Lead Me Down the Garden Path

by princesspvmpernickel

Fear of unemployment made Kagome accept the first job offered: a job introducing her to infamous celebrity, Inuyasha Taisho. As the two get closer, she learns of dark secrets and a global scandal that make her question herself, her feelings, and Inuyasha. She didn't intend to get caught up in the violence and corruption of Inuyasha's past. She also didn't intend to fall in love.

27. Premeditation

Lead Me Down the Garden Path

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Premeditation

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The black and blue of night yielded to morning as Jakotsu flicked his last cigarette butt out the car window.

The drive had been dull, and going into the fourth hour, his buttocks was beginning to numb. Jakotsu hated nighttime driving, always had: it's quiet, hard to see, and typically done alone. Jakotsu never did fare well in isolation.

He initially thought he would have enjoyed this drive more; but, God was he bored. If it weren't for the occasional music that appeared through the radio static, his Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes, or Kagome's sporadic fits of kicking in the trunk, Jakotsu would have had to shoot himself in the head to rid himself of his boredom. With nothing but his churning thoughts to entertain him, Jakotsu coddled the irritation he felt: Why did he have to be the one to kidnap Inuyasha's stupid girlfriend? Renkotsu enjoyed stakeouts and hunts way more than Jakotsu did.

Jakotsu was the kind of man who preferred playing with his food rather than shopping for it.

Intensifying his grip on the cracked, aged leather steering wheel, Jakotsu ground his teeth. He continued to obsess over a simple thought that had been haunting him since he first captured Kagome:

Why hadn't Inuyasha been out there with the rest of them?

While staking out that unreasonably large house for days, Jakotsu kept himself sane by running through a variety of scenarios, picturing all the ways Inuyasha might respond to losing Kagome. Jakotsu dreamed about outsmarting Inuyasha, beating Inuyasha, kicking him while he was down. Maybe he'd cry, or maybe he'd take his own life, Romeo-Juliet style. The thought made Jakotsu giggle.

Yet, Jakotsu's only audience ended up being that idiot, rookie government ex-agent, a bimbo, and some kid. Jakotsu snarled.

That was just like Inuyasha to fuck up Jakotsu's plans.

Jakotsu had spent days practicing the Family's rule of patience, living off the imaginary pain he would witness in Inuyasha; he had desperately wanted to see the look on that bastard's face as he watched Jakotsu take off with his beloved Kagome. Yet Inuyasha wasn't even around when the opportunity to take her presented itself.

Jakotsu's rage melted as he gave into a teetering of laughter. Images of Inuyasha's distress drifted through his mind's eye.

But, then again, Jakotsu thought, it wouldn't have been as easy as it was to stick that broad in the trunk. Those other losers were just too accommodating.

"Inuyasha, on the other hand," Jakotsu projected into the silence of the truck cabin. "Now, he would have put up a fight for her, because of all that chivalric garbage and shit that he stands for."

Consumed by the silence around him, with nothing but the sound of tires on pavement to occupy his thoughts, Jakotsu's humour faded. The more Jakotsu's thoughts harboured on Inuyasha the angrier he became.

Stupid, asshole, traitor, sexy Inuyasha.

The scenic road in front of him dulling his senses, Jakotsu zoned out, giving his mind full reins to reminisce and reflect on all the reasons why he hated Inuyasha.

His thoughts immediately and intimately danced around memories of late night after-parties, reminiscing coked-out acts of stupidity during band tours around the world. Who said you couldn't have fun at work?

Although, despite their antics, Inuyasha never did seem to forget the real reason they put on the persona of The Band of Seven—Jakotsu personally preferred the name Band of Thieves; Inuyasha thought it hit too close to home. But, Jakotsu had to give Inuyasha credit where credit was due: when Inuyasha did Naraku's bidding, it was clear to Jakotsu why Inuyasha was the man in charge on the road. Not even Bankotsu could hold a candle to Inuyasha's violent nature. Despite how much it pained him to say it, Jakotsu had looked up to Inuyasha, even admired him.

Oh, how could Jakotsu forget that one time he and Inuyasha played bad cop, worse cop to a non-paying client in Istanbul? That Inuyasha was a sexy piece of work with a blade.

Sure, the band itself took work with all the rehearsing, and it was all fake in the end, but some of those connections and moments between the group of men felt more real than anything Jakotsu had experienced his whole life. How many times had Jakotsu fallen asleep in the band van watching Inuyasha play around on his laptop, a guitar at his side? It always astounded Jakotsu that Inuyasha was self-taught.

Shaking his head viciously of his thoughts, Jakotsu felt hot tears sting the backs of his eyes. What the fuck was he doing getting sentimental over memories of Inuyasha?

His mind felt overcast as he focused his thoughts, instead, on the heavy blow he sustained: Inuyasha had hated him—all of them—so much that he would rather betray the oyabun and commit himself to death than be with them. Jakotsu meant nothing to him. The intimacy of the band's bond and his brothers meant nothing to him. The oath he swore to the oyabun and Family meant nothing to him. They were all just slugs underneath the heel of Inuyasha's boot.

Jakotsu wanted Inuyasha to pay. His senses were so overcome with desperation he could barely keep the truck in the lane as he took an off-ramp towards their destination. He wanted Inuyasha dead so badly his stomach ached.

That fucking pretender, Jakotsu's mind raged.

I should just torture this stupid bitch in front of you to watch you suffer the way you made us suffer. Ten years in prison…the best parts of my youth, my beauty…gone because of you, you piece of shit!

Jakotsu wiped away spiteful tears from his cheeks.

"Not all of us get to maintain youth and perfect skin into our thirties, you fucking gorgeous sonofabitch," Jakotsu spat, slapping his palm against the steering wheel.

Muffled groans and the steady thud of Kagome kicking at the truck's flatbed cover started again. His tears and anger behind him, Jakotsu whistled a laugh through his teeth and shouted, 'Keep at it, sister! It won't do you any good!'

Hearing Kagome's discomfort made Jakotsu sigh, his chest feeling lighter. He bade an appreciative thought to Kagome, grateful that she brought him back to reality, reminding him of the joy in what he was doing. Sure, the drive itself was crappy; but, once they reached their destination…

Jakotsu giggled the thought away.

Bankotsu had selected Jakotsu to be the one to deal this blow to Inuyasha, and Jakotsu had it all mapped out: he would bring her to the dojo, film every little thing he did to her, and upload images and videos online every two hours, just to fuck with Inuyasha.

"Maybe he'd respond," Jakotsu snorted. "Can you imagine? Inuyasha submitting a comment on the videofeed of kobuns taking their turn on that ass? It's so bad it's delicious."

Jakotsu's smile slowly faded as a familiar thought formed: amusing comments-be-damned, he wouldn't get to watch Inuyasha's reaction.

"Bastard!" Jakotsu griped.

If only Inuyasha had been outside with the rest of them! That asshole never did what Jakotsu wanted him to.

For the third time that drive, a soft ping drew Jakotsu's eyes to his dash where the burnt yellow 'check engine' symbol reappeared.

Stop being a dramatic bitch, Jakotsu inwardly chastised the old pickup. You bitch and complain and then two minutes later, you're fine. Don't be a cocktease and get me worked up over nothing.

Jakotsu snorted. The word cocktease made him suddenly nostalgic about Suikotsu, the individual who had introduced the word to Jakotsu's vocabulary.

Jakotsu rested a pained hand over his heart at the memory of his oldest friend.

It had been a long time since Jakotsu experienced a moral dilemma; however, he had really struggled to make that decision to abandon Suitkotsu in the SUV once Inuyasha trashed it. But, he had had no choice! Even Suikotsu knew that it was every man for himself. You never let the pigs get two where they could only get one; that was how the oyabun preferred it, and who was Jakotsu to question or refute the oyabun? No Burning Ritual for him! No, sir!

The second the hood of the SUV had crumpled into the highway barricade, Jakotsu knew Suikotsu was a goner. Hanging halfway out the window like that? Jakotsu was just grateful his last memory of his brother wasn't of him being cut in half. Swimming his way out of the driver's seat airbag, Jakotsu had pitched himself down the highway, aiming for the waterway just a kilometre or so up the road. That had been the longest run of his life.

Patting his left leg, Jakotsu ignored the twinge of pain that seared up the limb and gathered in the base of his spine. Ever since the crash, he slowly grew used to the discomfort of his bum leg. Running was pretty much out of the question these days; but, if Bankotsu got him some of that real, fine Crystal from their dealers, Jakotsu swore he could outrun a triathlete without sensing any pain. That shit made Jakotsu feel bionic.

Stupid, Inuyasha, Jakotsu thought, his eyes turning back downwards towards his leg.

Wishing he hadn't run out of his Black Russians, his mind revisited thoughts on Suikotsu.

He knew it was unwise to have let the injury go as long as he had without medical attention. He also shouldn't have trusted one of the kobun's whores to stitch him up. But, that was arguably better than being recognized in a hospital ward. Trying to stay low-key as an ex-convict celebrity was far more effort than Jakotsu would have liked.

