Kagome groaned, rubbing her head, looking up to the sky with uncertainty as she came to. Sitting up slowly, she saw the great head of the Goshinboku poking up among a wreath of other treetops.
"I don't remember there being so many trees on our property…" Kagome moaned, looking around hesitantly. "I must be seeing double, or triple, or…"
She rubbed her eyes.
Now letting her vision adjust, she could tell something was horribly, awfully wrong.
Letting out a shriek that pierced the dead air of the meadow and forced a nest of birds from their resting places, flapping off into the sky with a clamour of horrified squawking, Kagome jumped to her feet and began to pace back and forth.
"This can't be." She slapped herself smartly on the cheeks, gazing around in a daze. "I must be hallucinating. I must have fallen and hit my head; I must have…"
"There you are!"
She turned in time to see a man dressed in simple clothing, wearing a sword in a holster at his side. As he rushed toward her, a traditional style pony-tail flopped atop his head, and a grimace pulled at his lips.
"Sir, please help me," Kagome shook her head, "I think I may be experiencing some sort of injury, could you please…"
The man reached out and snatched her wrist, and without another word began pulling her roughly toward the forest outline.
Stumbling along behind the man, Kagome sputtered in surprise,
"No, wait, you don't understand, I…"
"You are keeping Inuyasha waiting, Kikyo." The man hissed, "Don't you remember your promise? You gave your word. Please, don't turn your back on us now."
"Kikyo?" Kagome mouthed, then began to yell as she bashed on the strange man's shoulder with her free fist, "You've got the wrong person, hey, listen to me! You have the wrong person, I'm not Kikyo!"
"Feh. Nice try, wench."
Briefly released by the stranger who had pulled her into the woods, Kagome sighed in relief and rubbed her wrist with her opposing hand, shaking herself out and turning to face the new voice that had interrupted her captor in his tracks. Though they had hardly cleared the forest, a new presence announced itself in the chiding tone of the man before her; or was he a man? Kagome's eyes widened as she took in the owner of the sarcastic and gruff voice; a white-haired male with a set of dog ears perched atop the long, flowing strands glared down at her with piercing golden eyes and a sharp-fanged smile of arrogant victory. He wore an outfit of all red, his hands folded into the suikan as he watched her take him in. She could see that beneath he wore a shirt of white, and he too had a sword, quite impressive in size but old and rustic looking as it lay in a holster at his side.
"Excuse me," Kagome cleared her throat and smoothed her skirt, trying to face both strangers with some dignity regardless of her situation, "Please, I think I'm lost, or I may have hit my head, and I just need to get back to the shrine. My family owns the shrine, oh and my name is Kagome. I think you may have me confused with someone else."
"Well, you got it all figured out, huh?" The white-haired individual snorted, then inclined down until his face was inches from Kagome's. She cringed away from him, but he closed the gap she created with a short and menacing step forward. "Everything except how I'd believe this shit."
Then, with one sharp movement, he had her arm in a clutch so rough she felt it would break.
"Hey, that hurts!" Kagome cried, trying to pull back, but the creature in front of her held on even tighter. She noticed then he had claws to match the fangs, sharp and threatening in their razor like appearance, and she stopped pulling for fear he would pierce her if she continued to struggle.
"That's better, Kikyo."
"We are sorry, Kikyo." The human man, still waiting to one side, hung his head.
"Shut up, human." Kagome flinched as her new captor snapped at the last, and somehow felt empathy as the man sank into himself with fear. "Prepare the convoy."
"Yes, Lord Inuyasha."
The dark-haired man Kagome had met first disappeared into the woods, leaving her with the monster who still held her in his fist.
"Alright, you know the deal." The monster named Inuyasha, with the silver-white hair and molten eyes, pulled Kagome up so she stood on her tiptoes, and their eyes could meet each other directly. Struggling to stay on her feet, Kagome trembled and swayed in his hold. "Give me the damn jewel and let's get going for the stupid ceremony."
"Ceremony?" Kagome stuttered. Her ignorant response was met with an eyeroll from the man before her, who answered her only by tossing her over his shoulder and beginning to make his way through the forest.
"Hey!" Kagome screamed as his strong shoulder jutted into her stomach. He hefted her once, knocking the wind out of her lungs just briefly enough to shut her up.
"Look, I can smell the jewel on you." Inuyasha called over his shoulder as they bumped along, Kagome fighting and beating his back each step of the way the moment she realized what had happened, kicking to little effect as resilient arms held her unwaveringly in place. "So just give it up, alright? You already agreed. No going back now. What kind of priestess are you?"
"I'm not a priestess!" Kagome shrieked, punching with her fists until, exhausted, she gave up and allowed herself to hang limply. "I'm not who you think I am. And I don't have any jewel!"
"Sure you do, you-" His sentence stopped short and Kagome heard him sniff loudly, once, twice, then all of a sudden she was placed roughly on her feet again. The golden eyes found her once more, staring at her intensely as the sniffing sound resumed, and suddenly the strange white-haired dog man had his nose in her hair, her neck.
"Get away!" Kagome squealed, slapping her hands out and catching the man in the face. He grabbed her wrist and growled so threateningly she paled and ceased all movement, eyes widening under the hostile gaze of his own.
