.Chapter 6

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Here's another chapter for you guys and I hope you all enjoy it. Remember to R&R! And I'll be sure to update more often ^_^

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The numbness slowly crept its way up the length of her arms which were hoisted high above her head. Her legs began to ache from having been in the same position for so long with little movement allowed. Mizuki wasn't aware of exactly how long she had been kept prisoner in this dungeon, nor did she have any idea as to why. The demon that had apprehended her, what was his name again… Takeo, she was sure he called himself. He had been extremely vague about why she was brought here in the first place. He had mentioned one called Naraku, and so far, all she knew was that this person wanted her here for some reason. It was several hours ago since she had first learned that piece of information. Since then she had been periodically slipping in and out of consciousness and even now, it proved to be a chore for her to simply stay awake.

"Something's definitely wrong in this place." She squinted trying to make out anything within the darkness of the vacant, chilly prison. Two small, flickering torches posted on both sides of what seemed to be a long hallway before her, offered little to no aid to the hopeless situation.

Mizuki struggled to fight off the overbearing urge to drift off into unconsciousness again. Her spiritual powers were waning quickly. It had to do with the overpowering demonic aura that radiated from the entire building. A thick cloud of miasma hung within the air all around her, making Mizuki sick to the inner core of her being. Whoever this Naraku person was and whatever it was that he could possibly want from her, she knew that it couldn't be good.

She would need to try her best to preserve some of her spiritual powers before they were completely suppressed by the evil in this place…she would most likely need to call on them for protection later. Mizuki closed her eyes in meditation as she concentrated on finding her centre, pushing out all negative thoughts from her mind. With a shaky voice, barely above a whisper, she began to offer up her prayers to the sacred Buddha for balance, serenity and good fortune in spite of her hopeless situation. It was then that she heard footsteps approaching, followed by an unsettling chuckle that made her blood run cold. It was him again. That demon; he had come back.

"What could you possibly be babbling on about, priestess?" Takeo cooed, his voice as velvety as silk and a small smirk present on his pale lips. His lean figure emerged from the shadows of the main hallway until he stood in the dim light in front of her, casually leaning against a wall. With arms folded and eyes glistening with what seemed to be interest, the demon let out a whole hearted laugh.

"What do you want now…? Have you…come to torment me, demon?" Despite her weakness, Mizuki spoke in utter annoyance that she'd been interrupted from her prayers by the likes of him.

Takeo gasped mockingly at her accusation, "Who, me? I would never even dream of tormenting a woman who's beauty is as astounding as yours."

"Your flattery falls upon deaf ears, demon" she spat. Mizuki narrowed her eyes as she watched him gracefully stride to the opposite side of the chamber in several fluent movements. What was this demon's purpose for coming to see her again? Surely he had to have a greater purpose for coming here than to simply shower her with useless compliments.

"Feisty." He said, watching her intently from where he now stood. "And please, I prefer that you call me Takeo, m'lady. 'Demon' sounds a bit, well…crude, don't you think?" an almost pleasant smile upon his lips.

She didn't answer. Mizuki struggled to keep her eyes focused on the demon in front of her but with each passing second, doing that became more and more difficult.

He noticed this and considered that she must have been growing weak from the cloud of miasma that wafted around the castle's interior. And who could blame her? Not many mortals could withstand Naraku's deadly poisons, though to him, the miasma cloud was simply a minor nuisance. Naraku seemed to enjoy basking in the toxic fumes of his own poisonous gases and wrongfully assumed that his incarnations shared his dreadful tastes as well. How conceited and inconsiderate he must be, Takeo thought.

He assumed Naraku would know better, too. He was harbouring this mortal woman here in this castle, yet how could he have possibly expected her to survive long enough to carry out his plans when he was practically suffocating her to death? He was surprised that she had been able to live as long as she had, given the circumstances. Naraku's little 'project' might actually prove to be quite interesting after all.

A ragged cough from the young priestess brought Takeo back into the present moment. Her limp body, suspended only by shackles began to shudder as she coughed repeatedly. 'The miasma is now becoming too much for her mortal body to handle.'

"I think it's about time to move you to a better location, priestess. We can't have you dying…well at least, not just yet" he said with an air of seriousness as he soundlessly moved closer to the bars of her prison.

Mizuki barely managed to subdue her coughs as the demon approached her. "What are you…planning to do?" she scarcely managed to speak. 'And how would killing me of all people possibly benefit this Naraku? I've never even heard of him. Why is it that he desires my life?'

He didn't answer. Takeo lifted a palm facing the wooden confines of the prison and proceeded to walk forward. His palm seemed to de-materialize through the bars and reformed once more once on the other side. The rest of his body followed, the entire process taking mere moments to complete and there he was, standing inside of the prison.