The thud from Kagome kicking about in the trunk droned from the silence of the early dawn and Jakotsu laughed out-loud, forcing his volume in hopes Kagome would hear him.

"Girl, are your legs not beat yet?" He shouted at her over the hum of the truck's aged engine. "Give it up! I think it's safe to say you ain't going anywhere unless I want you to!"

Ignoring the steady beat of Kagome's efforts to escape, Jakotsu's mind turned back to his last moments with Suikotsu.

Bankotsu had been a gem in keeping the cops distracted with something else. To Suikotsu and Jakotsu it felt like they had the whole world at their disposal. Jakotsu sighed with nostalgia. Getting into the Lexus, the two of them were like bloody teenagers. It had been years since the two of them were together like that: giddy from the anticipation of a successful hit, drunk with power and expectation.

It was Suikotsu's idea even to bring back the face-paint.

Jakotsu sniggered. Inuyasha always hated that face-paint idea—"You idiots are going to play for an audience in a stadium, not fight in a fucking battle; you look ridiculous!"—But, he never understood. It was the ritual behind it that mattered, the act of mentally and physically preparing oneself for a life-changing event. Performing a hit or a show, it didn't matter; when you came down from that high and returned to real life…

That shit changes a man, Jakotsu's thoughts concluded.

Another ping of the check engine light caused Jakotsu to scoff a, 'For fuck's sake', under his breath. The horizon emitting an ember glow, the quiet and desolate two-lane highway taunted Jakotsu with just how much further he had to go. He didn't think he could stomach another couple hours of this bullshit.

Tired of having to entertain his own boredom, Jakotsu decided he needed some much-needed relief from driving. Smirking, he knew just what he needed to put the pep back in his step. He felt like playing with his food.

Without signalling, Jakotsu eased the old truck off the road, onto the unpaved shoulder, and then parked it on a grassy patch. Listening to the engine click as it cooled down, Jakotsu bent his neck to survey his surroundings.

There was nothing but forest expanding into the horizon on both sides of the road. The greenery went on for hours.

Opening the squeaky door, Jakotsu groaned and stretched his aching legs before hopping out onto the shoulder. Gripping the door tightly in alarm, Jakotsu hadn't realized he parked on a slight incline; his bum leg gave out on him.

"Jesus Mother Mary of Christ!" Jakotsu shrieked, gathering his composure.

Slamming the truck door shut, Jakotsu used his good leg to give a hateful kick to the driver's front tire. The amount of strain that stupid truck had put him through…

And the real kicker was that no one in the Family, not even Bankotsu, would appreciate just how much effort Jakotsu put into making that truck blend into its surroundings. Not once investigated, Jakotsu had been pleased with his camouflage those first few days. Although, it was some feat taking off all four tires in the dead of night with that sorry-excuse-for-a-jack he found in the flatbed, and with his stupid, busted leg.

Sighing and cracking his back, Jakotsu yawned as he rounded the truck. His heart fluttered with enthusiasm at the premise of eradicating his boredom. Giving the trunk a toothy grin, he slammed his fist against the flatbed cover a few times. Jakotsu snickered when he heard Kagome wail in distress.

"Wakey-wakey, Princess! It's time for a piss break."

Fishing the keys out of his jacket pocket, Jakotsu took a quick peek over his shoulder before he unlocked the top cover and lifted it, exposing Kagome's bound form.

"How we doing, hun?" Jakotsu inquired sarcastically. "Sleep well?"

Kagome peered up at him with every ounce of hate her body could muster. Her eyes tried to unleash a chain of profanities her mouth could not due to the gag tied around her head.

"Upsy-daisy, lady," Jakotsu groaned, yanking her out of the truck by her bound hands behind her back. "The last thing we need right now is for you to piss yourself in the back of my truck. I need to return it the way that I borrowed it, and I am positive there was no lady-piss in the back to begin with."

Kagome screeched when her bound feet hit the grass and she writhed awkwardly, shifting her body away from Jakotsu like a vertical snake.

Closing the cover on the truck, Jakotsu crossed his arms and turned to face Kagome, his eyebrows raised with a slight shake of his head. Somehow confronting her in the open like this made him feel so…dangerous and sexy. Sure, he hadn't encountered another vehicle for the last two hours, but the premise that he might made it all the more exciting.

"I can't imagine it will be easy for you to relieve yourself while your hands are tied," Jakotsu conjectured. "At the same time though, I really don't feel like wrestling you back into those bindings. Hmm," he thought, putting a pensive hand to his chin. "What to do, what to do."

Kagome bounced where she stood and tried to use her tongue to move the gag around in her mouth. The cloth was beginning to chafe the corners of her mouth and, every time she moved, she felt the sore worsen. Her exhausted body was running on nothing more than pure adrenaline. An exasperated groan projected from her throat and she tried to keep her tears contained. Her body ached. Her head was pounding. Her wrists felt like they were being rubbed raw by the twine binding her behind her back. She could see dried blood casing the cord that bound her ankles together.

Tears came to her eyes at the realization that all her kicking and screaming had been for naught.

Watching Jakotsu take a step towards her, Kagome tried to swing her body away from him, struggling to keep her balance with such little equilibrium from her confined limbs. With a fearful wail, Kagome found herself falling over, landing painfully on her side on the grass. Tears dripping from the corner of her eyes, she watched Jakotsu stand above her with his hands on his hips. His drawn-back black hair hung limply in his eyes, his pale complexion giving him an unearthly glow like a haunted porcelain doll.

"There's not much grace to you," Jakotsu sighed. "But, while you're down there, it'll probably be easiest for you to do your business."

Resting his foot on Kagome's hip and giving her a slight roll, Kagome's wide eyes peered up at her abductor. Straining her neck, she looked over her shoulder down the slanted hill, observing the shallow valley several feet below.

Her heart thrashed within her ribcage at the premise of what Jakotsu was suggesting. Kagome gagged against the material in her mouth, horror-struck by how much he was enjoying humiliating and demeaning her.

"Brace yourself," Jakotsu joked, leaning down to sneer at Kagome. "I can't promise there aren't any little sticks eager to poke and prod at you on your way down."

As Kagome released a cry and her eyes spilled over with fresh tears, Jakotsu shoved at Kagome's body with his foot and watched her roll away from his vision, shortly disappearing down the hill in front of him.

He couldn't contain the laughter that burst from his belly at the hilarious sight of Kagome bouncing down the grassy knoll, rolling to a stop in the valley. Her cries and screams were muffled yelps from where she lay face down. Squinting his eyes, he thought he could make out one of her wrists looking a bit blue or purple. Maybe she broke it on the way down. How would he know? He wasn't a doctor.

Turning his back to Kagome—thinking it was quite decent of him to give her some privacy while she relieved herself—Jakotsu hummed the chorus of his band's song 'Mercenary'. Even though he was appreciative that he was getting an opportunity to stretch his legs, he found himself growing more and more irritable that Kagome's cries from the valley below were ruining his song.

---

A Few Hours Earlier

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"Don't touch me, Miroku!" Sango screamed, jumping to the side to avoid his attempted embrace.

In her panic, Sango was wearing the carpet thin, feeling so useless she was driven to pace, devastated for what Kagome was going through right at that moment.

"Sango, please calm down," a tired Miroku pleaded. "We're doing everything we can for Kagome. I beg you to stop pacing. You're just making yourself all the more anxious."

"Calm down?" Sango shouted with a hint of humour in her tone. "My best friend was just kidnapped in front of us while we were at gunpoint, Miroku! I will not fucking calm down."

Miroku groaned and ran a hand through his hair. His composure was starting to falter, and he still had no idea if security had gotten a hold of Inuyasha to advise him of the situation. Kagome had been gone for forty-five minutes and no one had since seen Inuyasha. Not since their conflict in Tōga's office.

Did Inuyasha know she'd been taken? Was he already after Jakotsu?

Miroku had been awake for so long his head was humming with a combination of drowsiness and adrenaline, and he widened his eyes to stay his focus.

In his panic, Miroku had not only paged security, he had also notified the Director of Cabinet Intelligence about the current situation. Miroku's stomach churned at the idea Kagome was abducted by the same truck Miroku tried to warn Inuyasha about. Always one to act with humility, Miroku felt choked by his desire to smack Inuyasha over the head and dance circles around him shouting 'I told you so'.

But none of that was going to help Kagome.

Frustration swelling from inside him, Miroku tried to repress the recent memory of his call with the Director, especially the curt tone the Director had used to criticize Miroku's actions. Naichō would keep an eye on the situation—whatever the hell that meant.

Taking a deep breath, Miroku narrowed his eyes on the computer monitor in front of him. His eyes scanned the map on the screen eager to find what he was looking for.

