"

"Inuyasha, no!" Kagome cried. But Inuyasha ignored her.

"I said, let her go."

Kouga's grip on Kagome loosened slightly as he eyed the teenage hanyou. "Well, you know you need to come too, right? I can't have a witness go telling people."

Inuyasha faltered slightly, but didn't take back what he said and didn't break eye contact with Kouga. Despite his arrogance and fuckboy-ish nature, Kagome felt a surge of respect for him.

Kouga let go of Kagome, knowing full well she wouldn't escape. And he was right, she didn't. But he didn't expect her to run in front of Inuyasha to protect him.

"No! You're not taking him! You can take me, but you leave him here." Kouga could clearly see the challenge within those dark russet eyes, daring him to do or say otherwise.

Inuyasha stared at the girl in awe. "Kagome…"

"Now this is interesting," Kouga said, a wicked smile making its way across his face. Then he expertly flipped the knife in his hands. "Get out of the way, Kagome. I'm gonna have to teach mutt-face here a lesson."

Kagome didn't move, despite Inuyasha telling her to. "Kagome, please! Move out of the way! I can handle this guy!"

She ignored him.

"Come on, 'Gome, let's go!" Kouga smiled at her, making her knees feel weak. "We'll have a lot of fun together, I promise."

Kagome shook her head, glaring fiercely at him.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh, but you are," Kouga laughed. "And you're taking the dog with you. If I have to make you move, I will."

Then he charged. Kagome, expecting this to happen, expertly blocked his knife, and counterattacked instantly, easily giving the wolf demon a black eye. Then she twisted Kouga's arm uncomfortably behind him, threatening to dislocate it if he didn't break out of her hold quickly. To make sure he couldn't move his other arm, she stomped on his free hand.

Kouga grunted in pain.

"What are you doing?" Kagome screamed at Inuyasha. "Get out! Run! Run, you oaf!"

Inuyasha didn't think much about it, and wasted no time scrambling out of there. Kagome sighed with relief, before realizing that she didn't actually disarm the man beneath her.

Kouga whipped his arm away and escaped her hold, cutting her cheek in the process.

"That wasn't smart," he whispered dangerously, suddenly behind her and pinning her against him in a chokehold.

Kagome, now relying solely on survival instincts, screamed.

The knife dragged. Blood spilled from her skin.

"Open up, please!" Inuyasha cried, banging on the doors. "Please!"

He had been at this for barely a minute but it felt like an hour.

He was losing hope.

And Kagome… she was in there fighting Kouga alone. Why did he leave her?

And then there was a scream, and suddenly air was unable to get into Inuyasha's lungs.

He choked, sliding down the wall, tears of fear threatening to escape. He never cried before. Never. Not when he broke his leg, not when his brother left, not when his mother died.

But he cried now. Why? He didn't know. He didn't care.

Then there was an evil chuckle, and immediately Inuyasha jumped up to find Kagome draped across Kouga's arm, unconscious. He bristled at the sight of that wolf putting his hands on her.

"She tried fighting, you know," Kouga said. "But she just wasn't good enough."

He flipped the girl in his arms, so now her face was directed towards Inuyasha. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the likely fatal wound at the base of her neck.

"N-No!"

Something hard hit him at the back of his head. The last thing he heard was, "Time to go."

a/n: finals are done ! summer, here i come!

don't forget to review:)

shadow