The young priestess noticeably tensed at the sight of the dark towering figure now in front of her. He began to loosen the heavy restraints that bound her to the cold stone wall. Mizuki felt her body collapse under her in her weakened state now that her support had been removed; however she found that she did not collide with the ground as she had anticipated. She looked to find the demon's arms wrapped around her, offering her much needed support.

The priestess struggled violently to remove herself from his embrace and surprisingly, Takeo complied and set her down gently on the ground. He proceeded to undo the remainder of the shackles.

"Tough girl aren't we? I assume you can walk on your own then"

Mizuki made it a point to give him an irritated look as she proceeded to stand on her feet. She had no idea that it was even possible for a demonic aura as well as miasma to be so powerful, that it almost paralysed her. In her years serving as a priestess, she had never encountered an aura quite as strong as this. No doubt, this Naraku character had to be the one responsible for it. She needed to find a way out. Ignoring her body's screams for help, Mizuki forced herself up and carefully balanced herself on unsteady feet.

"Oh how delightful, you are able to stand. I'm impressed Mizuki" the demon began. He turned his back to her as he held out his palm towards the bars of the prison. Instead of walking through them as he had done earlier, a forceful wind shot out from around him, demolishing the wooden bars.

Mizuki wasn't exactly sure where this demon was planning to take her, but she needed to find a way out. Her mind began to race with all sorts of ideas. However, no matter what she came up with, none of them would be effective if she didn't first rid herself of this demon. If she could just summon a little bit of what was left of her spiritual powers, she could purify him; or at least immobilize him to allow enough time for her to escape. Now was the best time. His back was turned to her as he was leaving the prison. She only had one shot to get this right and if she didn't, the consequences of her failure would surely be dire. She grew nervous as her heart rate quickened and tiny droplets of sweat began to form on her forehead. She could feel her breathing become heavier as anticipation mounted for what she was about to attempt. One wrong move…

She began to focus her energy and a soft pink glow surrounded her left hand. She lifted her hand facing Takeo's receding form when he suddenly stopped. She quickly withdrew her hand.

"Try anything, and I will kill you." He spoke with a voice now laced with malice, not bothering to look over his shoulder at the baffled priestess. With that, he continued walking through the dark castle. Mizuki felt her heart drop within her chest. She had missed her chance, her only chance. And now that he knew what she was plotting, she was sure that he would never allow her another opportunity like that again.

Takeo wordlessly led her out into the dark hallway and to a staircase that descended deep beneath the castle. Mizuki noticeably hesitated at the top of the staircase, unwilling to follow this demon to the depths of the castle. He noticed her hesitation and finally turned to face her.

"Well would you prefer to suffer and perish up there in the poisonous gases, priestess? The fumes will not reach you down here."

Mizuki groaned inwardly; clearly she had no other choice but to comply. She knew very well that she would quickly succumb to the toxicity of the gases if she remained in the upper chambers. But what did that matter if she was intended to be killed anyway? No, Mizuki thought, she would not die here. No matter what she had to do, she would find a way to survive…find a way out so that she could return home to her village.

His bare foot hardly touched the paved ground beneath him before it was quickly replaced by another. His ebony hair that was tied in a high ponytail whipped violently around him as he dashed through the shrine grounds. He held onto the young boy riding on his back tightly as he quickened his pace even more, very tempted to conjure up his famous whirlwind and take off into the city.

Kouga was more than happy to be outside of the confines of Kagome's stone hut where he could finally stretch his legs. He was also eager to explore this unknown world of hers. He'd been so excited to see more of Kagome's time since he had first arrived there. He had hoped that Kagome would be the one to show him her world, but if this meant that he was finally able to get a bit of exercise, then he was content with that. He knew Kagome would understand. Within seconds they had left the shrine grounds and entered the city. Souta began to panic.

"Kouga, are you sure there's a demon around here?"

What demon? Kouga had gotten so caught up in his own thoughts, he had almost forgotten about his little lie earlier.

"Oh yeah, it knows I'm coming and it's on the move though. It's fast too so we gotta hurry if we wanna catch up" And with that Kouga quickened his pace. Forceful gusts of wind licked up at his feet as he began to draw on the power of the Shikon shards embedded in them. Kouga increased his pace as the two soon found themselves within the city.

Souta really began to panic now. He could make out the shocked and confused expressions on the faces of people Kouga skilfully dodged. The boy started to regret letting Kouga talk him into all this. He knew Kouga could very easily get himself into trouble in this time period. But on the other hand, he really wanted to see a real demon, so that easily outweighed any negative thoughts lingering in Souta's mind. He'd just have to be careful not to let Kouga do anything too drastic. Though Souta was now beginning to realize that may have been a lot more easily said than done.