Miroku didn't want to get sidetracked by self-reproach. The Director could criticize him all he liked for being a "weak, embarrassment of a former agent". Miroku stood by his decision to do nothing when Kagome was being taken. Miroku was confident that, in the moment, not listening to Jakotsu—the most spastic and rash of the entire Band—would have resulted in Kagome's being immediately hurt. Big picture, for the sake of Kagome's wellbeing, inaction was the safest action.

"Zoom in here," Miroku pointed over the security guard's shoulder. "Get me CCTV footage from each of these interchanges. I want report of every single Toyota vehicle larger than a mid-sized sedan. Priority will be green pickup trucks produced between 1990 and 2000."

"Yes, sir."

Sango continued to pace.

"What good is looking at a map, Miroku?" Sango questioned. "We should be out there! Looking for her!"

Miroku tried to soften his gaze at Sango. "I'm worried about her too, Sango. But, it's reckless of us to approach this without some semblance of a plan. We have no idea where he's going with her. He's in a vehicle, and it's been almost an hour by now. Knowing he went west from the property, the best course of action is to estimate his trajectory and use the tools we have available to make the best possible appraisal of the situation before acting." Miroku sighed. "Sango, going out there blind would be like chasing a ghost."

Sango collapsed onto the couch behind her and wrapped a maternal arm around a devastated Souta.

"Better to chase a ghost in hopes of doing something then obsess over options and do nothing."

Miroku ran an aggravated hand down his face and turned his eyes down to the phone he kept gripped in his palm. There was still no word from Inuyasha.

"Sango, I—"

"—Sir! We've found something."

Clawing her way off the sofa, Sango gripped Miroku's arm in both hands. Leaning her torso over the guard's shoulder, Sango's eyes tore across the screen for answers, hope brimming within her.

"Thirty minutes ago a forest green 1993 Toyota Compact 4WD Deluxe Pickup was seen leaving the prefecture heading westbound towards Minamitsuru District. Then," he paused, scrolling further down the page. "Here, CCTV footage reveals the same vehicle taking the ramp towards Aokigahara Forest."

"Aokigahara?" Miroku recoiled with disbelief. "But that's nearly three hours away! Why the hell would he be taking Kagome that way?"

"But we don't know for sure that's them," Sango muttered, taking a second to wade through all her thoughts. Then, with widened eyes, she asked, "Does CCTV show the driver at all? Can you see his face?"

Sango shouted her questions fervently at the security guard despite being so close to the man. Her body was so on edge her skin felt like it was vibrating. She had never wanted something so badly. That had to be the truck that took Kagome; they had no other leads. Sango gave a little jump when she felt Souta approach and link arms with her where she stood. Refusing to turn her eyes away from the computer screen, Sango rested a hand atop his and gave the boy's cold fingers a squeeze.

"Yes, bear with me, miss. I'll have a close-up on the screen momentarily."

Sango nodded in response.

"Do you think that's really them, Sango? Is that the truck that has Kagome?"

Sango turned her face to Souta and tried to offer him a comforting smile. "I really hope so, Souta."

Miroku cursed under his breath and directed his attention to his black-screened phone. Where the hell was Inuyasha?

"Here," the security guard claimed in his baritone voice. "This is the clearest shot we could get of the driver.

"That son of a bitch!" Sango screamed. "That's him! I'd recognize Jakotsu anywhere. Miroku, we have to—"

Miroku turned away from Sango upon feeling the first vibration of his phone in his hand. Hastily observing the caller ID, Miroku raised the device to his ear, eager to give the caller a piece of his mind.

"Where in the bloody name of Christ have you b—"

"—Will you shut the fuck up and get down here already?" Inuyasha barked. "I'm in the garage. I know where that motherfucker is taking Kagome."

---

Kagome's wrist ached with such a burning pain she couldn't think or see properly. Saliva bubbled from her mouth with each cry and she gave into the futility that suddenly overwhelmed her.

There was no way Inuyasha was going to come for her this time. Not after what she'd done.

She had been so focused on protecting the family she was scared to lose again that she didn't even think twice about Inuyasha. How could she have lost all empathy for him in that moment? Her, the same person who would blow her lid as a teenager when Souta invaded her room and read her diary. Souta acted just like how he always did, pulling the same crap now as when he was a kid! Inuyasha had every right to be angry with him. In his typical Inuyasha way, he didn't handle his emotions well, but Kagome knew that about him. That meant she should have been the adult; she should have known better than to lash out at Inuyasha and add gasoline to an already raging fire.

And to slap him? Curse at him the way she had? Kagome's stomach ached with disgust. Tears prickled her raw eyes.

What had she done?

She was never going to see him again. She would never get the opportunity to apologize, to tell him how she really felt about him.

I don't hate you, Inuyasha; I could never hate you. I'm sorry for being stupid, for not listening to you, for not seeing things from your side. I don't care what you've done. I don't care about any of it. I'll find a way to live with all this; I don't care. Please, just forgive me.

Please… her mind begged as she gave into a fresh wave of tears. Please, just let me see him one more time.

"Oy!"

The effeminate voice calling to her made Kagome recoil inwardly, retracting her neck into her shoulders.

"Have you peed?"

"Ugh awh!"Kagome screamed through her gag—'Fuck off'.

A giggling Jakotsu slowly inched his way down the hill and stood leaning over her, his hands on his knees.

"Oh, dear," Jakotsu sighed, adjusting Kagome's hair so it didn't cover her face. He bellowed a laugh as he drew a strand of hair out of her saliva-smeared mouth. "You are not the least bit pretty when you cry."

Kagome screamed at him and shook her body violently, giving a shriek when she rolled onto her injured wrist.

Laughing to himself and grunting an, 'Up you go!', Kagome was lifted to her feet by her shoulders.

"Let's get you back in your cage, hm?"

Kagome jerked her elbow out of Jakotsu's grasp, shouting a, 'oh ugh ee!'—'Don't touch me'. Jakotsu laughed at her, paid her no mind, and dug his fingers into the crook of her elbow, yanking her towards him. Looking up into his deadened dark eyes, her exhales were heavy and warm against the gag in her mouth.

"You should like me when I'm in a good mood, Kagome."

Jakotsu rested his arm around her shoulders, almost as if he was leaning his weight on her.

"You wouldn't like me very much otherwise. You see," he began, lowering his hand down her back. "I'm a very self-aware man. Do you know what that means?"

Kagome shook her head as she began to whimper, feeling Jakotsu's fingers inch closer towards her bound wrists. His face was warningly close to hers; she could feel the heat of his stale breath on her cheek.

"It means that I know myself very, very well, and I'm honest with myself. So honest that I can humbly admit I can be a petty bitch when I don't get my way."

Kagome winced as Jakotsu started tracing his fingers inside the palm of her injured hand.

"And when people don't listen to me when I give them instructions—well, you see Kagome, that's one of the things that makes me a really cranky bitch. So, you should appreciate that I'm in such a good mood. Otherwise…"

Jakotsu squeezed Kagome's broken wrist in his fist so tightly it caused Kagome's knees to buckle while releasing a throaty, guttural cry of pain.

"You understand me, don't you, Kagome?" Jakotsu asked solemnly over her screams.

Kagome nodded vigorously, choking on air, unable to catch her breath.

"That's my girl," Jakotsu smiled, his lips peeling back from angular, white teeth. "Now, up we go!"

Kagome tripped over her feet as Jakotsu dragged her by her bicep up the incline. Her mind racing in equal time to her pounding heart, Kagome tried to take note of her surroundings. She tried to think, to focus, around the pain. Was there something she could leave behind to show they'd been there? Leave a clue should anyone—Inuyasha?—be looking for her?

By the time Kagome tried to focus past the pain, Jakotsu already had the flatbed cover unlocked and raised and the trunk door down, motioning Kagome inside.

She clambered in best she could, Jakotsu's beady eyes challenging her to argue with or defy him. With a final push against her backside, Kagome fell forward with the motion, scraping her chin against the hard rubber-coated trunk lining.

Laying on her side, whimpering in the dank posterior of the truck, Kagome watched Jakotsu wiggle his fingers at her in goodbye as he enclosed her in the dark. Kagome's shoulders shook with fear, shame, and rage. She had never felt so genuinely hopeless and useless in her whole life.

It's a common line of thought that when you're about to die your life flashes before your eyes. This was something Kagome could not get out of her head, and it was an idea she obsessed over the entire time she was contained in the trunk. But, it wasn't a parade of images that came to her, it was just one: the school closing for good; her final time leaving Tokyo Collegiate Secondary Institute. She remembered feeling lost, confused, scared about what the future held for her. She remembered sitting befuddled in the front seat of her Corolla, worried about what would come next.

Kagome laughed at that girl, the girl she was then. That girl didn't realize how easy she had it. That girl didn't realize there are far worse things to be scared of than losing your job.

Kagome would have given anything to be that girl again.

She sniffled.

Kagome would have given anything to be with Inuyasha again.

Sitting in the dark, trying to control her breathing, it dawned on Kagome that the truck's booming engine hadn't come to life.