He stared down at her, moving closer until his lips neared hers. Kagome panicked, mind reeling back to the moment Hojo had tried to corner her into a kiss, and she felt herself begin to shake as she closed her eyes. Before she knew it, Inuyasha had again ducked his face down into the curve of her neck, his nose lodged next to her ear, breathing in along her skin where her pulse beat wildly.
"What is this, a trick?" He continued to smell her, face pressed hotly into her shoulder as his nose twitched and Kagome's face reddened. Finally, he pulled away, glaring suspiciously. He grabbed her chin and forcefully angled her face up to his, inspecting with his eyes as his claws grazed her skin. "The jewel is in your body. What have you done?"
"What are you talking about, you psychopath?" Kagome hissed, "I'm telling you; I don't have any jewel!"
"She tells the truth."
Kagome and Inuyasha broke their gaze to take in a small girl standing in the center of a splintering bridge separated by ponds of fish, bred and kept by the village spread out behind them. The girl stepped forward in her bare feet, shivering with sadness as she mournfully cried out,
"Though the jewel may be with her… that is not my sister."
Inuyasha sneered and exposed his fangs to the little girl wearing the bandage over her eye.
"Little Brat, if I wanted your input I'd ask." Inuyasha whipped back to Kagome, taking in the face of the miko with curious regard. Her scent is different, he considered, lost for a moment in the chocolate depths of the miko's eyes, But only slightly. And the look is too similar. It must be some sort of bogus plan to get out of this. "She has the jewel." He concluded, his stare never wavering from Kagome's face. His hand wrapped around her wrist once more, he began to pull the girl in the strange kimono toward the gathering succession of horses, carriages, armed guards, and slayers that awaited them.
"Wait, listen!" Kagome pleaded, struggling to keep up with Inuyasha as he marched toward the group that, to her fear, looked just about ready to leave. "What do you even need this jewel for? Isn't there something else I could give you, anything you could need?"
"Don't be stupid." Inuyasha turned once shortly before placing both his hands on Kagome's waist and without warning, easily lifted her upward into the arms of another waiting man who, just like him, had claws, fangs, and long, impressive hair; only his, unlike Inuyasha's was a normal shade of black, pulled back into a ponytail and secured by a fur headband.
"Yeah, Kikyo," The man holding her firmly in his arms, cradling her body as if she weighed nothing at all, gave a sharp laugh, "You know that Inutrasha over here is a hanyou. Unlike me, he needs some stupid jewel to reach his full potential. Hey, what happened to your clothes?"
"Hanyou?" Kagome repeated slowly, looking again to the dog ears that twitched on Inuyasha's head as he began to growl wildly at the self-proclaimed full yokai's statement.
"Take that back, Koga!"
"Oh, please." The demon who held onto Kagome now shifted her weight absently, as if he knew she was uncomfortable in his embrace and began to dash away from the screaming half-demon, who continued to call after them even as they disappeared from earshot.
"Listen, Koga?" As soon as Inuyasha was left behind them, Kagome tried out the name with some success and began to bargain, but the demon wearing pelts and a chest-piece of armour interrupted her with a boastful tone,
"Don't you worry, Kikyo." He smiled down at her; she could hear the thundering pursuit of the rest of their travel mates advancing from behind. Koga gave a laugh and kicked at the ground, speeding up considerably. "I'm here, paid by the villagers, to assure that Inuyasha never lays a hand on you, and upholds his side of this contract. I know you are in quite a position, betrothed to a hanyou, but I think it's so very honorable of you to give up your life for the sake of your village. I'm proud to ensure and give my life to protecting yours."
"Betrothed?" Kagome squeaked, feeling herself grow faint. "Listen, please, you all have it wrong! Ask the little girl, her sister, Kikyo's sister! She herself said, she knows I'm not her."
"Kaede is a child." Koga laughed in response, "And as you said, your sister. Of course, she would want to go along with any excuse you had devised to get out of this. Who could blame either of you? Betrothed to that disgusting half-demon. A tragedy, really."
"I'm telling you-"
A great plume of dust rose around them, and Kagome glanced to either side, noting the arrival of a massive cat creature pacing together with Koga as the glowing embers off her fur flared, a feline phoenix. On her back, a man draped in purple garb and holding a staff held the waist of a girl with a long brown ponytail who looked over to Kagome and smiled gently before asking,
"How are you holding up, Kikyo?"
"Yes," the man in the robe nodded his greeting and continued, "We know this must be very difficult for you. We are honoured to be here to protect you on your journey to the wedding ceremonial grounds."
"Miroku, don't bring that up!" The girl with the long ponytail corrected her partner, before turning back to Kagome, cradled in the demon's arms. "I'm Sango, the demon-slayer appointed to this journey, and this is Miroku, and believe it or not he does have some use."
"I am a strong spiritual leader!" Miroku protested.
"You're a pervert and a lousy monk." Sango amended, casting a sidelong glance at the man in the robes. Kagome opened her mouth to try once more to explain her situation and beg for someone to help her, when Sango continued on, "Just like Inuyasha to have someone else hold his wife! Where is that stupid mutt demon?"
"You know dogs." Koga grumbled. "Nothing like us wolves. We're loyal. He may have sworn to be betrothed to the priestess, but I'm sworn to protect her. We're different breeds."
"For the last time, I'm not a priestess!" Kagome screamed, but the sound of the great nekomata roaring forward drowned out her weak and final protest.