Kouga glanced up at the enormous buildings in the city. He had never seen structures as immense as these before; they towered over him like the mountains back at home, challenging him and Kouga definitely wasn't one to take challenges lightly. He ducked low to the ground and propelled himself into the air and bounded up the face of one of the buildings. Kouga leaped on the building's ledges until he neared its peak.

"KOUGA WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?"

"Calm down kid, this thing is nothin' for me!" And with that Kouga made one final leap off of one of the building's ledges and landed at the very top of it. He paused and took a moment to scan the city and gaze off into the horizon. He couldn't believe his eyes; there had to be thousands of these large towers out there. They spanned out everywhere around him as far as he could see and he couldn't even spot any signs of vegetation from where he stood. It was by far the largest human village he had ever seen.

Kouga glanced back at the terrified Souta who held a white knuckled grip on his back. The poor kid looked like he had the life frightened out of him. He chuckled to himself. 'He's scared shitless'

"Oi, you okay back there?" he spoke from over his shoulder.

Souta, who had just gotten over his initial shock slid off of the wolf demon's back and stood on wobbly legs. "Y-yeah I'm alright. Kouga do you realize how many people saw us just now?" He said with a voice laced with anxiety.

"So what if they did?"

Souta sighed, "Kouga people just don't run around a hundred miles an hour in armour and furs in this time! Someone is bound to start following us and asking questions!"

Kouga laughed at the absurd idea. "Kid, don't worry about it. No mortal could even dream of keeping up with me, now c'mon you wanna catch that thing or not?"

"Well yeah, I do but – Ahhhh, hey!" Souta was cut short as Kouga enthusiastically scooped him up and took off once again, this time, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Souta groaned. He knew he shouldn't have let Kouga talk him into all this. He had a feeling this was going to be a very long day.

The little girl reached out towards the bright, colourful object she desired. She stretched out just a little more barely grasping it, but becoming even more frustrated as it rolled away. Straightening herself, she folded her arms and pouted. She had been playing on the balcony with her favorite rubber ball when she accidentally rolled it through the balcony's railings and onto the thin ledge that ran around the building's perimeter.

She looked around the small balcony for anything she might be able to use to reach her toy but to no avail. The little girl tried to reach it again through the railings but her tiny arms could do no such thing. Determined to retrieve her toy, she went back inside of her apartment to find something she could stand on to help her climb over the balcony. Deciding that a small step ladder would work, she brought it outside, being careful to avoid her older sister who was watching television in another room. The little girl set it up and then carefully began to climb over the balcony and onto the ledge of the building.

She pressed her back against the concrete building and took little baby steps towards her ball, being sure to take her time. Inch by inch, it seemed as though hours had passed but she was really close to her ball now. Looking down, she suddenly became frightened as the reality of the situation finally hit her. She cringed at the sight of how high up she actually was and a sinking feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. Slowly reaching down to pick up her ball, her eyes remained focused on the ground, to where she could easily fall. Unfortunately, her shaky hand only pushed the ball a little ways away. The little girl groaned as she took just a few more careful steps closer towards her prize.

However, the little girl tripped and slid off of the ledge though she barely managed to hold on to the edge with her tiny hands. Horrified, she shrieked at the top of her lungs for help. Tears began to form in her eyes as she screamed and yelled for her sister to come get her. Her older sister dashed out onto the balcony and was mortified at the sight of her little sister dangling on the side of the apartment building.

"Sis, what do you think you're doing? Hang on, I'm gonna get help! Don't you let go!"

Within minutes, a large crowd gathered at the bottom of the building to watch the scene unfold. A chorus of whispers as well as prayers for the child's safety emerged from the spectators. The girl began sobbing uncontrollably as she felt her fingers begin to grow weak.

"Sis, help me! I can't hold on much longer!" she screamed.

"Don't worry, there's help on the way, just hold on! You're doing great just hold on!" her older sister shouted from her spot on the balcony.

The little girl's fingers began to slide off of the concrete and her cries rose to an even more desperate and feverish state. Tears were flowing uncontrollably as she felt her fingers finally let go of the ledge and she began to fall. She knew that this was it, she was going to fall to her death and she would never see her mother, father or sister again. She snapped her eyes shut and braced for the feeling of the concrete against her body.

She did not hit the ground as she expected though. Instead, there was the feeling of movement. She finally gained the courage to slowly open her eyes to see that she was being carried off by a strange man wearing furs and armour and a boy that rode on his back. The girl turned her head fully to get a better look at the two and then realised that this pair had just saved her. The man seemed to be flying, but how could that be possible? She thought he must've been some sort of superhero like the ones she'd seen on T.V or maybe even an angel. Whatever he was, he was utterly amazing.