Rolling across her front onto her other side, Kagome grimaced and released a groan when the twine tugged on her broken wrist. Her entire body was alive with a resounding heartbeat. Her hips ached from having been bounced across the indentations of the flatbed's plastic grooves. Her head throbbed from exhaustion and stress. Her ankles stung with every movement of her lower torso.

Kagome's eyes searched the trunk lining for answers, honing her ears to try to understand what was happening. Silence lingered for a while, and then Kagome jumped when Jakotsu slammed the truck door, a chain of curse words flowing from his lips with vehement anger.

The crunch of gravel beside her head identified he was outside the truck, pacing.

"Yeah, it's me. No, Fuckface, we're not almost there yet."

Is he on the phone? She wondered.

"This stupid fucking piece of garbage truck you leant me is busted. Yeah, busted."

The truck broke down? Kagome's mind reeled. She didn't know whether to express joy or grief.

"I didn't do anything to it!" Jakotsu's muffled voice screeched in anger to the person on the phone. "The check engine light came on a few times and I—No! I obviously didn't stop to check it out. I have Inuyasha's bitch in the trunk, asshole. I'm not just going to pull into the nearest auto body shop, you dumbshit."

Kagome couldn't help but try to smile despite the gag in her mouth.

"Can you just shut your mouth for a second and listen?" Jakotsu seethed. "I'm on the Fuji Panorama Line, maybe two hours or so from the dojo. Can you just come get us?"

He's taking me to a dojo?Kagome's mind flinched. Why would he be taking me to a dojo of all places?

Yet, Kagome's mind became paralyzed then in answer to her own question. Miroku's voice, in memory, faintly came to the forefront of her thoughts.

With the backing of my new Director, I obsessively poured myself into my vengeance. The dojo was abandoned after the attack; however, I staked it out for days at a time, convinced that Naraku couldn't so easily abandon a central location where he had housed so many trafficking victims and goods.

Shit, Kagome thought with panicked clarity swelling in her chest. He's taking me to Naraku.

"I don't care if it's you, your mom, or your fucking uncle. Just send a car to come get me. Now! We're fucking sitting ducks out here." Then, after a moment, his tone lightened. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, love you too. Thanks, doll."

Kagome took a deep breath at the sound of Jakotsu finishing his call. Tonguing the corner of her mouth, but mostly licking the cloth that rendered her speech useless, Kagome tried to think. However, before she could get too invested in her thoughts, Jakotsu's singsong voice addressed her.

"So, listen," he began with his usual impish gait. His words followed the sound of the key in the cover's lock. "We're having a little car trouble, but no worries! We have a ride coming."

Kagome squinted her eyes at the sudden revelation of daylight that accosted her. Grunting as Jakotsu lifted her from the trunk, Kagome felt lightheaded once her feet finally touched the grass.

"Old cars, right?" Jakotsu continued, leaning against the open door of the trunk. "So fucking unreliable."

Kagome stared daggers in Jakotsu's direction before turning over her shoulder to peer at the road, desperate for any vehicle, anyone, to make an appearance and rescue her.

"And they're going to be a couple hours," Jakotsu whined, enunciating and drawing out 'hours' so that it sounded like ow-ers. "As if this road trip wasn't boring enough."

Road trip? Is that what you call my abduction, you creep!?

"Tell me a story, Kagome," he whined. "Entertain me while we wait. What do you want to talk about?"

Kagome turned with raised eyebrows towards Jakotsu's seemingly jovial face. Did he not remember holding her down and gagging her only a few hours ago? How on earth was he expecting her to keep up a conversation? Not to mention the fact that she had absolutely nothing good to say to him and had no intention of complying.

"I mean," he continued, ignoring the look she gave him, "it may not be that bad of an idea if we're going to be stuck here for the next couple of hours…"

What idea?

Kagome scowled at the expression he gave her, the tone in his voice that suggested he was up to something. Her heart jumping into her throat, she took a hesitant step—albeit a small one because of her bindings—away from Jakotsu. His mischievous smile increased, motioning towards her with outstretched hands.

Jakotsu chuckled when she flinched at his gesturing towards her. "Come on, Kagome. I'm not nearly that scary. I'm doing this for both our benefit."

Kagome felt his hands on her shoulders, rotating her until her back faced him. Then, she could feel the ministrations of his fingers behind her head. With a sudden burst of gratitude swelling within her, Jakotsu removed his hands from her, taking with them the cloth he used to gag her. Her gratitude faded to a whimper as she felt him tug the rolled cloth out of the open wounds in the sides of her mouth.

"See? I can be nice you know."

Kagome cautiously licked at the corners of her mouth, feeling the sting of open wounds at the touch. She hadn't realized how much her jaw had been aching from the gag. Using her shoulder to try to massage away the pain in her jaw, Kagome ignored Jakotsu's next few comments about his disdain for having one-way conversations and his reiterated question about what they should talk about.

"I have nothing to say to you!" Kagome shouted at him, her frustration getting the better of her. Her voice cracked from having not spoken for hours. Her throat was so dry she could feel her esophagus chafing as she tried to gulp down saliva.

Jakotsu smiled at her. "See, you say that, but I don't believe you." He immediately followed his comment with a titter. "I think I have just the conversation starter to get you going."

Kagome snorted. "Unless it's you apologizing for kidnapping me and offering to take me back home, I couldn't care less what you have to say!"

"Home, you say?" Jakotsu sneered. "I didn't take you from your home. I took you from Inuyasha's home. Unless," Jakotsu gasped, resting a hand on his chest in a melodramatic fashion, "unless you love him and, because of your darling feelings for him, that makes his home your home."

Kagome rolled her eyes and turned her face away from him, refusing to encourage this conversation.

There was no one else in the world she'd rather not talk to about Inuyasha.

"That really is sweet," he persisted. "You love Inuyasha. Tell me," Jakotsu urged, sitting and dangling his legs over the open door of the trunk. "Does he love you back?"

Kagome again remained silent, begging a car into existence to come save her.

"I'm going to take your silence to mean you haven't told him how you feel. Oh, that's just precious. Little Kagome has a hard-on for darling Inuyasha. But, you know," he goaded, "I don't want to disappoint you, Kagome. I'll be straight with you, woman to woman. You aren't the first pair of fluttering eyelashes I've seen Inuyasha make a sucker out of."

"Will you shut up!? I don't want to hear what you have to say about him!"

Closing her eyes to steady her headache, Kagome instantly regretted the words out of her mouth. She shouldn't have encouraged him. She also realized she shouldn't provoke her kidnapper; she was just grateful he didn't react like he had earlier when she told him no. This time, he took her reproach playfully.

"Listen, hunny," he smirked, knowing he had her right where he wanted her. "I'm just trying to talk some sense into you. I mean, you seem like a nice girl. You were, what? A grade two teacher before Inuyasha made you his flowerbed harlot?"

Kagome's eyes widened with anxiety.

"How did you know—"

"—A grade two teacher has no business being with a mob lord's son. I mean, let's compare, shall we?

"You spent your days encouraging and loving children. Inuyasha murdered children to prove to our oyabun that Inuyasha was worthy to be his kobun. D'you see where I'm going with this? You taught kids how to paint pretty, little pictures with their fingers. I once watched Inuyasha literally tear a person's heart out of their chest because they called him a faggot."

Jakotsu smiled, took a breath, and continued.

"You've had, what? Three? Four lovers, at most? Inuyasha's gotta be in, at least, the high fifties—and that's not even me bein' a dramatic bitch. Inuyasha used to lead our gang-bangs, you know?"

Jakotsu grinned. "How can I put this in a way you'll understand? Oh, I know—think of it like Inuyasha was the one who always got to try the first sip of wine before the rest of the table got to enjoy the bottle." Jakotsu laughed. "The lucky bastard always had first dibs! Do you know there was a time in Thailand where four of us guys fucked twelve women at one time?"

Laughing so hard that tears came to his eyes, Jakotsu continued, "Inuyasha was the one who went in to get the juices flowing for the rest of us! Fuck, he was good at it too. No one likes dry-dogging it, you know? He was such a snack—still is, am I right?"

Jakotsu whistled. "When he went to town on those girls, just watching would cause some of us guys to get hard before we were allowed to join. He was sure good at tricking those bitches into thinking they wanted it, too. That shit was better than porn. But, that's just our Inuyasha," he cooed, fanning himself, his eyes glazed over in memory. "No one could ever say no to that cock, especially when he was balls-deep in their cunt, giving them just what—"

"—I don't want to hear anymore!" Kagome screamed, her face flushing.

She felt disgusted with herself, allowing her arousal to rise at Jakotsu's words. Her stomach was in knots. She could feel the familiar warmth and softness of her vaginal walls moistening with every flex of her Kegels. She didn't want to visualize Inuyasha screwing around with other women. The explicitness of Jakotsu's words caused the images to sear behind her eyelids. She didn't want to believe that Inuyasha could have had anything to do with rape. He was so gentle with her, so understanding when she wasn't ready, when she asked to wait or stop. Sure, he had toed the line a few times, really pushing her limits, but there was never the electricity of fear in her mind that he would do something she didn't want. She liked to be teased, and he was just so good at teasing her.

