Chapter Twenty-nine: Not so amusing Amusement Park

Inuyasha and Kagome were both running past the countless abandoned booths, where they were just starting to be repainted and fixed up. Kagome stared all around her, trying to see if Sota could be hidden in any one of them. He could be anywhere! All of these rides and houses were big enough to hide a little boy.

"It'll be alright," Inuyasha told her as they jumped over some limber and past the construction of the tea cup rides. "I'm sure that we can find him before it's too late."

"But what if we don't?" Kagome gasped tearfully, still hugging Sota's coat. "Why did this have to happen?"

"Look," Inuyasha told her firmly, "I promise that we'll find him. Now what was it that Naraku told you again?"

She sniffled and said, "He said that Sota 'is hidden in a place where it's only a matter of time before his life draws ever nearer to the end.' That's it."

Inuyasha made a noise of annoyance. "That's just like him. To have a stupid riddle to drive us crazy. The jerk."

"So where do you think he is?" she asked. "He has to be somewhere in this park, someplace where Naraku will be able to keep a close watch on the kid… someplace that we would never think to look. Damn, alright what time is it?"

Kagome glanced at the miniature clock tower in the distance. "About 2:42 if the clock tower is still working right," she told him. "We're running out on time."

He gritted his teeth. "Well, we'll just have to tear this whole place upside down until we find him. And I think I know where to start…"

They both ran forward, in the direction of, if Kagome's memory was working right, the haunted house.

*Miroku and Shippo*

"Hey! Look at what I found…" Shippo stated as he started picking something up. Shippo and Miroku both were looking around the kiddy park, where the rides for little kids were. Miroku looked back to see him holding a small toy top that had been left in one of the many abandoned stands, apparently a prize from long ago. Several worn-out wooden cutouts without faces were still standing, most of the funhouse mirrors positioned along the side of the pathway they were on was disorientating their reflections, and the stands were easy to climb into. There seemed to be no sign of any human or even a vampire enemy.

"Look at me! I am Muscle Man!" Shippo called in one of the wooden cutouts, which happened to be a ridiculously muscled man flexing his biceps in the circle

Miroku gave him a sharp look. "We aren't here to be playing around! Someone's life is in danger, Shippo. Snap out of it."

Though he couldn't help but think of Sango as the girl in the bikini next to him. Shippo mumbled an apology as they continued through the kiddy park. "You really think that Sota's here?" Shippo asked after a few minutes of searching.

"We have to start somewhere," Miroku said looking at the clock tower. "Damn, we're just wasting time running around in circles." Just as he was beginning to think that they would have to leave and start searching the rest of the park; because wandering around here without the slightest clue where to…

Suddenly, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand up… he stopped dead and watched something move from the corner of his eye. 'Looks like we're not alone anymore,' he thought, his hands tightening, readying himself for a fight.

"Shippo?" he called and the little boy looked up. "Be on guard. We're being watched."

Shippo froze in panic before he went to go and hide behind Miroku's leg when just at that moment, a voice said, "Not too bad, monk. Your senses are as sharp as ever."

They looked up to see a vampire in the form of a young child smiling down at them. Miroku's eyes narrowed and he said coldly, "Hakudoshi."

Hakudoshi smiled only wider. "Nice to see you to monk. It's been awhile," he told him.

"Yes, it has," Miroku said turning to him, his voice cold. "However, I'm afraid that we're a little short on time at the moment. You hidden a little boy here in the park somewhere right? Where is he?"

Hakudoshi merely titled his head to the side. "You mean the runt that we snatched? Sorry, can't help you there."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Shippo yelled, still hiding mostly behind Miroku's legs. "You kidnapped him and won't tell us where!"

This time Hakudoshi started to laugh. "No, I can't tell you because I don't know where myself where the brat is. Only Naraku does… and well, you have to get through me to find him."

"Is that all?" Miroku asked lightly taking a few steps forward. "Well, in that case…" He held up his fist and called out, "Prepare yourself for the afterlife!"

Hakudoshi raised his eyebrows. "Nice threat, monk." He then leapt up into the air, falling towards him—his fangs bared—"Now let's see if you can back it up!"

*Sango and Kirara*

Sango and Kirara were both looking in the House of Mirrors—keeping their eyes opened and breathing in every scent they could find—hoping that they could find some trace of Sota. However all they could pick up was the smell of vampires and the lingering trace of the human construction workers who had abandoned this place for the winter.

"You know, I always hated the House of Mirrors," Kirara said, stepping over the broken shards of what was left of this empty house. "It's creepy and makes me claustrophobic."

"I can't argue with that," Sango said, her senses ready to pick up every little sound around her. She sighed, looking around at all the broken mirrors, easily able to find their way through the dark. Just by following the small trail where the footsteps of countless people have stepped.

