After a while, Kagome finally gave up her pleading and begging, exhausted by the chain of events and giving into the probability that she'd hit her head, developed a concussion and was now along for some psychoactive dream-state experience. The wolf demon holding her aloft seemed not one bit tired, even when the succession was called to a stop so the human travellers could rest. The sun was already beginning to go down and Kagome realized she had been gone for so long that her family would be expecting her home; maybe they would send the police to find her. However, as the world around her had shifted during the travel, she'd come to conclude there was little possibility she was in the Tokyo she knew anymore.
Koga finally set her down onto her feet and let her stretch out her sore legs. As she lifted her hands above her head and arched her back, she sighed in a relief too short lived. An abrupt weight dragged her arms down again and sent them, along with Kagome, staggering to the ground.
Opening her eyes and blinking, Kagome moaned in pain as the weight of her fall hit her, before she felt herself being dragged to her feet by strong, familiar arms.
"What did you do that for?" Koga cried furiously, hauling Kagome to stand, pulling her so her body rested against his. "At least warn her first; Kikyo may be a priestess, but she is a human."
"Feh, humans are too soft." Inuyasha grumbled, glaring down at Kagome with distaste.
"You're one to talk." Koga spat, hugging Kagome against his chest. Rather than meet Inuyasha's spiteful gaze, Kagome found herself hiding hers in Koga's shoulder until the half-demon stomped off to help unload some carts.
Only then did she realize the cause of the sudden weight on her arms; a set of rustic looking iron handcuffs held her wrists together in front of her.
"Hey, wha-"
"It's only while we unpack." Koga assured, patting her shoulder soothingly. "He'll take them off before nightfall as long as I'm watching you. But for now, this is what we agreed on. Trust me, I'm not for it…"
"I can't believe this." Her voice shook as she attempted to lift her wrists, feeling the heavy strain of the metal containing her. "I don't understand. If he hates Kikyo, or me, enough to do this, why would he marry her?"
"He doesn't want to marry you." Koga touched her chin gently and let her go, setting her upright on her feet without the weight of his clutch to anchor her. She could tell by the tone of his voice; he was confused by her lack of knowledge as he peered down at her with suspicious yet supportive wolfen eyes. "He wants to ensure you stay only with him, until you die. Then he will take the jewel and become a full demon."
"This jewel, everyone keeps telling me about it!" Kagome sighed in frustration, feeling tears begin to collect in her eyes. She was tired, she was afraid, and so far from home. Worst of all, no one seemed to be listening to her, no one was coming to save her. The further this went on, the closer she came to losing everything she left behind, and never getting back to her home and family. Sorrowfully meeting Koga's eye, she sobbed, "I don't know what anyone is talking about. I swear, I swear to you, I'm not her."
Koga watched her with confused regard for a moment, then, similarly to what Inuyasha had done in the woods, hovered his nose over her neck in an instant too physically intimate for Kagome to stand without clenching her eyes shut and tensing her whole body, waiting for it to end. When he pulled back, nose twitching, Koga let out a dissatisfied, "Hm," and narrowed his eyes at her.
"Hey, Koga!" A voice called, interrupting their discussion. Koga snapped away from Kagome and nodded in the direction of the beckoning voice.
"Listen, Kikyo, take a seat and stay here. I'll be back soon, and we'll get that useless mutt to undo these." Koga tapped her restraints before heading to a small clearing where a camp was slowly developing in front of them.
"Koga, wait-" Kagome breathed, but before the words had left her lips, he was gone.
Seated before the bustling activity of the campsite, Kagome was overcome with the buildup of emotion she had ignored since waking in such a strange place to be handled in such a horrible way; shifting her arms uncomfortably in front of her, trying her best to offset the weight of her restraints, she cried silently into her hands, watching the silver-white hair of Inuyasha blur from across the clearing as her sorrow continued to swell.
"Such a jerk." She said to herself, relieved when no one responded.
Relieved, and then reassured; glancing around for confirmation, she realized she had indeed been left out of ear shot. Her legs remained uncuffed; looking down at her feet and then back to the campsite, Kagome knew the chances of being restrained further if she was unsuccessful were high, but she had to give it a shot. Rising slowly and cautiously, she crept one step back, attempting to keep the chains pinning her wrists together from clanking or clinking as she receded away into the woods. Without ever taking her eyes off the unfolding tents and makeshift bunks, she held her breath almost painfully, letting her footfalls slowly descend in a backwards motion.