Kagome choked back a sob, ignorant of the glee expressed on Jakotsu's face at her reaction to his words. She didn't want those cherished memories of her and Inuyasha earlier that night—yesterday—to be ruined. She didn't want to believe she would just be another notch on Inuyasha's belt.

But, her mind was her enemy, convincing her that of course he had taken other women. How else could his hands have so expertly known what her body wanted?

Jakotsu just said that to get under your skin. He wants this reaction from you, Kagome, her mind chastised. Stop it—don't allow your thoughts to go there.

Another sob curdled in her chest. Why were these images so vibrant in her mind? She didn't want to picture Inuyasha sliding himself between another woman's legs. She didn't want to encourage these feelings of jealously—that wasn't like Kagome.

Kagome shook her head. Her eyes dried and ached from trying to prevent more tears.

She hated Jakotsu for doing this to her. Why was it so easy for her believe that her intimacy with Inuyasha meant nothing? Was it because Jakotsu spoke repressed thoughts Kagome had that she didn't want to give credit?

She turned her back to Jakotsu, sniffling away more tears seconds from falling, cries trapped in the base of her throat.

"It's like clockwork," Jakotsu sighed, "the amount of times I've seen women respond this way over Inuyasha."

"Please, just stop."

Jakotsu's insides were alight. She sounded so defeated.

"I'm sorry the truth hurts, Kagome," Jakotsu smiled through his teeth. "It must be a real shocker to face the reality that neither you nor your virgin-esque pussy will be able to change him."

Kagome turned angry, watery eyes to glower at him in response.

"Oh, hunny," Jakotsu fake empathized after a drawn out silence. "You didn't possibly think you could change him, did you?"

Having had enough of this, Kagome tried to walk away, shifting her body slowly to the other side of the truck to get away from Jakotsu. Unfortunately, due to her tied ankles, she barely waddled a foot or two. Laughing at her attempt, Jakotsu got up from his seat, grabbed Kagome by the broken wrist, and dragged her, screaming, back to where she previously stood.

Kagome fell to the ground, her eyesight blank with pain and tears.

Hopping back onto the truck's lowered flatbed door, Jakotsu crossed his hands and said, "What was I saying? Right, yes: you thought you could change Inuyasha.

"He's a really great guy, Kagome. I don't blame you for getting wet panties over him, but he is just so beyond saving, you know? I mean, he was with Kikyou for years and those two fucked like rabbits, let me tell you. Not even her regal pussy could change Inuyasha's mind. Did you know he stole her from Bankotsu? They tag-teamed her once and I think that was all Inuyasha needed to want that cooch for his own."

Jakotsu laughed. "He always was thinking with his cock." Then, wiping a tear from his eye he asked, "So, what was your first time with him like?"

Kagome turned her head away, squeezing her eyes, not wanting to listen to any more of the smut and lies Jakotsu threw at her.

Not wanting to give the bastard any credit, but Naraku's greatest skill was being able to manipulate a person based on their weaknesses. It's one of the key things I had been taught growing up. You extort someone to discover their weakness and then you fuck with them long enough until you slowly break them down until they're pathetic enough it's not much of a fight.

Inuyasha's voice rang loudly in her head.

Anger overtaking the pity she felt, Kagome felt her blood begin to boil. She knew what Jakotsu was trying to do. He was trying to fuck with her, get inside her head, break her down until she was nothing. Her earlier reactions may have given him what he wanted, but that would never happen again. Let him run his mouth all he wanted. Kagome would not let him get to her now.

"You're not saying anything," he pouted. "Is it because you're a lady without loose lips? Or is it because he's refused to fuck you and you don't want anyone to know he won't sleep with you?"

Jakotsu watched Kagome with careful eyes before crinkling his face with a smile and hopping down from his seat. Kneeling before her, Jakotsu grabbed her chin in his hand and forced her to meet his eye.

"So which is it? You fucked him or no?"

"None of your business," Kagome spat, fighting to remove her face from his grip.

Jakotsu snorted a laugh through his nose and gripped her face so tightly her cheeks puckered. He opened his mouth to say something; but, when his eyes drooped to read her body language, for the first time Jakotsu noticed the merlot-coloured hickey on Kagome's neck.

"Oh, Kagome, you slut!" He shouted with merriment, releasing her face with a playful push that knocked her over. "Is that a little love-bite I see? It looks fresh too," he grinned, running his fingers over it, giggling as Kagome tried to shrug her shoulders to hide the mark from view, to get his hand off her.

"Did that happen today? Yesterday? I've given my share of them so I know a juicy new one when I see it. Tell me about it. Let me guess: clothes on. No—off! They were off, weren't they? You little skank, you! That must mean you've seen Inuyasha's gargantuan member. Tell me you've seen how big our Inuyasha is! Man, am I jealous of that serpent king."

Kagome struggled to sit upright and once again angled her face from Jakotsu, refusing to give him the reaction he was so sorely trying for. Unfortunately, her body betrayed her and her flushed cheeks gave her away.

"Do you prefer circumcised or do you like a little man with a jacket? I promise I won't tell Inuyasha if his little prince isn't your dream junk."

Kagome said nothing.

"How many times have you fingered yourself thinking about Inuyasha's giant cock?"

Squeezing her eyes, Kagome prayed that with no response he would eventually just shut up.

"Fuck, Kagome, you're no fun," he whined, kicking his feet from where he sat on the lowered door.

The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes after that. Kagome finally released a pent-up exhale in relief. She never thought he'd stop.

All that talk about Inuyasha's penis made Kagome's chest and cheeks flush in recollection of their time in his Jacuzzi. However, that memory slowly melded with earlier reflections sparked by Jakotsu's talks of gang-bangs, and Kagome shook the thoughts from her mind.

She couldn't allow her mind to trail back to that place, allow herself to fall into a dark place. She needed to keep alert, to keep her eyes and mouth at the ready should another vehicle make itself known.

She knew it was only a matter of time, too, before their ride got there.

Unfortunately for Kagome, though, Jakotsu wasn't finished playing with her yet.

"Hmm, I have a new idea since you're such a terrible conversationalist."

Jakotsu's eyes bore into Kagome's face and she continued to give him the silent treatment. Jakotsu smiled knowingly.

"Do you want to play a game?"

Kagome scoffed and looked at him with an incredulous look on her face.

"What?"

"A game," he repeated. "Want to play?"

"No," Kagome snapped. "I don't want to play a game. Can't we just sit here and wait for your little cronies to come get me, in silence?"

Jakotsu shriveled his nose at her with a scoff. "No wonder Inuyasha won't fuck you. You're a downright, bitchy cow. Will you just play the fucking game?"

"I said no!" Kagome repeated, her voice straining.

Sighing, Jakotsu propelled himself off the truck and walked towards the driver's side door. Watching him with confusion and some hesitancy, when she finally saw what he had grabbed, Kagome gulped, gasped, and tried to worm her way backwards. Flicking the safety off the gun in his hand and pointing it at Kagome, Jakotsu winked at her before placing the gun down on the truck bed beside him.

He offered Kagome a fake smile.

"Let's try this again," he said, fingering the weapon. "Say, Kagome, would you like to play a game with me?"

Kagome could not take her eyes off the gun. Her body was frozen in fear. Taking a deep breath, she slowly and unsteadily nodded her head.

"Ex-cellent," he claimed, picking up the gun and rubbing it against his pant leg to clean the grimy metallic finish. "It really is worth your while to say yes."

Standing once more, Jakotsu tucked the gun in the waistband of his pants and approached Kagome. As Jakotsu lifted her to her feet, Kagome struggled to breathe, trying to read the situation.

When Jakotsu took a switchblade out of his back pocket, Kagome screamed. However, Jakotsu just laughed at her, called her silly, and grabbed hold of her by the shoulders.

One at a time, Jakotsu cut the twine that bound her wrists and then her ankles.

Kagome couldn't think straight. What the hell was he doing?

Her captor had both a gun and a knife on him. He just untied her and took a step back, watching her with a challenging smirk on his face. It's like he was daring her to run away. Squaring her shoulders, she faced him, trying to ignore the pang of her throbbing wrist or thudding heart. But, he didn't do anything for the next few moments; he merely stood those few steps away from her, acting dangerously playful with his hands behind his back, challenging her to run.

But she didn't run.

Confident that he was fully in charge of the situation, he continued.

"Would you like to hear the rules to our game?"

Kagome tried to swallow past the lump in her throat and nodded.

Jakotsu smiled. "Do you like tag, Kagome?"

"I used to," she croaked with a dry mouth, pausing to lick her dry lips. "When I was a kid."

"Excellent," he giggled. "Similar rules will apply to our game. You see, because I'm so generous, I'll let you go first and have a head start. I will be the tag-er and you will be the tag-ee."