The girl then looked over to the boy riding his back. He seemed to be about a year or two older than she was and quite cute, too. But it was his expression that she really admired. He didn't seem to be frightened in the least while he was with this man. He clearly trusted him so she relaxed, knowing that she would be alright now. After Kouga was sure that the girl was safely tucked in his arms, he began the descent from the building.

The entire ordeal left her at a loss for words at first, but she was grateful when the man finally landed gracefully on the ground in front of the awestruck crowd. A chorus of boisterous cheers erupted from the spectators as the little girl landed safely with the two. He set her on the ground gently and Souta slid off of his back and went to greet the girl.

"A-are you alright?" Souta stammered out. He had been completely shaken up from what had happened just now but he managed to keep his composure for her sake as well as that of his ego. He had been just as frightened as she was, but he had done his best to show her otherwise.

The girl just nodded before thanking both Kouga and Souta for rescuing her. Kouga, who really didn't approve of being gawked and poked at by a bunch of humans, just mumbled something along the lines of "you're welcome, just stay outta trouble".

"I must know your names, I'm Azumi!" she piped up.

"Oh right, I uhm, I mean my name's Souta Higurashi and this is Kouga" Souta said shyly as he began to blush.

"Azumi, you idiot! What in the world were you thinking?" came a voice from behind the crowd. The girl's older sister emerged from the mass of people and ran up to the trio. She hugged her sister tightly as fresh tears fell from her eyes.

"You could've been killed don't you know that? I should've been watching you more carefully…".

"I know, sis I'm really sorry! I was just trying to get my toy back but it was really stupid of me, I promise I'll never do it again!" Azumi then erupted into sobs.

Kouga was quickly beginning to get annoyed and he was losing his patience. It was not because of the two weeping human children but because of the overly curious humans that clearly wanted to examine his tail, ears and claws. Kouga bared his fangs as a warning sign to everyone that got too close to him, but none of them seemed to heed said warning. He decided that it was high time they got the hell out of here before he broke someone's jaw for poking at him. Walking over to Souta and the girls, Kouga scooped him up and tossed him over his shoulder.

"Well kid, don't forget we got ourselves a demon to catch. No time for chit chat. We better get movin' "

"Oh yeah, that's right. See ya around Azumi" Souta waved a goodbye to the two girls. Kouga took off again into the air; effortlessly scaling the face of the building before he sped off to the rooftops of the others which evoked gasps and whispers from the crowd. Azumi and her sister waved goodbye as the pair took off into the sky. Azumi continued to gaze up at where the two had just taken off and she couldn't help smiling to herself.

"Souta Higurashi and his friend Kouga…thank you for saving me."

The two had traveled in silence for a few moments as Kouga continued his rooftop sprint. Souta had completely relaxed now and Kouga noticed that his tenseness had eased away. "You know Kouga. That was pretty cool of you."

"Hm? Whaddya mean?"

"Well Kagome told me that back in your time, demons really hated humans. She said that most demons were ruthless towards them and wouldn't hesitate to kill one too. But you saved that little girl just now"

Kouga just shrugged. "Yeah well, your sister has a way of bringin' the good out in most people"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Never mind, don't worry about it kid."

For some reason, those words bothered Kouga a lot more than he had expected them to. He knew that what Souta was saying couldn't be truer. He knew this all too well because just a short while ago, he was one of those demons who wouldn't have given a second thought to taking human life. Never in a hundred years did Kouga ever imagine that he'd now be protecting human life. Come to think of it though, he couldn't imagine any other way to be. It had become a part of him. Kouga now cherished human life, and he'd be damned if there was a human in danger while he was around.

And it was all because of Kagome.

Souta looked out onto the horizon and suddenly, something went off in his brain. "Oh crap Kouga it's almost sun set! It's getting late and Kagome should be finishing up with her friends soon. If she finds that we went out, oh man, I'm gonna be dead meat!"

He smirked. That was the only thing he had been waiting to hear all day. Finally, he would be able to be with his woman after being away from her for so long.

"We'll just havta forget the demon today Kouga. How fast do you think you can get us home?"

Kouga's smirk grew even wider. Being the egotistical demon that he was, Kouga definitely wouldn't hesitate to show off his most impressive speed. He'd show Souta what he could really do.

"You aint seen nothin yet, kid. Watch this, hold on tight!" And with that, Kouga finally whipped up his trademark tornado. Within the blink of an eye, the two were gone, heading back in the direction of the Higurashi shrine grounds.