Then, as soon as the foliage encased her from sight, and with reckless speed, she spun on her heel and bolted through the trees.
Burdened by the iron clasp on her wrists, but full of hope and resilience, Kagome ran with aching legs back in the direction the convoy had come. Trying her best to remember landmarks, she raced through the passage she hoped would bring her to the place with the well and the Goshinboku. This had to lead her home. It has to, she thought, right as a strong and sizable fist punched her solidly in the stomach between the V of her handcuffed arms.
Collapsing to the ground with the wind sucked from her lungs, she let out a painful and jagged gasp for breath. Opening her eyes, trying to make sense of what had happened, the arrival of two softly clothed feet stomped into her view from where she shuddered on the ground.
"Well look at this." A menacing voice darkly spat; the person reached down to grab her by the cuffs in an effortless single hand and drag her to her feet by the metal. "Already all tied up for me and ready to go."
Welling up all the courage she had, Kagome faced her attacker with determination.
"You'd better let me go!" She stammered, kicking out with one foot.
The demon holding her aloft stared back with red eyes glowing so fiercely she had to look away and take in the other attributes, a massive skull, human like appearance but scales for skin. An evil, black aura pulsating around his body. Wait, aura? Kagome squinted. Sure enough, even in the dark of the forest canopy, she could make out a pulsating purple-black wave of energy swirling in a melee around the demon's body.
"Oh yeah?" The demon grunted, shaking the cuffs, and tossing her to the ground again. This time, Kagome landed flatly on her front, the iron bands digging into her hip beneath her as she hit the ground. "What exactly are you gonna do?"
She moved to roll away but found herself pinned; a foul stench soured the air as the heavy thighs of the demon landed on either side and clenched her between them. She tasted blood in her mouth from her teeth jamming into her lip on impact with the ground. Two heavy hands pulled her arms out from under her and forced them above her head in a ruthless haste. The cool air hitting the skin of her back as her shirt began to crawl upward alarmed her to what was going to happen next.
"No!" She screamed, kicking as hard as she could even mercilessly held as she was to the forest floor. The weight of the demon began to suffocate her. "Please, stop!"
"I'll take you, and I'll take the jewel." The demon breathed gruffly into her ear, extending his tongue to drag a slimy, lukewarm trail up her neck.
"Man, guys like you really disgust me."
The cold air on her exposed skin came to a halt and a deafening gurgle replaced the heavy breathing of the demon on top of her. Feeling the weight of her attacker subside in an instant, Kagome let air flow into her lungs and lay still, simply breathing in sweet relief as the sounds of a battle bloomed around her. She still lay there gasping when the sickening gurgling and grunting came to a halt, and she heard a sword being sheathed with an affirmative snap. Footsteps came toward her rapidly, and the same voice tsked,
"Touching what isn't their property. Revolting."
Strong hands gently aided her in rolling to her side, then embraced her. She lolled her head back to see Inuyasha, his golden eyes serious though his manner remained irritated and crass as he lifted her in his arms. A light streak of blood adorned his left cheek, cutting red overtop of his half-smirk.
"For the record, not a smart move." He rebuked, setting her on her feet with a shake of his head. "How far did you think you'd get all chained up like this?"
"Y-you're the one who did this to me." Kagome sniffed. "You're just as bad as that monster."
"Hey, come on." Inuyasha rolled his eyes, huffily crossing his arms. "You proved me right by trying to escape; not that you'd have made it that far with or without the cuffs. You should know Kikyo, every demon will be after you for that jewel, especially now that you're out of your territory. You should just stay with your mangy wolf bodyguard and live what you chose. There are worse things to be than betrothed to a monster like me. The sooner you get that, the sooner you won't need to be restrained."
Lowering her shackles and her eyes, Kagome stopped listening halfway through. The tears collecting began to fall, and her shoulders shivered with the force of her sobs. No one will believe me. He's right. I'm stuck here. I may just have to accept it. But try as she might, she could not look up at him, could not stop the woozy feeling that began to snake its way up her stomach and overtake her.
"Inuyasha, I… can't."
"Hey…" when she didn't respond, she felt his hands on her shoulders, holding her steady. "Hey, Kikyo, look at me. Did he hurt you anywhere? Tell me."
"I'm… I'm not Kikyo." Kagome whimpered, her body falling beneath her.
Inuyasha caught the limp miko before she hit the ground, noting the blood on her lip, the paleness of her skin, and hurriedly lifted her into his arms to bolt back to the campsite as quickly as he could.