"We're playing tag on the side of the road?"

Jakotsu blew a tuft of air through his lips in irritation. "No, stupid. In the woods. You will get a head start to run into the woods beside us. If I can find you, I win."

"So it's just a regular game of tag."

Jakotsu laughed in a way that made Kagome uncomfortable.

"Our game will be…more interesting than regular tag."

Kagome watched Jakotsu finger his switchblade in a way it made her torso feel hollow with dread.

"If I tag you, I win. But," he paused, letting his voice linger, "if you can evade me long enough until our ride gets here, you're free to walk."

Kagome paused, her broken wrist dumbly limp against her stomach. "I don't understand."

"If I can't tag you before our ride gets here, you're free to go home to your beloved Inuyasha."

Kagome's heart was racing. There had to be a catch. There's no way he could mean that.

"Are you ready?" he goaded, reaching to pull the revolver from his waistband. "At the sound of the gun, you get one minute to run before I come to tag you. Good luck, Kagome!"

---

Thirty Minutes Earlier

---

"This isn't the fastest way to Aokigahara Forest, Inuyasha. You need to take the Fuji Panorama Line!"

"Will you shut up? I know where I'm going!"

"You're not taking the most direct route!"

"You know what I think, Miroku—?"

"—Will both of you just stop!?" Sango interrupted. "You've been going at it non-stop since we piled into this thing."

She exhaled heavily. "I should have opted to drive with the men in one of the reinforcement vans," Sango bemoaned, shifting her weight from where she sat on the middle console between Inuyasha and Miroku. She applied pressure to the bridge of her nose as her headache began to throb behind her eyes. "But instead I'm squished in this toy car with you boys!"

"Toy car!?" Inuyasha shouted incredulously. "I'll have you know, Sango, that the Hennessy Venom GT is the world's fastest street car!"

"Yeah, well my ass is numb," she retorted, wriggling again, trying to avoid Inuyasha's shifter. "You're not the one sitting on cup holders."

"I offered for you to sit in my lap, Sango."

"I'm disappointed in both of you," Sango exhaled with a roll of her eyes, trying to ignore Miroku's comment. "You shouldn't be enjoying this so much. We're rescuing Kagome, in case you forgot."

"You think I'm fucking enjoying myself?" Inuyasha roared.

"Don't raise your voice at Sango, Inuyasha!"

"Fucking bite me, Miroku!"

Sango rolled her eyes again. Miroku and Inuyasha had been at each other's throats since they left the house.

"I still don't understand how you know where she is," Sango commented after a while, changing the subject.

This was her third time trying to goad Inuyasha into spilling what he knew. Ever since he called Miroku, demanding they head down to the garage, Inuyasha had been avoiding the subject.

"Why does how I know matter?" he barked. "The fact is that I know, and we're going to rescue her before that bastard does anything to harm her."

Miroku pulled his phone from his pocket to inspect the GPS.

"My map is showing we would have been exiting towards Aokigahara Forest already if we were on the Fuji Panorama Line!"

"I heard you the first eighteen-hundred times, asshole," Inuyasha groaned. "We can take one of the next exits. I want to check one of the old drop-offs first."

"Drop-offs?" Sango echoed in question, resting a hand on the ceiling of the low-roofed sports car to steady herself. Inuyasha drifted around a corner going one-hundred-ninety kilometres per hour.

"Drugs?" Miroku asked.

Inuyasha shook his head.

"Bodies."

"Oh my God," Sango hissed incredulously with closed eyes.

He was taking them to where the Family disposes of their bodies? She didn't want to believe he was speaking the truth. What the hell had she and Kagome gotten themselves involved in?

What she wouldn't have given to rewind to the days when the two girls were joking around in Inuyasha's garden, wonderfully ignorant that this gangster-mob world existed. Sango's heart longed for when she teased Kagome about Kouga, or when they crashed Rin's birthday party at Kobura. They knew nothing about this world then. They were carefree, oblivious to the storm that lay waiting inside the grand house, in the shadow of Inuyasha's past.

Those memories felt like years ago.

Pulling off to the shoulder of the road, Inuyasha ordered a 'stay here' to Miroku and Sango, and they watched helplessly as he headed off into the woods. Within seconds, his body disappeared amidst the trees.

Exhaustion wafting over her, Sango leaned over ever so slightly against Miroku's shoulder. Tears threatened behind her eyes.

"What is going on, Miroku? How is any of this possible?"

Miroku merely exhaled and reached over to caress the top of Sango's hand. He left her comment unanswered in the silence of the car. Sango, too stressed and scared for the wellbeing of her friend, didn't protest Miroku's gesture of comfort.

Ten minutes passed them by in silence before Inuyasha came storming from the woods. Throwing his body into the car, the tires squealed as he took off.

"Any signs of her?" Sango asked hopefully. Irritation laced her tone since Inuyasha didn't freely offer any information upon his return to the car.

"No," he sighed, downshifting to push the engine to a meagre two-hundred-thirty kilometres per hour. "But, that just proves my suspicion."

"What suspicion is that?"

"They want her alive. If they had any intention of killing her right away, they would have been there. She would have been there."

Sango turned to look out the rear window, a frown on her face.

"What? Why would they have brought her out into the middle of nowhere? You said it was a drop off…"

"There's an old Kuzawari outpost back there. And behind the outpost," he paused, overtaking a small sedan, "is the chasm. Our most—" he paused to think of the word, "—special clients were brought to that location. They'd be tortured inside, and then, once it was all over for them, they went into the pit."

"Torture?" Sango shrieked.

Inuyasha didn't respond directly to Sango's outburst; instead, he focused on keeping his anger in check. Rage pooled and taunted him from where it lay in his belly.

"When the kobun or the First Son—fuck, sometimes it was even Naraku. When they got what they wanted out of the poor bastard, the body went into the chasm to stay." Inuyasha swore under his breath. "That place is like a god damn human carcass storage facility."

"That's one way to put it," Miroku grimaced.

"Considering how badly they want me dead, I was positive they would have taken Kagome to that outpost. But there wasn't a single person there," Inuyasha paused to collect his thoughts. "Which means she won't be getting the normal hands-on routine.

"In the past," he droned on, "when that place was emptied, it meant they'd rallied everyone at Naraku's dojo in Aokigahara Forest—it's the next closest Family property in this area. I'm now one-hundred-percent positive that's where they're taking Kagome."

"Why the dojo?" Sango asked, her tone forcibly calmer. She felt on the verge of hyperventilating.

"It's Naraku's favourite place to hold Burning Rituals," Inuyasha stated with a deadpan expression.

"Of course," Miroku sighed with a knowing tone to his voice. "What better place to demonstrate his so-called power and superiority over society than burning someone to death in the middle of a forest? It's just the kind of thing Naraku loved," he lamented. "The ability to show off his control. Only Naraku could control a raging fire in a place capable of burning down around you."

Sango choked on her air. "Hurry, Inuyasha. Please, hurry! Oh, Kagome," she cried, tears cascading her cheeks.

"Miroku," Inuyasha snapped, "where's the next exit towards the Fuji Panorama Line?"

Consulting his GPS once more, Miroku said, "We'll be at the ramp in twelve minutes."

Inuyasha nodded and downshifted once more.

"I'll get us there in five."

---

The only thing Kagome could hear was her heartbeat. The only thing she could feel was the icy cold chill of fear caught in her throat.

This wasn't a game of tag. He was hunting her.

Another gunshot rang out behind her and Kagome held back a scream. Pitching her body forward, she fought past the pain, past the fear. She had to live. She had to keep going, even if that meant running until her feet bled, until her heart gave out. She would never let Jakotsu catch her.

Hiding behind the trunk of an ancient tree, Kagome gasped greedily for air, never consuming enough oxygen with each inhale. She felt faint.

How long had she been running out here, dodging his bullets, avoiding his line of sight?

Kagome turned her eyes to inspect her bluish-hued hand. Dirt caked around her fingernails from when she had fallen.

Too distracted by the fear of what was behind her, Kagome had tripped in the beginning. Screaming when she had landed on her broken wrist led to the first time Jakotsu almost caught her. He was close enough for her to hear him shout her name. That was the near miss that taught Kagome that stealth meant silence, endurance, and having to find a way to cope with the pain.

She had to hold her breath for a moment in order to hear her surroundings. She was being reckless again, standing here like this, trying to catch her breath. She needed to keep going.

Taking a deep breath like she was diving underwater, Kagome stepped out from behind the tree.

She ran.

---

The three of them sat in silence. Fear left no room for conversation between them.

There hadn't been sight of another car since Inuyasha had turned onto the Fuji Panorama Line. Mankind was the minority on their route; trees enclosed them on all sides. The road on which they traveled was the only sign man had ever laid claim here.