"You know, whoever broke all these mirrors would have at least a thousand years of bad…" Sango commented lightly, as she bent over to get a better look at a couple of normal mirrors that were lying around.

"Hopefully it's Naraku," Kirara asked gloomily. "I mean, he's pulled a lot of terrible stunts in the past, but doing all this to a little kid? That's just evil."

"I know," Sango sighed again. She understood how Kagome felt. After all, if it had been her brother who had been taken from her and needed her help, she would've torn down every single building in this place to get him back.

Kirara shook her head in a more determined way. "We only have a few hours to find the boy right? We can't afford to waste a second. Now if you were Naraku, where would you hide a prisoner?"

"Knowing Naraku, someplace where he can keep a close watch on," Sango answered. "Someplace where only he could…"

But before she could finish speaking, at that moment, she saw something moving in one of the broken shards on the floor and she stopped dead and spun around.

"What is it?" Kirara asked, tensing up at once and crouched low, ready for attack. That was when the figure of a face appeared on the many shards, making it look as if there were thousands of the same face looking down at them. The face with long white hair, and emotionless black eyes…

Kanna was here.

"Kanna!" Sango yelled. "Show yourself!"

No answer came… of course, they both knew that Kanna had always been the strong, silent type. They stood there—back-to-back—readying themselves for anything that Kanna had to throw at them.

For a few minutes not a single sound could be heard, other than their soft breathing, waiting… and then…

"Give me your soul," said a soft, emotionless voice.

*Inuyasha and Kagome*

It was the creepiest place she had ever been.

"Maybe it might not be such a good idea to go to the haunted house after all…" Kagome reasoned, still staring at the park sign. Now, as the haunted house of the park, it's supposed to look like the creepiest place in the whole park, but after falling apart, seeing it in the middle of the night, with vampires watching them from who know where, it only made it so much worse. A sign with 'The Haunted Manor' scrawled in large cursive letters lay across the entrance, adding a more desolate feel to the place.

She had turned around, this place looked as if it would have been a nice family place for a Sunday afternoon. There were several attractions, a decent sized Ferris wheel, what looked to be a carousel and even bumper cars to their far left. It's sad to see how a place that had once been so thriving and full of light and sound. Now it was dark and gloomy, no lights were turned on, nothing to signal this had ever been a thriving amusement park.

Inuyasha appeared next to her. "This is the best guess to where Sota could be," his voice sounded somewhat eerie in the dead silence of the park. His voice echoed slightly around them—she couldn't hear anything else, not even the slight chirp of a cricket or scurrying of rats. Not that she wanted to hear rats, of course, but dead silence wasn't exactly encouraging either. Whatever was in the park watching them, she just knew that this was the scariest thing to ever happen to her.

But if they have Sota, what else could they do?

So, cautiously, she began to take a few timid steps up the stairs to the entrance of the Haunted Manor. But as Inuyasha started to follow, he stopped dead, his ears twitching wildly.

"What is it?" she asked him worriedly.

"Get behind me," he said at once and without waiting for an answer, he grabbed her by the arm until he was standing in front of her protectively.

She looked over his shoulder, to try and see what had alerted him, but she couldn't see anything… at least until she saw his head jerk upwards to the roof of the haunted house. She followed his gaze to see that a young man was standing there in the shadows of the broken-down roof.

Inuyasha growled and stood in front of her to shield her from the man. "Byakuya," he growled, "You got three seconds to tell us where you hid the kid."

The vampire called Byakuya came out of the shadows and she could see his pale face and his black hair that was tied into a long ponytail. "Hey, Inuyasha. Nice to see that you're still in great shape after all this time."

Kagome felt anger boiling inside her at that smug smirk on his face. "Where's my little brother?!" she demanded of him.

He sighed, "Look, I'm only here to get the jewel. Naraku said that it you hand it over to me right now, then he'll give you the kid back."

Kagome wanted nothing more than to tell him that she didn't have it, but right now, she would hold onto anything to get Sota back. "Give me my brother and I'll give it to you!" she called to him.

Inuyasha shot her a warning look and muttered, "Be careful what you say to him. Naraku isn't known for keeping his promises…" He then looked back up to Byakuya and said, "Just tell us where the boy is and we'll go get him ourselves. If not, then I'll be more than happy to beat the truth out of you."

"Not that it would help you out there," Byakuya answered coolly. "After all, Naraku's the one who hid it. We're only here because we want our chance to fight you."

"Well, if that's all," Inuyasha hissed, he pushed Kagome backwards, "Stay away from here," he told her quickly. "Stay in my sight at all times though… I'll keep you safe."

Kagome nodded, "I know you will."

They looked up to Byakuya who was still grinning broadly. "Just promise me that you'll be alright… and that you'll take him out."

This time it was Inuyasha who smirked. "Of course…"

(Sorry for taking so long. But I'm back in school now. I know that the chapter's short, but I really hope that you enjoyed it.)