The van came and went from view in his rearview mirror as Inuyasha took off, pushing the boundaries of vehicular speed. When the van would disappear from sight for a prolonged time, he would slow down, wanting to ensure backup didn't get too far lost behind them. If they encountered a fight with the Family—which Inuyasha was fully expecting—he wanted to make sure the men going to cover him with the heavy fire were close behind.

"Inuyasha, stop!" Miroku shouted in a tenor pitch. "On the right, up ahead! The truck! It's the pickup!"

Not needing to be told twice, Inuyasha swerved. He spun the wheel to the side, lurching the car's inhabitants forward as he slammed on the breaks. Miroku hadn't even undone his seatbelt before Inuyasha flew from the driver's seat.

Inuyasha's eyes took it all in. He would not allow a detail to be missed.

The colour of the pickup made the old Toyota look like an intentional landmark for them to find in this treed wonderland. It was eerily stationed there, like it had been waiting for them to find it. It looked like they had stumbled upon a snapshot in time; Inuyasha felt like he could piece together the story in front of them based on how the truck was abandoned. The truck's hood was propped open. The driver's side door gaping. The flatbed cover was ajar, the trunk door down.

Inuyasha kneeled over half-inch-thick bindings that littered the grass by his feet. They looked like they'd been cut with a blade, not torn off.

An enraged, curdling growl gathered in Inuyasha's throat when he observed the reddish-copper tinge painting one of the bindings.

These had been on Kagome. So tightly, she had bled.

Inuyasha bade a promise to every ethereal being watching him right then—Jakotsu was going to die.

"We found her location," Miroku declared into a walkie-talkie. "All units on my location. Now. Upon disembarkation, firearms at the ready."

"Yes, sir!" two separate voices called back.

"Miroku, Sango, you two stay—"

They all heard it: the sound that stole the next few words out of Inuyasha's mouth.

A gunshot.

Close enough to cause them to panic. Close enough to fill Inuyasha's chest with both dread for her life and hope that Kagome was on the verge of being rescued.

Charging into the forest in front of him, Inuyasha ignored the screams projected at him from the people behind him. A gunshot was a sound not inherent in nature.

Pushing his legs as fast as they would carry him, Inuyasha begged Kagome to be safe. He dodged bulking, skyscraper trees, shrubs, and overhanging brush. He could smell the lingering scent of gunpowder. As he ran, his thoughts hovered dangerously close to the edge of him losing all hope, fearing for her safety.

---

Minutes Later

---

Renkotsu propped his elbow against the passenger window, his eyes drifting lazily over the treed surroundings. The four kobuns in the back chatted loudly, their subject matter often causing Renkotsu to roll his eyes in disdain. He wasn't allowed to leave with any First Sons; he was instructed to take these rookies with him. Had they even killed someone before? They looked like babies to Renkotsu.

Sighing, he continued to ignore them. That is, until the driver of the cargo van drew his attention to the pickup truck and the two black vans parked near it.

"Fuck me," Renkotsu hissed, pitching forward in his seat.

"That fucking Naichō prick is here," Renkotsu cursed to the newbies behind him. "Load up!" he shouted at them. "Make sure to pack extra ammo. They came for Kagome after all."

Once the driver parked the car, he readily accepted a loaded gun from one of the men in the back of the van.

"Remember the instructions," Renkotsu barked. "You don't shoot to kill Inuyasha or Kagome, understand, faggots? The oyabun wants them alive."

Renkotsu smirked as the men shouted their consent, threw open the side of the van, and thundered their way into the woods.

Standing tall outside the van, Renkotsu tucked two revolvers in the waistband of his pants. Before the kobuns were too far out of view, he placed both hands around his mouth as a pseudo-megaphone.

"Bonus points for any man who puts a bullet between the eyes of any of their accomplices!"

---

Inuyasha rested his hand against the tree-trunk. He could feel his heart pounding violently in his throat. She had stopped here. Tried to catch her breath.

You made it this far, Kagome, Inuyasha thought. He turned to survey the area, trying to sense which way she may have run.

You better not have let that asshole catch you.

Angling his eyes downwards, Inuyasha made out the few droplets of blood pooled on top of dried leaves.

She went that way, he realized.

Whose blood was this? Hers? Jakotsu's? Had Jakotsu shot her?

Inuyasha was not a pious man, but he prayed to any deity available then, begging that what he just found was not Kagome's blood.

Inuyasha forced down a lump of panic gathering in his throat and pushed past the image that came to his mind: a blue-lipped Kagome, slowly dying, slumping to the side underneath a tree.

Get your shit together, he commanded himself. If Kagome were here she'd tell you to stay positive, don't let those thoughts get the better of you.

The sound of groveling drew Inuyasha out of his inner dialogue.

He recognized those sounds—someone begging for their life. A human being's tone could only ever reach that level of desperation when they realized that death was closing in on them.

Barrelling his body forward, Inuyasha tore through the brush, clawing his way to the clearing before him.

Standing with his torso angled slightly forwards, Inuyasha maintained his balance, his hands at his sides. His knees he kept bent; his body on high alert because of the scene before him. For a moment, he was rendered immobile by shock.

Jakotsu stood with his back to Inuyasha. A small twig obtruded from his forearm, blood pooling and collecting at his elbow, dripping into a pond below him. Kagome, he held by the neck, up against the tree. Her throat gurgled cries of desperation beneath Jakotsu's hands. Jakotsu's voice streamed chains of violence at Kagome, threatening her for fighting back.

"Tag, you stupid bitch," Jakotsu grunted, his hands shaking from the pressure he applied to Kagome's throat. "You thought you could beat me? Thought stabbing me in the arm would do the trick?"

Kagome's widened eyes turned then, finally noticing Inuyasha. Tears trickled down her cheeks from being choked, but seeing Inuyasha overwhelmed her with sobs of relief.

When Inuyasha caught her eye, he only saw a murderous rage.

Kagome's name hadn't fully left Inuyasha's lips before he dove his body, his shoulder, into Jakotsu's midsection. Both men screaming, Inuyasha fell atop Jakotsu on the ground. The two rolled and writhed as they brawled, each trying to assert their dominance over the other.

Kagome collapsed to her knees, gasping for air, coughing.

As if a switch had been pulled in Jakotsu, his violent attitude towards Inuyasha receded, and he started laughing with joy.

"You made it!" Jakotsu squealed, throwing his arms around Inuyasha's neck.

Inuyasha cursed at Jakotsu, urging his body upwards to leave the pervert on the forest floor. Punching Jakotsu in the face to keep him stationary, Inuyasha sputtered to his feet. Confident that Jakotsu wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, he hurried to Kagome's side, his eyes hyperaware of the blood on her ankles, her knees, and the hue of her hand and wrist, clearly broken.

Inuyasha dropped to his knees beside her, his hands reaching for her cheeks. Resting his forehead against hers, Inuyasha used his palms to caress her hair and face.

He found her in time. He had never been so fucking thankful for anything in his entire life.

Kagome cried out his name.

"I'm so fucking relieved you're okay," he whispered, allowing his eyes to close.

"I didn't think you'd come," her hoarse throat wept. "I wouldn't have blamed you this time."

"Shut your mouth," Inuyasha commanded, his tone still yielding. "I'll always come for you, Kagome."

"I'm so sorry, Inuyasha," Kagome sobbed, throwing her uninjured arm around his neck, burrowing her tear-stained face into his shoulder. "I shouldn't have slapped you. I was a complete idiot. Please forgive me," she begged. "Puh-please," she stammered, her sobs juddering her whole body, his body from their proximity.

"You have nothing to apologize for, you idiot," he snorted.

Hearing Jakotsu 'aww' at the two of them behind his back, the reality of the situation dropped heavily into Inuyasha's mind. Inuyasha released his comforting grasp of Kagome and stood. Turning to face Jakotsu, his eyebrows furrowed with an uncontrollable rage threatening to explode from his centre.

"I'll fucking kill you for what you've done to her."

Jakotsu snorted and directed his eyes to the branch still engrossed in his skin.

"Her?" Jakotsu choked. "What about me? She fucking stabbed me with part of a tree, Inuyasha. You don't even care that I'm injured?"

Inuyasha growled. "That's nothing in comparison to what I'm about to do to you."

Jakotsu giggled. "Oh, Inuyasha. You haven't changed one bit; you still like to play with your food too.

"You know," Jakotsu sneered, turning his eyes and attention upon Kagome. "I knew where you were the whole time we were playing, by the way. Do you have any idea just how obvious you are, Kagome? Fuck, I could make out your trail without even trying. Blubbering like a little bitch the whole time too. Clearly, you sucked at hide and seek as a kid."

He laughed when Inuyasha snarled at Jakotsu's words.

"I was really getting off at the thought of you festering in fear too," he continued, smirking at her. "I liked that you were scared, thinking that I was going to tag you at any second. I'm only a little disappointed that none of my bullets went near you."

"You're still a fucking creep," Inuyasha grunted. "You always were fucked up in the head, getting hard over this shit."

"It wasn't just the violence that made me hard, Inuyasha, if you recall," he taunted with a wink.

"Jakotsu!"

The three of them turned their attention to the two kobuns who fought their way through the bush. Recognizing Jakotsu's voice on their way by, they changed course and came scurrying over. Having only seen Inuyasha and Kagome once they were in the clearing, they began to panic. One of them shouted for Jakotsu, motioning him towards them. The other cocked a gun at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha laughed at both of them.

"Nice new recruits you got there," Inuyasha joked. "They don't even know how to hold a gun properly."

Jakotsu put an aggravated hand on his forehead.

Of course, Renkotsu wouldn't have brought any First Sons with him. They're all preparing for my arrival with Kagome.

Jakotsu amusedly watched the confrontation happening before him.

The clearly younger and more immature of the two kobuns was attempting to approach Kagome, his extended arm pointing the gun at Inuyasha, warning him to stay put.

Inuyasha laughed. "You clearly have no idea what you're doing," he patronized. "You think pointing that toy at me is going to intimidate me enough that I'll let you get close to Kagome? Nice try, kid. I dare you to get within five fucking feet of her."

"Don't approach her!" Jakotsu snapped. "Put your fucking gun down—you're not to harm either of them."

Inuyasha smirked and flexed his fist. "Awfully kind of you to stand up for us, Jakotsu. We don't need your help though. Let these two brats make an attempt on my life. Both of you at the same time. I fucking dare you. Let's see what you got."

"Don't encourage them, Inuyasha!" Kagome shrieked from where she sat, watching the two kobuns ready themselves for a fight with Inuyasha.

"You just stay where you are, Kagome," Inuyasha beckoned to her, not taking his eyes off the men in front of him. "I can handle these assholes."

The two kobuns charged at Inuyasha with a scream. The one shot at Inuyasha, his face dropping when he saw how expertly Inuyasha dodged the bullet. Taking a rounded approach at full speed towards them, the one kobun couldn't reload fast enough before Inuyasha was upon him.

Kagome forced her head to the side, refusing to watch as Inuyasha's hands landed on either side of the kobun's head. The profound snap that followed resonated a chill throughout Kagome's body. Clenching her eyes shut, she listened to the body collapse to the dirt. The remaining kobun roared.

"At least give me some kind of challenge," Inuyasha goaded, swapping fists with the remaining kobun.

"I'm gonna fucking bleed you, you back-stabbing motherfucker!"

Inuyasha released a bellowing blast of a laugh from his belly.

"What do you think this is? Another blood oath? Fucking pathetic!"

Kagome watched the kobun throw his weight at Inuyasha and miss, falling to the ground onto his front with a roll. Her eyes turned to take in Jakotsu, fearful for him to make a move on Inuyasha while Inuyasha was distracted. However, her brows furrowed and her mouth opened in confusion and bewilderment that Jakotsu just stood there. He was doing nothing to defend his so-called brothers. His expression conveyed the same playful smirk he always had plastered on his stupid face.

Hearing a gunshot ring out around her, Kagome screamed and drew herself into her shoulders. Slowly turning her head to see what had happened, to make sure Inuyasha wasn't on the receiving end, she choked on her inhalations.

Inuyasha stood with the weapon in his hand, smoke billowing from its opening. Kagome could see the faint definition of a reddened-black hole in the kobun's forehead. Then his expressionless face fell from view as his body crumpled into the dirt.

Kagome didn't respond; she couldn't.

Inuyasha really was correct in how he earlier described himself; he really did take those two boys' lives like it was nothing.

He did it in my defence, she thought. But, the notion did nothing to appease her churning insides.

What surprised her most was how numb she was to her surroundings. She had watched that boy die as detachedly and indifferently as watching a movie. Kagome's exhaustion and adrenaline left her emotionally stunted. She couldn't feel anything anymore. Unrelenting and continuous feelings of fear had enveloped her in a disoriented bubble.

Inuyasha, meanwhile, turned his attention to Jakotsu.

"You want a piece of me now, you bastard?"

Jakotsu readied his stance as if he was about to charge at Inuyasha.

"Always," Jakotsu said.

Then, he attacked.

Watching Inuyasha and Jakotsu lunge at each other in an intimate dance of death, their hands at each other's throats, Kagome knew she was useless to help.

In her uselessness, Kagome's thoughts turned inward.

How did she feel about Inuyasha, really? Was Jakotsu's taunting correct? Did she really love him?

Kagome watched Jakotsu go skidding across the dirt; he threw words of taunting at Inuyasha who accepted them all too willingly. He threw himself at Jakotsu with a raucous shout.

Kagome's thoughts bore on.

She had experienced a whole new level of intimacy with Inuyasha, and the thought of how he made her feel rendered her speechless. Could a history of violence and rage really trump these feelings? Loving him could never undo what he's done, what's been done to him. She realized that.

Kagome screamed as Jakotsu threw his entire weight into a blow to Inuyasha's chin. Inuyasha's body recoiled, causing him to kneel on the ground to gather himself. He forced past feelings of discombobulation.

"Get up, Inuyasha!" she screamed, her eyes widening as Jakotsu's bleeding, heavy-breathing form pointed a shaking gun at Inuyasha.

If we both live through this, I'll tell him how I really feel. I mean it. I think I do love him. I really want to be able to love him. Can I forgive what he's done? He doesn't owe me anything—it's not my place to judge what he's done. I can never forget, but I can accept that's who he was. I can accept that he's chosen to be different, to be the Inuyasha I first met.

The old Inuyasha—Jakotsu's version of Inuyasha—would never have come for Kagome. But he did. That was the only evidence Kagome needed that he wasn't the same man he was.

He's lived a life I would never have wanted or chosen for myself, she thought, her mind watching the verbal exchange between an exhausted Inuyasha and an even more wearied Jakotsu. Her thoughts were running too intensely she couldn't hear the words they traded.

But, he's different now, she thought, watching him stand in front of her, his arms out at his sides. He was protecting her, defending her.

She couldn't love him if she couldn't accept his past—this was a fact circling her mind. To love Inuyasha was to love his temper, his boyish antics and remarks, the immaturity and sarcasm, and the gruffness he used in approach to every situation. But, it was his boyishness he used to flirt with her, and it was his temper that showed her he really cared; no one got angry over something they didn't care about. The sarcasm she could do without, but she smiled at that thought—no one was perfect.

Especially not Inuyasha.

Kagome closed her eyes to the violence before her. She didn't want to see the blood. She didn't want to hear the exchange of sadistic and pugnacious words.

Closing her eyes and her ears, Kagome coddled the feeling growing within her, the relief that acceptance of his past would allow her to amalgamate the violence that was, and the reality that is, Inuyasha.

Her light-headedness getting the best of her, Kagome unknowingly fell into sleep. The numbness of her emotions and the hours and hours she'd been awake finally overtook her willpower to be conscious.

As Jakotsu fell to his knees, spitting blood from his mouth, telling Inuyasha he'd see him in Hell, Inuyasha ended it all. With the flourish of Inuyasha's strength, Jakotsu's neck snapped to the side, severing his spinal cord. The joviality on his face dissipated as his muscles unwound and his torso pitched forward. A billow of dust surrounded the corpse.

Grunting for breath and wiping the blood from his mouth, Inuyasha unevenly made his way towards Kagome's unconscious form. First making certain she was still breathing, Inuyasha eased himself to the ground, wincing as he wrapped an arm around her and drew her into him.

He was acutely aware of the barrage of battle echoing in the trees around them. Gunfire sounded. Screams echoed.

Knowing he had to stay conscious to protect Kagome, Inuyasha closed his eyes for just a moment, trying to will himself to regain his strength.

His thoughts turned to Miroku and Sango, as well as the reinforcements they had brought with them. Inuyasha didn't know where those two kobun had come from, and from the sounds around him, he couldn't pinpoint just how many people there were fighting. But, it was enough that he knew he still had to stay on guard for Kagome.

Turning his head to look at her, Inuyasha's heart quivered. He admired how she had persevered; she had fought back. Inuyasha would never have known her strength. It took guts for her to fight back, and stabbing Jakotsu with a branch? Inuyasha snickered. He was quite proud of her.

Observing her wounds, Inuyasha reached forward with his less injured arm and brushed a hair off her cheek. Her face was red and her eyes were swollen. Her body looked bruised, and her wrist really looked messed up.

Inuyasha didn't know how he was going to forgive himself for this one.

"You better promise me, Kagome," he whispered to her, running the backs of his knuckles down her face. "That you'll never put me through that kinda worry again."

He sighed and placed a lingering kiss on her forehead.

"Promise me," he whispered against her flushed skin. "Don't leave me again."

---

Author's Note

Welp—this is by far the longest chapter of the whole story. What did you think? Was it enough of an emotional roller coaster for you? Jakotsu's character was so interesting to write! I'd love to hear your thoughts. Especially with what you think the next few chapters will bring!

A huge thanks to everyone keeping up with the story. I really do, truly, appreciate your kind words of encouragement. This story is for you.